Happy Daddy Day

{happy father's day}

what would we do without our dads? today is one of my favorite days because I love to tell my DAD how much i love him! what an inspiration he has been to me. My dad always always makes sure us kids have the time of our life no matter what we are doing... if we are on a trip, he makes sure we are trying out every activity possible. whether its parasailing, skiing, cliff jumping, surfing, snorkeling, scuba diving, or rope swinging.... you name it, we did it because my DAD loved for us to have fun. thanks for all of the amazing {memories} dad. I have loved every minute of it! thanks for making sure i am living up every minute of my life. you always made sure i made the right decision in whatever i did. and because of you... I have stayed strong! here's to you dad... love you!

i had to do a little something for jeff because it is father's day and i am so excited for him to be a DAD someday! one of these days.... we will be sitting together on this day looking at our kids and wondering where the time went. I know that he is going to be the greatest dad in the world and I can't wait for the day I get to witness it (this is not an announcement =)). 

So when Jeff and I were working on our house... we had everything torn out, down to the studs and we had just started the new plumbing and electrical. We had just come over right after work, we knew we had a long night ahead of us and at about 7:00 p.m. both of our dads show up unexpectedly. We were so grateful you have no idea. And that wasn't the only time they did it! There were plenty of other times. I mean we seriously have the greatest dads ever.

now to BIG AL... thanks for everything you have done! Your love and support has meant the world to us. Thanks for always helping us have good time with your hilarious, kind and giving personality. There are sooo many things we could thank you for- so please know how appreciative we are! Jeff takes after you in a lot of ways- and I love it. Thanks for being such a great DAD to him and father in law to me!

Newport 2005

Switzerland 2007

Here's to you both! happy father's day!

{Our Road Trip to VIRGINIA}

Well after Utah we had a great time taking a road trip to our new home... {Alexandria, Virginia}.  I would have to say that I was not too excited for 36 hours of driving... but it honestly was one of the most fun things we've done! So we left early on a Sunday morning and started driving to ASPEN where we would spend our 5 year anniversary!

So this was actually in our moving truck a few weeks before, but I had to post it because he is just so cute...

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! Oh my gosh we loved Aspen. It's like Park City on steroids... and it is seriously one of my most favorite places now. Jeff was cute and surprised me with a fun, cozy hotel with a hot tub and pool (because that is seriously all I care about). It had a fireplace and everything. We relaxed and watched the playoffs. Then we walked along the fun streets that night to try and find a fun restaurant, but unfortunately they all closed early! So we did our favorite thing... ordered pizza and took hot tub, hot and bubbly. It was soo nice! I can't even tell you how much I had been craving a hot tub in NYC. Jeff of course surprised me again with breakfast in bed in the morning with an anniversary gift! He always goes above and beyond.

We slept in, took another hot tub in the morning and went and explored beautiful ASPeN... had a great lunch at a Mexican restaurant!

Aspen has such fun shops, cobble stone streets, restaurants, ski resorts, cozy motels... it was so cool to see. 

After lunch we then ventured off to our next destination... pretty much just driving until we got tired! We went through this beautiful canyon where we stopped and enjoyed the scenery. 

So good to be up in the canyon again! 

Our first night we stayed in Kansas. We kept driving and we were going through DENVER like around 6:00 p.m. trying to get the game on the radio when we thought... we are in Denver... the game starts in an hour... let's try and get tickets! So we went and tried to scalp tickets for the big playoff game but of course they were a little too pricy... so we kept driving. 

Our next stop was St. Louis! 

On our way to Pittsburgh, we stopped in INDIANA. This was a pretty state I'll tell you what! We loved getting lunch and eating it by the fun middle square. 

We then made it to {Alexandria, Virginia}! We were able to move our stuff in pretty fast! it's not hard when you are moving a 500 square ft apt!  Here we are eating our first meal in our new apt. We absolutely LOVE the area. We have beautiful vintage streets and neighborhoods (including Old Town) but then fun new developments with big movie theatres and restaurants.  So much to explore! All of the roads are confusing but hopefully we'll get use to it. i can't even tell you how happy I was putting my groceries in my car and drive home! ( I know Mel is going to kill me when I post this). I have a Target down the street and I am loving life. But aside from that we are so excited to start a fun new life here. Even though we don't know how long we'll be here... we still love it! We both started work last week and so far its going great. Well i'll be honest- its hard to go back to work all day but I am hoping we can get back into the groove of things. Jeff is loving his internship and loving working in Development. We hope to stay but I guess we'll go wherever his next job takes us! we're excited =) 

So Good to see Everyone in Utah!

