Trek and First Year Anniversary

Earlier in the year, our bishop asked if we would be the couple from the Arlington 1st Ward to be a ‘Ma and Pa’ in our stake’s youth pioneer trek. We jumped at the idea and looked forward to being in the outdoors and having a testimony building experience UNTIL…..one day we were sitting in sacrament when the Bishop announced a few items on trek. “The youth will have their stake trek from June 26 to June 28.” I froze and slowly turned to Kyle. “The 28th is our anniversary! Our first anniversary!” I couldn’t believe it. Even to the point where I made Kyle double check and ask if we were the only ones for the job. To be honest, it made me angry for a while because it was not only the time to celebrate our wedding anniversary, but it would be the ONLY 'first' one. We had made it through our first year of marriage and would wake up the morning of that happy day...dirty, on a hard ground, underneath a tarp and next to 8 teenagers. My sweetheart of a husband explained to me that this was a sacrifice we would have to make, just like the pioneers, who had to give up possessions and even relationships with friends or family to journey to Zion. It still irked me up until the day we left but it was nice to know we would be done a bit early on the 28th and could still go somewhere. Trek was challenging and tiring, but a really good experience regardless. In the end, my favorite part was hearing the testimonies of the youth and how strong they were in their resolve to follow Jesus Christ. And it was beautiful to sleep out under the stars and have a good meal after a long day of walking (as Ma and Pa, you aren’t supposed to pull the handcarts but let your ‘kids’ do the work…..which we didn’t complain about). And…Kyle got to grow out an awesome beard for almost 5 months in preparation.

This was the finishing point with doughnuts upon doughnuts in the background.

We went up to a Marriott ranch in Virginia, about an hour and half west of Arlington and although it wasn't wide open Wyoming-like plains, it was still beautiful with green rolling hills and cows to moo a hello as we made our journey.

We had an amazing group of youth in our 'family'. Although they were still teenagers and complained occasionally, I was amazed at their ability and willingness to step in whenever needed. We had a group of three guys that at first, Kyle thought were going to be hard to deal with but they ended up being stalwart! They were actually enlisted to help pull a cart with a handicapped boy and we had to share them from time to time which was hard because they helped us so much.

Not all of us were troopers the whole time hence the little one on the far left just trying to keep up.

I found Kyle pitching in all the time and being a great motivator. I loved this action shot and wish we had gotten one right before this one was taken. They had started pushing the cart through this river and it got stuck so Kyle came over and started motivating them and helping them move up and out of the sand. And I loved him for it.

We hiked most of the first day and the second day they had found an area by a river where we set up camp around noon. The rest of the second day we had lunch and played pioneer games. I quite enjoyed the log saw.

By the time we got back to our car on the third day, we were so exhausted and in dire need of showers. Kyle, the lucky guy, managed to find eight ticks either on his skin or clothes during the time we were there and I couldn't wait to make sure I was tick-free.

We made it home, cleaned up (I watched Kyle shave off four months of hard work) and we packed up and headed to Annapolis, a cute harbor city in Maryland. It's only a 40 minute drive from our house so it made for the perfect overnight getaway.

Before.

After (I think I cried more than he did....I mean...if he did cry....).

We had yummy food at Maggianos including free anniversary lemon cookie bars (devoured) and Champagne (untouched) by the time we left.

After dinner, we went out to explore the town. While deciding what to do, I found a boat tour and jumped on that idea. It took us out to the channel where million dollar homes were built. They would just keep their kayaks out on the lawn at a moment's notice and their boats in water garages. It was beautiful! I loved the attention to detail in the gardens and how communal and friendly it seemed. After our tour, we snacked on salt water taffy and homemade ice cream at a local place.

 Just walking down the streets of Annapolis. Also...cute bum...where ya from?

Trees showing the street who's boss.

America.

On the water. Well. In a boat. On the water.

Beautiful sunset from the water.

These are some of the homes we saw with beautiful gardens and outdoor eating. Our tour guide said that in the olden days only the poor would live down by the water where the rich would live on top of the hill, as it was a sign of superiority.

