oh hey, I'm 41 weeks old today

life lately has included working on two more teeth

pretty soon I'll have eight

which is craziness, because many babies my age have none

so there you go

I do find them oh so useful when eating

since I've written last I've enjoyed a few new foods

including yellow squash, peach yogurt, and pears

I've mastered picking up anything little

even the squishy things like avocado

I'm officially turning into a blueberry from the amount of them I eat daily

I also love corn and colby jack cheese

no longer am I eating a bite or two

and throwing the rest on the floor

no sir, in a day I'll eat a whole yogurt

whole cheese stick, many fruits and veggies

and some purees my mom is trying out too

not to mention boobie snacks

so let's just say mom is expecting some weight gain at my next doctor appointment

I'm not walking yet, but I am standing from time to time for a few seconds

and cruising all around the house as long as I have something to hold on to

and I can crawl crazy fast [and loud]

lately I'm wearing 6 & 9 month clothing

but most of my newborn onesies still fit

[those things are SO roomy]

I'm talking up a storm still

lots of dadadada sounds and an array of hi-yahs

my newest game is throwing all of my toy's out of my crib

and the best part is when someone throws them back at me

dad also lowered my crib all the way down 

because I'm such a big girl

[and mom didn't want me to fall out]

speaking of mom, she's now back to work at school

and I'm having a hard time adjusting to the early wake-up calls

I've also starting my newest trick of tongue clicking

and kissy faces

and a combination of the two

this past week I also took my first trip to donner lake

for my grammie's company picnic

the weather was beautiful

the lake literally shimmered with gold [fool's gold particles?]

and it was overall a great way to spend the day

except mom wouldn't let me jump into the lake like I really wanted to

but I got over it

until next week...

-everly mae

being tourists in san francisco

A few weeks back we took my aunt and uncle who were visiting from Ohio to San Francisco.  I must admit that growing up in northern California, I don't always enjoy my visits to the city.  I'm not a real big city gal, and because I've been so many times, I forget how beautiful this city by the bay really is. We decided to go "full tourist" mode for this day trip, and took a bay cruise that took us around both bridges, and we even saw the back side of Alcatraz [which was almost as exciting as the back side of water on the Jungle Cruise, excuse the Disneyland reference]. My biggest issue with visiting the city is you can never over plan, because let's face it, lunch and one outing is typically what you are going to accomplish when you still have over an hour drive to and from.  So, with that in mind, we tried not to be too crazy when planning this trip, and it was pretty perfect because of that.  Lunch at Barney's in the Marina and then our cruise with the Red & White Fleet made for the perfect day trip.

^three generations of macri women - model pose with grammie, unacceptably cute^

^first boat ride, she loved watching the water^

^selfies with a baby, the only way for me^

^it is amazing the difference in temperature between the two bridges^

^loved the new perspective^

^someone had the best ergo nap on the boat, after acting like a crazy baby for a bit^

 ^love this girl^

The day was really lovely, besides a few fleeting moments.  It was almost like San Francisco knew I wasn't their biggest fan, because within the first five minutes of me stepping out of the car I was bombed by a bird, like all over my diaper bag bad, and down into crevices, you get the picture. Thankfully, my bag is stocked full of everything you need to clean poop, but really?!?  Not the way I wanted to spend the first ten minutes at lunch! Our only other bump in the road came with parking by the pier in order to catch our boat.  We found free parking [what?!?] thanks to Meg's stealthy eyes [thank god she wears her glasses now] and then we had to haul it.  Many, many, many blocks.  Now the distance would not have been an issue, if I had more than a few minutes to make the trek, while holding Everly, and a diaper bag, and a baby carrier, because of course there wasn't even time for me to throw E into the ergo, oh, and I wasn't exactly wearing tennis shoes.  So besides being a tad sore and very winded, we made the boat trip, and were officially the last to board the boat. Oops, we really were acting like tourists.  We should have known that parking was going to be a pain.  Oh well, we made it, we saw, we took lots of pictures, memories made.

making childhood memories

Looking back on my childhood, my best memories came from the traveling we were able to do. Whether it was visiting family in Tennessee, sitting on the beaches of Kauai, or camping on the northern coast of California, these are the moments I cherish the most of growing up.  The Mr. and I have always made traveling a fairly big priority to us, even though the funds aren't always bountiful, we find ways to get out and about, without spending a fortune.  Now that we have Everly, these trips seem even more important, because I know that we are starting to build those "extra special" memories of her childhood.

