2011 in Review

Since it has been a while since I last blogged, I thought it would be appropriate to start with a Review of 2011 and all the fun things that happened in our life last year.

January

I'm pretty sure that we didn't do anything in January except for that we went to see 'The Tourist and on our way home, Michal decided to be spontaneous and we went bowling. It's amazing how fast one game goes by when there are only two people.

February

Once again, I don't think that we did anything in February. Michal was studying really hard for his series 7 & Series 63 tests. And I decided to start Tutoring again, this time in Salt Lake City. I had to build up a whole new clientele. But the people that I met were really fun.

This is the only photo I have from February, it is of us going to a Grizzlies Hockey game (that I hated, but was a good sport about because I got free tickets from Work). I didn't like the game because when I came in they made me throw away my water. No big deal - right? But the way they went around it was extremely unprofessional. They took my purse and dumped it out on their table. After the water was disposed of, they tried to get me to throw away my gum, and all my mints & Michal's chocolate which was in my purse. When Michal tried to defend me and tell security how rude it was that they did that, they threatened to kick him out of the place. I just couldn't believe we were treated like that when we had box seats (where we got plenty of free water bottles later) and there were plenty of other white-trash beer-drinking disrupting-fans, than us. I will never go to another Grizzlies Hockey game - EVER. (Unless I have a son who plays for them one day, and then I will reconsider it).

March

March was my birthday and we celebrated at an amazing restaurant: The Melting Pot. (Michal calls this place: 'The Pot House'). It was extremely delicious and I just enjoyed the time I was able to spend with Michal there.

Liang came to visit Salt Lake City. I love this guy. He is one of my favorite people

Michal & I went to Greece.

Greece is one of my favorite places - and vacation with Michal was one of my favorite!

It was the first time that we got to fly first-class.

We saw three different cities, and met some incredibly awesome Europeans while we were there. I had so much fun. And even though our trip was only 5 days (2 of them were traveling on the plane). It was definitely worth it.

April

Lael came to visit!

Mama Swope came to visit!

I went to Visit Torrey in California for her wedding.

May

We moved to a cheaper - larger apartment.

June

We went to St. George for Amanda/Jared's wedding. We had to visit Vegas on the way, so we spent a day there. Vegas is always fun.

July

Our whole family took a trip to the outer banks. Michal & I went out early to visit some of my favorite people in Pennsylvania. But the outer banks is one of my favorite places on earth. When I am there, all my problems go away and life seems to be so much easier and clearer. I love it there and can't wait until we get to go back.

August & September

We found out Michal got a job in Poland, so we started selling off everything we had on craigslist & KSL. All our pictures from these months are ones that we took to list and sell our items. (For obvious reasons, I won't be posting them here).

October

Here are some pictures of Michal's new work!

Michal with the Poland Mission Pres.

Worst month ever. Michal left September 23rd to go to Poland & I stayed behind because I wanted him to go out early to get us an apartment and get all settled in there. While he was there I worked like crazy. Sometimes working an extra 20 hours a week tutoring after my 40 hour a week job. Life was hard while Michal was away. Work didn't make it any easier on me - thank goodness I had some really good friends who helped me through this.

On a good note - Ben & Fatima got engaged this month. I was excited to add another European to our family!

November

Thanksgiving - ugh. It was fun, but not really since Michal wasn't there. At least Fatima was able to make me laugh and was so sweet and always trying to cheer me up.

December

We had a really bad windstorm that completely changed our neighborhood. I think there were only 2 or 3 houses whose fences DIDN'T get blown over. We lost about 100 trees in our neighborhood. The waiting line to get into the dump to drop off downed trees was over an hour sometimes. It was a huge clean-up project. The morning it happened, I literally couldn't get into work. They closed down the free-way and Highway 89 because of the trucks that were turned over and the power-lines that were down. I was told that if I didn't come into work, I would have to use a vacation day... so when they opened the roads back up, I made my way to work.

(There is a car under this tree - believe it or not).

(Power lines down)

(I passed 26 overturned Semi's on the way to work).

Fatima had a bridal shower. She got all sorts of fun gifts and I got to meet all her fun friends.

Michal came back - December 23rd!!! I was so excited to have him back.

Thanks to my family & friends for such a wonderful year!

Our Summer

This summer Michal & I had a lot of fun adventures. Here is a summary of the fun things we were able to participate in this summer...

Two of my favorite people in Pennsylvania made their way out to Salt Lake City to visit. We took them all over to show them Temple Square.

Liang was one of the last people that I taught in State College. He was the first person to introduce me to Chinese food that I liked. He also had the neatest confirmation blessing that I heard my whole mission.

Liang was so funny when he came out to Utah - he said... "I don't know how you cant find a wife in Utah, there are SO MANY girls in Temple Square. If you ask one out and they say no, you just ask the next one that comes around - eventually one will say yes. I suppose that 1 out of every 100 you ask would say yes." What made me laugh is that Liang was referring to all the sister missionaries that are serving on temple square. This was one reason that I love Liang so much.

Mama Swope - her name perfectly describes her. She was a second mother to me out in Pennsylvania. Her husband was our ward mission leader in York and they took good care of me - including -

- making sure I had enough Peaches to make it throughout each week

- giving us rides to wherever we needed, whenever we needed it

- showed us all the sites and cool things we never would see as missionaries on our Preparation days

If I were Catholic, I would say that this woman would receive sainthood for how much she takes care of missionaries. Michal & I have talked about how when we move "out into the missionfield" that we want to take after Mama & Papa Swope's example. Truly because of them missionaries are having an easier transition and have a little piece of home in their hearts whenever they are around.

