June & July

We've been pretty busy these past two months. Here are a few of the highlights:

Soccer Team Dinner:

Some of the best days of my life and the best friends I have made stem from my experience playing on the UW Women's Club soccer team. I met so many friends that I could relate to and actually enjoy being around in college. Though most of our time was spent on the field, in the car traveling to other colleges and during many hours of practice, I have kept in touch with these ladies even after graduating because the bond we have made has been so special. Even from the beginning I remember it had only been a month or so that I had been on the team and so many of the girls showed up to my surprise bday party that Alp and Amy graciously threw for me. I knew then many of these girls would be in my life for a while. I love women that enjoy being competitive, staying active, going out to have a good time and of course getting together to eat (and I mean like EAT) and laugh. Everyone knows college has it's ups and down and I was always uplifted when I would see these friends. They would make me smile, laugh, and always remind me to suck it up and move on whether I just got laid out in the field or in life. We have won IMA championships together (more times than I can count...six maybe?), had undefeated seasons vs SU, WSU, Central, U of O, OST, U of Portland and many other schools and thrown some of the most epic college parties. Since most them haven't met Jaime, I thought it would be nice to invite them over for dinner. I was so thrilled they were all able to make time come over. Jaime cooked us Kalua Pork sliders and brown rice. We all were able to catch up and hear about what people have been up to since graduating (some of the youngins are still in school).  We ate food and they were able to pick my brain a little bit about how Jaime and I met, our wedding and overall how married life really is. Jaime asked if he wanted me to leave after cooking and let us have girl time. I was like "Heck no" I want you to meet all of these ladies and get to know them because they will all be at our wedding celebration down the road. While we were chatting the crossfit games were on and I told Jaime if these ladies trained in crossfit for a bit they would kick ass, literally. It's hilarious because they were all glued to the competition and of course somehow before everyone left we all had to go downstairs to the gym and try pull ups. Jaime loved it. I'm so glad we were able to get together and hope we can continue having dinners in the future. Also these pictures...I think we were trying to reenact a team photo??? We get weird when we get together, Jaime couldn't keep a straight face while taking our picture.

 

 

Portland:

We made it back to Portland! Thanks to Saul we were able to blow some money at Nike...we practically live in workout clothes so saving at the employee store is a huge hookup. While we were there we were able to go to Target, Costco, Lulu Lemon and a few other place to grab some other clothes and stuff for the house. The woman at Lulu remembered us from the last time we were in Portland when we were dating and was like "You're back how is crossfit!?" I told her a few things have changed since the last time. Side note, I'm pretty sure she had a crush on Jaime. We also went to this amazing place called the Waffle Window also thanks to Saul's recommendations. It was amazing.  Of course a half hour after that Jaime said he was going to get hungry so we stopped by this Mexican place he loved called Muchas Gracias and got him burrito. 

 

Date night:

I decided to take Jaime out on a date. He had always mentioned that he wanted to see Wicked so I decided to get him tickets. Funny story...it was supposed to be surprise but I accidentally ruined it. I came home from night shift on Friday morning and we were supposed to go that night. I told him to wake me up around 4pm because we were gonna get dinner and then go to see Wicked at the Paramount...then he was like "Babe I thought you said tonight was going to be a surprise?" I was pretty much delirious and exhausted and pissed I totally forgot and ruined the surprise. LAME. Anyway Jaime let me sleep so we ended up  heading to the show first. It was absolutely amazing. I could have played any character and known all the lines and lyrics. Wicked has been my favorite show for a long time now and I was so glad Jaime loved it. After the show we literally ran to Morton's which is one of our favorite places. We always seem to be running in at 10:55 to make it by 11. We split a steak and then ordered some of our favorite sides: mac and cheese, asparagus, creamed corn and of course we had to have the bread. After Morton's we wanted to get dessert so we went to 13 coins for fried ice cream. Overall I'd say it was a pretty good night. 

 

Will and Monet's Wedding:

It's truly amazing to see two people in love and committing to each other for all time and eternity. I was so grateful to be a part of Will and Monet's special day. They looked happier than ever and I hope we can continue to stay friends. We all went to UW and spent a lot of time the last year of college hanging out, going out on the motorcycles, playing soccer and spending our Sundays together in our singles ward.  I'm just so happy for the choices they are making and for their new marriage. They have always been so supportive to me throughout my relationships and their support has meant a lot and been a great example. Congrats to this amazing couple!

Carol's Baby:

Whenever Jaime says he is going to get a haircut I get really excited because that means our friend Carol is coming over to the house and there's a good chance that her beautiful baby is coming too. I got to scoop her up and play with her. I'm a sucker for chub rolls and couldn't get enough of her. She get a shout out on this blog for sure. 

