New York

On our way back to Grenada, after Christmas break, the airline offered us $1200, a hotel, and a new flight if we stayed in NYC for two more nights so we took it without a second thought and it was the best decision we have ever made. Neither of us had ever been to New York, so we were excited to do all the touristy things.

The first night we ate at Shake Shack (duh), went to Time Square, and went to see Finding Neverland on Broadway. Time Square was such a sight to see. It was even extra dreamy because they still had all the Christmas decorations up. The broadway show was definitely the highlight of our weekend though. We are suckers for a good musical, and Austin loves everything feel good. Plus, the lead role was played by Matthew Morrison AKA the teacher from Glee and he was amaze! I was definitely singing and dancing everything I said for the rest of the weekend...Austin loves when I do that.

The second day was less eventful. We went downtown to see the 9/11 memorial and all the huge buildings. Im pretty sure that at every corner we reached we claimed remembering a FRIENDS episode that was filmed on this very corner. We were planning on hitting Central Park on the way home, but it was so freezing cold that we decided to go back to the hotel and veg. You should also know that we were in half winter clothes/ half summer clothes because we were planning on going straight to Grenada. For some reason we had each packed a jacket so we weren't miserable, but you can only drink so many Starbucks hot chocolates to warm your insides in one day, especially when public washrooms are totally right wing on a scale of one to super sketch/gag-me nasty. We contemplated going to another Broadway show, like Wicked, but we remembered that we are still poor students. However, we did stop at Shake Shack one last time so the day wasn't a total loss.

Shockingly we are big fans of New York. We thought we might even want to go there for clinicals,  but the more I think about it I'm picturing myself in New York with a Serena van der Woodsen vibe and I don't see us realistically being able to afford the upper east side of Manhattan as medical students. It's still on our radar, though. WE ♥ NY!

I just noticed that we take a lot of pictures with food when we aren't in Grenada lol. We just really miss good food that doesn't take 2 hours to get to you.

The Great White North

I am so behind! For Christmas this year we were in Canada, yes they celebrate Christmas... ;) We had so much fun being there for a whole month and doing whatever our little, school-free, hearts desired. Here are some pics!

Tinsey...The golden child of the Russell family

This was taken one day after the pic above!

Max and Austy making us dinner

Sledding!

Ice Skating was too much fun...I really couldn't contain my joy.

Snowboarding at Castle

Austin tried skiing for the first time...Im surprised he is even upright for this picture haha

Dorks

Snowshoeing in Waterton

future yogis

God Bless America, But Mostly Just Bakersfield

Sweet, sweet American soil! I was madly craving every fast food restaurant, fountain drinks, shopping malls, and all the other tiny American luxuries. And they did not disappoint...turns out Chipotle still tastes good even with the risk of dying of E-Coli. Tastes like liberty.

I went to California while Austin took his finals. I vowed to never leave Austin for finals week again because I missed him so much, and I was constantly stressing that he wasn't eating or showering because he was studying 24/7 (But I got over it and just bought tickets to come home in May one week early lol). It was so good to hang out with family and the cats, of course ;) Austin would be so embarrassed if he knew that I just said that. Pais and Kendo, my nieces, are just the cutest and most entertaining little girls. Paislee and I made up an infinite amount of dance routines...all including the crab move. The crab is done by raising both arms, bent at the elbow and shuffling your feet across the floor. Its a real hit. Paislee would ask, "Hey Aunt Sam you wanna crab around?" Ha! She's the funniest. I had a lot of time on my hands after Steph and Trev went back to Utah because my parents had to work during the day but luckily Ive had a solid five months of training myself to self entertain. I always love looking at old pictures when I'm home, and I found a few gems. I also decided it be a good time to take advantage of American Healthcare and went to a billion doctors and dentist appointments...thank you to Blue Cross and to my parents for perma-insurance coverage. And for the first time ever, I am pleased to announce that I am in the no cavity club! WOOOHOOO! I always always always have cavities, like double digits amount of cavities. I blame my father because he passed down his bad teeth, otherwise I have great oral hygiene...Dr. Rimmer even told me I was the floss boss. But last time I went to the dentist in Utah and the dentist told me I get cavities from soda so I should just drink it with a straw and stick the straw way back in my mouth so that no soda touches my teeth...works like a charm.

Heres some pics, including a few throwbacks:

Larry <3

Christmas town in Bakersfield, there was fake snow and everything.

Kendo

Mom helped me make a new blankey

Dad is so skinny mini! 

Pretending to love ballet

My personal favorite. Meg is a fairy, I'm a little baby pumpkin, and Steph is Ronald McDonald.

Love my babies!

Mom and Johnny Go Grenadine

It was so fun to have my parents in town for the week of American Thanksgiving. We felt so spoiled while they were here. Mom cooked and cleaned and took such good care of us while Johnny fixed all the screens so now we don't have any mosquitoes inside! The best! He also fixed a couple parts on our car and ended up saving us tons of moneys. He did lose in a battle with the lug nut wrench and almost had to get should have gotten stitches. You win some, you lose some....but in Grenada we lose a lot. Johnny's second loss was to Lambie, the meat of a conch shell. Johnny gets gout or has gout..whatever, and Lambie just slapped that man's poor big toe all around. As good as it tasted, he decided its better left in the conch shell.

Mom got to experience Young Womens in Grenada

Leo on the daily...Johnny really loves starfruit.

"I'll just get the hot dog because I'm not that hungry"

Dinner at Timbers

Dr. Grooms Beach

Seven Sisters

Seven Sisters

Conch shell graveyard

Dinner at Cloud 9

Seven Sisters