Nesting

In an attempt to save our sanity, Travis and I both agreed we wanted to wait until after Christmas to start getting ready for this new baby. Mostly because it just felt like an overwhelming task. First we needed to move Benji out of the crib (Success! He loves sleeping in the bunk beds with Peter) and secondly, I had no idea what to do for a little girl's room as I've never been one much for an abundance of pink. 

Luckily, my crafty sister in law Jenn had done this great argyle wall for her little boy and when I saw it at Christmas I knew that's what I wanted. The walls in our crap craft room were already a nice silver so Travis helped me measure off the diamonds and dotted lines and we painted away.

I love how the walls turned out! The teal and hot pink paint are ridiculously cute without being over the top girly.

Then I found this little dresser on craigslist that was in need of some serious love (think red velvet panels...Oy) but after a few coats of paint -- I think it turned out adorable! Especially after spray painting the yucky bronze handles silver.

 Peter calls it the 'surprise dresser' because when you open the doors, it's hot pink inside to match the walls. His idea was that we put a boxing glove inside the doors that would pop out and punch people when you opened them. "Surprise!" I think he felt a bit let down the first time he opened the doors after I told him it was all finished and nothing happened. Sorry dude.

As you can see we also did another argyle stripe on the opposite wall to keep things interesting.

All we need now is a baby! I'm so happy with how this room is coming together. Turns out this nesting phase is quite exciting (if not exhausting). Who knew a couple of cans of paint could produce such fun results?

Two months and counting...

Early Anniversary Getaway

This is a big year for Travis and I -- we will be celebrating our 10th anniversary in April! Crazy, I know. 

However since I'll be having a baby sometime in March we decided we'd like to celebrate before the little lady arrives. Luckily my mom was able to come out for a few days and Travis and I were able to make our escape up the coast. 

Our destination was Hearst Castle but on our way, we stopped in this cute little Danish town called Solvang and had some excellent pastries but not so great dinner (meatballs, red cabbage, mashed potatoes and pickled herring...ugh). We did enjoy window shopping and wandering around the little very Danish town.

 And here is Trav and I in front of Hearst Castle. It was so beautiful! We were able to tour most of the great rooms and then wander around the grounds as we liked, taking in the spectacular views and lovely gardens. Hearst imported tons of artwork and architectural elements from Europe for the house and grounds and it was a great treat to see all those amazing pieces.

One of our favorite spots had to be this incredible Neptune Pool. 

(In retrospect I don't think horizontal stripes are doing my pregnant belly any favors...)

  Can't you imagine throwing a party for you and your closest say...100 or so...friends here? Incredible.

Also gorgeous was the underground Roman Pool but my camera doesn't function well without a flash and they didn't allow that inside.

It was a beautiful tour and we were so happy to spend such a unique day together.

A friend had previously told us about a beach only a few miles north of Hearst Castle that is home to Elephant seals. So we decided to drive a bit up the PCH and stopped to see this impressive sight.

hundreds of seals hanging out on the beach! 

These animals are enormous. Like, HUGE. So big in fact that they'd do their little worm crawl for a few feet and then have to stop and take about a 5 minute rest before continuing on because they are just that big.

The males are quite territorial and we got to witness several impressive fights. Those guys are ruthless.  

We also saw lots of mamas with their babies. Awww

It was such a wonderful trip with lots of good food and plenty of time for Travis and I to just relax while the boys played with Grandma. 

Hopefully I'll be able to get some of their cute pictures together too :) Thanks again Mom for making it possible for us have such a wonderful weekend!

Christmas

What a wonderful Christmas we enjoyed this year!

The Sunday before, we drove down to see the lights at the LA Temple and walk around the grounds as a family. The best part of this trip was on the way down though -- we had asked the boys to grab their coats before leaving and Peter decided to wear 4 LARGE coats the entire hour and a half car ride down to Los Angeles. He was covered in sweat by the time we got there but refused to take any off until we actually got out of the car... Crazy kid.

The lights aren't quite as stunning as those in Salt Lake, but they were still beautiful and we had a wonderful time as a family. 

For Christmas Eve our dear friends the Novacks joined us for dinner and brought fancy Christmas Crackers for us to pop. The boys loved them! I just enjoyed seeing everyone wear their crowns throughout dinner.

 And then, there was Christmas morning...

The boys were sooo excited and were going crazy over every single present. I think their favorites however were this play food set for Benji

 and this giant Lego Castle set for Peter.

He patiently spent all morning long putting it together and trying out all the different trapdoors and dungeons. Then he promptly took it apart before dinner and proceeded to make all sorts of other castle creations. 

It was a pretty relaxed day where we all just hung out in our pjs eating leftovers and relaxing because the next day we headed off to Utah to visit my family.

Growing up my dad always made traps for us to go through Christmas morning to get our presents and this year he and Travis set up quite the obstacle course in his basement for the grandkids to go through. 

Here's Pagie and Peter trying to cross the 'lava lake.'

The kids loved it all -- they probably spent several hours going through them over and over -- and that includes our big 'kid' Travis. I think he had as much fun setting up the traps as the kids did going through them! 

We then opened presents and Benji was in heaven after he got this Jake telescope from Grandma. I don't think he let it out of his sight all day.

 And here's Peter wearing his new safari vest and reading his Lego book. 

We had a wonderful time with cousins and grandparents and just in general had the best trip.

And here's one more just for kicks...Benji in his grandpa sweater catching a little shut-eye.

Merry Christmas!