happy honey-versary-moon!

 

one year ago i made the best decision of my life and married my best friend.

i have such fond memories of our wedding day!

we were blessed to have so many of our wonderful family and friends there to celebrate with us too!

i just can't believe it has already been one year!

it has had it's tough moments, but it has made us stronger!

we have also had incredible happy moments which make us that more excited for our future together!

as many of you know, we did not go on a honeymoon.

so with our anniversary approaching, my amazing husband planned an imprompto getaway to Napa, CA.

wine country!

he tried to keep it a secret, but one week before our departure, a dear friend spilled the beans on accident!

i was too excited to care.

plus, i talked to husband into staying an extra day and a half to explore San Francisco!

avery was able to spend 5 days with her grandma vickie. (nick's mom.)

i don't think she really even noticed we were gone because grandma kept her SO busy!

thank you so so so much vickie!

Mondave Winery

Eating grapes right off of the vine.

Huh???

Yes Please!

Love you babe!

we arrived in San Fran LATE thursday night and drove two hours into Napa.

we stayed at a swank hotel named Aria in downtown Napa. (we highly recommend it!)

the next couple of days were ours to discover wine country.

we had no where to go and no plan set in stone.

we got in the car in the morning and just drove.

no expectations or schedules to go by. (you know: napping, feeding, playtime and bedtime....)

it was AMAZING to say the least! (i'll spare you all the small details!)

we were able to explore: Napa, St Helena and Calistoga in 3 days!

we experienced a mud bath in Calistoga.

we had a tour at Richard Mondave.

we had tastings at: Mondave (also know as Woodbridge), Cakebread (my all time favorite!), Silver Oak (nick's favorite!) and Luna.

while at Cakebread, we met some folks from Sugarland, Texas. (where i grew up.) we exchanged numbers and hope to stay lifetime friends!

we tried some amazing restraunts too!

AND we plan on going back!

Mud Bath in Calistoga!

Hot Stuff!

(no seriously...it was HOT!)

Slightly Awkward..

Yes and YES!

Such a beautiful castle tucked away on a hill!

Silver Oak Winery

My HOT hubby in front of Silver Oak's nummy wine!

In a tower over looking Luna Vineyards.

 

San Francisco was amazing too!

after a fiasco with returning our rental car, the next two days were ours to explore!

we took a ferry to Sausalito (a 30 minute ride) with intentions of trying out the local Art's Festival.

we never made it.

we ate at a restraunt names Angelino's.

if you ever go to San Fran, make the ferry ride over.

this place is WORTH EVERY MINUTE AND PENNY!

it has the best italian food ever!

the ferry lines were soooo long, they literally wrapped around an entire two blocks, so we skipped the festival and waited in line to get back to San Fran. (it is VERY expensive to take a cab back!)

we stayed at the Hyatt at Fisherman's Wharff. (it was only so so.)

we explored Fisherman's Wharff, Pier 39 & 41, Ghiradelli Square, Kara's Cupcakes (from Cupcake Wars...yes, i am obsessed with sweets!), China Town, Ferry Landing, Union Square (i got to stop in an H&M...WOO HOO!!), the Financial District, Lombard Road (the curviest rode in the world.) and finally....we rode around SF in the Cable Cars.

you can't go to San Francisco and NOT take the cable cars.

Getting ready to take the ferry to Sausalito.

Alcatraz.

Golden Gate Bridge.

Windy Much?

The seals have taken over Pier 39.

Golden Gate Bridge. (Thank Goodness for self timers!)

we ate at incredible restraunts too!

if you go, try this small pub near Ghiradelli Square.

they have Guiness for the men and real Clam Chowder in real sour dough bread bowls!

on our last night we ate at a restraunt called The Stinking Rose.

they pride themselves on their garlic.

EVERYTHING is made with garlic.

EVERYTHING is AMAZING!

(...except the next morning on the plane, i opened my purse and it reaked of garlic! sorry fellow passengers!)

Ghiradelli Square.

Top of Lombard Street.

My HOT hubby and a HOT car!

Bottom of Lombard Street.

Hanging outside of a cable car.

it was so nice having the time to spend alone with nick.

of course we missed avery, but we needed the time away to feel like adults. (or kids.)

