cold cereal cocktail

breakfast = the leftovers from all the cereal boxes taking space in our cupboards even though they are all almost empty.

why didn't the last person to eat them just put another 1/8 cup of cereal in their bowl and throw the box away???

this may or may not be the only breakfast option left in the house when life gets chaotic a tad busy and i happen to neglect grocery shopping.

spring fall cleaning for the cereal cupboard?

black

i think they call it black friday because it is still black outside when people start shopping.

the insanity that is my sisters' in law, started this morning at an insane hour.

thanksgiving down time was spent scouring ads, making christmas lists, and determining strategy.

i found exactly zero items in the ads that motivated me to get up early.

okay- not true. i saw a scarf i wanted to look at (which ended up being ugly) but that was only motivation to go to the store, not to go to the store at dark-thirty in the morning.

however, i didn't catch a last minute flight to california to sleep in on the day after thanksgiving either, so off i went, waking up at the ridiculous hour of 2:15 for some sister-in-law bonding time.

what loot did i come home with you ask?

2 $7 pillows and a $8 compact vacuum.

yep- totally not lying. things i could have and should have bought in utah on any ole shopping trip to the walmart. but hey- i was there and not doing anything else anyway, so why not purchase them and stuff them into a suitcase?

logic is not my strong point at that time of day...

after those amazing purchases, the husband called to tell me bebe had woken up and was having nothing to do with his bottle.

thus the end of my shopping madness a mere 3 hours after it began.

the sisters continued until 2pm. insanity. i repeat, insanity.

food, flying, family and thanks.

caught a last minute flight to go be thankful with the fam.the bebe was a champ with the tight space. he decided to make the most of it by 1) bouncing on my lap to get all his wiggles out, and 2) giggling at all surrounding spectators...

i think he was thankful we let him stay in his pjs all day long...

cuddling with papa + intense scouring of black friday ads
the bebe's first thanksgiving (and first meal) consisted of avocado and sweet potatoes. i think even the cheering crowd couldn't convince him that this was equal to the feast he had just witnessed the rest of the family partaking of...

ready, set, go!... almost

i can't really say what i've been doing for the last couple of weeks, but i'm sure it has involved lots of singing songs, changing diapers, watching tiny boys do amazing things, and making preparations for adventures that may not always come to pass... and taking pictures of almost none of it!

adventure 1
this past week was my dear friend kat's birthday. plans were made to embark on a weekend getaway to a yurt in the snow.

my adventurous spirit was excited by the plans. even with the seeds of hesitation deep inside about an unknown amount of hiking in the snow, with a baby, possibly in the dark.

so i ignored above said hesitations, and friday we embarked on said adventure.

we drove a couple hours, arriving in the high uintas and started out the trek in the dark.

after about an hour+, the snow was getting deeper and deeper, and the hesitation was turning into a sinking feeling that i couldn't ignore.

there was this possibility that the yurt would be just around the corner. but i didn't think so, my gut was telling me that we still had at least an hour to go...

while little mister was being quite a frozen trooper, we had to decide that this wasn't going to be a good idea for our little family.

so the u-turn happened, and we traipsed back down. at least the moonlight on the pines and the snow was pretty dang beautiful. it was more time than we've had together in a long time!

turns out the snow just got deeper and deeper said the friends that continued the trek. little mister will have to wait a bit longer for an adventure like that...

adventure 2
and we have looked forward to this week's road trip to the husband's hometown-- and more importantly, to see his great family.

we had it all planned out.

and me the planner/stress-or, was actually feeling pretty good about it.

we were going to take it easy, be flexible (this from the girl who doesn't know how to be flexible!) and enjoy it- thus not to allow mother nature to wreck our plans.

we had a day to drive and a back up day, just in case. bobby was willing to skip a class if leaving early would make it for a better drive.

so last night, after warnings from family and friends, we parked ourselves down in front of weather.com to find the perfect window of time to escape.

turns out the storm we had been watching for, has turned into the doomsday storm. all safe escapable windows of time disappeared.

we decided to let it go for the night and get up this morning in last hopes of finding a safe time to drive, but mostly realizing that this might be a cozy thanksgiving at home...

i woke myself up at 5am this morning with a renewed excitement, sure i would find a way to make it happen.

wrong again.

the forecasts got worse.

across the entire length of i-80 in nevada the warnings say things like:

visibility will be reduced to zero at times

dangerous whiteout conditions

many roadways becoming impassable

travel is highly discouraged

travel extremely dangerous

do not travel. if you must... have a winter survival kit with you.

okay, okay already, i get the point.

so now i'm going to head to the store and stock up. we've let ourselves run out of pretty much everything, thinking an empty fridge was perfect for a vacation.

then maybe i'll deck the halls, and create a little adventure at home...
-----------

update: just kidding, we bought plane tickets and got out before they canceled the rest of the flights for the night.

gobble gobble....

shadow pictures

i looked up while working on my computer to see that the sun coming through the kitchen window was casting a perfect shadowed image of the vines on our back porch.

i don't know if a photo can do it justice. nature just knows how to make the best art...

i'm the map

the long debated conversation: what to do with our living room wall.

there has been talk of mirrors, making our own giant abacus, stretched swatches of fabrics...

then it was decided upon, and the hunt began.

we were looking for a map.

i'm the map

once upon a time we were planning to put a map up in the bebe's room, but it got trumped by frog & toad.

visions of maps must have still been dancing in our heads.

although, mental note, must not teach geography based off of this circa 1950's ish edition.

with the chalkboard door and the little shoe cubby, suddenly i feel like this is the schoolhouse corner...

lazy mans' silver lining

when you never get around to carving your halloween pumpkins, you have the perfect decor to last through thanksgiving!