Neat little condos with boats for everyone!

More colorful sailboats with expensive homes in the background.

This was a neat restaurant right on the edge of the water.

I found a fun deal online for an anniversary overnighter including chocolates, champagne (in our case sparkling cider) and breakfast the next morning. It was a really nice hotel for what we paid. It was so nice to sleep in and eat breakfast in bed next to my best friend.

 I can't believe I have been married to Kyle McOmber for a year! At first, I couldn't believe we had hit a month or two, and then we hit 2014 and I knew it was coming. To be completely honest, I was scared to be done with our first year and out of the 'newlywed' stage. I guess it's being a romantic, but Kyle has helped me learn that every stage is amazing and each part of life gives us new adventures to look forward to. There have been challenging and defining moments so far, but I wouldn't trade any of it because it's made us stronger and has helped us to get to know each other better. My love for Kyle has only grown stronger and I love all the little quirks that define him. I love that he is passionate for life. I love that he is sentimental and will tell me stories from his past and I let him even though I've heard them more than once. I love whenever we are out somewhere and a historical reference comes up, that he jumps on it and teaches me. I love that he is dedicated to anything he does and that he does it 100%. I love how he motivates me to be a better person, to be more understanding and to see the good in others. I love that he still finds ways to show his love for me and still tells me he loves me when we are almost done talking on the phone. He is working so hard in graduate school to provide for our family and I can't imagine being with anyone else. Here's to one year down and many more amazing years to come! I love you Kyle!

A Night at the Symphony

Kyle and I got free tickets to a symphony at the Kennedy Center. I was really excited because I had never been but heard it was really neat inside. We enjoyed the evening despite having the people beside us block us from exiting once the symphony was over (I guess it's not proper to leave until the applause is all the way finished...even if that applause has already lasted for ten minutes). 

The Kennedy Center is really only a hop and skip from where we live (including a 10 minute metro ride and 5 minute walk from Foggy Bottom Metro). A MUST in D.C. is going to BTS (Burger Tap & Shake). The BEST chocolate shake I have EVER had. Definitely worth going to, which we did, right before the symphony. 

I approve of date nights. I know it will be harder when we have kids to be able to go out as often, but for now, I love having one on one time with Kyle. 

And I love that I can completely and utterly be myself with him. 

The center is located right along the Potomac and we arrived just in time to see the sunset and a couple of loud booze cruises passing by. 

And just for good measure, because we don't take enough pictures. 

The inside was beautiful with the hanging chandeliers and deep red carpet. 

A big bust, er, head bust of John F. Kennedy. 

In the lobby, they had little kiosks where you could pick different parts of Kennedy's life and presidency to watch/listen to. Here, Kyle is demonstrating the proper way of holding the earphone and loves that it is being documented.  

One section of the lobby had flags hanging from all over the world. 

The symphony was wonderful...but a bit long... (an hour and a half!). It was neat to listen to the music and be with my best friend. And a good night to experience the Kennedy Center for the first time. 

Rock On

One thing Kyle and I miss about Utah are the mountains. Oh those mountains. A sight to look at but also a chance to break away from life and enjoy nature. Luckily, our friends also from Utah brought out their rock climbing gear and invited us to climb with them. We only drove about 20 minutes out of Arlington until we got to Carderock Park in Maryland, full of trees, a hiking trail and a shear drop rock perfect for climbing. It was nice to get away and into nature again. Kyle did great and was able to climb twice where I wasn't so fortunate and will need more training before my little arms can handle it again.

We tend to match much more often than we mean or want to...but it does make for a good photo.

With our rock climbing experts, Jacki and Tyson Lloyd. 

Me and my claws attempting to grab hold of something...let's just say some of us are better at rock climbing than others (cough..kyle..cough). I probably yelled down every 5 seconds, "Kyle, are you holding me?!" where he would calmly say, "Yes, babe, I've got you." Clearly, there may be some trust issues there...ha ha or it's just scary being 10 feet in the air and not realizing you can let go and the rope will hold you. Maybe rock climbing should be a trust date every couple should embark on at least once.

