Wednesday, August 27, 2008

BBQ is not a Verb

This is a link to a video that Mark and Daina sent me. It splains BBQ for all ya'll from the west that just don't understand what BBQ is all about... Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ubTQfr_tyY

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Highlights from our trip to Utah

We recently went to Utah to visit family and friends. We had a fabulous time! Here were my favorite things about the trip (in no particular order!):
#1: Getting to meet our sweet nephew Jordan for the first time. He was so happy and smiley! Being able to spend time with him made me excited to meet our own little one in a few months!
#2: Visiting Great Grandma Staubus. A few weeks before we left for Utah, Rylan's Grandma had a close call and so we felt blessed that she pulled through! She was as funny and witty as ever!#3: Little to no humidity. We went on picnics and played at the park in the middle of the day. As long as we sat in a shady spot, we felt perfectly comfortable. That never would be possible in NC in August! #4: Visiting and playing with cousins and Grandma and Grandpa! Especially when Grandma stepped in the pool and everyone soaked her!
#5: Our trip to Bear Lake! According to Daina and Rylan (who grew up regularly going to Bear Lake) the water was warmer that day than ever before! As an east coast girl, this mountain lake was still felt freezing, but we had a blast! The lake is so blue and beautiful, unlike many of NC's brown lakes! The icing on the cake was that Mark and Daina rented a jetski. I love those things! Rylee even rode it and loved it. Ry drove her around as fast as he drove with me and she was not scared at all!

#6: Getting family pictures taken. It was the first time the entire Kenyon Hansen family had all been together in 2 1/2 years. #7: Playing Rockband with Tyler and Tara! We always have fun with T&T! They have a 4 year little girl too, so Rylee and Breklynn played while the "grown ups" played! I had never played Rockband before and wasn't sure it was my thing...until I got that drumstick in my hand! Then I was sold! I also liked the guitar but the drums were my favorite! Rylan liked doing vocals and guitar. Some times it just feels good to release your inner rockstar!
#8: A party with friends and family! Rylan's parents knew how many people we usually have to cram in visits with when we come . So they got tons of great food and threw a party and Ry was able to invite his friends. We really appreciated this because it really took the pressure off the rest of the trip. Here is Ry with Thomas and Adam, his best friends from high school. We had a great time and it was fun to see everybody!

As you can see, we had a fantastic trip. And I didn't even include everything. I am glad I posted this because it reminded me of what a great time we had and how blessed we are with good family and friends, even though we don't get to see many of them as often as we would like! Hopefully it won't be too long until we get to go again.




Friday, August 15, 2008

Washington DC

For our anniversary this year we took a trip to Washington DC. Rylan had never been there before and so we figured before his four years of dental school slavery, we would take the chance to get away. My mom graciously watched Rylee for 3 nights and we stayed at my good friend Ola's apartment in Georgetown while she visited Chapel Hill. Her place was in an amazing location to see everything. We enjoyed figuring out the Metro system as our primary mode of transportation.
Day One, in front of the Capital Building. We also went to the Holocaust Museum and to the Air and Space Museum on our first day. The Holocaust Museum was very sobering but it was one museum I had never been too. Rylan really loved the Air and Space Museum, as any guy would!
The following morning we went to Arlington Cemetery, which I had also never been too. JFK's grave and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier were definitely the highlights, but again very sobering."Freedom is not Free". This quote is on the Korean War Memorial, which we didn't have time to see this trip. But this phrase ran through my head over and over again as we were walking through Arlington cemetery and many of the other war memorials.
Next, we went to the National Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History. Then came the National Monument, the WWII memorial, the Vietnam Memorial and the Lincoln Memorial. Needless to say, we did a LOT of walking!
World War II Memorial. The WWII memorial finished construction in 2004. It was gorgeous. We were so hot we stopped to dip our feet in the fountain...which was thankfully much cleaner than the Monuments reflecting pool.
To celebrate the night of our anniversary we ate dinner at the best restaurant either of us has ever eaten at. It was called Agraria and it was located on the Waterfront in Georgetown. It was owned by a union of small family farms and the food was fabulous!

On our way out of town we stopped at the White House and then the DC Temple. My parents were married here. It was as beautiful as ever.
I tried to be concise to sum up our trip because we really packed a lot into 2 1/2 days. A person could spend almost an entire day in any one museum. So the fact we went to four museums plus many of the Memorials left us exhausted but satisfied with what we were able to fit in. We had a great anniversary and a fantastic trip!

Thursday, August 14, 2008