ALASTAIR + LALEINIA

Since taking the GMAT a few months ago, I have been completing applications to business schools. I have been looking for programs that I believe can help me to achieve the life goals that I have, and allow Laleinia and I to live the life that we want for ourselves and our future family. I had interviewed with a number of schools, but I had never flown out to visit a school. This all changed when I flew out to New York City to visit IESE's New York center. IESE is a business school in Barcelona, but has a few campuses throughout the world. I was invited to interview with them in their New York center, and also to attend an assessment day also, where the school can get a better idea of how I would perform if I were admitted. I had a great time with IESE and the other candidates. It was amazing to be with so many smart and talented people, and I would love for more in the future. Manhattan Temple I didn't see too much more of New York while I was there, but I ...

Spook houses, parties, movies, pumpkins, and costumes...we're Halloween-ed out.  It's time to bring on the most wonderful time of the year! 

Well it has been a busier than expected six months since our last travel update in April. We have now been married two and a half years, crazy how time flies when you are having fun. As you can see, our most recent travels took us to the East Coast, as we road-tripped during the summer. Six thousand miles well spent! Over the next six months, we are planning to add some new and exciting places to our map! Already, after only two and a half years of marriage, we have seen more of the world than most people do in a lifetime. But we have no plans of slowing down! Catch up with up in six months time to see where we have been!

Autumn is our favorite time of the year. Nothing beats the colorful leaves, the crunching under your boots, and the cup of hot cocoa held in your hands. We decided to take a trip up to Jackson Hole to enjoy the beautiful weather. Our friends have never been, so we made a group date out of it! The drive up was picturesque, so we took a few snapshots here and there. From listening to fall-inspired music, a few good laughs, authentic Mexican food, and window shopping, it was all too perfect! 

After consulting this year's all important Bucket List , we decided it was time to roll up our sleeves and get muddy! Man vs. Mud in Cache Valley, UT was our chance. We headed down there early in the morning and got ready for our unorthodox 5K. Standing at the starting line (which actually was a slip and slide), the announcer read off the team names, which included things like Skid Marks, Moms-and-Morons, Clear as Mud, Dirty Dames and the Gross Gents, Four Score and Seven Blisters Ago, and of course, our team, the Dirty Boosh. For whatever reason, we both got a little nervous at the starting line, probably for fear of the unknown, or something like that. As the race went on and on, we got dirtier and dirtier, kind of clean, then dirty again. We were able to make a video as we went around, make sure you watch it, but there are a few things we need to express. Man vs. Mud brought smiles to our faces. It isn't easy to run in mud. Sometimes it is easier to try and ...

You probably recall that we first visited Yellowstone together in 2011. Well, we went back. We basically did the same route as last time (even though variation would have been smarter). Either way, Yellowstone is always a cool place to go. We love the colors of the pits, forest, and all of that. It really is a pretty place. If we ever get really into photography, this would be a great place to come back to. Everything is pretty picturesque, and the photos don't really do it justice. We went with Doug and Emily. It was their first time going so that was cool to be the experts of the group. As usual, Laleinia loved sharing her knowledge with us all. She is really into geology, which is quite odd, but she loves it. I like listening to her explain geothermal activity and other interesting things that have slipped my mind! Enjoy the pictures!

Saturday's come and go. We try to make the most of them in the summer! For this reason, and because it is on our yearly bucket list, we went Canoeing with Doug and Emily. We didn't really plan it out, we just parked one car at Beaver Dick park, drove a little ways to what we hoped was upstream of the same river, and got to work! Some of us jumped off the bridge to get into the water, which was fun. We didn't realize it until now, but the trip was quite the trek! Google taught us that the trip was 9.98 miles, which might not sound too bad downstream, however a great deal of the journey was in pretty much still water! For the most part, the water was crystal clear, and the scenery was beautiful all the way down. Can you spot the Moose in this picture? One of the more exciting parts of the trip was seeing a Moose. Laleinia and Emily hid behind the Canoe for the entire time that the Moose was visible, meanwhile Alastair and Doug were much braver, although held bac...

Delicate Arch Part of the genius of the road trip was that we did not really have a plan. As we were on the way back west, we decided that we might as well stop by Arches National Park in Moab, UT, and we are so glad that we did. It reminded me of the Copper Mine in Bingham that we went to last year, which is currently closed due to a landslide. It was just so cool to see incredible rock formations, spread over such a vast area. Balanced Rock We saw the rocks that had been nicknamed Three Gossips, Park Avenue, etc., but our favorite ones were the more iconic Balanced Rock and Delicate Arch. I, Alastair, and Connor hiked up to Delicate Arch and hung around up there for a while. Three Gossips  We climbed on some other rocks around the arch and got some good photographs. It is definitely a place that I would love to go back to. We left right as a storm was beginning, perfect timing! Park Avenue

After the Nauvoo Pageant, it was back on the road for us and on to Missouri. We drove through the night and arrived at our first stop, Adam-Ondi-Ahman at who knows what time of the night/morning. Either way, we slept in the car once again and got some shut eye to prepare for the next day. Adam-Ondi-Ahman is a really interesting area for the church, research it and you will find it intriguing. There was no visitors center there, but we were able to drive around and see what it was like. It is a really beautiful part of the mid-west, but we didn't end up staying too long. Missouri was going to be a detour anyways, so we couldn't spend as much time there as we would have liked. On to Far West. Far West is where the mormons were going to build a temple before being driven out of the area. The corner stones are laid, but apart from that, nothing. We were able to walk around on the Far West temple site for a little while, but after reading the plaques scattered around, it was...