Coeur d'Alene, Idaho

The first stop on our road trip: Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. Destination: Leavenworth, Washington.

Mike and I had always wanted to go to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The pictures that we had seen made it appear to be so beautiful and so different from the dry area of Southern Idaho that we had come to know while growing up.

It didn't disappoint! It was so lush and green and beautiful! We absolutely loved the drive and took in as much of the scenery as possible (when we weren't watching the road).

When we got there we went to a place that had been recommended by people on some travel app. The Garnet Cafe. When we pulled up we weren't so sure about it, but isn't that how all good restaurants appear at first?

They served the juice in mason jars. It was a cute idea I thought.

The food was absolutely delicious! Ohmygoodness! Mike got an omelet with some sort of cheese that he spent the rest of the trip trying to find and purchase; I got an omelet with veggies and Smoked Salmon. Holy hannah - it was delicious!

I kept telling Mike it was our second honeymoon. I don't really know what a second honeymoon is, but I am pretty sure this could have been one. Mike kept saying it was just a trip. We found this heart in Coeur d'Alene and we decided whatever the trip was - it was a trip about love. LoL.

(And we look homeless because Coeur d'Alene was just a pit stop on our drive and we hadn't showered or gotten ready since the morning before (driving through the night)).

Our next stop....

The World's Longest Floating Boardwalk.

Seriously. Don't be jealous. I am sure it's on everyone's list of things to see and walk on before they get too old... Yep. Crossed off our list ;) Actually, we never knew it was the world's longest floating boardwalk until we were there - and then we saw the sign.

"Welcome to the World's Longest Floating Boardwalk
Boardwalk completed and dedicated April 1985

The Floating Boardwalk is 12' wide and over 3,300' long. Beneath the walkway is a 10' curtain of wood which creates a calm inner harbor... The Boardwalk and Marina were built with more than 16,000 cedar float logs; 28,000 pounds of spikes; 16,000 lag screws; 8,000 pounds of bolts; 500,000 board feet of lumber; and over 5 miles of bumper stripping. The Boardwalk and Marina were built by Fred Murphy & Sons, and were Fred's final projects on Lake Coeur d'Alene."

It was a beautiful little walk. Everything was perfect. The company, the weather, the scenery. I just wanted to jump in the water.

Afterwards, we went to the beach and we did get in the water. Mike was kinda worried that it would be freezing like Bear Lake, but it was actually warm. It was fantastic! (Not only that, but check out the beach - it was like deserted!)

Pictures of the beautiful lake.

 

They had tons of things that you could do on the lake. I wanted to go parasailing but Mike said he wouldn't watch me because he would be too nervous. I saw this girl with her dog, and if I lived on a lake and had a dog, I would want to do the very same thing.

 They had these awesome stairs built along the lake on one side so you could either just sit and take it all in - or you could walk down into the water. Either way, they were pretty neat.

 The boarwalk and marina from a ways away.

 Leaving the lake :(

It was a pretty small town and although we had a list of things that we could do, we were ready to head out and get to Leavenworth. I thought, "Ya, we have seen Coeur d'Alene, we don't really need to go back." But really, I would love to go back and get some more time at that lake!

Sunsets on our Road Trip to ID and WA

We had been home from our honeymoon just 2 weeks when we decided a road trip was in order :). Actually, we had this road trip planned since May, perhaps even earlier. It was my idea for a honeymoon - but since Mike was all gung-ho about Harry Potter World, it became our first vacation together (just the two of us) after the honeymoon :).

I love planning vacations and trying to make the most of every area we are in. So I researched our stops and planned an itinerary. The itineraries are very flexible. It just more provides options of things to do/see but also lots of time for relaxing. (I highlight the things that I really want to do.)

We left Thursday night, picked up the rental car, and took turns driving through the night. It was a beautiful night and the sunset was amazing. These photos were all taken with my iPhone 4S, while driving down the freeway, and holding it out the window (much to Mike's disapproval).

I was going to edit them to enhance the color but figured - meh, I like them the way the are :)

 The sunset literally took up the whole sky, and each way we turned was a new and fabulous view of the colors and the landscape.

