seattle

joe and i were in seattle sunday thru wednesday for a conference i had for work. in between my sessions, we were able to explore the city. we had some great food and loved the scerery! joe went on an underground tour and thought that was pretty interesting. we also went to the space needle and it was a clear day so we were able to see mt. rainier. i loved seattle and would definitely like to return. joe laughs at me because it seems i say this after every city i visit. well, i guess we'll just have to travel a lot! :) here are pictures from our trip!

at the top of the space needle

the view of downtown from the space needle

pike's market...such a fun place!

all the yummy seafood at pike's market!

italy

the trevi fountain

the pantheon

palatine hill

the collosseum

the best pizza we've ever had...mmm!

st. peter's square

florence

at ponte vecchio

the grand canal in venice

outside our hotel in venice

joe and i received a generous gift of travel from his parents this year for christmas! we went to italy with them for an 8 day vacation (although it ended up being 7 after our delay in chicago...i think i remember last year telling myself i would never fly through there again during the holidays. i should have listened to myself!!) the flights were fine once we finally left and we got to enjoy the snow capped alps as we flew to venice from munich. we arrived in venice and were only there for less than 24 hours because of the delay. we saw venice in a hurry. it was a beautiful place but i think i would return when it was warmer since you get around by boat mostly. the scenery was surreal in venice and i guess, all over for that matter. our next stop was florence. we took the relaxing train and enjoyed the countryside of italy. florence was probably my favorite. it's a little slower paced, plenty of things to do but not as overwhelming as rome. there we saw ponte vecchio and michelangelo's david. we were in florence for new year's eve and what a wild time it was! there were fireworks going off in every direction you looked...possibly even under your feet as the locals set them off anywhere and everywhere. they also like to walk the streets with bottles of champagne and wine and then proceed to throw their bottles in the air and let them shatter wherever they may fall all the while, security looks on. i celebrated 7 hours before my family in the states...that was kinda cool to call my mom and wish her a happy new year. the next stop was rome. wow--the things to see in rome!! we surrendered to the fact that you can't see everything in rome in a few days. our favorites were the sistine chapel, collosseum, pantheon, trevi fountain, and palatine hill. it was a busy busy city! we also took a day trip to naples and the pompeii ruins. it was fun to see the coast and even more amazing to see a city that was established bc and re-discovered after being covered in ash from mt. vesuvius.

by plane, by train, by shuttle, by car, by taxi, by water taxi, by bus, by subway, by foot...we enjoyed our exploration in italy and would love to return. i threw a coin into the trevi...doesn't that mean i have to return??!

christmas time in sd

tayson opening presents (yes, in his wrestling singlet!!)

bryn opening her new cash register from us! tayson and bryn couldn't get enough of the microphone feature! lol

so, how pathetic is it that it's been almost two months since my last post! it's been a busy couple of months! here's a little update on what has been happening in our lives...

joe started an out rotation in late october in lacrosse, wi. he was gone for a month. i missed him so much and i was so glad to have him home right before thanksgiving. we started the residency interview process a couple weeks ago. joe has 9 interviews set up. i have been to two of them. he has 3 in the next week and a half. i just can't believe joe will be graduating in may! what an exciting time!

we are also getting so excited to leave in two weeks for ITALY! joe's family is taking us there and we will be there for a little over a week! venice, florence, rome...i can't wait!

this last weekend we were in sd for early christmas on my side. it was lots of fun and so good to see my family again! lots of laughs, food, and fun all weekend long!

chloe is still providing us with lots of entertainment! she is not enjoying us being away for interviews though. hopefully the neighbor will keep her company while we're in italy!!

fun times

i was able to get away after a conference for work in des moines and go home to sd. yay! i got to spend time with my favorite people! here is a picture of our pumpkin carving on saturday...the kids' interest really didn't last that long but the adults had fun carving away!

trip to sd

over labor day weekend, i went back to sd for brock and na's wedding reception. it was a lot of fun but of course, the time went way too fast! it was great seeing my extended family! congratulations brock and na! i am so happy to have na in our family!

summer summary

so, surprise surprise, it's taken me over a month to post more pictures! i know some people get frustrated with no recent posts (sorry, na!) :)

i thought i would include pictures from the highlight of my nyc trip and summarize the rest of our summer! i still can't believe it's coming to an end...:(

so, the highlight of my new york trip was...

meeting giada de laurentiis at the today show! i am a huge fan of the food network and very much enjoy giada's shows. it just happened to be her first day back from maternity leave! what are the chances? so, i thought i was lucky enough just to see her but i decided to be loud and keep yelling her name. at first she made eye contact with me and said she didn't have time to talk right now but she would return after the next segment. so, as soon as she was done, i started yelling for her again (i'm so persistent!) and she started coming my way! i got to shake her hand and she signed her name on the script that the anchors used earlier in the show. i was completely starstruck! of course, all of this happened so fast and joe was held responsible for taking a picture. let's just say it's still a sore subject here in the stolp home. so, here's a picture of giada and here's a picture of me with the autograph!

the week after we got back from nyc, i went to chicago with a friend from work for a shopping trip. i had never been in the actual city, just the suburbs. besides the rain, i enjoyed my time downtown. i actually really liked the city. and of course, the shopping was good too. here is a picture of us at the grand lux cafe (yummy!!) right off of michigan avenue.






july 8th was our 2nd anniversary so we had a nice dinner out at a local restaurant that we love. here is our anniversary dinner picture.





joe also recently found out that he passed the exam that he took in philadelphia. we are very excited! step two written exams are next in september. joe is busy studying for those and hopefully all goes well.

i also had a chance to visit sd for a while. i had lots of fun with family and friends. joe's mom and dad had a mini-stay here in august as well. it was fun to catch up with them. we always realize just how much we love our families when we spend time with them and we realize how much we miss them when we part. hopefully, we'll be closer to friends and family in a few short years!

summer time...

i can't believe it's been almost two months since i have posted anything. this summer has been busy with lots of fun stuff! joe recently took an exam in philly and so we decided that was a great excuse to go to new york city and celebrate our anniversary. it was a full three days in new york but we managed to see everything that was on our list. i posted some pictures and will post more later because i think blogger isn't able to handle them all at one time.

this picture is of george washington's house at valley forge near philadelphia. valley forge was the site of the camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777–1778 in the American Revolutionary War.

this is shea stadium, home of the mets. this game was part of the subway series (yankees vs. mets) and the rivalry was evident! this proved to be a LONG game with a 53 minute rain delay.

the empire state building

a random fountain in nyc...so many parks!

joe and i ate at big wong in chinatown...others recommended this little place. yummy!

this is ground zero...an eery place to visit.

tiffany and co., where joe bought me two anniversary charms for my bracelet. :) i heart tiffany and co.

joe and i at central park. t - 2 minutes before it downpoured (i had my umbrella ready as you can see).

times square at night...a pretty impressive and crazy place!

top of the rock (rockefeller center)

i will post more pictures and stories soon...including my highlight of the trip!