Vacation: Rafting the Salmon River

We're finally back from our week-long trip with the Featherstones rafting the main fork of the Salmon River. What a blast! It was my first time, and I made it back alive. Mike loved it since he hasn't been in 10 years.

The Featherstone cousins on the paddle boat. We went over some killer rapids! Good thing we had Jake and Josie guiding us. We never flipped--thanks heavens!

Mike and Erin at the beach. The last time Mike was on the river, he spent a whole summer rafting, hauling gear, and being a stunt double shooting the movie "The Same River Twice." Needless to say, he was very happy to be back. "It's been too long" he says.

Hannah, Joe, and Kate (Mike's sisters and dad). It was Hannah, Kate and my first time. And out of 18 people, we were the only three girls!

Mike, Erin, Kate and Hannah. It was so hot that we put our chairs in the water! We're waiting for the jet boat here.

Check out this rapid. This is right around where Louis and Clark (and Sacajawea) turned back, dubbing this river the "River of No Return." Lucky us--we had paddle boats instead of wooden canoes. Don't you love modern technology?

Mike and Erin loving life on the river.

We kept saying to each other, "I don't want to go back to real life yet..." The cool thing about the trip is the wilderness was so pristine and cleansing, you almost forget what real life is like...

There's Grandpa V watching the frisbee game. He was quite the swimmer on the trip! The water was never too cold for him.

Our favorite game: "body womping." We made a water slide by turning the paddle boat upside down. You get a running start, and then everyone holding the boat bounces you up at the last minute so you go flying. It was so much fun to watch!

Here's Jayma. We all wondered, "How can he sleep like that??!" Heh heh--so we had to capture it on camera.

Here we are on Neno's boat. What a fun trip.

We have to say thanks to Uncle Scotty and everyone who worked so hard to put this on. What a blast.

Also thanks to everyone that guided our boat safely through the toughest rapids. We rode with these guides: Neno, Sam, Joe, Uncle Scotty, and Jake/Josie. We never flipped once!

We hosted a Goodbye Party (not for us)

We had a goodbye party for two of our favorite families in Salt Lake. The party was a blast, and Neesha's strawberry cake was out of this world. We were shocked we could actually fit 21 people in our house. If you have ever been to our place, you know it's not exactly gigantic. The most hilarious part were the little kids, twins including, that wanted to get into every cupboard we have! Let's just say that our house is not exactly "baby-proofed" yet. Our friends are moving out to do great things, but it will be sad to see them go.

Goodbye Summers, and goodbye Wests! We'll miss you!

Irvine Party

We found out Lani was living in Sugarhouse with her cute husband so we had them over for an unofficial Irvine get-together. It was great, and we got to know Mike (her hubby) a bit better. Lani is looking so adorable these days and seriously has the coolest job. It was great to catch up. We convinced her to think about setting up a blog, so that will be fun. We also celebrated Shanny's birthday while we were at it. Thanks Lani for bringing the yummy cake!

How do you say no to Paris?

Mike sent the official "turn-down" email to INSEAD today. (Clarification: INSEAD is that MBA school in Paris/Singapore that Mike applied to...the school specializes in churning out international consulting students.) They wanted to interview him in either AZ/CO/CA, so Mike thought long and hard about whether to fly out or not. In the end he decided not to waste the money when he was pretty sure he wanted to go to Chicago GSB.

I would have loved to live in both Paris and Singapore, but Mike promises that Chicago's study abroad in Paris is top notch. So it sounds like I can now officially start saying..."Chicago here we come!"

Tea time with the girls

We went to tea on Wednesday at the Grand America.

I ordered raspberry tea. It was quite a lovely time.

At the Grand America.

Gotta love tea!

Fiesta!

FIESTA!

On Saturday we had a fiesta at our place. Shannon and John made chile rellenos (yum), and Jon and Shae taught us how to make empenadas from Chile (so good). Luke brought the chips and salsa, and we made the guacamole and dessert! It was a night of adventure...

The three amigos...the Featherstone brothers

Shannon and John's chile rellenos were to die for!

Shae wearing the sombrero...

Trying our luck at making Chilean empenadas.

Dancing the night away to the salsa beat...


Shannon, John, Mike and I realized that although we hang out every week, we don't have any pictures of the four of us...so we took one during the fiesta.

It's already been a YEAR?

Yesterday was May 6...exactly one year since Mike and I were married. It's already been a YEAR? We couldn't believe how fast the time flew...

Here are some memories from our first anniversary. We started a tradition where we switch off planning anniversaries. ex. Mike will plan one year, then I'll plan the next. So Mike got to plan this one. Lucky guy.

We celebrated on Saturday with a day of festivities.

First up: tennis. He surprised me with a morning of outdoor tennis. Fun! But the only problem was when we left the house, it started raining! Bummer. No tennis for us.

