magic in sioux falls

birthday flowers

hey sistas, go sistas, soul sistas, flow sistas! first off, i love all your posts and photos. i'm so excited to hang out with you guys again and to hear about all these adventures in person!

second off, we are having a good time in sioux falls. it is a nice town with a pleasant, family-friendly culture. we spend a lot of time at the gym. but it's south dakota.. there is just not that much stuff to do here.

the headband was a big hit in sioux falls. however, the magic started off slow. this past weekend was a little rough. but of course, the headband never faileth! i wore it yesterday for my birthday, and it did not disappoint.

my landlord's mom, a bohemian herb enthusiast/bachelorette fanatic, invited me over to watch the bachelorette and eat lunch. what a good start to my birthday! also. she is my only friend. anyway, i really enjoyed my time with her. she is an inspirational woman-- i am so glad to have befriended her this summer.

part of the sculpture walk 

enchiladas in an alley. ps--i had to take off the headband after 30 minutes. it hurt my head! but i'll just blame it on my big head. 

when zach got home from work, he gave me some of my favorite things. we went to downtown sioux falls and ate enchiladas in a charming spot. after, we walked the sculpture walk downtown and got a heath avalanche shake at B&G milkyway. that shake was so good, i about died. we watched a movie in the theater afterwards. to top off our night, we watched some bachelorette (it was shot in antigua, where we had our honeymoon! so i had to show zach.) and ate chocolate in bed, which i now regret.

overall, it was an especially special birthday! sorry to get mushy on you, but zach made this day really really good and  i appreciated all the little things he did. maybe it was our positive energy, or the headband's sweet magic, that we had a very happy day yesterday. 

Greetings from Seattle

The headband had a wonderful stay in Seattle. And rather than bring it along to one of the day trips we take on the weekend (or because I always forgot it) I decided to experience our typical day in Seattle. So this is what James and I do four days of the week.

Our tiny view of the Space Needle from the run, before the clouds burned off

Our day begins with a little run around Greenlake. For fear of damaging the headband, it did not come on this part of the day. For fear of scaring you with a photo of my staggering behind a stroller it is not pictured either.

After James morning nap, we normally walk over to a nearby wading pool and have a quick picnic lunch or snacks. Our little man loves scooting around in the water, splashing, and playing with his water toys.

James swimming in his baby speedo

Picnic lunch

This particular day with the magical headband Jamie was following the ICU staff around a night shift so he came home early from his regular day shift and we had a family outing to the local zoo. We love it when Dad can come with us on outings--coincidence? or magic of the headband? You decide.

Then we cool off from a hot day in the sun by taking a quick dip in the lake while James is napping.

Even though it was the normal activities that we do, somehow everything seemed a little better with the headband. Thanks magic headband.

Headband's Trip to San Francisco

Rachel gave me the headband right before my parents came into town, and I sent it to Robin (glad it made it to her) right before traveling for a week, so I haven't been on the computer much.

I decided to take the headband to tour San Francisco, hoping the magic this headband possesses would protect us from both traffic and the annual gay pride parade. Let's just say that if I wasn't a headband believer before, I am now. We had a great trip (and only saw two guys in butt-less leather stripper attire). We played tourist and walked around Fisherman's Warf, saw Alcatraz, and drove on some really crazy hills to see the spot in the first picture - which was a beautiful view of San Francisco and some very, very pretty old houses.

No idea why I look like such a goober in both of these pictures, but here are the headband shots:

Here's a non-goober, but also non-headband picture from my family reunion this past weekend.

We really like it here in Pleasanton. Living in this hotel is nice and basically just feels like we're living in an apartment...with daily maid service.  Sophia and I keep busy and have a good routine. It's kind of lonely - especially compared to Como, but I'm glad to have Rachel nearby. The weather here is perfect, so Sophs and I go for walks and to the park almost every day. We also go shopping, run errands, hang out with the friendly people in our ward, and visit Rachel once a week (always a highlight). Russ has every other Friday off, so we fill our weekends with seeing the sights and doing fun stuff. It's a great summer.

I do miss hanging out with all of you. We'll have to have lots of girls nights when we are all together again. Speaking of which, when is everyone coming back?


In conclusion, I have been watching Bachlorette. Drew is so attractive. I told Russ I wanted a 24 hour pass to go to Arizona, find Drew, and then come back to our family. Russ said I could, but when he told me what I would have to trade in return, I decided I'd just stare at Drew for 2 hours every Monday night. (I wouldn't have really done it anyway... In case anyone had doubts.)

Return to North Carolina

23 Weeks!

Hello Sistas!

It has been a busy summer! First I went home for a month to visit family which was wonderful! After that I went to Washington DC with family and visited other historic sites nearby. My favorite was Mount Vernon, home of George Washington. We walked through his home and all over his estate. It was absolutely beautiful! After that I finally made it to North Carolina!

Baby girl Udy

We found out we are having a little girl and are so excited to meet her in November! I've been enjoying shopping for baby clothes and such! She is quite active and likes to kick after meals. She is especially active after I eat fruit. Maybe she will be ballerina like her mom?

Recently Lance's parents came and visited us. We went to the coast and played at the beach over the weekend and then went to Mount Airy home of Andy Griffith! We had a fun time with his parents. 

This is my sister, Casey. She deployed to Kuwait July 6th. I'm glad I got to spend so much time with her before she left. I'm really grateful for her and the sacrifices she makes for our freedom. She is an inspiration to me and our family. We will see her again next May. God be with her til we meet again! 

I hope you all are enjoying your summer! I look forward to returning to Minnesota (I can't believe I'm actually saying this) where our friends are :-). Hopefully the winter will be kinder to us! 

XOXO,

Robin