France

We just returned from a fabulous 10 year anniversary trip to France. Well actually it was over a week ago, but it always takes me forever to do a blog post.  We planned the trip (aka booked the trip) a year ago, before we bought a lot or planned on building a house. And then even when all of that happened we still thought there would be more breathing room, but we apparently like to make things interesting. So this is the first time I have left on a trip without really having a solid plan of what we're doing and where we're going. We only knew what days we were spending in which city.... Aaaaah!

Despite that, it was an amazing trip! Once again I was proved wrong. Dustin actually had the idea to go to France. I had always wanted to do southern France, but had no desire to do Paris because I had always heard the people were rude and the city wasn't that great. Once again, I was wrong. The people could not have been nicer and the city was much better than I had expected. And in the 4 days we were there, I saw a great deal of it by foot. Because bless Dustin's heart, but I am married to the energizer bunny who doesn't stop and can go strong all day long. I had to insist on a nap in the early evening and by the 4th day in Paris, I just didn't get up and slept through the night!

Highlights in Paris: of course the Louvre is amazing. The building itself is absolutely incredible and the architecture was breathtaking. As for the art, I am probably more of a Museum D'Orsay gal. I loved the impressionist painters and preferred the art there, but it's still fantastic. The Notre Dame was beautiful. I'm not much of a stained glass window person myself, however the stained glass windows in the Notre Dame are by far the most beautiful I've ever seen. I'm sorry my pics don't do them justice. We stayed a little out of the way in Montmartre so we went up to the Sacre Coeur Basilica a few times. The church is beautiful and the view over the city is fantastic as well. Random highlights, brie for like $3-4 and patisseries (bakeries) everywhere. You couldn't go more than a block without seeing another one and sometimes even next door to each other. We did a river tour on the Seine which was a nice rest and great way to see the city after going up 43 stories on the Eiffel Tower. But we were the first ones up for the day at least for a few minutes which was kind of cool! And then the Eiffel tower at night is a must! 

Beautiful view from our river tour along the Seine

The Louvre - Pic doesn't do it justice

It really is soooo big!

Notre Dame

One of the amazing stained glass windows in the Notre Dame

The original Mouline Rouge - just like the movie, don't you think? 

Sacre Coeur Basillica - Offered the most beautiful views because it sits on a hill over the city

But as much as I really did enjoy the city, to my surprise, my favorite was our day trip to Versaille. I started reading "To Dance with Kings" on the flight out. It's a historical novel that starts during the time of King Louis XIV and goes through King Louis XVI but it's during the time that Versailles was transformed and really utilized and so although I was only halfway through the book when we went there it just came alive for me. I could envision the parties in the various rooms, and where the town folk were selling their goods, it was an amazing experience for me where my senses were heightened. Not to mention that I enjoyed the book immensely. That palace is a masterpiece of art and I highly recommend going there if you're going to Paris and to read the book too!

The GOLD gates of Versailles!

Through the gates... WOW!

Hall of Mirrors - where a lot of the parties and gatherings took place - All of the gold is either 18k or 24K - craaaazy huh?  King Louis XIV may have been over the top, but all for our enjoyment now..

Bike ride throughout the extensive grounds of Versaille - so fun and a must if you go!

The Hamlet - the peasant farm that Marie Antoinette had built

One of my favorite pics that Dustin took.  Yes, the bird is real!

Another one of my favorites a la Dustin

There are over 300 fountains on the grounds, used to be thousands

We then went down to Avignon for a few days. The train ride down made me want to stop along the way, but I loved Avignon. There's a wall around the inner part of the city and a beautiful palace. It's also a great central place for day trips. We hit Aix en Provence one day. It was expensive to get there and I wasn't that impressed so I don't think I'd go back there although many like it, which is why I wanted to go. Another day we went to Arles. Another fantastic city! Home of a mini coliseum where gladiators would fight and now bull fights take place. In fact Van Gogh who spent two years in this little town was so moved by it, he did 300 paintings in 2 years. Some of your favorites were painted there...

