Falling Water

A friend recommended to me to go to Falling Water, located outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, before we left.  And it was absolutely stunning, worth the entire three hour drive.  This might be one of my favorite things we did while in DC.  I was completely amazed at the beauty of the home.  

Nauvoo & Canada

A few months ago (April) Mitch and I went to Nauvoo to see the Sacred Grove and Joseph Smith's home.  It was a remarkable experience.  After a quick visit to Nauvoo we went to see Niagara Falls.  It was amazing and so incredibly cold.  We stayed in Niagara Falls for the night and headed up to Toronto to visit my cousin Adam.  We went to this fabulous market in Toronto and we had the best spaghetti sauce in the entire world.   It was red sauce mixed with pesto and I wish I had more.

Mitch at the Sacred Grove

Me in the Sacred Grove

Niagara Falla, view from our hotel room

Three Fabulous Years

The Perfect Christmas Tree

We celebrated our third wedding anniversary on November 24th by buying the world's smallest Christmas tree for our tiny apartment and driving home from New York.  It was perfect.  I love Mitch with all my heart and I have no idea how I would survive without him.  He makes me better every single day.

Happy Birthday Mitch!

We finished celebrating Mitch's birthday this past week, here's how...

Homemade Strawberry Ice Cream.  First of the season.

Trifle,  Mitch's favorite dessert.

Happy Birthday Mitch.  I love him so much.

Mitch turned 29 on Wednesday, we are getting so old!  We celebrated by eating at Pupatella, it's just as delicious as Punch in the Twin Cities, and ended the night with Trifle.  I love Mitch so much and I can't imagine my life without him.

 Our weekend update:

DC Temple.
(We don't know the people in the picture, just happened to be standing there.)

Baby Sam and Shelley.
We are going to be so sad when Shelley leaves this week.
We are obsessed with Baby Sam.

Weekend project #1.
I finally recovered our chairs with the help of Shelley and Abby.
Can you tell which one is new?

Project #2.  Still working on hanging up pictures 13 months after we moved in.

Besides projects and holding babies, we had a sleepover with Abby, Jason, and Shelley - I felt like I was 10 and loved it, ate a lot of food, and got caught in an awesome/terrible/typical DC rain shower.  We are really good at eating, we went to eat brunch at the Carlyle in Shirlington and I took Abby and Shelley to the Dairy Godmother in Del Ray.  It was a fabulous weekend.

Happy Monday. 

The White Duck Taco Shop

Weekend Two in Charlotte was fabulous.  Friday night we ate at The Cowfish, so delicious.  

Saturday we woke up early and drove to Lake Lure and hiked  Chimney Rock. It was beautiful, I love the mountains.  After hiking we drove to Asheville, North Carolina and ate at the most amazing taco place in the world, The White Duck Taco Shop.  It was recommended and totally worth the drive.  We went to a market in Asheville and drove around the city.  It's a totally hip town right in the middle of nowhere. 

Sunday we went to church and then went to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.  I am turning into my Dad.  I even shed a tear during a video at the museum.  I might have a new love for NASCAR!  Ha.

Charlotte is a pretty amazing city.  

Charlotte + Charleston = New found love for the South

So I wasn't awesome and forgot to bring a camera with me to Charlotte and Charleston.  Thank goodness for my iPhone or I would have no pictures in my life.

Mitch is spending the summer in Charlotte, North Carolina working and I went to visit him this weekend.  I loved it.  I think I could live in the south FOREVER.  We started off the weekend by eating, of course.  The food was delicious, I had grits for the second time in my life and loved them.

On Saturday morning we tried to wake up early and failed.  I slept in.  We finally made it out the door and drove to Charleston, South Carolina.  Charleston is a beautiful, old city with so much history.  (The civil war was started there.  If you ever want random facts, you should walk around a new place with Mitch or his Dad.  They know everything and don't forget anything.  It's totally impressive.)  We went to the beach in Charleston, the water was about 100 degrees and there were so many people everywhere.  (Random fact:  37% of young adults have tattoos. The reason I bring this up is because Mitch and I were the only people on the beach without a tattoo.)  Mitch and I hung out at the beach and then went running.  

Saturday night we walked along the old part of Charleston.  Can you see the cool bring in the background?  It's beautiful.  We drove across it to go to the beach.  Charleston is full of historic, huge houses.    After we walked around the entire old part of the city, we ate delicious pizza and shared ice cream. 

Sunday we enjoyed some more of Charleston and then drove back to Charlotte.  I can't wait to explore Charlotte next weekend.  

(Picture from our hotel room in Charleston.)

Mitch = Summer

I am sure you are all dying to know where Mitch is going this summer for his internship.....

We are excited!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Mitch!
I love you so.
You make me happy every day.
And you make me laugh all the time.

Love.

S & P

St. Andrews

These two pictures pretty much sum up St. Andrews.
Mitch played golf and I was his caddy.
This was our favorite part of the trip. We LOVED St. Andrews.

London

Mitch in front of Westminster Abbey, isn't his beard awesome!!

I have been meaning to document for months. We loved London! I could live there. There are so many places in London that bring such great memories to me. (I spent a summer there in college.) Mitch and I did most everything we wanted to do, we got to see Wicked! I loved it and so did Mitch.

