Living It Up in U.P.

Weekend Run-Down

2012-01-30T11:51:00.000-08:00

Jessica and me

Friday was ladies' night out with some college girlfriends in Seattle. We had a great time having some drinks at our friend Jessica's, then out at Peso's and Oskar's. Nick enjoyed "mens' night in" with our neighbor whose wife was out of town with some girlfriends.

Saturday morning I had breakfast with Jessica and Heather at Toulouse Petit, then made the drive back to U.P. where I spent the afternoon recovering from the night before.

We scrapped our plans to see a comedian on Saturday night and instead enjoyed a night in eating take out and catching up on some DVR'd shows.

Bow Tie Pasta with Sausage and Tomato Cream Sauce

2012-01-25T22:20:00.000-08:00

source: Elizabeth Anne Designs

Last Wednesday we had dinner with our neighbors and I decided to try out a recipe that I'd saved nearly two years ago but have never made.

Our neighbors have a baby, so it's easier for them for us to go over to their place, but it was our turn to make dinner so I decided to make something that would be easy to bring over and keep warm in a crock pot. I found this recipe in my recipe folder in my email and decided it would be perfect to try out.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 lb. sweet Italian sausage, casings remove and crumbled (I used chicken Italian sausage to cut back on fat)
1/2 tsp. dried red pepper flake
1/2 c. diced onion
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 (28 oz.) Italian plum tomatoes, drained and coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1/2 tsp. salt
12 oz. bow tie pasta
3 tbsp. minced fresh parsley (I used basil)
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

Heat oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add sausage and pepper flakes. Cook until sausage is no longer pink, stirring frequently. Add onion and garlic to skillet and cook until onion is tender and sausage is light brown. Add tomatoes, cream and salt. Simmer until mixture thickens slightly. Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until tender. Serve sauce over pasta, garnish with chopped parsley and Parmesan cheese.

I also added Italian seasoning and some rosemary into the sauce. After the pasta was cooked I mixed the sauce and pasta together in my crock pot and brought it over to my neighbors. We enjoyed some wine, appetizers, and salad while the pasta kept warm on the warm setting. When we were ready to have dinner it was the perfect temperature and tasted delicious! Nick said this is definitely a make-again recipe!

Weekend Run-Down

2012-01-23T08:38:00.000-08:00

Friday night we celebrated our neighbor's birthday with drinks and board games. Has anyone ever played Quelf? It's the craziest game! I swear I haven't laughed that hard in so long!

Saturday night we trekked up to Seattle for a dinner date with four other couples. We had an "Italian" theme and each couple brought a course. We handled the salad while the couple who hosted made a delicious butternut squash lasagna.

Sunday we relaxed, did some laundry, and played with our favorite kitty!

Madrid Day 2 - Thursday 5.26.11

2012-01-19T20:27:00.000-08:00

On our first full day in Madrid, we did as the Spanish do and slept in. We had breakfast at Spanish cafe, then walked to Plaza de Sol. While we were in Madrid there was a bunch of protesting going on, mostly young people protesting the high unemployment. There was a bunch of tents set out and it was kind of like a little "protest city." We saw stands where people were selling food and drinks in the middle of all the tents.

Protesters in Plaza de Sol

We walked to Plaza Mayor to take a walking tour, but they were sold out, so we decided to walk to Retiro Park. The park was beautiful with lots of trees and plants. We walked along to the lake in the middle of the park and ate some ice cream on a bench while taking in the scenery.

fountain in Retiro Park

Entrance to Retiro Park

Lake in the middle of Retiro Park

When I got back to U.S. I caught up on People Magazine's past posts and I was tickled to see a picture of Pippa Middleton rowing on lake around the same time we were there.

We made our way to the Prado and saw all the artwork in the Prado. (Ha! Not really.) When I first saw the map I thought the rooms were pieces of art. When Nick pointed out the squares on the map were rooms I said, "Oh my god, this place is huge!" Needless to say, we did not see everything in the museum, but we saw highlights, including works by Raphael, Rembrandt, Rubens, and Goya. While we were there I had a horrible allergy attack. It started with sneezing that I tried to conceal, which made it worse, then I started making these yacking sounds, like I was going to vomit, put that together with the acoustics in that place, and it was quite embarrassing. Luckily we'd decided we'd seen enough shortly before my sneezing started so we made our way outside. I guess walking around in the park earlier really set off my sinuses!

The Prado

Pretty flowers hanging from a balcony

We went to nearby restaurant for canapes, then we walked towards the metro, and stopped in grocery store for snacks.

walking through the streets of Madrid

We took the metro to our hotel and relaxed for afternoon. Siesta time!

We went to dinner at El Caldron and arrived at a little before nine. We were literally the first people there! The second group arrived around 9 and was also American. Finally the Spaniards started arriving closer to 10pm. We had a delicious dinner of paella and sangria.

House sangria

We ordered a salad and were surprised by a different, but tasty, type of salad

Paella

Monthly Photo Challenge: Resolution

2012-01-18T08:26:00.000-08:00

I'm participating in the MCP Monthly Photo Project this year. The first month's theme is "resolution." Here's my take on the theme:

My 2012 Resolution: Focus on Seeing the Big Picture

While I was out shooting photos for the resolution theme, I shot a lot of other pretty snowy pics. Below are a few of them:

I always say our neighborhood is like a forest - so many trees surround the houses!

I had to get some pictures of Georgie in the snow! I like the snow falling in streaks across this photo.

She didn't care for the cold wet stuff, but she looked so cute outside!

I took most of these photos on Monday, but the majority of our snow fell early Wednesday morning. Notice the difference in the amount of snow from the photo above taken on Monday to the photo below below taken on Wednesday morning:

I think Georgie would be buried if I put her on the bench today!

Here are a few more taken Wednesday:

View from my doorstep

Our house and front yard

Neighbor kids sledding!

Weekend Run-Down: Sun City Getaway

2012-01-16T13:07:00.000-08:00

Nick and I went to Arizona to visit his parents at their "winter home" last weekend. It was a great weekend of hiking, visiting a fine art & wine festival, watching football, and of course, eating and drinking!

The beginning of our hiking trail

Lots of cacti along the trail!

View from above

Nick next to a very tall cactus

A bird sculpture made from golf clubs at the Fine Art and Wine Festival in Carefree, AZ

We sipped wine and listened to the harpist and flutist play modern songs such as "I Gotta Feeling" and "Soul Sister"

We boarded the plane Sunday leaving sunny 70 degree weather to come home to snowy 30 degree weather. Right now I don't need to go anywhere (thanks to the MLK Jr. holiday) so I'm enjoying the beautiful scenery from my living room window. Snowy photos to come!

Living It Up in U.P. - Hotel Murano and Zara Mediterranean

2012-01-12T12:20:00.000-08:00

Since my blog is called Living It Up in U.P. I decided I should start posting about places/things to do in the University Place/Tacoma area. Tacoma gets a bad rap by Seattleites and east-siders, and it's undeserved. Most people who say negative things about Tacoma haven't spent much, if any time here. Yes, Tacoma is grittier than Seattle or Bellevue, but I think it adds to the character of the city and it gives it a much more unique feel than any ol' average metropolitan area.

I live in University Place, a small city of 30,000 bordering south Tacoma. University Place is a suburban town with a lot of families and yuppies. The women I've met in Junior League of Tacoma mostly live in North Tacoma and University Place, so point made. I don't really like yuppies, but then I realize that I totally am one, and so are all my friends. So I guess I do like yuppies.

Back in November I met up with some ladies from junior league for a night out. We started with drinks at the Hotel Murano bar.

In the Hotel Murano lobby

Hotel Murano is a modern hotel in downtown Tacoma that has gotten press in Conde Nast's top hotels list. We had drinks in the downstairs lobby bar, but there's also a restaurant and bar upstairs called Bite that I've been to once before. The bar had quite a few different martini's and mixed drinks on their menu and the atmosphere is excellent. We had great service as well. Our friend Jessica ordered the "Pregnant Lady" martini and it was complementary.

source: Apartment Therapy

We finished our drinks, then walked a block to Zara Mediterranean restaurant. This restaurant just opened up a few months months ago and we all really enjoyed it. The dining room has an open feel, and while we were there (on a Friday night) there were belly dancers. Which was kind of cool, and kind of funny, but they were very talented and fun to watch. I had the lamb shawerma, and it was excellent. I cleaned my plate.

source: Zara Mediterranean

A fabulous ladies night out!

Rome Day 4 and Madrid Day 1 – Wednesday 5.25.11

2012-01-11T14:27:00.000-08:00

I'm jumping back into the travel recaps. Just three more Europe posts left, then I need to post about our trip to the east coast we took in July/August. I will be caught up soon!

This was the only day of our trip that I didn't take any photos. I can't believe I went a day without taking any, but since this was a travel day and I'd already snapped so many pictures while in Rome I think I just decided to give my camera a break.

After we packed our bags and checked out of our hotel we walked to the shopping area near the Spanish steps and did some window shopping. We went to a café and I had my last gelato for breakfast.

We walked around some more and stopped into Zara where I bought a couple shirts and a skirt, then made our way back towards our hotel where we had lunch at Ristorante de Giovanni.

After lunch we walked to the Borghese Gardens and walked around in the park. Then we headed back to the hotel and took a taxi to the airport.

