Awesome Pictures

Joseph and I have been sick this week so we've had a lot of down time, just hanging out. I was just looking through some pictures on our laptop and decided I had to post these for all to see! The one that made it a sure idea is the picture of Allison with the pretzels in her nose! HA HA! Sorry Laura if that's embarrassing but I think it's adorable.

These are some great pictures that remind me of whats been happening this year.

Merry Christmas!

Meet Quinn. I took this picture after dinner at Pirate Island. Before that we had gone swimming and while the ladies were doing their hair and make up Quinn got a hold of the hair dryer, take a close look.

And this is where he decided to keep his sword.


Of course we miss Grandpa Al.


Justin left on his mission to Mexico.

Best family reunion! Minus 2 siblings.

Oh Sarah!

Apparently she takes the advice on her bib.

Hooray for Dallin!

Best game of softball I ever played! Check out Krista! Running home with Quinn in tow.

Precious.

No place like a furnished apartment!

Well we are getting settled and finding free furniture to fill the space! Its been adventurous and I've learned that they have yard sales here up until it snows! The nasty roaches have been absent for about a week now so that's a good sign. Today was the first time it snowed here this winter.

I had to get rid of this spider by myself because Joseph was at work. It scared me when I saw it!

This is our view from the living room window. Not bad huh?

This is what our place looks like now. Cozy. Just needs curtains.

Joseph says that in this moment I was the perfect woman. Playing the piano in my heels and skirt and wearing an apron because I was also cooking. HA.

Our beautiful piano! I love having one again! The top is open in this picture.

Our New New Place

There was a man who lived in a shoe. Life was good but he wanted an extra foot or two. He packed his boxes and moved. He found an apartment he loved. And since it is bigger than his previous tiny house, he felt as small as a mouse.

Joseph and I feel the same way! The studio was great and all but now we have S P A C E . We are starting our furniture collection and becoming masters at craigslist and yard sales. We are just a mile down the road from our previous place so Joseph still just has a 15 minute bus ride, but it is a different route so he has to walk about a half mile from the Pentagon to work.

We are really lucky because we are in the same ward as before, which is good because we just gave talks so we'll stay in this ward because it won't be our turn for a while :)

This past Thanksgiving week Joseph's brother Adam came to hang out and see the sights. On Saturday Joseph, Adam, Raquel and I went to George Washington's Mansion House at Mount Vernon. Other highlights were the White House, Capitol building and the Supreme Court and various Smithsonians. We didn't take many pictures though. Enjoy!

Behind the Mansion House by the Potomac River

Our living room

The Mansion House

View of the Capitol from the Supreme Court

In front of the Supreme Court

Having Fun!

It's been so good here! I love our studio but I am so excited to move into our next place, it has a bedroom! I am also looking forward to finding furniture to fill it with. Too bad it's not yard sale season anymore. We'll be in the same ward as we are now which makes me happy. I really like the people I've met. Work is going well for both of us and we are just chugging away at life. This Saturday we hope to get out and see more of D.C.

Her are some pictures of our weekend we spent with Raquel. We ate crab, went to the beach and I got a quick lesson from Kirsten on how to ride a horse English style. My thighs were so sore the next day! We didn't get a picture of me on the horse though.

Our little car

If Raquel were short

Joseph and Michael were having a hole digging contest


Joseph's first crab. He didn't get ANY on his shirt or tie! I'm so proud!



On the ferry in Maryland

I'm finally here! It is so exciting being in a new place but I am not looking forward to getting a job or working with my current job. Maybe it's because I'm not familiar with the area yet. Health Fitness has a lot more events here but they are in places that I don't know how to get to.

This is where we will be living until December. It's small and cute and I think it will be perfect for 3 months. Yesterday we went to check out the local YMCA, our memberships are included in the rent. We plan to go 3 times a week.

I took a bike ride yesterday to check out the area. I passed a bunch of fitness places like little yoga places and a ton of little restaurants, and lots of apartments. Tonight I am meeting Joseph when he gets off work and we'll go grocery shopping and check out the area around where he works.

I got most of our things put away. The rest will be going under our bed. There are 3 buildings in our complex. We are in the last one on the second floor. To get to our place we have to walk down a hallway passing about 4 doors on each side. We are pretty much in the middle of the building. We have one window :)

In Transit

Yesterday mom helped me pack all our stuff into an ABF relocube. The unit is 7 feet long by 6 feet wide and is 8 feet tall but we didn't stack anything above waist height. I forgot to take my camera so I don't have any pictures. Joseph took most his clothes with him and other things like the laptop a pot and a pan and our camping dishes. So our worldly possessions are in a metal box headed across the country. All I have is a weeks worth of clothing which fits into my duffel bag, my carry on luggage!

Tuesday cannot come soon enough! I will be working at Idle Isle this weekend. All day on Friday and Saturday. Today I went in for a refresher and I realized how much I loved working there! It will be fun and help the time go by faster.