My coach and belayer/encourager....probably telling me all the good foods I get to eat if I get to the top. 

Getting suited up!

Look at him go!

Taking a breather on the ledge. Good form! Bravo!

Afterwards, Kyle took me to a charming Argentine Gelato Cafe, Dolcezza. Kyle beat me to glance at the flavors and pose without posing for my picture. 

Kyle took the usual route with a chocolate hazelnut combined with another flavor I can't remember right now...while I got a Thai Coconut Milk and a Pineapple Honey Lime. Good thing we went running that morning and rock climbing later on in the afternoon! Not as much guilt...more enjoying the flavors. A grand day overall. 

We All Scream for Ice Cream

The only present Kyle wanted for our wedding was an ice cream maker. And what has evolved from this desire has made me beyond happy. It's grown into a hobby for him and I'm not one to complain when every Sunday, I'm favored with a new ice cream flavor. Masterpieces range from a good old fashioned chocolate to a more daring lemon ginger. I think my favorites to date have been a lemon blueberry and sea salt caramel swirled in chocolate. About two months ago I found a professional ice cream cooking class with Hill's Kitchen, located up on Capitol Hill (catch the name pun?). I signed us up and it was SO hard to keep it a secret from Kyle! I somehow managed and we had just the best time with Marta Mirecki, a professional chef who taught us simple and egg-based ice cream bases, sorbets as tips on substituting sweeteners and creating our own flavors. 

One thing I love about Capitol Hill is that all of the businesses fit into these late 19th century press brick row houses.

With his manual laid out and ready to take notes.

Learning the correct way to 'temper' eggs for the base. 

She had made some ice cream beforehand so we could sample what she had demonstrated without waiting for it to chill. The winners at the top, going clockwise, are French Style Chocolate, Coconut, Lemon Sorbet, Philadelphia Style Vanilla, and Philadelphia Style Fresh Strawberry. 

The verdict was happiness. 

Hill's Kitchen had quite a bit of (overpriced) gadgets and we only wished you could get one free ice cream scoop with your purchase of the class. That didn't stop us from buying a high tech one anyways...for memories sake and to perfect our individual ice cream scoops. 

I'm excited to see Kyle continue to come up with fun, unique flavors and perfect his hobby. I can't wait for the day where we have these little pint containers full of his homemade ice cream.

Zinga Is Our Happy Place

Whether it's date night, a quick study break for Kyle or we just downright have the craving, we hit up Arlington's Favorite Yogurt Place, Zinga! (Well, it's our favorite yogurt place at least) Kyle and I have probably tried most major yogurt chains throughout the area and this one wins for us and I think it includes a number of factors: 1. You get to try your OWN samples without a worker grabbing them for you...this gives us plenty opportunity to make sure we get the flavors we want. 2. Flavors! Zinga always has AT LEAST 12 different flavors that they rotate regularly. Aaaaaand, it's not always frozen yogurt. They rotate through custards and Italian Ice in case you are looking for a different type of texture. 3. Toppings. Oh the toppings. All your basic candy bar shavings and fruit plus whipped cream, gummy bears and gummy worms and hot fudge (my personal favorite). 4. Dividers - I can’t believe I am really talking about this but this is crucial. Zinga has these little plastic dividers that you can use to divide your cup in half, one half and two fourths of fourths. This allows for different flavors and toppings without having to get them mixed together the longer they sit. Optimum Tasting Variety. 5. Zinga's Loyalty Program - Once you spend $40, you get a free 10 ounce. Even though that may not seem much, we go so often, I know eventually it will pay it's way off. And it's always fun to hear them say, "Do you want to use your free 10 ounce?" YES! 6. Customer service - maybe we really are in our happy place when we go there but everyone who works there is so happy. It's owned by a family in our stake and I think all the employees are young men and women from their ward...and it's fun to see the occasional BYU attire since there are a lot of LDS goers. 7. Its only 5 minutes away from our house making it far too easy to drive over. I'm sure there are far more reasons why we love Zinga (wall color, suggested mix-ins like Smore (chocolate, marshmallows, graham crackers)) but for now, we love our trips to Zinga. 

