I want to go back.

Don't get me wrong. 80% ok maybe...75% of the time I do love the SLC life.

Its been over a year, I should enjoy it right?

But its cold, there snow and no beach, no dodgers and so many Mormons.

That there are so many times I want to go back to my LA life.

And there are moments like this that make me miss it oh so much.

 

I have probably blogged about the NR Crew 1,000 times. But when you have found friends like this, you tend to miss them.

The boys I have grown up with and the girls that are like your other half.

I miss filling up the entire row at church.

I miss the Sunday game nights.

Friday night YSA dances.

I miss the Christmas party and gift exchange.

I miss the drama and getting annoyed with the boys.

I miss our fun outings.

I do love that when I get the chance to come back and visit that it feels like no time has passed. It seems like just yesterday we were all hanging out. I like to pretend that while I am gone, time freezes and my friends have no fun without me. But I do love coming back and the excitement that comes with getting the gang back together as much as possible.

I know that things change, people move, nothing can stay the same forever (as much as I hopelessly wish it could) and I just have to be grateful for my two short years with my crew--although it feels so much long than just that.

Today will be our 4th year celebrating New Years together and camping out at the Rose Parade.

I could not be more pumped. Some of my best memories are during those wee hours of the night. 

Family. Temples. Forever.

 I have previously blogged about how much I love my Robins family and our family reunions. 

Well now is a great time to brag about my amazing Svendsen family. 

I have so much love for my Svendsen and the rich history, sacrifice and culture that accompanies it. 

My grandparents, Svend & Jytta Svendsen joined the Church in Denmark shortly after World War II. 

My Uncle was already born and they decided to move to America, the land of opportunity, and they picked little Provo, Utah to be close to the church and the temple. 

On September 11, 1952 my cute Grandparents and Uncle drove to Manti, Utah to receive their endowments and be sealed as an eternal family. 

Shortly one year later my Mom was born and grew up in a very Danish household. 

Speaking mainly Danish, eating Danish food and yet trying to fit in as an American. 

I love being Danish. I love having such a strong connect to Denmark. 

My Grandma Jytta was really the only Grandparent I ever knew and I miss her so much. 

To commemorate this special day and our ability to be an eternal family my cousin Katy organized a family reunion centered on a trip to Manti. 

My Svendsen family is so special because we are so small in numbers. 

(In comparison to the awesomeness of our big numbers on the other side)

There are just 9 cousins.

And we traveled from Nashville, Dallas, Brooklyn, Boston, Los Angeles and even Provo, Salt Lake and Ogden to be together and go to the Manti Temple.

And the rest of my family too.

I always have to catch my Uncle Rick smiling because it is such a rare occurrence!!

 We took photos on the steps in honor of my Grandparents and Uncle Peter outside on the Temple on their big day. 

Our reunion plan mostly revolved around going through a session at the Temple. 

And guess what?

I went through the Temple too. 

It couldn't have been more perfect timing and just that..perfect. 

I wish I could go back and relive it all over again. I don't ever want to forget those moments. 

My whole family there, knowing my sweet grandparents were there 61 years prior and turning around and seeing my sisters dorky and yet cute smiles and thumbs up during the whole thing. And then lots of hugs afterwards. 

We then spent the rest of our time continuing to catch up over great meals, enjoy each others company and walk around City Creek.

Robins Rendezvous

For as long as I can remember our summers are filled with the Robins Rendezvous. 

I love our Robins reunions--probably cause I love traditions and I love that without fail we celebrate all things Robins and that {mostly} everyone comes. 

This year my parents {really Kelly} was in charge of the Reunion and so we headed up to Ogden. 

Its so great to see family that you haven't seen in and that everyone is excited to see each other. 

We had dinner up at Maddox's, swam at Brigham City Pool, Ice Cream Social at night and games and crafts as the finale. 

I think I still spent most of my time with my nieces and nephews but I cant help that I love them the mostest. 

What I love most about my Robins family is how crazy big and complicated it is. 

Our reunions stem from my grandparents and their four children, my dad being the youngest of them. 

