Things we did in 2010

I want to make a photo book of our first year together. Before I start gathering pictures, I made this list of things we did in 2010. Our story started in the end of 2009 and has been full of really cool stuff ever since.

1. Thanksgiving 2009

2. Obama Christmas Tree Lighting 2009

3. Christmas 2009

4. Ben Piano – Men of the Ward calendar pic

5. Trip to St. John - Jan 2010

6. Best Valentine's Day EVER

7. Snowpocolips/Snowmageddon

8. Cherry Blossoms (April 3)

9. Muse concert

10. Biking in DC

11. Peeps Party

12. Engagement Story

13. Trip to Sioux Falls, SD

14. Trip to Utah (Horseback Riding)

15. Ben’s Law School Graduation

16. Trip to NYC to visit Dan and Elise and go to Kristy and Eric’s wedding

17. Grand Canyon rafting trip

18. Move across country from DC to Denver

19. Bridals (including pics with Grandma)

20. WEDDING (August 13, 2010)

21. Honeymoon – Mediterranean Cruise

22. Trip to Driggs, ID (Labor Day)

23. Rockies Baseball Game

24. Camping/Canyoneering in Moab

25. Thanksgiving 2010 in SW Minnesota

26. Christmas 2010 - Utah

Any recommendations on where to get a photo book made?

Unexpected Africa

Some things I never expect. Like being in Kenya right now. Yup, I just arrived, checked into my hotel, and am trying to sleep, but I can't sleep. I wish I could sleep! Blasted jet lag.

I got a call last week from my old employer asking if I was available to help with a project in Nairobi for a few weeks. Who turns that down? Of course I'm available! (Well, except for my classes, but I'll work them out.) Actually, I was apprehensive about leaving Ben for so long, but he's really proud of me and totally supportive. I also don't like being out of the country during December because it means I'll miss a lot of the Holiday season. But that's just something to complain about in a situation where there's no room for complaints. I'll be home in mid-December with plenty of time to get into the Christmas spirit.

I think this project is going to be a good challenge and an exciting career opportunity. Plus, it's always cool to travel and see a new place. Especially when it's unexpectedly in Africa.

Me and Salvador Dali

Lots of people love his stuff.

As you can see, I'm just a little weirded out by it.

Sometimes I feel like this

Heights

We went camping/canyoneering this past weekend in Moab with Ben's brothers. I lucked out on scoring an awesome family in law. If I had to survive in the wilderness for an unknown amount of time with anyone, I'd pick the Roberts as my crew.

Reason for the trip: this guy, Sammy. This week, he is headed to the foreign state of Iowa for the next two years to serve a mission for our church so we had to get the bros together before he left.

I know my husband is an avid outdoorsman, but I had no idea that he is big-time when it comes to canyoneering.

He took us on a couple of really cool hikes. Here's the top of Elephant Butte in Arches National Park. The other hike, Dragon Fly, made me hysterical - no joke. I was fine swimming through two freezing pools

and doing an 80 ft rappel. But when I had to squirm my way through a slot canyon with my back on one wall, feet on the other and about 15 feet of space to the ground below me only to find a 150 ft drop off rappel at the end, I was no longer fine.

NO WAY JOSE!

The thought of putting myself over that cliff by a rope put me at my complete emotional limit. I cried and I nearly hyperventilated. That's what you do when the only way out is down, and you thought you were brave and have been acting all tough, but you're actually afraid of heights.

This is me crying (I tried to give a little smile) while contemplating my downward fate.
But Ben came to my rescue. He calmed me down and scouted out a way for us to climb out of the canyon without doing the drop. Follow the yellow line in this pic to see our route.

His brothers, who are fearless, did the rappel and said it was pretty cool, but that I would have been really scared doing it. Going up out of the canyon wasn't easy either, even though Ben belayed me up.

Let me tell you, crawling out of a 60 degree angled canyon wall by a rope that is hooked to your husband is quite the bonding experience. Here we are at the top, glad to be out. Yes, those are now my tears of joy that you see here.

We finished the trip with a hike to Delicate Arch. We had a poster of Delicate Arch hanging on the wall of the basement in the house where I grew up. I've always wanted to see it. It's breathtaking! As for canyoneering, we're going to join a climbing gym so I can practice rappelling. I think I did alright with the first three drops of the day considering that it was my first time rappelling ever. I just freaked out for the last one. It's all about trusting your fall. Trusting your strength. Trusting your ropes and the bolts that hold them into the rock and knowing your physical (and emotional) limits. I think I can do it again.