Weekend in Yakima:

We were able to go to Yakima for a weekend to celebrate Jaime's cousin's wedding and that gave Jaime a chance to show me some of the areas he lived in for a little while after high school. Every time we drive to Eastern Washington I just fall in love with the farm land, green hills, crop, windmills, blue skies....it's gorgeous. Eastern Washington is so calming I would love to have a house or ranch over there. When we got to Yakima we drove around and tried to find house Jaime lived in while he was younger but we got turned around and were so hungry we ended up going to Miner's instead. I think the burger was the size of a small baby and the rest was just about the same. So amazing though. I think we only ate half of what we ordered. After eating we went to our hotel to hang out. I was 104 degree weather pretty much all weekend. The next day we were able to celebrate Dominque and Terrance's wedding were we celebrated with family and friends. It was so much fun to be able to me so many more special family member in Jaime's life. They all have such a strong personality which I love. They are full of life and love to dance and know how to have a good time. I just melt seeing all the little kids. The wedding was on July 4th and Yakima doesn't allow fireworks so we went to grab some fast food and watched the city fireworks. I told Jaime I specifically remember being somewhere else with someone else last July 4th and realizing that there were a lot of changes I wanted and needed to make in my life to be in a place that I know would make me happy. I told him there's no other place I'd rather be, nothing else I'd rather be doing, and no one else I'd rather be doing it with. It was a great weekend. 

 

World Cup 2015:

When I found out the Women's World Cup was going to be in Vancouver Canada I wanted to go so badly but I thought the final game would conflict with Jaime's family wedding and we always prioritize to put family first. It ended up that the wedding was on a Saturday and the game was on Sunday so we realized we were able to make it. I looked all over craigslist and people were trying to rip others off for these tickets that were sold out. Luckily I know who to navigate through all of that  and was able to find a very nice Canadian soccer fan who was willing to sell us lower bowl tickets for a little over face value. The only thing was that meant Jaime would be waking up early the next morning after the wedding to drive from Yakima to Vancouver. He knows how crazy I am about soccer and luckily is a big fan himself. He said if I wanted to go he would drive and we would be there. I was ecstatic. I remember watching the women's national team playing as a little girl. My dad would take me to the Sounders game when they were a semi-professional team. My childhood was based around soccer in every way. I loved watching soccer. I even cried the year the US women's team lost stop Germany in the World Cup final. My parents had me playing as soon as I could walk and I played all the way up until 8th grade. I didn't play in high school because most of the competitive leagues outside of school had Sunday games with conflicted with church. In college however, I met some friends while playing in the field in Panama and they told me I needed to try out for the women's club team. After that it all started to come back and now I can't stay away from soccer. This particular World Cup game was huge because we were playing Japan who we lost to in the final 4 years ago so this was our time to come back and avenge that loss! I was so excited going to the game I could barely stay in my seat. When we got there it was packed!!!! There were about 54,000 people there. We got out ticket and made it in. The energy in the stadium was amazing. The US came out so strong and it was clear from the beginning that they were going to take the title but they still had to work for it because Japan capitalized on a few defensive mistakes. At the final whistle the crowd went crazy and celebrated. Moments like that actually feel very patriotic. I have a lot of pride for the United States and it was very special to be there in the stadium seeing the women's team win. The emotional makes you teary eyed, both for the champions and also those that were defeated. It's so hard to work day and night, putting your blood, sweat and tears into a goal and not fall short. My heart went out to the Japanese team as much as the US women. The drive back was a long one and we were exhausted but I was so glad we were able to make it. I will always look back and remember being in that stadium. 

 

Casino Month:

Jaime has a sweet perk where the Tulalip Casino likes to take care of him. Pretty sure he has had some luck there in the past and won some money. They offered him a free room once a week at their hotel so we decided to take advantage of it! He took me there once a week in July and spoiled me with delicious dinners. I'll admit I have never been to the casino at all but they have amazing food. It's fun to go hang out eat, listen to music and the rooms are amazing! It's just fun for us to get out every once and a while and do something different. I felt pretty spoiled doing this once a week. He takes really good care of me. 

 

Mariner Game:

Mom and Dallas invited us out to the Mariners game for LDS Night. It was fun to spend time with them and to see friends from church. 

 

Zac Brown Band with Kev:

Kev and I grew up listening to ZBB...actually he introduced me to them and we have been trying to go to their concert for as long as I can remember. We finally realized we were able to work it out for this summer and we made a double date out of it with Maddie his girlfriend. We drove out to the Gorge and had an amazing time listening to live music, eating elephant ears and slushies and enjoying each others company. Jaime has never heard of Zac Brown and I'm pretty sure he is not that into country music but I appreciate that he's always willing to try out new things, especially if I love them. I always love when Kevin's in town because he's been my best friend since middle school and I really do miss him. He's always been so supportive and a big part of my childhood. I love seeing his parents and got to introduce them to Jaime for the first time. His mom was so cute. I told her about our wedding plans for Summer 2017 and she was like "Are we invited!?" I said "OF COURSE!" She did a little fist pump and screamed "YES!"Kevin's dad showed me some of their latest choir performances. I love staying close to Kev's family. They have always been such happy part of my life on Mercer Island and now in this next chapter of my life. 

Summer Boating:

Some of my favorite summer memories have been spent on the water with Kev on his boat. It's nice to know that we can still continue this tradition when he's home. It's so amazing to be out on the water feeling the wind on your face, sun on your skin, admiring the blue skies and enjoying the warm water. Seattle summers are truly amazing. We always boat from his house on Leschi out to Seward Park were we dock and swim. 

Karoke night with HMC co-workers:

We got to go out with a few of my co-workers for what we call "Burn Beers" which is an opportunity to hang out and get to know each other outside of work. We only had time to stop by for a bit because someone needed to get Molly Moons before they closed at 11 pm (ME). It was fun. A few of us did a N'sync tribute and made fools of ourselves. That's what karaoke is for. I told Jaime next time we are doing a duet. We will have to settle somewhere for a song in the early 90's that we both know. Haha