It is well known that he was the "accident" child, with his parents in their 40's and siblings already into adulthood. 

And so it has made quite the big spectrum of families and cousins. 

There are 19 grandchildren. 

The oldest being two years younger than my Dad and me as the youngest. 

My grandpa would be 113 years old and my grandma 102. 

We calculated that there are around 160 Robins family members and about 120 {i think?} were in attendance. 

Growing up I hung out with my cousins kids. Since they were my age. 

It was so good to see my closest cousin friends. 

So many memories with these girls over the years. 

Late nights of mafia and scum. And Whitney bossing us around. 

However, I am lucky enough to have all of these cousins my same age. 

Kelly had this amazing idea to make a huge pedigree chart of all of the families with their pictures from the reunion. 

{Moreno's family}

{Sune's family}

{DeAnn's family}

{Danny's family}

{Yes, we are the smallest and I am claiming Lyla as my own}

It was such a great visual to see how large our family has become. 

It was so incredible to see how many people have come from my grandparents and to see the generations of posterity from their marriage and their life. 

I never really knew them but Id like to think they are pretty happy with their family. 

Also, I miss her. A lot. 

On to Charlotte we go...

After our Ragnar adventure, Heather's family was once again nice enough to offer us a hotel to shower and get a good nights rest on a bed. It was so needed. 

Then I was off to the Tar Heel state {which I just thought I was making it up, but I googled it and thats really the state's nickname} with the Sandall Family. 

I've been so excited to go to North Carolina and see where Heather is living now. 

The drive was so pretty.

It looked like this the whole time, and then all of a sudden, the trees would clear and we would be in a big city but wouldnt even know because it had been covered by trees. 

It was also fun to talk to Kevin during the drive and crack jokes about Heather sleeping so much...

Heather saved the best tour of Charlotte especially for me!

The Charlotte Liberty Walk.
A tour of Revolutionary spots in Charlotte!
But first I saw this sign..

It was the best, and she knew I would enjoy it so much. And we both learned a ton! What was so cool is that all of these sites are right in the center of Downtown! We just walked around the business centers learning about the Revolution.

Such as...Charlotte was the first town to create a Declaration of Independence. They signed it and sent it to the Continental Congress on May 20, 1775. More than a year before our country formally declared independence! The congress saw their letter and said it was too soon for such a drastic measure. Maybe they should have listened sooner to those Charlottonians!

{I know the feet pictures are excessive. sorry. dont judge me.}

Right in the heart of the city is the site of the Battle of Charlotte from during the Revolution.

This battle has a lot of historical significance that I was previously unaware.
The British, being led by General Cornwallis attacked the city; however, were surprised by the Charlotte militia putting up such a strong rebuttal. Although they treated three times, they put the pressure on the British troops, not allowing them to fulling take over the city. The British went back to their encampment and were going to try again. But they were never given the chance. They had to withdraw from the Carolina front upon learning of the British defeat at King's Mountain to support their other armies. Charlotte's brave stand allowed their city to remain free and set the conditions for the eventual capture of Cornwallis at Yorktown.

We also saw the {legit} First Church of Charlotte.

 It was established in 1818 and completed in 1823. This too is centered in the middle of the modern high rises, setting such an interesting juxtaposition. The town cemetery is right behind the church. Most of the people buried behind the church were soldiers from the Revolution and Civil wars and their families were buried with them as well.

I have this creepy love for cemeteries and so I loved walking throughout all of the old headstones.

There were many more sites, but these were my favorite.
I also got to go see one of my good friends Karly Barker and her sweet baby Annie. Karly and James use to live in Orange County but just recently made the move to NC.

I also saw my cousin Heather and her babes Rex and Alice.
I dont know how I randomly have two good friends and a cousin in Charlotte, but it was so great to be able to see them all during my short visit!

The rest of my time was spent just chilling with Heather and more with her adorable baby Brookie.

I absolutely loved hanging out with them both. Brooke is so beautiful and just melted my heart! Thank you Heather for letting me come spend such a long and amazing vacation with you and your family!

I loved it and I love you! 

Back in the District.