Love Kyle for putting up with me and all the photos I take. 

Totes The Best Hun Cal Fro Yo.

Zinga lets you draw pictures and put them up on the wall. Here's mine (I wasn't given the artistic abilities that everyone else in my family has).

And now it's on their wall. 

Oh Zinga. Thanks so much for existing. 

City on a Hill Part 3

Our final day in Boston was bitter sweet because I wanted to stay a bit longer and wasn’t looking forward to the 8 hour drive ahead of us. We got out early regardless and went to visit Fenway Park, also known as the Green Monster, home of the Boston Red Sox. It cost $17 a piece just to walk inside so we opted out of that, but it was still fun to see the stadium. 

There she is. 

Flags lining the years the Red Sox won the World Series. 

Kyle's awesome beard continues to grow and I'm on my tippy toes. Cool.

I snatched myself a Boston t-shirt at the gift shop and we headed back into the city to finish up the rest of the Freedom Trail. We started out at Bunker Hill, where the British forces came forward against the American colonists and where the famous line “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes!” was shouted. We parked right by the hill and walked all the way up to the monument where they told us we needed to walk back DOWN the hill and across the street to grab tickets to walk back UP the hill to go inside the Obelisk. We laughed at how they had set this all up, walked down to grab tickets and once we climbed the 294 steps to the top wondered why we ever thought about going up in the first place. 294 steps in a circular motion is a hard thing to do… after the leg burn and gasping, we were happy and relieved for a break and pretty view at the top.

Some neat guy who did something neat and wore cool colonial clothes while doing it.

294 steps in all it's glory. (The sun was finally coming out at this point which was wonderful).

Yay! We made it to the top. And I married a looker. 

The view of the Boston Haaaahbaaaa.

Next, we went down to see the U.S.S. Constitution which was really neat, it being Memorial Day and all. So neat in fact that they closed down access to the ship because they were going to have a military salute. So not so neat to us but it was still cool to the see the 1797 ship in all her glory. Her nickname ‘Old Ironsides’ was earned in 1812 when she fought another ship who said cannonballs fired at her appeared to bounce off as if made of iron…..aaaaand she’s the oldest warship afloat. I was pretty bummed about not being able to walk on the ship and protested just like Bostonians in the days of old…except no Indian apparel was worn and there was no way my bag would be flying into the harbor. We did go across the way and explored an old 1940’s war ship used during World War II. We walked all the way back to where our car was parked and drove down just in time to hear the salute. They fired some of the cannons along with guns and oh boy, was it loud.

Pretty flags flowing in the wind. 

The back side being held in tightly with this ginormous chain. I felt like she was just fighting to break free. 

"We were merry, in an undertone, at the idea of making so large a cup of tea for the fishes." Joshua Wyeth, member of the Boston Tea Party (that's what I would have been thinking too Joshua)

I am ashamed to admit it, but I made Kyle drive back to Mike’s Pastry (didn’t TECHNICALLY MAKE him...because I think he wanted some just as much as I did). We got some more treats and headed over to ‘The Barking Crab’ for lunch. It was recommended to us for the lobster rolls they serve there. As for me, I’ve never been a seafood fan (links back to a traumatic child experience on the beach). They did have a pretty good pork sandwich with sweet potato fries and I did bravely try a sliver of Kyle’s lobster. It’s all about getting past the texture and fish smell, but then I’m good. After we stuffed our bellies, it was time for the long drive back. The last bit of our trip that is a bit hysterical is that I tried to take us around all the tolls to save some money. We probably lost an hour of our time heading home by doing so and even then, somehow ended up on a toll road and had to pay. That’s one thing about the east coast that I don’t love…having to pay for tolls! We do it regardless and drive around to see really neat historical places. Thanks Kyle and good ol’ Boston for the Best Memorial weekend yet!

Don't mess lobster. Don't mess.