adventure, part two...

our second day in Washington started out a bit slower than the first. we had just spent our last night in the Bremerton Hampton Inn, and had to transfer over to the Downtown Seattle Marriott. however, check-in wasn't until three 'o clock, so we had quite a bit of time to kill. we spent the morning watching some CSI-investigator type show on TV, grabbed some breakfast downstairs (two handfuls of chocolate chips in my pancake for breakfast- bad idea), and packing up all of our belongings. once 11 o'clock hit, we were headed for Seattle! we were definitely sad to be leaving the cute little town of Bremerton (and the view from our room!) but were excited to stay in the middle of downtown Seattle!

instead of driving straight to our hotel, we decided to take a small detour and check out Alki Beach (we had a few people recommend this to us). unfortunately, the weather was heavily overcast on this day, which doesn't exactly make for the prettiest beach surroundings. we decided to stick around for a little while, grabbed a doughnut and hot chocolate from across the street at Top Pot's, and laid out on the grass to read our books. it was nice and relaxing until a small boy fell on top of me during an intense game of tag with his friends. his parents didn't seem to mind, so at this point, I was paranoid of more falling children and we decided it was time to head out.

lucky for us, the Downtown Marriott let us check in a few hours early, so we were happy to drop off all of our luggage into our room. I absolutely loved this hotel room- there was something so serene and quaint about it. white flowy curtains stretched from the ceiling to the floor, and the bed was draped with a soft white comforter as well. we were on the 7th floor, so our window had an awesome view of city, and we could even see some ocean peeking out from behind the buildings.

one major downfall to staying in Seattle? the parking. seriously, such a nightmare! for that one night, it cost us $28 to park in a parking garage- which was ironically the same amount that we paid for our hotel room that night. yeah, that hurt a little. we both decided to just shake it off and carry on with our day. we walked over to Pike Market, because once again, Kendrick had doughnuts on the mind. there's this small place in Pike's called Daily Dozen Doughnut Company, which consistently had a huge line stretched out in front of it, so obviously we had to see what those were all about! 

we ended up purchasing a dozen doughnuts, half cinnamon sugar and half powered sugar (don't worry- the doughnuts were all bite sized, we aren't that hardcore with our doughnuts). 

as we walked around Pike's munching on our treats,  I could not longer hold out- I caved and bought a gorgeous bouquet of hot and light pink Peonies. they were only ten dollars!

after walking around a bit longer, we realized that we had nothing to do- especially nothing free to do. as lame at it made us sound, it seemed like heading back to our hotel was our best option. although, this ended up being the greatest idea ever, as it gave me a chance to take a hot bath to soothe my aching legs (so much walking!) Kendrick also enjoyed the downtime as he laid out and watched Shark Tank.

an hour of rest was all we needed to take on the streets of Seattle again! we wandered down to Pike's again, deciding now was as good of time as any for some lunch/dinner. I was craving Chinese food, so we asked around for the closest one. we ended up being directed to a small Chinese restaurant that was literally underground. this place was seriously tiny, it resembled more of a hallway than an actual place to eat. Kendrick went with the General Tsao's chicken, and I decided on my usual- sweet and sour chicken. the food certainly did not disappoint, and we were both completely stuffed by the end of the meal.

we wandered the streets of Seattle, which ended us up on the pier overlooking the ocean. after picking up an ice cream cone (for myself, of course) at this amazing place with an indoor carousel, we settled on some Adirondack chairs that were stationed right in front of the huge Ferris wheel. at this point, the sun was going down and the air was comfortably cool, so we took out our books and read as the sun set. we were both sad that we'd be on the road back to Salt Lake the next morning, but I honestly can't think of a better way to end our vacation.

we will gladly come back for you Seattle, anytime.

anytime.

let's go on an adventure...

about two months ago, Kendrick and I were sitting in our front room on a quiet Sunday evening. we started talking about traveling, and how anxious we were to take a trip to somewhere fun and exciting. it was then that the idea of Seattle was brought up. granted, we had both been to Seattle when we were younger, but something about exploring that amazing city with each other sounded like just what we needed! so some calls were made, the numbers were crunched, and the trip was planned.

fast forward to last Friday, and we were off on our adventure! we didn't want to make the thirteen hour drive in one sitting (for obvious reasons), so we stopped in Downtown Boise to spend the night. as soon as 8 o'clock hit on Saturday morning, we were out and on the road.

