Little Robker

Jerrick and I are about to embark on this thing called parenting... Yes! We are having a BABY BOY this July.

It is the most terrifying and most exciting feeling. We are thrilled and can't wait to meet the little guy!

San Fran

I am so blessed to have some friends in Vegas who also have husbands in Med School. It is so nice that we can have each other even when our husbands are extremely anti social. They definitely keep me sane! We took a girls trip to San Francisco. I had never been, so I loved seeing the hills, sites, and beautiful city!

Sam and me riding the Trolley

We hiked a bit on the trail around the Golden Gate Bridge. It was perfect weather and the bridge is more magnificent than I had imagined.

Below is "the windiest road" with the cutest homes. We loved walking around the area.

Ghiradelli square... need I say more? Lindsey and I had a salted caramel milkshake. Below is Lindsey, Brenna, Me, Sam, and Jelissa.

We originally planned the trip around a half marathon. I opted for the 5K since I have a baby on the way, but the other ladies ran the half. Unfortunately, the morning of the race was the only gloomy rainy one we had so that made for an interesting race. But they did amazing and i enjoyed the 5K. Below is Jelissa, Lindsey, me, and Brenna.

Concerts in 2013

Jerrick has always said he would almost rather spend money on music and concerts than anything else! We get to go to some pretty awesome concerts from time to time. This year was a lot of fun!

First, we got to go to Collective Soul at the Beach at Mandalay Bay. It was fun to just take off your sandals and be wading in the water so close while the band was playing! Jerrick's brother Jeremiah and sisters Vanessa and Crystal joined us. The Robker kids grew up listening to Collective Soul together. I was happy to be along for the ride.

We went to "Bite of Las Vegas" this summer. It was amazing! It was an all day festival and we got to see some really amazing performers. We love Walk off the Earth, so we were so excited they were going to be there. One Republic was amazing! We also saw Parachute, Plain White T's, Matt Nathanson, Better than Ezra, and the Goo Goo Dolls. We had a lot of fun eating lots of yummy food from lots of vendors in Vegas that came to the Festival as well. We hope to make it a yearly tradition!

Jerrick is pretty obsessed with Jimmy Eat World and was so excited that he was finally going to be able to see them in concert. We were happy Nolan and his wife, Becky could join us. Nolan and Jerrick were in the same band in high school and have stayed good friends.

Then, we finished off the year with Imagine Dragons. Vanessa and Crystal came down to join us again. They were so amazing in concert! We were fans before, but now we love them! Such a fun concert!

Below is Crystal, Jerrick, me, and Vanessa

Ryder turns Three

Yes, our dog was a little spoiled for his birthday! But who can blame us he is just the sweetest dog! He got to go to the park and play frisbee- his absolute favorite. 

This is him just before he got to open presents and have a "roast beef" cake. (We gave him some leftovers). He looks a little terrified in this picture, but he was happy once we took the hat off!

Then, he had fun ripping into the boxes with some encouragement and prodding from us.

I want to just freeze time so he doesn't get any older. We love our dog! (Yes we know it's ridiculous!)

Halloween 2013

Jerrick always has fun decorating pumpkins. This year I saw a picture of some zombie pumpkins and wanted him to recreate it. Obviously, he had no issues making them adorable. He did have to use some power tools though because the gourds were so tough to cut through!

Now I ain't sayin she's a gold digger...

We dressed up as a Gold Digger and an old rich man! Jerrick was obviously the man. We had a fun party with friends and we won the prize for most original costume!

Kristin Gets Married

It was definitely hard to move away from such great friends in Houston. One of my closest friends from my PA program moved away as well- to Chicago and got engaged! I was so happy to be able to go to Illinois for her wedding and reunite with such great friends in PA school. We really did become like family after going through such a rigorous program together. 

Arriving in Peoria for the wedding! Me, Kristy, Caitlin, and Katie

It was a beautiful ceremony is a sweet little church. Above: Kristy, Katie and me. Below: Me, Kristy, Katie, Amanda, Caitlin.

Some of the amazing centerpieces.

Could the bride get any more beautiful? I love this lady! So happy for Kristin and Danny!

Twins Turn Two

My niece and nephew are the cutest! I wish we lived closer so I could see them more often, but I was thrilled to be able to go up and see them for their birthday. Obviously my sister, the interior designer, spared no time or effort in making this a beautiful birthday party! Those little toddlers had so many friends and family there to spoil them. I had fun helping Kim get it all set up!

Can you believe the size of these balloons? We had to drive all over town to find a place that would give us that much helium!

Jerrick helped me make masks for part of their birthday present. They had some fun with those!

Eating their cakes!

So happy when the three girls can get together. I love my sisters so much!

Can't believe those little babies are two! Time flies!

Kummer Girls do Las Vegas

Another girls trip- but this time Katy could also join Kim and my mom in coming down. We had so much fun! 

