Slowing Down

Preparing for a wedding can be an exhaustive project.  Although we enjoyed (almost) every minute of it, we were ready to slow down for our first year of marriage.  We really wanted this next year to be one with free weekends and no plans.  Let me show you what that looks like.

January 31, 2012 our beautiful niece was born and we were both instantly consumed with watching her grow and loving her.  Luckily her parents don't mind that we are often hanging around or begging to babysit!  In fact, we just had our first full day with her and we can't wait to do it again.  Any excuse to watch Lion King and lay in bed in the middle of the day works for us.

Meet Quinn!

February brought us to New Orleans, LA via a surprise trip planned by the husband.  I am a total planner, so telling me to pack a bag a few hours before a flight was a risky call.  I was so overcome with excitement that I didn't care that I had to pack for a long weekend in just 1 hour.  We spent our days roaming the eclectic city and visiting with my childhood friend, Kristy.  We watched parades, caught beads, threw beads, and watched the hometown NOLA Hornets play ball.

I don't remember March or April at all, so we are going to skip those months.  I know we did a bunch of snowboarding up until this point, but it is all a blur.

May included a girls' weekend in Palm Springs amongst birthdays and pool parties.  Lounging by the pool with great company is the best way to spend a weekend.  We played Girl Talk and made friendship bracelets.  Ok, so we didn't play GT, but totally made friendship bracelets.  BFF!

The month of June included many festivities that leave me very tired for July.  (Geoff never gets tired, just me)  Starting off the month at a Grey Goose Vodka hosted dinner at the San Diego Zoo, we tasted and sampled and learned that Kirkland Vodka is NOT made anywhere near Grey Goose, okay? okay.

Yes, that is a jalapeno in that drink- YUM.

Then, Geoff and I drove to Vegas for a short weekend of relaxing by the pool.  I even stayed out until midnight!

We celebrated Father's Day by bringing all the dad's to K1 Speedway to race go-carts.  I was a driver (Yippee), so my pictures are limited.  I only snapped one of the winners, but my dad ran a good race too!  It's only fair that new dad Bryan won first place.  Also, I should note that Justin is NOT a dad, just 3rd place winner.

I met my East Coast gals in Miami, Florida for a quick calming/lay on the beach weekend.  And by calming I mean staying out until 3am and eating breakfast at noon.  I am getting old because that weekend hurt.

We celebrated my dad's birthday and a kickoff to summer with a lot of wine and good friends.  We are ready to embrace what July has in store for us because our next free weekend is in August! 

So, we have quickly filled up our "slow down" year, but we wouldn't have it any other way. Life is too fun!

xoxo,

ricki

Oh, and we are building a house! Look!