Visiting Aaron in Vegas

Aaron has been living in Las Vegas doing an internship with Allegiant Air since the beginning of the summer. It was a Friday afternoon at work, and at the last minute we decided to drive down to Vegas for the weekend since it was probably our last chance to go visit Aaron - and we're so glad we did! 

We ate dinner at the Firefly in downtown Vegas... which is a completely different world than the strip! I hadn't been to Vegas since high school... and didn't even realize that the "Old Vegas" really even existed! Then we headed to the Bellagio to go watch the awesome water show. 

If you can't tell by my sweating face in the picture... Vegas is SO hot, not only during the day, but it was about 102 degrees at 11:00 at night! Definitely something I'm not used to, but we enjoyed walking around anyway :)

It was so much fun to see where Aaron has been living for the past few months and having him show us around town. Thanks for the great time, Aaron! 

Brianhead With the Yagers

Our friends, Kiel and Emily, invited us down to Emily's family condo in Brianhead in mid-July. It was a fun little weekend getaway from the work week. I hadn't really spent much time in Southern Utah, and I was loving the beautiful views of the red rock! It's funny to think that this place actually gets lots of snow in the winter! 

The scenery on the way to our hike totally reminded me of the movie Cars. Haha. 

We drove a couple hours to go on a hike where we thought we'd find a waterfall at the end. But instead....

we got caught in the middle of a rain/hail storm in the middle of the desert! What are the chances? So even though we didn't find a waterfall at the end of the hike, we definitely saw several after the rainstorm! Even though the hail was a little harsh on the skin, we definitely had some great laughs afterward. 

Group picture at the top of the Brianhead resort summit. 

We spent our nights watching movies and playing lots of cards - we're going to miss them when they move to D.C. this fall! Thanks for the great trip, guys. :)

Memorial Day Weekend

For Memorial Day weekend, Emily and Kiel invited us to drive down to L.A. with them to stay at his parent's house for the weekend. Normally I'm not a huge fan of driving long distances, but we figured we might as well seize the opportunity :) The drive didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought. Thanks for driving, Kiel!

All of us at Tito's Taco -- some of the best taco's I've ever tasted. Thanks to Jon Yager for the picture!

We made a stop at the Getty Museum, which has amazing views of the whole Los Angeles area, and some of the most beautiful gardens I've ever seen. Definitely a place I'd go back to!

Nick and I at Tito's

Other than driving around Bel Air, Hollywood, and Malibu, we spent a lot of time at their backyard pool (which has awesome lighting at night, as you can see), and making s'mores at the fire pit. And the best part is that the weather was always at a perfect 72 degrees! And also, my other favorite part was the Yager's dog, Tigger and his batman ears. I go through dog withdrawals when I don't have one at home with me! 

On our way back from California, we got to stop in Vegas to go to dinner with Aaron who is living there to do an internship for the summer. It was so good to see him, and he's definitely about 10x as tan as I am! 

Thanks again, Emily and Kiel, for the great weekend!

The Start of Summer.... Sort Of

Wow. It's been awhile. And although summer should have officially started, Nick and I are still in school for about another two weeks -- I figure it can't be that bad when it's even still snowing outside :)

The family was in town to help Aaron move out of his apartment after graduation, so of course we had to document it with a family pic. 

One of the many reasons that I love my dad -- he loves "variety" (as he always says). haha. So as you can see, he has two cups full of tiny sample cups of frozen yogurt, and one cup full of a few spoonful of toppings. Let's just say we had a good laugh about it :)

We headed to Durango to see Nick's family for Mother's Day weekend -- a few pictures from our walk down on the ranch....

The first and probably the last time I'll ever see Nick on a tractor. At first I thought he'd be a little out of his element, but I could tell he secretly liked playing with the big boy toy. haha. He was a good sport to help out for the day. 

We decided to get out and enjoy the first real weekend of summer weather, so we went to the driving range with Kiel and Emily. I learned two things: Nick has a really good golf swing and I really don't. I'm going to have to brush up on my golf skills! 

The boys and their clubs ....

This one's for Emily :)

Hopefully the weather will continue to stay warm and not bring anymore snow!!

Milwaukee

I had a few days between the end of finals and when spring classes started up again and since I found a great deal on a ticket to Milwaukee, I couldn't resist going to visit my sister and her cute family for a few days.

 I was so excited to finally meet my niece, Charlotte, who was born last October!

And of course, I couldn't wait to little Eliza who I hadn't seen since last June - she has grown up so much!

We made our first stop at the Milwaukee Zoo - which, surprisingly, is one of the best I've been to. They have every kind of animal you can think of! 