Our taxi ride was terrifying! The driver tried to charge us more than the standard 40 Euros to the airport when we got in the cab. There are signs everywhere in Rome saying that it’s the law and don’t let a cabbie rip you off. Nick called him on this and he got pissed. So he drove like 90-100 miles an hour the way there. I was thinking to myself, “If we crash, we’re dead.” I even thought we were going to the wrong airport at one point, but I didn’t say anything. I thought to myself, “We’ll take a different taxi once we get there if we’re in the wrong place.” Luckily, we arrived at the correct airport safely.

We arrived in Madrid in the early evening and took a taxi from the airport to our hotel, the Melia Princessa Madrid. We checked in and unpacked, then ventured outside to explore the nearby streets. We went to an area with lots of tapas bars and restaurants, and settled at The Creperie, where we had delicious pork curry and Mejican crepes, as well as a strawberry crepe for dessert.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel and rested up for our first full day in Madrid!

Weekend Run-Down

2012-01-09T11:59:00.000-08:00

source: Cinema Blend

Friday date night seeing Young Adult at The Grand

source: Etsy via Pinterest

A baby shower for two friends from Junior League due in February and March

source: We Heart It

Catching up with friends and playing board games on a Saturday night.

Returning home a little after midnight and laughing hysterically at SNL hosted by Charles Barkley

How were your weekends?

Meet Georgina!

2012-01-05T20:36:00.000-08:00

Nick and I have adopted a kitten! We named her Georgina, but we call her Georgie for short. She is the sweetest kitty.

We got her last Friday and the first night she was so afraid of us and stand-offish. She hid under a recliner for most of the evening so we couldn't even see her. The next day she started warming up to us, and by the evening she was being a very social kitten.

After she warmed up to us, she started following us around everywhere! Wherever we go, Georgie follows. I told Nick that if we hadn't already given her a name, "Shadow" would have been perfect for her.

We put her in our garage at night and when we're at work and she went crazy meowing the first couple days for us to come rescue her. She's always very happy to see us in the mornings and after work. It is so cute!

We named her Georgina because a couple years ago I told Nick I liked that name for a girl. He vetoed it immediately and when we got Georgie he said I should use the name because we definitely weren't naming one of our kids that. Haha!

This photo is blurry, but it's so cute!

When I was feeling down the last couple months I looked at pictures and videos of kittens online to cheer me up. Georgie makes me smile everyday.

Aww

I read recently that black cats and dogs are always the least popular at animal shelters. I don't know why that would be for dogs. With cats I understand the superstition, but in some cultures black cats are actually considered good luck. I've always liked black cats. I had a wonderful black cat growing up named Skoalie.

Me and my sister with Skoalie and Willow

curled up and sleeping

She's got the big chair all to herself

So sweet!

In case you've never seen it, here's the cutest kitten video of all time:

As you can tell from this post I'm already on my way to becoming a crazy cat lady!

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

2012-01-04T14:46:00.000-08:00

I had such a wonderful Christmas in Idaho. Nick and I spent the weekend of December 16th - 17th in Lewiston where we spent time with my grandparents, aunt, uncle, and cousin. My mom and the twins were visiting there as well, so we got to hang out with them before our week long break in Boise. When Nick and I left Catherine told me, "I'll miss you for a day."

We flew into Boise on Monday, December 19th and that evening went to a BSU basketball game with my dad. BSU played Fresno State and it was an exciting game with BSU pulling out with the win.

The blue & orange crowd cheering on the Broncos

My dad and Nick

Tuesday we spent some time hanging out with my dad during the day then had dinner at a nice new restaurant, The Brickyard.

On Wednesday Nick and I drove out to the Snake River Wine Region, just outside of Caldwell, Idaho.

Nick and I tasting at Ste. Chapelle Winery

It's the off season for wine tasting, so there definitely weren't any crowds, but we weren't the only ones out tasting either. Ste. Chapelle had a few wines we really liked including a couple unique wines; a "soft white" and a "soft red." Our pourer called them "Adult Hawaiian Punch." We had six bottles shipped back home and they threw in free shipping for us. We had a great experience there!

Nick at Ste. Chapelle

Our next stop was Williamson Orchards & Vinyards. This place place had a real "down home" feel. This picture of the offices/store/tasting room captures it perfectly:

It's so perfect with the dog out in front!

There was only one woman working there and she came down and opened the tasting room for us. We tried all their wines and Nick and I bought a bottle of their most popular wine, the Windmill Red

Once we'd finished our tastings we had lunch out in Caldwell at The Orchard House, then headed back to Boise to visit with my Aunt Katie and my second cousins who she watches during the day while my cousins are at work and school.

Nick with my second cousin Landon

We chatted and played with the babies, then my dad and aunt started making their grandmother's fudge. My cousins came by and we visited with them. It was so nice to see everyone!

rolling the football back and forth

My cousin Sara, me, Aunt Katie, and Sara's son Benny

Cousin Katie with her son Landon and Nana Katie

My mom's Christmas tree, decorated by the twins

We had dinner at the 13th Street Bar and Grill on Wednesday (Catherine, my mom, Aunt Kerry, and James)

Thursday during the day was low-key, so much so that I don't really remember what we actually did. We went over to my dad's house in the early evening to watch the beginning of the BSU bowl game with him and my grandpa.

We met up with my high school friend Joanna and her husband Mike for dinner at Bardenay and had a great time hanging out with them. Nick and I agreed we wished they lived in the same town as us because they are a really fun couple.

My sister and Anthony got in around midnight so Nick and I went with my dad to greet them at the airport.

The next day we had coffee in the morning with my Aunt Kerry, then met up with my Aunt Teri for pho for lunch. We relaxed in the afternoon, had dinner out at The 36th St Bistro & Garden Center, then went to my dad's to hang out at his house.

You may be noticing a trend that we didn't really eat in during this trip. It was pretty funny because a few times my mom planned to cook, then she'd be like, "Why don't we just go out somewhere?" My mom is a really good cook, but she just prefers restaurants to the kitchen. ;)

Nick and Anthony hanging out at my dad's

Anthony and my dad - this was the second picture taken. In the first picture my dad was at the opposite end of the couch. Nick said, "Why don't we take another one without the big homophobic gap between the two of you?"

Nick and me - James took this picture of us. :)

Last year my dad gave the twins this pottery set as a Christmas gift and they hadn't gotten a chance to play with it because my mom hid it from them so they wouldn't make a mess. Megan brought it over to my dad's so the twins could make some pottery.

Megan, James, and Cat molding the clay

On Christmas Eve morning Nick and I took James and Cat bowling. Last time we took them bowling Catherine would pout whenever she didn't do well. She told us she would try to not pout this time around. She needed to try harder. ;) James entertained us with his dancing moves:

We had some snacks at my mom's house and visited with everyone, then Nick and I went down to my dad's to watch the Seahawk game with him, then we came back up to my mom's house for a prime rib and crab dinner.

Catherine and my mom on Christmas Eve

Catherine (with an outfit change) and Nick

An open-early present

After dinner we went over to my grandpa's house and visited with him, his wife, and my dad. Then we came back to my mom's house and were serenaded with a Christmas Carol clarinet trio.

We were woken bright and early Christmas morning!

"Look James, I got a giant Ipad!"

James on Christmas morning

Catherine's number one gift she wanted was a Kindle. She downloaded free songs and books on Christmas and the next day Jim said he had 60 emails from Amazon!

James' number one gift was a bit more...unusual. Well, first he told my mom he wanted to be shipwrecked for Christmas, then he said he wanted to hunt Sasquatch. Finally my mom told him it had to be something you could purchase at a store. He replied, "White pants, white shirt, white vest, white hat, white everything." Hahaha! I thought it was so funny when I heard about it. When my mom asked him why he wanted all white clothing he said, "I saw it in a magazine and it looked cool."

James opening his white clothes

Mr. Personality has style too!

Alright, so the twins are obviously very spoiled. They're not bratty and they're grounded, well-behaved sweet kids, so I don't think there's anything wrong with a little gift over-indulgence for the kids. But what was funny was that James' favorite gift (besides the white clothes) was this $20 remote control car from Target that Nick and I got him.

James was playing with this car right away and the following day too!

When my sister was little she got this creepy looking Christmas Rat from our great aunt. My mom has re-gifted it to my sister almost every year since.

I promised Megan I would not post bad pictures of her. Hopefully this is acceptable editing.

Nick and me looking sleepy on Christmas morning

James got a Garmin for use on his hunting trips

my mom and Catherine opening a present

James unwrapping a new toy

James in his white clothing

We headed over to my dad's in the early afternoon and had our second Christmas. We took turns unwrapping gifts and enjoyed some Irish coffees.

my dad opening up a present

While we were out with my dad on Tuesday, my dad spotted these walnut hand carved basketballs and footballs. My dad thought they were so cool, so Nick and decided to get one for him when we made a trip to Costco later in the week.

This picture is totally overexposed, but still wanted to post it

After we were finished exchanging gifts we watched the movie, "Four Christmases" and laughed at the hilarious families.

We made a trip back to my mom's house before dinner and visited with her and the twins, then we headed back to my dad's house for a delicious dinner.

We made some drinks with this Vodka in a Skull - Crystal Head Vodka

James and Cat watching his remote control car

Nick and I headed back to University Place on Monday, the day after Christmas. I had such a great time in Boise I was sad to leave. It was a very Merry Christmas!

Ready for 2012 Already

2011-11-30T13:12:00.000-08:00

I try to stay away from negativity on my blog. I know it’s hard to read posters’ blogs who can’t seem to lift themselves up and focus on the positive. That being said, I’ve had one helluva month. That’s why I’ve stopped posting my Europe trip recaps and haven’t been journaling about what I’ve been up to. It just seems fake to me to pretend that things in my life are normal and going great right now.

