4th of July "Staycation"!

Hello hello!  I can't believe it's already Thursday!  With the 4th of July being on a Tuesday this year, I'm all mixed up on my week!

We had the BEST long holiday weekend from Friday to Tuesday!  I'm deeming it a "staycation" if you will - we were originally planning on going away for the 4th but then decided it would be fun to just stay home and do lots of fun stuff around Pittsburgh.  And that's exactly what we did!

...Friday...

Coffee outside, morning runs, delicious froyo, and fireworks!

We didn't want to keep Elijah up late on the actual 4th of July since he had to go to daycare the next day, so we found a nearby town that was doing fireworks on Friday and he loved them (for the most part... not a fan of the big boom ones)!

...Saturday...

Pool day!

We spent the day at a nearby pool that had a ton of water features for little kids (and a huge sandbox!) and Elijah had the best time!  And so did we!

...Sunday...

Morning runs, biking downtown, and more froyo!

We headed downtown and biked along the South Side/Station Square trail and Elijah loved looking at the river and watching the trains go by!  He LOVES his bike seat - which is so awesome because we love biking!  Oh, and do you like my new shirt?  "Powered by wine" :)

...Monday...

Moraine State Park!

We had such a fun day at Moraine - we brought our kayak and rented a canoe and Elijah loved it!  He kept saying "Momma, I on a boat!  Momma, I on a BOAT!"  He did SO well in the canoe.  We met up with Brett's family too and had fun hanging at the beach on the lake.  Elijah is definitely a water baby. :)

...Tuesday...

4th of july!

 We started the day with a 5k race (which Brett got 3rd place in his age group!!) in Brentwood, which was immediately followed by their 4th of July parade.  What a fun morning!  Elijah's favorite part was most definitely all the fire trucks.  :)  And then we had my family over for a fun little 4th of July BBQ.  Elijah and Pari (Eli's cousin) had a blast splashing around in the water and eating alllll the snacks.  :)  We didn't keep Elijah up for fireworks (since we saw them on Friday), so we just had a relaxing night at home after everyone left.

What a weekend!  So fun!

I love SUMMER!

Cheers!!*

Happy New Year!

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Happy New Year!!*

Wow, I can't believe it's already 2015!

2014 was an awesome year full of exciting adventures and amazing memories!

I can't wait to see what 2015 has in store for us!

(Including adding a tiny person to our little family!)

Cheers!!*

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas!!*

Hope you are all spending plenty of time with family & friends

and really enjoying this fun holiday season!

It's hard to believe that next year at this time, we will have a little BOY to celebrate with!!

So exciting!

Happy Holidays!!* 

Thanksgiving Weekend 2014

...scenes from the nice long holiday weekend...

We spent Thanksgiving Thursday in Erie with the in-laws, then made our way home to Pittsburgh for a second Thanksgiving celebration on Saturday (at our house!) with my family!  And now I cannot eat anymore turkey for a long long time. ;)

Brett ran the Turkey Trot 10k on Thanksgiving morning at Presque Isle along the lake!
(He came in 10th place overall!  Go Babe!)
Then we feasted on our 1st Thanksgiving dinner of the weekend.

And when we made our way back to Pittsburgh, it was time for Thanksgiving #2!
Brett made an awesome beer brined turkey and my parents brought me a whole
growler of my favorite ginger ale from Hitchhiker Brewing Co!

My family also has a yearly crazy gift exchange on Thanksgiving
and this year's theme was crazy hats!
I'd say it was a success :)

And on Sunday, the last day of the long weekend, we took care of some baby business!
Baby gear researching, baby registering, and a nice little walk on the trail thrown in there, too :)

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend
and now I say, bring on the Christmas music!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Happy Thanksgiving!!

I hope you are all enjoying this nice long holiday weekend with family and friends!  Last year we were living in California and couldn't spend the holidays with our families.  So this year, we are extra thankful to be back on the east coast to partake in all the fun festivities with everyone!

Cheers to togetherness!*

Happy Halloween!

Happy  Halloween!!

Last night, Brett and I carved our pumpkins that we got from the pumpkin patch earlier this week.  This year, we went with happy pumpkins.  =)  And we also decorated the mini pumpkin we got for the little babe.  I tried to make it look like a baby pumpkin, but I'm not so sure I succeeded.  ;)

Trick or Treaters, we're ready for you!

The 4th!

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Happy 4th of July!!*

Hope everyone has a wonderful 3 day weekend!
Hooray for SUMMER!

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!!*

2013 was a wild & crazy & amazing year.
I can't wait to see what 2014 has in store for us.

Cheers!!*

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas

& Happy Holidays!

I hope you are all having the most wonderful holiday season,

spending plenty of time with family & friends.

I know we are...

It feels so good to be home!*

Thanksgiving in California...

Even though we weren't able to make it home for Thanksgiving this year, we still had a great holiday!  A bit different than our normal traditions, but a whole lot of fun nonetheless...

A gorgeous sunset hike at Crystal Cove

Coffee & the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!

A glorious bike ride down to the water

(to compensate for the massive consumption of food later...)

Brett prepping our HUGE turkey breast for two

(A whole turkey would have been way too much food)

Happy Thanksgiving from us to you!

It may not be quite the same as home, but we made the best of it =)

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday!

And now onto CHRISTMAS!!!*

Happy Thanksgiving!

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Happy Thanksgiving!!*

Aren't these little owl guys so cute?!  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday filled with family, friends, and delicious food.  We are so sad that we can't be spending this Thanksgiving back home with our families.  Holidays just aren't the same without family and friends nearby.  But at least Brett and I have each other!  We're planning on cooking our own mini Thanksgiving feast and then heading out on a little road trip down to San Diego for the rest of the long holiday weekend.  It's not home, but should be fun!

Family, we miss you!

Get ready for a whole bunch of facetiming coming your way! ;)

Happy Halloween!

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Happy Halloween!*

Even though we didn't carve pumpkins this year and we probably won't get any trick or treaters in our apartment complex, I am still excited that it's Halloween!  I got sad this morning when I realized that I didn't bring my "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" dvd to California with me.  I watch it every single year on Halloween!  But lucky for me, there's this thing called the internet and I found it online to watch!  Crisis averted.  And Brett was probably so excited to get out of watching it this year, ha! ;)  Now if only we had some of his pumpkin homebrew to go with it... next year!

Our 4th of July -- Cali Style

The 4th of July has been celebrated, now it's really summer!

We had a great 4th of July celebration yesterday!  Back home, we'd usually spend the day with family and friends, barbequing and watching fireworks.  But since we are across the country from most of our peeps this year, we had our own fun little 4th of July celebration!

We spent the whole day in our favorite town in California: San Clemente.  We wandered around the shops and ate Mexican for lunch (eating Mexican on America's day... oops!).  We face-timed with our family and relaxed on the beach.  Then, we spent the evening at a Pizza Port BBQ (which was a blast!) and finally made our way back down to the beach for fireworks. 

Perfect summer day.

'MERICA!