the drive out of Idaho and into Oregon was not very scenic, as I'm sure you can imagine. however, once we got deeper into Oregon the scenery seemed to come alive, as trees lined the freeway and stretched out for as far as we could see. my favorite part was the fog that rested on top of the trees, giving the whole area a cozy and eerie feeling. at one point, our surroundings got so beautiful that we had to pull to the side of the road to snap some pictures.

we arrived in Bremerton, Washington around 5 o'clock that night. lucky for us, our hotel was right by the shoreline, and our hotel room overlooked the marina. we quickly dropped all of our stuff off into our room, freshened up a bit, and then headed out to explore the town. there was a festival happening right on the pier, so we made our way over to see what that was all about. there was a live band, food stands, and little boutiques set up in white tents. as tempting as those heavenly deep-fried stands were, we decided it was best to save our appetite for an actual dinner (especially after a days worth of road-trip food!)

(this was the view right outside of our hotel window...could be worse, right?)

with the recommendation from a nice man at the front desk of our hotel, we decided on a place called Toro for dinner. Toro was about a five minute walk, and that allowed us to see more of the cute little shops that lined the sidewalks. there was a thrift shop that caught my eye, but to my dismay, it had closed early (hello, small town!)

I ended up going with a red pepper and pepperoni pizza, while Kendrick ordered some lamb sliders. we also ordered a basket of truffle oil fries with a side of curry ketchup to share. in all, the food was outstanding. my pizza was phenomenal and the fries were just as mouth-watering. however, Kendrick compared the aroma of his sliders to, I believe it was.. a dirty old sock? so obviously, they were not quite as good as the rest of the food, but altogether we were very impressed with the meal and grateful for the recommendation. we decided to turn in early that night, as we were both worn out from our day of travel.

the next morning came quickly, and we were up and ready to go! we started the day off with some breakfast from the hotel lobby, and then with the help of an iPhone app, were able to located an LDS church that started at 9 o'clock. I am still completely astounded by how friendly the Bremerton Ward was. when we first walked into Sacrament Meeting, we were greeted with warm smiles from all over. as we took a seat in pew towards the back, an older lady in a red blazer and curly hair made her way over to us, shaking both of our hands and asking our names. she then proceeded to ask us where we were from, where we worked, and what brought us to that small town in Washington. then, the bishop, relief society president, and some other nice older man came over to us, and introduced themselves as well. once the meeting had started, the nice lady in the red blazer made her way over to us one more time, introducing herself as Brandy, and invited us over for brunch that day. she also gave us her number and told us to give her a call the next time we were in Bremerton, as we were welcome to stay at her large ocean-side home (don't mind if we do!)

as much as we would have loved to have brunch with our new Washington pal, we were anxious to get to Seattle, as we only had two days in the city. once Sacrament meeting was over, we quickly made our way back to the hotel, changed into something more comfortable, and then caught the 11 o'clock ferry into Seattle. we loved the ferry ride, as it gave us time to both read our books that we had brought with us- while having a wonderful view of the ocean. towards the end of the ride, we headed out onto the deck (so windy!), and I was thrilled to see the Seattle skyline approaching us quickly. we finally made it!

our first stop in Seattle was Top Pot Doughnuts- Kendrick was craving a doughnut. while I wasn't overly impressed with their doughnuts, I absolutely loved the area right outside of the shop. for one- I am obsessed with city apartments. you know, the charming brick ones with the old black staircases going along the side (which also seem totally unsafe to me, but that's beside the point). not only were these apartments darling, but they had clear glass bulbs strung all the way from the top to the bottom. I was about ready to go ask how soon I could move in.

next up was the famous gum wall- probably the most disgustingly beautiful thing I've ever seen. we spent about five minutes here, taking pictures and marveling over the thousands of colorful chewed up pieces covering every inch of that long alleyway. what I want to know is how on earth do things like these get started? either way, it was mind-boggling.

we then headed up to Pike Market, where we saw the notorious act of fish being thrown in the air, and crowds on crowds of people watching, holding up their phones to take a video (seriously, when will you re-watch that?) we made a stop at the fruit market that was on the other side of the street, where some super nice guys were handing out fruit samples to anyone who wanted one. it was great, we could just point to a fruit that we were contemplating buying, and the guy would grab a piece, crack it open, and let us try. I couldn't decide what kind of cherries I wanted, so he let me grab one of each to try! awesome selling method, eliminates any and all buyers remorse. kendrick and I finally settled on a couple of white peaches, a dinosaur egg (it was like a mix between a plum and an apricot), and a half a pound of cherries.

