Atlanta Trip

    Tuesday I worked at Dr. Johansens and then went running.  That night Blake and I were watching Boston and Easton while Nick and Kesh went to a work party.  We always love having friends over to play!  Pres, Sandy and Preston (Jamyn was at a Christmas party with her drill tream) came over to hang out to and we had so much fun.  Cute Sandy brought fajaitas to make for dinner and they were delicious!  Of course after dinner we had to have a hot tub party!

 Sandy never misses a detail and even brought stuff to bake cookies....the boys were in heaven!

    Wednesday I worked at Dr. Johansen's office.  I got to go in a little early to get in an extra hour before the Christmas break.  It will be nice to have some time off but I really love my jobs and kinda miss working when I get time off!  After work Blake and I headed to the ward for young mens and womens.  We all went down to Gallivan Center to ice skate, one of my very favorite things to do at Christmas time!  They just redid the rink last year and it is GORGEOUS!  So many light and awesome music I was in heaven.  I think Blake and I were the only leaders on the ice, but hey since we both look younger than some of the kids we fit right in haha!  I love our youth so much and was in heaven all night!

Me and Chloe walking Gretchen around, we were quite the trio!

 Some of our young women

 My girl Chloe.......why can't she still be 12 so I can have her in beehives?!?

 So fun being in Young Men and Women together!

 Some more cute girls!

    Thursday morning I went to the gym and then packed my bags.  Blake's boss was kind enough to fly us both to Atlanta for one of the company parties (part of their company is in Georgia).  December is a crazy time to leave town, but I was really excited to actually get to accompany Blake on a business trip!  We left in the afternoon and arrived that night.  We got our car......a Prius......my husband was not very happy because he said that he left his "man card" at the counter when they gave him the keys haha.  When we pulled into the city we were staying at I couldn't stop laughing.  It was called Buford, which was one of my dad's silly nicknames his friends used to call him.  We got to our hotel we were both pretty exhausted.  We grabbed a quick dinner at Red Lobster because it is in the same parking lot as our hotel.  We went back up to our room after.....they didn't have a hot tub and we were devastated! 

    Friday morning Blake had to work at the Atlanta office.  We had breakfast together and then I was on my own.  It felt so weird to have nothing to do.  Even at home when I am "relaxing" I can't really sit still, always laundry/vacuuming/dishes to be done.  I went to the gym for a while and then got ready for the day.  Blake made sure we were across the street from The Mall Of Georgia so I'd have something to do all day.  The mall is huge and gorgeous I loved it!  I shopped for a bit and then grabbed some lunch at the food court.  They had a theater there so I decided to go see a movie.  I've wanted to see Wreck-It Ralph for a while but Blake had no desire so I decided it was the perfect time to go see it!  I couldn't believe a matinee was $9...ouch!  I was the only person in the theater haha, yep I'm that cool!  I actually really like it!  I need to have kids so I have a better excuse when I want to go do that kind of stuff...I'm like a litte kid in an adult body!

 I finally used a gift card to H&M that I got last year for Christmas......as you can see I don't shop very often.  I also got some work-out tanks for $2, I'm all about the bargain!  After walking around for so many hours my feet needed a rest so I found some comfy chairs and kicked back to read my book until Blake got off.  It was also fun to people watch......Atlanta is full of amazingly adorable babies everywhere you look.....like seriously to die for cute!  Such a great, relaxing day!  That night we went bowling with some people from the Atlanta team.  One of the girls, Marley, brought her son and I was in heaven.  He came right to me as soon as they got there and I didn't give him back all night.....except when Blake would steal him from me!  He was the happiest baby and couldn't stop smiling and laughing all night.  Blake and I couldn't get enough of him!

 The team, such a great night!