DMV

All I have to say is that the Colorado DMV is a much nicer place than the Virginia DMV. Anyone who has dealt with the Virginia DMV would be jealous of my 20 minute in and out trip. All I needed was to surrender my VA license, which in and of itself was sufficient documentation to complete the application. None of this fill out ridiculous amounts of forms, show me six proofs of your existence, then prove to me that you live here, oh, and you probably should have taken today off since you'll have to come back at least once because you didn't get it all right, and yes, you'll have to wait in our three hour line again, and NO, I DON'T CARE business.

Today, I really like Colorado.

As promised... More Wedding Pictures!

I promised some of you that I would share more pictures from our wedding day. It was perfect. Well, except that we couldn't end it with a bang and have a sparkler send off. No fireworks were allowed in Provo Canyon last August. Oh well. It was still perfect.



The song is January Wedding by The Avett Brothers. It's my favorite tune these days. Sorry the music is cut off. I'm still learning how to make these slide show videos.

Low Maintenance Delight

I realized this morning that it has been six weeks since I have used any hair products (except a little hairspray). The Bumble & Bumble stuff I like ran out while we were on our honeymoon and I haven't taken the time to run to a salon to get more. My hair doesn't look or feel any different than before. I think I'll save the $20 and continue to go without it!

Beautiful Day!

I'm back and Life is good!

I know what you really want so here it is... Our wedding was amazing! I don't think I've smiled so much in one day in my entire life! Thank you to everyone who came, helped plan, gave cards and gifts, or just thought about us during this wonderful season of our lives! I appreciate your love and support so much.

Here are a few pictures from our day. It was beautiful!!!

My cousins did our photography. You can check out their stuff at http://www.nicolephotographyonline.com/ and www.simplicityphotography.com.

A little update

Holy Cow!!

The past week and a half has been a whirlwind! Here's how they've gone:

I started going through my things two Saturdays ago. Ben was studying for the Bar so I spent the afternoon purging my things. My criteria: anything more than 5 years old, gone. Anything too big or too small, gone. Anything I haven't touched in more than a year and a half, gone. Let's just say I restocked The Good Will. (THANK YOU Laura for helping me get through it!)

Ben got back to DC on Thursday evening. He rented a U Haul trailer on Friday and we started filling it up with stuff on Saturday.

I worked my last day at USAID on Monday. I loved my job and was sad to go. I had just started getting into my groove there. It's amazing to look back at the person I was when I was first hired and to see how much i've grown and how much confidence I've gained professionally and personally.

Then we drove across the country on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. Highlights of the drive include:

• Visiting Nan and Keith in The 'Nati.
  
• A quick stop at Independence, MO where we saw Megan and Jim who were also making the cross country track. CRAZY seeing friends in such a remote place.
  
• Eating Arthur Bryant's BBQ in Kansas City. Seriously, I don't think better BBQ exists in this world. (Tracy, I hope you and O eat there often.)
• Stopping at every antique store we saw along the way to see if we could find a vintage milk glass cake stand that was 14 inches in diameter. Nope, doesn't exist, but I think I found a new hobby for cross country trips.
• Seeing Denver! We pulled in and immediately started looking at neighborhoods and talking about the type of place we want to live. We dropped our things off in a storage facility and stayed the night with Aunt Pam. She took good care of us!
• Eating hamburgers at Ray's Tavern in Green River, UT and going back to Green River to pick up watermelons for Ben's mom and my sister.
  
• Stopping in a Love's to fill up on gas and buy an iPod transmitter so we could listen to tunes. We returned it at the next Love's since it didn't work and found a way better one at the Flying J. Go to the Flying J for your audio equipment road trip needs.
• Stopping at Walmart to buy Crest White Strips. Gotta get ready for next Friday!
• listening to A Thousand Splendid Suns on audio tape.
  
• Making up country songs by rotating each line between ourselves.
  
• Filling up a 16 gallons in a 16 gallon tank. BTW, there are pretty much no gas stations after Topeka, KS.

It's now Saturday and we're in Utah Valley. Wedding prep is in full gear now, but we're to the fun parts. Ben rented a tux and got a haircut today. We met with our reception hosts and ran a bunch of other errands.