one thing that instantly caught my eye when walking around Seattle, was about twenty percent of the women walking around were carrying gorgeous bouquets of fresh flowers wrapped in white paper. I had to find out where they were coming from! luckily, my search ended quickly, as I found rows and rows of fresh flowers in the market to the right of Pike. I desperately wanted to purchase a bouquet of pretty pink peonies, but didn't want to have to worry about carrying them around all day, so settled on a picture instead. either way, the flowers were gorgeous.

we wandered down the street, and then down to the lower part of the city (the awesome thing about Seattle is that part of the city is below the rest, so there is a staircase every few blocks that allows you to get to the lower part). we headed down to the dock, where there was a huge ferris wheel and stunning view of the ocean. at this point, Kendrick was starting to get hungry, so we made our way over to Anthony's Fish Bar for some fish and chips.

next up on the agenda for the day- the Space Needle! however, this was at the opposite end of the city, and since we would be walking, we figured it made sense to make a few stops along the way! our first stop was the shopping center, where we saw the first Nordstrom, found a cute little candy shop, and then lo and behold- Kate Spade! (Utah doesn't have a Kate Spade, so I've made it my personal mission to get a picture with every single one that I see).  we decided the mall was a great spot to rest, so took a seat in the food court and helped ourselves to some of the fruit that we had purchased. after about fifteen minutes, we were up and on our way (after a necessary Starbucks stop, of course. I swear there is a Starbucks every four buildings).

after about a twenty minute walk, we were finally at the Space Needle. we had every intention of going to the top, but after finding out that the admission was $20/ticket, we had a hard time justifying that amount. so we took our picture, hung around for a little, and then called it good.

the next thing that we really wanted to see was the public library. yes, I am well aware of how nerdy that makes us sound- but it was listed on Pinterest as a Seattle "must see", and all of the pictures online looked amazing. we looked up its coordinates on our GPS, and saw that it would be another thirty minute walk from our location. at this point, walking another thirty minutes was the last thing that we wanted to do, so called an Uber and redeemed a free ride with my "first riders" discount. our Uber driver was what I believe to be African (maybe?) and we honestly couldn't understand a word he said, but that didn't stop him from talking to Kendrick nonstop for the full five minute drive. I assume that it was a funny story, because he kept laughing as he told the story. Kendrick politely laughed along each time, and gave the courteous responses like "no way!" or "that's crazy", and I buried my face into my phone, hoping that our driver wouldn't notice the quiet passenger in the back seat.

the library was even cooler in person, and I'm convinced that we need one just like it in Salt Lake. we took advantage of the outlets, and quickly plugged in our phones (both of which were dead!) At this point in the day, we were so tired, but still weren't ready to call it a day and head back to Bremerton. so we found a couple of chairs, pulled out our books, and read. It was just what we needed! however, with it being a Sunday, the library announced in the intercom that they would be closing in fifteen minutes- right when we had just gotten there! talk about bad timing.

we figured this was as good as time as any for some dinner! Kendrick found a sushi place near us, and the one thing that I will never deny my husband is sushi.

the sushi was delicious and we were both stuffed by the end of the meal. also, we had come at just the right time, and it was happy hour- making all of our sushi half off! in our minds, this made up for the library kicking us out early (how nerdy do I sound when I refer to a library for kicking us out, while we're on vacation?)

it had been such a long day, and we had impressively crossed  almost everything off of our list (mostly on foot!), so we felt totally justified in calling it a day at this point. so, we caught the 8 o'clock ferry back into Bremerton. the ride back was one of the best parts of the day- not due to the fact we were leaving Seattle, we loved Seattle! but because of how happy and content we both felt, we had just had an incredible day together!

we could hardly wait to return for day two.

Mother's Day

My family decided to continue the tradition of heading out to Park City for Mothers Day weekend this year (we've done it every single year with my whole extended family since I was little, but decided to forego the tradition once my grandfather passed away a few years ago). I was honestly so excited to maintain this, as it's always been something to look forward to each year.

My brother, Aaron, found us a huge condo for everyone to stay in for the weekend. It included 4 master bedrooms (with private bathrooms attached), a large kitchen, living room, hot tub, and a fancy spiral staircase that lead up to the 2nd floor (that was everyone's favorite part- especially the kids).

Once everyone was in Park City, we headed to the park to play our traditional game of baseball. It quickly started raining (and then hailing) so this did not last long!

