My First Sweater

Mission Accomplished! I finally finished my seamless sweater after six months of knitting. I think that might be my last sweater for sometime. It is a lot of work, the great news is I will actually wear the sweater. I realized I really enjoy socks, hats and scarfs because they go fast and I lose interest quickly. Maybe I will start working on Christmas gifts for next year!
Brendan also started up an old/semi new project working on his motorcycle. I will have him do a post explaining everything he has done and what he is doing currently. All I know is it involved the engine and lots of intricate parts.
He is currently in MN for our friend Joe's wedding, he is in the wedding party. I will go home next weekend for the wedding and celebrating all of the August birthdays (Ross, Jay, Mom and Brendans'). The weekend we get back is our Anniversary weekend and we are heading back down to the Desert Pearl in Zion to enjoy a night away. It is also cool, thats the weekend Brendan's cousin Charlie is moving here. I love it the more family in Utah the better! We are hoping to make it to Canada Creek in Michigan over labor day. Not only is Canada creek one of our favorite places in the world but labor day marks three years since getting engaged at Canada Creek. I hope it all works out and we can spend time with Bud and Barb and just savor northern Michigan.
Summer is going great and I am looking forward to the fall time, my parents already booked their usual "MEA" trip out to visit us. I look forward to that every year.
Love
Alyssa

Summer captured perfectly!!!

Pioneer Day

There are certain things I love about Utah one of them is Pioneer day. What is Pioneer day? It is a Utah State Holiday on July 24th were we celebrate the LDS/Mormons (Latter day saints) and pioneers coming to Utah. Why didn't the Scandinavians in MN make a holiday in MN to celebrate surviving their bitter winters and awful bugs? The whole state of Utah shuts down and if the holiday lands on the weekend you either get the day prior to the weekend off or the following day. It is fantastic because it is right between the fourth of July and Labor Day, perfect timing on summer and a day off of work! We don't have huge plans this weekend because we are hoping to have more travel in August.
We have just been mountain biking a lot, Bren is playing around with clip in pedals and what he thinks of those. I have been doing a lot of hot yoga about twice a week. It is a room heated to about 100 degrees to start then Vinyasa or Power Yoga for about an hour and a half. It is awesome and such a workout. I had some blood work analyzed a few weeks back and found out I am hypersensitive to carbohydrates and refined sugars. I have been really disciplined about watching what I eat and avoiding these foods in particular. It is incredible how fast my body is responding to it and how I have been feeling. You forget how over processed so many of these foods are and how they really are not designed to be overly consumed. It is tricky but I am finding with a little planning ahead I can make my body feel how it optimally should. Pretty incredible to find that out at 28 years old. Brendan has been really good about helping me be disciplined and make good choices. I can still have natural sugars, red wine and all the protein I would like, that at least makes up for the lack of things that are no longer a good option.
Have a wonderful weekend!
Love
Alyssa

The Summer of the Mountain Bike

Time just doesn't slow down at all, I have a premonition I will blink and the gorgeous fall will be here already. This summer has been the summer of mountain biking. I have the bruises the prove it, literally I don't think a week has gone by that my legs do not look like someone took a golf club to my thighs and calfs. Totally worth it, I just wish I could help my clumsiness! Bren and I have been putting our bikes to good use usually doing about two or three rides together a week. It is such a workout, I don't know of any other sport besides sprinting that has made my lungs burn quite that way. Bren loves it and tends to do more like five or six rides a week. We are so lucky we have great trails right near our house.
The end of June was a busy month, Brendan went to Vegas for a work/internship convention. I wish I would have been able to go but it just was awful timing for my job. My job continues to go great, I got a promotion on top of my already amazing position I will also be the lasik department supervisor. I am pretty pumped and honored, I just hope I can exceed the expectations. Brendan and I went out to celebrate last week at Easy street, nothing like fresh oysters, champagne and red snapper topped with crab. Gosh, I love good food especially eating at nice restaurants. I am a very lucky wife to have an awesome husband who loves these things too.
The fourth of July was cool, lots of bbqs, friends, family and good times. Fireworks got watched, ribs made, corn and watermelon eaten and some sunshine taken in. I would say mission accomplished to all things American. I am just hoping the rest of the summer continues to be incredible, hopefully camping next weekend, another holiday weekend, some weddings, our anniversary and lots of mountain biking in between!
Love
Alyssa and Brendan