Mala Mala Island Although Tisa and I didn't have much money left at this point in our time abroad, we did manage to find enough cash to take a nice day trip to some of the smaller islands in Fiji. This one particular island known as Mala Mala couldn't have taken but ten minutes to walk around in it's entirety. The group we were with had plenty for us to drink, and we even got to participate in a Kava ceremony (Kava is a type of pepper root that, when taken in excess, tends to make one hallucinate). I'd have to say that one of my highlights was getting to play guitar for a number of the local Fijians as well as traveling with our hotel neighbor, and our new German friend, Stefanie Fischer (Steffi).

Exploring Sydney On our first real day in Sydney, Australia, we went and visited most of the sights that you would expect most anyone to visit. Top on that list was the Sydney Opera House - definitely one of the more famous performance theaters in the world. After we visited the Opera House, my mom got us tickets on one of those red bus tours that just drives around the city and gives you some history. I for one enjoyed it.

Smashing Pumpking at Stubbs I had been telling Dreux that if he managed to pickup tickets to the Smashing Pumpkins show, that I would happily pay for one of the tickets and go. He came through. I had not seen the Pumpkins play since the late 90s (over a decade at this point) and was genuinely curious to see how they'd sound. While the ending of the show kind of sucked (namely with Billy Corgan going into a 20 minute jam), the opening hour was fantastic. They went through their hits one by one to an extremely enthusiastic audience.

2015 Lovebird Photos Brooke was telling me that it was difficult for her to find photos of the two of us on my website due to the sheer volume of photos that I keep. Never one without a solution and using one of my most favorite features on the site, I created a gallery dedicated to our cuter couple pictures. These stretch a period of many months from all over the place. Yes, we're actually that adorable. I've also submitted this album for one of my very interesting Turk experiments so the Turk captions available on it should eventually prove to be pretty interesting!

Banff and Lake Louise Devin and I had the pleasure of visiting one of the absolutely most spectacular places on the entire planet. We were absolutely in awe of everything that we saw. The only part that made it even more beautiful was getting to share it with one another. The lake, rowing around, photo after photo, and just the most scenic views imaginable made the experience one that we'll remember for the rest of our lives.

Crossing the Straight of Gibraltar I think this was probably one of the more memorable experiences that Ben and I had on this particular trip. We had initially just planned to cross the Straight somewhat haphazardly, but then I realized that you could actually buy tickets that departed precisely at 7pm. With the sunset being about 7:45pm and the trip taking about an hour, I realized that we could actually enjoy a sunset cruise across the Straight. So of course we booked that one and it worked out every bit as wonderfully as we assumed it would. Since neither of us had been to Morocco before and since we were arriving via a fairly industrial method which definitely had more locals than tourists on it, I would say that we had quite the real experience. Most comical to us was that a large line was forming inside of the ship before we actually push away from the shore. We had no idea what this was all about, but once we finally pushed off the mainland, the line opened and we realized that it was customs and immigration. This was undoubtedly the simplest experience with this either of us had ever had. They didn't check anything and just quickly stamped the Morocco stamp at random in each person's passport. There was absolutely no kind of check or questions or any of the typical things one is asked when arriving in a new country.

The STL Treehouse This was a pretty fun project. The Iowa room was built with a loft in it. The room wasn't especially suitable for a loft, but the owner of the house built a loft in each bedroom to create more space. It was built by hand and there was a wooden latter, literally fashioned with 2x4s, that was used to get into the bed. The room also has two giant windows in it and given Jordan's nightshift schedule, it was extremely difficult for her to get any good sleep in there during the day. One evening I quickly drew up some plans one evening, purchased everything I needed at Home Depot, and got to work on a solution. I had already ordered some blackout curtains and so I framed out the top of the loft in the same fashion one would frame out a wall. I ran the wiring into the bed area as necessary, complete with remote controlled switches, and then sealed it shut with the blackout curtains (having to cut them up rather significantly so they'd fit). Finally, there was just a hole where the ladder was and this still let quite a bit of light bleed through. So I fashioned a trap door out of MDF, added a pulley and a counter-weight, and voila, the Treehouse was born. It provided a wonderful, comfortable, and dark quarters for sleeping and I'm told helped Jordan's sleep rather significantly.

Emerson Pope Kevin Ludlow A close-up of one smiling man and one scowling one.

Tracy Adams Abbi Graves Two young women talk while sitting in a decorated waited room with several chairs. Both young women are Caucasian and have short length medium brown hair. One wears brown sandals, blue jeans, and a blue floral on brown background blouse over a blue shell. She has a large, clunky bracelet on her wrist and a light brown purse on her arm. She is sitting sideways in her chair with one leg folded under her and the other bent at the knee. She is facing the second woman who is holding a bottle of water in her lap with one hand and has the other hand behind her head. Two two women are sitting in a waiting room or reception area with several green leather or vinyl upholstered seats which have purses of different sizes and colors re3sting on them. Above them on the green walls are framed photographs of fall river scenes. Two women who have decided to make the most of their wait to see a doctor.

Amy LaViolette Dreux LaViolette Tracy Adams Three people in holiday costume at an outdoor Christmas Party One looks asleep on her feet one smiling at camera and one looking drunk