Happy Anniversary!

Yay! We got married a year ago! Since we'd just moved across the country a couple weeks before, Bryson and I decided to have a more low key anniversary. We decided that we would go explore Madison. Before we left we headed to Saturday morning farmers market down town. It was so fun to walk around and get all our vegetables for the week, plus two cupcakes (one caramel and one chocolate - two of the flavors of our cake) to eat since we didn't save a tier from our wedding cake. After taking all our wonderful produce home, we headed up north to Madison.

Madison has a large farmer's market that circles around the capital building. Bryson and I had a great time wandering around and seeing all the wonderful things that were being sold. We found these gorgeous pepper plants at one stand. If we hadn't been staying all day in Madison we would have bought one.

At the same stand they also had beautiful strands of peppers to buy. Don't you love how vibrant the colors are?!

Everyone had such beautiful produce. I love all the different colors of these bell peppers.

The capitol building was modeled after our nation's capitol building but was built about three feet shorter.

It was built from 43 different types of stone, many of which can be seen in the rotunda area. It was just breathtaking to see all the detail that was put in to this building, both on the inside and the outside. Plus there's a wonderful observation deck that lets you see all of Madison and some of the five lakes that surround it. If you ever get a chance to go to Madison, Wisconsin definitely go to the capitol building. It's beautiful.

After leaving the capitol, Bryson and I headed over to the Student Union at the University of Wisconsin - Madison for some ice cream. It was so so good! Afterwards, we headed over to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens. I think I could have spent hours in there. It was so peaceful to walk around the grounds and see the beautiful flowers, plants and water features. I think I might have gone a little camera crazy!

This plant was one of Bryson's favorites. I love how vibrant the colors are.

Once we got home it was time for dessert and these cupcakes did not disappoint. We had such a fun day exploring Madison and reminiscing about this past year together and how much fun we've had. I am so excited for this next year as we start our new adventure here in Janesville! I love you hun!

Chicago

After two days of driving and two days of cleaning and unpacking, we all thought it was time for a break. So we found some walking tours online and headed down to Chicago. Both Bryson and his mom had gotten some great ideas for things to do in Chicago, so these ideas combined with our handy dandy walking tour made a wonderful day.

We had lunch atop the John Hancock building, where we had some great food and beautiful views of the city and Lake Michigan.

Isn't that just gorgeous?!

The Hancock building was at the end of our walking tour, so we decided to start there (since we were all hungry!) and work our way backwards. Our next stop was the beautiful Fourth Presbyterian Church, which was right across the street and looked like a little piece of old England had been transplanted right in the middle of Chicago. It amazed me that as soon as you stepped into the garden the sounds of the city melted away.

This is the covered walkway that separates the garden from the bustling streets of Chicago. I thought it just beautiful with the greenery that crept along the edges and the wonderful archways.

Of course we had to stop at the Hershey's building!

And what do you think was right across the street? Ghiradrdelli's! They gave us chocolate when we walked in which was delicious! We actually came back after dinner and had some of their wonderful desserts.

This is the Old Chicago Water Tower which, along with the Pumping Station was one of the few buildings that survived the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

The Wrigley Building (Yep headquarters of Wrigley chewing gum) is a beautiful and majestic building that sits right on the Chicago River. Although you can't see it, the building has a really cool four sided clock tower.

We wanted to go to Giordano's pizza to get some Chicago deep dish pizza, but the line just to get on the waiting list went down the street. So we walked across the street to an Italian restaurant called Rosebud on Rush. We got in right away and were seated outside, so we got to watch Chicago life as we ate. Oh my goodness it was so so good! The picture above is a salad that Bryson got. Isn't it gorgeous?! And it was good too. :) All four of us got something different and then shared and everything was amazing. We are definitely going again.

It was such a fun day to wander around and explore Chicago. I'm glad both of our moms were able to come out and help us and see where we will be living. I think it's so fun that we live so close to cities such as Chicago, Milwaukee and Madison, and we're so excited to be able to explore more of our new home!

Driving...and driving...and driving...

The beautiful Rocky Mountains in Wyoming.

Welcome to Nebraska!

About halfway into Nebraska we found the corn!

Coming over the hill in Iowa and these majestic windmills appeared!

You know those streets in California that are lined with palm trees?

Here are the palm trees of Iowa.

We saw these gorgeous farms surrounded by corn all throughout Wisconsin

This isn't a corn field, it's an English garden.

Driving is all we did for two days straight. We went through four states the first day, and three states the second day. Both days were long and tiring, but it was fun to spend time with our mom's and with each other. Plus we got to see some beautiful country! It was so amazing to wake up surrounded by mountains and fall asleep in the flatlands of the Midwest. We saw a lot of corn and a lot of soy beans, but I think my favorite site was seeing all the windmills. There were a couple different places along the way that had fields of windmills. It was definitely a sight to behold. But while we all enjoyed seeing all the new sights and new states, we were all happy and ready to be in Janesville and out of the car!

Family Reunion

After getting the house all cleaned (with the help of my awesome mom! Thanks mom!), locking our apartment door for the last time (sad) and turning in the keys, mom and I picked up my dad from the airport and headed up to Logan for a family reunion. Bryson taught at the Choral Academy at BYU that week so he came up on the weekend. The reunion consisted of my Great Grandpa Jake Fuhriman, his six children, and all their posterity. The reunion was held at a big cabin where we played, talked, ate and just had a great time! While I was in Utah I wasn't that best at getting together with my family in Logan, so I loved the reunion and all the time I got to spend with everyone! I didn't pull out my camera till the very end but here's a picture of the stream that ran by the cabin. It was so beautiful and peaceful up there.

The best way to clean a fridge

Need I say more? :)

Fun in the Sun!

After packing up the trailer, we spent the next day with some of Bryson's family at Raging Waters. It was so much fun to play in the water, go down some slides (okay only one for me...i've never been a fan of slides) and spending time with family before we left. And no matter how many times we put on sunscreen we all still got some great sunburns!

The lazy river...where I spent most of my time. It's so relaxing!

Moving

Hello everyone! Now that we're here in Wisconsin and getting settled, let me get you a little look in to the last couple of weeks. If any of you saw my post a while back, then you know that I started packing two months before our moving trailer actually arrived. Hopefully in the future I will be able to do the same thing cause it made for an extremely easy packing job once the trailer came. The night before and morning of Bryson and I moved all the boxes into the kitchen and living room, so all that needed to be done was to grab a box and take it downstairs. It took all day for the trailer to finally show up, but once it did moving everything in was fast, probably 45 minutes to an hour tops. It was so great, and to everyone that helped out thank you so much!!

Look! You can still see the floor!

I never knew that moving boxes could be so artistic :)

The living room...

...and the kitchen.

Bryson's so excited to move boxes!!