I honestly didn't know how much fun a road trip with Mike could be. We had been on lots of vacations before, but all with other people, because we weren't married yet. Just being the two of us with no real schedule (no flight to make, no strict agenda of sights that must be seen or places we must be), it was really nice. We talked and enjoyed the 24/7 partnership that we don't get at home because of work. And would you believe, we didn't get sick of each other - not once!?

ReAL? Pshhh!

As fabulous as the ReAL Salt Lake soccer games are - last Saturday Mike and I discovered a new soccer team to love, even more than RSL. Possible? Heck yes.

The game began - and this girl couldn't have been more excited!

 She was smiling literally the entire time!

 She is pretty dang good at being aggressive. 

Determination.

 (Half-time! Taking a break!)

 Back to the game.

 Now if you watch this next series of picture - you will see her score...

Step 1: Find the ball

 Step 2: Attack

 Step 3: Steal the ball

 Step 4: Drive to the goal

Step 5: Give your coach a high five for scoring!

 Here we go again... towards the goal.

 Stay aggressive.

Modest Nika - she just scored again (see the coach digging the ball from the net?).

 This time all of her team mates gave her a million high fives
(so cute to watch).

the end - nice job team.

 Sportsmanship.

 VICTORY!!!!

 the fans:

 One happy little soccer player!

LOVE HER!!!!

Love Story

Sometimes there are a million things to do, yet all I want to do is sit and blog. I don't know how people are able to do it every day! Ooooiii! It must be at the top of their priority list. Lately, I ditch the stuff I need to do and then I come to blog, but instead of blogging I just look at wedding pictures over and over and over again. I am pretty sure that Mike and I had more photographers than any other couple in the history of getting married - let me count - (3) engagement sessions by (3) different photographers, (3) bridal/groomal sessions by (3) different photographers, (2) photographers at the temple, and (2) photographers at the reception (the reception was a different day than the temple), as well as our 4 videographer sessions by (2) different videographers. HA! Like pictures much? LoL. As much as I love photographs (if you know me well - you have known since I was a baby that I love taking photos, scrapbooking, and making photobooks) anyway - both Mike and I were ready to be done. I am so happy that we did have all of those sessions though because each one provided us with something different, unique, and fantastic! I can't wait to enlarge the photos and put them on our walls! Probably above everything else, I am so excited to make photobooks that we can look at relive our special day.

It really was perfect. I don't know if I will go into more details later or not, but it was perfect for us. We got lots of comments on how the reception was "so you [us]". Which was great because we wanted to make it very unique and more like a party. Sadly, the beginning there had to be the dinky little line (every venue we looked at told us we had to have one otherwise one will just form because it's Utah) - but after the line dispersed, we started the party. Thanks so much to everyone who came and especially those who stayed and partied with us until the very end when we drove away. I think the end of receptions is always the funnest.

Well, here is the date video that was made by my very most favorite videographer - Jared Wortley - from OneiLove Media. (Totally recommend him to anyone getting married :0).)

http://vimeo.com/46446331

psssssst: the password is antelope :)

Wedding Slideshow

Mike and I had an amazing wedding! Credit goes to our wonderful family & friends who helped us prepare and carry out our dream event. I never knew how much work it was planning a wedding; finding dresses, ties, and shoes for everyone; picking out my dress, the colors, the cake, the flowers; selecting the right vendors (DJ, florist, photographers, cinematographers, venue, invitation people, etc. etc.); and making sure everything happens at just the right time, in just the right place.

I was so pleased with everything, even if something wasn't perfect, I wouldn't change a thing.

I can't wait to get all of our photos back and see all the moments that I may have missed or that slipped my eye, or the moments that were captured through someone else's eye... But until then I have this little slideshow to watch a couple of times a day :). One of our photographers, Kristin Brown from Vive La Fete Photos put it together only days after the event. I was so impressed with her speed and with the moments that she captured.

http://www.vivelafetephotos.com/m-j-wedding-reception/

I also never realized how much support means. We have some absolutely incredible friends and family. I am so grateful that they took the time to schedule the night (and for some the weekend) for just Mike & I. The fact that they came to the reception, and those that stayed until the very end to send us off, it means more to us than any of them will probably ever know.

Thanks a million to everyone who celebrated with us!!! We love you!!!