Father's Day

Pinterest has no shortage of adorable picture ideas for Father's Day.  I decided on Friday during nap time that I should do something like that for Nate. It wasn't difficult trying to convince Hadley to wear Dad's shirt for a last minute Father's Day photo shoot.  She loved running around in it and even took it outside to give it more character. Later, I realized that this is the same shirt that Nate wore in the maternity photos we took about 16 months ago :) How she has grown!!

If I had thought of this sooner, I would have printed off these pictures and given them to him.  But a Facebook message was the best I could do :)  This was Nate's second Father's day, and it was pretty low key.  We took Hadley to the park, and grabbed a quick dinner at Panera because Hadley wasn't feeling well and was fussy.  We're going out to a real dinner tonight- Hadley is sleeping right now to rest up for it. 

              

              

             

                  A little Father's Day horse race.  Hadley won by a nose.

My Happy Little Turkey

    Now that I have some time off of work, I can get caught up on blog posts!  Our little turkey had a happy first Thanksgiving in California. Grandma Cathy kept us busy busy busy seeing friends, and going out to eat; and Mom and Dad even got to sneak away to see Catching Fire.

     It is so sweet to see the cousins interacting now that they are getting a little older.  Gigi wanted someone to read her a book, so she crawled up next to Hadley on Nate's lap, and they both looked at each other the whole time instead of the book. Nola loved trying to hold Hadley, who was beside herself to be so close to such big-kid coolness.

     Thanksgiving is always going to be a tough holiday without my dad: he would have loved seeing the cousins playing together. But it seems like these happy new additions to the family add joy in the sadness.

Hadley and Grandma

Hadley and cousin Nola

Everyone loves Grandma's piano!  I play only slightly better than Hadley :)

Saying Goodbye

Hadley went on her third plane flight a couple of weeks ago when we flew to California for my grandpa's memorial service. Her first flight was about a month and a half earlier, when she went to meet her great grandpa for the first time.  As we were leaving his retirement home, I wondered if I'd ever see him again.  I didn't think we'd be back just a few weeks later.

My grandpa, at 93, had a great life up until the last couple of weeks.  He was still sharp and witty, and befriended almost everyone he met with his probing questions and big smile. He could remember so much from his long life, and when Hadley was born, he told me details about my dad's birth 67 years ago (my grandma was in the hospital for ten days after birth, which was standard!)

When we were walking into the chapel for his memorial, the foyer was lined with photos of him at different stages of life.  I overheard two ladies, close to my grandpa's age, talking. One said, "He sure was a handsome young man!"  Her friend caught my eye and said with a smirk, "Well, he was a handsome old man, too!" I can hear Grandpa's low, rumbling laugh now.

Hadley with her great grandpa in July. 

Summer Vacay

We took our first vacation as a family of three last week.  We visited my family in California and spent a lot of time in the car on our tour.  She did really well in the car and on the flight there, but the flight home with just Mom wasn't the same story!

Hadley got to meet uncles, cousins, Aunt Sarah, second cousins, her great Aunt and Uncle, and her Great Grandpa Schultz.  I really wanted her to meet him as he is 93 and she will never get to meet her Pop Pop Schultz. 

We drove down to Santa Barbara (it took 6 hours with a baby!), picked up my grandpa, and then headed to my aunt and uncle's house for a beautiful, Pinterest-inspired patio dinner! Hadley wore the outfit that her Great Aunt Nancy gave her, and her second cousin Justin, daddy-to-be, got to practice his baby holding skills :)

4th of July celebration at the Andersons! 

 This girl loved the lake in Twain Harte.  I hadn't been to my parents' house there for probably 5 years!  Nathan had never seen it, so we wanted to get up there and explore the town. Hadley discovered her love for swimming on this trip (more on that later!) so the lake intrigued her! We also went on hikes, watched an outdoor concert, and enjoyed the break from the 100 degree Livermore weather. .

Cousin Nola loved Hadley. She wanted to hold her- pretty funny since our big baby is probably already half the size of her cousin! 

I am going to write about Hadley's first swim later- but of course, I have a lot to say about it and a lot more pictures to add :) 

Babies at the Bay

I visited the Monterey Bay Aquarium a few times when I was younger but I never fully appreciated it. I remember being afraid of the sharks behind the glass, sure that the glass would break and send me running for my life. (Is a fear of water normal for a life-long swimmer?) I was excited to go back when I was home for spring break with a new, more mature perspective and two fearless little ones, Nola and Drake. 

