And the final decision is....

 

 
 

University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles

After much interviewing, visiting, debating, praying, crying (okay only one of us cried, and I bet you can guess which one of us it was), and praying again, we have decided to attend USC in Los Angeles, California. Ultimately, USC offered the best combination of scholarships, programs for both of us, long-term flexibility, etc. And the prospect of sunshine and the ocean didn't hurt either ;). Now those of you who really know us know that we are not well suited for big city living.... so what are we going to do about that?! We'll definitely be downsizing a bit from our spacious house in Provo, but we're excited about the prospects of living in the Pasadena/Alhambra area. South Pasadena specifically is on the light rail that runs straight to downtown/USC main campus (the law school for Kelsey) and is within biking distance of the medical campus (the PT program for Jord). Yep, we're going to be on different campuses, but they're pretty close and if we live in South Pasadena area we're optimistic that we can both get to school without commuting in a car on the hell-ish (woops!) freeways of LA.

[exhibit A]

 We also drove through Pasadena and loved the colorful bungalows, green hills (they don't really merit "mountain" status after living at the base of the Rockies so long), cooler weather, relative quiet, and small-town feel of the community. Now we just have to find a place-- and we welcome your tips!

 

Here's to a new adventure :). We should be moving in early August, after attending the wedding of these two lovebirds:

Congratulations to Katie (my lil sis) and Taylor for their wonderful engagement and upcoming nuptials! We couldn't be more thrilled for them :).