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4.30.2014

California {Wine tour!}

On the day after the wedding, the bride & groom had arranged for a winery tour, since we were in a huge wine area. I think there are 60+ wineries in the Paso Robles area!




They had a trolley come pick us up and we went to four total wineries. We did tastings at each, and also had a catered lunch (with TONS of carbs :)) at one of the wineries. The last winery was really cool because they did a wine and cheese pairing tasting - yummy.

 

We came home with a bottle of wine, info about a club for another (their moscato was soooo good) and a few souvenir glasses. Which the post office broke two, and reminds me I still need to get that claim filed.




We had an absolute blast! Once we got back to the hotel that afternoon we passed out rested for a few hours before dinner. We walked around a couple miles before we settled on an Italian place.

Totally didn't plan on the stripes - ha!



After dinner, we went back to the hotel and did some packing, then met at the fire pits to drink and visit, before hitting up the bar for a last round of drinks.

It was a perfect day!


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4.23.2014

California {WeddingDAY}

My friend Bel, the bride :) is a runner and wanted to go on a little run with the girls to ease the wedding day jitters, so of course we obliged her. I even had some cute shirts made up for the occasion.


Following the run, we had a big breakfast, just the girls! {Hubby and our friend Justin went to the Firestone Walker Brewery while we had a lot of girl time during the day.}






After some work with my strength bands and resting a bit, I headed over to Bel's room to watch her get hair and makeup, and Jessi and I picked up some lunch for all the girls.



We had to get on the trolley for the winery at 4:20, so mid-afternoon, I headed back to our room to shower, do my hair and get all dolled up.

 

I must say, we clean up pretty nicely!

The wedding actually wasn't until 6, so we had some time to spare once we arrived. It was FREEZING so we basically just huddled together and visited.


Thankfully it was a very quick wedding and they let us go into the barn immediately rather than waiting for social hour. The space heaters and wine sure did the job!


Dinner was ribs, salmon, gouda mac & cheese, asparagus and bread. Yummy. The beautiful cake was red velvet with white chocolate covered strawberries.


Then we danced, danced, danced until the trolley came to take us back to the hotel.

We planned to meet some of the crew back at the hotel bar for drinks, but first went to our room to put on some warmer clothes. We ended up sitting down and falling asleep - guess all the wine got to us :)

Next up: Wine tour!
 



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4.22.2014

Easter weekend!

We had a great Easter weekend! The College where I work closed on Friday and Monday, which made for an extra-long weekend for me :)

Friday morning after dropping of C, I went to our local sports complex for a long run. I've signed up for a 10K so it's time to start increasing my mileage. It's the furthest I've ever run without stopping, so I was super pumped. I also did a bit of grocery shopping to get ready for the weekend, and got some work done around the house that night.



Saturday morning we took Cooper to an Easter Egg Hunt. It was actually the same one I went to when I was a kid, except back then they had real eggs, now they are the plastic ones. He had a blast!


We had to hold him back before things started.


He ended up with 33 eggs!

My parents do our big family Easter and had planned to do it on Saturday but postponed because my dad and uncle farm and really needed the time in the field. But they invited us for lunch, so we dropped C off to ride in the tractor for a bit, shopped for plants for our flower beds and had lunch.

After too short of a nap, C and I headed off to a birthday party at the bounce house place!

We were very excited to see what the Easter bunny brought on Sunday morning! Since Cooper had already gotten so much candy, I didn't want to do that. So, we did quarters and big boy underwear in his eggs. He also got bubbles, sidewalk chalk, boots, and some new clothes.

 

We all played outside for a bit, then I headed inside to finish dessert and do some cleaning while the boys worked outside.

This was so good and pretty easy.


Early afternoon, we packed up for the 1.5 hour drive to my in-laws' for Easter. It was gorgeous so we grilled and chilled outside.


Oh and I took selfies with the nieces :)



And we helped Hannah practice flying for cheer.

Yesterday morning I got in another long run, and did some deep house cleaning. Back to work today, and ready for it to be Saturday already.