I also took Mitch to see the Peter Pan Statue in Hyde Park (see below), my absolute favorite part of the park. We ate lots of Indian food, I honestly think that nothing beats the Bombay House. We went to museums, a lot of them. Mitch has an amazing memory and still remembers all the small, important details from his art history class in college. It was very nice to have him as a companion. We also went to see Lion King and we got lucky enough to sit in a box seat. Mitch's favorite part of London was the Churchill Museum, we spent all day in there. Overall, we loved London!

A Balloon Ride.

We went on a balloon birthday ride a few weeks ago.

It was fabulous.

Thank you to Mitch for a great birthday.

Grandma KK

(KK and Mitch's Uncle Steve at our wedding)

Mitch's grandma passed away last week. We loved her so much and already miss her.

Kathryn Smith Barrett "Kaye" June 15, 1918 ~ March 09, 2011 Kaye died peacefully in her sleep, completing a life characterized by spunk, wit, and charm. As she said, “It’s hard to get dead,” and we are glad she is comfortable at last. She was born in Salt Lake City, where she lived most of her life and raised her family. She attended West High School, and was proud, in 1935, to be the first woman recipient of an award for outstanding scholarship given by the Salt Lake Tribune. Following high school she loved the years she spent at the University of Utah. She made dear friends in her sorority, Pi Beta Phi, serving as president and continuing that association after graduation. The national sorority awarded her membership in the Diamond Arrow Society for 75 years of membership. She excelled scholastically and was a member of the honor society Phi Kappa Phi. She was heard to remark, “How can I have a Phi Kappa Phi award on the wall and have such a messy house.” She always preferred reading to cleaning. She was the most devoted fan of the Bookmobile and had a deal with the driver to get the newest books. There were ten stacked by her bed and she always read the last chapter first to make sure they were worthy of her time. On August 21, 1941 she married E. LeVerl Barrett and enjoyed 68 years of companionship with him. In 1956 they purchased a little cinder block cabin in Alta, Utah, that became a dearly beloved gathering place. All of her children learned to identify the wildflowers she loved in Albion Basin, with new generations now loving Indian paintbrush and Fremont geraniums. And they learned to ski. She served as the president of the Salt Lake Medical Auxiliary, and had many callings in the LDS church among them serving in the primary and as President of Young Women’s. Her playwriting skills brought “The Land of Dreams Come True” to the “roadshow” stage. While serving as its editor for many years, she made the ward Newsletter worth reading. She wanted it said that she loved her family, her friends, and Alta. Her family includes five children: Stephen Barrett (Daryl Cameron), Bruce Barrett (Kaye Anderson), Kathleen Barrett Petty (Charles), Lane Barrett (Kathleen Collins) Shelley Barrett Henriod (Paul); 21 grandchildren, and 18 great-grandchildren. We are so grateful to Janice, Jenn, Sarah, Kathleen, and Corina for the tender care that enabled Mom to stay in her home. We also acknowledge the staff at Care Source hospice; they were wonderful. In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the Jane Barrett Memorial Fund at the University of Utah College of Architecture +Planning, 375 South 1530 East Room 235, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84112. Funeral services will be held on Monday, March 14, 12 Noon at the Monument Park Ward, 1005 South 2000 East. Friends may call Sunday evening from 5 to 7 PM at Larkin Sunset Lawn, 2350 East 1300 South, and again Monday morning one hour prior to the services at the ward.

Happy One Year to Us.

Happy Anniversary to Mitch.

I love Mitch more and more every day. How lucky I am.

And Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

Utah Jazz

Dear Utah Jazz,

Please have a good season, not for me but for my husband and all the Crookston cousins. When you lose, my husband's heart breaks into a million pieces. He gets anxiety and can't focus/talk/think about anything else.

I love you.

Love,

The wife of your biggest fan.

Mitch = 27th Birthday

Happy Birthday.

You make me happy every day.

I love you.

His broken heart

The JAZZ broke Mitch's heart again.
Here is proof of Mitch's love for the Jazz.
This was his cake at our wedding.
We do love the Jazz.

Sleep well.

Loves,

Sj

(And oh, thanks to CJ for making Mitch's cake, it was perfect.)

The Master's

(Image above is where my husband has been since 1:30 pm. He hasn't moved. His eyes are fixed to the t.v. and he is thrilled the Phil Mickelson has had two eagles today.)

We have been watching the Master's at our house today. Mitch says this is his favorite day of the year.

We love the Master's.

Happy Saturday.

Go Jazz.

Last night Mitch and I went to the Jazz game against the Timberwolves in Minneapolis. It's just a short drive, so we thought we would support the Jazz. (Mitch LOVES the Jazz almost more than anything!)

Too bad they lost.

Mitch.

Happy weekend to us.

Minnesota

Two weeks ago Mitch and I drove to our new home in Minnesota.

On the way we stopped to see these two in Nebraska. I miss them so much,

I can't wait to be only five hours away from them!

Welcome to Minnesota!

I am not exactly sure what this is, perhaps a water tower?

This is a picture of the city-center. It really is much cooler than it looks. Mitch is still in Minnesota, I miss him so much.

This picture is not from Minnesota...

but I still wanted to post it, because I miss Mitch.

Mitch gave me these flowers when we got engaged. They are beautiful.

Did I mention I miss Mitch?

I