New Year's Above the Streets

For New Year's 2009 we partied high above the streets in Okinawa, Japan. This was the perfect setting for the end of the year celebration. I loved it! Aaron's parents have friends who have a condo/flat the 7th floor of a building in Okinawa. (I did not see any buildings taller than the one we were at.)Another wonderful treat of the evening was the live band that was playing out on the balcony. In fact, it was Aaron's dad's band! It was so much fun to listen to him sing and play. Songs ranged from Late 50's rock to mid 80's blues. Below is a picture of Abbi (my sister-in-law) and myself celebrating after the countdown. The condo was decorated very well and the views were spectacular. The balcony wrapped around 3 sides of the building. Each side there was a spectacular view.

Okinawa Aquarium

I am finally getting around to posting about the other parts of our Okinawa Christmas vacation. Aaron's parents took us to the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. This is the second largest aquarium in the world, behind the one in Atlanta, GA. (Brittany, you win for having the biggest.) We had a lot of fun. While at the aquarium I decided that I really liked turtles, so they are now on my favorite animal list ... next to the giraffe. Here is a picture of Aaron and Don with my new friends ... the turtles!

We even had the opportunity to watch the dolphin show. I love how Aaron and Don are portraying the perfect 'tourist' with their cameras around the neck. Below is a video of two dolphins jumping out of the water. You can also listen for the fun Japanese pop music playing.

Dr. Fish at Chula-U

Have you ever had fish eat at your feet? Let me introduce you to Dr. Fish.

When I first heard about Dr. Fish I was a little hesitant and did not know what to expect. I was told that little fish would swim around your feet and eat any dead skin on them. I was thinking "Yuck! Poor fish!." Well, I have to say now that Aaron and I have experienced "Dr. Fish" it was not as bad as I thought. For starters I imagined the fish to be bigger, so when I saw how small they were I felt more at ease.

The best way that I could describe the feeling of little fish eating at your feet would be electric tickling. Yes, this experience tickles your feet a lot! Slowly you adjust to the sensation and you begin to relax. As you can tell from the photo we had fun (I've never seen Aaron wiggle around so much!).

Prior to our Dr. Fish experience we soaked in a very warm swimming pool, seen in this picture. I apologize for the picture, but I forgot to take one and the website is in japanese. At this location were the traditional Japanese baths.

It was a pretty neat place. Because okinawa is such a small island, they reclaim land by dredging up sand, coral, and stone and piling it to extend the island. While they were doing this, the contractors found a natural hot spring and dicided to build the spa instead of the apartments they'd originally planned on. The spa has naturally heated water that gets up to 46 degrees celcius! (That's about 115 degrees Farenheit!) We had a blast soaking and enjoying the strange fish!

Okinawa and a Surprise for Kay

Our long awaited trip to Okinawa, Japan finally came and we are sad to say that we are home now. After work on Friday, December 18th Aaron picked me up and we drove north to Vancouver, Canada. Traffic was great. There was no wait time at the border too, which was wonderful. The next morning we took the hotel shuttle to the airport and our journey continued. Our first flight left at11:55 AM December 19th toTokyo (Narita). Next stop was Kansai with our final destination of Okinawa! We arrived in Okinawa around 10:50 PM December 20th. We crossed the International Date Line, so somehow we never really had a Saturday. Through prior arrangements with Don (Aaron's Dad) we were able to surprise Kay (Aaron's Mom) by arriving 2 days early. Ever since we bought the tickets Kay was thinking that we would arrive in Oki on December 22nd and Don knew we'd be arriving early for all of those months. Thanks for keeping our secret!! Don made up an excuse that one of his co-workers had family flying in, but she was too sick to drive to the airport. Kay joined him to pick up the co-worker's family.

Don had even made a sign with fake names to hold up to make the surprise more believeable. When Aaron and I walked up to Kay she was talking to a few people and as she turned around she was very surprised to see us. It was the BEST!! Of course she was upset that everyone knew except her and that she hadn't cleaned the house. The surprise on her face was deligtful!! To top it off Kay's birthday was December 21st. Our present to her was our early arrival.

Just to be silly:

I had fun on the airplane, at least for the first few minutes, because of the safety pamphlet. Below are pictures I took. They are cartoons and so much more fun to look at than any domestic flight in the States that I have been on.

