Ireland

 We took a redeye flight to Ireland, and thankfully Andrew and I ended up having three seats, so Emma slept on the floor. The entire way. Because she's an angel baby made to travel. Multiple passengers around us and flight attendants told us how surprised they were when they saw Emma at the end of the flight when we woke her up during landing.

There was a protest going on downtown when we got there. This made it so the buses couldn't move so we ended up walking most of the way to our hotel (pictured above) with our luggage. It was a beautiful day so it wasn't too bad. That and Andrew rolled my suitcase for me since I was pushing the stroller.

One of the first things we did was tour the Dublin Castle. Very interesting.

Really old part of Dublin Castle.

 Just crawling around. 

We did the hop-on-hop-off bus while we were in Dublin. Totally worth it. The weather was partly sunny and not cold, so I loved sitting on the upper deck.

Waiting for the bus.

We toured Trinity College and saw the Book of Kells. Andrew was excited to see the library at Trinity because it's so unique. The books are arranged by size so it's very aesthetically pleasing to look at.

We also toured Kilmainham Jail. 

One of our only group shots. Andrew was behind the camera for most of the trip.

Emma was happy whenever we let her crawl around on the ground. 

After two days in Dublin we rented a car and drove around the countryside for the next two days. Our first stop was Kilkenny Castle. 

View from the back

Next stop was Rock of Cashel. This was the coldest part of the trip. I was freeeeeezing.

 But we got this cool jumping pic so I'd say it was worth it. The views were pretty cool.

 We stayed the night in Cork and started the next day with Blarney Castle. It was my favorite part of the trip! It was a beautiful day and the grounds were gorgeous. We were also able to climb up the castle and explore.

 It was a little treacherous getting to the top to kiss the Blarney Stone. I was glad Andrew was wearing Emma and not me. I would have probably tumbled to the bottom.

 Kissing the stone was slightly terrifying since we had to bend over backwards over a grate way high up, but the views were awesome.

 Irish countryside=the bomb

 We drove along the coast for a while and saw Dingle, a small coastal town. That was pretty cool. Our last stop was the Cliffs of Moher. Emma enjoyed crawling around.

We loved Ireland! It was a great spring break trip!

Emma Turns 1

It's been a fast year! I can't believe Emma is 1 year old.

 She didn't seem to love the cake I painstakingly made for birthday party #1. So rude, Emma.

But once she was given a piece, she wasted no time double fisting it. 

 Birthday party #2 called for red velvet cupcakes. She seemed to like these more. No tears!

 Still confused by the concept of blowing out candles.

 Still thrilled she didn't have to share.

Happy birthday (a month ago), Emma!

Summer Recap

Blogging is hard, so I'm just going to lump the entire summer into one post. Mostly because Andrew keeps asking me when I'm going to blog. Stop being so demanding, Andrew.

In June we went to London with Andrew's mom and sister, Katy. His dad met up with us for a few days while we were there because he was there on business. We hit up most of the biggest tourist attractions and it was so much fun. Except for the fact that I was completely exhausted the entire week due to having a 9 week old infant who was screwed up time-wise and woke up every two hours every single night. But it was totally worth it and Emma did amazing besides the sleeping part. She's a traveling champ.

We hiked up all the stairs at St. Paul's cathedral, and I won't lie, I was very winded by the time we got to the top.  The views were good, though.

I looooved the Tower of London and wish we could have had more time there. We underestimated how long it would take to go through it all. And yes, I'm nursing Emma in this pic. There wasn't always time to sit for 20 min while she ate, so I had to walk whilst breastfeeding a few times. One of those times being a walking Harry Potter tour (which was awesome!). 

 At Windsor Castle, my fav place we went to. It was actually sunny and warm-ish that day, which made it extra enjoyable. 

                                      

Isn't she just the cutest?

My birthday was while we were in London, so we celebrated in Virginia when we got back with some delish banana cake.

In July Emma and I went to Georgia to visit Paige (none of those pics are on the comp, oops!), and instead of going back to Virginia we met Andrew in Vegas to visit Nate and Jan. It was fun to see them again.

Andrew and I love Vegas since it's where we met and got engaged. We're just really classy like that.

It was fun to get these girls together. I love that they're only 10 days apart.

In July we also blessed Emma. My parents flew out from Oregon, too, and it was so nice to see them again.

We visited the Lincoln Memorial with Andrew's family while Michelle and her family were in town. I don't know why we don't go downtown more in the summer.

Emma's first visit to the National Mall.

Emma's first Nats game. We lost. But it was dollar hot dog night at the stadium, so I felt like a winner.

 Emma being adorable.

 Emma being adorable Take 2.

 Wearing her BYU gear.

At the lake with Andrew's family.

 We had our annual Harrison Beach Week and we had fun on the kayaks again. The dolphins got so close to us that I felt like I could have reached out and hit one with my oar. I didn't, but was tempted. I also tried the stand up paddle board. I did not like it.

 Crab hunting.

 It's impossible to take a good family photo when one member of the family refused to look at the camera, keep her eyes open, or smile.

It was a fun summer!