Aptos, Family, Pebble beach

Scenes from the weekend

Hi friends. Hope you all had a nice Memorial Day weekend! My parents came into town for the weekend and we had such a great time. I love the days leading up to a visit with my family. Each phone call we sound more giddy and bubbly than the last. You know when you can hear someone smile on the phone? Well, we do a lot of smiling on the phone leading up to a long weekend together. I don’t know who they were more excited to see, Rob or Jace, ha. Sometimes I feel like I’m old news compared to those two. They’re such characters. I must be boring ;). We tried to keep things low-key, which means I didn’t plan a million things for us to do, like I normally do. However, we did hit up the farmer’s market in Aptos, made a lot of home-cooked meals together and ventured out to 17-mile drive for a cruise along the ocean. Every time my parents come into down we have the most beautiful weather. Never has it rained while they’ve been here. Seeing them cuddle Jace and make noises and talk to him touched my heart. It’s so fun to watch him look at their faces and smile. He’s so much fun right now and something inside of me is breaking knowing they can’t see him each week and watch him learn new things. When Jace went to bed, we watched movies and talked on the back patio, and laughed at Talking Tyler. Such a good time. It was pretty hard to say goodbye at the airport. This California dream sure is bittersweet sometimes. Well, anyway, here were some of the scenes from over the weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 30, 2014 by
Food, Giving Joy, Projects, San Juan Bautista

S’more pops

Us girls at the studio threw our friend, Loni, a little campsite-themed picnic at the park in town to celebrate her birthday! We basically went camping for an hour — flannels, tent, picnic table, hot dogs, hamburgers — the works. I was tasked with making the birthday dessert: S’more pops! They are SO easy and SO delicious. I let mine sit at room temperature for a little bit before the party and they were perfect. Soft and chocolate-y and semi-melty from the warm temps in San Juan Bautista. Just as good as a real s’more if you ask me.

Here’s what you’ll need for the s’more pops:

– white cake pop {candy?} sticks
– regular sized Marshmallows
– Baker’s dipping chocolate
– crumbled graham crackers
– parchment paper
– wood platter for presentation ;)

Instructions: Poke each marshmallow with a stick. Microwave the Baker’s chocolate tub. Dip half the marshmallow in the melted chocolate. Sprinkle the graham cracker crumble onto the chocolate part. Set it down on the wax paper. Then serve anytime after that! Like I said, SO easy. It was so fun celebrating Loni. Love her to pieces.

{I <3 these chicks}
May 29, 2014 by
beach house, Jace

The baby sleep swing

Lately little Jace has been fighting the mid-day nap. He likes to stay awake for as long as he can. When it gets to nap time, he usually starts smiling and talking {more like babbling}. He doesn’t like the swaddle in the middle of the day. He doesn’t like the rocking chair. So, we created a swing out of a cozy couch blanket and swung him until he got sleepy enough to cuddle. Once he gets comfy, he usually likes one of us to breathe on his face. Which I weirdly love to do, hahahaha. Oh, well. At least we’re weird together. And it worked, because he went down for a nap! Success!

{Perfect picture of our smiley, not wanting to nap baby boy}
{I love his little body form at the bottom, hahaha}
{Where’s Jace?!}
{OK, so maybe I wanted to take a nap, too ;)}
May 28, 2014 by
beach house, Food

The Dexter breakfast

We’ve been catching up Dexter in the evenings to wind down and the opening credits get us every time. It is the best intro I think ever created for a series. Not only does it fit the theme of the show perfectly, but it also makes the breakfast look so delectable, while deadly. It had us mesmerized once again so we went out and got all the ingredients for a Dexter breakfast and went to work. Oh, and we did this on Mother’s Day. It was just what I wanted — a lot of meat and protein!

What you’ll need:
– Eggs {over easy with some salt, pepper & tabasco sauce}
– Blood oranges
– Ham steak {we grilled up some bacon, too}
– Coffee, French press style {grind your beans!}
May 17, 2014 by
beach house, Jace, Rob

Father & son selfies

When my first day back to work came around, we had a two week window before Jace could start at his daycare, so Rob took two more weeks of paternity to stay home with the little guy. I was sad to leave them every day, but I felt better knowing they were having a blast together. Every day I would get a Rob & Jace selfie. Or, I would just get a Jace selfie. Every time my phone would light up at work my heart skipped a million beats to see what kind of picture was waiting for me. I get these kind of pictures now from my daycare lady, but these below will remain in my heart forever — Jace in his Nike onesies, sleep tents, big smiles, sleepy cheeks. I could just eat both of their faces.

 

 

 

 

 

 

May 16, 2014 by