May

As you know, this has been the most exciting of months for me!  My graduation, birthday, anniversary, and trip to Europe has made it unforgettable.  Here are a few other fun things that happened!

Kylie and Warden came with me to a graduation brunch!  We had no idea what it was about but I got an invitation from the Multicultural Society of UVU and we figured free food!  It was kind of hilarious because we were the whitest people there.  But we enjoyed eating on the floor and hanging out!

We took Warden to see the Roots of Knowledge and he loved it!  He was so interested in it and tried to get as close as possible.

Speaking of Warden, he is just my best little friend lately.  I love him so much!

We love our Yuki baby!  Whenever she sits in her food bowl she makes me think of a scoop of ice cream.

We took Bailey's mom and grandma to The Trellis (Thanksgiving Point's best restaurant in my opinion) and on a walk through the gardens to celebrate late Mother's Day.  We enjoyed spending the time with them!

Whitney told me about a local store that sells Saltwater Sandals!  How exciting!  They even have the retro style so of course I had to buy.  Kylie and Mara also picked some up and we feel so fabulous.

Our not so little niece Chelsie graduated high school!  I was able to go to her ceremony and cheer her on.  She is awesome and I can't wait to see all of the wonderful things she's going to do!

Memorial Day in Pine Valley

It has been several years since we've been on a Memorial Day camping trip with Bailey's family.  We were so excited when his mom booked a VRBO in Southern Utah!

On the drive south we stopped at The Creamery in Beaver.  One of my favorite roadtrip stops!  We ate lunch (you must try their fried cheese curds!) and ice cream (I love the lemon bar flavor!)  We also stopped at Cove Fort.  I went there several years ago, but it was nice to go and see it again.  The senior missionaries are so cute!  It was fun to be there with all of the kids and play the hoop and stick game.

We eventually made it to the rental home in Pine Valley.  The house was huge!  Everyone who was able to come fit just fine in the house, and we really enjoyed the giant kitchen.  There's not much to do in Pine Valley but it is a beautiful area.  It is shocking to me how close it is to St. George and yet the weather is so completely different.  We woke up to snow this morning!

Yesterday we went up the canyon to do some relaxing and fishing.

We also toured the cute historical church in Pine Valley and got a snack at Veyo Pies.  The most delicious pies and the most terrifying logo!

It was just a short weekend out but it was so nice to spend time with the family and relax a bit.  Probably my favorite part of the trip was on the way home when we stopped at the Beaver Nursery.  SO GIGANTIC.  And excellent prices!  I can't wait to come back when I have a garden of my own someday.  Until then, Bailey and I will buy all the succulents and help his siblings pick out plants!

Donation #3

I came home from Europe and felt like it was time for a change.  A change regarding my hair.  Funny - I felt the same thing shortly after graduating high school!  Maybe it is something about starting a new phase of life.

Luckily my dear friend Mara is in hair school and is an advocate for cute hair chops.  She got me in for an appointment before I could wimp out, and we sliced some pigtails!

I feel so trendy, light and free!  Interesting how a haircut can make you feel like a new woman.  I don't know quite how to style it yet but I'm sure I will find out.  And then I'll probably just grow it out again... how many donations can I get in before I go gray?

Birthday Friends

May is always so much fun but this May has been exceptional!  Last year was amazing when Warden was born right by my birthday and Kylie's birthday.  But this year was also so joyful to celebrate the love and laughter he's brought to our lives in just the one year he has been here!

On his actual birthday we had a hot dog roast at my grandparents house in lieu of going out for mine and Kylie's birthday like we normally do.  I love that our birthdays are right next to each other and that we always get to celebrate when the lilacs are in bloom!  It was fun to include Warden in this year's birthday pics.

Turns out that a birthday fire is an excellent idea.  We all had so much fun with such great company!  we also go to play four square in the air which is a family favorite.

Today Kylie and Seiji threw their sweet baby an official first birthday party complete with streamers and balloons.  He had no idea what was going on, but he was in a cheerful little mood and it was so fun to watch him "open" his presents and eat his cake!  He was very gentle with the cake and ate it in tiny pieces.  He probably could have eaten the whole thing if we let him sit there for a few hours - that boy likes his chocolate!

Such a happy week with some of my favorite people!  I have felt exceptionally blessed lately and I'm so excited to bask in the fun of the rest of summer!

Amsterdam Photoshoot

This morning our photographer sent us an email with a link to our photos that she took on Sunday.  She did such a great job!  This is probably the best birthday gift that I've ever gotten, and I love that it also lined up pretty close with our third anniversary so we can also call these our third anniversary pictures.  Bailey is the best sport, and I will seriously treasure these photos for forever.  Here are a few of my favorites!

My (Pretend) Birthday in Amsterdam

Today was one of the very best days!

Tomorrow is my birthday and since we will be traveling home all day tomorrow, we decided to celebrate today. It ended up being so special!

The first thing we did was stop by a bakery for breakfast and then go on a morning canal cruise. It wasn’t that early, it was at 10am but it was still early enough that we were practically the only ones on the canals. We had booked the “experience” on Airbnb and there were just a few of us with our awesome Captain Theo. He was an awesome guide and gave us a lot of history and information. I loved getting a different view of Amsterdam than usual! It was so beautiful and we traveled quite a bit on the boat. He even took us past the zoo and we saw elephants and giraffes!

