I heart Detroit

I finally made it to Detroit with Emily to see Sarah.  It was the perfect trip, just a little too short.  I can't wait to go back and explore some more.  Detroit is an amazing city and I am fascinated by the history.  Thank you so much Sarah & Co. for a perfect trip!

Puerto Rico

We went to Puerto Rico at the end of January and it was fabulous.  We went with some friends and totally enjoyed ourselves.  It was totally last minute and it totally exceeded my expectations.

We went hiking in the jungle.
It rained almost the entire time.  It as so much fun.

We went to the island Vieques and found a fabulous beach.

That little boat behind us is a boat and a plane.  Basically one of the coolest things I have ever seen.
 It flew right over us and landed in the water and then took off a few hours later.

Kevin, Bree, Mitch, Bobby, & Danielle

We went kayaking in the Bioluminescent Bay one night and the water was amazing.
It was bright blue!

This was the van that took us to the Bioluminescent Bay
and I thought we were going to die on the drive there.
Not joking one bit.

 Thank you to the Harrington's and Ahlstrom's for a wonderful trip.

January Randomness

January went by in a blink.   

During the middle of January we went with some of Mitch's classmates skiing at Snowshoe Mountain in West Virginia.  Totally different skiing from the west (super icy!), but it was so much fun!

It snowed 7 inches the day before we got there!  Lucky us.

Emily and I went to Inauguration in January and I failed to take any good pictures.  It was pretty amazing to attend an Inauguration, but it was SUPER freezing and we couldn't get on the metro when it ended, so we walked home!  Thank goodness we only live 5 miles away.

We were really far away.

 January also brought some fabulous weather,
I was even able to ride my bike a few times to work.  

I love my work, I am really going to miss it starting in Mary.

 And how could I forget Mary Kate.  She is the absolute cutest.

Camping

Don't worry, our fire was perfect
 by the end of the night.

We went camping a couple of weeks ago with Ali and Alex to Shenandoah National Park.  It was so fun and I should have taken more pictures, but I didn't.  We hiked, camped, went to the apple festival, ate the most delicious tin foil dinners (the secret is red cabbage) and had the perfect campfire, thanks to everyone but me, while eating smores.  It was the perfect way to celebrate fall.

Our tent.  It's so cute, right?

A little bit of this....And a little bit of that....

I am sure that all of you, my two readers, are dying for an update.  

Here's a little bit of what I have been up to:

1.  I believe that birthdays should be celebrated for an entire week.  Lucky for me, I have helped Mitch realize this too.  Two weeks ago we went with Emily, Miles, and cute Kimball to Founding Fathers and ate so much delicious food.  It was the perfect way to end my birthday week.

Kimball, he loves Mitch.

Ali was kind enough to throw me a little party in the park by the Potomac River.  It was the perfect party.  I ate delicious cake, made by Ali, and chatted with my dearest friends.  I am serious about celebrating birthdays all week long.

(Don't mind my outfit, I was biking home from work.)

2.  I have been working.  Isn't my work door cute?  I wish it was the door to my house.

3.  Going to school.  The picture below is terrible, but I thought I would sneak a picture of my professor during my 4 hour and 40 minute class.  Good thing we talk about the most interesting, no joke, topics in higher education.

4.  Last weekend I met Mitch is Colonial Williamsburg with some friends.  Mitch played golf and I explored William & Mary, I love higher education, and I am a little jealous that I never went to school at William & Mary.

5.  Since Mitch is gone, I spend most of my free time at Andi and Nicci's house.  Andi introduced me to the Bachelorette this week and I was immediately entertained.

(Trying to convince Andi that her HW is overrated.)

Hope everyone is enjoying their 24th of July in Utah.  Happy Pioneer Day!

Coldplay + Birthday.

I am back in DC, Mitch is back in Charlotte, our family is in Salt Lake.  How sad for us, luckily I was welcomed back to DC with Coldplay tickets.  It was amazing.  Thank you to Andi and Bree for singing and dancing with me on my birthday at Coldplay.  I want to go again and again.  The concert was definitely the highlight of my day yesterday, especially after a red eye flight on Sunday night.  

They handed out these wristbands at the beginning of the concert and the lit up during the show.  Seriously awesome.  

Andi, Me, & Bree (Dancing, of course)

 

Kunz Family.

Ava.  I love her.

Fischer.
Don't worry he's not afraid of me anymore.

I spent Friday with Megan and her kids while Mitch was golfing with my Dad.  (Golf and I don't get along very well.)  I am so happy that Megan no longer lives in the Midwest.  Now every time I come home, I get to see her.  We ate delicious tacos at Lone Star and cookies from the Sweet Tooth Fairy, it was just like we were back in Rochester.  

Eating and hanging out.   

A Christmas.