After we packed everything up in NYC we drove it to VA and then flew home to Utah to see everyone! It was a nice 2 week break. We had a great time see friends and family. I wish I took more pictures of people we saw including my friends and Jeff's friends... but what do you do... it was still so much fun and I guess I'll get them next time! For some reason this time coming home was a lot harder than before because I hate saying goodbye! But it was still a blast and we loved the summer weather! 

MOTHER'S DAY... well where do I start. I don't know where I would be without my mom in my life. She is a true inspiration to me in so many ways... I don't even know where to begin. I am glad that we were home to spend the Sunday with both mom's and let them know how much we love them.  Mom- thank you for being an amazing icon for me. You can get through obstacles in life and can just smile back at them with your incredible happiness. Thanks for teaching me that. I am always happy because of you and Dad. You taught me to always be nice to everyone I know... and to LOVE everyone and everything I encounter. Your capacity to LOVE is one of a kind. Thank you for that and thanks for choosing me to be your daughter! love you more...

Here are some pictures of the families on Mother's Day...

Grandma and Jen- thanks for being the greatest MOMS to me and Jeff! We loved spending it with you and truly look up to you like our moms as well! Thanks for everything...

I had to post this because I love my brother... he is hilarious. Here is a shout out to TREYDEN for graduating HIGH SCHOOL this week! Congrats!!! Wow time has flown by I'll tell you what... it seems like yesterday when you were 5 running around the pool with a TAB in your hand yelling "tequila!" Have a great time on Senior Trip my friend and live it up... and as DAD would say... It doesn't get much better than this. 

Oh WOW... where do we start with LIZ?! I didn't get a picture of Liz exactly on MOTHERS DAY so this one is from NYC... but we had to thank Lizzie for her amazing LOVE to the both of us. Liz you also are a true example to me and Jeff. What would we do without you? You are always... always happy and upbeat and just high on life. There have been times when Liz has helped us on our past remodels and she'll show up right after work with a paint brush in her hand all ready to help.... and then comes 5:00 a.m. and she is still as cheery as can be and SO happy to be there. She is one that will do anything and everything for her kids. And I love it. Thanks for such a great time in Utah- you always spoil us! love you!

Colby and Katelyn! I have to give a shout out to Colby as well... he went to TEXAS this summer to see alarm systems and is loving it. We're so proud of you Colb! We were sad to say goodbye but are excited for your new adventure. 

Here is my cute mom opening her gifts... my DAD always spoils her...

Brady and Brookie!! So let me just tell you that Brady and Brookie are living in PRAGUE right now for the summer... I know... what?! How freaking awesome is that. I am so proud of Brady and his hard work at Thunderbird. They are loving their experience... we are so jealous! The school life is the bomb! we miss you guys already...

How freaking hilarious is the picture... all I say is look at the camera and they can both come up with these funny faces in a heart beat. My grandma has the best funny faces =)

MOM and DAD

We had a great time hanging out with the cute Vandenakkers and Prince's! Thanks for making time for us guys... we sure miss you but we are excited for your next new adventures as well! 

And of course we had to see our good friends the Mulcocks, Stokoes, Blancks, Bruschke's and Olsens... so fun! We had a BBQ at the Stokoes. So fun to catch up... we miss our traveling buddies! 

The GIRLS

We also had a great time going to see THE METRO all completed (well it's been done for a while but we went and saw ALAN's amazing condo). Here is his sweet view... we loved laying in his comfortable bed and watching the PLAYOFFS! Thanks Alan for such a great time! 

Here is also a THANK YOU to cute Barbara- Jeff's grandma. HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! You have always taken good care of us and we thank you! Love you so much!

Our first night there we went to the yummy RED MANGO with my FAM. 

So I was totally craving the yummy BUFFET at ZERMATT. It had been way too long and it's my most favorite thing to do.  So both families went up and stayed the weekend. It was so fun to relax by the pool, golf, eat eat eat, see Angels and Demons, and be with FAM. 

Thanks everyone for such a great time! We miss you already. We always recognize how lucky we are to have all of you!