I’ve debated back and forth about whether to post about what’s going on. It’s a very private thing and as more time passes I realize that no one understands it unless they’ve actually been through it themselves.

It’s hard for me too because I feel like the last few months of this year have been hard on a lot of people around me. My dad was laid off, my mom’s cat died and the twins took that real hard, my friend is going through the same thing I am. Then there’s my workplace; my co-worker just broke up with her boyfriend of 14 years, my boss’s wife has inoperable breast cancer, and my stuff. My co-worker said that things come in threes when she told me her bad news (after knowing about mine and my boss’s). This is especially amazing considering there are only four people who work in my office!

The “things come in threes” has me worrying now – at the end of October I received heartbreaking news, then last week I had more news that set me back. I’m bracing myself for Christmas.

I’ve never gone through the holidays like this before. It’s really hard to be happy and joyful when you’re so sad, and it just sucks. I know I have tons to be thankful for and I know that I am extremely lucky to have everything I have. I don't have to worry about having enough to eat or having a roof over my head, and I have my health. I have it better than most people in the world just for those reasons alone. I have the most amazing husband in the world, some people never find "the one." I'm spoiled by getting to go on nice trips and buy nice things, but still, I'm going through a rough time and I just want to wake up when it's over. At first I thought it was good timing to go through this now because this time of year always flies by, but now I'm not so sure... I’m hoping 2012 is a better year for everyone.

This song has been my theme song lately. I keep repeating to myself the lyric, "It's always darkest before the dawn."

Rome Day 3 - Tuesday 5.24.11

2011-10-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

At this point in our trip we were done with waking up early. We let ourselves sleep in after exhausting and dehydrating ourselves the previous day and slept in until 11:00am.

We went to the Vatican area and had some pizza for lunch, then headed to the Vatican Museum and Sistine Chapel.

I’d been taking pictures all though the Vatican Musuem, and once we got into the Sistine Chapel I’d totally forgotten about the no picture rule. I snapped a picture and Nick looked at me and said, “Sneaky.” I was confused and he reminded me that there weren’t pictures allowed in there! I felt bad, but I didn’t mean to break the rules!

My illegal (blurry) picture

We then stopped in St. Peter’s Basilica and walked around. It was so crowded in there!

We got some gelato, then stopped in a supermarket for a razor, some wine, and kinder chocolate, then took the metro back to the hotel.

We had the wine in our hotel room before dinner then took a taxi to the restaurant The Library. My friend whose husband is from Italy had recommended it to me, but unfortunately they were closed. We decided to go to a Rick Steves recommendation instead and dined at Trattoria, which didn't disappoint.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel, and of course stopped for some gelato on the way. ; )

Rome Day 2 – Monday 5.23.11

2011-10-14T09:50:00.000-07:00

Today was Nicks birthday! When we woke up I gave him a card, then we went to a nearby café for breakfast. We took a taxi to the Colosseum and toured the arena, then wandered over to Palentine Hill and the Roman Forum.

We worked our way over to Campo di Fiore and had lunch and some Peronis.

We walked to some shops and I bought a lightweight cotton dress, since it was so hot there.

We walked to the Pantheon and wandered around there.

Then we got gelato and took a cab back to the hotel, just avoiding a thunderstorm.

Once we got back to our hotel we took a nap. When we woke up Nick was feeling sick and didn’t want to venture out too far from our hotel. We had dinner at a restaurant right around the corner at a place our hotel recommended, Mariano. Nick had ravioli and I had spaghetti with clams. Thankfully, Nick felt much better the next day. We think we were dehydrated that day, so we made sure to drink plenty of water the rest of the trip!

Two Years!

2011-10-12T13:21:00.000-07:00

On Monday Nick and I celebrated out two year anniversary!

Two years ago we were eating dinner at our reception

A year ago we went back to the Space Needle for our first anniversary dinner

And this year we celebrated with dinner at Stanley & Seaforts.

We didn't have year old cake this year, so I made brownies for us to enjoy this week instead.

We stuck with the traditional second anniversary gifts for the most part (cotton). I gave Nick some shirts and he gave me a supportive pillow and a gift certificate for a massage.

Our second year of marriage was full of travels and fun. We don't have as many trips planned this year, but I'm sure there will be plenty of adventures!

Rome Day 1 – Sunday 5.22.11

2011-10-02T14:39:00.000-07:00

Giant organ at the Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli

After eating breakfast at our hotel in Prague we packed up our luggage and took a taxi to the airport for our flight to Rome! Rome was the only city on our itinerary I'd previously been to, and I loved Rome the first time I was there so I was excited to go back!

Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli

Once we arrived in Rome we took a taxi from the airport to our hotel, the Romanico. We changed and freshened up, and when we were ready to leave it was raining.

Spanish Steps

We made our way to the National Museum of Rome and the Baths of Diocletian

Nick consulting Rick Steves on our night walk

We took Rick’s Steve’s night walk of Rome and walked through the streets of Rome, seeing the Spanish Steps, Trevi Fountain, and the Pantheon. We stopped for dinner at Le Coppelle Taverna and shared wine, bruschetta, pizza, and pasta. We continued our walk and stopped for some gelato for dessert, then took a taxi back to our hotel.

Trevi Fountain

Pantheon

Pole Vaulting in the Campo de Fiori

Autumn Leaf Festival in Leavenworth

2011-09-28T15:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went with Nick’s family to Leavenworth to celebrate the end of summer/beginning of fall with the Autumn Leaf Festival.

With Nick's sister and her husband on the mini golf course

We watched a parade and walked through the streets of the Bavarian town, looked at art on display in tents, and played a round of mini golf.

Leavenworth is such a cute town. Hopefully we’ll be back soon!

Prague Day 2 - Saturday 5.21.11

2011-09-23T08:26:00.000-07:00

Underneath Charles Bridge

We woke up and had breakfast at the Executive Center in our hotel, then set out to do more sightseeing in Prague!

Walking across Charles Bridge

Inside the Church of St. Nicholas - so ornate!

We made our way to the Charles Bridge and walked across to check out the Little Quarter and the Church of St. Nicholas.

We walked back to Old Town and met up with a tour group at the Starbucks.

Astronomical Clock tower, changing hours

Astronomical Clock

View of Charles Bridge and the river

During the tour we learned about the Czech Revolution and changes in government. Nick and I left the tour halfway through since the last part of the tour was sights we’d already explored on our own. We walked across another bridge (not Charles) and walked around looking for a place to eat lunch. We didn’t find anywhere that looked great, so we made our way back toward the Little Quarter and had lunch at an Italian place. Sadly, this place wasn’t too great. Guess we should have held out until we got to Rome for Italian!

View of Prague

We took the tram to the Castle Quarter and went to the monastery and saw a great view overlooking the whole city.

St. Vitus Cathedral

We walked to the Cathedral and saw Old Prague Castle and a few other castles.

Gargoyles

We took a cab back to the hotel and had a snack in the Executive Center, then relaxed in our hotel room and washed some clothes.

I kind of wanted to pop in to the Toy and Barbie museum, since I had my own giant collection of Barbies growing up, but sadly, they were closed by the time we got there.

Winery near the Castle area

We had dinner at a restaurant Rick Steves recommended, Cervena Tabulka. We had amazing food and wine here. After dinner we called it a night and walked back to our hotel.

Rachel and Zack's Wedding

2011-09-21T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we attended our friends Rachel and Zack’s wedding in Maple Valley. The area was very pretty. It was unfortunate that it was such a cold day in September, but the rain held off for their ceremony!

There was a lot of cute, personal touches to the wedding, and the bride and groom seemed to be having a wonderful time! It was great to catch up with friends and celebrate Rach and Zack’s new life together!

Megan and Anthony's Wedding

2011-09-09T11:01:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was my sister Megan’s wedding. It was a fun filled weekend and a gorgeous wedding!

Dinner at Pollo Rey on First Thursday

Tequila shots at Bittercreek

I got into Boise late Wednesday evening and met up with Megan and Anthony on Thursday morning. We picked up another bridesmaid, Maile at the airport and had a tasty breakfast at Java. Then began the errand running! We dropped Anthony off so he could meet up with his friends and family that were coming into town while us ladies made stops at the stationer, the florist, my mom’s house, the stationer again, and the wedding planner! Once we’d gotten everything taken care of, it was time to head downtown for First Thursday to meet some of the groomsmen. We had dinner at Pollo Rey, then stepped next door to Bittercreek for some drinks. I left early and picked Nick up from the airport while the rest of the group continued the party.

Nick and me at the rehearsal dinner

The bride and groom the night before

Friday all the bridesmaids and Megan met up for manicures and pedicures at a nail salon. We all did shades of pale pink for our manicures and shades of purple for our toes. I met up with Nick at my dad’s house afterwards and we grabbed a late lunch, and then headed over to our mom’s house to hang out with the twins for a bit.

James and Jim

We had the rehearsal where the ceremony would take place the next day, at the Boise Train Depot. We went through walking down the aisle and parts of the ceremony and how to exit, etc. After we’d gone through everything we made our way to Berryhill for the rehearsal dinner.

The twins being goofy

The next morning was the wedding day! I picked up Megan from her hotel and we headed over to the bridesmaids hotel to have breakfast, then started hair & make-up. Once the depot opened at 10am, we switched over there to continue hair and make-up. Nick was a sweetie and offered to bring lunches to us, so he and my dad showed up around 11:30 with sandwiches for everyone.

