Where did August Go?

This month has gone by so fast. It has been awesome though, we started the month by going back to MN for our friend Joe's wedding to his lovely bride Hannah. Brendan was a groomsman in the wedding, Joe was also in our wedding. The wedding was a lot of fun, we also finally got to see the Minnesota Twins stadium too. The reception at the wedding was a blast, lots of dancing, good food and a gorgeous hotel to stay at. The next morning my Mom and Dad had a bbq at the house to celebrate all of the birthdays and family. I love my family, who would have thought five years ago the joyful chaos that is now Brecke get togethers. I love it and every time I see the boys they just keep getting bigger and bigger.

The weekend after that Brendan and I celebrated our two year anniversary. We drove down to Zion National Park. On Saturday we did the most incredible hike I have every experienced. It is called the Narrows, you probably have seen pictures of it somewhere. Almost 95% of this hike is done in the water. On a hot August day it was divine. There was even a part so deep that the water came up to my shoulders and I was on my tiptoes. Someday I want to canyoneer that whole canyon! We stayed at our favorite hotel the Desert Pearl Inn, check out the video below for a little tour. We had a nice Anniversary dinner at Spotted Dog and just enjoyed spending time away and together. On our drive back we looped around and saw Bryce Canyon. That is like visiting another planet the hoodoo rocks are so cool. We didn't do any hiking but it was fun to see.

This past weekend we celebrated Bren's belated birthday with a BBQ with friends on Saturday. It was fun, his cousin Charlie moved to Utah so we got to spend time with our Aunt Laura and introduce Charlie to some of our friends here as well. We had a burger bar, we made burgers then had all sorts of different toppings to put on each burger. I love our friends here, they have truly made Utah feel like our place.
Next on the agenda Canada Creek, three years from when we got engaged over labor day! Gorgeous, crisp, colorful fall weather! Utah Pac 12 football and MEA with my parents coming to town. Life is blissfully good!
Love
Alyssa and Brendan

Our Anniversary in Zion

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

Summer is in Full Swing

Finally, after snow throughout the month of May, I feel like summer has officially arrived in Park City, Utah. May was a very fast month and topped off by my best friend's wedding. Her big day was stunning, great weather until the actual ceremony during which it hailed so the ceremony was inside but everything else was outside. Besides the weather it was an incredible day, gorgeous wedding and a memory I will always cherish with my best friend!
After getting home and getting back into the usual work week Brendan and I went camping with our friends Andy and Lexi. Funny enough, Andy and Lexi are both from MN and we reconnected with Andy after we moved here. He graduated from Eagan the same year we did, and since then the four of us have had a pretty good time. We have done some fun mountain biking together and camping. I am uploading a video from us camping two weekends ago, below this post. We had a good time and are hoping to get two or three more trips in this summer.
June is going very fast, it seems very hard to believe we are not far away from the 4th of July and officially having lived in Utah for one year. Incredible, wonderful and bittersweet all at once. I still get shocked at the gorgeous surroundings (the camping sight was literally forty five minutes away from where we live). Everything continues to work out and we are blessed with good jobs, a nice place to live and meeting great friends. Only bittersweet in the sense that I wish I could have all of this and all of my family right here as well. Oh well, at least our blog and skype can help us feel apart of MN and MI as much as possible.
Love
Alyssa and Brendan