More Balti Please

The day after Thanksgiving I took the most PERFECT trip out to Baltimore to visit one of my best friends Sarah and her adorable little family.

Inner HarborOlivia-So Stinkin CuteSunday was such a beautiful day! We went to this amazing park.Little strawberry cupcakeThe HarborWho doesn't love a zurbits?Fort McHenryThanks Sarah, Jon, and Olivia! I can't wait to come back out!

San Diego- I love these people

Halloween Flashback

Oh how I love the 80's

Wedding Bells

Eric and Erin tied the knot this past weekend. Everything was wonderful! Here are some of my favorite pics.

La Jolla Cove

The Cove

Gross

A little chilly today

I hate birds

Surfers

Parasailer over Black's Beach

I heart fall

I love this family!!!!

I wish you all had the opportunity to meet this amazing family. They are such a perfect example of the joy that the gospel brings to families. They are INCREDIBLE and huge examples to me.

So close to the border but no time to cross

San Diego Temple

Why is it that every picture you take of the San Diego Temple looks fake?

My Birthday

I had my birthday while I was on my first round in San Diego. It was a good day considering I was working all day and I was with people who 2 weeks before I didn't know. It felt a lot like a mission birthday. Thanks to everyone who called and sent texts and emails. It really was a birthday to remember. The carne asada fries I ate for lunch. Me with Melanie and Heidi while I log a baptism. It was also the birthday of one of the girls being baptized. After the baptism Duff ran out and bought a cake so we could celebrate for 10 minutes. Everyone really made it a great/unique day. I'll never forget it.

USS Midway and Coronado Beach

We had a few hours of free time one Monday so we went on a tour of the USS Midway.After an hour or so we decided to take off and go see Coronado

Nayeli

Nayeli is probably one of the cutest little girls I have ever met. I wish I could bring her home.

My home away from home

I recently moved to a new house in Provo. But I've actually spent more time in the apartment in San Diego they are putting me up in. I'm not complaining though. It's a pretty sweet set-up. Here's the Cali home.

Sunny San Diego

I'm helping with a project for work that just happens to require that I spend a lot of time in San Diego. It's lots of work, but I'm learning a ton and meeting some incredible people. I spent the first 3 weeks of September here, came home for a week and half, and now I'm back. I'll try to catch up on what's been going on for the last 6 weeks or so of my life. Enjoy!

A New Sister

My brother got engaged last Saturday to a fabulous girl. I couldn't ask for a better sister-in-law. Welcome to the fam Erin! Click HERE for the engagement story.

Provo Canyon Half Marathon

My roommate talked me into running the Provo Canyon Half Marathon last Saturday. I'm not really sure why I said yes, but I'm glad I did it. It definitely was an experience and a pretty big accomplishment for me because let's be honest, I don't love to run. I realize that half marathons aren't that big of a deal (as my brother put it, "What's so great about a half marathon? People run 13 miles all the time.") It was a beautiful run though and an experience I'll never forget. So how did I train for it? Well, let me play out for you the entire experience:

-5 weeks before the race: I decide I should probably start running. 5 miles run. My knee hurts.
-4 weeks before: Try running again. Only do 4 miles because I ate too much crap the day before. Decide to eat better.
-Later that week: 5 more miles. Feeling good. Only stopped because I was bored.
-3 weeks before: 8 miles done! And I feel great! I can do this
-2 weeks before: I went to New York and didn't run
-The week before: 9 mile run. I wanted to do 10 but lost that mental battle. Oh well.
-Rest of the week: My knee is a little sore so I decide not to run again before the race, but I do play some soccer.

Yep, that's 5 times running. I'm crazy, maybe stupid, but I finished the race, and that was my goal.So the morning of the race came along
4:00am-Hit the snooze button. No one should be awake right now
4:05am-Hit it again
4:10am-Get up, get ready
4:30am-Head over to Bethany's
4:50am-Arrive at Riverwood's, take a picture, get bib's, start to get cold
5:15am-Get on bus
5:47am-Bus hits sign
5:50am-Get off bus, get in line at porta-potties
5:55-6:30am-Freeze our butts off
6:30am-Wonder why the race isn't starting
7:15am-Finally start running
7:15-9:00am-Feeling great
9:01am-Knees start hurting really bad but there's only 3 miles left
9:38am-Cross the finish line

Boston

I got up early Monday morning when I was in New York and caught a bus to Boston. I LOVED Boston. I don't know what it was about that city, but I loved it all. I spent the day on the Freedom Trail. Once again, I didn't get the greatest pictures because I was by myself for most of it, but oh well. Sam Adams. Holocaust Memorial. Streets of downtown Boston. Paul Revere. There were some street dancers that were awesome! This little guy was in training I guess. After their show I caught him practicing. Pretty good if you ask me.

New York

A few weeks ago I got to go to New York to visit my old roommate Kristi-Lynn and meet her cute 9 month old Sadie. We had a ton of fun just hanging out. I've been to New York a couple times, so we didn't need to do a lot of the touristy stuff. It was a great, low-key weekend. I didn't do a very good job of remembering to get my camera out, but we really did do a lot of great things! Thanks Kris! Friday night we went to a free concert in Central Park by the Philharmonic Orchestra. But half-way through it started to poor and people just scattered. Saturday we explored the city a little. We went to Washington Park and people watched. It was a pretty warm day so there were sun-bathers out anywhere they could find grass or somewhere to put a lawn chair. And there were a bunch of people swimming in the fountain! Who needs to pay for a pool anyway?! We tried a couple times to win Wicked tickets at the lottery, but just didn't have any luck. Oh well. One day I'll see that play. On Sunday we walked along the Hudson and then let Sadie play on the swings. She is such a doll!