 

nick, i love everything about you!

i could not imagine my life without you.

you are my best friend and i cannot wait to see what our future holds.

thank you for opening my eyes and showing me what true love is!

love, me

mommy/daughter days

lately, avery and i have been having alot of fun on our mommy/daughter days.

i am trying to fit every last minute of summer and fall in our schedules before the dreaded winter hits!

midge is a VERY active child and can get VERY naughty if we do not keep her busy.

this means two things:

1. we are usually outdoors

2. i am EXHAUSTED by the end of the day. (bedtime is usually 9:30 for me!)

our favorite things to do together are going to the park, getting a super yummy ice cream and going to the zoo!

i LOVE fall and want ave to have the best memories of this season. hopefully winter will not hit sooner than later!

picture are from my iPhone, so not the best quality...



she has NO fear!

loving the elephants!

i was more excited about this. the tigers NEVER play & they were going wild this day!

we love the carousel!

not so sure....

then she realized it looked like her daddy!



.17. months

geez...i can't seem to post on time!

ave turned 17 months a couple of weeks ago.

i planned on only posting updates on ave until she was 18 months, but that's in a couple of weeks!

sad!

so, we'll see if we keep up or not.

as of now, avery is OBSESSED with three things:

1. Dancing

2. Elmo

3. Her Baby Dolls

taking care of her baby

the midge LOVES to start bopping around when she hears her Baby Einstein

Playdate music start playing.

she even hands me the phone (our iPod) to start playing.

she loves Itsy Bitsy Spider and If You're Happy and You Know It...

this morning avery was jumping on the bed and clapping her hands to the words of the song.

ave LOVES to feed elmo everything!

Elmo. Sweet. Elmo

we were cleaning out her closet the other day and found an Elmo doll we had bought her a long time ago.

it sings the ABC's and laughs.

she can't get enough of it.

it almost sounds like a broken record in our house.

Plus, we have a playdate with Elmo every morning while watching Sesame Street.

this is one of the times of day we like to hunker down and enjoy

eating cheerio's and watching our favorite neighbors!

my mom bought ave a new baby doll that is completely plastic with a magnetic binky.

this baby goes everywhere now.

in the bath. in the car. in her highchair.

BUT, she only wants it naked.

if we dress it, she gets really mad a cries. ODD!

she LOVES having us swaddle her in a receiving blanket.

i think ave is ready for another brother or sister.

she insists on having all of her babies with her at breakfast!

avery tells everyone and everything HI. repeatedly!

we LOVE it!

we are working on pronunciating things around here.

avery still likes saying everything with the letter D.

i know any day she'll just belt out a sentence to us.

ave's favorite snacks are:

raisins, honey nut cheerio's, grapes, nectarine's, ritz cracker's and nemo gummy snacks.

we got her to drink a whole cup of milk the other day!

success!!

this kid LIVES outside

we also just started our fall semester at Little Gym.

we signed her up in her old "Birdies" class, but she was running circles around all of the kids.

so, they moved us up to the "Beasties" class.

(how appropriate! the age group is 19 months to 30 months. hee hee!)

this class is hard!

they have us climb on rock walls, do handstands against the walls, cartwheels and much much more!

they want the parents to be examples, so we are also doing cartwheels, handstands

and hanging on the bars.

it's so much fun but exhausting!

we also signed up for a Kindermusik class in Logan!

Yay! finally a class in Logan!

hanging out with moomee (mom)

driving the smurf mobile with daddy

the bee's game

this technically should be in the "august" post, but it deserves a post of it's own.

my hubby is in charge of putting together company event's for Codale.

such as:

The Children's Charity Classic

(a golf tourney that raised $160,000 this year alone for diabetes research!)

and

The Codale Family Bee's Night

so, we thought is would be fun (and smart) to bring ave for a little bit and then

have her go home with my mom so we could mingle amongst the employees.

we had a great time attempting to eat, mingle and watch some baseball.

i only say attempt because with ave, sitting still for more than a minute is practically impossible.

she wanted to run around and play with the water cooler jug that dispersed drinking water.

we were able to catch up with matt, emily and grace for a bit too.

ave LOVES playing with kids. especially kids her age.

Buddies

well, my mom showed up and hung out for a bit.

when it was time for her to leave, i decided to walk with her to the car.

thank goodness i did!

she decided to drive me by where she parked so we knew where to go after the game.

