A Favorite Pastime

One of our favorite things to do together as a couple is spend time outdoors. We love biking, swimming, and hiking. Luckily we live in an awesome place to do all of those things. Right up the road from where we live in Alpine is American Fork Canyon. The other day after Jacob got home from work we went hiking up in the canyon and had a great time. There were wild flowers everywhere, it was so gorgeous!

 

A Last Minute Father's Day Trip

On Fathers day we were planning on just staying at home in Alpine for the weekend but after our 9am Sacrament Meeting Jacob surprised me with one of his spontaneous plans that I love. He asked if I wanted to spend the day with my family, specifically my dad, and said we should just make a day trip out of it. I loved the idea and so we set off on our road trip. My family was actually spending the weekend in Twin Falls with my extended family so we met them up there. We were able to spend a few hours together talking and having fun. We also got to enjoy a delicious Sunday feast prepared at my Grandma's house. We had a great time and it was well worth the trip even though it was so short. Luckily Jacob and I both love spending time together in the car so we didn't mind traveling both ways in one day.

I forgot to take pictures so I got these off my Aunt Lisa's blog

A Week in Idaho

While Jacob was having his internship adventure in Connecticut, Cas Cas and I travelled up to Idaho Falls to spend the week with my family. Cas Cas was quick to make herself comfortable on Melanie's bed. She especially loved the giant stuffed gorilla!

During the week I decided to commit to a change in hairstyle that I had been thinking about for a while. I've gone dark before but this time I decided to add some red into the mix. I'm excited about how it turned out!

I got to spend some quality time with my mom since the kids were all still in school and my dad had work. I was also pretty busy finishing up some online assignments for my nursing study abroad classes. I did get to catch a few fun moments with my busy siblings though. Here's a picture of Spencer pretending to be the BYU version of Superman!

When I got back home Cas Cas decided to help me unpack...

She loves hiding in places. I found her kitty bed sliding around the kitchen floor one afternoon and was a bit confused for a second before I saw a little white paw stick out from under the edge :)

We both missed Jacob so much and were so happy when we were all reunited again at the end of the week!

Jacob's Travels

While I was gone in Arizona on my study abroad, Jacob made sure to fit in some travels of his own to keep from getting too bored or lonely.

First he headed up to Idaho Falls to visit my family for the weekend. He brought Cas Cas along so that she could stay with my family for the next few weeks. My two younger brothers, Nathan and Spencer, took the day off of school on Friday so that they could go backpacking. During the drive up they stopped for breakfast at a cute diner for their "last good meal," before setting out for their camping trip. They went on my favorite hike up by Palisades Reservoir. I think it is 7-8 miles to get to the upper lake there where they camped overnight. During the evening they made a fire and roasted hotdogs for dinner. Jacob had brought the small hatchet he got for his birthday with him so he taught the boys how to safely throw it at trees and get it to stick in the trunks. They had a lot of fun but unfortunately it ended up raining most of the night and then through out the morning. Because it was so wet outside when they woke up they packed up quickly and hurried back down the trail to the car. On the way back home they stopped to buy a box of yummy donuts for breakfast.

The next week Jacob went to Chicago to visit his sister Jessie, her husband Dustin, and their little daughter Clara. His mom was also there visiting for the week and his dad came for part of the week as well. While he was there they went on an architecture tour of downtown Chicago by boat. They also got to take a tour at Wrigley Field, which is located just down the street from Jessie and Dustin's apartment. He made sure to eat some good food while he was there too, including the famous, deep dish, Chicago style pizza. Jacob also took his family to a Ukrainian buffet so that they could all experience some of the dishes he ate on his mission. I was a little sad I wasn't there to experience the Ukrainian food too. Another place Jacob visited while there was the Chicago Art Institute, which he really enjoyed. He had a great trip and I know he was really happy to get to spend time with Jessie, Dustin, Clara, and his parents.

Wrigley Field

Jacob loves his niece!

Eating Borscht at the Ukrainian restaurant

After I got back from my study abroad Jacob and I had a fun weekend together, including going to a Taylor Swift concert. But on Sunday Jacob left for his summer internship kickoff at his company's national headquarters in Connecticut. His company is called the Royal Bank of Scotland and his branch is in Salt Lake City but all the interns around the country got to be flown out to Connecticut for a week long orientation. While there he spent a couple days in Stamford, CT. We went to the Bloomberg office on Wall Street and got to attend finance training on Wall Street as well. He went to a rooftop social in New York City and he was able to visit central park and grand central station too. On his last day of the trip there were no plans so Jacob coordinated a day-trip to Boston with the other Salt Lake City interns. While in Boston, Jacob was also able to meet up with his good friend Roberto who lives there. Although it was a work trip, Jacob had a good time. We were both glad when he got home though that all of our time apart was finally over.

The Best Surprise!

As I said in my last post, after returning from Arizona, Jacob and I only had the weekend together before he left for a week in Connecticut for his internship. Little did I know,  Jacob had plans to make that weekend extra fun! When Jacob picked me up from my 3 week study abroad he had a surprise for me...
Tickets to see Taylor Swift's Red Tour concert in Salt Lake City that weekend!

I was shocked and so excited! I am not embarrassed to say that I am a big Taylor Swift fan! The concert was on Saturday evening. When we arrived there were a ton of people lining up to go inside. I really wanted to get a shirt and so we went straight to the merchandise line once we got inside of the arena. We ended up waiting for 45 minutes because the credit card reader wasn't functioning. But we finally got my shirt and I liked it so much that I didn't mind missing part of the opening act.

The opener was Ed Sheeran, he has some good music but I was really only there for Taylor so I didn't mind missing some of his set. We quickly found our seats, which were in a great spot. The crowd was probably 80% girls, many much younger than me. But surprisingly quite a few were college age too which made me feel a bit less dorky :)

The show was amazing! This was my first concert featuring a major performer and it was crazy to see how much they put into the set, costumes, and special effects; especially for her hit songs! I loved it and sang along with everyone till my voice got a bit hoarse. Even though Jacob was there mostly for me, I think he had a good time too!

I have the best husband ever, he knows me so well!