2014 in review: mama mia, what a year!

..2014 is coming to a close..

there's something i love about looking back 

on a year and remembering all the moments

and changes and best parts & hard parts.

before moving on to a fresh new year, we

have to look back and appreciate the prior

year. last year we made a 2013 year recap,

and while i loved it, we thought we could

make 2014's a little bit more fun. chase

had this idea last new years, so we have

been working on this all of 2014. 
enjoy! 
..and try not to laugh too hard at us!

:) hope you enjoyed this little lip sync, it was chase's idea
last new year's day and i can't believe we actually ended
up doing it! it was a lot of work, but mostly we would be
on a trip and remember to film a quick lyric or segment.
we weren't organized at all, so luckily we ended up with
all the words.. but it might be a fun new tradition to have
fun through the year and recap it in a different way.

some highlights of the year..

january

we started the year with family and heard

my parent's big news. we headed back to

california straight to NAPA and SONOMA

which was heavenly. we made some

 resolutions, ate well, got massages, and

soaked up the sonoma valley sunshine.

we moved into a tiny studio in the city

and had lots of visitors. we learned how

to cook thai food. we hiked, explored,

and i went on a little girls trip to vegas.

february

we did our first {and last} juice cleanse,

celebrated valentines, and then headed

off to spain + portugal for the most

charming trip through madrid, barcelona,
lisbon, and porto. we stopped in dallas

and saw the amazing kennedy museum.

march

this month started off really rough with

our car being broken into on the street.

my parents came to visit, and we took 

them back up to napa & sonoma. then

chase's parents came to visit right after!

we had lots of visitors this month and

soaked up the city with good food + friends.

april

in april we took some of my favorite city

pictures with kirsten, and then i went

home to salt lake city for a week to 

spend time with family, throw a shower,

and feature some favorite restaurants.

i came back to SF and chase planned the

cutest celebration {and made the sweetest

video in the world for my 24th birthday.}

may

in may we had lots of city picnics, then

headed to L.A. for one last family trip

before my parents left...complete with

disneyland, newport, laguna, and

celebrating mothers day. i also got my

master's degree and my entire family

was there for my grad school graduation!

my cutest friend ashley came to visit, and

we wrapped up may in yosemite hiking

the famous HALF DOME for memorial day.

june

we celebrated our two year anniversary

with a fun scavenger hunt all about the

past year. {favorite new tradition!}. we

ate at the famous cliff house, i finished

teach for america, (!!!) and we kicked

off summer at a james taylor concert.

we moved into the cutest new nob hill

apartment and finally felt settled after

months in a tiny city basement studio.

i flew to colorado to meet my parents

for a little bike ride adventure through

that pretty state. then we went back to

salt lake for the saddest part of the year 

-- my parent's farewell for their mission!

we helped them move and said goodbye 

to them for 3 years. (tears!) love my fam.

july

in july we soaked up the bay -- we went

paddleboarding in san rafael canal,

celebrated the 4th of july in the city,

and celebrated chase's birthday with

friends! we took a road trip up the 1

to explore mendocino and fort bragg. 

we did the classic skunk train & rode

horses on the beach. i got hired at 

google and started working at 

the same place as chase! oh,

and we ran the san francisco

marathon too :) chase's first!

august

i flew home to be in a wedding and

celebrate maria & cam. we tried

almost every food truck in SF. we

celebrated 20 years since my dad

survived the bear attack. we went

on a historical walking tour of SF.

we saw "once" on broadway. some of

 our best friends the woods came to visit.

we had a beach day in santa cruz and

had a little sailing outing too.

september

we started september in BOSTON for

labor day. we stayed in provincetown

and fell in love with cape cod. we also

discovered nantucket, AKA greatest

place on earth! we said goodbye to

my family's sweet dog kona with lots

of tears and love :(

october

in october we discovered the mosaic steps,

took some fun pictures in the city, and

enjoyed SF's FLEET WEEK -- amazing.

