Fall Fun

We were lucky enough to have Jake's sister McCall come visit for the weekend in September and my parents came a few weeks later.  We love having visitors... hint hint!! 

We had a very sporty weekend when McCall came.  We went to the Pirates game and saw a no hitter!  It was very exciting and a very fast baseball game!  Saturday we went to the WVU football game.  Jake made us start tailgating four hours before the actually football game so it was a LONG day!  Luckily we packed good treats so it was  fun day.  We showed McCall Cooper's Rock and roasted hot dogs and smores on Sunday after church.  Jake had to work Sunday night so we watched almost the entire first season of Downton Abbey and now I'm hooked! 

We took my parents to Wisp State Park in Maryland to hike and see all the colorful trees but it turns out it was mostly pine trees so there wasn't many colorful leaves but the waterfall was really pretty and we had fun hiking!  We had a great weekend shopping, going to see "Here Comes the Boom" and eating delicious food!  I loved hanging out with my parents and can't wait for them to come back and visit!

For Thanksgiving we went to Cincinnati to spend time with our cousins.  It was so much fun to be able to spend time with family!  We went to a really cool museum, went shopping, and saw the Lincoln movie.  It was such a fun week the time went by way too fast! 

Now we are on count down til Christmas and I can't wait!!

Summer Fun

Unfortunately Jake did not have enough time off this summer to go home and visit family.  But luckily I was able to go home for a week and see everyone.   We had such a blast!  We packed as much excitement as we possibly could in that week.  We went swimming, went to see Brave, did LOTS of shopping, ate yummy food, and had family over almost every night! 

It was so fun to be able to go see Jessica's new baby and finally be able to catch up with her.  I can't wait til we live closer together!!

I had a fun pool day with the Fagan's then of course eating our favorite JCW's!!

The time went by so fast! 

On Saturday we headed down to Newport Beach for our favorite week of the summer.  It was definitely not the same without Jake there I can't wait until he can come with us again!

But we had a lot of fun at the beach, riding our bikes, and going to Disneyland. 

One more year down...

Jake took his first board exam and has officially finished his second year of medical school!! We decided to celebrate by packing as much fun as we could into his one week off.  Friday night we went to DC to watch the Yankee's play the Nationals.  The Yankee's won and we got to cheer for Bryce Harper so it was a very fun night! 

We then drove to Philadelphia to stay with my cousins.  It was so fun to be able to hang out with family and go boating and shopping in the burrough. 

On Tuesday we drove down to Myrtle Beach.  It was a blast to be able to hang out with Kristen and Jason and their family.  We loved swimming in the ocean and the lazy river at the resort.  Every day at the beach the lifeguards called us out of the water because of shark sightings!  There were 4 shark bites in Myrtle Beach the week we were there!!  Luckily we never saw one. 

Kristen's dad took us boating on the waterway it was so pretty I felt like it was straight out of a movie.  But apparently the waterway is where the alligators hang out.  Luckily we only saw this fat one that was too lazy to chase us!!

Just kidding we saw this alligator at Brookgreen Gardens.  It was really neat to see all the native plants and animals of South Carolina at this park.  There were also neat sculptors. 

This is us at the Pirate Dinner show it was a really fun show. 

We had so much fun mini golfing, getting late night treats at PF Changs, shopping, swimming, and hanging out with the Meeker's we never wanted the week to end!!

Jake had  been craving Southern BBQ food all week so one night we asked around to find the best place.  Well everyone kept giving us the same answer... Prossers... a buffet.  So that should have been our first clue that we wouldn't love it because we are NOT buffet people but we decided we needed the true southern experience so we found this hole in the wall place.  It was super crowded and everyone seemed to be enjoying it so we were still hopeful.  Our favorite thing in the buffet turned out to be the iceberg lettuce... not a good food night. 

But luckily for me Jake felt so bad about picking that place he said he would take me to wherever I wanted to go the next night.  I jokingly said The Melting Pot and for some strange reason he agreed.  I was so excited!!  The food was amazing and I had a lot of fun eating most of the dessert plate since Jake filled up on the meat! 

Philadelphia

Jake and I were able to go to Philadelphia for the weekend to spend time with family.  My aunt and uncle and grandma were visiting my cousin's family that lives in Philadelphia for the week because my cousin's daughter Sammi was in her school play.  She did such an amazing job and totally stole the show!  I am not even being biased she was AMAZING!!  We had such a great weekend visiting family and hanging out.  I am so grateful for Shannon inviting us and always making us feel so welcome there.

We even got to hit up Rita's while we were there which is the most amazing ice cream place ever!!  They put a slushie inside custard and it so delicious!!! 