Afterwards we were brave and tried herring. We aren’t normally picky or nervous about trying new food, and usually we end up liking the weird things we try. Well herring stood no chance. It was nasty! It seriously tastes and feels like they just grabbed a little fish out of the canal and slapped it on a roll. I am ashamed to admit that I couldn’t get past a few bites. Bailey got through most of his but had to throw away the last few bites and then felt queasy. I don’t think I’d recommend it but Bailey thinks that it should be part of the Amsterdam experience. 

We then went to the Bloemenmarkt which is always cute and super busy. We were in search of fresh cut tulips and literally only 2 stalls had them. AT THE BLOEMENMARKT. I'm pretty sure that word translates directly to "flower market"! What?! So we didn’t have many options but Bailey picked these sweet tulips out for me to go with my main gift.

If you know Bailey and I you might know that we are very different in the ways that we show love. Bailey is very much a things person, and I’m much more of a quality time/experience person. I tried to convince him that the whole trip should count as my birthday present but he wouldn’t have any of it. What we decided on was a good compromise. A photoshoot!

We’ve never had a photoshoot while traveling and I’m always a little bit sad that we never are able to get good pictures of the both of us. Bailey is awesome and gets lots of pictures of me, but unless we ask a stranger to take a (usually blurry) photo of us, we  usually only have a few train selfies to show that we were together. So I was super excited about this shoot, I think that the photos will be the best souvenirs!

We met up with our photographer who was the cutest and sweetest Hungarian girl. It seemed like she really knew what she was doing, and I can’t wait to see the photos! I had found her and booked her through Airbnb. She was really fun to spend the hour with and we got along super well. She showed us some cool shops she likes, and took us to the most beautiful, quiet places. I’ll eventually post those pictures when we get them back, so stay tuned!

After our shoot I thought about the fact that I can’t take my flowers home with me tomorrow so I thought I’d leave them on sweet Anne Frank’s memorial. We didn’t go to her house this year because we just went last year, but it was nice to remember her for a minute and pay some respects.

Herring was not necessarily a filling lunch so we went to a pancake restaurant to try poffertjes. They were so delicious! I’m not usually a pancake sort of girl but I’d totally eat these again. I’m glad we had the chance to try them, they’re a traditional dish but for some reason we didn’t see them last year.

Also last year we didn’t realize we could go into the Royal Palace. I am so glad that I found out we could, because we did the audio tour today and wow!!! Gorgeous! I have to say, it was definitely more my style than all of the magnificent English palaces. I loved the bright light from the unobstructed windows (stained glass is awesome but it blocks so much light!) and the white interior. I’m also a fan of a good pagan theme. My very favorite was this Atlas sculpture. Absolutely breathtaking!! The tour gave us some good information about the architecture and art of the place, and a bit about its political relevance. I really don’t know as much as I should about the politics of The Netherlands, but it was nice to get a taste of it.

Then came the time that Bailey has been waiting for all week. Primark shopping time! Primark, my friends, is the best of all stores and it is a true shame that we don’t have one in Utah. It is basically a cheap H&M. Like, €4 T-shirt kind of cheap! So we went to town and treated it as a birthday shopping spree for the two of us, since Bailey’s birthday was not too long ago. Of course we couldn’t go too crazy - whatever we bought we knew we’d have to lug home on our backs tomorrow!

I was glad that Bailey bought some sweats because the walk home was a little chilly. I looked like a crazy lady with my dress tucked into his sweats but it didn’t stop us from sitting down for some Halal food on our way home! Bailey was so happy to find some kapsalon and I enjoyed my doner wrap so much. The perfect birthday dinner!

We walked home and enjoyed the evening light. The day was a truly wonderful ending to a magical trip. We have so enjoyed our time in Europe and aren’t quite ready to leave! We crammed so much into the past 8 days and saw some amazing things and ate some seriously delicious food. I can’t wait until we can come back!

Our Last Morning in London

Today was Bailey’s favorite day yet because it started with a visit to the House of Parliament!

It was a perfect visit for the two of us because I’m into gorgeous, symbolic art and architecture and Bailey is into politics. They give you an awesome tour guide which gives a history of the building as well as a general overview of UK’s political history. It took us to every room and we learned so much! Most of the time we couldn’t take pictures so we just have the one pretty much. But do pay a visit if you find yourself in London, I think this was an important educational stop. Just make sure to book your ticket ahead of time.

As mentioned, the building was beautiful inside and most of it was beautiful on the outside too. The rest of it... was covered in scaffolding. This was something we were prepared for but it was still kind of sad. Someday we will have to come back to see Big Ben! I wanted a picture of Bailey in front of the building but we couldn’t get a background without scaffolding so we got one with Churchill (Bailey is a big fan) instead haha.

We couldn’t leave London without eating fish and chips, so that was our next stop. We both ordered cod and chips and holy cow it was the best fish and chips I’ve ever had. I’ve heard mixed reviews about England’s fish and chips but I really couldn’t find any issues. Of course, the place we went to let us control how much black vinegar we put on our fish, luckily for Bailey (who hates vinegar)!

Our last London adventure for this trip was Tate Britain. Very cool! We do love a good art museum and this one was manageable without being overwhelming. It had a good mix of styles, periods, and artists. They even had a good little collection of modern art (Bailey’s favorite!) which was good because we were a little bummed about not being able to hit Tate Modern. Like I said, too much to do, too little time! It just gives us some good reasons to come back. 

And come back, I hope we do. I really hope we do and I hope it is soon! We are flying back to Amsterdam now and thinking that it is possible that we like London as much as we like Amsterdam. I love England’s interesting history, their cultural diversity (which leads to excellent food options), London Underground (SO CONVENIENT!), and free museums. I am so glad that we chose to fly to London during this trip, we had an amazing time if you can’t tell!