Weekend getaway in San Francisco

Last week I flew home for my cousin Joe's wedding. He married one of the sweetest, most beautiful girls, and I am so happy to have her in our family! The wedding could not have been more fun! My family (extended included) always ends up being the last ones on the dance floor. I guess we don't care about looking crazy and letting loose once the deal is done. :) Fortunately, our new family member is quite uninhibited when it comes to dancing, too!

Before the wedding, the family and I got to head over to the city and check out Fisherman's Warf, Ghirardelli Sqaure, and eat at Bubba Gumps. We didn't get to visit Alcatraz or ride a trolley car, but hopefully we'll get to that on a future trip!

On Saturday we headed up to Oakdale, CA, to have lunch and an ice cream social at Christy's family ranch. The the weather and scenery were so beautiful! We had fun exploring the ranch, checking out the cows and chicken dens, and enjoying our last day together.

Although the trip was amazing, it wasn't entirely complete without my hubby there. This handsome man had to stay back for quizzes both on Thursday and Friday.  I  was doing pretty well without him until the dj asked for a couples dance at the wedding, and I was left sitting alone wishing ( crying ) he was with me. I miss the days of undergrad when you could  leave whenever you wanted to, and makeup quizzes and tests if you had a good enough reason. At least he's doing what he's always dreamed of though! So proud of him!

                                                                  Hubby in his scrubs :)

Overall, the weekend was amazing and I had the best time with my family. They really are the most fun people I know. I'm so glad we get chances like these to get together and just hang out and enjoy each other. Love them!!

                                                       Me and my favorite little buddy

I'm a Midwest girl.....At least for now :)

Though I am missing many things about Utah, I am loving our new life here in the midwest! It seems that the small town life suits me quite well.:) The locals in town are so nice, the atmosphere is much less rushed than Salt Lake, and there are so many wonderful couples that we have made friends with that make this place so much better! Here's what we've been up to lately....

   

                                                                    Packing up in SLC...

Visiting Erin and Cole in Columbus, Nebraska...

Discovering how beautiful the midwest is... ( Iowa)

Celebrating our 3 year anniversary...

Watching Daniel receive his white coat... 

Kissing my future doc. ;)...

Moving into our new place...

Enjoying our big kitchen ( this is a first; we're used to a foot of counter space)...

Making curtains... 

Hanging out on the deck and enjoying the surprisingly perfect weather... 

Daniel spending a whole lot of time in this room studying...

Celebrating family birthdays...

And playing with new friends!

Though it's been kinda tough with Daniel in school and studying so much ( 8am-6pm, then 7:30 to 9:30 pm) I have still been having fun meeting and spending time with amazing girls! I think the full time med student life had really helped bring us closer together faster than we might have become in a normal situation. I'm so grateful for the new friends we have made. They help make this experience so much more fun and enjoyable. 

Kirksville is treating us well. We are happy! All is well. :) 

So I kinda love eating.... just a bit

I love my hubby..... so much. One of the many reasons why I love him is because he loves food almost as much as I do.... almost. I can say without hesitation that eating is one of the things that I love doing most in life, and it makes me genuinely happy. I consider myself very lucky to have found a man that loves eating, too... and is not only willing, but WANTS to spend extra time and/or money on food!!  I love him :)!

Last Saturday we kinda went crazy with the whole " one new restaurant a month" thing, and we ended up going to two new restaurants.... and one more old one. For lunch we decided that we had to go to Tony Caputos again to try the meatball sandwich. It was heaven. Seriously.

                    ( Don't be fooled by the picture. The objects shown are much larger than they appear.)

Right after we satisfied ourselves with some yummy meatballs, we walked a few steps down to Bruges Waffles & Frites. It's a little building right next to Caputos that only sells Belgium waffles, Belgium fries, and some random mixtures of fries and sausage. We got a cinnamon waffle with strawberries and cream and some frites with special sauce. This is a definitely a place we'll be visiting again!

Later that night, we dined with our friends at the Red Iguana. This is the most authentic Mexican restaurant I have been to in Utah. I was really impressed!

So mmmm... yum..... that's all I have to say. 