My sister Rachel and her husband invited my mom and I there for a mini-vacation. My mom and I got there a little bit later than Rachel and Duc, so we didn't get to see Nola's initial reaction to the over-stimulating world of the aquarium, but her enthusiasm was still high when we arrived. And why wouldn't it be?  With all the different types of fish to see, touch, learn about, as well as the kids' areas full of germ-infested opportunities to play, we could have spent days there.  My designated photographer (Nathan) wasn't with us, but along with Duc's help, we got some cute pictures. 

                                                                     Nola on the run! 

Drake is too little to appreciate the fish, but he did appreciate this cushiony play area.  

This looks like a nice place to rest!  She was watching little duck feet paddling above her head.

I think Nola finally figured out my relationship to her. Back at the hotel, I gave her jelly beans and cheese puffs so she would like me more. She has four aunts in California, so I have to earn points when I can :)

Meeting Baby Girl

Nate and I got to meet our newest niece, Genevieve Joy Vanier, last month during our trip to California.  Genevieve is beautiful, like her parents, and loves to "talk" and socialize.  We got to spend the day with her, and it was love at first sight.

She was named after our dad, Gene. We loved noticing the similarities between Genevieve and her Mom and Dad; old baby photos were pulled out and compared, and so far I think Genevieve looks like Sarah as a baby.

We are so excited for this new member of the family.

Nathan's 30th

Nate officially left his 20's behind on February 3rd. I was happy to have a snow day on his birthday so I could get organized for the big party. My gratefulness wore off when I realized it would be virtually impossible to get downtown, and that most sane people were not going to drive in the weather that dropped almost two feet of snow on Denver.

We waited for two hours for a cab to show but no one wanted to brave the unplowed streets of Wash Park. I am not a big fan of driving in general, let alone driving in the snow, and the birthday boy wasn't going to drive, so I was sure that we'd miss the entire party.  We called Nathan's sister Marissa and she said she'd pick us up.  A half our later, she showed up in her Jeep and we hopped in to find his mom waiting for us.  She flew in for a birthday surprise and was miraculously able to land in the heart of the storm earlier that afternoon.

It was 7:30 when we finally go to Falling Rock, and some of our guests had beaten us there.  We scrambled to decorate and get set up, which wasn't as difficult with so many extra sets of hands.

 I think Nate had a great birthday! 25 people came to celebrate with him. The night ended with mom-in-law Diane driving us through the Taco Bell drive-thru: a sign of a good night!

My Pinterest birthday craft!

Mom to Denver

My mom visited us this weekend.  We did our best to balance some downtime with things that require more energy, like eating and shopping.

Highlights: 

Sunday morning brunch at Lucile's.  We waited an hour and a half to be seated but when they brought out piles of Louisiana comfort food, we were thankful to be so hungry.

House browsing in Stapleton.  When I was little, I used to go to open houses with my mom (is that a typical mother-daughter pastime?) All three of us went on Sunday and saw brand new houses that are about the same price as our house but three times bigger.  Selling out to suburbia may not be such a bad idea after all.

Crafts with Cathy. I love my mom's craftiness!  She taught me how to make these stars out of scrapbooking paper.  She is like the MacGyver of crafts.

Mom also helped me make peanut butter dog treats for Kiowa.  Kiowa liked them at first but now I think she realizes that I swapped her meaty Milk Bones with vegan kitchen crafts.  Next time I'll add beef broth.

I was sad to drop her off at the airport today.  She is such an amazing mama!

Long-Lost Family

My dad had told me over and over again that the next time we are in Iowa, we should stop to see his cousin Dick.  He said that Dick would love to see us and treat us like royalty.

Even though I had every intention of stopping in some day, my dad's passing made it seem like visiting his cousin was urgent. We drove to Iowa on Thursday and met Dick and his wife, Joan, for lunch on Friday.  They picked the fanciest restaurant in Ames and ordered like rock stars, telling the server that they knew the chef would meet their special requests: a spinach salad that wasn't on the menu, a half glass of wine, and a caramel macchiato that the chef had to Google to learn how to make.

They brought pictures to show us, including a Christmas card from 1987 in which I am making a terrible face at the camera, and pictures of my Grandma and Grandpa on trips to Iowa. I didn't hear too many stories about my dad, but it was fun to learn about his family.

I'm glad that we remembered to bring our camera!

Christmas Canvas

When I moved to Colorado, my (second) cousin Julia gave me a picture of the house that my grandpa and her grandma grew up in together. It's a shabby little house in Mississippi and the picture always generates questions from visitors, but I love it because it's where this man that meant (means) so much to me became a strong, God-fearing person.

That's why Nathan's Christmas gift was the sweetest, most thoughtful gift ever. He got the picture scanned in from my mom, and had it blown up on canvas.  We put it on the barn board in our bedroom. 

After we had hung it up and were admiring it, we both thought of the same saying: "You can't know where you're going until you know where you've come from."