Lets rewind for a sec, 

back to my unemployed days and before I made the plunge to SLC, 

 back to September when I was finally able to go on my long awaited, previously blogged about trip. 

Going back to the District. Seeing some of my favorite friends. Running Ragnar. Visiting Charlotte. 

So here is Part One of my East Coast adventure.

Washington D.C. 

It was my first time going back since my short stint as a student teacher and I can easily say that DC is my favorite city and place to be. 

I took off on my first red eye. I bought my little neck pillow and was all set and ready and before I knew it, I was flying over Mount Vernon.

And boy, was I excited to be there. 

It didnt matter that I maybe got 3 hours of sleep, I was so giddy and it felt oh so good to be back to my stomping grounds. 

First stop: White House 

Which was always one of my favorite stops. 

I felt a little rusty on my navigating skills in the District {made some rookie mistakes, as Allie liked to remind me} but also loved that I felt confident in tackling the city all by myself. 

I met up Heather Fay and her great family for a tour of the White House.
It was so good to see Heather! We havent seen each other in over two years, and I loved our little run to each other for a hug. And i love love love that baby of hers!
 Our tour was a little bit of a let down, {self guided tour?? really, can't we do a little bit better for the historic home of the President??}

We hit up Ford's Theater.

Unfortunately we couldnt go into the theater, but were able to go to the museum to read all about President Lincoln's life and the details of the assassination. 

{which at this point is when some sleep deprivation set in} 

{John Wilkes Booth's gun}

I learned Abraham Lincoln is the most written about president, as proven by this massive stack of every book printed about him.

And this was barely even a full photo of this stack.
We also wandered to the home in which Lincoln was taken to after he was shot.

We wandered to the National Mall. 

{ahhh so beautiful}

Walked the Washington Monument, Lincoln Memorial, and war memorials. 

It just made me so happy to be back walking along my favorite places. I just really, really love it.

The Shumways were off back to their hotel and so I took to the metro to go back to my real stomping ground. 

Wilson High.

This place will always have such a special place in my heart. Those first times teaching, the students and all of the wonderful memories that happened there. Again, I was giddy to go back. 

But its a different Wilson High that I left behind.

My ghetto and old school has been completely remodeled to a brand stinking new school. This partly made me really sad. The hallways were different, I couldnt remember how to get around and that ghetto vibe was gone. But its awesome for the school.

I wandered down my old hallway and missed it so much. Missed my students and all the fun we had. Missed having that room be my room. I missed the charm of the old and worn door and my students work posted along the hall.

{my old door. new door}

However I didnt miss the students giving me cat calls outside the front doors of the school. Cause yes, that did happen again. I guess some things never change at Wilson.

I walked away trying to not have regrets that I had left that school and my city and rather filled my mind that I was off to go to another favorite place of mine.

A baseball game. And not just any Nats game. A Nats vs. Dodgers game.

My boys in blue knew just how to make my DC trip just a little bit better.

It was a little rough to face the Natitude from Allie and her friends, and I will give them the benefit that the Nats ended up winning their division but it was tough to have a 6-0 lead dwindle to a 6-6 tie and face those reprecussions. But Kemp delivered and I walked out with a W.

And feeling like I fit in more with the east coasters as I finally enjoyed some Shake Shack. Allie and I did have to wait in a 30+ minute line to get it...but it was worth the experience.

And great to be at the game with Allie!!

Love spending time with her. She graciously let me stay at her house and then gave us the best tour of the Capitol the next day.

Allie is doing an internship for Senator Hatch and is full of knowledge of the Capitol and gives great tours!

{This spot marks the exact middle of the District of Columbia and is suppose to be good luck. My vans wanted in on that action!}

And we saw Brother Brigham!

Basically I was jealous the entire time of Allie's job and I really want her life. 

My favorite spot in the Capitol:

The place where John Quincy Adams could hear the echo from the other side of the room. 

It really works! and is so cool. 

We finished our stint at the Library of Congress.

Its so pretty inside and we all enjoyed watching little Brookie climb the steps.

We then had to hit the road and leave DC. We had Ragnar to conquer and 200 miles to run before I could see my beloved DC again.