Harmony, Jeff, Kendrick, and I were all on "dinner duty" the first night. We decided to keep it easy and served chicken quesadillas (ranch or buffalo), with tortilla chips and two different kinds of salsa. Later that night, everyone had fun playing games (which included an intense game of poker).

I don't know what hit me, but I spent that night tossing and turning, and eventually, vomiting. Unfortunately, the sickness didn't wear off by morning, so I spent the entire next day pretty miserable. I did, however, decide to get out of the condo and do a little outlet shopping with my sisters and mom (it's a Park City tradition). However, nausea and an upset stomach doesn't exactly put me in the mood to try on or buy anything, which I'm sure my wallet (and husband) were okay with.

My parents were incredibly selfless and gave up their master suite to Kendrick and I that night so that I could get a better night sleep (as we were stationed on the bed couch the night before- it's what happens to couples that don't have kids, which is totally understandable). Kendrick and I turned on the steam shower and made the water cold, which actually really helped with the nausea and it kind of felt like we were in a rain forest, haha.

The next morning, everyone had a delicious breakfast of cream cheese stuffed french toast- courtesy of Aaron, Nicole, Chris, and Jade. After breakfast, we all had fun playing in the park, having ping pong tournaments, and board games by the pool.

Kendrick and I left around 2:00, where we headed to his parents house to have dinner with his family. It was really nice being able to see both of our moms on Mother's Day, as they are both incredible women.

As I've gotten older, I've really grown to appreciate my mom more than I ever knew I would. She is the most selfless person on the planet, and I have never seen her put herself before anyone (although, sometimes I really wish she would!) She is a hard worker, a wonderful baker, and a talented decorator, and I would consider myself unbelievably lucky to be half the mother and wife that she is.

I may not have grown up with Kendrick's mom (that would be weird), but I have so much appreciation and respect for her because of the wonderful man that she raised, that I now call my husband. She is incredibly caring and giving, and I love to see the close friendship that Kendrick has with her. I'm so lucky to be able to call her my mother in law!

Here's to mothers- aren't they the best?

sunny with a side of sick

seriously, I have had the worst cold all weekend. aching throat, drippy nose, splitting head ache, raspy voice- I've had it all. but despite all of these extremely endearing and attractive symptoms, I did not want any of it to get in the way of my weekend- because this last weekend was gorgeous. we had nonstop sunshine!

saturday was definitely my favorite day of the weekend- kendrick and I took our sweet time getting out of bed that morning and catching up on our favorite shows on netflix. once we managed to shower and get ready for the day, we decided it was finally time to hit the road.

kendrick has always been interested in masons, and it just so happened that the masonic temple was having an open house that day! so obviously our first stop was downtown salt lake where we toured every single room of that gorgeous building. my favorite part was the ornate and luxurious decorating, and it was so interesting to see the symbolism that each room held.

one thing that I have always loved about spring is seeing all of the pretty blooms that pop up around temple square. so, after the masonic temple tour, it was onto the temple grounds! sadly, we were late on our game this year- about sixty percent of the flowers were dead, and all of the tulips were so wilted that they were starting to resemble a completely different flower. however, it was still a gorgeous day, so we took about two laps around the temple, soaking up all of the beautiful surroundings. there were about six weddings going on at that time, and I loved scoping out the different wedding dresses, bridesmaid attire, and the variety of colors schemes that corresponded with each wedding party. (seriously, I keep seeing darling wedding-related ideas and decor that immediately lead me to think I want to redo my wedding so I can do things that way- and then kendrick is quick to knock me off my horse of irrationality and nonsensicality as I quickly return to reality and agree that one wedding was very much enough.)

(I kind of really love this picture that I took of the temple. temple plus blue skies plus flowers equals a no-brainer picture)

the rest of our day was spent with kendrick's family, helping them move into their beautiful home in bountiful, utah. hooray for the in-laws no longer being three hours away!

here's to many more fantastic (and less-sick) weekends with my favorite person in the entire world.

And another one bites the dust

That's it! All of the Hurst kids are officially married. I'm definitely going to miss the all-day celebrations that go along with sibling marriages, but at the same time, I'm happy all the wedding craziness is over.

Chris and Jade tied the knot on May 5th at the Ogden Temple (such a pretty temple, reminded me a lot of the Draper Temple). It was an absolutely beautiful day and the sealing was just as perfect!

Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, right?

Never mind.

Congratulations, Chris and Jade!