Roadtrip Part 2: A Santa Monica Wedding

The reason why we started our trip as early as we did was to attend Adrienne's (Steve's cousin) wedding in Santa Monica (LA area). The reception center was just a few blocks from the beach and we happen to arrive at sunset. These photos do not begin to do it justice. I really just wanted to find a bench and sit until the sun finished setting.

And of course, weird lighting makes it painfully obvious that I need to learn to use my camera better. Oh well. We're all there. And we're smiling.

Sophie did pretty well at the wedding. She sat next to Steve's mom and compared Adrienne's wedding to Ariel's. Ivy was nuts, though. I had to take her out and walk around in the back with her. She almost fell asleep in my arms. And then it was over.

I loved this chandelier hanging from a tree out in the front. Adrienne and Ben had a black and white (with a little red) wedding. I don't know if there was an official name for the style, but I got the feeling it was "old Hollywood" with her vintage-looking jewelry, hairpieces, and feathery centerpieces. I loved it.

Unfortunately I never got a picture of the groom. (Sorry Ben... we really do love ya!) Instead of throwing her bouquet, Adrienne gave it to her mom. It was a sweet moment. And a sweet bouquet. I love the feathers.

Once Sophie found the dessert table (in a separate room attached to the dinner room), she gave it a good inspection. Speaking of dinner... the food was pretty good. Especially the appetizers. I've never had baked brie in a pastry before. I could eat an entire batch of it myself.

Sophie also went around and blew out as many candles as she could find. In the beginning, one of the women who worked at the reception center came along behind her and relighted them. Sophie kept blowing them out, and I think she gave up.

Sophie told me later that she wants to get married when she's big. And she wants a big white princess dress.

To be continued. . .

Roadtrip Part 1: Tragically Dressed + The Sequoias

OK, folks, we're back -- 3000 miles, 950 photos, 4 hotels, 2 throw-ups in the car seat later.
We saw friends.
We saw family.
We saw a wedding.
We saw a sunset in Santa Monica.
We saw Tinkerbell.
We saw one of the biggest trees in the world.
We got towed by a tractor.
We had turkey & my grandma's fabulous cornbread stuffing.
Ivy turned 2.
And I made a cake with 3 lbs of butter.

And YOU get to see it all in eight fabulous posts. Yes, eight. I whittled the photos down from 950 to about 180. There's no way I'm putting 180 photos in one post.

Deep breath . . .

We started off our trip with some tragic outfits.

I had to leave the house at 6AM the morning to do a favor for a friend of mine and Steve was in charge of getting the kids ready. I'm sorry, but the stereotypes are true. Daddy-dressed children are . . . unique.

Let's start with Ivy because her outfit wasn't quite so bad. A Halloween shirt and some Hello Kitty yoga pants. Make that Sophie's yoga pants. They were clinging to her little hips for dear life. Those had to be changed out of practicality.

Sophie's outfit was my all-time favorite Daddy-supervised outfit. (I'm sure Sophie got to pick whatever she wanted, which was fine. Afterall, we were just going to be in the car all day.) Pajama pants, (another) Halloween shirt, topped with a dress. On backwards. That was my favorite part of the whole ensemble.

Yes we went out in public. Yes we got strange looks, but I really didn't care.

We headed south for our first stop: Sequoia National Park ("B" on the map).

As soon as we were high enough into the mountains to see snow, we pulled over for about 5 minutes to let the kids play. (Yes, I know they don't have coats on. It was for 5 minutes. We survived.)

When it was almost dusk we went on a little hike (with coats!) and saw "General Sherman"-- the biggest tree in the world (by weight and volume).

I cannot even describe the feeling standing in front of such a massive tree. It might sound weird, but it's almost spiritual. It just reminded me of how incredible and awe-inspiring our world is as well as the power of God and His love for us. In the bottom right photo is a cross section cut from another giant sequoia that is no longer alive. Dang. The top right is Steve and a very tired and cold Sophie in front of "Sherm".

That night we stayed in a little lodge outside the park. Very quaint.



I thought it was interesting how half of the rooms had sliding glass doors to get in.



Then Steve pointed out how easy it would be to lock us in by sticking a board in the bottom of the track. Heh.

to be continued . . .

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Drool

First I'd like to make a pledge to you that I will not become one of those bloggers who goes private and then posts maybe three times a year. (Yes, I'm looking at you!) I really do have a good excuse.

We've been on the road for almost a week. We've seen sequoias, stayed in three different hotels (with wi-fi . . . I love technology), attended a wedding, survived Disneyland, and now Steve's on his fourth office visit and we're doing our best to stay sane. Sophie's managing by running in and out of the balcony of our room singing about boogers. To each their own. At least she's not whining at me.

I had these pictures from before we left that I wanted to post. One afternoon I let them watch a movie and went upstairs to get a few things done (and secretly hoped that they'd both fall asleep -- which rarely happens). I came down to check on them and found this . . .

Facing away from the TV. Upon further inspection . . .

Ah-ha. That explains the dried bits of saliva all over Ivy's pillow.

The Obligatory Trunk-or-Treat Post

After posting this photo, it was only natural that Steve dress up as Spock for Halloween. So who would I be? One of the only women on the Starship Enterprise who has a name: Uhura.

I have to preface this post by mentioning two things. . .

1. I am not a Star Trek fan.
2. Putting a lot of bronzer on your face and neck will NOT make you look black. A shade of tanning bed orange, yes, but not black. A shocker, I know.

Now we have that out in the open, may I present . . .

Spock, Uhura, Ariel, and Purple Ariel (according to Ivy)

Costume info...

I made the girls' tails from this tutorial (thanks Marisa!) with the help from my seamstress BFF (thanks Sarah!) It's nice to have talented friends who know stuff that you don't. I used scraps of leftover material to make the "seashells" on their shirts with ties in the back. Cost: under $20 for both costumes.

I found the tutorial for my dress here and used Sarah again. (thanks again Sarah!) Bet you'd never guess it used to be an XXL mens shirt. Paired it with some leggings. Cost: $10.75 for the shirt, the leggings, and the gold trim.

For Steve's I just taped some gold trim to a sweater. He really didn't need much because he looks so much like Spock to begin with. :) (Moreso the younger, better looking one from the new movie.... :))

Another round of, "SMILE! LOOK OVER THERE! GIRLS! HEY! SMILE! SMILE!" It didn't help that we weren't the ones taking the photo.

Here's proof that I'm really not a trekkie. It took me a second to get the fingers right...

We had our carnival/trunk-or-treat in our church parking lot. (Lucky for my orange-tinted face. We were all standing under orange-y street lights.) The other ward that shares our building basically put on the whole thing. I'm beginning to see that Samoans really know how to throw parties.

One more attempt at a photo when we got home...