Our Great Adventures: Playing Catch Up. Again.

We have rededicated ourselves to updating our blog again! Now I have the task of playing catch up. Where to even start?

Protest in support of the Ukraine

Pretend I'm not dressed like a boy.. The blossoms are really pretty right?

This semester in school has been pretty rough for me. I haven't really been able to "get into the groove" with this new crazy schedule and mountain of homework and am so excited that in just a few weeks it will be over! Along with all the craziness at home, we have been traveling like madmen! Last year Lewis worked his magic so that we earned enough airline points to qualify for a Southwest "companion pass" so that every time he flies somewhere I get to come for FREE!!! Plus, we have a mountain of points (and airline cash from getting bumped) so travel has never been easier for us.

Art installment at Herman Park

The first week of February I was able to tag along with Lewis on a business road trip to El Dorado, Arkansas. We spent the night and then I hung out in a coffee shop doing homework for four hours until Lewis was done with his meeting. Sadly, Lewis came down with something during his meeting and was able to barely keep it together until I came to pick him up. He was so sick I had to drive the 5 hours home.

Two days later (!) we were on a plane to Las Angeles! We had a great time hanging out with Lewis' good friend Robertas, who is a professor at USC. He encouraged us to drive up the coast and visit a city called San Luis Obispo, which was interesting because Lewis' mom was born there and he has said several times he wanted to visit there! We found a cheap hotel at Pismo Beach and were so blown away at how beautiful it was there! We were equally charmed by San Luis Obispo (SLO) and decided that if it were ever a possibility we would love to move there!

Pismo Beach

Hike to Bishop's Peak in SLO

Morro Bay

We got back from LA on Sunday and the very next Saturday and Sunday we were so excited to have Lewis' mom and Randy come and visit us! We ate at Maggiano's, visited Brazos Bend State Park, went to Galveston, and went to the zoo.

Unexpectedly, Lewis and Dane's company got invited to present at an awesome tech conference in San Francisco… The very next week! Lewis and I flew in two days early so that we could explore San Fran over the weekend. We spent a few hours visiting the bridge but decided that the next day we would be more adventurous. We rented a motorcycle and rode across the bridge and up the coast. Everything was so beautiful it was almost indescribable! We rode through red wood forests, misty headlands and around windy cliffs. That night we got in an argument with the front desk lady at our hotel because we parked the motorcycle in the parking lot. The policy at the hotel was that all cars had to pay $20 to park overnight… Unless you were driving a hybrid. We hadn't even parked the bike so that it was taking up a parking spot, it was completely out of the way. But the lady still said we had to pay the $20 because it wasn't a hybrid. Then Lewis started arguing with her because it gets way better gas milage then hybrids but she was still firm and nonsensical. We ended up moving it right outside the parking lot. The next day I got to help set up for the conference and then flew home so that I didn't miss any class!

Valentine's Day crepes

Less than two weeks later it was spring break and we got to spend a few days in Puerto Rico :) It was such a magical trip! We swam in a waterfall in a tropical rainforest, kayaked around a bioluminescent bay, snorkeled with sea turtles, saw Old San Juan, and spelunked in a cave!

Condado

Tropical Rain Forest!

Old San Juan

Spelunking in Cueva Ventana

Ouch!! I stepped on a sea urchin.. or two

Two days after we got home I pulled this little guy out of my foot

Since then we have been trying to calm our lives down a little bit :) Last Friday night we went down to Crystal Beach with our friends Jeff and Rachel to have a bonfire and cook tinfoil dinners! It was such a fun night and we will be so sad when they move back to Utah soon! :( Right as we were about to leave, we were trying to put out our fire with sand and Jeff filled up a water bottle with ocean water and went to pour it over the sand. As he was pouring we saw that the water was glowing bright blue!!! We all looked at the ocean and saw that each wave that rolled in was glowing! We went and splashed around and, sure enough, there was bioluminescence in the water!!! We asked a security guard on the ferry as we were going back if he had ever seen the water glow. He was like, "Oh yeah. It glows off and on." What?! Why isn't everybody talking about this?! Anyways, it was a great night and we got to spend the rest of the weekend listening to conference and talking to family.

At the Japanese Gardens

Piano Bar in downtown Houston (Howl at the Moon)

We picked up this beauty from a friend who cut us an unbelievable deal!

It took a minute to get it running again, but it was worth it

It's a Stella, but we call her Sammy

Lewis and Dane's first office building being torn down. RIP Caroline Collective!

I did say I was playing catch up right? These are the AMAZING tres leches cupcakes Shonee and I made over Christmas break and that I want to make again very soon..