Next up: a French-style picnic outside. Oh, but of course it was still raining. (chuckle) So we spread out the sheet inside, and had our picnic complete with a baguette, Brie cheese, grapes, tomato slices and Perrier (okay, Mike got Evian for me, since I can't stand bubbly "no-taste" water). Yum.

Then: dinner at the Tree Room. After our afternoon break (Mike studied, I hit the treadmill), Mike surprised me with reservations to my favorite restaurant in the whole world. What a cool surprise! Yes, I will admit, it takes an hour to drive down there (the restaurant is in Sundance), so we had to sacrifice two hours round trip, but it was so worth it. I got the seared Ahi Tuna. Ahhhh heaven. Funny side note: we ordered the fresh potato ravioli as an appetizer, and when it came, there were only THREE ravioli squares (chuckle). Oh, I guess that's what we signed up for. But every bite of the three squares was divine.

Sunday (our actual anniversary): Memory grove. After church we walked around Memory Grove, which is the coolest park in Salt Lake City--it's at the foot of the canyon and the Capitol. And lucky us, the whole time we got to do flash cards for Mike's CFA test! Mike's been stressed about it lately so every spare moment we get I've been quizzing him with flash cards. As we walked around I couldn't help but laugh because people probably thought we were either crazy, or talking in another language. Imagine hearing people say things like "Mike, define and calculate: Yield Measures, Spot Rates, and Forward Rates." Yeah, okay, I don't understand it either. (chuckle) But aren't I a good sport?

I love flash cards!

Walking along City Creek. Notice I have conspicuously hidden the flashcards in my coat pocket. You'd never know!

Later Sunday: dinner with the Featherstones. Every Sunday we join Mike's family for dinner and dessert and the best entertainment you can get for free. They even made us a poster for our anniversary! Marianne made her divine pound cake with fresh strawberries, and it reminded me once again how awesome the Featherstones are. It also reminded me how pale my pound cake is compared to hers. (chuckle)

Also congrats to Shae (wife to Jon, Mike's brother) who graduated from college this week! Go get 'em girl...

Dinner the night before Italy

Asian noodle soup, potstickers, and edamame...what better thing to eat than Asian food the night before you leave to Italy! Last night Heather and my grandpa came over for dinner (for her last dinner before she left to Rome). So Mike and I made her Chinese food. We figure, we probably shouldn't try Italian, so she doesn't show up in Italy thinking--oh, it's so much better than at Erin's house. (chuckle) She's going to Italy for the summer to paint in Florence with BYU artists study abroad, then her and my cousin Annie are going to travel. Lucky girl! Mind you, I have traveled to Italy, but geez, can I go back already!

My sister Heather--what a hottie. Backpack and all. Heather, get used to that backpack...it will soon come to be your fifth appendage...

Grandpa Lindy and Mike eating Asian noodle soup with chopsticks...niiiice.

Can't forget dessert--strawberry shortcake with homemade pound cake. Thanks to Mike's mom Marianne (who makes it waaay better than me), it is my absolute favorite. Mike kept spraying whipped cream in the shape of smily faces. I think he has a little too much fun with spray whip cream...

Here's the set table, before we messed it all up by having to eat on it...

I looove my sister! She's the best.

Spring at Temple Square

Happy Mother's Day! Mom, I took pictures of the blooming flower gardens on temple square for you, since you can't be here to enjoy them.

I took a lunch break today and walked to Temple Square (which isn't a long walk since we live a block away). The tulips and flowers were fresh and in full bloom.

Mom, I hope you like the pictures I took! I miss you...I hope you have fun in Palm Springs this weekend with dad.

Chicago GSB Admit Weekend

CHICAGO

We're back from our school trip to Chicago. It was a crazy, packed, exhausting weekend. But it was very fun. First of all, we checked out a totally cool city (totally new to me). Secondly, we had just about every hour in our day scheduled with events from 8am to 11pm. Long days. We met a lot of really smart people. But it was really fun, and it definately further confirmed Mike's desire to go there. Here are some pictures.

The campus was built in 1898. I guess that explains why all the buildings are so timeless. I loved the architecture. It is a very old campus, but the business building is new, and built out of glass and steel. I learned that GSB was the 2nd business school in the country, and was founded by J.D. Rockefeller.

Mike in front of the GSB building. You can see the Frank Lloyd Wright designed "Robie House" in the background.

This is the inside of the business building. The ceiling is entirely glass.

The Art Museum: I didn't have a chance to check it out this trip, but I told Mike that if he does choose Chicago, we must live within walking distance of the art museum. That way I can visit on my lunch breaks.

Our favorite view of the city from our hotel.

Here we are having dessert at the top of the Hancock building. That building has the coolest views.