Ponte d'Avingon (aka Avingon Bridge)

 Van Gogh's Le Jardin de La Maison de SAnte a Arles.  This is the hospital he stayed at after cutting off his ear.  No longer a hospital, but if you're all cooped up, why not paint your surroundings.  

Coliseum in Arles

Our favorite meal was in Avignon. I don't think they get many Americans so we were even greeted at the door by the owner/chef when we arrived asking us how we heard about his restaurant. 

 Dustin's favorite pastry he found in Avignon, it was this light bready meringue with this praline cream filling... so good.  Dustin thought he'd died and gone to heaven!

 Beef Tartare with Wasabi ice cream, Braised Turkey with Tandoori Sauce, Peanut Cake with Dulce de Leche Ice Cream and my Molten Chocolate Cake with caramel and rose ice cream (not pictured) - Instagramers saw how awesome it looked though... yum!

We ended the trip in Nice which could not have been more perfect. The sound of the ocean and the view of the blue Mediterranean. One day we took a bus ride that goes right along the coast to Monaco which was picturesque the entire way. Monaco was just like in the movies. The money just in the cars in Monte Carlo is crazy! On the way back to Nice, we stopped in one of the most charming towns up on a hill called Eze. I couldn't capture the little alleyways of the town in a picture, but it was beautiful and the views were breathtaking. 

Brie on a baguette and a Coca Light sitting by the ocean... life was pretty awesome!

Monaco - the Monte Carlo Hotel and Casino behind us

 Eze

We went back to Nice and ended the night with a fabulous meal of stuffed rabbit with sausage, Parmesan rissotto with scallops, fish mullet and chocolate fondant with pistachio ice-cream. Which is almost like this rich chocolate batter of sorts. Simply divine! A lot of Italian influences when you're so close to the border.

So, as if this post isn't long enough, I'm going to finish it up with just a couple pros and cons that I think anyone who has traveled to Europe can appreciate....

Pros

To all of my Diet Coke loving friends, I am sorry to say that I would pick a coca cola light over a diet come any day... Why don't they have those around here?

It is truly awe inspiring to walk down streets and visit sites that are far older than the country we live in.

Patisseries on every block and cheese stores. No wonder the French are skinny, they walk everywhere. I ate whatever I wanted and still lost weight on this trip. Although I was exhausted when I got home. I would love to know how many miles we walked.

It took only a couple of days or so removed for me to truly re-appreciate my life as a mother to my beautiful girls and wife to my husband of now 10 years of now 10 years. I get so caught up in my daily life that it takes me missing my girls and being one on one with DT to just remember how truly great my life really is. Apparently I forget that sometimes. How selfish am I?


Cons

However.... I don't want to pay 2 or 3 euros for a coca light and I much prefer it cold with a tall glass with ice and LOTS of it. 

Now that I'm home, it is so nice to see bathrooms everywhere, and to not have to pay every time I use one of them. 

I'll be happy to eat my meals without smelling smoke or just to not to smell body odor... Gross!

This next one probably goes in both categories. Pro - Dustin loved Paris. Con - He's ready to move there. I told him slow down cowboy, I'm not raising our two little kids in Paris. So I think with his current employment, we're in the clear. :)

Ode to Our Home

So, today we officially sold our home.  We've kept it on the down-low for the most part, but we are moving. And like last time we moved, we're pretty much moving within the same neighborhood.  It appears that our little family probably doesn't like to leave our comfort zone very much.

The whole thing has been an adventure.  We've loved this house.  We bought it right at the peak of the housing bubble:  October 2006.  And we've done a lot to the home:  we immediately remodeled the kitchen and installed new flooring and painted.  We eventually updated the exterior, added a deck, replaced carpet, and remodeled the bathroom.  I think it's a beautiful house.  The problem is, once we had our second miracle daughter, the house became a little less practical.  Tay and Hannah are sharing a room because the third bedroom is downstairs.

