Cruise

Steven and I just got back from a cruise getaway! Before this cruise, Steven and I had not been on a vacation together since before Aubrey was born. I had never even left the girls overnight before. We are so blessed that Steven's parents watched the girls so we could have a nice vacation.

We went on a four day cruise from Long Beach to Catalina Island and then Ensenada, Mexico. I read three books, slept in until 7:45 one day (still up early the others), took 3 naps, and ate approximately 8 desserts. Cruises are tough on the self-control :)

The first day was just on the ship and then the next was spent on Catalina Island. We went on a 7 mile hike from our ship, up the Hermit Gulch trail to overlook the whole island. Once we were at the top we could see both sides of the island, and the view was amazing.

We only saw one other couple the entire time we hiked. We thought it was crazy that everybody else from the ship seemed to stay right in the little city of Avalon. There was a whole island to explore!

That night was the cruise formal night, and I love an excuse to get dressed up. 

The next day we stopped in Ensenada, Mexico. First we went horseback riding...

 Steven and I were put at the back of the line. They told me that my horse, Tapatio, liked to bite the other horses. We were pretty dusty by the end. 

 The ride took us up over the cliffs overlooking the ocean. And, all that hiking + horseback riding = I could barely walk the next day. 

After horseback riding we spent the afternoon exploring the the rest of the city. We tried our hand at bartering to buy the girls some souvenirs. They look adorable in those dresses.

They are fixing the main road, but instead of trying to do it a little at a time, they just bulldozed an entire side. Traffic was crazy.

Steven got to eat authentic Mexican food from a food truck. 

And, we made sure to find a Starbucks with free wi-fi so we could call our girls.

The last day was spent at sea. We slept in, ran five miles in the gym, went in the hot tub, basked in the sun, showered, went to brunch, read some books, took a nap.... and then it was only one in the afternoon. The day was relaxing, but pretty long since all the normal cruise distractions (drinking, gambling, etc.) are not really for us.

But, we did play some intense rounds of speed after we bought some cards from the casino.

 We went to the shows each night. Some were great... some were not.

And then, we got off the ship Thursday morning and drove back home to our girls! It was a great trip and really good for us after all the stresses of moving. We have another five weeks here in Las Vegas and then we are off to Canada!

Goodbye California, Hello Las Vegas

The end of March was spent doing all our favorite things and spending time with all our favorite people one last time:

The last couple of weeks were pretty stressful. Our area in Santa Clara is so transient that people move in and out all the time, and so somebody is always needing help moving. I didn't want to bug too many people to help us, so I packed up everything myself with the girls running around, cleaned everything, lived on air mattresses for a couple of days, and then we loaded the truck with just a couple of friends.

On April 4, 2015 we drove away from the Bay Area and closed a chapter of our lives that I have absolutely loved. I'm very excited for our life in Utah, but a part of my heart will always be in California. I'm still a little sad, but we are having a great time here in Las Vegas.

Since we have been in Las Vegas, we have...

Visited splash pads and spent some time in sprinklers. I don't have a picture of it, but Katie and Tyler have an amazing pool, and we have spent quite a few evenings enjoying that. The girls are having a great time being around their cousins.

Put both girls in swimming lessons. Aubrey is a pro, and Cora had her first lesson last week. The first 22 minutes were great. Then she got cold and spent the last 8 minutes screaming, "I want to go in the hot tub." 

We got a pass to the Children's museum and plan on going weekly to get our money's worth.

 We went hiking up at Red Rock this morning. You can't really tell in this picture, but Aubrey climbed up really high for a four-year-old. She was pretty proud.

 Steven's parents have been wonderful to us, and the girls love having their grandparents around.

My little hiking buddy.

And... I guess we can't stay away from California long because after we had been here a week, Steven and I went on a cruise!

Catch-up

Less than three weeks now until we leave the Bay Area. Getting rid of furniture, packing, and trying to fit in as much fun as possible before we leave has kept us very busy.

 This may be really long, but according to the pictures on my phone, here is what we have been up to:

We went to Utah for a whirlwind trip to pick out the finishes for our house: 13 hours driving there and 16 hours back in a four-day span was super fun.

 

I have been trying to get outside every day with the girls. I will miss the weather here like crazy. Our afternoons are usually spent just the three of us in the backyard or at the park and I love it after the craziness of our mornings.

 

We have been fitting in as many last play dates and adventures as we can. 

 Happy Hollow is always a win.

 

This is Cora's best little friend Elsa. They are both really sweet and low-key and make the perfect little friends.

I can never get the girls out of my friend Lisa's house without crying. They really love it that much.

Steven took Aubrey on a date last week. This week, I took Aubrey to a birthday party at Chuck-e-cheese and Steven took Cora on a date. I don't think Chuck-e-cheese has changed since I was a kid. And now that Aubrey knows it exists, she keeps asking to go back.