I absolutely love the picture above with the baby and the life jacket. It must be the facial expressions or something, I am not quite sure why but I did look at it everytime we got on a new flight. (That is a total of 6 times) On a more serious note, we enjoyed Christmas and New Year's Eve with my inlaws, and I really enjoyed getting to know them (because the only other time I've met them was at our wedding).

Merry Christmas

I convinced Aaron to come visit me for lunch last week at work. Microsoft decorated the new Commons area for the holidays. As part of the decorations they offered holiday pictures ... for free!! So with my young at heart personality, we took our first family Christmas photo. (I appreciate Aaron tolerating my silly idea of standing in line filled with young kids so we could get our picture.)

Merry Christmas from the both of us! We hope you have a wonderful holiday season with your families. We are celebrating Christmas with Aaron's parents in Okinawa Japan. We are having fun in warmer weather, fighting jet-lag and eating with chopsticks.

Merry Christmas 2009

Happy Turkey Day

Our Thanksgiving this year was small, but we had a good time. Both sides of our family are scattered throughout the US and even in Japan, which meant our feast was celebrated with a total of 5 people. (Aaron, myself, my mom, my dad and my grandma.)

I was asked to set the table this year. I folded the napkins and realized there was some resemblance to an actual tukey. If I was more creative I would have found a way to add a face or something extra.Aaron and I had fun testing out the tripod for our camera. By doing so we managed to get a picture together. Ta Da!

For a little change to the typical Thanksgiving Day meal, my mom thought it would be fun for each of us to try a new dish. My grandma made her first cheesecake, with raspberry sauce from berries picked from her own garden. Delicious! My mom made gnocchi with a squash. This dish also turned out well, and I actually ate squash because it tasted good. Aaron and I made jalapeno macaroni and cheese. It was filled with different cheeses and creams … not healthy at all! But I would say it was a hit.
There were a lot of tasty dishes to eat at our Thanksgiving dinner this year! It is tough cooking a tukey for a small number of people, so we have a lot of left-overs. Thanksgiving 2009 turned out well. Aaron and I were able to spend more time together! I didn't have to work and Aaron took the morning shift. Our little holiday break was a blast!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year!

Yes, we look like FOOLS

I have finally organized all of my pictures (and videos) that were on my camera for the past couple of years. That is the problem with having memory cards that are big, they hold more pictures so you never delete them. I ran across photos of a date night that Aaron and I had back in Rexburg. It was for FHE with my good friend Courtney and her husband Adam.

My mom gave me a video game called "You're in the Movies." Basically you stand in front of a camera and each person takes turns doing different games. For example, you have to push or pull an object that is on the screen, but it records you, so you can see yourself moving the object. The video below is Aaron and Courtney pretending to play with a hula-hoop. It's very entertaining.

I can't help but laugh when I look at these pictures. We all look riduculous, but I know we had a lot of fun 'acting' for our movie. Once each person plays a few games, all of the clips are placed together into a silly movie. Ours was a Country Western film.

Fall Sunday Drive

After church Aaron and I decided it was a perfect day to go for a drive. We headed north on I-5, and exited just past Mt. Vernon. We went on the Mountain Loop highway. It was nice to travel at a slower speed and look at the beautiful fall colors. We passed through some fun small country towns. They had so much character. I don't have any pictures, becuase they were really small. When I thought to take a picture we were already out of town.

We could see the rugged mountains, green hills and the sun shinning through the leaves. It was a perfect way to simply relax and not stress out about life. For a portion of the drive we were driving somewhat parallel to a river. I saw a bridge and was curious where it went. We turned off the main road and found the bridge. It was a one lane bridge, which was fun to see. Now-a-days bridges are so big and have so many lanes. I liked the simplicity of the single-lane bridge. On our detour we found the Sauk Campsite. (It is an Indian name.)

We parked and hiked down to the river. The river was very low so we were walking on river rock. Aaron noticed that one of the rocks was moving in the river. Come to find out it was not a rock, but a pair of salmon swimming up stream. Aaron wanted to go out and see if he could catch one. To paint the picture of this experience Aaron was wearing his brand new suit, shoes and socks taken off, with the legs rolled up to try walking out to the salmon. Unfourtunatly he could not get close enough to catch one. I have to say it was rather hilarious watching Aaron wading in a river in a suit paints and white button-up shirt.

I didn't bring my camera, so there are no good pictures to share. I was able to steal Aaron's cell phone and snap a few photos after the big event.

