Ode to Summer: North Shore

About a month ago I was completely mindless and somehow deleted Adobe Bridge from my computer, which means I basically lost access to photoshop. 

And these pictures were taken on Auto in the brightest part of the day with the sun to our backs (because hello, we needed to be in the water) so they needed a little tlc. 

And heaven help my stubborn self if I was going to post anything else before I fixed the problem.

I just really love these pictures! The baby bellies! The turtles! That water!

Jess' friend from college lives on the North Shore and we drove up to meet her and have her be our tour guide for the afternoon (and also spend the whole day with her) and it was amazing. We swam with turtles and went to Matsumoto's shave ice with babies in bikinis. And the three babies came home with sweet plush turtles...Rory's still receives affectionate hugs and kisses on a daily basis and his name is Herman.

Anyways, this is the final blog post from Hawaii, which coincides with our first real week of cold weather and makes it feel like we are putting all things summer away for good. 

But I got out all my favorite fall decorations and bought a fall-scented candle at West Elm, 

and Rory looks amazing in beanies and tights so all is right in the world. 

Bring on the holidays. Homemade Halloween costumes! Pumpkin baked goods!

Moody neutrals! Dark lipstick! (ok fine I do that all year round) Molasses cookies! 

Stuffed scarecrows on the doorstep! Rain boots! (As Rory has been doing for a month)

Summer was really good to us, even though Rory hates splash pads but is too small to swim, 

which left us spending a lot of time in shallow ended pools with big sun hats for her ever-bald head.

We really are loving crunching leaves with rainboots, but we will be ready for you next year summer!

Hawaii part I: hanging out

We've gotten too big for hotels, so this year my parents rented a house for family vacation.
The original plan was Jamaica, and we were all stoked, but the moment Jamaica was flagged as a "do not travel" location for Zika we decided it was probably a good idea to change venue. (Did you know you shouldn't get pregnant for TWO YEARS if you contract Zika? Two of us are in our child bearing years and couldn't risk it) 

Anyways, Hawaii it was! And we're so glad! It was a dreamy setup on the water with kayaks and paddle boarding galore. But the best part about this vacation? Unlike staying in a hotel, there was tons of time and space to just hang out! The olympics were on so we spent an inordinate amount of time (mostly late night hours) watching that, and we ate at the big table on the patio most nights.

The babies' favorite pastime was floating around in the water for hours on end, and Rory found her undying love for squirt guns and made her own version of a "pew!pew!/pow!pow!" sound every time she had on in her hand. Rory was into kissing Winnie, but Winnie was a big fan of hugs that went all the way to the floor and Rory wasn't as big of a fan of those. (though we all died laughing)

We love our people, and the times we can all be happy and together. Three cheers for Oahu.

oh, august

The last time I posted was just after my grandfather died at the end of July.
There's good reason I haven't posted since-August has been a whirlwind.
I looked at my calendar and everything we have done has overlapped.
I think our little family has had maybe a total of four days at home without visitors or vacations.
We've spent 24 hours in the car with a baby driving back and forth from grandpa's funeral,
a week with my entire family in Hawaii,
had Jay's family in town for education week at BYU,
my family come to town to move my little sister in (YAYYYY.),
a tiny human with the stomach flu while everyone was here,
and today Jay's family comes back to town for a family wedding.
August is nearly through and had I blinked I might have missed it.

I remember last summer when there was so much going on for us with a new baby, state, house, puppy, job, etc. somebody told me to try and take a step back to enjoy it because there are very few stages where everything will be so new and exciting. And it's true. And I recognize there will be phases where we won't have so many places to be and people to be with. So I'm just sitting back the best I can, not worrying about the un-mopped floors or unfinished upstairs bathroom. Not stressing about getting up the pictures from Hawaii with accompanying posts, and only focusing on loving my sweet sick baby (and hard-working husband) and getting the spare bedroom sheets washed between visitors.

So in honor of our month, I'll share some family pictures we took in Hawaii that sort of speak to our life right now. Jay laughed when I wanted a family picture just how we were on our last day in Hawaii before the sunset, but I knew we wouldn't get another chance before we left and we had minutes until the sun went down. So although I am still in my bathing suit, Rory is naked eating pizza, Jay is only humoring me, and we have a sweet little tag-along: this is life lately. A little nuts, extra people involved, not always put together, but really happy.

a post dedicated to my niece, because I know you're obsessed too....

I know I'm biased.... but I'm not. [is that the highest form of biased?]
I was given the award "most likely to be a Disneyland Aunt [aka obsessed Aunt] at my last work party.
I have the cutest niece of all time and I can't help it- I'm obsessed.