we had lots of fun working and commuting

together all fall, launched our non-profit,

went to alcatraz at night for halloween,

then headed to canada: niagara falls, 

montreal, quebec city, and all of french

canada. i was in heaven and it was one

of my very favorite trips. magnifique!

november 

in november we had a weekend getaway

with our besties to san luis obispo,

america's happiest town. we stopped

through cayucos and had the best time.

my brother and sis-in-law came to visit

san francisco and we went to the utah-

stanford football game. we saw so 

many friends from home and the utes 

WON in double overtime!!!!! so so fun.

we ended november in INDIA which

was the craziest yet most amazing trip

through delhi, jaipur, and agra. 

{see our video here}

december

in december i flew to salt lake city

straight after india for a friend's lovely

december wedding. we spent most of

december in san francisco soaking up our

city christmas, went to google's holiday

masquerade ball, then headed home for

the holidays to salt lake city utah to spend
time with family and friends. we capped off
the year back in san francisco & went to tiburon.

writing this recap and going through the

blog archives has made me realize:

1) how amazing one year can be. 

how much we can do, change, see,

grow, learn, and experience. i love

to look back and think through each

month each year and especially this one.

2) also, i am so grateful that i have these 

memories and records to look back at

and remember exactly what we did when.

i truly love this little blog for being a place

i can record our favorite memories and 

experiences + recommendations and tips

for seeing this big beautiful world.

thanks for sharing 2014 with us!

cheers to 2015.

xo

couples holiday party

we couldn't come to town without having a party

with all of our friends...it was so busy over the

holidays that we picked a date to just have

everyone together. we did a sugar cookie

bar, hot chocolate, and played games.

i made this recipe and it was great as usual!

^^ chase's cute mom helped me with all the 

set up... she was so nice to let us host at

her house since we don't have a place here!

i'm kind of a sucker for this butcher paper 

food bar idea, like i did for a shower here.

surprisingly it was the boys who liked the 

cookie bar the most, all packed around it. ^^ 

^^ we got the best news from anna & randy..

they came early and had us open this envelope!

i SCREAMED so loud! i am so so excited! cutest parents.

we were snap happy with the photos because we

never see these people so i have to document!

we laughed hard and stayed up lateeeee.

we missed some friends who couldn't make

it, but we found other times to see them too :

loved our brunch with the fowlers and

brynn's darling quote she gave me ^^

miss quality time with friends from home! ^^

time with baby rocky + di & ted is the best. ^^

i think we WON our white elephant 

party by bringing this gem ^^

i also got to see ashley, who ended my streak of not

getting my hair cut for 1.5 years when i went to get 

it done by her! nice to have a BFF who does hair :)

she trimmed it + curled it and she is amazing! ^^

^^ and cafe rio with this great crew.

there's nothing like friends from home.

we love them all!

see the rest of our time in salt lake here.

christmas clothespins tradition

my favorite christmas tradition chase and i have

started thanks to his mom is these clothespin

christmas ornaments. his mom has done these 

with her sisters every year, always making a 

little handmade clothespin representing 

something from that year to hang on the

tree at christmas. when i was engaged to chase

and heard about this i loved it right away, and

knew we had to start our own! it's so fun because

you can look at their tree at all of the different

darling clothespin people and there is a story

attached to every single one. it is a tree full of

handmade memories and their entire family

cherishes these. i want the same thing! so, from

the first year we got married we have made them

and this year i wanted to document them here too.

the first year we went cliché with the bride and groom,

since that was a pretty major happening of 2012 :)

^^ bride and groom in process our first year :)

for 2013 we made a teacher since we were both in TFA:

and this year we had to make a googler since we are both

working at google right now! we write the year on the

bottom foot, and over time we will have such a fun

collection of these meaningful little creations. 

^^ confession: chase is the crafty one, not me!

his mom is the real talent and she collects all

these tiny items to make her clothespins each year!