Megan in the robe I gave her

Shannon getting her hair done

Boise Train Depot's Bell Tower

having some mimosas while getting ready

Megan's fancy wedding shoes

Cat getting her hair done

Putting make-up on the bride

About an hour later the photographer showed up and it was picture taking time. I know their wedding photos will be amazing and I can't wait to see them! Check out their amazing engagement photos at Tana's blog.

Megan and Anthony's "first look"

limo ride to downtown Boise for pictures

James is always being a goofball!

We had about an hour break in between pictures and the ceremony, so we just relaxed and had touch-ups to hair and make-up done.

me with my gorgeous sister

With our beautiful mom

All the bridesmaids

The ceremony was very beautiful, short and sweet. (It’s a good thing too because Megan’s bouquet was heavy!)

Our dad walking Megan down the aisle

Megan and Anthony exchanging vows

First kiss as a married couple

Husband and wife!

We took some extended family portraits of all the sides of the family and then went into the depot for cocktail hour. Megan and Anthony had a couple signature cocktails – a peach sangria and a cucumber jalapeño margarita to sip on while appetizers passed before dinner.

The bridal party

The food at their wedding was amazing! Seriously, the best food I’ve ever had at a wedding. It was buffet style and there were tons of options. There was lamb chops, short ribs, coconut tuna cerviche, a Spanish rice dish, etc. All of it was delicious!

There was a little mishap with the cake. It should have been five layers, but the bottom layer slid and was ruined on the transport over. A friend of Megan's got married at the depot 2 years earlier and her cake got dropped and was completely wrecked. They joked that it was the curse of the depot!

After dinner Anthony’s best man Travis gave a toast, then I gave mine. I talked about how Megan and I had a lot of fun together growing up and how she’s a loveable goofball, and then gave a quote I’d heard at Josh and Jessica’s wedding earlier this summer. It’s, “We're all a little weird, and life's a little weird, and when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours, we join up with them in mutual weirdness and call it love.” I think that quote is so true, and I just love it! Really, if you know one person who you don’t think is a little weird, you don’t really know them that well. ;)

Megan and Anthony's first dance to Nora Jones "Come Away with Me"

The DJ played a slide show that I made for Megan and Anthony. Then it was time for the first dances.

Father daughter dance

The dance floor opened up and we started dancing and talking with people. It was really great to chat with my family and some of Megan’s friends I hadn’t seen for a while. The twins were tearing it up on the dance floor! Catherine was doing cartwheels at one point and James had some break dancing-like moves. It was great!

Mother son dance

Later on in the night was the bouquet and garter toss, and Catherine and James each caught these. Catherine had to fight Anthony’s Aunt Kelly for it too!

I guess James and Cat are getting married next

At the end of the night we waved goodbye to Megan and Anthony, then helped pack everything up and then headed downtown to continue the celebration. Nick and I didn’t last long at Mac & Charlies before telling everyone goodnight and heading back to my dad’s house.

Dancing the night away! Cat changed so she could be more comfortable dancing, haha!

The day after the wedding we went over to my mom’s house and had breakfast with my grandparents, Megan and Anthony, and my dad. We talked for a while until Megan and Anthony had to go meet up with his family, then soon Nick and I had to go to the airport as well.

View of Boise from the depot's bell tower

My family joked that we need to have another wedding in a couple years, since that’s what we’ve been doing the past few years. Unfortunately I think it will be awhile, since the next oldest unmarried cousin just joined the Kappa house at U of I and the twins started 5^th grade a week ago. I’ll be looking forward to their weddings in 10, 18 years though!

Prague Day 1 – Friday 5.20.11

2011-08-29T23:23:00.000-07:00

The Powder Tower

We left our hotel in Berlin early in the morning and headed to the train station. We took a direct train into Prague and arrived around noon. Our hotel was just a few blocks from the Prague train station, so we walked to the Old Town Hilton. When we tried to check in, we found out the hotel was overbooked due to some conference or convention, so we were upgraded to the newer, nicer Hilton and to an executive suite. The newer Hilton was about a half mile away, and further from the sights in Prague, but it ended up working out great for us! Our room was spacious and we had complimentary wine and fruit waiting for us, as well as a large whirlpool tub. We also had access to the executive board room, which had breakfast, snacks, and drinks throughout the day.

After we settled into our room we went in search of an ATM to get some Czech Crowns and then walked into central Prague towards the Jewish Quarter. We had a hard time finding our way in Prague, neither Nick or myself are extremely good with direction and we found Prague pretty confusing to get around. After a bit of a frustrating walk, made our way into the Jewish Quarter.

The Old Jewish Cemetary

We went to the Pinkas Synagogue, the Old Jewish Cemetary, Klaus Synagogue, Ceremonial Hall, Maisel Synagoge, and he Spanish Synagogue.

Little notes with prayers on them in the Old Jewish Cemetary

After touring the Jewish Quarter we stopped at Kolkouna for an afternoon pivo (beer) and snack break. We sat outside and sipped our beers and enjoyed a cheese and bread plate while taking in the sights.

Kolkouna, where we stopped for a beer and snack

Pivo with lots of head, the European way

Our view looking up

We walked around Prague looking at the pretty buildings and made our way to Old Town Square, then to Charles Bridge.

Nick posing in Old Town Square, the Astronomical Clock in the background

me in Old Town Square

Prague has Budweiser too! It's a different Budweiser though. ;)

Walking through the streets in Prague

Charles Bridge as the sun was setting

Charles Bridge, off center. It was about this time my camera started acting up on me. I've gotten it repaired since, but I had to shoot higher and to the left to try to get the shot I wanted.

We had dinner at U Medvidku “By the Bearcubs” and had Czech cuisine and pivo.

My trout and potato dinner

When we finished dinner it was pouring out, so we took a taxi back to the hotel, where we had a night cap in the executive lounge. We decided we weren’t done boozing when we got back to our room so we opened up our bottle of wine the hotel gave us and toasted to another day in Prague. We both enjoyed the whirlpool tub and Nick gave my tired feet a foot massage. So, suffice it to say we didn’t check out Prague’s famous nightlife party scene. I don’t feel bad about that. It was a wonderfully relaxing evening!

Berlin Day 3 – Thursday 5.19.11

2011-08-18T13:35:00.000-07:00

Outside the Checkpoint Charlie museum. The American officer looks over East Berlin. On the other side an East Berlin guard looks over West Berlin.

Our last day in Berlin was a full one! We started off our day with breakfast at Einstein Kaffee, then made our way to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.

The museum at Checkpoint Charlie had lots artifacts from when East and West Berlin were divided, and many fascinating stories of East Berliners risking their lives to escape. Seeing the museum really made it clear how life in East Berlin was terrible. People were desperate to get out of there and did crazy things to try to escape such as hiding inside the seats of cars, building a parasail and sailing across a lake, and pretending to be another person. The stories were very poignant and moving. Towards the end of the museum we saw highlights of the wall coming down and how ecstatic people were to be free. It really made me appreciate all the freedoms I’ve had my whole life.

Part of the Berlin Wall outside the Checkpoint Charlie museum

Our next stop was at the Jewish Museum, which had tributes to Jewish people who died and suffered during the holocaust. Also, artifacts from WWII and art honoring the Jewish community.

"Memory Void" exhibit at the Jewish Museum

Around lunch time we headed back to our hotel and gathered up our laundry. Nick and I decided to only bring one rolling carry-on luggage each during our two and a half week trip, so that meant wearing clothing more than once! We headed to the Prenzlauer Berg district and after a bit of walking around found a laundromat. Nick and I had never been to a laundromat before, and all the directions were written in German, so we had no idea what we were doing! Luckily, another man was in there who spoke English and he helped us out. While our clothes washed and dried, we had lunch around the corner at an Indian restaurant and walked around the neighborhood.

Prenzlauer Berg district

Enjoying some beers before our lunch. This is one of the few pictures we have together on this trip. Our nice waiter offered to take a picture of us and we gladly accepted!

After our clothes were washed, dried, and folded up, we headed back to our hotel and rested for a bit. Then we made our way across the street to Fassbender and Rausch chocolate shop and bought a box of chocolates for me to bring to my sister's Austin bachelorette party, and some truffles to enjoy during our trip.

Chocolate Volcano at Fassbender and Rausch

As we left the chocolate shop Nick said, "I love you." I replied, "I know you do. You just let me spend forty euros on chocolate!" Haha, then I told him I loved him too. ;)

Yummy truffles

We went to the Europa Center and the Zoo area in West Berlin, then rode the 200 bus through West Berlin to Central Berlin in Potsdamer Platz where we saw part of the Berlin Wall and the Sony Center.

Sony Center

Nick with part of the Berlin Wall in West Berlin

We walked through Tiergarten Park and saw a few memorials along the way, then walked through Brandenburg Gate and down Unter de Linden.

Nick in Tiergarten Park

A rainbow overhead the outside of Tiergarten Park, memorials, the TV Tower, and Brandenburg Gate

We had a currywurst for dinner then took the U-Bahn back to the hotel to rest up for traveling to Prague the next day.

Megan's Bridal Shower and Bachelorette Party in Boise

2011-07-27T14:11:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I was in Boise for my sister's bridal shower and bachelorette party.

We hosted a shower at my mom's house and had a delicious brunch. Megan had a wonderful time seeing all her friends and family.

