Location, Location, Location

Ryan and I were talking on our way home tonight. We live:

35 minutes from the Temple

15 minutes from an Int'l Airport
15 minutes from Downtown Minneapolis
15 minutes from Ryan's work
15 minutes from Church
15 minutes from Lake Minnetonka
15 minutes from The Mall of America

5 minutes from a lake beach
5 seconds from 3 different trail heads
5 seconds from Downtown Hopkins
5 steps from a fantastic park



What more could a person ask for? Our house is perfect.

KOREA

For those of you who don't know -- Ryan served in Korea. Cool, right? I keep begging him to take me there, I can't wait to go. We have heard there is GOOD Korean food here in the twin cities but have yet to check it out. That is, until Saturday.

We drove an extra 30 minutes out of our way to go to KINGS KOREAN FOOD. From the outside, I totally thought it looked sketchy (think run down strip mall with an adult fantasy store next door). But once inside, it was totally legit. I moved out of my comfort zone and tried Kimchi pancakes -- could have been the best thing we ordered! For my entree, I stayed true to what I know and love, Bulgolgi, and Ryan got an old-time favorite, Kimchi Soup.

Kimchi Pancakes:


So much food! My happy man.



The waitress was testing Ryan on his Korean throughout dinner and kept looking at me and telling me how good his Korean is.

Another one of my favorite things.



THANKS TY!!! Ryan's brother got us this SWEET hammock for our wedding/christmas gift. Needless to say we are IN LOVE. We go out and lay on it almost every day ... and maybe I have taken a nap or two out on it myself in the afternoon sun.

Because sometimes it just feels good to drink from a fancy cup









Who doesn't love fresh fruit smoothies topped with Reddi Whip? Hello, amazing.

Just one of my favorite things

Mid-day runs. One of my favorite things right now is mid-day runs with my girlfriend Katie. She works from home as well, so we will frequently get together for a short 3 mile run somewhere in our neighborhoods, or, if we are feeling adventurous, we might head out to the chain of lakes! With this amazing-perfect-run weather we are having, and the melted lakes, it makes for a gorgeous run.

The Bandshell-- where they host concerts in the park EVERY DAY in the summer.


There's me! :)


View of the bandshell from the other side of the lake...


Oh wait, that was zoomed in. Here's the real view:


Shot of the City Skyline


Our running path. Yes, we have our OWN path. There is a separate path for the bicycles! In the summer this is all grown over...but for us its still spring. no leaves yet!


Poppies! I think?...

At our house, Milk is a must. Even the thought of not having a drop of milk in the fridge makes my cute husband shudder. He loves milk. He's even taken on my dad's phrase: "Gotta have Milk!" (if you know my dad ... you know its the WAY he says this that makes it so classic!).

Anyway, so its BIG time news in our house that we have lasted for 2 WHOLE DAYS with no milk!! I feel bad, like I am neglected my husbands needs just a little bit, but things have been THAT crazy that we have not been able to run to the store, even for MILK. No need to worry, we are headed out tonight to get our grocery needs taken care of, and I'm sure soon enough we'll be back to our normal state of 3 gallons in the fridge.

MACYS DOWNTOWN FLOWER SHOW

The MACYS downtown Minneapolis has an open 8th floor where they host all sorts of things -- like the "Day in a life of an Elf" that I talked about in December. In the spring, a local flower Goliath, named Bachmans, hosts an amazing flower show. We met up with my friend Mary and her cute family to admire the gorgeous flowers.

Here, go on tour of the Flower show with me--- these are just a few of the hundreds of flowers they had on display.

My friend Katie also went and took some sweet pics as well. If you want to see more, click here

Springtime in my yard.

I have come to be amazed by the things that are growing in my yard. Isn't spring such an inspirational time of year? Here, all these things have been buried under mountains of snow for 6 months, and yet, here I am finding rebirth.

Our Daffodils were the first things to bloom...


Next, our first tulips...


And soon enough our trees will have LEAVES-- Isn't it amazing?!




I also love love springtime because it means I can go for BIKE rides with my cute bike-riding husband!! Ryan gave me a bike for our wedding gift ... but since the weather turned cold so quick last fall, we just now got my new bike! Isn't she a beaut?? I am in love.



I am pleased to introduce you to Ariel...

Easter

I love love love Easter.

springtime.
flowers blooming.
resurrection of our Savior.
family dinner.
bunnies.
cadburry mini eggs.
Easter baskets.
angels.
grass.
rebirth.
Easter Alive pageants.

Who doesn't love Easter?

We had a fabulous first Easter in Minnesota. Since I love family dinners for Easter, and knew we wouldn't be hosting any family this year, we invited our "Minnesota Family" -- the other fun couples in the Minnetonka Ward to come over and share in the Easter Celebrations. We had a feast! And an Easter Egg hunt-- which actually got SUPER competitive among the boys. Good thing Tricia won, right? The Easter bunny even showed up to join in the fun with us. It was an Easter to remember, for sure.




Like my centerpieces?




Dessert was pretty great, too.


Ryan said he ordered this Easter bunny just for me.


The hunt.






So, this is the end of Ryan Robisons roll out -- I wish I had caught this on tape. Ryan was running away from Sam who was trying to steal his eggs and leaped over our fence in the backyard, and then rolled out and up. It was awesome.


Sam counting the eggs. He stored them in his pocket for safe keeping.


The whole gang.




Ryan and I also exchanged Easter baskets. Ryan got me the best basket ever -- a watering can! He also got me the most gorgeous purple Hydrangeas! I was super excited. We put LOVE notes for each other in our Easter eggs to make it a little more personal and special; a tradition I think we'll do every year from now on!






Join us next year for an Easter you won't forget!