^^ here's an example of just ONE of my mother-in-law's

that she made for the year we went to paris. she always

makes the best ones and keeps them a secret each year

until christmas when everyone finds it on the tree!

i love this tradition {thank you shel!}

and can't wait to see what other little

characters our tree is filled with over the years.

xo

home for christmas ::: 2014

christmas is extra special when you get

to come home to celebrate. it makes it

feel like even more of a special occasion,

and we look so forward to it! this year

was a little different with my parents 

being in south africa, but we loved our

time with my siblings + chase's family

and all of our good friends...and, i get

to visit my parents in a few weeks, so

christmas will just extend until then! :)

we're tired after going from event to event

and seeing so many people, but we loved

every second. the best part is, we even

got a magical white christmas! nothing

better. it's so true what they say :: 

there really is no place like home.

^^ after a crazy rainy day in san francisco and some 

canceled flights, we made it to salt lake city at 1 AM. 

even though it was late we stayed up and talked to 

chase's mom for hours that first night. we had to!

^^ the drive up to my parents house will

never get old to me. i mean, look at it!

my christmas eve salad ^^

dunn christmas sledding tradition in neff's canyon ^^

market street brunch on christmas eve 

with chase's cute parents. yum! ^^

^^ i missed my mom's eggs benedict + homemade 

sweet rolls, but i loved getting it at market street.

the temple square lights will never get old ^^

sugar cookie goodness + the perfect 

gift from the sweetest friend ^^

loved spending time with my cute gram. 

just look at her christmas tree pin! ^^

^^ a fun night the christmas village with chase's

family riding the festive {but freezing} train around.

thank goodness for fire pits all along the 

path for us freezing californians ^^

rigby fam ^^

^^ we had our tempest-dunn annual dinner which 

felt like the closest thing to being with my mom

since ann is her twin / best friend and she made us

chicken madeira! // also: look at those tree napkins!

^^ we had to make it to penny ann's cafe 

for their famous fluffy pancakes one morning.

christmas gifts to remember -- i'm most excited to take

chase to see newsies when it comes to SF soon! it's his 

favorite and i saw it in NYC without him, so i had to

surprise him with tickets. it will be so fun. 

^^ chase tracked down my favorite candy we found
in canada this fall and had it imported as a surprise
for one of my gifts...haha love his creativity, and now
i have a few pounds of this to eat so help me!
// also fittingly, my aunt gave me jim gaffigan's new
book that i can't wait to read because he's hilarious.

on christmas eve chase's cute mom set up a service

project at primary children's hospital where we

crafted little santa paper plates for kiddos that

had to spend the holidays in the hospital.  ^^

it was a different christmas eve, but really so sweet.

it's one i will remember and it made us so grateful. ^^

^^ i fell in love with my dream house in salt lake city, 

and chase knocked on the door to meet the owners

since it's not for sell...maybe it will be in a few years

if we end up moving back :) // also, we bought this

couch here to store! it was a great christmas gift :)

^^ real temple // gingerbread temple

neff's sledding followed by our FAVORITE 

lunch at citris grill {new location!!} ^^

chase's cute mom collects nativity sets, so we hunted

one down in india {painted on a leaf}. she is the cutest! ^^

dunn fam, minus my parents! 

we facetimed lots this week ^^

pretty hike before the snowfall on christmas...

now this same view is blanketed in white! ^^

love these people ^^

and these people! we did a fun dinner at sawadee,

went to the movies to see unbroken, (amazing)

and ended with shakes at hires. fun fun!

a last breakfast at brady & mindy's cute house ^^

and...we about died over this license plate.

maybe this is a sign for us to come back one day? :)

^^ one last play in the snow before heading to

the airport and being stuck on the tarmac in

that snow for a few hours on the way back to SF 

speaking of SF- my favorite gift 

from chase this year ^^

and, a blurry picture to end with.

salt lake, you gave us quite the christmas break.

we may be away next year, so we really soaked

it up this year. we don't know when we'll be back

next, but we love you home sweet home!

xo

see our fun time spent with friends here!