paris, day 3 & 4

on day 3 in paris we took the train to versaille. which was incredible! it is so massive! and the free audio tour is awesome!

and then of course we became major tourists and locked out love..

and they say once you lock it on, it is nearly impossible to find it again, but we did, like ten times after that. every time we walked by we checked it! we seriously jammed it on top of all these other ones and i swear it is impossible to try and add another!

after locking our love, we toured the louvre. which is really insane. there are so many pieces of art there. woah! but it's really crazy to be surrounded by some of thee most famous pieces of art ever! like in the world! of course we saw the mona lisa, which is talked down so much- boo everyone! i had seen it before, but couldn't remember very well, and so i felt like i was sort of seeing it for the first time! it is a little bit awesome! again, to be looking at one of the most famous pieces of art ever! really ever, cause everyone knows about the mona lisa! so we were a little bit in awe, and it exceeded our expectations!

the next day we took a day trip to monmartre! ah, sweet charming monmartre! it is so darling and beautiful! we were fortunate enough to be there on a saturday morning during mass, so walking through the church was beautiful with the nuns singing in the background. we decided to sit down for a little and just enjoy! after we walked the street and found ourselves walking around all the painters selling their art and after much bargaining and deciding- we bought one. and we love it! during our whole paris trip we hardly bought anything, basically because we purchased waaaaaaaay to much food! but whatev. i am happy to be going home with a little bit of paris!

did i mention how charming monmartre is....^^^ uh, hello!

and then we headed to the one and only {besides vegas} eiffel tower!

where we chowed down on some nutella crepes. YUM! and went on a boat ride!

oh... is this annoying!? 

after this night as we were walking home, we were so sad! because our paris trip was almost over! WHY!? 

Paris, day 1 and 2

Paris was to die for! It was such a perfect trip for us.

we have never really been on a trip solo, just us, besides our honeymoon 3.5 years ago.

so it was much overdue.

jeff completely surprised me on christmas with a little eiffel tower ornament on the christmas tree, with the dates written on the bottom.

to say i was shocked/surprised is an understatement. i just kept calling him a liar, and said over and over, "no, you're lying!" and then i asked, "is june coming?" haha, well she didn't,  sans baby.

our first two days in paris we had a hop on, hop off bus tour. which was the best. comes highly recommended by us! it was the perfect way to see the city and learn where everything is in relation to everything, ha. our first stop was notre dame. 

^^the views were breathtaking! paris is too charming! can you see the eiffel tower getting lost in the clouds?

^^ you can see monmartre in this picture! we loved monmartre!  you can see the basilica of the sacré coeur. 

^^ i love this picture. i love the seagulls perched on each head!

^^atop the arc de triomphe. where you feel like you are in the middle of paris! literally it is in the middle of 12 way round-a-bout... what?? this was so awesome to see everything, a view of all of paris!

^^the next morning we headed to the catacombs. talk about spooky!? we were told to try and get to there right when they open because the lines can get up to an hour... well let's all re-think the busy season, because we were 2 of 8 people walking these underground tunnels lined with bones and skulls... the catacombs are sort of insane and are so different from all of the other paris sites. definitely a must-see!

^^this is jeff

^^after the catacombs we went to the the rodin museum, which was such a nice and simple museum because it is just rodin, and wasn't overwhelming. it was nice to focus primarily on one man's works.

^^ oh my gosh, french food! feed me! we ate the most delicious french restaurant! our waiter, who i'm pretty sure was the owner was so nice and chatty with us, which made our experience that much better! i just could have eaten this all day!

^^^ OK STORY!!!!! so we are walking around all romantically in love and  it just started to get a little dark and the streets were beginning to light up, so we asked this woman to take our picture {literally the woman waiting at the crosswalk looking at her phone...} and she said NO! and just so she could go and wait at the crosswalk!! who says no, you live in paris, where your city thrives on tourism! don't say no to me! blah, whatever, we found someone else better! anyways,,, we seriously stuffed ourselves at every meal, so we LOVED to walk! and every night we would walk along the river until we came to the louvre, and then just walked on home to our hotel. it was so fun to just walk and walk and walk and get better acquainted with the city.

paris, comin' at ya!

we recently went to the beautiful, gorgeous, charming, romantic and historical paris.

we loved it more than i could ever explain.

it was a trip of a lifetime.

stay tuned, because there is more to come...

2013!!!

a little late, but that's ok!

