Did you know...

We went to Vegas back in May? It was the perfect quick trip to get away. We went down for John and Nick to attend a car wash convention, and Andrea and I naturally tagged along to lay out, shop, and eat some good food. We had a great few days, and treated ourselves to some great tickets to "O" since our anniversary was the next week.

Speaking of our anniversary, want to know a secret? We were still living between our new house and John's parents house, and his family was out of town. We asked Nick and Andrea to watch our kids so we could celebrate at our favorite restaurant, Cucina Toscana. Well, after getting ready and dropping the kids off at their house, we both felt like Cucina seemed like a long drive. John was tired and I was not feeling great (thank you for not giving me a break, second trimester) so we threw out the idea of getting some good take-out from our favorite fast/close by places, and going back to his parents empty house and watching a movie. We felt kind of lame, so after rock/paper/scissors it was a done deal. Jimmy Johns for me, Chili's for John and Red Mango for dessert. We took a redbox back to the house and had a great time. It was probably the best anniversary we have had yet. It was so "us." We are totally low matinence, homebodies at heart.

Six Whole Years

It sure feels like we have come a long ways since then.

I have learned to love that your are never clean shaven.

I have gotten used to your aggressive driving.

I appreciate more than ever, that you are a hard worker.

I trust your judgement WAY more that I did back then. Admit it. You are so glad.

I'm better at giving in to what you want sometimes.

You are way better at picking your battles.

You are much more sensitive, and hardly ever hurt my feelings.

You laugh at all my jokes.

You understand me, without me having to explain myself.

You make me feel smarter, prettier, funnier and better than I probably really am.

I could go on and on. Basically I think 6 years has done us well. Wouldn't you agree?

Cheers to us.

Weekend in Denver

John's birthday gift from me was a weekend in Denver to see one of our favorites, Joshua Radin. We flew in friday night and came home sunday evening. It was the perfect getaway. We got some Christmas shopping done, drove by John's childhood homes, and even got to tour some amazing custom homes in his parents old neighborhood that happened to be having open houses. That is totally our idea of a good time! The concert was saturday night and it was amazing. We sort of accidentally ended up with the very best 2 seats in the house. He played almost all our favorites and his live performance did not disappoint. I would totally see him again in concert. In fact, he just added SLC to his tour so he is coming in March. Do it.

PS... don't know who Josh Radin is? Download these... "I'd Rather Be With You", "Paperweight", and "Winter". You might recognize them... a lot of his music is played on shows like Grey's Anatomy, Scrubs, and movies like Dear John, Catch and Release, and The Last Kiss. You can thank me later.

beautiful thoughts on marriage

spend 6 minutes watching this video. you won't regret it.

Danny & Annie from StoryCorps on Vimeo.

5 Years

We spent our 5th anniversary as a family. Les Madelines for breakfast, the Zoo, and then a romantic night out to Cucina Toscana and a little kid-free shopping. It's been a beautiful 5 years, and I couldn't be happier with where we are at now.
Happy 5 years, honey.

"HAPPY Balentimes!"

I love him. He brought me home a French Silk Pie (my fav). I couldn't ask for a better valentine.

Best of all, I not only love him, but I really like him too.

(any other legit 30 Rockers out there love my title?)

date night

Last week John and I went to the Australian Pink Floyd concert.

Before the concert, we went to dinner and walked through Toys R Us.

It was the most time we have spent alone together in forever.

It was so much fun to hang out and have so much fun together.

I'm really glad I still like him so much.

Four years ago we were doing this...

Best 4 years of my life.

We have survived infertility, adoption, and having 2 kids under one. I like to think that means we can survive anything.

Happy Anniversary to us.

I want to go to there

John and I talk a lot about where we want to live someday. A while back, John became obsessed with the idea of living in Portland. Who knew? About a month ago, after a very challenging adjustment to having 2 kids, and our anniversary coming up, we decided to take a trip there to check it out. So we booked our stay at the Hotel Monaco in downtown Portland. We loved it there. Like, really loved it.

I have plenty of pictures to share, and probably won't do a very good job of narrowing them down. But here is the proof of the fun we had!

We drove down to Lake Oswego to check out the Temple there. Beautiful. One of the prettiest I have seen. Awesome location, gorgeous grounds, and beautiful granite.

One day we drove along the Historic Colombia Scenic Highway and saw some of the incredible waterfalls. This day probably has enough pictures to be a post of it's own. One of the coolest things we discovered about Oregon is the proximity to anything you could ever want. This incredible drive is like 25 minutes from downtown Portland.

These pictures are all out of order and of different falls and viewpoints along the highway.

See how excited I am about Oregon?

We drove to the Oregon Coast one day, to Cannon Beach. It was gorgeous weather, and was such a cute town. We loved it there.

Proof (albeit blurry proof) that I thought Cannon Beach and Haystack Rock was awesome!

One evening, we drove back out to Lake Oswego to look around more (we LOVED this area) and to eat a restaurant we saw the first time we were out there. We decided this time around that Lake Oswego is the dream. The goal. Where we want to live. So beautiful. We ate at a place called Manzana's and it was delicious. The best meal we had in all of Oregon.

We took pictures of some of the lakefront houses. See that family of 4 on the canoe? Someday that will be us. Except hopefully with a whole boat full of kids. Though we will never live on the lake.

See how gorgeous? Wow, we loved this area.

This was the night before our anniversary, which was on wednesday, and the day we were flying home. It was a wonderful evening to cap off a wonderful trip to commemorate 4 wonderful years of marriage.

I loved Portland.

I love my husband.