Alberta Bound.....

Life for the Kaiser Clan has been pretty nuts since August. In August I FINALLY graduated!!!! Can you believe it.....Kelly is not a student anymore haha. My graduation was such an amazing and special time. This was honestly the only graduation I actually wanted to attend and it was a great way to celebrate the end of a really long road. What made my graduation so special was having both my incredible parents and in-laws with Chris and I. It meant the world to me that the four of them made the trip to celebrate the day.

Finally a graduate!

My biggest handsome hubs and greatest support!

Everyone got to graduate that day.....

Kimmy and I right before saying bye with a lot of tears:(

Dani and I on my last day in Florida Gym



The next thing on our agenda after graduation day was to have a going away and grad party. We were so happy to have all of our friends get together for one last hoorah! Dani and Darren were awesome and offered up their place for the party. It was such a great time and really the best way we could have imagined making our transition out of Gainesville. There were definitely a lot of tears that day as we made such incredible friends in Florida that we miss so dearly.

Sim my graduation buddy and I.....finally celebrating the end!!!

The next day was moving day and boy was it weird to see our little apartment empty. Our last apartment in Gainesville was our home for our last 3 years and our first as a married couple. Although 3 years doesn't sound like a long time, it is by Gainesville/Graduate school standards. We made so many wonderful memories in that apartment and will certainly cherish all of those important times we shared there with our friends and family.

au revoir apt #106, thanks for the memories

After emptying out the apartment we spent one last night with some of our dearest friends in the south. The next morning was nothing short of heart wrenching having to say our "see ya soons". After a whole lot of hugs and tears we hit the road with our two vehicles, Mum and Dad and Moose as our co-pilot.

The trip north west was nothing short of fantastic. We had an absolute blast and I am so happy we got to share the trip with my parents. Our first stop was in Nashville and was also Chris and I's first wedding anniversary....what a way to celebrate eh! move accross the continent. I think it was actually quite appropriate to celebrate one big milestone with another!

  

Dad, Chris and I also snagged a really great deal when we found a boot shop in Nashville that sold three pairs of boots for the price of one! Who would pass up this awesome deal?! 

The travelling Larkin-Kaiser clan in Wall, South Dakota 

Mt. Rushmore was unbelievably impressive. I'm so glad we made sure this was en route.

Deadwood South Dakota was definitely the fan favorite stop of the trip. Mum and I even gambled haha. Chris and Dad thought this was the greatest little town they had ever seen and we all had a total blast

 

 

 Dad was in all his glory with all of the historical land marks we got to stop at

This is Montana Moose. One last state along the trip and it was definitely his favourite with all of the wide open spaces he got to run around in when we stopped

One last pit stop State side at the duty free before heading across the border. Moose knew the way.....

And can you believe it......after 5 days in the car, alot of great sight seeing and an overall awesome trip with fabulous memories made, we were finally in Calgary!

One very busy summer.....part 1

This spring and summer has been nuts for the Kaiser's. Not only was I working non-stop to finish up my PhD, Chris was working like mad and all we seemed to do was travel. Starting in May Chris and I flew to Calgary for job interviews. Following the visit I was offered a great job at the University of Calgary and Chris got all set up with a dream position starting his own clinic. We are both do excited to be starting this new adventure and moving to Calgary!!! So we are officially going to be Alberta bound on August 13th!

After Calgary we drove up to Atlanta to visit the Nocera's in their new digs. We miss having these guys in Gainesville with us so much so it was great to see them and catch up:) We had a lot of fun sight seeing, eating yummy food and going to a braves games.

Brave's game.....Nicky is about to pop!

The vortex. The boys choice from Man vs Food

Out for a great dinner downtown Atlanta

Following that trip I flew to San Francisco for a conference. It was a short lived trip but I managed to squeeze in some sight seeing.

Sea lions that looked like Moose

Fisherman's wharf

On a full house street car. Definitely the highlight of my trip!

After returning from that trip it was time to buckle down even harder and get ready for my PhD defense on June 19. It was pretty intense year leading up to this day. The defense went really well and I was very happy an relieve following. I had a room full of great friends and a lot of support so that made things easier. Most importantly, I couldn't have done it without my hubs. He was so supportive and definitely kept me sane. Without him I probably would have eaten popcorn for dinner every night and been living in a mess.

Here are some pics post defense:)

with Kimmy immediately post-defense!

