A year in review: August 2009

The BIG move!

So after Anne and I said our goodbyes to family in Utah we started the big trek out West. We were so excited to move into our own place and use all of our things after waiting a year.





On our way back we took a quick pit stop on some salt flats off the I-80. We had a great time in the truck together talking, laughing, listening to music and books and of course...eating at In-n-Out.



We love our new place and love life here in Palo Alto. We have had a wonderful year with new adventures, challenges and amazing memories. Be sure to mark your calendars for 12 months from now so you can check out our next post! See you then!

A year in review: August 2009

Here were are back in August a year later. We have come full circle in this twelve month saga and I hope you have enjoyed it has much as we have. August was a big month for us as well. Anne flew straight from Seattle to Utah to visit our new niece who was born a month earlier on July 22. Anne's sister Jenna and her husband Drew had their first child and this is the first grandchild for Anne's parents so it was an exciting time. Our new niece Addison is beautiful.

Here she is in her first week


Talk about ticked off! I think this picture is super cute.


A few months later and even cuter.


So the other big news of August is that Anne and I found an apartment and moved out of her parent's home. My in-laws were so kind to have us stay there for eight months and we are very grateful to them. But it was time to head out on our own and we found a beautiful place in Palo Alto. So I flew out to Utah to meet up with Anne so we could take our things out of a storage unit in Provo where we had kept most of our belongings for the past year. It was perfect because I was able to meet up with Anne to spend time with Addison.




We were also able to spend time with my Graham, Rhandi and their two boys, who had all moved out to Provo for Graham to start his MBA at BYU. It was so fun to spend some more time with our nephews. They are so fun to be with.



I think this picture of Hudson is hilarious.


Here are some other pics of Cayman and Hudson, I think it is so awesome to see how well they get along.

Best Buds

A year in review: July 2009

SEATTLE!


Our Seattle vacation finally came. Anne and I were able to take some time off from work and school to visit the beautiful northwest to be with my family. Every two years the Dance family has a big reunion. It was so wonderful to see everyone and be with family. Unfortunately Anne had her finals week (nursing school prerequisites) at the same time so she missed a portion of the reunion, but she still was able to come up and spend quality time with all the fam.

This is the Dance Family Reunion picture. Quite the group!


Great family pic except we are missing Anne



When Anne came up we had a blast together. One day we went to downtown Seattle to see the sites together. It was so fun to experience together all the fun places I grew to love during my visits to Seattle.

On top of the Space Needle


Ivar's Fish and Chips


Pike's Place Public Market


Awesome fresh produce, seafood and flowers.






I was also able to get some wakeboarding in while there. My cousins and I would go out early morning when the water was glass. It was so much fun!


We feel so fortunate to have such a close-knit extended family and were so happy we were able to make the trip together.

A year in review: May 2009

Memorial Day Weekend in Santa Cruz!



Wow, May was a packed, amazing month. For Memorial Day weekend Anne and I were lucky enough to spend a few days at a beach house with some of our best friends.



We had a wonderful time together; it was so great to relax, catch up and enjoy each others company. Mark made an awesome video you can check out right here:

SANTA CRUZ VIDEO

Playing flag football on the sand was a blast.


Look at these studs


The girls just hanging out


Hanging out in downtown Santa Cruz

A year in review: May 2009

Adventure Race!!



On May 16 Graham and I competed in the Central Coast Adventure Race in San Luis Obispo. It's called the Dawn to Dusk because it takes 12 hours... and everything you've got! Imagine swimming 3/4 mile (while towing an inflatable raft), mountain biking nearly 40 miles (while climbing a combined total of 10,000 feet of elevation), route finding/orienteering, running/trekking 13 miles (with a 15 lb. pack), and finishing it all off with another mile of kayaking. Add that to 97 degree heat and you've got one of the most demanding experiences possible.


Finish Line!!





We finished the race in 11 hours 11 minutes. Good enough to place 11th overall out of 48 teams(notice a pattern?) and 2nd in our division!! Thanks to Graham for planning everything and helping me commit to running this race. Rhandi and Graham did the same race the previous year. Rhandi really wanted to do it again this year (I heard she was amazing last year) but she had a 3 month old that needed to be nursed every few hours.

One of the toughest moments was 2 PM with a 97 degree heat beating on us! We had to bike 25 miles to a water drop-off on top of a 3,000 foot pass. This leg of the trip was intense, people were dropping off like flies along the route and the race organizers had to take some people to the hospital for heat stroke and dehydration. Graham had run out of water a half hour before we got there and I had just a bit left...but when we go to the water station they were out of water as well!! Talk about a blow to the morale! We rested and waited for 30 minutes until water came, then filled up and continued on. By the time we finished at the end of the night it was around 8:30 pm and dark. We were dead tired but smiling and super happy we competed. I am so grateful I did this with Graham, it was an experience I will never forget.

The morning after Graham and I had the world's perfect post-body-killer-race breakfast at F. McClintock's Saloon in San Luis Obispo. We ate more than Paul Bunyan and felt great doing it. On our way back to the car Graham spotted the world famous Bubble Gum Alley (previously unknown to us)! It is really the world's most disgusting and intriguing alley! Mold and germs everywhere! But amazing nonetheless!!

A year in review: May 2009

May 5, 2009


TWO year wedding anniversary!! Anne and I are amazed that it has been two years since we were married on a beautiful, sunny day at the Oakland temple. We are so happy two years later and having so much fun together. Anne is the best part of my life and I am so blessed to have her by my side.

For our two year anniversary I wanted to surprise Anne so I booked a weekend at the Mill Rose Inn, the awesome bed and breakfast in Half Moon Bay where we stayed during the first half of our honeymoon. We had a wonderful time reliving the fun memories and relaxing together.

The following shots were from our honeymoon

The Mill Rose Inn


Wonderful Breakfast



Picnic on the Beach





Beautiful Half Moon Bay



Wonderful Dinner


Mill Rose Inn Part II

We had beautiful, sunny weather for our honeymoon, fairly unusual for foggy Half Moon Bay, so our second time around was overcast and misty but still tons of fun.

More Breakfast


Other shots from the trip


Carson creating some awesome memories:



and...



It was a wonderful weekend. We'll be back!

A year in review: April 2009

A new nephew and Easter in Carlsbad! On February 12 Rhandi and Graham added another beautiful boy to their family...Hudson! Anne and I are so excited to have two nephews and couldn't wait to get down to San Diego to introduce ourselves to the new baby.



We were able to spend a wonderful Easter weekend together with the entire family and we had some great one on one time getting to know our new nephew Hudson. It was so fun being home and hard to leave.





Here is happy Hudson six months later. He has gotten so big.



This is an amazing picture of Hudson. Love those blue eyes.