family.

i spent last weekend in utah. besides being unseasonably cold (45 degrees!), it was the perfect weekend trip. dad has a supersweet condo in downtown SLC, and everything is walkable or trax-able. we walked to get breakfast, we traxed to gateway mall with all the kiddies, and we walked to the elevator to get to the pool in his building. pools are so much more fun with kids around!
i basically just laid around all weekend and laughed with my family and watched movies and bad TV. i wish we all lived closer together, but then i wouldn't rack up all these frequent flyer miles, right? thanks for making a girl well-traveled, utah family!

so, onto pictures of the weekend.

me and brooklyn. she is so pretty. and also the sweetest and funniest girl.me and the babymaker, aka laura.

brooklyn and tanner go for a walk on the moon.

evie got jealous and was like, "pssht. whatevs. i'm going to mars."

then we all hopped on trax to ride home. little elijah freaks out over trains, in a good way. you can't really tell by this picture.

maybe you can tell by this video?

bonus video, we captured evie being cute and giggly. and yes that is my butt.

i left my heart in the west.

i'm off on a little business trip to denver. it's been awhile since i have been in the mountains, or flown anywhere, so yeah you could say i'm a little excited for this trip. i'm really excited to be around the rugged mountains. it makes me feel so different.
after denver, i have a stop over in SLC for the weekend to see my sweet little family (and more mountains)! can't wait to hang out with all the babies and my sister and brother and stay in papa mickey's super sweet apartment rental in the smack-middle of downtown SLC.

have a great week!

we rode a bobsled.

my brother in law - tony - works at the bobsled track in park city. yes, he drives the bobsled. yes, i understand that's awesome. i also now understand that is dangerous and scary and i would cry if i had to do that every day. this bobsled ride was really fast (speeds of over 70mph) and curvy, and it was all over in less than a minute.

bobsled? sure, yeah i can do this. why not.

"TH, actually, i don't think i want to do this"

here, mike (my bro) is excited for his third bobsled ride. his kids can't wait till they are old enough to go!waiting to go down. why am i doing this again?

well, in the end we had a great time. nobody vomited and we even got a picture at the end of it all. proof, people. it's all about the proof.

this now counts as one of the highest adrenaline rush activities i've done. maybe you think that's sad, but then why don't you tell me what the craziest thing is that you've ever done?

utah. the food.

of course, i have to tell you about the food we ate in utah last week. salt lake has a pretty happening food scene right now, and we dove right in. oh man, did we ever.

best new find: les madelines
a downtown bakery, specializing in amazing pastries. i had the best egg sandwich of my life, and about 4 Kouing Amans (we went back again for more of these). Kouing Amans are a flaky, buttery pastry with crystal sugar and salt dusted on the outside and carmelized goodness. omgah i'm dying for another one right now. apparently they run out on a daily basis, so you must get there early to partake. worth it.

an old favorite, and a diners, drive-ins, and dives restaurant (triple D): red iguana.
our large group was all interested in mole, but not sure which to get, so they brought out 2 of their sampler trays - this was so cool of them to do. we were all so happy with our food! fun to be there with the kiddos and family. hooray for good mexican food! so hard to find on the east coast.

another triple D restaurant, moochies. featuring sub sandwiches, including meatball subs and philly cheesesteak - our group was so happy about this! i had a tuna sub, which was kind of mayonaissey, but the bread was good anyway. look at my brother stuffing his face. haha, thanks for taking us here, mike!

k and last but not least, the blue plate diner as recommended to us by tony and laura, and yet another triple D restaurant! TH and i both got eggs benedict - mine was vegetarian sausage and tomatoes, TH got mexican eggs benedict. the hollandaise was to die for and the hash browns, too! we loved this place! sat at the counter and ate free rolo's and sipped our cokes until the food came. this was the last place we went before heading to the airport to fly back to DC.

oh wow. i'm hungry.

see you next time, restaurants of slc. nicely done.

dating + 3 years = marriage

did i ever tell you about the time TH introduced mei li to dave? well, it was about 3 years ago, and check it - we went to their beautiful wedding last weekend. now they are living it up in sunny south america, and we can't wait to hang out with them soon. the new mr. and mrs. congratulations you guys! and yes, we now consider ourselves expert matchmakers, so please let us know if you want to meet any of our friends. but please consider that it may take up to 3 years to marry. that's how we do around here.