Making brownies with a toddler

My sister-in-law came to visit with her 2 daughters Adelyn and Jacqueline. I loved every moment we were able to see them. I wish we were not seperated by the entire Pacific Ocean! (They live in Japan.) One evening after work I decided to make brownies with Addy. It was so much more fun than I thought it would be.

We dressed Addy up in a long sleeve bib. (I highly recommend this for mothers and will definately get some of these when we have kids.) I put on an apron and we were ready to go. Addy was excellent. I loved watching her expressions when all the ingredients would mix together. She helped crack the egg. A plus was that there were no big egg shell parts that dropped into the batter. She held on to the mixer as we were mixing everything together.

Then her little fingers started to inch closer and closer to the brownie batter. I told her to wait until we were finished, and she actually did.

We poured the batter into a pan, and then the real fun began. Of course I left some batter in the bowl. I gave Addy a spoon with a good amount of batter, and she loved it! She had the cutest smile on. Before I knew it the brownie batter was finished. We were able to get a good set of photos of this joyful event.

1 Year Anniversary

We've jsut recently celebrated our very first wedding anniversary!! Lucky for us, it landed on a Satuday, so we could spend the entire day celebrating. I (Megan) was overwhelmed with work so Aaron took the task of planning our special day. It was perfect!

We started the day grabbing a lunch at Safeway-a local grocery store. We picked out boneless buffalo wings, drinks and other snacks. We then rented a row boat from the University of Washington. We paddled around the arboretum area on Lake Washington. When I say "we" I mean Aaron. I just sat there and enjoyed the ride. Aaron and I stopped in a nice area surrounded by trees, lily pads and ducks. Aaron enjoyed feeding the ducks our buffalo chicken. They seemed to enjoy it.

After we had lunch out on a rowboat we headed back to Kirkland. The bakery that made our wedding cake does something wonderful. They will bake a new cake top and decorate it the same way that your wedding cake looked. What a wonderful idea!! We picked our cake up and dropped it off at our hotel. I was so excited, because I don't remember eating a lot of wedding cake at our reception.

We headed to Bell Square and stopped at the Build-a-Bear Workshop. What a treat to be able to feel so young and make your own teddy bear. The plan was to only make one bear, but they were having a good deal, so we ended up making two! Aaron made a boy bear named Kenny, who was a firefighter. The idea was to make a bear resembling each of us, but I failed at that. I made a boy monkey named Dillon. As we (aka. the animals) were trying on clothes I fell in love with the navy uniform. So we ended up creating two friends instead of an "Aaron" bear and "Megan" bear.

The big treat of the evening was nice dinner out on the town. Aaron made reservations at the Melting Pot. I know this is a nice place and I have always wanted to go, but it seemed silly to spend so much money just because. I felt a little better about spending the money for our anniversary. It was tasty!! This was a fun experience. My personal favorites was the cheese that we had for an appetizer. To top it off was dessert. We had the "Pecan Turtle," a carmel and chocolate mix. It was heaven! If only I could eat that type of chocolate all the time!!

It was a busy day, but we had so much fun. We are looking forward to the upcoming years together.

Fun in the Sun (Solo)

So, I guess I need to find something to do... Last week my parents were in Eastern Washington (Medical Lake, to be exact). Since I didn't have anything better to do, I left early in the morning (and dropped Megan off at her office) to go spend the day with them. Well, to my surprise there was an Air Force run recreation center on a little lake there, and since my parents are both DODS employees, they had access to the speed boats there. So, even though Megs doesn't believe this, I was pleasantly surprised to find out we were going skiing, not just swimming.

Not wanting to waste the opportunity, I spent almost 5 1/2 hours on the lake tubing, wakeboarding, and skiing. Unfortunately I only took my camera out on the last tubing run, but there are some good pictures still.

When I wasn't on the lake, I was enjoying seeing my dad's youngest brother and his family, who I haven't seen in about 5 years. Unfortunately, between a long day on the lake (without any previous exercise to help out sore muscles) and a total of almost 9 hours driving, I was pooped by the time I got to Sammamish. What's worse was my back was so sore I couldn't sleep. I never fully appreciated how many muscles you use in water sports. I didn't even get a sympathy massage from Megs, who coincidentally had a rotten day at the office. Oh well, I guess that's the price you pay for a little fun in the sun!