Albertson's Parking Lot Fair

To our great delight, this ghetto fair pulled up to the Albertson's parking lot and we just couldn't resist going. Don't be deceived by this picture...there were only 5 rides and this many booths. The sizzlin' scrambler. The ferris wheel looked like it went ridiculously fast. But it didn't so we faked it.

Strawberry Days

We got our cowboy gear on and went to the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove in June. So fun! Wild Cow Milking Just trying to fit in Bull Riding

Last few days in Norway

It's been awhile since I posted, I know. So I'm going to try to catch up on the last month and a half. We finished our Norway trip back in Oslo. We took a ferry ride and went to a ton of museums. One thing I wont miss about Norway is peeling shrimp :) If you look close this little guy has hundreds of little eggs tucked in his legs.

The Rest of the Week at Skei

We took day tours everyday for the rest of the week while we were at Skei. Wednesday we headed off to take a boat tour of one of the fjords. On or way there we stopped in a small town and met some trolls. Then we headed off and crossed an old wedding bridge. Back in the 1600's they used it to have weddings. At the beginning of the bridge was a rock called a "wedding ring." The middle was carved out and the bride would have to crawl through it before she could be married. If she couldn't fit through they figured she must be pregnant and her head would be cut off! I thought I'd give it a try and the good news is that I made it through. On the boat tour we saw tons of waterfalls (because it had been raining all week). These are "The 7 Sisters Falls". Directly across from them is "The Wooer." Legand has it that the 7 Sisters are all single and the Wooer keeps trying to marry one of them. But they all keep rejecting his proposals so he has turned to alcohol for consolation, hence the bottle in the rock. On the drive back to Skei we took a mountain pass and we got a surprise at the top. Oh how I wish the sun would come out. On Thursday we hiked a couple miles through beautiful landscape to another glacier. It used to be really big, but has shrunk a lot in the past few years due to global warming. I love how the ice in the glaciers appears blue. On Friday we spent the day in the life of Norwegians back in the day. We saw old buildings and churches and learned how the Norwegians survived before modern technology. In a 300 year old church there was a 200 year old mummified codfish hanging from the ceiling. Because the rope he is hanging from is made of natural fibers, it acts like a barrometer and predicts the weather. They just look to see which way it is facing. On the way back to Skei we stopped to look at the fjord pony. They were specially bread to go up and down the mountains of the fjords. They have really sweet manes.

Skei I Jolster

Monday night we arrived up in the western fjords in Skei I Jolster. We spent the week here going on day tours to different villages and glaciers. It was pretty cold and rainy but we saw some pretty incredible scenery. On Tuesday we started the day by going to a tiny little village that sells old used books. They had 10 different book shops all right in a row. This is probably my favorite picture of the trip. We also went to a glacier.

A Few Days in Bergen

Bergen is a very touristy port city. We got in Saturday afternoon and stayed until Monday afternoon. We did some sight-seeing while we were there but didn't have the best luck with weather. We went to Edvard Grieg's home, took a ride in a tram up to a lookout point, walked around the port, toured a castle, and went to an aquarium. I also got to see my friend's little sister who is serving a mission right now. She spoke in church on Sunday and then we ran into her on Monday in a shop. This is a wolf fish. Super ugly and they don't even taste good.Sister Engebretsen.

Off to Bergen

We drove 8 hours to Bergen last Saturday. It was a long drive but super pretty. It was probably the nicest weather we had had so far on the trip. Too bad we were stuck in the car but here are some pics we took along the way.

Thanks Bente and Arne!

Here we are outside of Bente and Arne's house just before we left last Saturday for Bergen. They were such amazing hosts-so fun and friendly. Bente made sure to keep us well fed. They are such great people. Bente got mad at me for not being able to speak Norwegian, but I know she loves me anyway ;) .

Bye Uncle Knut

We said goodbye to Uncle Knut. I don't know if I'll ever get the chance to see him again. But I love this picture. He is carryin his chess set. He is so addicted to that game. I love it!

Silvia and Terie

Friday night we went to Cousin Silvia and Terie's house for dinner. A couple of their kids (Maria and Will) were there too. It's been fun to connect with our family here. My dad has done a great job sending Christmas cards and keeping them updated on who we are. They all say it's great to finally meet us. After dinner we sat around chatting and singing. So fun!

Family Reunion

Last Thursday we had a big family reunion dinner so that the family could meet "their American cousins." It was so funny because we just awkwardly stood in a line as they came in to greet us. I felt like we were in a wedding line. A few people spoke some English so that was fun. Here's a video trying to capture the moment.

My Grandma’s Eyes

This is my dad's cousin Ingyard. I just love her! We couldn't really communicate, but she was just so loving. She kept saying how I have my grandmas eyes only different coloring (my grandma had dark brown hair). Ingyard is such a doll!!!