WELL....

my mom decided to park in a car dealer's lot and it was CLOSED and CHAINED up for the night!

who does that?

my mom!

we tried to get a hold of the dealer, but to no avail. they were closed for the rest of the weekend.

and my poor mom was hosting a jewelry party for me the next day and still had to run errands for it.

AND she was leaving to work, on an airplane, at 8:30 on monday morning.

Poor Teri!

i was kind of mad at first, but what do you do?

laugh about it!

we were able to get it on the way to the airport monday morning.

the gates were opened and no one was around.

so, we B-LINED it out of there without explaining to the owner what we were doing.

it all worked out in the end, but it is definitely something i don't want to forget.

(or let my mom live down for a while!! hee hee!!)

august

i can't believe summer is almost over and fall is just around the corner!

fall is my favorite season!

but, i'm not ready for it because that means winter is on it's way too!

i wasn't able to blog much during august.

we have been so super busy

that blogging is the last thing on my to do list.

here are a few things that happened.

i went to las vegas for a Cookie Lee convention held at the Mirage.

this was my first trip alone...ever!

it was pretty fun and i met alot of women i know i will have as friends for a lifetime!

we had our first garage sale!

i'm so glad that is over!!

the items we sold the most were...clothes and cd's!

we had boxes and boxes of clothes that had accumulated over the years.

thank goodness they are outta here!

and cd's will be ancient history soon due to our love of i-tunes!

we decided to by a membership at Discovery Gateway.
with winter coming, we wanted to make sure we had something
we could all do indoors.
this place is awesome!
ave has fun and so does mommy and daddy!
BONUS!

we also went to bear lake for Raspberries Days.
since we live so close, we decided...why not?
avery LOVES the ocean.
avery KIND OF LOVES bear lake.
she was pretty timid with the water.
but had a blast burying her mom in the sand.
regardless, it was alot of fun and full of memories.
(including a raspberry shake and a BOX full of fresh raspberries!)

 

i had my TEN YEAR high school reunion.

really! i'm that old?

out of 1,000 student that graduated, probably only 200 showed up.

facebook has really put a damper on reunions i think.

i didn't really need to catch up with anyone.

i already knew what they have been up to. It actually made me feel like a stalker.

but, it was fun to say hi to people i haven't seen in person.

no one has really aged much. they all looked the same.

we got to hang out with my step sis and her hubby because we went to the same high school.

(our parent's married the year we graduated.)

(Me, Jodi, Frankie, Brooke and Liz)

we also were able to see DAVE MATTHEWS finally!!!

after 2 years of cancelling, i got to see my favorite musician perform!

and he didn't disappoint.

it was jam packed and we bought grass seats.

(yes, we had to pay for our tickets too!)

it was SO much fun!

 

avery went to the hospital for the first time too!

boo!

she has been sick off and on for about a month.

last week, her cold flared up again, but this time REALLY bad.

i was in salt lake by myself all week while nick was working in logan.

she started to cough so hard she was throwing up.

she was also not able to stop coughing for 45 minutes straight.

at 10:45 at night, i called the dr. on call at her pediatricians office.

they said to take her in because if a toddler cough's hard and long enough, their airways can shut off.

uhm, that's a sure way of scaring a mom to death!

so, we headed to Primary Childrens at 11:30 PM.

magically, avery stopped coughing once we walked in the doors.

i seriously felt like an idiot!

there were children there that were not doing well.

like a neglected little boy a little older than ave.

he wanted to sit by us and not go near his mom.

(not to judge, but she looked like she was higher than a kite!)

.sad.

there was an african american litlle boy who had a deformed skull and was paralyzed and could not move.

broke.my.heart.

these children helped me realize how lucky i am.

anywho...back to me being an idiot.

so, ave had a chest xray to make sure she didn't have pneumonia or a projectile in her lungs.

.all.clear.

her vitals were good too!

come to find out, her airway was super swollen, so they gave her a steroid to help.

a steroid.

atleast she entertained all of the dr's and nurses by saying hi and bye AND throwing toys at them.

i guess i would be upset if you were bugging me at 2:30 AM too!

lesson learned!

 

so, that has been our august.

full of surprises!