Goodbye Middle East, Hello Monterey

I finally got the heck out of the Middle East (note: i'm wearing our tour guides shirt in this picture because I was denied entry on to temple mount because my neckline was too low).

And came to my new home in Monterey California, and my eternal companion: 

And when I arrived in Monterey, Dan - who is modeling the lovely Jordanian garb I brought back for him- had already found an apartment for us. Our eternally amazing parents coordinated driving all of our stuff from our storage unit in Provo out here. Shout out to the parents (I now know my mom secretly reads this) - we really appreciated your help.

WE'VE BEEN MARRIED A YEAR. And since I was sitting in Tel Aviv on our actual anniversary, we celebrated this saturday. We went to this movie:

Which I would highly recommend if you enjoy Quinton Tarantino, blood, guts and gore. 
We went and walked around Monterey, its seriously beautiful. Never mind that the sun never shines. Its cool. 
And we finished off with a taste of our wedding cake. Well not quite. Our wedding cake was tragically lost in the Fridge/Freezer meltdown of October 2008 (I think Danielle and Jesse will remember that episode, it really was tragic). So we found a replacement. 
Cake batter icecream tastes a whole lot better than old frozen cake I'm sure... Well, its certainly been an interesting first year of marriage. I wouldn't recommend spending the majority of your first year on different continents to other people - but for us it worked. We made it through, it wasn't easy/fun, but we grew as people - or something like that. 

I ♡ Israel

Can I just start by saying that I LOVE ISRAEL! Its a first world country. There are no bed bugs. Creepy guys harassing you all the time. People hitting you with their cars. Butting you in line. Yelling at you in a language you don't understand... Best of all - I have no Arabic here. But besides that, its just a really cool place. So far we've mostly just been to biblical sites- which aren't that impressive - but are cool just to think "I'm where Jesus was, Tight."

This is a Synagogue in Capernum, where Jesus would have taught. 
Completely unrealted, but there is a kid in our group who has been catching lizards the whole time we've been in the Middle east. And he finally caught the elusive CHAMELEON. It was cool.
I just like this column from the Church of the Annunciation in Nazareth because of the demons on the sides. Check it. 
This is Masada. It was King Herod's pleasure castle. And then a bunch of Jewish Zealots holed up in here against the Romans. And when they knew they were going to lose, they committed mass suicide. Women and children and all. Now its a big Jewish Nationalism symbol. 
This is me out side of the Branch building in Tiberias. It was amazing to go to church and be able to see the Sea of Galilee out the window the whole time. And church was and hour. Sign me up. 
We went to this cool nature reserve, Tel Dan (shout out to my lovely husband) which had MORE BIBLICAL SITES. Imagine that. But it was gorgeous. And thats where the chameleon was found.