Last September, we put our house on the market, just to see what we could get.  We weren't in a hurry to leave, because we loved the neighborhood and area and our home.  But we couldn't find anything that we liked on the market.  But in December, we came across a flaglot in a nearby neighborhood that we loved and we decided to build a house, which we'll be moving into next month.

So, here we are.  It's a little bitter-sweet right now.  A bit unhappy with the fact that our house didn't sell for a price that we had thought it was worth, yet very grateful for this home for giving us so many great memories and amazing friendships.  And we're also excited for our next house to have more wonderful memories.

So, I've decided to share some of my favorite memories of the house. And I'm only putting the positive memories, partly because I'm never in the frame of mind to take pictures during the bad moments (like the basement floodings, huge trees falling in our yard, pesky rodents, etc.).

So, here are some pics of our favorite memories of this house:

First three pics are before (right when we bought the house)

The next three pics are the same pictures, but after our work:

And this is the deck that we added, along with my favorite backyard get together:

We weren't the best gardeners, but we did enjoy having a garden . . .

Our sweetest memory of this house is probably the day that we picked up Taylor from the hospital.  Most of you know our story, but we found out about Taylor pretty much the day that she was given to us.

One reason that we have felt such a need to stay in our neighborhood is because of the amazing friends and neighbors here.  When we got home from the hospital, not only was our house and yard decorated with congratulations, but a new crib was set up and our kitchen was filled with groceries.  What amazing friends!  

Then watching Taylor go from the tiniest baby to a fat little toddler and into a little princess: 

 

And of course, the adoption and sealing . . . 

And of course, our next miracle took place while living in this house.  The miracle of Hannah's arrival:

And watching her turn into our little happy 'butt-scooter'.  Since she scoots and doesn't crawl, it's been nice living in a rambler without stairs.  But she better learn how to crawl up and down stairs soon . . .  

 And Utah's Sugar Bowl season.  It kind of fits into my good memories.  But really, it's almost football season and I had to throw that in somehow.

Thanks, Tate 2nd home, for the amazing memories and friendships we've shared while living here.  You've been a great home - just a lousy financial investment.
But I do hope the new young couple that's moving in can have as many wonderful memories in this home as we have . . .

Scary Yellow Jackets!

Last night I took the girls on walk.  (I include Quique (the dog) in that statement).  We were attempting one of our normal routes which will sometimes include Q saying hi to one of her friends toward the end of our street where they have a rod iron fence surrounding their front yard with some ivy on the ground.  Q was waiting there for her friend Angel to come over when this swarm of about 20 or so yellow jackets comes up from the ground.  Tay was sitting on the front of the double stroller and I just started trying to push the stroller across the street and away as fast as possible and drag Q along with me.  As I am doing this, Tay is screaming, the yellow jackets are still swarming us now like chasing us.  It feels like some B list version of Hunger Games suburbia style.  I feel one sting and then another which means I know that Tay is screaming because she's been stung.  I pick up Tay who is in hysterics and we still have yellow jackets encircling us and I am trying to run away from them because I have no idea what to do.  I finally see one down her shirt and get that one away.  Q is acting weird so I know that she must have been stung a few times.  It was horrible!  And yet through all of the crazy hysterical screaming no one came out of their house, which was probably a good thing because I can only imagine how crazy I looked!

Luckily we weren't far from home so I pick up Tay in utter pain so I can only imagine how much she is hurting and grab the leash and the stroller and go home.  And yet this entire time Hannah hasn't made one peep or anything, so she probably just needed a bowl of popcorn to watch the show. We get home and Dustin makes it home 15 or 20 min later, thank goodness, because Hannah is still out in the stroller.  Taylor has at least 5 stings or so.  She's screaming and as a mom, it really is the worst feeling ever.  There is nothing worse than knowing that YOU (meaning me) put your child into harms way and then to watch them agonize and scream in pain and there is nothing you can do except wait it out.  And Tay is one that doesn't necessarily want to be held or cuddled while she is in pain so you just have to sit and watch; it is excruciatingly hard.  I will be totally honest and say there are times that Tay has put me through the ringer, but last night, I felt I had failed a little as a mom (yes I know there are worse things and you can't protect them from everything) and it hurt!  Motherhood stinks sometimes.  But when that door to her room opened this morning and those little footsteps came running into our room and she hopped into bed with us and was laughing about her bee stings, all of the hurt and anguish from the night before just melted away.  Gosh those little ones are resilient!