Christmas in JAPAN

Guess What?! We are going to Japan to spend Christmas 2009 with Aaron’s parents. Aaron’s parents currently live in Okinawa, Japan. Are you ready for a small geography lesson? Okinawa is a small island off of the southern tip of mainland Japan. (You can look for it in this not-so-wonderful map that I found.) Our first Christmas together was spent in Utah with my side (Megan) of the family. We are both really looking forward to spending time with Aaron’s side of the family. With the Pacific Ocean separating us, we do not get many opportunities to spend with the Kinghorn side of our family. We decided that this is probably the best time to go and visit. We have both graduated from college and would not have to worry about missing classes or finals. The only difference is that we will both be working full-time. (**Side Note: Currently Aaron is still searching, but he just had a 2nd interview with a hospital in Seattle and it sounded hopeful.) I talked to my boss about taking time off in December. He was questioning why I was asking 5-months in advance, but I wanted to make sure this was going to work out. Late last week I got the approval to take 2-weeks away from work. Getting that news was a huge stress relief for me. Considering we had actually purchased the tickets before I got the official “yes.”

Remarkably tickets were a decent price. Remember it is an international flight, so they are not cheap to begin with. Someone my mom works with mentioned that flying out of Canada is actually cheaper. I thought it was strange, but it is true. So we are flying out of Canada to Japan! It will only take 3 hours by car to drive to Vancouver, Canada. Followed by 16 hours of flying travel time. (I think that is about right?) We fly direct into Tokyo and then catch a flight into Okinawa.


I guess this means that I will have to work on my Japanese and work on enjoying sushi a little more.

Surprise at Work!!

I got to the office this morning and started my typical day. Around 9:30, Chris, the person in charge of the mail in my building stopped by my office. He had a long box that read "Pro Flowers." He said it was for me. I was wondering why I would have flowers delivered to me, and I could not come to an answer. It was a Monday morning. It was not my birthday, it was not any anniversary and I had not accomplished anything. I have to admit that I was embarrassed that I got flowers. I know that I am so lame. I open the box and find a note. The note was from Aaron. He had sent me one of my favorite flowers!! I really like Astromeria (..or Peruvian Lily, as Aaron discovered).

I placed them in the vase, and set them on my desk. To be honest, it was a rather large bouquet. People would stop by and ask if it was my birthday. I responded with a "no." They would then ask if it was a special occasion. Again, I said "no." I would respond with ... "They are from my husband, just because." How cute!! I love Aaron so much. I had no idea that he had even planned this. Apparently he had called my mom and asked for the address days earlier. I LOVE IT!!

Happy Birthday Aaron

It is sad to say that Aaron and I have never been in the same state to celebrate his birthday. Actually, we've never even been in the same time zone. Through friendship/dating, engagement and now marriage.

When Aaron was up in Washington a couple of weeks ago I wanted to celebrate his birthday!! So we did. With Aaron's first 'BIRTHDAY PIE.' The Conger's never had birthday cake. Instead we would have pie. Aaron is now part of my family, so he is now included in this tradition. He wanted a peach pie. Thanks to my mom, Aaron had a peach pie made for him in honor of his birthday.

I want Aaron to know that I love him so much. I wish that I could have been there to celebrate his special day. We are both looking forward to next year when we will be together. I will make sure it happens!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!!

Seattle Sounder's Game

Aaron flew up to Seattle for a total of less than 48 hours last weekend. Even though there was limited time, we had a lot of fun. We attended our first Seattle Sounders Soccer game together. My mom was able to get tickets to the game from her work. (She works with Xbox.) Along with the tickets we had t-shirts, scarves and banners. Aaron had a blast getting all dressed up for the event.It was a lot of fun actually. I really do not understand the rules, etc. of soccer, but it was fun. Aaron and I shared some famous garlic fries!! Yummy. It's a good thing that we both like garlic. After the game we stopped by Dick's to grab some burgers and shakes. It was a perfect evening out. I enjoyed walking through the VIP in the stadium and remembering that I had prom there. It was so much fun. Aaron and I are looking forward to attending more games in the future. This picture was really interesting. Apparently the goalie on the other team picked up a ball that was kicked to him by his teammate. I guess it is illegal for a goalie to use his hands on a ball that is kicked to him by his teammate. ....So the Sounders then were able to kick the ball in (I have no idea what it is called. A penalty kick?!) A lot of the members from the other team linned up in the goal to prevent a goal. It got really intense. This is very rare in soccer.