Can you believe that Christmas has come and gone? I can't. Time always seems to slip right before my eyes. I wasn't prepared for Christmas and some how it just came right up and vanished. Christmas was wonderful. I am always so happy to be home in Utah with people that I love and cherish.

Here are some of the highlights of our trip to Utah:

Feeding the homeless. This is something that we do every single year. This year was different. I can't explain it. We went to a different shelter and the need was more apparent than ever. It was truly eye opening. I have never experienced something like that in Utah.

We spent Christmas Eve Eve, as my Dad likes to call it, with my Dad, Rhonda and Chase. We ate the most delicious salmon dinner and watched a movie. A Crookston tradition that I look forward to every year.

Christmas Eve with the Henriods. Full of fabulous, delicious food, singing, dancing and lots of laughter.

Christmas morning, it was such a joy to watch all of our nieces/nephews experience Santa. The Joel Henriod family got a dog, there was much excitement.

After a few minutes with the Henriods we went to over to my Grandma Bev's house. This is one of my most favorite Christmas traditions. A small house full of a lot people. People are standing/sitting in every square inch. Waffles, quiche, oj and of course bacon and butter (lots of butter). And a lot of joy and happiness. I love this part of Christmas. I love being at home full of all my childhood memories.

We headed back over to the Henriods to spend our afternoon with Mitch's family. All the siblings were there. Once again, we ate delicious food and enjoyed ourselves.

Christmas night was spent with my Mom at my Grandma Mary's house. This is also a Christmas tradition with my family that I look forward to every year. There is always a little drama and a lot of love. My Grandma is legally blind and I love to sit by her as she opens presents and tell her who each present if from.

Christmas was a success. Our first year of marriage, we spent Christmas at 11 different places and it was terrible. I think that Mitch was doubting his decision to ever go home for the holidays again. This year, we and all our family, were able to enjoy all of Christmas.

The rest of the break was filled with my favorite food (Bombay House, the Dodo, Tony Caputos (twice), Jolley's candy, nachos (how can one go to Utah and not eat nachos?!!), Sawadee and Red butte), a day at Alta, Make-up Club (aka Food Club), high school friends brunch, lots of needed running with SJ K-Ville, hiking with Rach, time with my mom, breakfast with Lara (I feel so lucky that we actually were able to meet!) a day with Rich cousins at IKEA (I can't believe they talked me into going!), long nights (never went to bed before midnight), movies, games with the Soffe's, a New Year's Eve that wasn't terrible and all-in-all a great time.

And now I am back to reality. Work is busy. It's somehow cold outside, I almost feel like I am back in Rochester, and I start school in three weeks. My heart skips a beat or two every time I think about it. I can't decide if I am nervous or excited or just a little of both.

I hope that all of your holidays were filled with a lot love, a lot joy and as little drama as possible.

Andi.

Lucky for me, Andi is here. I was lucky enough to see her on Saturday night. We ate delicious Thai food, talked politics and fell in love with DC, again. And I got to see Jill. It was a perfect way to end my Saturday.

More pictures to come from Prom. It was oh so fun!

Boo.

(This is the movie I watched for over an hour on the treadmill, I didn't see the ending but loved the 80's clothes through the entire movie. And it was the perfect way to start off my Halloween weekend.)

Happy Halloween! Who doesn't love HALLOWEEN? I seriously love it. Reasons why I love Halloween:

1. The best excuse all year to eat loads and loads of candy. I love baby Twix the very most. And of course Tootsie Rolls, I craved them on my mission.
2. A great excuse to dress up. My best costumes were in college. There were many instances of dressing up as pigs with much pride.
3. Trick-o-Treating. Tonight, I get to go with the Kunz's family. I am so excited.
4. Did I mention that I can eat all the candy I want without feeling the least bit guilty?

Weekend Update:

This weekend was the best, the BEST. Seriously the best. Rach and John were here. The Kunz family is still here.

First, I have to mention that I ran 8.4 miles on the treadmill this Saturday. This might be one of the biggest accomplishments of my life, seriously. You might think I am joking, I'm not. I usually have a breakdown on the treadmill by at least mile three. It was raining like crazy outside and Teen Witch was on TV. Also, I have a half marathon in two weeks and my longest run in months has been six miles. Lets just hope I finish the half, let us all hope.

On Saturday we went to the American History Museum and I loved it. It might be my favorite museum on the Mall. We saw the American Flag. It was beautiful, I am proud to be an American. We also saw Dorthy's shoes. They are full of fabulous red sparkles, I would really love to try them on. We saw Julia Child's Kitchen, I would love to have so many elements of her kitchen. I especially loved her copper pans and her stove. And we saw the First Lady's Dresses. They are so exciting. My favorites were Jackie Kennedy's and Mary Lincoln's.

We also went to the Phillips Gallery on Saturday and it was well worth the $10. They have a Degas exhibit. I identify so much with these paintings because of my love for dance. I am fascinated by how well Degas captured the movement of dance in a painting.