Megan with the delicious cake

my cousins Sara and Katie filling out the "How well do you know the bride and groom?" quiz

My aunt Wendy and cousin Scout

The bride to be with our Aunt Katie

Aunt Teri finishing up the food spread

Aunt Katie with her grandson (and my second cousin) Landon

My grandma Dot with her great-grandson (and my second cousin) Ben

Ben, (Sara's son) checking out the bridal shower activities

Megan reading a card from our sister Cat. It said, "roses are red, violets are blue, your wedding is soon, then it's your honeymoon!"

Cat watching Megan open her gift

Later that night we had the bachelorette paty. This was actually Megan's second bachelorette party because we did a smaller bachelorette party in Austin a month ago, but Megan wanted to have something in Boise that all her friends could be invited to. We had the bachelorette party at Barbacoa, in the upstairs VIP lounge. The swanky room was a perfect location!

My cousin Scout is only 18, but Barbacoa let her come since they are a restaurant as well. She's a good girl and doesn't drink so there were no worries. :) My cousins Katie and Sara got a night out without their babies thanks to their sweet hubbys.

Megan's childhood friend Jamie had some great lines over the weekend. At the shower she said, "I can't believe Katie and Sara have babies. I saw your Aunt holding Landon and I was like, 'Oh, your aunt had a baby.'"

Then she told Katie and Sara, "Gosh, I'm thinking about having a baby...Your boobs look amazing!"

When Katie and Sara were about to leave the bachelorette party (and they did stay out a long time) Jamie was trying to convince them to stay longer and said, "C'mon, that's what the breast milk in the freezer is for!"

Haha, it was great to see her, it had been almost three years. It's always fun to see people you've known since you were young.

group shot

We had drinks and appetizers, played a couple games, watched Megan open presents, then told funny Megan stories. We were cracking up laughing at our goofy Megan!

Megan, Shannon, and I. Shannon and I planned the bash and it was a great success!

Cousins!

Megan and her Tri-Delt friends

Megan and me with Megan's childhood & high school friends

Josh and Jessica's Wedding

2011-07-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Nick and I went to L.A. for our friends Josh & Jessica’s wedding. I was hoping for a William & Kate sighting while I was there, but sadly did not get one.

We went to Beverly Hills High school for the wedding rehearsal. Josh and Jessica met there, as teachers. Nick was a groomsman in the wedding so our weekend was pretty full of wedding activities and didn’t leave much room for sightseeing.

Who would have thought one of Black Entertainment Television's offices would look like a Snow White cottage?

After the rehearsal we had the rehearsal dinner at Westside Tavern, followed by drinks in our hotel bar.

The wedding was at the Calamigos ranch in Malibu. It was a beautiful wedding, and they had a very sweet and personable ceremony. The reception was a lot of fun too! It was great seeing a lot of Nick’s high school buddies who don’t live locally.

Berlin Day 2 – Wednesday 5.18.11

2011-07-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Berlin's TV Tower

Nick and I had planned to go on the Original Berlin Walking tour at 10am on this day, but the pub crawl the night before made us snooze past our alarm and we woke up at 9:45. We decided to go on a walking tour offered by another group in the afternoon.

Brandenburg Gate

We had breakfast at Q Café near our hotel. I had a quiche and salad while Nick had an apple and croissant. We felt better after getting some food and made our way to the German History Museum.

Berlin's parliament building

The History Museum was really interesting, and we wished we could have spent more time there. We started out in chronological order, going through Ancient History, Midevil, Renaissance, etc. But the most interesting parts of the museum were of course WWI, WWII, and the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall.

Nick in front of the Reichstag Dome

We left the museum and walked down Unter den Linden, through the Brandenburg Gate, to the Reichstag. The Reichstag is the parliament building with an architecturally stunning glass dome. We made reservations ahead of time to have lunch at the top of the Reichstag, just next to the dome. We were glad we did, as we found out due to heightened security tourists are not allowed to go up to the dome unless they have reservations, and it takes at least 3 days to clear security. (We had to give our passport numbers, date of birth, etc. when we made reservations.)

Inside the Reichstag Dome

We ate lunch at the restaurant, Kaefer’s. Nick enjoyed the weinerschnitzel and I ate up my risotto. Then we made our way inside the dome. We received free audio guides to let us know what we were looking at as we climbed the dome. The audio guides were GPS sensored, so as you walked up the dome it would trigger the guide to tell you what was off in the distance.

Climbing the Reichstag

You could see down through the glass the parliament members hard at work.

View from the Reichstag dome of West Berlin - Sony Center on the right

We made our way to Plaiser Platz and relaxed for a bit before we met up with our tour group. When the group started forming, we noticed two guys from our pub crawl the night before. We talked with them about the previous night, and found out they had also changed plans from doing the morning tour to the afternoon tour as they weren't feeling so hot in the morning either.

Memorial outside the Reichstag, to the politicians that opposed Hitler

Our walking tour was excellent. We had a great guide too. Even though he had only lived in Berlin less than a year, he was very passionate about the city, their history, and the city's motivation to move forward from their past.

Plaiser Platz

We started out in Plaiser Platz, and saw the hotel where Michael Jackson famously held his son Blanket off the balcony. We saw the American Embassy, and Brandenburg Gate again. We learned that Napoleon took the statue at the top of the gate to the Louvre in Paris, but the Germans got in back a few years later. As we walked through the gate our guide brought to our attention how not too long ago, Berliners were not able to just walk through the Brandenburg Gate. East and West Berlin were divided by the wall, and the East Berliner were not free to just come and go through the gate.

Memorial to the Murdered Jews of Europe

We walked to the Memorial of the Murdered Jews of Europe. The architect who designed the memorial has not come out and said what the maze of concrete slabs of varying heights represent because he wanted everyone to come up with their own conclusion. Our guide encouraged us to think about what the memorial means as we walked through it.

The ground has hills that go up and down, and the cement pillars are tall once you get past the perimeter of the memorial. The obvious symbolism is graves, but there are many theories out there. We discussed various thoughts before moving on to our next stop.

Our next stop was a parking lot behind and apartment building. We stood in an area of grass wondering why we had come to a spot that clearly looked like nothing was here. We learned that underneath the grass was what had once been Hitler’s bunker, and was where he committed suicide. Because of the terrible things that were planned and done here, there is no memorial, statue, etc. It was such an eerie feeling knowing that someone so evil had once stood beneath where I was standing.

Tour the city while bicycling and drinking beer? Those brilliant Germans!

We walked to the Nazi Aviation Department where we saw the memorial to the labor strike.

We walked on to see an are of the Berlin Wall still intact

Then we made our way to the Checkpoint Charlie Museum. This was the spot where West Berliners and tourists would go into East Berlin and then come back to West Berlin. It was also where many East Berliners tried to escape.

We took a break at a coffee shop to rest and get a snack before continuing on our tour.

German Cathedral

After our break we made our way to Gendermenmart (which was very close to where our hotel was) and saw the French and German Cathedrals, the Music Concert Hall that Frederick the Great created. We went to the area Bebelplatz, where the Nazi book burning occurred, right across the street from Humbolt University. There was an underground memorial where you looked could look down and see empty bookshelves.

Humbolt University

Mother holding her son - the memorial to all who have perished in war

We walked on and looked at the memorial of “All who have perished in war,” then made our way to Museum Island and stopped at a park to finish our tour.

Spree River

Park on Museum Island

Our guide invited us to have some beers and hang out at a nearby park. Many of us took him up on the offer and we relaxed in the park for a bit.

Having beers with our tour group

Nick enjoying a beer with dinner

and me enjoying a beer with dinner

Our desserts - more beer for Nick and ice cream for me!

Nick and I left the group as it was getting dark and made our way to Hackescher Markt where we had dinner at Weihenstephaner Bavarian Restaurant. Nick had the wienerschnitzel again (He really loves that meal!) and I had ham and asparagus. I was surprised when I saw the asparagus was white, I’d never seen that before, but it tasted just like the asparagus back home. ;)

On our walk back to our hotel

Weekend in Lewiston & Celebrating the 4th

2011-07-06T13:04:00.000-07:00

My family relaxing poolside

Nick and I made a trip to Lewiston last weekend. My grandma's birthday is July 5th so we thought it would be a perfect time to visit. It was a relaxing weekend hanging out by the pool and spending time with family.

Playing Skip-bo with my grandparents

Nick and Catherine in the pool

We left Lewiston Sunday afternoon and got home in the evening, just before dark.

On the 4th of July went to friend's house in North Tacoma for a BBQ. We had a great time chatting, eating, and watching fireworks off Rustin Way.

Amsterdam Day 4 and Berlin Day 1 – Tuesday 5.17.11

2011-06-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

Cafe where we had breakfast

We decided to go to Sara’s Pancakes again for breakfast since we loved it so much the day before. We got ready, packed up all our things, checked out of the hotel, and made our way into town. When we arrived at Sara’s Pancakes we found they were closed! We decided to walk around town and try to find another good breakfast spot. We found a café that was opened near the Multatuli statue, and we had some delicious croissants, fresh squeezed orange juice, and yogurt.

All the bikes outside the train station

After breakfast we made our way to the train station. Goodbye Amsterdam!

We boarded our train to Berlin and wrote postcards to our family on the way. We transferred once in Dresden, and it was a smooth easy transfer. Nick napped while I brushed up on Rick Steve’s Berlin Snapshot book.