We're Moving to Washington

Yes it is true. We are moving to Washington. I (Megan) was offered a contract position working at Microsoft. I will be working with Visa Extensions. I just started working May 19th. The sad part is that Aaron is still working in Idaho. The original plan was that he would work there this summer; fulfilling a promise that he would be there until August. When his managers/co-workers found out that I was already in Washington they asked him why he was still there. He told them why, and they responded with wonderful news. They will try to hire someone to fill Aaron's position as soon as they can.

Once Aaron has trained the new person he will come up here. The current plan is that I will work full-time and Aaron will go to school full-time. He would be going to school to get a nursing degree. A degree that will assist him eventually become a nurse anesthetist. He also plans to have a part-time job as well.

So I am here in Washington, while Aaron is in Idaho. I hope that some time in the future we will actually be able to spend a summer together. Currently we are apart. Last summer when we were engaged he was in Atlanta and I was in Seattle. Another sad part is that I have never been with Aaron on his birthday. The past few years we’ve always been in different states.
I am hoping that we will be together in the same state soon!!

2 Times Zones: Looking for Work

Yes, I am in Washington and Aaron is in Idaho. I have to admit this is not fun to be split in different states. We have both graduated and now we are looking for work in this 'not-so-good' economy. It is tough but we need to find something.

Well, I (Megan) have been in Washington staying at my parent's house looking for work. I have been able to work here for the past 3 summers with a pretty decent position working at Microsoft. I have had a couple interviews, with a few more potential interviews coming up. Actually my manager from last summer found out I was here and is interested in having me work again. That would be working in the legal department with a bunch of attorneys. Still don't know how I feel about that.

Aaron has been applying many places as well. Recently he was in Utah testing and interviewing to work at a fire department there. Aaron passed the first two days of testing, he had an interview too. We will hear back from the Provo Fire Department sometime next week if they are interested in hiring him.

Both of us are waiting to hear back from potential positions. I am trying to be good with patience, but it is tough at times. I know there are many of you all looking for work too. I wish you good luck and I hope that we can all find jobs and careers.

Graduation from BYU-Idaho

Aaron and I have finally graduated!! For now we are finished with all of our classes and there are no more finals. What a wonderful feeling!! We graduated on April 9th. Aaron was wonderful and he walked with me at graduation and sat with me at Commencement. He didn't want to, but I really wanted him to. I am so glad that I was able to share that moment with Aaron. To be married and just 8 months later graduate with my husband was wonderful.

Aaron graduated with an "Emergency Services Administration" bachelor degree. He also got as associate degree as a Paramedic last March. I graduated with a "Communication" bachelor degree with an emphasis in Public Relations.

I had so much fun spending time with Aaron and with my friends that were graduating too.

Puppy: Have one for a week

It all started when I (Megan) was upstairs starting a load of laundry. Aaron walked in the front door with a huge smile and a PUPPY in his arms. A little shocked and confused I asked why he brought a puppy home. While Aaron was doing errands he took a detour to the animal shelter here in town. (Aaron knows a woman who works there.) He was able to bring a puppy back to our house, just to show me. We brought her (puppy) downstairs and Aaron had a blast playing with her.Because we knew the person in charge of the animal shelter we were actually able to keep her for a while. So we brought her home with us. Complete with her own kennel too.

On the way home we stopped and bought her a collar, food and other dog necessities. We named her Bailey. She is a Boxer/Mastiff mix.During the week that we were "dog owners" we had fun. Actually I sould be honest. Aaron had a blast. I am still unsure about owning a dog. I think that they smell bad and I really don't care to have them breathe on me or lick my face.We told our landlord that we had a puppy, but he said that we could not keep her. So we had to bring Bailey back to the shelter. Good news is that a lot of familied were interested in her and she was adopted.

Date Nights with the Orton's

Megan's old roommate Leslie, got married in December. This semester we have been able to go on 2 double-dates. The first was in January we all went bowling at Teton Lanes. We came back to our house and watched Eagle Eye. We had sooooo much fun!!

On Saturday we had a second date night. This time we went to Leslie and Mike's place. They made two delicious homemade pizzas. After we stuffed ourselves we played games. Aaron and Leslie really wanted to play 'Scattergories,' so we played 12 rounds.

You can't have a date without dessert!! Aaron and I brought all of the goods to make 'Cookie Monsters!!' (A better option, instead of going to Craigos.) Again, we stuffed ourselves with this tasty treat. Our final game we played 'Phase 10.' For some lucky reason Megan and Leslie were dealt the best cards. They ended up with the most cards and actually completed all 10 phases!!