Ari H

Utah...it never gets old

11:30 AM

First time we've all been together in 3 years



What's winter without snow? Thanks, Utah.

Any time I get to spend with our nephews is precious time



We made snow angels in snow that was up to his waist :)

She's the prettiest

Sibling dinner. Brett is always too busy for us. :(

Favourites

Bachelor party in a suite at the Jazz game

We did some research before our Utah trip for some new, great places to eat. Happy we made it to Sweet Lake - Biscuits and Limeade

Eggs Benedict is my go-to on any breakfast menu. This one with local eggs, fresh made biscuits and red quinoa hash browns gets two thumbs up from me. HOWEVER, the winner of the menu is definitely the pancakes! They are called Conspiracy Cakes. They grind the flour fresh every day and you can absolutely taste the difference. That's probably the conspiracy...

Before heading back to London, we took some family pictures in the snowy canyon



I love my people

husband

Porto

11:20 PM


We went into this part of our trip with zero recommendations from friends so I was pretty worried it would just wander aimlessly and be a mistake to add to our itinerary since there was still so much to see in Lisbon...happy to say I was wrong! It ended up being our favourite city.

We fell in love the city immediately. It was all dressed up for Christmas and even though it was the coldest part of Portugal (which was still 30F degrees warmer than London so no love lost) 

If you follow my personal account on Instagram, you might remember THIS from when we tried to get a random person to take our picture in front of the Roman Colosseum.
Short story: FAIL. And guess what? Same thing happened when we tried to get a specific picture on this cute bench swing.
I know BENCH SWING! It could have been great...but I love this guy.
Cute French couple for this win! I have zero confidence in the random people but I won't give up because I never get to be in our travel pictures.

Christmas selfie!

Cais da Ribeira

A UNESCO World Heritage Site from the coolest/scariest bridge

Across the top of Ponte Dom Luis I, there is little to zero barrier between the pedestrian path and the train. On the lower level, a narrow pedestrian path means two people can't comfortably pass in opposing directions. So you're always just THIS close to being hit by a car or train haha



Roberta Square :)

Palacio da Bolsa



TILES!

Doors!









They are all just so charming and photographable.





I seriously love all the tile facades

Inside the Porto Cathedral

We love to find a building or place to get up high and see the city we are visiting from above. The Clergios Tower was a pretty good view!

It's pink on the inside!

View from the Tower

Sao Bento, one of the prettiest train stations I've ever seen

The blue tile work is gorgeous

See??

We tracked down a recommendation along the Cais da Riberia for one of the many, many recipes for the dried cod that the Portuguese love so much.

One of the weirdest things I can't get over about the traditional Portuguese food is this: while there are over 350 dishes in which they prepare cod, they never have FRESH cod! Probably have never tried fresh cod ever. It's always salt dried cod. WHAAA? (Refer to my Lisbon post to see the photo of the dried cod)

This is the cod post-multiple water soaks to remove the majority of the salt, roasted with potatoes and crumbled cornbread with a generous amount of olive oil.
Very tasty but a different texture to the fish which needs no additional salt or flavouring.

We were in London for such a short time in December that Taylor had to get a little groomed in order to go back to work.

My favourite guy all cleaned up and handsome. Gosh, I love him.

bride

Whirlwind weekend

6:05 AM

We were in and out in Utah. Got in Friday night around 11 and left Sunday afternoon at 5.


But in between? In between those two flights, some of the most precious moments of my life occurred.

What a glorious weekend!

I only have one biological sister. And I always joke that she's my favorite one. Most of the time, it's not a joke. 

Look at this girl. She is someone who knows who she is, has an idea of who she wants to be and doesn't bend to make people feel comfortable about what she likes and dislikes. Makes her headstrong at times but she has the kindest, most tender heart you may ever know. 

She married her best friend on August 2, 2014 in the Manti Utah LDS Temple. When a worthy member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints enters the temple, he/she makes a covenant to God, (a temple covenant is a sacred promise that when kept, meaning, when obedient, extends beyond this life on earth)  and promises to keep the commandments to receive the blessing of eternal marriage. It's a marriage for which we do not see an end, not even death. I can't think of a more hopeful, peace-bringing promise than to have eternity with my love so I wish it for everyone. 
Congratulation, Ruth and Kameron!


Bridesmaids. Remember my post about trying to find the dress? :)

This guy is my all-time favorite wedding date. We've been to quite a few of people we absolutely love! I picked his tie. The pic makes it look pink but it's really a very cool orange tie. Looked perfect. 
I got lots of compliments on the green. I'll have to buy more green things. This is the only green article of clothing I own. I also am in love with the flower crowns we wore instead of holding bouquets. Good call! 

The beautiful bride with my darling parents. 

Cutting the cake! Beautiful decorated by Courtnie, a former roommate of Ruth's and fellow bridesmaid. Courtnie's mom made the cake, which was fabulous. They were a dream team!

I didn't get as many pictures as I probably would have taken had my dress had pockets for my phone. That's why there was a real photographer there and we shall see more pictures in the near future. 

But I love these people. My people were there with us Saturday night. So many people helped pull the reception together and then clean up afterward! Haha we forget about that part but it was so much easier with loving hands. 
I have to give a shoutout to my sister's amazing friends that helped pull it all together in the last few months. They were crazy busy the week before the big day and the day of was a little insane. 
I am so grateful for the blessing of safety for Kameron's sisters. On the way back to Utah County from the Manti Temple, the bumper of Nicole's car fell off, the car ran over it and popped one of their tires. In the middle of nowhere. I'm so glad they didn't get hurt and that they still made it in time for the reception. It was hot and I'm sure it was incredibly stressful for all of them. I'm glad it wasn't worse although I wish there was some way we could have helped them better. We love you, Muhlstein's!

 * * *

Sunday we spent in Salt Lake City with the Larson's. We met sweet little Ari, our nephew, when he was being de-swaddled. It was THE cutest thing in the world to watch him stretch his tiny arm and legs after being wrapped up tight. 

I can't imagine a better way to spend an afternoon than with a newborn sleeping in your arms. 

Uncle Taylor must have helped Ari feel comfortable enough to relieve some of the gas that must have been bothering him because the 5 minutes they were chillin on the couch like this, Ari was ripping and rolling.

It breaks my heart to think about how different our darling little nephew will be whenever we get to see him next. We don't know when that will be! But that Sunday was just a tough day for me all around. 
We said goodbye to everyone and we headed to the airport. 
My parents and two of my brothers came up to see us off. (Sister and brand new brother-in-law were on their honeymoon :) )
I only got pictures with my dear parents although now I'm really kicking myself for not getting pictures with my brothers. Especially since Sammy (no one calls him that anymore, just me) will be entering the Provo MTC in just a couple of weeks to prepare to serve in the Honduras Comayagüela mission for two years. 

Not happy enough for real smiles


TTFN Utah 
Back to New York for two more weeks and then off to London and our new life!

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