Raesevelt: 2011 (Part One)

I got this idea from my beautiful friend Sadie, and in return I am paying her back with these:

Oh yes girl, you BEST believe that I saw these in J-Town and totally thought of you! And that I carried them on the plane so that they wouldn't get smushed. Message me with your address!

JANUARY

Brock and I went to Ecuador with my family. This was such an amazing experience, but unfortunately I lost my camera on the last day of the trip. I may or may not be over it by now. OKAY SO I'M NOT.

Nevertheless, it was incredible (obviously). My family was able to volunteer in an orphanage in Quito for a few days, and then we traveled via motorized canoe up the Amazon River to a remote community along the Napo estuary. We ate grubs, visited the local shaman, hiked in the rainforest, learned how to hunt with blow dart guns and spears, and played in the river with the local children every day (I have literally never laughed so hard in my life as I did when playing with them).

Me playing a made-up game called "La Cocodrilla" with the kids.
I was a crocodile who tried to gobble them up as they swung past me.
You would not BELIEVE the acrobatics they were capable of!

Don't let Ofelia's sweet smile deceive you...she's a firecracker!

My brother, Caden, hanging out with some of his new friends.
Check out the muscles of the kid in the foreground! Unreal.

FEBRUARY

Went to a taping of the Conan O'Brien show in Burbank, CA! The guests were Marisa Tomei and Harland Williams (of "Rocket Man" fame...so funny). Fitz and the Tantrums performed "Moneymaker" at the end of the show--I'd never heard of them before, but they were awesome!

Where the magic happens, baby.

Our spot in line and our tickets!

MARCH

The entire campus was swept up in Jimmermania, and we were no exception!

We went to the last home game he played at BYU.

GOOOOOOOOOO COUGARS!

Conference champs! Now on to the Sweet 16!

APRIL

Brock finally graduated from BYU! HALLELUJAH! He left with a B.S. in Mathematics, a B.A. in Communications, and a minor in business management.

A long time coming!

I got SO lucky in the in-law department.

MAY

Moved to DC for internships. I interned on the Hill for Rep. Jason Chaffetz (UT-3) and Brock worked for the Brookings Institution.

The first weekend we were there, President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been assassinated. We were living at 2600 Pennsylvania Avenue, so we ran down with a bunch of friends to the White House (on 1600 Penn, about a mile away) to celebrate with the masses!

Watching the news with all our Washington Seminar friends.

MADNESS!!

Flags of the US and Pakistan. Yeah, thanks for the help, Zardari...

Says it all.

We also had the opportunity to watch the President give an address on Memorial Day at Arlington Cemetery. It was an extremely hot day, but an extremely cool experience :)

JUNE

Celebrated our fourth anniversary in Baltimore. (Brock stayed for an extra day to take the LSAT. HA! Remember when he was gonna do law school???) I ate my beloved corn cakes at the Cheesecake Factory, and Brock saw his beloved Vladimir Guerrero play for the Orioles at Camden Yards.

JULY

My dear momma came to visit me us in DC! She arrived the same weekend that my cousin Phillip was inducted into the A-100 class for the State Department's foreign service officers. He's headed to Djibouti, Djibouti, so we had a fun dinner together at an Ethiopian restaurant (since there is obviously no difference between Ethiopia and Djibouti . . . hey, it was as close as we could get!).

We also took everyone on an EPIC night tour of the Mall using bikes from Capital Bikeshare. Brock may or may not have gotten in a fight with a guy at the Washington Monument. Okay, so he didn't.

A hilarious show that we saw at the Kennedy Center!

Goofing off in the Library of Congress :)

Crazy Ethiopian bread called injera.

Beautiful night for a bike tour!

AUGUST

We had a great month visiting family before heading off to Amman. We spent a couple weeks with my family in Fort Collins and a couple with Brock's family in Huntington Beach. Summer perfection!

Chicken fights at the watering hole with the fam!

Wakeboarding at Horsetooth.

Tubing in the creek.

Beachin' it in Huntington.

Californian Mexican food...nothing beats it. Not even Mexican Mexican food.

We bid adieu to Allie as she drove off into the sunset (for BYU!) and then drove back to Utah ourselves (with fun pit stops in Vegas and at our favorite B&B in Ogden).