The flowers at Bellagio. I never tire of seeing this- especially since it is always changing! We had to get a picture of Katy in front of the bird, since "birdie" is her nickname.

More delicious food and treats from Serendipity! A must when the ladies come visit!

We saw Jabbawockeez while they were here. I love dance, but I didn't expect to enjoy the show as much as I did. They were awesome! And hilarious. I definitely recommend this entertaining show. We also got to see "O" the Cirque show while they were here. Hands down the best cirque show I have seen. I kept wondering how it was humanly possible to do all of the acrobatics. My mind was blown! I loved it!

We stayed at the Vdara. All in all, we jammed a lot of shopping, laughing, and eating into one long weekend. I love having both sisters and my mom for a visit. We always have a blast!

Michael Jackson One

We were very happy that Jerrick's brother Jeremy and his wife and son came through town for a visit. We went with them to One- the Michael Jackson Cirque show. We really loved it! If you love his music then you would really like it. Some other cirque shows have more impressive acrobatics, but this is more about the music and dancing.

Boat Trip

Some of our friends here in Vegas also have family in St. George and we took a trip to relax and hang out together with a boat trip to one of the local lakes. I haven't spent a ton of time on boats, so this was a lot of fun! It took me many... many times to finally get up on the wake board but I finally did it!

Me on the wake board and Jerrick and me in the water.

The crew! Sam and Dallin, Lindsey and Justin, and Brenna and Eli with Jerrick and me.

The ladies (me, Brenna, Sam, Lindsey) and Cal!

We are grateful for little trips between studying (for Jerrick) and even more grateful for friends to share them with! I think I would go crazy without these ladies!

Brazil

Jerrick served a 2 year mission for our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was called to serve this mission in Salvador, Brazil. He was gone from 2004-2006 and has been dying to go back since he came home. I was so thrilled that he was finally able to go back- and that I could tag along with him and experience a taste of what his life was like for those 2 years.

We spent the first half of our trip in Rio de Janiero. He had never been here, and we both wanted to see this city. Needless to say, the sites were breathtaking and we had a blast!

We got to do a lot in Rio. We spent a good amount of time at the beach since our hotel was a prime location for Ipanema beach. We got to tour sugar loaf mountain with amazing views!

We also got to take a tour and hike to Cristo Redentor- the statue of Christ that is overlooking the city.

This is the view at night from our hotel- we were in heaven! Once again, complaining gets you upgrades! We were given a room with two separate twin beds with a lovely view of the alley. When we discussed our disappointment, they gave us a new room much higher with these ocean views! (Also with a king bed.) Love it!

Some pics of us enjoying the beaches. We mostly stayed at Ipanema by our hotel, but we had to check out Copacabana as well. It was a little bit more crowded, so we preferred Ipanema, but both were beautiful.

We took a little boat tour around Rio. It is always fun interacting with locals. Jerrick would do all of the talking and I would do a lot of smiling and nodding. A lot of the time I could understand the jist of a conversation since I speak spanish fairly well, but it got exhausting after awhile! I take for granted not having to think about the words people are saying in order to communicate!

Diving off of our boat into the ocean.

Just some of our favorite things. His and Hers guarana (I like the zero aka diet). Mmmm I miss that soda!

Street art and the famous Ipanema sidewalk that we grew to know so well!

After a few days in Rio, we were sad to go but so excited to visit another part of the country. We took a plane to Salvador, Brazil. This is the area where Jerrick lived primarily. It was a much more eye opening experience. We stayed with families that he taught lessons on Christ and the Gospel of our faith. Helber and Jerrick have become lifelong friends since Jerrick lived in Brazil. It was so nice to finally meet him and his family. It was definitely a change from our comfortable hotel room overlooking the ocean- but an amazing experience I will never forget. I have never met more loving and giving people than those sweet families who would do anything for you- and I was basically a complete stranger!

We definitely had a warm welcome from Helber! He had decorated a sign ("Welcome to Bahia", the state of Salvador), repainted his room, and planned an itinerary of non stop fun for our three days there. He informed me time and time again- "Amy, there is no sleep planned here. You can sleep when you get home!" He really had packed our schedule full of so many fun things to do! We got to see the Mercado and Elevador down town sites in Salvador. We had Acai on a daily basis (mmm so good!), had a couples massage Helber planned for us, and we even went to a soccer game. The game was intense! The other team's fans were fenced off completely and if you cheered for the other team in the wrong section, you would be kicked out because riots start so easily. The police officers were armed with shields, helmets, and dogs. It was terrifying but I am so glad to experience first hand how crazy Brazillians are about futbol!

With a bowl of Acai.

At the Futbol game.

I couldn't have imagined a more amazing trip combining relaxation and a truly humbling, eye opening experience of how blessed we are in America. I hope we make it back to Brazil someday, because now Jerrick isn't the only one out of us who loves the country!