(We had to take a picture in front of all the flowers because Mama Swope is an expert Gardener)

I was able to go out to L.A. (My first Solo trip away from Michal) to visit a girlfriend getting married. We were able to dance and sing and pretend like we were freshman in high school. Everyone (including the bride - Torrey Smith) looked so beautiful. Sometimes when you find good friends, it is important to never let go of them and I am so grateful for them.

Michal & I took a lot of driving trips around the State to find unique landmarks or fun places to explore. This specific Sunday we made our way to Ogden's Train Depot and we spend FOREVER there because Michal is obsessed with Trains.

It was so much fun watching Michal while we were here. It was like he had to inspect every inch of these engines and had to climb over every single one. I can't wait until we have a little boy and Michal will spend hours playing "trains" with him.

We had another wedding we attended in St. George over a weekend in June. Amanda & Jared got married and it was really fun to go to the St. George temple for the first time and watch them seal the deal.

Then Michal & I were able to make it out to Pennsylvania, where I served my mission, and visit those that I love. Here are some people that I was so excited to see...

The Mastracola's. Michal & Michelle have the most unique relationship - it started out arguing over politics - and ended up loving each other because both are so passionate about discussing politics. Michal had to wear his OBAMA t-shirt just for Michelle. They are both such good sports and she cooked us such delicious homemade pizza!

Karis, Austin & Teagan Miller. I feel like these guys are more like little a little brother and sisters or cousins than friends in Pennsylvania. They are so much fun and I get so excited to go to Pennsylvania to know that I will get to see them. This particular time we were there the 4 of us decided to play a joke on their grandparents and switch all of their family pictures around the house and see how long it would take them to notice. Michal had fun chillin with Teagan while Austin & I went to go get a pedicure!

Austin also decided to have another fun little side-adventure with us when she passed out at a restaurant. Instead we were able to spend some time with her & grandma Becky in the hospital. Austin was so patient with everyone there, she wanted to leave so badly - but was kind and we had hours to catch up on things instead. Michal all helped ease the tension with his fun humor.

I seriously love the Miller family. They feel so much like family to me that I feel at home when I am around them. The spirit is so strong in their home and they exemplify such wonderful qualities of the Savior. I feel so blessed to have served in Palmyra, PA so that I could meet this family. I tease "Brother Miller" that I get to talk at his baptism when he decides to get baptized. He is such a good sport. Michal really likes him to - he loves re-telling stories that "bro" miller shared with us.

We also got to visit Jeff Gochoco. Jeff has such a special place in both my & Michal's hearts! He is an amazing person and I hope that one day I can become half of the person that he is. He has such a wonderful testimony of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He is so christ-like and so positive. He is always willing to give you whatever you need, even if it is the shirt off of his back. He has strengthened my testimony in so many ways that I am so grateful for him and what he has shared with me. This is just one reason why he has a special place in my heart.

And Pennsylvania wouldn't be a good trip unless we visited the Swopes. They are seriously such amazing people (as described above). They took us out to a yummy lunch.

After visiting Pennsylvania, we headed to DC to visit a few friends there...

The PETERS! Thanks to Brother Peters, Michal listens to Bluegrass - NON-STOP!!! But it was so good to see them, especially Jessica & her cute new precious Baby. She is one of my bestest estest friends! I am so grateful for her and her friendship ever since Kindergarten.

Courtney Hasting - another one of my bestest estest friends since Freshman year of college. I love her so so much also, and I am SO grateful for her friendship and how she has always been there for me. Even when she has trials in her life, she is so positive and is always there to help me see the positive side of things and become a better person.

Lael - Michal's Bestest estest friend (Since I don't know when). He truly has been such an asset in Michal's life and I love Lael for how good he is to Michal. He is such a blessing to my husband. P.S. Thanks Lael for taking us out to dinner at such an awesome yummy place! We love you!

Washington D.C.

We were also so excited to go to D.C. & walk around and see the sites - but we were so tired that we look so awful in all the pictures that we took. The humidity and the heat wave made it so hard for us to hit all the sites that we wanted to see. We hit all the monuments except the capital - so I feel good about it.

Now my favorite - OBX (Corolla, Outer Banks, North Carolina)

We took a vacation here with the whole family - including - Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, Michal's Mom, Sam, Bridgett, Ben, Michal & I. We had a lot of relaxing time. Michal made it a point to go out in the Ocean with me every day.

I really had so much fun, I gained a little bit of color (even though I used SPF 60 every day), and I was able to release so much of my stress. I can see why people go on beach vacations instead of running around visiting sites like michal & I usually do.

Here are some pictures of what we did while we were there...

We relaxed in the pool (with Ben Planking)

We gutted crabs for dinner one night

We went sight-seeing (here @ Kitty-Hawk)

We went Shopping... only Ben found the fun items

We played Dominoes, Dominoes, Dominoes with Ben.

We read...

... and read...

... and read.

We put together puzzles (well - mostly me & mom)

And My favorite... We went hunting for sea-shells on the beach every morning - literally every morning Michal & I got up at 5:45 and walked about 5 miles and found all sorts of treasures... listed below.

Blue Crab (Michal was trying to put it back in the Ocean so that it didn't die)

I found a clam still intact (but no treasures inside)

Michal & I found a conch shell - although it was small it made me so excited to find one!

Sand Dollars were scarce - but they were there! We probably found about 14 total between all of us. It was the most fun when the old folks found them and got so excited about it.

This house, I consider as one of the houses that I have lived in during my life. It is the house we always go to when we visit the beach. I absolutely love it there and I can't wait until I have children and can take them to the Outer Banks and share this experience with them. Thanks Mom & Dad for such a wonderful vacation! I loved it!

And that pretty much wraps up our summer. Our Fall looks a little Boring, the only exciting thing that has happened has been Ben getting engaged to Fatima. We are excited to have her as a part of the family.