D.C.

I figured since it is the weekend of the fourth I would post about our time in the nations capitol. As mentioned in the previous post, Kirk and I went out to D.C. for a wedding... drove to Pittsburgh to go to a wedding reception... then drove back to D.C to see the sites before heading back. Saturday was our day to go out and see everything bc it was the only day we really had open! First we took the bus to the pentagon metro station. We got on the metro and took the first stop to Arlington Cemetery. The cemetery was crazy at how large it was with rows and rows of white gravestones. We ventured around for a while up and down the hills and made our way over to the tomb of the unknown soldier, which honors all the soldiers that were killed but bodies weren't found or identified... From there we got back on the metro and headed to the "mall" where we went to the Washington Monument. It was super tall in person and pretty amazing. We had to take a little breather before walking down to Lincoln Memorial. I opted to walk along the pond to the memorial instead of taking the shaded sidewalk so we could get the full experience. We made it to Lincoln and I was so surprised at how large he was, I always imagined he was not much taller than me (since I am so tall ha)... Our next stop was the white house, which was neat but you could not get very close up to it so that was a bit of a bummer... By this time we were both EXTREMELY hot from the 94 degree weather and humidity and had some pretty sore feet. Kirk had the idea to head down to Adams Morgan to get a "Huge Slice of Pizza". Little did we know that we had a long walk to the subway to get there and when we got there we had a mile walk to the pizza and a mile walk back to the metro! No pizza is worth that much walking after being exhausted from walking all day. We made it to the pizza, ate it quick and headed back to see some Smithsonians. We went to two of the Smithsonians and then decided to walk to the capitol before heading back to the metro to end the day... It was a great day full of a ton of sightseeing, a lot of sweating, a ridiculous amount of walking and sore feet but overall very fun! (warning there are a lot of pics!)

First time in the D.C. Metro

Arlington Cemetery

Tomb of the unknown soldier

Walking to the metro!

Taking a break at the Washington Monument

Had to get a jumping picture

Walking to Lincoln

Honest Abe

Some more jumping

White House

Trying to cool down in the crazy weather

Walking to the metro... again

Huge Slice of Pizza... It appears I am kissing the pizza but I am really eating it.

Smithsonian

Sore feet... fyi do not wear rainbows if you are going to be walking long distances ALL DAY. We wish we would have worn tennis shoes (George Costanza style!)

The Steel City

Kirk and I recently went back east for a little vacation. We originally went to DC but drove to Pittsburgh for a wedding reception. We spent a night in the city and had fun exploring the Steel City. Our drive to Pittsburgh was a little dramatic as Kirk got a ticket the first ten minutes of the drive and we took the "scenic route" which took an extra hour and a half. Once we got there we had fun at a beautiful reception overlooking the city. It was a beautiful city with a ton of bridges which makes it VERY hard to not get lost driving around.

View from the reception

On the incline which took you up to the restaurant Le Mont

Our sweet hotel

Cinnamon sugar bagel toasted with honey butter - yum!

One of the many bridges in P-town

This pic shows all of the pollution and dirt and smog built up on the post of the bridge

Le Pain

A few days ago I took a break from recruiting in So. Cal and went to a cute place called Le Pain. My mother and I were planning on going to Earth Cafee, but since it was such a long wait we ventured around the corner and found this little gem of a place. I loved the atmosphere/decor and the lemonade was to die for!

The Bridal Belt

A few weeks ago Kenna, a bride-to-be, came to me and asked if I would attempt a bridal belt for her wedding dress. Since I had never actually made one before I was a little nervous but told her I would try! Sooo ta da.... this is how it turned out, pretty darn good if you ask me! The belt is ALL hand made, each and every flower etc. The belt fits flush in the back and the color scheme matches her groom's suit. She was excited when she saw it and I was even more excited and proud that it looked so good with her dress! Anyway, enough of me bragging...

New Header

Kirk has been kindly asking me for a while now to take down the picture at the heading of our blog. Well, actually his words were more like " can you take that picture down, my legs look dumb" or something of that sort. So I decided to spruce it up a bit and leave out the picture all-together. I am not blog savvy what-so-ever so this is my version of mixing the blog up a bit! I may or may not be changing it over the next little while... While on the the topic of new headings or titles... I was recently named interim head coach for the BYU women's tennis team for this upcoming year. This news was both exciting and humbling as I have plenty of work to do considering the tradition of the program... I welcome the challenge and am looking forward to this next year at BYU!

Wedding Weekend

This past weekend Kirk and I went to two good friends' weddings in the SLC temple. Thursday it was my fellow teammate (she was a freshman when I was a senior), and player (I have been her coach the last 3 years) Kristina Doerr. Kris looked so beautiful and her ceremony was really special, I am so glad she included me in her big day! On Friday Kirk's best friend from high school Craig got married. Craig has been looking forward to this day for quite a while and he found a great girl Karrie! Her dress was amazing and unique, loved it! We ended the weekend at our favorite Mexican restaurant Red Iguana.

Kristina and Shane

The Tennis Group at the reception

Karrie and Craig

Best Buds

At the luncheon

Eating chips and salsa at the Iguana