SF ♥

Rick and I were excited to have a weekend to ourselves while my parents watched our two kids (I seriously can't believe we have two kids, that seems so adult-like and I still feel like such a kid).  We decided instead of going away we would explore around here, since we haven't gone out too much since moving back to California.

It was awesome; we slept in (and through the night), went out to eat, finished some projects around the house and spent an entire day biking around San Francisco.

Here is a video of our day in SF:

Thanks Mom & Dad for the much needed break!

Maverick & Mom

Over Thanksgiving weekend my brother Kevin and his wife Rachel were kind enough to snap some pictures of Maverick at one month old. Here are some favorites of Maverick and I:

I Love...

Since it is Valentine's Day I have been thinking about the lovely things in life that make it great.

Lately I Love...

The smell of freshly baked bread. And then eating it.

Finding Adelaide in the bathroom hiding behind the shower curtain with just her little feet poking out. And her cute giggle when she realizes I've found her.

Rick. A lot. I also love that he is graduating this May from his MBA program. And that he is in the top 20% of his program, and that he works so hard for our family in school and at his internship. And of course that he is such an amazing husband and best friend and always makes me laugh and smile.

Talking on the phone with my family. It makes me feel like they aren't so far away.

Sunny days like today. Even if there is still slush on the ground, I'll take it.

NPR. Your podcasts help me feel connected to the world when I'm inside all day.

Reading to Adelaide and watching her grow and learn.

Not being on Facebook. I've taken the month off and although at first I went through withdrawals, I now find myself feeling more present and wasting less time.

Weddings. I am so excited that my sister in law is getting married in a couple of months.

My friends and family. Even though I don't see or talk to some of them as often as I'd like, they are on my mind and I really love all of them.

♥ Happy Valentine's Day! ♥

First Kiss

I know Adelaide is a little young, but she definitely has a crush. His name is Jack and although he is a few months her junior, he has captured her heart. Last week Adelaide gave him lots of kisses followed by big grins and the clapping of her hands. What does this mean she'll be like when she is 16?!

It was clear that Adelaide enjoyed this, but we're not quite sure how Jack felt.

Happy Birthday Miss Adelaide!

I can't believe it has been a year already since our Adelaide was born (and look how dark her hair was). She is such a sweetheart and Rick and I have enjoyed our first year learning how to be parents on our little guinea pig of a child.

As every parent does, we just adore Adelaide. Some of the things we especially love:

Adelaide is (almost) always happy. I can't count how many times friends, family and complete strangers have told us, "I've never seen such a happy/friendly/smiley/giggly baby."

Adelaide loves to eat. Perhaps she got this trait from her parents? We thoroughly enjoy our family dinners eating and laughing together.

Adelaide is very smart. She is a problem solver and figured out early in life how to bite off the lid of a puffs container and reach her little fingers inside to come out with a handful. She is extremely inquisitive and curious.

Adelaide makes funny sounds. She started out with distinct pterodactyl sounds as an infant but lately has begun making human screeching and screaming sounds. She especially loves to make these quirky sounds during church or while holding an exciting toy (i.e. plastic ball).

Adelaide is a great travel companion. She has been on 17 flights during her first year and traveled to San Diego, North Carolina, San Jose, Boise, Phoenix, and Salt Lake City. She was a constant flirt with the flight attendants and other passengers. She also travels great on our camping adventures and road trips.

Adelaide is a water baby. She loves bath time. She loves to swim in the pool even if the water is too cold for her parents. She loves the beach and would fearlessly crawl straight out into the ocean if left unattended. When we walk near a fountain she gets upset that I don't let her get in.

Adelaide is a great workout buddy. While I trained for my half marathon she sat in front of me in the Bob stroller for the majority of my runs. She also has been on numerous family bike rides. She sits there babbling to herself and occasionally nods off to sleep.

Adelaide is great at entertaining herself. She loves some of the typical things like her baby doll, stuffed animals and books, but her very favorites of course are recyclables, rugs, lotion and shampoo bottles, phones, cords, remotes, cameras, computers, printers, iPods and wallets.

Adelaide loves animals, especially dogs. They love her too at first, but then she overwhelms them by her squealing and French kisses.

Adelaide is a mini-Rick. She literally looks exactly like he did when he was a baby. And they have so much fun being crazy together.

Adelaide has beautiful eyes that I am constantly staring at to try to figure out their color. They are like a deep grayish blue and I love them.

Adelaide is very social. Even at the grocery store she will try to catch people's attention and once she has eye contact she will smile and be all cute while they admire her. Basically she constantly craves attention and loves to interact with anyone and everyone.

Thank you God for sending us such an adorable and wonderful baby. We love her so much and can't wait to watch her grow up in years to come.

Capitola Getaway

Since Adelaide's birth I have never been away from her for very long... dentist appointments, movie dates, and a dance social at CU for Rick's program are about the only examples I can think of. So while we were staying with my family we took advantage or their kindness and had a getaway in Capitola for a night while my parents, Jessica, and Eric took over watching little miss Adelaide. We had such a great time and I had what felt like the best sleep of my life, and definitely was the best night's rest in the last 10 months!

We stayed at Inn at Depot Hill and it was so adorable.

