Spring Break

Spring Break has come and gone. It was so nice to spend some time away from school! Todd's Spring Break is coming up in a couple of weeks--it will be a much needed break.
Last week Tuesday was Olympus High School's first outdoor track meet. I came to watch and help Todd with splits. He has a small team with a few talented kids, but the team is not nearly as competitive as the South Christian team was last year. He is really enjoying it though and is looking forward to their next meet tomorrow. Unfortunately, his knee has been bothering him for about a month now so he hasn't been able to run much with the team. Hopefully it will get better soon!
On Wednesday my parents arrived in Salt Lake City! It was so wonderful to have them visit us for a long weekend. I gave them a tour of the University of Utah campus and took them to see Todd's school on Wednesday. On Thursday, we drove out to Antelope Island State Park. The island is on the Great Salt Lake. We did some hiking and then drove around the island to check out the view and the wildlife. That night we had dinner at the Squatters Pub downtown and watched a very close and exciting basketball game between the Utah Jazz and Minnesota Timberwolves. On Friday we walked around downtown. We toured Temple Square and got lunch at the new City Creek Food Court. We also went to the new Utah Museum of Natural History. That museum is so unique! We then picked up Todd from school and drove down to Bryce Canyon National Park. Although it was cold (barely reached 40 degrees) and snowy, we had a great time hiking down into the canyon and seeing the beautiful views. Mom and Dad joined us for church and Sunday school on Sunday. What a fun week!
Now we are looking forward to our next visitors--Holly and Matt!

Snowy Bryce Canyon National Park

Antelope Island

Mom and Dad at the top of the hike on Antelope Island

Bryce Canyon

Buffalo on Antelope Island 

Dad and I at the Great Salt Lake

Temple Square

Bryce Canyon

Mom and I on campus

Spring?

It has been SO nice lately in Salt Lake City. We've had temperatures in the 50's (and once in the 60's) fairly regularly. I love it! Todd misses the bitter cold winters in Minnesota--but I'm not complaining!
We are counting down the days until my parents come visit SLC. They're planning on coming for 5 days during my spring break in a couple of weeks. It will be great to have company again!
Despite fairly hectic schedules throughout February, we've managed to slip in some fun things! We both got the day off on Presidents Day so we went hiking with our friend Jenna. We hiked up to "the Living Room", which is located on the mountains right behind the university. Rocks have been used to set up living room furniture--sofas, love seats, armchairs. When you sit in "the Living Room", you get a great view of the valley, lake, and mountains on the other side.
Todd had parent teacher conferences a couple weeks ago. He saw parents of 88 students! After a couple of long days, he got to relax with a 4 day weekend.
I've been chipping away at my volunteer hours lately. Last Saturday, I spent 9 hours at a diabetes expo talking with diabetics about reading nutrition labels and making diabetic-friendly decisions when grocery shopping. It was a very educational experience and I'm glad I did it! Tomorrow I am teaching sports nutrition in Park City to a group of middle schoolers who are pre-professional skiers.
Last night, we had a 5 course progressive dinner with all of our avenues friends and a couple others. We started with appetizers at Laura & Jordan's, then soup at Jenna & Mark's, salads at our house, main dish made by Caleb & Amanda, and desserts at Nate & Lina's. We started at 4:00 and didn't finish until 9:00! We were able to walk between each house since we all live so close together.
Here's some pictures from our hike and progressive dinner:

View from "the Living Room"

Todd, Jenna, & I

Sunset behind the Capital building

Yummy appetizers

Nate, Todd, & I enjoying pumpkin soup!

Hanging out at our place after eating salads

Lina & Ju enjoying their Chicken Marsala

Mini peanut butter pies

Todd LOVED the peanut butter pies!

January

It's been a LONG time since I've updated this blog. Life has been full of activity lately (I guess that's a better way to say it than "busy"...). Todd's second semester has begun, and he's happy to have slightly smaller class sizes. He has had a few meetings with the track team and it looks like he'll have a small squad of distance runners. Their first (and only) indoor meet is this weekend. He was excited to get an iPad from school which he will use as a teaching device but also for personal use! I'm adjusting to a much fuller schedule this semester. I spend a lot of time in classes! I have some opportunities coming up that I'm really looking forward to. I'm teaching sports nutrition to a middle school class in Park City and also working at a Diabetes Expo as an educator.
Last weekend Grant came to stay with us for a while. We had a lot of fun skiing, playing games, checking out the Tanger Outlets in Park City, and Todd and Grant played indoor golf. We skied at Alta ski resort since they have "free ski after 3". The conditions were great. There was even enough powder for me to get buried in (thanks for getting me out Grant!). It was our first time skiing on "real mountains". Each run is A LOT longer than the runs in Michigan :).
A few weekends ago Todd and I went out to the Dodo Restaurant to celebrate our 6 month anniversary. We had spotted the restaurant earlier that day on our run and decided to check it out. It was great!
Here's some pictures from Grant's visit and our 6 month anniversary:

Heading out to Dinner on our 6 month anniversary

At Alta Ski Resort

Grant and Todd

One of our long rides up the chair lift

At the top

Christmas!

