across america: wisconsin

when katie and fabio left north carolina in the spring, we said, "hopefully we can visit someday!"

that someday came fast. and i have to say, i was impressed with wisconsin. so much beauty in the rolling hills, crops as far as the eye can see, and the gaertners' gorgeous home.

we spent a sun-dappled evening at the university of wisconsin eating brats by the lake, visiting fabio's office, wandering campus, and finishing with farm-fresh ice cream for all. sage and nora quickly remembered jon and ben, and loved playing on their swing set outside. we adore this family! it seems like a lifetime ago when katie and i took our toddlers on a trip to malaysia together–our exotic trips have been replaced by costco trips. i'm so glad we got to see a slice of their wisconsin life.

across america: chicago

our favorite city was unexpectedly cold for our visit. we had to pile on whatever we had in our suitcases for the first day! the highlight was taking sage to the disneyland of little girls' dreams: american girl place. she was blown away one matching outfit and doll accessory at a time.

we couldn't decide on just one backdrop for our traditional shoulders photo...so many to choose from.

dylan's candy bar! we peeked in and stocked up on gummy candy.

we spent a night in libertyville at the lovely eyre bed and breakfast, then one night in the city for good measure. sage is old enough to get excited about the stories we tell her now..."this is the hospital we brought you home from! this is the park where we walked when you were a baby (and mom was seriously crazy/elated/depressed/alltheemotionsatonce)! this was our favorite restaurant! this was our apartment (and we didn't realize how cool that sweeping view is when we actually lived there)!

nate's old office, our old apartment building, and my view driving home from work each day.

late night ice cream run to 7-11 (keeping it classy here) with these two darlings.

we saw a handful of dear friends, ate at a few favorite places and a few new places, and explored the maggie daly park with greta and baby wes. a quick 36 hours, but a reminder that this place is still magical to me.

my chicago baby

her cross bite, her deep, dark eyes, her daily requests for "elsa" braids–i love it all.

then, it was on to the land of cheese and farms...

across america: louisville

50 hours

13 states

hours of music and two audiobooks later, 

we made it from north carolina to washington.

we decided we would probably never do it again, so why not drive across the country as we move (eventually) to the bay area?

after an epically long move day, we headed out of durham much later than we'd anticipated. the little girls thankfully slept soundly and we arrived in louisville, kentucky at 3:00 am. 

but this city! the brioche french toast with bourbon whipped cream at harvest didn't disappoint. neither did the oversized golden replica of michelangelo's david standing tall downtown. and i should mention sage is very into making up her own poses these days.


we set off for the louisville slugger museum, where we toured the factory and tested out some major league baseball bats. we stopped by the batting cages on our way out and i...am not so great at hitting a baseball anymore.


sage was mostly just thrilled with her mini louisville slugger, compliments of the tour.

our last stop in louisville was the muhammad ali center. boxing is pretty low on my list of interests, but nate insisted we check this place out. i was pleasantly surprised–the museum is so well done. we did some virtual boxing and speed training, and i learned that george foreman was actually an athlete, not just the face of the grill (am i the last one to figure this out?!). 

we drove across the bridge to indiana and stopped in zionsville to visit friends (and meet their new baby!), then continued on to our beloved chicago.

oublié

i have taken on the gargantuan task of organizing our photos (so many outtakes i never deleted!). in that process, i've come across some gems that never got recorded. thus, oublié (forgotten, in french)–travel memories i don't want to forget.

sage at 14 months on her second trip to bangkok, thailand. it was a scorching day at the grand palace and that water bottle was her entertainment as we trekked through nonstop buddha sculptures and temples. we were traveling with friends, and i remember sage being so easy. she didn't talk much yet, but she babbled away in what we called "sagenese". thai and sagenese...not much difference to me.

nora wore this exact same outfit yesterday!

OBX 2015

our two trips to the outer banks of north carolina with the other lds families in our program have been the highlight of our two years here. we rented a beautiful 12 bedroom home in kill devil hills this year. we drove in a rainstorm to get to OBX, but the weather turned out to be perfect every other day. the ocean? still frigid.

we ate well—two families teamed up each night to make dinner. nate grilled shish kabobs for our night and janssen made three different kinds of brownies for dessert. win-win. we also happened to be a four minute walk from the famed duck donuts. the donuts are made fresh, then dipped in whatever frosting and toppings you choose.

the boys had a golf day, the girls had an outlet shopping + lunch day, and we saw a few local things too: jockey's ridge sand dunes, the wright brothers memorial in kitty hawk, and the catch of the day at pirate's cove marina.

the best part of each day was putting all the kids to bed and having game night. we played all kinds of games, and a few rounds of greed. this year, the losers had to drink papa john's garlic "butter", jump in the pool fully-clothed, and serenade everyone with a vocal performance.

we'll miss this place!

thanks to our friend rebecca for lots of these photos

cherry blossoms + philly

last year, we went to the lds mba conference with nate because it happened to be in chicago. lucky for us, this year's conference landed in philadelphia, where the hamills live in a gorgeous brownstone. the little girls loved seeing cute rhoda again, who graciously let us take over her room + her toys.

on our way to philly, we stopped in washington d.c. to catch the cherry blossom festival. the weather was rotten, but i didn't care–i've been waiting to see the cherry blossoms here (next on my list is seeing them in kyoto, japan). the tidal basin was a mess, so we headed to stanton park on capitol hill.

 i'll take this apartment, please. 

after vietnamese tacos and shrimp rolls at union market, we pit stopped at the jefferson memorial and hains point for one last look at those stunning blossoms.

hannah was an excellent tour guide. we began with beiler's donuts at reading terminal and ended with pizzeria stella in society hill. we walked all over with our pack of little girls and paused for a long time at the fountains in front of city hall. by the time we got to love park, sage was bawling, nora was uninterested, and i was frustrated. real life, yo! we also ventured out to the smith memorial playground, complete with a huge wooden slide you go down on burlap sacks.

i didn't expect to love philly so much. part boston, part pittsburgh, and a lot of character. i had no idea that it's also the birthplace of anthropologie. the best part of the trip was chatting with hannah for hours though, and getting the conference highlights from the boys each night. 

our camera is on the fritz, but these photos are looking extra blurry. not sure why...but, evidence that philly/d.c. were beautiful!