I have been M.I.A because I spent the last half of March in the Big D visiting my family. It is so wonderful to sneak away from Utah! I was starting to get extremely burnt out on grad school, work, and the snow/ cold weather so I just had to escape.
Any time I go home and get to hang out with my family and feel the sunshine it is always a treat. Of course the first day I arrive the temperature drops 20 degrees and is 55 and raining! That didn't stop my dad and I from getting outside to bike 43 miles the next day.
The ride was really quite wonderful! At one point in the ride, we were lightly rained on, other parts were uphill in extreme wind, and some were downhill and sunny. I always love a good ride with my dad! He always knows the scenic and fun routes to take. When we got home, my mom had a burger lunch prepared for us, which was much appreciated because we were starving!
After the ride, David and Sarah came over to hang out, eat dinner and watch movies. They also brought their two pups over to play. My mom was in contact with a lady in Ukraine and was able to get a recipe for Borsch. Lizzey eats Borsch practically daily in Ukraine, so my mom wanted to make an authentic recipe. I was a little skeptical at first, but once I tried the soup, I LOVED IT! I ate Borsch for like three days straight. I could not eat it cold however, I don't eat cold soups.
Throughout the whole trip I was trying to teach Akina how to cuddle. She is still a pup so she would much rather wrestle than cuddle, but she was starting to get the hang of it.
On Sunday we had a birthday dinner for my Grandpa John and I with all the family. Cookie cake is my favorite dessert ever. I pretty much ate half of the cake and I loved every minute of it.
Monday my mom and I took Akina for a long walk around the lake. Monday was a warm sunny day, and I actually got to tan for about 45 minutes. Later that night, Sarah came over and we had girls night/ craft night with my mom. We painted chevron nails and made prayer boxes. My brother had a work trip so he was gone on Monday- Wednesday morning. This gave us lots of girl time to hang out with Sarah! I didn't think my chevron color scheme through, so after I finished I realized it looked like I had the batman logo on all my nails. When I sent Mike a picture, he said they were so "Gotham City".
Tuesday I went to Inspire, a yoga studio with my mom and we did an excellent 90 minute hot yoga vinyasa class. Every time I do yoga I tell myself that I need to start doing yoga more often. Once or twice a week would be great. I think I will start this summer. That night, my Dad took all the girls out to our favorite movie theater- Studio Movie Grill to see Non Stop. This theater is awesome because it serves a full menu while we are in the movie theater.
Wednesday was another cloudy rainy day in the 50s. My dad took the day off work, and we did "Dallas Day". We went all around Dallas, eating at one of my favorite Tex-Mex restaurants- Blue Mesa, birthday shopping, window shopping in Highland Park, and exploring new places.
We did a drive by of Mike's future job location. This July he will being working for J.P. Morgan as a financial operations analyst (?) in Dallas. We could't be more thrilled about this wonderful opportunity he has. His office is in a prime North Dallas location! It is 2 miles north of the Temple, and we will be able to live in the suburbs and still be close to his work. Sorry the pictures are blurry- like I said- drive by!
Thursday through Saturday the weather was FANTASTIC! We tanned and hung out on the deck sunning each day. Thursday night we went over to David and Sarah's house for Yoga. My mom does a weekly yoga class at their house with them, and I was able to join in. My dad surprised us all with chocolate cake after yoga!
On Friday morning my mom and I went to the Dallas Temple and were able to work on family names. Afterwards we ate lunch at the temple cafeteria, and then went on a birthday shopping spree at Title Nine, an athletic apparel store. One of the item I got- hiking/ golf capre's, I instantly fell in love with and wore for the next three days straight. They are like glorified yoga pants, because they are light and stretchy, but I can wear them out of the house with out being bootylicious. Friday night, the parents, David, Sarah & I went to Thai Ruby and had a great time. The waiter sat us in the middle of the small quiet restaurant, which was a huge mistake, because after dinner we tend to get into the happy carb overload delirious state and we were laughing quite a lot. We tried to muffle our laughs, but sometimes we were just dying. We are not one of those dine and dash families. We like to sit and chat which usually results in staying for a while. We usually have our best conversations after meals because we are all in such fantastic moods and borderline delirious. After, David and Sarah came back over to watch a movie and my dad and I also prepared for our upcoming 50 mile charity bike race the next morning. The Ride Ataxia charity bike ride will be my next post... Stay tuned!
With Sydney @ the shower
After early celebrating my birthday in Texas, I came back to Utah just in time to celebrate my actually birthday with Mr. Mike. We ate cookie cake for lunch and then went rock climbing that afternoon with Alyssa. We ate fish tacos for dinner (love Rubios!) and then Dallin and Dawn came over to watch movies and eat Chocolate cake with ice cream. I kind of really really love dessert and chocolate, so of course the day was filled with sweets. The night before my birthday, the Scheidts (Nicole, Terri, and Alyssa) who were in town visiting from San Diego, took me out to Dairy Queen to celebrate and catch up. 
On March 29th my dad, our family friend Doug, and I rode in the Dallas Ride Ataxia 50 mile charity ride that was raising money to cure FA. Outback Steak House catered the ride with bacon wrapped shrimp, steak, and chicken kebobs along the trail and an all you can eat lunch at the finish line/ after party. I loved the ride so much! This was the farthest I have ever biked, and I loved every minute of it. After the race ended I talked my dad into training for a 102 mile ride (Cow Creek Classic) in June. Cycling is just so enjoyable, you get to visit pretty sights, and you always feel awesome after. When my dad and Doug rode in this same ride last year, it rained the entire race. This year however, the weather was beautiful. My mom met us at the finish line to photograph the moment and eat lunch with us.