Phantom, a Baby and Greek Food

Hubby and I went on a quick trip to Vegas the weekend before V-day to see Phantom of the Opera. Though Phantom did not meet my expectations, it still was a cool show with an amazing set and lovely music. The only reason I say it wasn't amazing is because the whole show seemed way rushed; there was no intermission and it was only an hour and a half long. However, the set was crazy ( especially the floating chandelier) and the songs were beautiful. After the show, we went on over to Serendipity to have some frozen hot chocolate. It was Hubby's first time trying it and he loved it to say the least. That night we stayed at the Trump Hotel, which Hubby loved extra because it spelled wonderful! The bed was so cozy, the view was....amazing, and there was a TV in the bathroom mirror; it was awesome. Donald treated us well. :)

What made the weekend even better was finding out that my little nephew had arrived Sunday morning! I may be biased, but he is so....... cute! Seriously a handsome man. I get to hold his wobbly little body in 2 weeks and I could not be more excited! I saw him on iChat tonight and wanted to melt when I saw his eyes open and his tiny forehead get all wrinkled up. Precious. 

This last week we ate at a Greek restaurant near the U of U called Aristos. It was definitely a satisfying, new experience. I'm not much of a Greek eater; I have had a bad run-in with a gyro and lamb kabobs. However, this place has altered my opinion of Greek food, making me realize that some Greek is amazing and not all of it will make you barf. I could not get enough of our eggplant, spinach and feta cheese stuffed chicken, and pepper/ feta cheese dip thing with pita bread. The pepper/ feta dip will  give you heartburn, but I promise it is worth it. If you're in the Salt Lake area you should definitely hit up Aristos. It will make you happy. Promise. 

Winter Update

I'm not very good at this blogging thing. I guess I shouldn't be surprised; I hardly write in my journal either. Hopefully one of my New Years resolutions will help fix at least one of those issues.

Hubby and I have decided to try out a new restaurant each month instead of resorting to the same old ones each time we go out. I figure we'll find a new restaurant, take a few pictures, and walla! - a reason to post!  

Before I give an update on my new favorite places to eat, I'll do a quick recap of what has been going on since December.

At the beginning of December, one of my best friends, Christina, came to visit for the weekend. We went to Park City and scored some great things at the outlets. We also ate at a yummy restaurant called Jean Lois. If you're ever in Park City, you must go there! It was so great to have her here with us!

We also found out that Hubby got into medical school! He was accepted into a few places, but as of now we are settled on his top choice - A.T. Still University in Kirksville, MO. I'm still adjusting to the idea of not only living in Missouri, but in a small town with a Wal-Mart as the main store for shopping. On the bright side, it is extremely safe (which is great for my paranoia), and Hubby's family (including a few sisters in-law) live only an hour away. I think it will be an interesting adventure that I'm definitely warming up to. I am so proud of him and know he will be such an amazing doctor (and definitely the cutest one ever :) ). 

For Christmas we went home to California for a little over a week. The weather was perfect! I was so thankful to be out of the snow. We had an amazing Christmas with lots of food and family time. It is sooo relaxing to be home and have nothing to worry about except hanging out with the people I love most, and eating until my hearts content! 

I was also able to get together with J.A.C.L, and to meet our newest member for the first time! Little Haddie is the cutest baby ever. I'm so excited for Jessie and can't wait to see that cute little person again at our next reunion! 

So for our first new restaurant experience, we went out to a pizza place called Setabellos. Honestly, it was the best pizza I have EVER had! It was so good, in fact, that Hubby and I got another pizza only three hours after the date with our friends. We couldn't help it. It was, amazing. 

For February (though it was technically Jan. 28th) we went to a place called Tony Caputos. It is a market style restaurant that makes delicious Italian style sandwiches. There are also different vendors there on the weekends that sell things like yummy cheeses, homemade jams, and knit scarves. 

I'd love any ideas for good restaurants in Salt Lake, so send any my way! 

I hope the recap wasn't too boring. I'll try to be better at updating this for the handful of people that follow!  We're going to Vegas next week to see Phantom of the Opera. Pictures to come!