Maybe I can get Joseph to post some pictures he's taken in Virginia, we'll see. So this is goodbye to all, at least for a little while!

So I guess since we've had our apartment moved into I can write a new post. I just bought my ticket on sunday to fly out to D.C.! Sadly it's not til the 14 of Sept. 3 more weeks and then I can hang out with Joseph again. We are trying to find an apartment and it is exhausting!

Also Joseph has our camera so no pictures this time. I guess we haven't been taking pictures anyway.

It's been fun to live at home again, enjoying the perks of living with my parents! Yesterday we picked 10 dozen ears of corn and bagged it for the freezer. It was sticky.

Need to Sell our Lease!

Joseph and I are moving to D.C. and need to sell our lease hopefully by August. Our lease ends the end of October and then can be rented month to month after that if you wish. Rent is 699 per month. It is a 2 bedroom and has vaulted ceilings in the living room, kitchen and dining room. Washer and dryer is included, huge plus. There is also a fireplace in our living room which adds a little something extra. There is plenty of parking. Management has been great to work with. The bills we pay are electric and gas. Downtown Salt Lake is about a 15 minute drive. The apartment is not furnished. The master bedroom is big and roomy. There is a porch/balcony which has space for storage. Please email me at andreabowler33@hotmail.com or call me at 208-201-7649 if you are interested or have any questions.

Bathroom (huge mirror)

Washer and Dryer inside the closet

Half of the bedroom

Living room

(You can see the fireplace behind the tv on the other wall)

Kitchen


Dining room

Random Happenings

I usually don't blog when nothing is going on, and nothing is. Well I did have Dallin and Aaron stay with us for two nights but silly me, I didn't take any pictures! We went swimming in our pool, went to the Clark Planetarium, walked around the Gateway mall, went swimming again the next day, to the park and then played arcade games and got some cool prized! I was glad to have someone to hang out with while Joseph was at work. Thanks for coming guys!

The other day Joseph asked me if I had posted this picture: I hadn't so here it is. This is Quinn my nephew. He is full of fight so I don't know if the girls got to him or if this was his idea. Too bad you can't see the heels he was wearing!

No news from D.C. yet. We will share our info as soon as we get it. We are so excited!

Honduras Pics

I think I did a pretty good job taking this photo. This was taken from our balcony on the 9th floor.

Look at all those wires in our shower!

That tiny white hut is the gaurd station for the colonia.

Stayed 2 nights here. One night we heard some kind of creature moving in the wall.

More of the hostel room, that's Adam in the right corner on the floor. The first night was New Year's Eve. Across the street a Christian church was having a party with lots of great singing. Afterwards everyone set off their fireworks which lasted quite awhile. I don't know how the guys slept through it all!

Adam and Joseph standing in front of a little shack where we got our lunch and dinner. Above is the house where the shack owners live. After eating here we tried to walk to the beach and took the wrong way. Meanwhile it started to rain and soaked us through.

We didn't know how 'fun' this ferry ride was going to be.

Beach on Roaton


It was so fun to have Adam come and spend our week of vacation with us in Honduras. We were glad we got to see this part. I'll put up more pictures later of Copan.

Star of India

Joseph and I had a fun night! First we went for our first time to the Jordan River temple. It was built 1979-1981 or there abouts. I love visiting new temples. They are all so beautiful.
Next we took a detour out to Herimann to pick up a lovesac for Laura. It's good for us to get to know the area and where certain roads lead.
We ended with the Star of India and authentic Indian restaurant. I can't even remember what the names of the dishes were but it was yummy! I noticed that many of their chicken dishes were first marinated in yogurt and lemon juice with the spices and then cooked. I think I ordered Tandoori chicken. We also tried turnovers with peas and potatoes inside, fried Spinach with what I think was cheese, and a flat bread baked with coconut and raisins.
Joseph says he recommends it very highly. It's fun to try new places to eat! And thanks to Krista and Thayne for the useful recommendation of restaurant.com!

A Day at Black Smith Fork

On Saturday Katie, Meghan and I got together to go camping for a day at Black Smith. I hadn't been up there for years! It was a beautiful day despite the wind. We had a Dutch oven lunch and Meghan and Katie brought their fishing gear. I am so glad that spring is here and summer is on it's way!

That night when I got home Joseph decided he wanted to rent a red box DVD. There is only one close enough to walk to at a Maverik's that is probably just over a mile from our apartment. So we decide to walk. Well lo and behold once we get there the machine is out of order! Just our luck. It was a nice 2 mile walk anyway.

Our New Place

Living room

Kitchen

Dining room

Here it is everyone! I'm back on the internet. We just got it set up today and I am excited to start blogging again! It's been great having our own place again although we are borrowing most of the furniture. Thanks to everyone who has contributed!

Joseph is liking his job and doing very well at it! We are still dreaming for the state department job though. I am in the process of changing my address with my current job and I really hope they have work down here because I don't want to look for something else.