We arrived in Berlin in the late afternoon and checked into our Hotel, the Hilton Berlin. We planned to do a pub crawl this evening through New Berlin tours, so we headed towards the area of the meeting point and had dinner at Aufsturz Pub. We each ordered a beer and shared some nachos, and Nick’s favorite, weinerschnitzel.

self portrait on our pub crawl

We met up with our tour guide and group just across the street, then headed to a patio area of a bar for some beers before the tour started. We met a group of college age guys traveling through Europe together, and an engineer around our age traveling by himself. They’d all just come from Amsterdam as well. It sounded like the younger guys had spent their time in Amsterdam partying and not doing too much sightseeing, so they had a very different view on the city than Nick and I had. One of them said, “I felt like it was the end of the world there.” I see where he’s coming from. If I’d spent my time in Amsterdam hanging out with hookers and walking through the Red Light District after dark, I probably would have felt the same way. Something told me they hadn’t gone to the museums, walked through Vondel Park or seen the flower market. ;)

We expected to go to more traditional German pubs on the crawl, but it was mostly night clubs, which really isn’t our scene anymore, so the pub crawl was a bit of a letdown. We probably would have been better off doing our own pub crawl by going to different places Rick Steves suggested. It was fun meeting the other people on the crawl though. We met a friendly girl from Brazil, and two guys from Minnesota who were traveling together.

Our final stop was way outside of town. After I’d done the macarena (yes, they played the macarana and yes, I did it), we grabbed a cab and made our way back to our hotel.

The Start of Summer

2011-06-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

Last weekend was the first official summer weekend, and Nick and I filled it with lots of summer activities!

self portrait at the Mariners game

We went to a Mariners game.

BBQ'd with our neighbor friends.

Source: weheartit

Spent Sunday morning walking Chambers Bay, then had brunch at their restaurant.

We dusted off our bikes and rode around in nearby neighborhoods.

Source : weheartit

And had dinner at The Lobster Shop on Commencement Bay with Nick's parents.

Source: The Lobster Shop

A great kick-off to my favorite season!

Megan’s Bachelorette Party in Austin

2011-06-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

My Aunt Kerry, Megan, and my mom

I’ll take a break from my Europe recaps to write about another trip I recently took to Austin, TX. Last weekend I flew down to Austin to celebrate my sister’s upcoming marriage. Megan moved to Austin just 3 months ago, so she thought it would be fun to have a few people come down and see where she’s living now. My mom, Aunt Kerry, and two of Megan’s bridesmaids made the trip down south as well.

My Aunt Kerry & me

Friday we checked into our hotel, The Driskill. The hotel has an old Texas feel to it, perfect for the weekend.

The Driskill's bar

The bar's ceiling was pretty!

We headed to Iron Cactus for dinner. We had delicious margaritas and shared ahi ceviche, table-side prepared guacamole, lobster tacos, and fish tacos. Everything was delicious!

My mom and Aunt Kerry went back to the hotel and we hit the bars on 6^th Street. I didn’t imagine how crowded it could be! There were people standing outside the bars they worked for trying to get girls to come in, offering the first round of drinks on the house, and we took them up on this a couple times.

Saturday we woke up and went to our private yoga session at Castle Hill Yoga. Our instructors name was Gia and she was great with all of our different levels of yoga experience. I was able to do a handstand for the first time! (with help from Gia and a wall.)

Kristen, Megan, my mom, me, Shannon, and my Aunt Kerry after our yoga session

We came back to the hotel and had breakfast in their restaurant, 1886 Café. They brought out donut holes for us to snack on while we waited for our breakfasts. (I got the tasty Huevos Rancheros.)

Relaxing at Viva Day Spa

We freshened up and changed, then headed out again for our appointments at Viva Day Spa. We pampered ourselves with facials, massages, and body scrubs and visited together in the relaxation room between appointments. We left Viva Day Spa completely relaxed and refreshed.

We went back to the hotel to rest and get ready for the evening then met back up at 6:00.

Megan opening Shannon's book, The Good Girl's Guide to Bad Girl Sex

We rented a limo to drive us around to see parts of town while we drank champagne and Megan opened presents. We drove by the Capital and the UT-Austin campus where we saw a couple sorority houses and lecture halls. Then we pulled into a gas station. Our driver said the limo was overheating and hopefully it would just be a few minutes. I have forgotten to mention that it was around 110 degrees this day, so yes, running the air conditioning in a big limo would make it easy to overheat.

Kristen and Megan posing in front of the cooler full of Four Locos

I was greatly amused by hanging out in the gas station. I took some pictures and we chatted with the clerk. Our poor limo driver was out there sweating profusely trying to get it going. We bought him some water and brought it out to him and he told us that another limo was coming to pick us up.

Megan's tiara

We switched limos and dropped my sick Aunt Kerry off at the hotel. Then we made our way to dinner at Moonshine. We enjoyed some cocktails, beer battered asparagus, and grilled artichokes before our meals arrived. I had the jalapeno butter hanger steak, and it was amazing! Others got chicken fried steak, barbecue chicken, flat iron steak, and salmon. We all tried bites of each others’ meal and everyone’s were delicious. Then we shared a brownie sundae for dessert. I was quite full after all this!

Popcorn at Moonshine

My mom enjoying a Lone Star beer

My delicious dinner!

We dropped my mom off at the hotel, then had the limo take us to The Dogwood. We wanted to go here because it’s one of The Bachelor Brad Womak’s bars, and we heard it was the best one. We had a great time here! The bartender was very chatty with us and we had some tasty Sweet Tea Vodka shooters. I looked at my watch and realized we only had ten minutes left with the limo so we headed out and had the limo take us back to our hotel so we could unload all of our stuff.

Posing with Kyle, the bartender at The Dogwood

At The Dogwood

We started to walk back into the hotel and Shannon asked the valet guys loudly, “Hey, I have an important question. Do you know where the Chuggin Monkey is?” Haha! The bartender at The Dogwood had given us a note to give his buddy that works there to hook us up with some free champagne. I told Shannon I knew where it was and to talk softly. ;)

At The Chuggin Monkey

We went back out on 6^th Street and found the Chuggin Monkey and got our bottle of champagne. We hung out here for a while dancing and having fun, then headed to a couple different bars, ending at Pure.

At Pure Night Club

Sunday we went to the South Congress area of Austin and looked at a few cute stores, including a really large antique store with tons of cool items. Then we made our way to Round Rock, a town just outside of Austin where Megan and her fiancé Anthony live.

A boutique in the South Congress area

A boot store in the South Congress area

We toured their house and tried on our bridesmaid dresses (all too big - order a size down at J. Crew), then met Anthony’s mom and went for a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant.

After lunch it was time to head to the airport. Without coordinating, our flights to Seattle, Boise, and Anchorage all left within 45 minutes of each other so that made it easy getting to the airport and having some company before our flights took off.

It was a really fun weekend and Megan had a wonderful time. She kept saying she was having so much fun and it was sad to say goodbye. We’ll be seeing her in just one month for her shower in Boise and a larger Girls Night Out style bachelorette party!

Amsterdam Day 3 – Monday 5.16.11

2011-06-21T16:40:00.000-07:00

We set out early again and consulted Rick Steves’ guidebook for where to eat breakfast. We planned to walk around in the Jordaan neighborhood and there was a recommendation for Sara’s Pancake House nearby so we decided to check that out. Let me tell you, Rick Steves was right on with this one. Our breakfasts were amazing!

When I was little I used to go to “Waffles & More” when I visited my family in Lewiston, ID and I would always get the “All American Waffle.” It had strawberries, blueberries, ice cream and whipped cream. So healthy! Well, since I was on vacation I decided to let myself get the Swiss Crepe with cherries, ice cream, chocolate sauce, and whipped cream. Ahh, it was so good! I wasn’t trying to pretend it was a suitable breakfast choice. I told Nick, “I’m having an ice cream sundae for breakfast.” Nick went with a more balanced approach and got eggs, bacon, and crepes for his breakfast, which was very tasty as well. We liked Sara’s Pancakes so much that we decided to come back before we left Amsterdam the next day. I wanted to try the Mexican Crepe with sausage, cheese, and salsa!

After our delicious breakfast, we started walking towards the Jordaan neighborhood, but it was raining quite a bit and I was not enjoying my hair getting wet and cold, so we decided to head back to Magna Plaza Shopping Center where I could look around at the stores and buy an umbrella. We bought an umbrella and I bought a cute purse as well.

We decided to walk towards the Jordaan neighborhood again, and on our way we stopped into a cheese & wine store for a cheese tasting.

We walked around the Jordaan neighborhood, which was quieter and more residential with cute shops and restaurants here and there.

Then we made our way to the Anne Frank House. The Anne Frank House was so interesting and moving. In school, when I learned about the house where Anne & her family hid, I had always thought of it as an attic with rooms. However, the annex is many levels, and quite a bit larger than I imagined. Still incredibly small for 8 people to live in, but there was a lot more to it than I pictured.

You walk through the different rooms; the front office of Frank Otto’s business, the bookcase that hides the entrance to the annex, Anne’s room, the kitchen, the bathroom, etc. The whole time you’re walking through the house it is so somber and so quite, and it’s always crowded, but everyone whispers very quietly. There are excerpts of Anne’s diary in each room, and an interview with Otto Frank at the end. It was very emotional and sad many times during the tour, but very, very interesting, and one of our favorite things we did the entire trip.

After touring the annex, we went over to the flower market and I snapped lots of pictures of pretty flowers.

We decided to head back to our hotel for a little afternoon rest. Nick took a nap, and I did some laundry in the hotel sink, haha.