Newport

Well it's now been over a week since we've been back, but it was nice to get away for a week with Dustin's fam and apparently do the "Utah" thing and go to Southern Cali and really just relax.  (I say this because I think half the people at the resort were from UT). I think back to the last vacation we went on with Dustin's family to Hawaii when Tay was 16 months.  She was getting to that crazy age but it was my first real vacation with a child and I remember thinking that it really didn't feel like a vacation at all even though I was on this beautiful island and I was able to do fun things.  Even though there are two kids now and things are crazier, it's amazing how that mentality shifts because I was definitely able to relax and enjoy!

Taylor was in 7th heaven because although she didn't get to see Allie that much, she was hooked at the hip with Mia (two of her cousins who are the same age).  And although that usually equates to trouble, trust me you don't want to hear the stories, they were great and kept each other entertained.  I think in another life, Taylor would also love to have an older brother.  Since she can't have that and maybe never even a younger brother, she can harass and be harassed  by her cousins and that keeps her completely happy.

We started the first couple days off in Vegas.  I think Taylor's highlight was at the Silverado Casino when we went to see the Mermaid.  They have a huge aquarium with fish and large stingrays and then a Synchronized Swimmer (how fitting) that swims around in this really well done mermaid costume (I must say), it looked so real.  Taylor loved it.  She swims around and blows bubbles and kisses at the kids and Taylor just ate it up!  Who could have thought that I missed my calling Vegas.  Although I must say that I don't think my chest would've lived up to the right measurements to get the job...

And how can we not go to Southern California and not go to the happiest place on earth?  That would be unheard of!  We just went for one day so we made the most of it.  We got the girls up way early and Taylor was not happy about it.  In fact she was miserable.  Even after taking her on It's a Small World, she wasn't very happy.  But it's the power of a princess.  Amazing what the princesses can do.  She saw Aurora and we saw the first smile of the morning.  Then we waited in line to see a few more princesses.  After that, it was like happy Taylor had come alive.  Of course there were some other meltdowns during the day, but I'm telling you, watching her light up when she saw Ariel and then watching her during the parade, brought tears to my eyes.  The same for Hannah.  Hannah LOVED It's a Small World.  The first time she took it in, the second time, she wanted to stand up and was laughing and clapping.  Words can't express seeing delight like that in your children.  What a truly special and magical day!

Our fam with Grandma TT (Dustin's Mom)

The first smile of the day, although it was giddiness as she ran back to us

Pure joy

Tay and Allie on It's a Small World

Hannah taking in It's a Small World and Loving it!

Daddy and Tay Tay loving the Tea Cups

And of course we also made it to the beach a few times.  Tay is her mama's girl and it not a big lover of the cold water.  It's great to see the ocean in California, just not great to touch it!  So she stuck with the sand.  Hannah on the other hand could have cared less how cold it was and was walking with Daddy in the cold water no problem!

Tay's obsession with mermaids only continues...

Most of the cousins with Papa and Grandma TT

We also hit Balboa which had a great beach and some of the cutest shops, as well as an Angels game and lucky for Dustin and I they happened to be playing the Giants.  Unfortunately the Giants couldn't pull that one out, but at least we got to see them play this year!  It was a great trip, great to spend time with family, but most importantly Tay loved spending time with her cousins.  We were so glad to be able to do this!

Fam in Balboa

Most of the cousins watching cartoons one morning

Tay being Tay after high jacking Dad's hat and Mom's glasses

Bedtime is usually a fight every night.  We didn't have to put up as much of a fight this week.  Tay loved the Ariel doll her Papa got her from Disneyland.  It matched the Ariel jammies she was wearing.  One of my favorite things to do is watch my kids sleep, so sweet and so peaceful.