Catching Up

Boy it feels good to be back. Welcome to the new and constantly improved Layover Diaries! Since I haven't blogged since last February (where did the year go??) I thought a major month by month catch up post was in order. Fair warning- it's a long one.

March - Cheap tickets + free place to stay + spring travel bug = A quick trip to NYC with Rebecca and Jason

April - Grand Junction for Easter and a little trip to Casa Bonita (a Denver legend) with friends

May - A BIG month. Cabo with Chris's family, found out we were expecting!!!!, traveled to Atlanta for Justin's homecoming and Tyler's High School gradua

 

June - Had first ultrasound, enjoyed the warm weather, Chris jetted off to India to train people for work

July - I went to LA and met up with the family to tour Justin's mission (LA), Chris finished up in India and went to Ireland and Florida. He was home for a week and then went back to India and then Oregon.

August - Showed the fam around Denver with hikes, exploring mountain towns and some great food. Celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary and found out we were having a BOY!!

September - Went baby shopping with Mom, celebrated Chris's 26th birthday, spent a weekend in Grand Junction with Jason and Rebecca, spent a quick weekend in Utah. We also spent the last part of the month in Spain...

Mallorca, Spain - Historic train ride, resort lounging, exploring Palma and Soller, dipping our toes in the Mediterranean

Barcelona - Hop on Hop off tours, major sightseeing (Park Guell, Las Rambles, La Sagrada Familia, Montjuic), tapas, churros and chocolate, Camp Nou stadium tour, etc. Our favorite city by far!

Madrid - More sightseeing, market exploring, cheering on Real Madrid in our FIRST ROW seats at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium

October - BYU v Notre Dame in Southbend with Dad and Justin, trip to Atlanta for BYU v GA Tech, pumpkin picking and a county fair baby shower!

November - Mama to Bee baby shower, Thanksgiving in Grand Junction, maternity pictures

December - The whole family comes to Denver for baking, games, hockey, playing in the snow, shopping, nursery assembling, baby waiting, Christmas and New Years

That's it folks - the last year in a nutshell. I resolve to post more often to avoid huge posts in the future.

The Little Things

This past week was really awesome. Chris was home almost a whole week! (This hasn't happened in months and months). We surprised each other on Valentine's with cupcakes, Wicked tickets and a timbuk2 bag. We emptied our DVR, tested some golf clubs at the local GolfSmith, cleaned the house together and took late night walks with Joey around the apartment complex. We cheered Chris's cousin on in the HS Wrestling State Championships, cooked yummy dinners, enjoyed a great stake conference and found a new A.MA.ZING. burger place.

Weeks like this make the distance thing seem a little bit more doable. (Just a little though haha). I married an amazing man and I can't wait to see him again on Wednesday.

Here's to a lot more weeks like this one:)

A California Weekend

I escaped right before the blizzard of the decade (18-24") to go meet up with Chris and G'ma J in San Jose! We enjoyed some yummy food, Mission Impossible 4, Carmel, 17 Mile Drive, Pebble Beach, Kara's Cupcakes, the Super Bowl and the ocean of course. I came home to a car buried in snow, a snuggly puppy and a whole lot of the white stuff. We had such a fun weekend and I will definitely be escaping the snow for the beach again soon! Thanks for a great weekend G'ma!

We'll Be Back, New York!

On our last morning in the city we hit up a few last minute spots and got to see some BYU friends!

I've been wanting to go to this bakery for the last several times we've been in New York. And of course, on the day after New Years it was closed! Lucky for us, my mom is the bomb and sent Chris and I some amazing Levain cookies they got the next day!

PizzArte is a traditional Italian Pizzeria meets Art Gallery. This place was no joke. This may now be on the Chris and Ashley New York Must List!

We got to meet up with BYU friends Ian and Raechel! It was so fun to see them and then tour around Columbia University a little bit.

We love New York! Its always so hard to leave but we can't wait to go back soon!

Favorites Around Town

Waffles and Dinges! This is the best street food ever. Waffles with all kinds of toppings! But the waffles are to die for. Not your typical breakfast food.

Wandering around Washington Square Park. Doesn't it look so pretty all lit up with the tree?

Dinner at Cuba- A Chris and Ashley New York Must. Good as ever.

Even though we didn't do the Times Square thing this year, we still had to go check out all of the craziness.

Greenwich Village Food Tour and Cruising on the Hudson

Ok, if you go to NYC in the next bit and you haven't done it before, go on a food tour! We hadn't been on one and it was such a fun experience. We walked all around the village and had so much good food!

 We finished the tour with a delish cup of Hot Chocolate on a Stick from Popbar. Its a chunk of chocolate on a stick that you dip in hot milk. Yum-o.

That night we caught a Hudson River Cruise to ring in 2012 right.

Happy 2012! Its going to be a good one, I just know it!

New Years in New York

Wow, I'm behind! We met up with my parents and Tyler in New York City for New Years weekend! We found out they were going since my Dad had to work some between Christmas and New Years and couldn't resist! There is nothing like New York at the holidays. Our first night we met up with everyone and headed straight to Peter Pan which was playing on a limited engagement at Madison Square Garden. After we headed straight to Shake Shack to indoctrinate Chris into the Shake Shack addiction club. The line was SO short. It was amazing. After dinner we headed around midtown to take in all of the lights and Christmas windows.

Peter Pan

At the Shack!

Lights and windows.