After our rest we headed back into town to the Leidseplein area again to check out the flagship Bulldog, a coffee shop. Now, a coffee shop in Amsterdam is not what a coffee shop in the U.S. is. They would call that a coffee store, or a café. A coffee shop in Amsterdam is a place where you can purchase and smoke marijuana. Did you know that marijuana is actually not legal in Amsterdam? What? We learned that from our walking tour guide. However, in the Netherlands their focus is on hard drugs, so they look the other way on soft drugs. Our tour guide said that they have one of the lowest rates of hard drug use in the world, and concluded with “Gateway drug my ass.” I agree that marijuana is harmless (minus the smoke inhalation), and I think it is silly that it’s illegal here in the U.S. I think we waste a lot of resources enforcing it, where we could be making money taxing it. Anyway, did we ask to see the cannabis menu or did we simply enjoy a coke and a snack? I’ll let you guess on that one. ;)

Different types of cannabis plants in the flower market

We had dinner at an Italian restaurant and shared some pizza and pasta, and enjoyed a beer, then we moved on to another bar in the area, a New York Steakhouse bar. We enjoyed a couple beers there, then moved on to an Irish Pub, where we shared some fries.

It was getting late and we were good & full, and buzzed, so we headed back to our hotel and called it a night.

Amsterdam Day 2 – Sunday 5.15.11

2011-06-08T20:57:00.000-07:00

Rijksmuseum behind I amsterdam

We still had tons of energy at the beginning of our trip, so we woke up early and started our day at the Rijksmuseum. We looked at different art, including famous Rembrandt paintings, a giant model ship, dollhouses, blue & white porcelain violins, birdcages, and flower vases.

Me on the Rijksmuseum lawn

After we’d seen the Rijksmuseum we had breakfast at a nearby restaurant, the Cobra Café. Nick and I shared pancakes and an omelet, and they were delicious!

We headed over to the Van Gogh museum and since we bought our tickets online before we left, got to skip the huge line of people waiting to get in. The Van Gogh museum was huge! There were so many different paintings in there by Van Gogh and other artists who inspired him. We also looked at the temporary exhibit they had on Picasso while we were there.

The world's smallest diamond rings - that's on a toothpick!

When we left the Van Gogh museum it was pouring out, so we decided to go to the Coster Diamonds museum to let the rain let up a bit.

Lake in Vondel Park

Posing on a bridge in Vondel Park

The sky cleared up and we walked to Vondel Park. There were people playing Johnny Cash and Oasis on guitar, vendors selling hot dogs and ice cream, and kids feeding ducks. We walked around the lake for a bit then decided we should get lunch somewhere.

Crazy crowds in Liedesplein

We decided to check out the Leidesplein area which has a ton of restaurants and bars. When we got near the area, there was a huge crowds and lots of cheering, and policemen on horses. I thought it must be some sort of protest. We walked closer to the square to see where we should eat. When we got closer we realized everyone was gathered together to watch a soccer match. Then, Ajax, the Amsterdam team, scored a goal and everyone went crazy, beer was flying everywhere, a flare went off. I turned to Nick and said, “Let’s get out of here!”

Police on horses watching over the crowds

We walked away from all the craziness, but we noticed even though we got away from the big crowds, almost every restaurant had a full house with the game on. We decided we weren’t really hungry anyway and that we should go to the Heineken Brewery for the Heineken Experience tour.

At the Heineken Experience

We had a lot of fun at the Heineken tour, and it wasn’t because we were drinking beer the whole time, we didn’t get to do that until the end. ;) We learned about the history of Heineken, the brewing process, went on a ride called "Ride the Brew,” did a beer tasting…

Carol, It's your horse!

I mentioned yesterday that we got a lot of head on beers at dinner. That’s the way they do it in Europe. The one place I noticed they didn’t do it was in Rome, but everywhere else we went – head. The person explaining things during the beer tasting said that a lot of people look at a pour like that and say, “Where’s the rest of my beer?” He said that the foam is beer, and to get past the foam you have to take big sips. ;)

We also made a video while we were there, and I think it’s hilarious:

Carrie and Nick's Heineken Video

We got two free beers at the end of our tour, so we grabbed some seats to enjoy those, then decided we should probably get some lunch since it was almost 5:00pm!

When we exited the Heineken Brewery, the Ajax game was over and people were celebrating their victory! Nick and I decided to head back to the Leidesplein area and find somewhere to eat.

We popped into an Italian restaurant with many people celebrating their teams’ win. Nick and I decided to share a small pizza since we would be having dinner later that night. While we were at the restaurant Nick took a bathroom break and one of the locals started talking to me. He asked me if I was celebrating and pulled out a joint and asked if I was smoking weed. (Gotta love Amsterdam.) I told him I wasn't and asked him about the soccer match and found out that this game was the national championship, basically their super bowl. No wonder they were excited!

Amsterdam is built on a swamp, so many of the buildings shift. Can you see how tilted the middle black house is?

After our late lunch/snack we headed to the Red Light District to do our evening walk through. Rick Steves told us that between 8:00-10:00pm is a good time to go, because there's more going on than during the day, but there's still plenty of tourists out, and it's not so seedy yet. It's so crazy walking through alleyways and seeing women in all these windows in lingerie. Personally, I don't have a problem with prostitution, as long as the woman is not being forced into it. In Amsterdam, this is almost always the case. So, I wasn't disturbed by the prostitution. I thought it was interesting to see how it works there. One thing that was kind of funny was the area where the "cheaper prostitutes" were. (Yes, you could see a difference in "product.")

After passing plenty of sex shops and red-lit windows, we stopped into a beer pub our walking tour guide recommended and enjoyed a brewski.

We decided to have dinner at an Argentinean Steak House since we'd seen them all over the city. Someone asked our tour guide about them and he said they've popped up fairly recently over the past couple of years. Just a new trend in restaurants, he said.

After dinner we took the tram home sometime around 11:00pm. We were worn out from our on-the-go day. So much so that we fell asleep on the tram!

Amsterdam Day 1 – Saturday 5.14.11

2011-06-06T19:56:00.000-07:00

Amsterdam is a wonderful city! It was one of our favorites that we visited. The city is really beautiful and the people are so friendly! Did you know that the Netherlands has the tallest average height of any country in the world? I learned that from our tour guide, Rick Steves. I highly recommend his books for anyone traveling to Europe. He helped us out a ton on our trip!

There are bikes everywhere in Amsterdam! We heard the ding of bicycle bells constanty while there and had to quickly hop out of the cyclists way!

Not only were we excited about our trip to Amsterdam, we were excited about our flight. My mom generously bought our business class tickets for us as a gift and we were spoiled on our way across the Atlantic. I've only previously flown first class on domestic flights and to Mexico, and there's really not much of a difference other than a bit bigger seats and free booze, but transcontinental flights are amazing! We had delicious meals, lots of movies to watch, and seats that reclined all the way back for sleeping. We were fairly well rested by the time we arrived at 6:00am local time and took the train to the RAI station that was near our hotel. We weren’t able to check in yet, so we just dropped off our bags and set off to explore the city!

The palace in DAM square that was under construction

Our hotel was the Novotel Amsterdam, which was a little ways away from the central downtown area. It was kind of nice though, because we got to see a different area of town that we wouldn’t have normally seen.

Nick in front of the National Monument

We took the tram from our hotel to Central Station and looked around for a good breakfast spot. There weren’t many places open, and we settled on a spot advertising “English Breakfast” which was fried eggs, bacon, baked beans, and toast. Under normal circumstances I probably wouldn’t have thought the meal was very good, but I had some serious jet lag and needed some fuel in my body, so I ate it up and felt much better afterwards.

After breakfast we walked down the street to the DAM square, where the palace (that was under construction) is, as well as their phallic-looking national monument. We walked to the Anne Frank house and saw it from the outside, then walked back to DAM square to meet up with a walking tour group.

A little boy chasing birds in DAM square

We saw a lot of bachelor and bachelorette groups. This bride-to-be got whisked away by a Borat impersonator who then picked her up and carried her across the street

Our tour guide led us through the Red Light District, the Jewish District, and through the Jordan neighborhood. The tour was really interesting to hear some history about Holland and Amsterdam, and to learn more about the city, sights, and how the residents live.

A colorful building in the Jewish quarter

Property taxes at one point were based on how wide your house was. So, someone built the narrowest house in Amsterdam (The pink colored house with flowers around the door.)

After our tour we decided to take a beer break at a nearby bar. This was our first of many beers on the trip!

After a brief rest, we strolled over to the History Museum and spent an hour or so looking through the various artifacts and exhibits relating to the Dutch.

Nick riding a bike at the history museum

We then took a canal boat tour through the city before heading back to our hotel.

Once we got back to our hotel we changed (since we’d been wearing the same clothes for over 24 hours) and headed to dinner near our hotel. A family friend spent some time in Amsterdam when he was younger and he recommended we have Indonesian food while we were in Amsterdam, so we decided to try it that night. I thought it was really good, similar to Indian food. Nick and I enjoyed a few Heinekens with dinner (with plenty of head – more on that later) and then headed back to the hotel to call it a day. We were pretty impressed with ourselves for adjusting to the time so quickly!

Easter Weekend in Boise

2011-04-27T13:25:00.000-07:00

Nick and I celebrated Easter in Boise this year. I caught a cold a day before we flew out, so while my Easter was a bit more snotty and coughy than I would have preferred, it was still a wonderful weekend visiting with family!