We loved being able to watch the tigers and all the other big cats up close! 

We also made a trip to the Harley Davidson museum in downtown Milwaukee. And despite not being a huge Harley fan, I really like the museum! A must see if you're ever in the area.

 They had motorcycles on display from all the way back in the early 1900's. 

This was the first Harley ever built - all the way back in 1903 - pretty amazing that it's even still intact! And the white lines on the floor show the size of the first shop where they built the bikes. 

Of course, Eliza was thrilled when she spotted the PINK motorcycle. 

And again when we found the pink Harley gear in the "kid's corner" - she even got to play on her own play motorcycle! haha.

Dan was able to take a day off from school to drive down to the outlet malls with us.. where we spent way too much on clothes!  But on the way we stopped at the Jelly Belly factory and got to sample lots of new flavors. 

However, I didn't dare get close to these. In case you can't see the picture.. some of the worst were moldy cheese, rotten egg, booger, canned dog food... you get the idea. 

But Aaron was determined to try every yucky flavor -- and he definitely did. Ew! 

Another favorite part about Milwaukee is that they have awesome malls with every store you could ever want... including H&M (my favorite)! Marissa and I had so much fun shopping together - which doesn't happen every often. And Eliza definitely had a good time entertaining herself by trying on all the pretty bracelets. haha. 

We were so happy that Aaron was able to fly out with me as well - even though Marissa and Dan have lived in Milwaukee for about two years, this is the first time he could come to visit! He had a great time playing uncle for the weekend (and yes, Charlotte smiles like this all the time - so cute! ).

I had such a fun week having no homework and being able to relax and be with my family.  It was so hard to leave especially since class started the next day, but I knew Nick was getting pretty lonely back in Provo :)
 Thanks Dan and Marissa for letting us stay with you all week - can't wait to see you again in August (or hopefully sooner)!

April, Finals, and Busy Weekends

My posting activity pretty much describes our free time in the past month. It always seems like the last three weeks before finals are the busiest of the whole semester! The good news: we survived. The bad news: we started school again this week! But we figure another 6 weeks of spring semester won't kill us... right? 

A little bit of what we've been up to....

One of my best friends, Jo, is getting married in a few months and I got to help Emily make some treats for her bridal shower. Chocolate covered strawberries are a favorite! 

Jo's getting married in the D.C. Temple, but they're also having a reception on Oahu, where her Fiance is from. I'm secretly hoping that I can use that as an excuse to get back to Hawaii soon :) We're so excited for you, Jo!

As I mentioned before, Nick has been busy with the Air Force ROTC all semester. Despite the early morning workouts twice a week and lots of work, he really loves it. I think it would kill me.

 We got to attend the end-of-semester "Dining Out"- which means we got to get all dressed up - and Nick had to buy me a corsage! 

I don't think I've worn one of these since high school, but it matched my dress perfectly! 

Let's just say I was introduced to a whole new world of military etiquette that I never even knew existed! But it's always fun to get dressed up for an event. 

And...a special thanks to our good friends Mike and Alisha. Mike's been our home teacher this year and has been helping Nick with the ins and outs of ROTC since the beginning! 

 Nick's favorite part of the month - he finally got the road bike he's been dreaming about for the past year. We can't wait for the Utah weather to stop brining snow so we can actually get out and bike together! 

1 year!

Even though it happened a year ago, we still remember it like it was yesterday! Sometimes I wonder where the entire year went -- it seems like it just slipped by so fast. I guess time just goes quickly when you're loving every minute of it :) But when I look back, I realize that we've really done a lot this year, and have been A LOT of places. It's been such a fun adventure!

We decided to start a fun tradition and stay at the Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake for the weekend. We stayed there the first two nights of our honeymoon, and couldn't wait to go back after we left. It's probably one of our favorite places in Utah!

And another reason why we love this hotel is that they definitely go the extra mile. When we booked the room, we mentioned we were coming back for our one year anniversary. We got to our room and found this on the table...

And yes, it was delicious. They also gave us a bottle of sparkling cider and an upgrade to an executive suite when we go back next year. I'm already looking forward to it! 

It's not everyday that you get to eat a white chocolate swan :) haha

Other highlights:

We love the spa! The cozy pool lounge chairs and the classical music puts me to sleep every time.

And another part of the hotel that never ceases to amaze me is the venetian chandeliers that are literally everywhere you look. I think you appreciate them more when you've actually seen someone blow the glass that it takes to make them. It's incredible!

We had a wonderful time and it was a much needed break from our normal weekend routine of studying!