*Orlando Florida: Microsoft Tech Ed, NASA *The Oregon Coast and *Columbus Ohio...

I figured instead of doing 3 separate post, I'd just put them all together, seeing to the fact all this happened in one week! So Fair warning to all - this is a long post -but a good read-

(I think!)...

Last week was packed full of all sorts of fun. Tyson left last Sunday for a whole week to work for Intel in Orlando Florida at a convention called Microsoft Tech Ed. This is a convention where a whole bunch of technology companies invite over 12,000 people to see the latest and greatest thing that is coming from the tech companies. Tyson was there to support a technology called vPro that his group supports.

The first thing Tyson saw when he got into Orlando was a sign in the Airport welcoming IT Professionals to TechEd.

The convention ran from Tuesday - Friday. Tyson got into Orlando on Sunday night so that he could get all the computers set up and tested on Monday before the show opened.

After setting the computers up, Tyson and his co-workers rented a car and went to see NASA in Cape Canaveral. It was awesome. You do not realize just how big the shuttle and NASA are until you are right in front of it.

Although they don't let you get too close for obvious reasons, one thing that he did get a good picture of was the crawler that they use to transport the shuttle assembly to the pad.

NASA Launch Pad

NASA was fun, and there would be more time to play. One really cool thing about being at TechEd is that it is such a large convention. In fact, it is only held once every two years. One of the cooler things at the convention happened Thursday night. Microsoft actually rents out Universal Studios Orlando and only convention attendees are allowed in. He had a really fun time and everything was free while he was there...the food, drinks, even the carnival games. The only thing you have to pay for is souvenirs if you want them.

During the four days of the convention, Tyson spent almost all of his time in the Intel booth. He was asked all kind of questions and had to think quickly on his feet.

(My AMAZING, Handsome Husband!!)

Over all, the convention was great, but Tyson was super excited to get home. He says that he isn't old enough to be traveling for work yet.


Jen's trip to the beach
While Tyson was off working, Jen was off hanging out with some of Tyson's family. Tyson was missed, but we still had a ton of fun! Tyson's sister Amy planned a wonderful trip out at the Oregon coast in 'Lincoln City'. Family consisted of myself, Amy's family, Emily's family minus Bryan who was missed too, Tanner and Michelle. I have been out to Lincoln city tons of times, but this trip was definitely one of my favorites! Thanks to Amy we stayed in a fabulous gorgeous beach house. We hung out and relaxed, shopped at the outlet mall, played on the beach, I took lots of pictures and of course we ate yummy food!
With out a doubt I have the BEST and CUTEST nephews and nieces! They enjoyed the beach house just as much as we did. We were lucky and had a nice big hot tub that the kids just loved!
Off to the beach to find some treasures...
The kids loved beach combing and found some very fun shells and rocks.Beautiful girls with some Fun findings!
I love Emily and Amy!
My brother -in laws Tanner and Eric rented wet suits and surf boards and ventured out into the freezing Oregon Coast Water and they had a great time!

Beautiful Sunset from the deck of our beach house.

My beach trip was so much fun and I love being able to hangout with Tyson's family, I missed Tyson and felt bad he couldn't be with us, but I think I had enough fun for the both of us. Tyson's sisters are so great and I always have the best time when I am with them. The only thing that would have made it even better was to have Brandon, Mandy and her family, Sara and her family and Mom and Dad Crow with us and it would have been the most perfect trip. But this just means we will have to plan another trip!

Thanks Amy and family, Emily and family, Tanner and Michelle for making this such an awesome trip, I Love You!

Trip to Columbus Ohio

So while Tyson was still in Orlando, I headed to Columbus Ohio for the weekend where I went to find us housing for the fall.

My weekend started when I got on the airplane Friday morning, my flight took me to St.Louis Missouri before going to Columbus. The reason for telling this, is because my amazing friend Valerie who just happens to be living in St.Louis right now, got a ticket to come along with me so I wouldn't be alone on my housing hunt. My flight picked up Valerie and together we flew into Columbus. After sitting in the plane for over an hour due to thunderstorms, we were finally able to take off and we get to Columbus. We got our luggage and rental car, checked into our hotel and then went and found the Cheesecake factory for a really late dinner that was really good! Saturday morning I woke up anxious because I had no idea what I would be in for. For the past month or so, we've been on the hunt for places to live in Columbus and right by the University, we knew we wanted to live in a place called "Clintonville", so that's where I narrowed my search. Thanks to craigslist when I got to Columbus I had 3 appointments, yes only 3. I was hoping one of the three would be great or even just okay. 

So... House #1 : I wanted this place before I left for Columbus, and well, it was fabulous. I had actually seeing lots of pictures online and really liked the place, and the owner was super nice, it was clean and it was right by campus, the only thing was the green cabinets in the kitchen, those would have to go, so while the owner showed us around I asked if we would be able to paint the kitchen and bathroom cabinets and he said he would have to think about, but all in all it was a great house.

House #2 : let me start of by saying that the house looked nothing like the pictures on craigslist and the Realtor informed us that veterinarian students lived in the house with 4 dogs, 6 cats and other animals in cages. We walked in and it was awful! There were dead animal skulls on the fireplace mantel, shot glasses half full of alcohol spilt all over counters and tables, it looked like the house was going to fall apart, the basement was flooded there was HUGE clumps of animal fur EVERYWHERE, it smelled and it was the worst 3.5 minutes of my life. We were in and out of that place as fast as possible, I told the Realtor I'd call him if I were interested - UM, NO CHANCE! When Valerie and I got into the car we vented about how disgusted we were and how we felt like we needed to shower.

House #3 : was better than #2, it was kinda dirty, small, far from campus and on a busy street, so it was a quick look and we were outta there!

Which one did I want, obviously #1, we hurried back to our Hotel and I got online and filled out a rental application for House #1. It was now just a waiting game, so what do you do when you have the whole rest of the day free? That's right you drive to IKEA and also go the best OUTLET MALL in the United States and on top of that you eat at the Cheesecake factory for a late dinner again! The weekend went super fast, and I was anxious the whole time I was in Columbus. Valerie and I both flew out early Sunday morning back to our homes. I made it home to Portland around 4pm, just in time to make it home for Father's day dinner. Late Sunday night I checked my email and found out...that we got the place we wanted!

SO with no further ado...

Welcome to Columbus Ohio

Adorable front porch

Dinning Room

View of the living room

The 'Green' Kitchen...No worries, the owner said I can paint them! Good bye green...hello to an off white color! I will post pictures when the changes take place.

Our cute bathroom

Upstairs hallway - we have three bedrooms!

Our basement - lots of room for storage and it even comes with a washer and dryer.

So there you have it - this is where we will be living for at least the next two years starting at the end of August. It's perfect and we really feel blessed! Ohio State University campus is huge and we are so lucky because this house, is less than half a mile from the side of campus that Tyson's will be on, which he is very happy about. When we get to Columbus and all moved in, I will of course post pictures of what our home looks like!

That was our week!

(And yes...this is the end of the post, phew!)