How was your weekend?


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4.15.2014

California {Getting there}

Since our flight left around 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning and the airport is a couple hours from our house, we figured it would be a good idea to just stay up in St. Louis the night before. Especially since I found the Park Sleep Fly hotels that offer free extended parking and a shuttle to and from the airport - we figured that we got the hotel, parking, and breakfast all for the cost that parking alone would have been. Total win.



So once I got off work the hubs and I finished packing (And I did some cleaning!), then went to pick up our Little Man to take him to grandma and Paw Paw's for the week. Thankfully my mom cooked for us - gave us a little more time with Coop and I didn't have to do dishes. After a quick stop at Macy's (Clinique Bonus time!) we were in route to STL. Thankfully we had a good trip and arrived in no time. We got settled in our room then hit up the hotel bar for a couple drinks and a little snack :)

Fast forward to Friday morning. THANK GOD we decided to stay the night before, because some storms and high winds were hitting STL. We awoke around 5 a.m. not to an alarm, but the tornado alert on our phones, followed 30 seconds later by tornado sirens in the city. No bueno.


Thankfully it all cleared by the time we were heading to the airport. All of Missouri got hit again Thursday night, so we were glad to be out of it! A little after we got to the airport, we ran into our friends Jessica and Justin, who were on the same flight out there as us! Once we got all checked in and settled at our gate, we grabbed some coffee and just chilled.


Thankfully our flight was on time and actually arrived a little early in LA. It was a great flight and I actually watched TV on my phone (offered through SW/Dish) most of the flight.


Once we landed and such, we took the shuttle to get our rental car. We had reserved it online and, again, it was such a breeze and EASY process. No, SW, Dish, and Enterprise aren't paying me a dime to talk about how amazing they are, but we had an awesome experience.



By this time it was about 2 p.m. (4 p.m. Missouri time) and we were starving. Jess had found a cool place a couple weeks prior she wanted to go and eat, so we headed down the road to Duke's Malibu for a bite. Once we FINALLY got there (LA traffic is no joke!) we basically stuffed our faces before getting on the road for the almost 4-hour drive to Paso Robles, where the wedding was. Actually it shouldn't have been that long but, again, traffic was horrible.



Thankfully we were on PCH for a good portion of the trip, so it was a very pretty, scenic drive. When we finally arrived, I was so ready to get settled I practically immediately unpacked our bags to get settled for the next three days :)



I spied a Target on the way in and we were hungry again, so we headed out there to grab a few essentials (bottled water, apples and breakfast food --- we ALWAYS do our own breakfast, in our room for vacation). We don't have any Carl's Jr. where we live, so decided to just stop in there for a quick bite.




Once we made it back to the hotel, we were able to meet up with the bride and some other friends. Although I had intended on an early night, I couldn't pass up the chance to have a couple drinks with Bel on her last night as a single lady, and catch up with her parents (Mom and Dad to pretty much all of us!) Thankfully it was still a decently early night, and we were ready to pass out when our heads hit the pillow.

Next up: Runaway Bride and WeddingDAY!!!

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4.14.2014

Oh hi there

Gosh, it feels like my blogging time is so limited these days! Work is crazy, I'm working out 30-60 minutes daily AND Cooper refuses to go to bed before 9:30 (and honestly, most nights it's 10) so that doesn't leave much time for extras.



We just got back from California! It was an amazing trip and I promise to recap it soon. We flew out on a Thursday morning, so stayed the night before in STL, then flew back the following Wednesday, getting in pretty late. We took off the entire week, though, so had four days at home with Cooper (who stayed with my parents) and it was great to have some time to readjust!


This weekend we did a parade for my work and went to a BBQ for J's work. Fun times. It was at a ranch so he got to go on a horsey ride with his daddy. Melt my heart <3.



Mr. Cooper is growing and getting SO BIG! He's practically talking in full sentences now and it's neat to see him morphing into this little person. I don't think I've updated since he turned 2 in November, so I'll have to do a little update post soon.

Be back soon, I promise!


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