Our cute room, the Portofino.

Our lovely patio.

This is our breakfast that was delivered in the morning. Can I just say that the food there was delicious and the receptionist was actually kind enough to give me the recipe of my favorite dish.

We also wandered around the cute downtown of Capitola and got some Italian sodas from Toot's coffee shop. This is the view from their balcony.

Great getaway!

Redding Wedding

While growing up we lived across from a family that had three girls around me and my sister's ages. We hung out with them all the time and they are like are second family. When I was in middle school they moved away to Redding but we have kept in touch and recently attended the middle daughter, Shelby's wedding.

Jessica feeding Adelaide in the car on our four hour drive up to Redding.

Jessica and Ariel.

The bride Shelby with Adelaide.

I didn't get a good picture of her with her husband Tyler, but they are an adorable couple and we are so happy for them!

Grandpa and Adelaide.

Rick has a magic touch and was able to get Adelaide to fall asleep during the reception.

Tracy, me and Brittany.

All the kids from the block:

Eric, Ariel, Jessica, me, Shelby, Mary, Peter, Rachel and Brittany.

It was a fun reunion.

Congratulations to Tyler and Shelby!

Getting Well

Last week Adelaide was sick and this week I have been sick, but I am suddenly starting to feel better. It is amazing how being sick really makes you appreciate being well and having the strength and energy to get things done and be active. The only thing I will miss about illness in our house is that when Adelaide is not feeling well she is cuddly and I just love that.

Happy Valentine's Day!

To start off this special Valentine's morning Rick and I had some delicious pecan sticky buns that I made using a recipe from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Magazine... they were delicious and easy and I highly recommend them.

Our Valentine's gifts to each other were rather low key this year, but still fun. Rick made me a bouquet of lollipops and wrote on the pot "Emily, You are like a Pot of Flowers." hahaha that really cracked me up for some reason. And then on each of the flowers he wrote things he loves about me, that are also things you could love about flowers? very cute.

I wrote reasons why I love him on some Taffys. One example:

This weekend we also had a little Valentine's Day party at church, and our neighbors Ruthie and Brad came too... they almost won the 'Newlyweds' game:

Happy Valentine's Day!

Adelaide and her Grandma

Grandma and Adelaide had such a fun little visit together... Grandma made Adelaide smile and giggle a lot, and when she did get fussy Grandma just gave her a little cranberry juice to calm her down (Adelaide liked that very much... her first and only taste of anything besides milk). I just love these pictures, they are precious to me.

A Very Special Lady

Today my beautiful grandmother reunited with the love of her life in heaven. We all miss her and my grandpa very much. There is no one like my Grandma and I have so many wonderful memories with her and here are just a few...

Trips to the cabin in Tahoe, snow ice cream, sour gummi worms and red licorice, the good-bye rock, honking on the way down the hill, the original waffle nights, amazing garden, constant annoyance with the dear trying to destroy her garden, delicious oatmeal cookies, Sunday dinners, holiday dinners, browsing through the yearly photo albums, cutting down the Christmas tree in the Santa Cruz mountains the day after Thanksgiving, corn casserole, many games of rummikub, always calling from the top of Half Dome to let her know we made it safely, Alaskan Cruise, extra chocolate cake each night, funky but beautiful jewelry, warm-bloodedness,"It will be so great when you teach your children Humpty-Dumpty," graham cracker sandwiches, but most of all always feeling very loved.

About a week ago Rick, Adelaide and I had an opportunity to visit Grandma in Utah and it was so fun to hang out with her. When we arrived she was in the salon getting her hair permed... very cute:) Then we went and had lunch and sat with her friends. I could tell she enjoyed showing off Adelaide. On our way out from lunch, Grandma's friend B explained to Rick that she is legally blind and that Grandma was always taking care of her and was such a good friend. That's Grandma... always helping other people and bringing happiness to their day. After lunch we went back to her room and chatted for a while... we reminisced about the fun time we had together on the cruise a couple years back, she talked about the gold dipped rose that Shannon gave to her, showed us all the family pictures she had up, and enjoyed giggling and playing with Adelaide.

We miss you Grandma and love you so much!

Rick Grandma and Emily at Grandma's birthday dinner.

Me and Grandma after my wedding.

All of us last Christmas in our PJ's and ribbons.

Playing Rummikub and Nerts. Grandma was NOT a fan of Nerts, and wished the whole gang would just play Rummikub instead.

At Kev and Rachel's wedding Rick was Grandma's chauffeur.

Me, Grandma, Jess and Court in Carlsbad.

During most of the cruise to Alaska, I wheeled Grandma around. This day she insisted on pushing me.

1st Year Videos

This is the video Rick made me for our first year anniversary. It is nice having our anniversary right after new years... it's the perfect time to reflect:)

This one is even longer than the second year one so it is divided into two parts.

2nd Year Video

2 Years

Happy Anniversary to us! Rick and I have been married for two years and it has been so great:) I feel so lucky and so in love. Rick made an anniversary video of our second year of marriage, he did it last year too and I just love them. If I ever get technically advanced enough I will post them on here. Love you more each day Rick ( even if you are sporting a 'stache)!