We had such a great time with our families during the past couple weeks! We are so thankful for loving families.  The first stop was MN. We enjoyed playing games, going to Sherlock Holmes 2, many games of pool, baking cookies, spending a couple days in Sheldon, Iowa (where Todd's mom's family is from), and hanging out with some of Todd's high school friends.
Next, we drove to Michigan. We were thankful for clear roads, especially since Mom & Dad and Holly & Matt were also traveling to Michigan that day, from Georgia and NJ. We played lots of games, made a few puzzles, spent an afternoon with Jake and Alissa, celebrated NYE with the Haagsmas, and enjoyed seeing Grandma and Uncle Bruce on New Year's Day. Since Todd had to go back to teaching and Holly and Matt to work, I stayed a bit longer and was able to see some more GR friends. I even ran with the Calvin XC girls--and learned that I am not in the shape I used to be :).
Now Todd is in MN again. He is a groomsman in Travis Schultz's wedding which is tonight. He'll come back tomorrow night. It's strange being home alone for a few days after a couple weeks of many familiar faces.
I start school again on Monday. This semester is looking to be more demanding. I'm taking a few more credits and some more challenging courses.
We got several inches of snow last night and it's continuing to come down. It's very pretty!
Here's a few pictures from MN and MI.

Todd, Allison, and Skip

Grant and Todd searching for the pickle

VanWyk family

Dad's gift from Matt and Holly

The girls

The boys

So close!

We are getting so close to seeing our families again! Only 2 more days until I fly to MN and 3 more days for Todd. We are really looking forward to spending time with the Mitchells and VanWyks.

Todd has three more days of teaching this week. I have been done since my last final on Wednesday morning. 

There is still no snow in Utah. It has snowed a bit, but its never stayed on the ground for more than a few hours. We are hoping that MN or MI will have a white Christmas!

Todd and I went out to eat downtown last night and then walked around a bit. The city looks beautiful with many Christmas lights! We exchanged gifts at night with each other. 

Not much else to report from SLC. Below is a picture in front of our Christmas tree.

Thanksgiving, Mount Olympus, and a Christmas Tree!

We have really enjoyed our 5 day weekend for Thanksgiving break! It's been nice to relax, spend more time together, and get ahead on some work (for one of us, at least).
We spent Thanksgiving with friends from Church.  Everyone brought a dish or two to pass and we enjoyed delicious food, football, and talking together.
Yesterday, we decided to hike Mount Olympus. It's a 4000 foot climb. The peak is over 9000 feet high. It ended up being very slow going because the snow towards the top had turned to ice. We were slipping and sliding a lot. We used a lot of trees to pull our selves up. Since we got a late start (we had to see the end of the Michigan vs. Ohio State game---GO BLUE!), we weren't able to make it to the top. We turned around about a 1/2 mile from the top to avoid going down on the ice in the dark. Going down was interesting. I crouched down and slid down on my feet for a lot of the icy parts. Todd  had a few good wipe-outs! The last 40 minutes of the hike were in the dark with headlamps. It was really pretty to watch the sun set over the mountains and see all of the lights in the valley.
Today we got our Christmas tree. We got a small one--about the same height as me! It smells wonderful.

On our way up

Taking a break towards the top

The view of the valley

On the way down--sun is beginning to set

Salt Lake in the distance

DARK!! Using the head lamps.

Our first Christmas tree!

We can't wait until our Christmas travels! We excited to see friends and family!

Oh November

I haven't posted in quite some time. We've both been busy--too busy to take weekend trips.
Since I last posted:
1. We celebrated my birthday at the beginning of November. Todd and I went to a dinner I was invited to through my program. It was put on by the food science association in Salt Lake City. There was delicious Hawaiian food and chocolate tasting. We both discovered that chocolate liqueur (the most unprocessed form of the cocoa bean) is disgusting! Todd got me a painting for our living room. I attached a picture below.
2. We played lots of board games and card games with friends. We are so thankful that we've met so many great people here. We are also thankful that they love to play games as much as we do!
3. I gave my graduate seminar presentation. Glad that's done! Each first year graduate student gives a seminar based on primary literature to all of the department of nutrition.
4. We went to IKEA and came home with a new living room chair (picture below). Todd likes to put it in the middle of the room to watch football, and I've done lots of reading and homework in it. It's perfect! Thanks Jeff and Bonnie!
I think that's it. As I said, we've been busy with school and work. We are really looking forward for a few days off for Thanksgiving!

Our new living room chair

Painting from Todd for my birthday

Some new pictures on the wall--all scenic shots from places we've gone since we got married