We went to San Francisco last Saturday for a really perfect afternoon. We finally walked the whole way across the bridge and back.

 I sat and watched our stuff (so it didn't get stolen) while these three played in the ocean with the Golden Gate bridge in the background. We had to drag them out of there because our parking meter expired. It was very picturesque and I spent the whole time thinking about how blessed I am.

 

We continue to enjoy our Saturday night dinners at LinkedIn. I told Steven this may be the thing I miss most about living here. We have so many family memories hanging out and having fun. 

 

And I have really loved watching these two become the best of friends the past couple of months. 

 

Something clicked once Cora turned two and now they play so well together. Aubrey has never been very good at playing by herself, so it has been a lot less stressful for me now that she has a little buddy. 

 We have the beach and a day in Monterey planned before we leave. And then... we leave all this behind. I'm sad and excited. Sad because I really have loved the time we spent here. It has been quite the adventure. Excited because I know that it is best for our family to move on. Life just keeps on marching forward.

Hellyer Half Marathon

Steven and I just finished running our second half marathon this morning. As I write this, my throat hurts, my legs hurt, my stomach hurts, my knees hurt, my feet hurt... pretty much everything hurts right now! Yet.. we paid $100 to hurt this much and I will keep doing it even though it hurts. Running is so hard and so painful, but very rewarding when you meet your goals.

After our last half marathon, I knew that I wanted to do another one soon to improve our time. A big benchmark in half marathon times is finishing under two hours, and I wanted to reach that. I think we will keep getting faster, but at this point, two hours was our goal.

 And.. we finished in 1:57:00! That is an average time of 8:55 per mile for 13.1 miles. I was so happy to have finished under two hours.

We finished 119&120 out of 319 half marathon runners. There was also a 5k and a 10k race. Steven and I looked at those results after the race and decided we need to try a shorter race to boost morale. If we had run the 5k at the times we can right now, we would have finished 20/500 runners! All the hardcore people seem to have picked the half marathon. 

Training for this race was really hard for me. I honestly almost quit a few times. We just have so much going on right now. We trained through sickness, potty training, traveling, injury, building our house, getting ready to move, rain, darkness, and cold. Because of illness and injury, I honestly didn't even know if I was going to be able to run this race when I went to bed last night.

But, I'm so glad that I was doing it all with Steven because he kept me motivated and on track, even when I wanted to give up. I'm so glad that we are doing this together. I think he feels the same way :)

We went out with a goal pace of 8:50/mile. Except for the last mile (we slowed down... I kind of felt like I wanted to die) all of our splits were between 8:39 and 8:51 per mile. We were consistent, never stopped, and even managed to choke down our disgusting Gu's while keeping our pace.

And... we are done. Crossing the finish line is such an amazing feeling. Now, I want some ice cream!

The Next Step

The past couple of months have been a little crazy, and our family has some big changes ahead. But first a quick catch up...

Cora is potty-trained! We are officially a diaper-free household and I love it. She is barely two, but has taken to things pretty quickly. We gave Aubrey a treat as well every time Cora went potty and that helped us have a very enthusiastic training partner. We are still having some accidents, but I think we are well on our way.

My mom came to visit for a few days. I was pretty sick, but we managed to do a few fun things.

Horrible quality picture, but these girls love their Grandma. And their Elsa dresses.

We took them to a movie for the first time in over a year. I don't even want to admit how much popcorn they both ate.

Lots of fun with friends, play dates, and enjoying our warm California winters:

And we are definitely enjoying this warm California winter because it will be our last one.

We are moving!

We have absolutely loved spending the past four and a half years here in the Bay Area. This place has come to feel like home, and we have made many great friends. But, it is time to move on.

We were planning on moving sometime next year, but then on Christmas (nice people) our landlords told us that to renew our contract we would have a 25% price increase. That would be getting close to $3000 a month to live in a two-bedroom duplex. The cost of living here is crazy high and just keeps getting higher. In order for our family to have the kind of life we want to have, it just can't be here.

Steven talked to his bosses and he will be keeping his job at LinkedIn and working remotely. We feel incredibly blessed for that. We love his job and the opportunities for career growth it gives him.

So.... we are moving to Utah. We are building a house in Highland, Utah and we are really excited. We love the mountains, outdoor recreation, and central location that Utah will give us. Plus the area we are building in has top-rated schools, and we feel like it will be a great place for our family to hopefully settle. 

We will be leaving the Bay Area in April and spending some extended time with both sets of parents in Las Vegas and Canada before our house will be ready sometime in July.

Here are a couple of pictures of our lot...

We have a pretty sweet mountain view and a great, central location. Building a house is a lot of work, but I'm excited to finally have something that is ours to own. We are excited for the next step in our lives, and I'm trying to gear up for the craziness that the next few months will bring :)