My #1 fan and support system.....aka best hubs ever!

The Perfect Day!

August 13th 2011 will remain near and dear to Chris and I's hearts forever. It was absolutely the perfect day in every way. We had amazing weather and everything went smoothly, on time (just how I like it) and off without a hitch! It was a dream come true to have both or our families and all of our friends in one place. Multiple people commented on the amount of love they felt in the room throughout the day and to me that was the greatest compliment we ever could have received. I know I certainly felt it!

I am finally Mrs. Kelly Kaiser and couldn't be more proud!

June 2011

In an effort to continue on my quest to make up for lost time here is what happened in June of 2011.....it was a busy month!

We started our travels off by heading to Chris's hometown of Calgary for Darcy and Amanda's wedding. We decided to make life really exciting for the Kaiser's by having both of the sons get married within 3 months of one another.....aren't we sweet haha. The wedding was absolutely gorgeous and a great chance for us to get to catch up with a lot of family and friends.

We went to Banff for the day.....I was clearly missing Moose back home!

We got to catch up with two of our fave Calgarians Tara and Paul

The handsome boys

The happy and beautiful couple:)

Calgary was such a great trip and so exciting to have another Kaiser wedding so full of love! It was also an exciting time for me to meet a lot of the Kaiser/MacQuarrie crew that I hadn't met yet. Chris and I left Calgary very tired, happy and with one more sister:)

Next up we came back to Gainesville for a short period of time and the head out to New Orleans for the National Athletic Trainers conference. We were able to sneak some work in at the conference and a whole lot of fun on the side. I also got to catch up with one of my dearest friends from my days in Miami.

Proof of my nerdy PhD life

Kristin and I <3

Chris and I both really liked New Orleans. It is a very fun place to visit and there are endless wonderful places to eat and interesting people to see......however, it STINKS (literally) they patrol bourbon street on horseback and you can definitely smell it!

Overall, Chris and I ended June exhausted and VERY tired of travelling.....we also really missed being home with our Moose man. After New Orleans we went on lock down and tried to get some rest before the wedding. I also had to prepare to qualify for candidacy for my PhD.......this is the scariest and hardest step in the degree.....but that will take us into my next post for July 2011:)

May 2011

So I have a lot of making up to do in the blog world. I feel terrible that I fell off the blogging wagon right as life was getting exciting! I guess that is what happens when you are travelling non-stop, preparing for a wedding and trying to finish the final year of your PhD right? That is the excuse I am going to go with anyways:)

So over the next week or two....maybe three I am going to try and catch back up and get back into blogging:)

Here is what happened in May of 2011: I travelled home to Ontario for the most amazing wedding shower and stagette hosted by my nearest and dearest! The wedding shower was hosted by my Mum and Aunt's Linda and Sharon. It was absolutely wonderful and full of all of the ladies in my life who have made me into the Kelly Larkin (now Kaiser) I have become! Here are a few pictures from the special day.

 All of the girls

The adorable cake!

One of my favourite guests, Cala!

The following weekend I was spoiled rotten by my girlfriends with the most creative and fabulous Stagette! This stagette was a "house crawl" through some of the most influential parts of my life. I will start at the beginning at Melissa's house. This is where we all gathered to start our adventure!

These girls went all out and even made the most adorable shirts as you can see. Chris loved the little touch "Best served on a Kaiser". This tee is definitely a keepsake that I will adore for alot of years to come!

Next stop was Carrie's house and took me down memory lane and back to Chicopee ski club. These girls definitely were clever and thought of everything!

Another one of my guests of honour! The Sut man:)

The next stop on the crawl was Lauren's house. This was a trip back to St. James High School and our glory days.....we even drank rum and diet......definitely not as good as we used to think it was haha

Next up was my current life in Florida at Mary's house as a Florida gator!

Finally we went back to Melissa's house, a little tipsy perhaps, and played some games. This night was absolutely one I will never forget. It was a great walk down memory lane and I did what I love most, which is spending quality time with my favourite ladies. My Ontario Bridesmaids gave me a wonderful gift of pearl earrings in that little blue box that every girl loves. These will definitely be earrings that I treasure always. (my reaction below)

I left Ontario the next day feeling like the most spoiled and loved lady on earth:) I definitely didn't expect getting married to be full of such constant celebration and attention. I'm not usually one that enjoys being the centre of attention but I have to admit these were some of my favourite days of life yet!