Sunday we went to hear Ali and Alex speak, best sacrament meeting ever. I didn't even fall asleep and that is a really big accomplishment for me. I am so glad they are my friends.

And we got lucky enough to go to a Raven's game in Baltimore. Rach's really good friend, Christina lives there and her husband plays for the team. It was really exciting and I don't even like football. Mitch was in HEAVEN. After the game we went to the family area and watched all the players walk out of the locker room. I even saw Michael Oher, just really exciting.

Rach left today and yes, I already miss her. She is the best. Lucky for me, the Kunz family doesn't leave until Thursday and Andi comes Friday. I can't wait to play all weekend long.

One last thing....it snowed on Saturday, real BIG snowflakes fell continually from the sky. Crazy October weather, good thing I was able to ride my bike into work today. The sky is perfectly blue without a cloud in the sky.

Happy Halloween! I hope you all eat lots of candy and wear a fabulous costume.

Missing.

I might be obsessed with this little baby Fischer.

It's true. I already miss Rochester. I never thought I would miss Rochester this much. Mitch and I had the best, simplest, and most relaxed life in Rochester. We played lots of games, even watched lots of TV (I didn't become obsessed with shows until I got married) and made the greatest friends in the world. The people of Rochester saved me. When I moved to Rochester my life went from complete chaos full of work, family, friends, more work and a million other things to a life full of lots of time. I am truly grateful for Rochester. My heart will always hold a special place for my people in Rochester.

Mitch's parents, Paul and Shelley, came and helped us move.

They were so kind to come and help.
We had so much fun with them.

The Kunz's!
We love them so much.
They taught us the ways of Minnesota.
They introduced us to Punch Pizza, Brasa, Lumberjack days and much more.
I really miss them.

The Bedke's.
Basically we laughed the entire time we where with them.
Brent is hilarious and Penn is the cutest little baby.

Sarah, Adelaide, Kris, Penn, Laura and Elli. Cute Sarah threw us a goodbye party before we left.

This is the Black's.
We spent lots of quality time with them, even went on a little trip to Nauvoo last summer.

This is the Swapps.
Jen, the mom, ran miles and miles and miles with me last summer while I trained for Grandma's marathon and she wasn't even training. It was awesome.

This is the Paulsens. I love them so much.

Meet Liam and Kai. I jumped more on the trampoline with them than I have during my entire life. I loved being their nanny. We spent lots of time playing outside and superheros. I was always the evil witch. Liam (in orange) and I had lots of quality time together while Kai napped most afternoons. He has the most precious little voice.

Happy Birthday Bridgett. Her cake is amazing. Her birthday was right before we left.

This cake has nothing to do with us leaving, I just love her cake.
Bridgett's husband gave her this cake and I love it.

Easter and Chicago

We went to Chicago for Easter. It was fabulous. We stayed up way too late, ate way too much and highly enjoyed ourselves. We ate at Kumos Corner and went to the Botanic Gardens.

Mitch and Me at the Botanic Gardens. It was beautiful.

Mitch, Jonny,Jenny, Liz, Kimball and Mike

I love Kimball's face in this picture.

Happy Easter!

Eleven Years.

Thank you Laura.

Happy anniversary to me.

(Sorry the picture is horrible, it's all I have.)

Ice Skating

Thank you to the Kunz family for taking us ice skating, it was rather enjoyable.

(Sorry for the quality of the picture, taken with Mitch's phone.)

Thanksgiving

(Isn't William so so so so cute?)

I have some catching up to do. First, over Thanksgiving we went to visit Sarah, Ben & Co. We were so happy to visit them, it's such a comfort to have good friends in the midwest. Sarah and I cooked Thanksgiving dinner and were so exhausted by the time we ate. It was so much fun. Thank you to Sarah and Ben for such a fun visit.

Guess Who Came to Visit?

If you guessed Rach and Ash, you are correct. Rach and Ash came on Monday to visit, it was a complete surprise. Mitch was in on the entire plan. I was so happy to have them here. They left tonight and I was sad the second Mitch and I dropped them off at the airport. We had a great time. We went to Chicago to see Rach's new niece, went to St. Paul/Minneapolis, went to Oxbow Zoo with Megan and co., Rachel took a billion pictures and I showed them around wonderful Rochester.

I already miss them.

Happy weekend.

Happy Halloween!

We had a little Halloween party last night with some friends. We carved pumpkins, Mitch and I carved a Jazz pumpkin for the third year in a row, and ate delicious treats. It was great. Here are the costumes:

Mitch was email (the letter E + he is a male) & I was a clock.

Nate & Briana

Mike & Andrea

Cute cute Ava. We are so glad that the Kunz are back.

Shad & Audrey

Happy Halloween! I hope that your Halloween is very scary.