Big Kids

Well, we've graduated and moved on in life.  It's been a VERY busy last couple of months.

EUROPE
The day after graduation, we moved out of our adorable college house (I still really miss it, it was so cute) and stored stuff at Luke's grandparents for the next two months.  Days later we flew to Europe, where we had an INCREDIBLE three-week trip in Switzerland, Rome and Paris. Saw the Pope in Rome, and had a romantic time in Paris. Seriously, the trip couldn't have gone better.  Perfect memories :) It was really special to have Luke meet my friends in Switzerland, and to show him the country I lived in, including the beautiful Alps.  We are so grateful to the friends and family who were so hospitable to us, especially my dearest Swiss friend, Linda.

Lake Lucern, Switzerland

THE PACIFIC NOTHWEST
When we came back to the US, we flew to Portland to spend about a month in the most beautiful corner of the country.  It was great for Luke and I to spend so much time with my parents, and to just relax and have almost no cares in the world (except for going through the process of finally changing my name and countless calls with the movers and corporate HR to get our move to California all under control).  But it was so great to spend so much time with my parents! Day trips included Mt. St. Helens, Seattle, the coast, and several hikes, and of course, Saturday's Market.  We did it all!

PARK CITY

Next we flew back to Utah for a week, this time to spend it with Luke's family that had gathered for his mom's wedding.  Luke's mom rented a house for all 18 of us to stay at in Park City, and it was tons of fun, filled with lots of little nieces and nephew time, cards, bowling, junk food, hiking and hot tub time! 

Christensen Family Hike

WEDDING!!!

That Friday was the beautiful wedding of Bob and Laura. It was so sweet and special and so wonderful to have so much family gathered around.  We had it at the Lion House on Temple Square in Salt Lake City. Great food, and even better dancing.  Apparently my brother-in-law, Jonny, practices dancing to Beyonce too much. The entire day was so special, and we are SO happy for Luke's mom :)

CALIFORNIA ROAD TRIP AND CORPORATE TRAINING

Days later, Luke flew to Cleveland for a week of corporate training with Parker Hannifin, and with our car and stuff already on its way to California with the movers, my mom and I took a road trip through Southern Utah and Las Vegas on our way to see my aunt and uncle in Palm Springs.  It was heaven there.  Four hours in the most perfect pool, eating and talking. Luke had an amazing week at corporate where he had lots of training and wined and dined with executives, vice presidents and the CEO of Parker Hannifin. It's such a great position to get to work so closely with corporate at such a young age! 

OUR NEW JOBS! (aka DINKS)

A few days later we arrived to our new home! Well, almost.  All of my mom's family lives really close to where we live in Modesto, so we stayed with my grandparents until we could move into our apartment on the 30th. Luke and I both work full-time, which makes us a term I've recently learned: DINKS (dual income, no kids). I started my new job working in the real estate office that my grandpa owns.  I love my job! I work the front desk, but they have me doing a lot of administrative stuff like working on the escrow closing docs and property listings.  I love my job! I am learning a lot and real estate is a lot more interesting than I thought it would be.  And I get to work with an AMAZING group of staff that's so fun!  And getting to go to my grandma and grandpa's every day for lunch is definitely a highlight :) I love the people I work with and am learning so much about real estate.  Luke also loves his job.  It's an amazing job within Parker Hannifin that has him in management training.  He is working hard and learning lots! We are both so busy, but nothing will ever be as busy as BYU. 

NEW CAR

In the mean time, Luke and I bought our first new car!!! We couldn't believe it.  We had been looking into getting a used car, since it was time to own two cars instead of one.  But we found an awesome deal on a 2014 Ford Focus that was in the end cheaper than buying used, and so couldn't be more excited! We get around 37.8 MPG and love having bluetooth in the car! 

OUR NEW HOME

We love our apartment too.  It's in a gorgeous apartment complex that's gated and in a really nice part of town.  Since we will be living in corporate housing for the next two years, we don't get to pick where we live, but luckily the company picks nice and safe areas for us to live and we are really pleased with where they put us.  Free juice bar, gorgeous pool to lay out at, amazing gym and a nice place to live :) We love it here!