This evening, my new mother and sister in law threw a bridal shower for me. So many dear friends and family came, and I met several new aunts and cousins. Ben has a great family - I'm so excited to be a part of it.

Life's been a whirlwind, but I'm completely elated about it! I am happy and grateful. Excited for the coming week and the fresh new life ahead!

Three Weeks

Three weeks from today I'm getting married.

A few friends warned me about the emotions that would kick in around this time. I didn't believe them and thought, "that won't happen to me." But it has.

Most of all, I feel excited! I am head-over-heals, can't-live-without-him, absolutely-elated in love with Benjamin Roberts.
But I'm also feeling anxiety, stressed, and sad to be leaving the people and things I love in Virginia. The anxiety isn't so much about the changes ahead, but more about the limited time that I have to do the things I need/want to do before I go. I'm mildly stressed about wedding stuff - my stress is quite low until someone asks me a hard question like what do you want to do the morning of your wedding? Are you wearing a vale or tiara? Should the men in the party should wear a suit or a tux? Ok, so they're simple questions, but we're down to the details and they can get stressful! I think the sadness about leaving is self explanatory. Ben's fantastic. He lets me cry and says nice things to me to make me feel better. :)

Overall, things are good. If you are in the area, please stop by our going away party next Friday night. 7:30-9:30 at The Grove.

Living the dream

I'm living a dream. Let me explain...

I came to DC just over 5 years ago. Captured by Patomac fever, I was whisked away into an exciting adventure that included fancy receptions, organizing events, weekend trips to NYC, workin' it in Colonial 1, road trips, dating, international travel - let's be honest, I've been living my dreams.

I've learned so much in the past five and a half years in DC. For example, I learned what POTUS means (and a hundred other acronyms). I learned how to think about issues and develop my own opinions. I learned to "get over it" after breakups. How to make ends meet and take care of myself. Where traffic violations are photo enforced. Live with other people. Feel confident in a conversation with nearly anybody (i.e., cute guys who made me nervous to highly influential old men and women to people under five). I learned my style and what i like. I honed skills in processing waivers, deviation memos and reprogramming requests (I'm a pro at those). I could go on and on - I've learned a lot here.

I like to look back and see what I've built. I don't mean buildings or wealth, but I've built a mansion full of wonderful relationships. I think all of us feel like we aren't known at times, that we don't have many friends. But I look back and see that that's entirely silly. I have built at least a hundred rooms in my mansion and good and wonderful friends abide in them.

DC has been full of fabulous adventures. Scroll down through my blog and you'll see what I mean. But somehow, through much of my time here I wondered if the grass was greener elsewhere. Somewhere along the way, I quit that wonder and started to invest in here - the place I was in. I started to feel content, forgot about pursuing an escape. Just when I've come to this point... my latest update:

Drum roll....

Ben got a job in the legal department at a company in the Denver area! Now I'm living another dream: amazing fiance who just graduated from law school and is sweeping me away to a fresh start together in the West. :) Sounds like something I dreamed of when I got here over five years ago.

The best thing about Denver is that there are a lot of layovers there and sometimes the weather might get you stranded in the airport. If that ever happens to you, call me! I'll come by and we'll grab lunch or you can camp on my couch through the storm.

Speaking of dreaming... it's 12:31AM and time for me to go to bed!

Good good news to share!

perfect Saturdayhorseback ridingfishing in the pondhiking in Harpers Ferrytrickling waterfallwords of loveBen on KneesYES of course YES!

Saturday was beautiful and we’re really happy and excited!
I am so in love and couldn't be more delighted to marry
Benjamin Roberts.

Something fun to do in the spring

Jon and Melissa Photography ROCKS!

Please check out Jon and Melissa Photography. I love their style. They live in my neighborhood so if you're near by and are looking for a photographer, I highly recommend them.

a little Ugandan to cheer you up!

This makes me smile :)



You should also check out Arlington Academy of Hope's new website.

Sisters are different flowers from the same garden

My sister is one of my favorite people in the entire UNIVERSE.
I made her this gift.

I love her.

Look what I did last night?

If you are my friend and you are having a baby any time soon....

This one is for Mama Hollie! I tried to match her nursery color scheme of apple green with red and black accents.

This is a simple rag quilt that takes about 4 hours to make. It might be faster if I started before midnight. That's when I get my spare time!