Girl's Trip San Francisco Day 3

On our second day in the city we ventured across the Golden Gate passed Sausalito to the Muir Woods national park. It was definitely the highlight of the whole trip for me. The trees were just absolutely incredible. So tall and so huge in the circumference of the trunks.  And I will never forget how incredible it smelled in those woods. It was like stepping back through time, you almost expected dinosaurs or something to come walking through the trees.

We stopped at the Buckeye Roadhouse on our way back to the city where Lacey had eaten before and loved it.  Our last stop was at this incredible lookout over the Golden Gate that we managed to park and get there just as the sun was setting (thanks California traffic).

Girls Trip - San Francisco Days 1 and 2

My sweet brother-in-law surprised Lisa with either a birthday and/or Christmas gift of a girl's trip to San Francisco. We left the day after Christmas and had so much fun eating delicious foods, navigating the crazy hills of SF, and just some good ol' fashion girl time (there were too many "What's Up Doc" references to count).  The highlight for me was seeing the Muir woods. The redwoods were just awe-inspiring. So tall, and the trunks were massive. And the smell. My goodness the smell in there was incredible. I will never forget it.  Cadence was such a great little traveler. She did so well the whole time, except when she got a little sick on our second-to-last day there. Poor little lamb.  She is just my little traveling gnome and has now made it to both coasts before her first birthday. It will be so fun so show her all these pictures when she is older.

On the first day, after a fun adventure trying to secure a rental car, we checked into our rental house in charming Noe valley. It was really beautiful and charming and even had easy street parking.   We walked around our neighborhood and grabbed lunch in a cute little coffee shop, and then grabbed some fruit and essentials at the local market.

The next day we took the J Church train downtown and walked over to Pier 39 and Fisherman's wharf where we ate at the Neptune restaurant that had the most beautiful panoramic views of the bay. I of course had a hamburger because I just don't do seafood and it was honestly, probably the best burger I've ever had. Then we made our way over to Ghirardeli Square and stood in a massive line for some amazing sundaes. It was delish. Then we eventually made it back home on public transportation and hiked up to the house.

movie buffs will appreciate this one

Just under the January wire (Christmas 2014)

Yikes, I'm gettin' real bad at blogging lately. I guess it's the whole working-mom thing. But there's been a lot happening lately, and I would hate if I didn't at least get one post up here in January.

The holidays were great. It was so fun to have a little papoose for Christmas, it makes it so much more magical even though she was way to young to really understand anything.

Christmas Cards

I finally got around to ordering our Christmas cards and couldn't believe Brody and I have celebrated so many holiday seasons together.  This year's will always hold a special place in my heart because it's our first with the little goose. We decided on this picture in particular because it was one of the few with a genuine smile from Brody and I. And I can't get over that baby girl's expression, this was one of the few where she wasn't trying to grab the little tree I'm holding too ;)

I have loved doing our cards ever since we got married and I can't believe we already have six year's worth! It was so fun to look back at all of them and see how much we've changed.

Look at those young pups!

And because it's always fun to see the ones that didn't make the cut, here are some more from this year. Enjoy!

It Happened

I became one of those parents who just posts pictures of their baby. I knew it was a risk, but my goodness she's just so freaking cute I can't help myself.  I was looking back through the last couple of posts on here and realized that they are all mostly pictures (which is all anyone really wants to see anyway) but they were all a little too glossy and sunshiney and I don't want my life to appear edited. So here is some good ol' fashion text and some real life.

Brody is still looking for a job, the Utah legal market is quite small to begin with and with two feeder schools already, jobs for attorneys are very few and far between. We knew this coming out here, and I know it's going to work out and that he will find something eventually, but any leads and good vibes are totally welcome. Send them our way :)

We are still living at my parent's house.  And honestly, it's been pretty great so far. It's different for sure, but not in a bad way. Having so many adults around to help with the babe has been so nice.  We have our own little area of the house with our own bathroom so we don't feel crowded, surprisingly, considering how many people are living here. I totally get why people live in multi-generational households in other parts of the world. It takes a village, as they say, and living under the same roof as the rest of the village is really convenient.

I'm working part-time at my old job and can't believe how lucky I got.  Cadie just happens to sleep-in everyday during the hours when I'm in the office. The starts aligned in so many ways for this job and it just confirms that we are supposed to be here.

A Sandlot Halloween

For Cadie's first Halloween, I knew I wanted to do a group costume of sorts but kind of struggled for a while to find the right one--I also didn't really want to have to buy anything. We finally settle on Squints, Wendy Peffercorn, and the cutest little baseball from The Sandlot. I was pretty pleased with how it turned out and couldn't believe what an incredibly warm Halloween it was. This has truly been one of the best Utah's falls in living memory for me.

Having a babe has made me so much more excited for Christmas too--I may have already ordered all of our stockings and Cadie's baby's first Christmas ornament.  And if the radio doesn't start playing Christmas music soon, I may just have to be one of those people. I can't help it, it's so much more fun with a kid (even though I realize she will have no idea what's going on).  Bring on the rest of the Holidays!