My little brother James is all boy. While we were there over the weekend he went camping with his cub scouts, target shooting with his dad, and lizard catching in his backyard. My mom lives in the Boise foothills, a desert area, and there's quite few lizards around there. James had this whole procedure involving a stick, flashlight and quick reflexes. He created a shoebox habitat for the lizards he caught, but he only kept them in there for a little bit before releasing them. James said, "One time I left a lizard in there for a whole day, and I came back and the lizard had died. I learned my lesson."

Catherine got a white bunny Pillow Pet on Easter and I noticed there was a sticky yellow mark on the bunny's face. I told Catherine some candy must have got on it and it would wash off. James said, "No, I think that's the Easter Bunny's urine." Haha! I told my mom the story and she said, "See what you missed out on not having a brother growing up?"

Marshmallow Fight!

My mom had some old marshmallows that had gone stale so she thought it would be fun for the twins to have a marshmallow fight outside. My mom is so good with kids. She even turned the clean up into a game telling James and Cat that she would give 5 cents to them for each marshmallow they had picked up. Every time I'm around her I admire how good she is with the twins and remember how she was with my sister and me. I hope I can be as good a mom to my future children as my mom is!

Nick is really great with kids too and the twins always love hanging out with him. He is going to be an amazing dad!

Hahaha, this picture cracks me up. I love Nick's face!
In all fairness, James was pelting those marshmallows. They hurt!

March 2011 Highlights

2011-04-07T13:56:00.000-07:00

One slightly sunny afternoon in March Nick and I took a walk around Chambers Bay Golf Course in University Place. Chambers Bay is a public golf course and the host of the U.S. Open in 2015. Our little town will be pretty busy around that time!

It's a beautiful area with gorgeous views of the water. I snapped some pictures as we walked.

In mid-March I went to Boise to visit my family and go to my cousin Sara's baby shower.

My brother James in the Boise foothills near my mom's house

UW played in the NCAA tournament while I was in town. My dad pulled out my old Husky foam hat I stored at his house and James helped cheer on the Huskies while wearing it.

We went ice skating and Catherine showed off her moves she's learned in her skating lessons

James' idea of a good portrait

My cousin's bridal shower was so much fun! It was great to see my family that I don't see every time I visit Boise. I've been lucky to see them fairly often these past couple years with all the cousins getting married and having babies. There will have been six bridal/baby showers in the past 3 years between 4 cousins!

The cute (and tasty) cake

My mom and the momma-to-be Sara

Sara with the grandmas and a great-grandma; Ben's mom, Sara, Ben's step-mom, Sara's mom (my Aunt Katie) and our Grandma Dorthea

Sara's sister Katie had a baby boy, Landon in January. Sara's also expecting a boy and they'll surely grow up being great friends, just like we were as cousins.

Holding my second cousin Landon - such a cutie!

February 2011 Highlights

2011-03-10T14:06:00.000-08:00

Some of the new member class at "Do Somethng Healthy"

In February I had a lot of different activities with Junior League. One of them was at the Tacoma Convention Center volunteering at an event for kids called “Do Something Healthy.” The snowboarder Shaun White was a featured speaker and there were various booths with different health information for kids. We sponsored two booths with information about healthy drinks and healthy fast food choices.

Nick and I celebrated our 4th Valentine’s Day together. I made us fish tacos and we spent a nice evening in together, working out in our new home gym. Nick got me these beautiful roses which stayed looking nice for over two weeks! I discovered that flowers are really fun to take pictures of and I took about 20, but I will only post a couple for you. ;)

I turned 28 in February and my sister came into town for my birthday. We had a really fun weekend together. We went wedding dress shopping for her and she found a great dress that totally fits her.

Ice Cream Cake!

We also went to the Junior League’s annual fundraiser, Bib & Bid. Nick and I won a picnic basket in the silent auction, and had some tasty crab with some new friends.

January 2011 - Upgrades, and When Did We Become So Adult?

2011-02-09T11:57:00.000-08:00

"Well, um, actually a pretty nice little Saturday, we're going to go to Home Depot. Yeah, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring, stuff like that. Maybe Bed, Bath, & Beyond, I don't know, I don't know if we'll have enough time." - Frank the Tank in "Old School"

Nick and I did a lot of “playing house” or “nesting” in January. We set up our new t.v. we got for Christmas in our living room/great room area, installed new closet doors in our entryway, began turning our den into a home gym, and added miscellaneous décor here and there.

Our living room before picture.
We didn't always have a big cardboard box in our living room - that's our Christmas Tree inside.

Our living room after. Admittedly, having a better camera and learing how to take better pictures indoors makes this after photo much more impressive.

Our totally awesome 80's closet doors before

Our much nicer, more modern closet doors after

Our den/man cave before. We sold the love scac and table on Craigslist, and donated the Captain Morgan sign to Goodwill. Nick wanted to keep the sign, but said, "That's what marriage is all about. Giving up the things you like." Smartass! But he's my sweet little smartass. :)

Our den/gym area now. Still a work in progress, but it's looking really good!

We traveled to Lewiston, ID to visit my family. My mom came up from Boise to visit my grandparents and my uncle, aunt, and cousin. We had some good quality family time, but I somehow managed to not take one picture from the weekend.

The most exciting thing we did in January was buy a new car! I’ve been driving a ’95 Toyota Avalon for 11 years, and last time we took it in to have the oil changed we were told the car needed a few costly repairs, almost as much as the car was worth. We had planned on buying a car later this year, but we decided to push it up a few months.

My last photo of the Carriemobile, before we drove it to the dealership and traded it in

My new 4Runner that I love! I need a name though. My first car, an '84 Ford Bronco was called Benjamin, because my dad was always putting another $100 into it for repairs, gas, etc. My Avalon was named the Carriemobile by my friends in college, and Nick started calling it that without even knowing my friends had nicknamed it that as well.

I knew I wanted my new car to be an SUV. I’ve always really liked 4 Runners, so they were at the top of my list. I also test drove a Hylander and a Honda Pilot, but the revamped look of 2011 4 Runner won out. One of the things I didn’t like about the 4 Runner when I looked online was that it only seated 5, but the 2011 4 Runner has a third row of seating! I am loving driving my new car, both Nick and I are really happy with our big purchase!

December 2010 Highlights - Christmas Celebrations

2011-01-06T11:13:00.000-08:00

Like many of you, December was a busy month for us! At the beginning of December my dad was in town for a work meeting and we got to spend some time with him. We went to Zoo Lights at the Point Defiance Zoo and saw a few animals (most of them were hiding/sleeping) and lots of lights!

Nick tried to catch me by surprise as I exited the bathroom, but I am a pro at posing for the camera. ;)

"Tacoma" - Mount Rainier and the Tacoma Narrows Bridges

The second weekend of December we hosted Nick's office holiday party at our house. The staff had a lot of fun and a few people told us it was the best Christmas party they'd been to.

The office staff

The following weekend we went to a friend's Ugly Christmas Sweater Party. I lucked out finding the only Christmas sweater left at Value Village. We couldn't find anything for Nick so he made his own.

I love his Christmas tree boobies!

We spent the week before Christmas down in Arizona with Nick's family. We went hiking, played pickleball, lots of games, and had a very nice Christmas.

On our hike - the Go John Trail

This is called Elephant Mountain in the background

Beautiful sunset - Nick took this artistic photo ;)

This next photo isn't the best quality because I had to scan in a printed copy of it, but it's so worth posting. I laughed so hard when Nick's dad showed it to me on Christmas.

Baahaha! Nick's aunt had been telling Sean to behave and I guess she got irritated with him right before this picture was taken.

At the end of the month we went to a friend's holiday bowl party to watch UW appear in their first bowl game in 8 seasons! It was a really fun party (complete with purple jello shots) and the best part was UW beat Nebraska!

November 2010 Highlights - Hawaii and Boise Thanksgiving

2010-12-06T12:51:00.000-08:00

November was another busy month for me and Nick! We went to Hawaii for a friend's wedding. Unfortunately their wedding was called off while we were down there. It was very sad to learn, but Nick and I still managed to have a nice vacation.

Me with my favorite drink ever - a pina colada! I wish I could drink these all the time but they are only appropriate in tropical climates. I'd love to go to a bar in Tacoma and order one though. ;)

Nick got me a new camera for Christmas this year and gave it to me early. I did a lot of testing with it on this trip. Aren't the condensation bubbles on this Mai Tai cool looking?

Beautiful sunset at Paradise Cove, where we went to a luau with our friends Merrilee and Mike

Nick, me, Merrilee, Mike at Paradise Cove

Fire dancer at the luau

Nick and I went on a nature hike through a rainforest up to Manoa Falls

Nick and bamboo

Manoa Falls

We also went on a catamaran boat tour. This picture is taken from the company's facebook page

Also taken from their facebook page. We did some snorkling and got this close to a group of dolphins! There were so many all around us, it was the coolest thing!

Nick was a natural on this thing! I wish I would have tired it but at the time I was cold and didn't want to get back in the water. So I ate a hamburger instead.

We came home and the next day our yard looked like this. When we left we still had leaves in fall colors on our trees!

We visited my family in Boise for Thanksgiving where there was more snow. This is from my mom's deck overlooking Boise.

Nick and my sister's fiance Anthony on Thanksgiving

James didn't want pie for dessert. Just a bowl full of whip cream, his favorite food. This is not just a Thanksgiving thing. He eats this everyday when he gets home from school!

We played the game of Life

We went to "Winter Garden Aglow," the Boise Botanical Gardens decked out in Christmas lights

It was freezing and there were these fire buckets set up to warm yourself up. Nick said he felt like a hobo warming himself with a flaming trashcan. Haha!