Spring Break

I was so excited to be able to go home for spring break because I was just in time to see Kristal's new baby. She is so dang cute and I loved to cuddle with her!

We packed about as much as we could in the five days I was home. On Monday we hung out at Kristal's taking turns with Savannah and Alexa. Then I met up with Jake's family and had a fun girls night eating delicious food at PF Chang's and shopping at the new mall City Creek. It was so much fun to see Emme and Tatum and how big they have gotten even since Christmas!

Tuesday we drove up to Logan to see Mallory, Rachelle, and Greg. It was fun to be able to see their houses and how cute they had them decorated! We ate at my favorite- the Firehouse! then went on a hike at second dam. I loved being back in Logan and hope I can go again soon! After Logan we stopped in to see my aunt, Ang's new baby and hang out with my grandma and grandpa for a bit. It was so fun to be able to see everyone.

Wednesday Shelly and I got to babysit Savannah all morning it was so much fun!

Thursday we met up with Suzy for lunch then we had another girls day at City Creek and shopped til we dropped! I wish we had a fun mall closer in Morgantown because even if I don't buy anything just looking around is so much fun! Of course we had to squeeze Cafe Rio in that night because I wasn't going home without it!

Friday we went to see Mirror Mirror then everyone came over for the Easter egg hunt. It was quite intense I was one of the last one to find my eggs- that never happens!

The time went by so fast!

He Might be a Redneck...

     So we have been having a groundhog problem lately and Jake was sick of it.  He searched the house for his pellet gun and pellets and loaded his gun.  He left his gun loaded and pumped by the door just waiting for the groundhog to come out. 

      Of course the groundhog decides to come out Sunday morning as Jake was going out to iron his shirt for church.  Jake snuck back in the house and grabbed his gun so I wouldn't catch him and tell him no. He chased the groundhog to the side of the garage and shot it right in the head!  He was so proud of himself since I had been telling him all week there was no way he was going to be able to shoot a moving target right in the head.  Apparently after he shot it he heard a voice whisper, "Nice shootin Tex!"  I kid you not this is the story he told over and over again Sunday afternoon! 

      I wish I hadn't been so sicked out and I could have gotten a great picture of the huge yellow teeth on that fat sucker, but after holding the shovel for Jake to roll the groundhog on I had no desire to zoom in and take anymore pictures I wanted that groundhog gone- plus we had to get going to church!!

He Did It!

Jake has officially earned his white coat! He is almost halfway done with medical school we can't even believe it! He will no longer be stuck in a classroom!  He just has a few more BIG tests then he gets to be in the hospital! Jake's mom and grandma came to visit Morgantown and see Jake get his white coat. It was a really nice ceremony and very entertaining watching some people completely miss the arm holes on their jacket or not be able to put the coat on correctly. Susan and I laughed pretty hard at some people! We had a fun time showing Susan and Darma Morgantown even though there wasn't much to see this time of year. We enjoyed having company and being able to play games and go out to eat together.

Catch Up!

Well I have really put off blogging for MONTHS! And I keep wrestling with myself if it is even worth it but since I want to order the book I will back track a little bit...Jake and I both got the whole week off for Thanksgiving so we thought it would be fun to go to Kirtland for a couple of days. We did a lot of church history tours and I could not believe how strong the spirit was there. I loved hearing all of the stories about the amazing pioneers and all that they went through. The Church of Christ was having a service the night we were there in the Kirtland Temple and somehow we were in the right place at the right time and scored an invite. It was amazing to attend a service in the first temple of the church. The sister missionaries sang and they were seated in every corner so it seriously was surround sound... it sounded amazing! They had a bunch of different religious leaders sing or speak and over all it was a very nice service. We definitely enjoyed it! Luckily the last day Jake let me find the closest mall and we spent the afternoon shopping at my favorite stores so that was a score too since Morgantown does not have good shopping!

We had a really yummy Thanksgiving dinner with a bunch of friends from our ward. The food was AMAZING! It was a very relaxful and fun day and we are so grateful we could spend the day with such fun people!

In December we went back to Utah for 2 weeks. We had a great time catching up with friends and family. We were constantly on the go... going to movies, jazz games, skiing, and family events!

I am sad I lost the group shot from Jake's family's ugly sweater party but here are Tatum and Emme's and my ugly sweaters! It was hilarious to see what people came up with!

One of the highlights for me was when my parents took all of us to the Marriott downtown for the night. It was so fun to be all together for 2 whole days and not have any distractions. We stayed busy going to movies, seeing Temple Square, swimming, working out, and of course shopping!! It was a blast!!

Our camera was dead when we went skiing but I made Jake put his one piece back on for a picture cuz it was too funny not to remember Jake flying down the slopes in his tight one piece!!