2013 was a year for the books! really, it was and for the obvious reasons... our sweet baby junie was born and changed our lives for the better! there is no order or reasons for these pictures, other than the fact that i enjoy them and apparently they are some of my most favorite or important moments from this past year.

i love this picture! i love the guy, the babe and the beach they're standing on. i love june's chub, and her sweet snuggle! mmmm! it is just simply the best! we went to hawaii this past year in october with my parents and had thee best time. junie was 4 month old and was the perfect little traveler! it was such a relaxed trip and we didn't have to move at anyone's pace or schedule, except for sort of junes, ha!

ummm, does an hour away from our house count as a baby moon? our original "baby moon" got the ax when my pregnancy took a turn, at 30 weeks, so we like to pretend this fun weekend trip to monterey was our baby moon. we spent it with good friends and some hella good food! monterey is such a charming little place and was perfect for a weekend trip. this baby belly is 26 weeks.

i don't even know what to write about this. i saw it in video and the person was walking around like this, so of course i had to try and was SO excited to freak jeff out, and then sadly i couldn't walk/crawl when it came down to it. so i had to just yell to jeff for him to come and look. 

our first family photo. 

packing up our life in the bay area. this was a sad and exciting time for us. we are happy to be where we are now, but we were definitely sad to leave. we loved our time in california. 

junie on christmas morning in her christmas jams. 

our empty apartment. we literally sold ALL our furniture, so that we could fit everything into this teeny tiny pod. and haha, we will not be doing a pod situation ever again. it was the MOST jam packed thing EVER!!!!!!! and it's safe to say i was a little more attached to everything we had than i thought. 

some of the bay area babies! such a fun group and i will miss them all SO much! we did a lot with this crew. and when you live away from family, your friends become your family. 

jeff's fishing trip to canada. where he literally caught a fish, threw it in the lake 3 feet away and a bald eagle came from the trees and ate it. i swear it. i have the video! 

june getting some solid action... she LOVED solids the very first time, and every time after.  each bite she would put her fingers in her mouth and slurp the foodies down.

after junie was born my momma and sister came to visit. it was so fun to have them there and to get out of the apartment. after having a babe it is easy to become a hermit, so i am glad that they were there to help me get out and meet little junie. we kept VERY busy and ventured into sausalito and san fran.

LATELY..

 well woah...... lots to catch up on.

^^christmas came and went, but oh it was sure good to me. ^^

obviously...

 ^^ and then paris came and went ^^

TAKE ME BACK!!!!!!

{MORE TO COME}

IT'S CHRISTMAS TIME

YAHOOOOOOOOO!

it is christmas time! i am always sad when christmas goes away, but then it comes again so quickly.

i think that having a baby between them makes it go by a lot faster. something to think about eh?

but seriously i am so excited to share christmas with sweet june. even tho, she will. have. no. idea. what. is. going. on. and all of my presents are on her behalf, so she will really be getting spoiled this year! lucky girl, that june.

to kick of christmas, we got together the other night and made these delightful balls of fury!

we definitely underestimated and had to send tobin out to buy more ornaments at 11 PM. such a good guy that tob. so thankfully we were all able to finish!

if ya'll are interested, you will want a somewhat small wreath to begin with. we used a white foam one and spray painted it gold. then with an assortment of small, medium and large ornaments. start with the outsides first, and use one size. we used the largest of the balls. and glued them with the wreath on the floor so that when it lays on our door it will be flat/even. and same rules go for the outer part of the wreath. and then just go crazy for the middle! 

**what we didn't do, that i wish we would have is kept the little gold taggies on that either string or a hook is on to "hang" it on the tree, because then if you glue and one shows a little, it still looks like an ornament. make sense?

or for much better descriptions, just google or go on pinterest and you can probably find a dozen blogs with pictures galore of this whole ordeal.

...

it was kind of weird to hang out without the babes. thankfully, june was a snoozer and caused no problems. 

so... whose is the best?????

so back to christmas and snow and trees and smelly candles and hot chocolate, sweaters, radio stations that you can sing along to, boots, gloves/scarves, lights, etc. i just love christmas and cannot wait! let us all go see santa and watch elf, love actually, home alone 1, 2, the santa clause, charlie brown christmas, christmas story, christmas vacation, nightmare before christmas, grinch, the holiday.

but don't watch jingle all the way, any santa clause after 2, or any home alone after 2. or any other movie that you cant think of off the top of your head. because that definitely means it isn't very good.

and of course, remember the true meaning of christmas. too cheesy? too bad, cause its true. 

eating solids

we started junie on solids... it's about time! i don't think any baby has been more ready for food than june. she loved it! just gobbled it right up, and caught on pretty quick, she'd just stare at me with her mouth wide open. 

we started her out on sweet potatoes, but she has had bits and pieces of others as well. in hawaii we fed her poi and like a teeny tiny bit of cottage cheese. i also fed like miniature tastes pumpkin pie, syrup and freezing water that she DID NOT LIKE.

"i like food this much!"