    Saturday I was so excited because Blake didn't have to work and I got him to myself all day!  We slept in and then I went for a run.  I always get nervous running in a new city so I decided to run around the outside of the mall.  I was just about done with my run when I got chased down by a police man on a Seg-Way.  Apparently I was a liability and wasn't allowed to run there.......have you seen how slow I run?!?! SERIOUSLY?!?!  Most people walk faster than I run, so ridiculous.  I headed back to the hotel, ate some breakfast and then got ready for the day.  Blake and I headed into downtown Atlanta because we were going to spend the day at the Aquarium.  We grabbed lunch first at Johnny Rockets, super fun place!  Everyone said the Aquarium was a must see and we quickly discovered why!  We were there over 4 hours and loved every minute!  They had 4 whale sharks that were huge (30 feet), really cool jelly fish that light up all sorts of colors, beluga whales, otters, penguins and every type of fish you could imagine.

 They had a sting ray pool where you could pet sting rays.  I was so excited, until I got my hand in the pool.  It kinda freaked me out.....they are so slimy and creepy!

 They had a dolphin show that was stellar....like better than sea world!  I will confess the thought went through my head that maybe I want to quit hygiene and become a dolphin trainer......than Blake reminded me that I'm not the best swimmer and hate cold water.  

Everything in the downtown area is pretty close together so we walked over the the olympic park after to look at all the Christmas decorations........and the cute Atlanta babies:)!  I never get my husband all day to myself like, such a perfect day!  That night we ate a delicious steak diner at Longhorns.

    We told George, one of Blake's bosses, that we wanted to go to a "real" Atlanta church.  He knew right were to take us.  We were in awe as we pulled in.  It was a huge building and there were so many people they had a ton of parking attendants to show you were to park.  It was called Brown's Bridge Church.  Rather than a building they call it a campus...seriously massive.  The kids and teens all go to their sunday school and they adults all meet together.  There was probably 8-9 thousand people (and they have a morning and afternoon session for people to choose between).  They did a Christmas program and it was really neat.  They stage was decked out with beautiful decorations and light and they had a band with drums, guitars, and all the works.  The singers were amazing!  The message was a nice message about Silent Night and how God never leaves us alone.  Even though it wasn't a church of my same faith I really had a nice time.  It's wonderful to see that many people going to church and trying to be better people.  After church we went outside to major downpour of rain.......I never actually do my hair but of course the day I finally do it rains haha just my luck!  Luckily my resourceful husband found a bag to throw over my hair like the cute little grandmas do!

 The parking lot took us 20 minutes to get out of because there were so many people there!  George and his wife Sherry took us out to lunch after at Longhorns.  It was yummy and Blake and I both ate WAY too much.  We both took a power nap when we got back to the hotel, hoping our bellies would feel better!  That night we went back downtown to go to the Nutcracker.  We bought a parking pass with our tickets but finding the lot was a nightmare!  Downtown is crazy with so many one way streets and no where to park, it was a disaster!  Finally we found the lot and had quite a long walk through the rain to get to Fox Theater.  The theater itself is worth going to see.  It's a super old building and is gorgeous!  I loved every minute of the show.  Blake isn't huge into dancing but was a good sport and we had a great night together!

    We didn't get back to Buford until 10:30 and were both starving so we went to Steak and Shake to grab a bite to eat.  When we got back to our room the Bachelorette Wedding was on, glorious!  I love weddings so much!  Everytime I watch a wedding I flash back to my own.  I still don't know I got so lucky to end up with someone as amazing Blake, but I thank my lucky stars everyday that I did!

    This morning I went to breakfast in the lobby with Blake and then went back upstairs to go back to sleep....didn't really have anywhere to be haha!  When I woke up I went to the gym.  I came back to our room and got ready and then headed to grab some lunch.  I ate at the greatest place called Genghis Grill.  It was one of those mongolian grills that you build your own stir fry bowl and they grill it up for you mmmmm it was tasty!  I ate and read my book for a bit.  It's been fun to be so relaxed!  I'm so glad we were able to come out to Atlanta together!