But in my defense, I don't know anyone who doesn't love the chunk.
She's hilarious and awesome and has the biggest personality of any toddler I know.
Jay may have given her a run for her money if we could bring back the mini version of him,
so someday she may have cousins just like her- we'll all be excited to see!

But for now she is her own little independent person, who does whatever she wants.
And she's dang cute.
She's obsessed with rocks and water and has no fear of the ocean.
And some of her bathing suits can [obviously] not contain her awesomeness.
If you aren't in love with this chunky diva by the time you're done with this post,
I don't know who you are.

Good things Aptos

We vacation on the central coast- and we have for years.

In fact, my dad vacationed there when he was a kid, 

and his family all rented houses on the same street when we were growing up. 

Needless to say, it holds a special place in our hearts. 

If I need to convince you in the direction of the central coast, 

all I probably need to say is that it's the happy medium off all the West Coast. 

It doesn't have the same crowds as Southern California. Nor the same traffic. 

And it's not frigid cold like the Northern Beaches. 

Aptos is our home base, but we like it all. 

The shops in Capitola, the boardwalk in Santa Cruz, 

and the history/aquarium in Monterey Bay. 

So in case you happen along that way anytime soon, 

I'm going to share some of our favorite places to go [warning:mostly food]

Aptos Street BBQ

Go. 

And go early. I'm dead serious. 

Those who know us know that we Veaters love our meat. #cattleranchfamily

[are hashtags appropriate on a blog? Meh.]

Moral of the story is this place smokes the meat overnight and only has a certain amount. 

They sell out by the end of the day, and believe me you don't want to miss it. 

Get the TriTip and it will change your life. 

I crave it on the daily and I'm not kidding. 

Marianne's Ice Cream

Try their licorice ice cream for me, would you?

Ok, you don't have to but I'm obsessed. 

I never can choose another flavor, though if I'm in the mood for a double scoop [aka almost always]

I'll pair that bad boy with salted carmel, which will also blow your mind. 

Not to say that 50-50 and snickerdoodle cookie dough aren't equally as amazing....

but you get the idea, don't you?

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

Ok, so it's super old and maybe slightly ghetto, but the rides are actually great!

And you can't beat looking out over sailboats and the ocean while screaming out your lungs. 

Can you?

And if I say so myself, it's a great place to people watch- 

every type of person you could think of is there. 

Cafe Sparrow

A darling little Country French restaurant!

Wallpaper and fresh flowers on the table and the best pork chop I've ever tasted.

And I don't like pork chops, so that's saying something.

And now for some more vacation pictures!

p.s. I forgot to mention that now that Jay's in the family, we do bonfires too.

veaterfamilyvaca

Ok, guys.
The cat's out of the bag [see here] and now I can post all of my family vacation pictures
because I'm going to be an aunt again on account of Jess,
and now that she's made it public I can post her bump to my heart's content!

YES. the level of excited [both for her pregnancy, and for her first trimester to be hurrying along so she isn't sick anymore]
about Steve+Jess offspring number two is through the roof.
I mean, have you seen Clara?

Anyways, onward to family vacation.
I have a sister-in-law that's darling and asks lots of questions about details.
[shout out to Elise and her kindness and inherit curiosity]
And sometimes she catches me off guard.
Because though the devil may be in the details....
I don't always take note like I should.

Anyways, a question she asked recently was "what does your family do on vacation?"
Great question. I had to think about it for a minute.
We don't really hike or play games (like, ever).
We don't do crafts. Nope.
We don't even really cook together.
The gist of it is that we're either going full speed or doing nothing at all.
We read books by the beach and take leisurely bike rides (and naps),
or watch movies in the theater.
And we eat. Oh my gosh we eat.
I have never seen my husband concerned about his weight until after our family vacation...
Italian food, French restaurants, ice cream once a day, dessert every meal but breakfast,
and sometimes then too. Candy shops, pizza, Tri tip sandwiches, bakeries....
need I continue?

As my dad put it yesterday, we commit every dietary sin possible on vacation.
And it's amazing.
Jay and I have eaten salad for dinner two days in a row (true story) to feel a little better.

The thing is, we just really like being all together. So whatever encompasses that, we do.

Also let's just say that we thought these shirts were awesome (which they are)
and we were going to buy three for us girls (which, when we found a fourth, we did it)
and tre in italian means three..... so, you know "three cool sisters" (with a wicked cool mom)
Little did we know that once you add the mark above the 'e', this shirt becomes a fan shirt.
A fan of who you may ask? The drummer for Green Day.

So I'm off to research the Tre Cool so I know who I'm advertising, y'all.

In case you were wondering what I found....
"I'm the greatest rock and roll drummer on the planet 
and you suck."

-Tre Cool

You're welcome.