Earlier this week we had the most beautiful day trip to Bodega Bay, California. It was sunny, not a breeze to be felt, and the beach was empty because we were there fairly early. Growing up we went camping here every year [and when I mean camping, I mean we backed in the biggest rented motor home we could into the beach front spot, we were those people].  But in our defense, Wright's Beach can be pretty brutal on tent campers, we saw our fair share of people chasing their tents around the campground in the middle of the night, so, there you go.  Everly was very serious at the beach.  She had what we refer to as her "ride face" on for most of the trip.  A super straight-faced stare where her enjoyment seems to be masked by her intense observing skills.  We enjoyed a walk the length of the beach, a very low tide, some tricky sand to walk barefoot in, and as the morning went on, the sun really came out, the sweaters came off, and a few doggies were there for Everly to talk to.  All in all, it was a great little side adventure while visiting the Santa Rosa area.  

we're back!

Yes, with the lack of posting regularity that occurs around here now that I'm a mama, you probably didn't notice I had "unplugged" myself for a few days, but I did, tricky, tricky me!  The husband and I enjoyed a little getaway with our Everly to celebrate our five year anniversary.  We found a great deal on a hotel in the Santa Rosa area, and between this being the home of my best friend, only about an hour and a half drive from our home, and close to the coast, we decided it was the perfect place for our trip.  Over the next few days I'll share more of our trip, which was really just what we needed, but for now, I'm exporting a ton of photos to an external hard drive [back up your pictures people, my sister works at apple and begs you, they can't work miracles every time], and my baby and mr. are waiting for me to watch a movie.

When traveling with a baby I now realize that things go a certain way on the last day to make you happy to be home.  For us, let's just say our daughter wore four outfits today in total, and I was very ok to be home.  But before all that, the days really couldn't have been better.  Check out that picture of us at the beach, not even a breeze in the air to ruin this family photo.  Typically, it looks like I'm hanging on for dear life on a roller coaster when at the coast of northern California, but not this trip.  Ah, dreamy.

why we decided to head to disneyland [for another year]

Last year we bought season passes to Disneyland for the very first time, and found out I was pregnant two weeks later.  We took full advantage of our passes, even though I took up a little more space on the rides each time we visited.  When we visited the park in January and took Everly for the first time, we said we would take a year off and buy passes again next year.  Well, last week we were in southern California for vacation, and each day we were down there I was dying not going to Disneyland.  Finally, I woke up one morning and decided we were getting our passes, that very day.  The last two months have pretty much sucked financially.  Between crazy vet bills, crappy car situations, and so on, I was ready to spend money on something fun.  Not to mention, we only have our family friends down near Disneyland for one more year before they move, so the Disney stars were aligned so to say, and we bought our passes.  It was a little happy graduation to me present!

The first day we went, we rocked it hard for nine hours.  And Everly loved it.  We decided to start on the Pirates of the Caribbean to see how she was going to do on rides now that she's older.  Well, the drops in the dark didn't slow her down.  However, no matter what ride we went on, she had a very serious face.  So much stimulation, and very serious about Disneyland, clearly.

^^^visiting where we got engaged just over six years ago^^^

^^^first ride pirates was a success, jumping around too much to get a clear photo - and no stroller for us in Disneyland [we don't own one], naps in the Ergo do the job when on the go, and you can still ride "kid friendly rides"^^^

^^^serious ride face^^^

^^^I would say this parade that we just happened to walk by was one of my favorite Everly moments, ever!  She was having the time of her life, and catching the attention of everyone on the floats.  Seeing your little one having that much fun, especially so young, was worth everything^^^

^^^our "real" attempt at watching a parade on the second day wasn't as successful, which sounds about right.  Everly still checked everything out, but I think was still tired from the day before.  Even though she just woke up from a very long nap in the Ergo, she was rubbing her little face the whole time.  We took her home right after^^^

Had such an amazing time with my little family.  Hope that this year we get to take our extended families with us to visit the park with Everly, because, really, it is just too much fun!

oakland temple

if you have been reading this blog long, 

you have probably figured out that, no, I'm not a mormon blogger 

no "we believe" link, and no, I have not converted

 even so, when your sister lives in Oakland

and growing up the majority of your friends were in fact LDS

 it clearly makes the Oakland Temple the perfect destination 

[at least it does for the Macri sisters]

 so we took a little trip  upthe hill to what can only be described as a beautiful location

 the grounds were pristine and seemed to have been given a few extra blooms 

for the Easter holiday

 the temple was extremely quiet

 no weddings were taking place 

[I was hoping to see a bridal party or two] 

and we walked around snapping an insane amount of pictures

I loved getting to finally see the place where many of my friends have been sealed [married] 

over the years, and hey, 

even though the husband really wasn't sure why we were there

he went along for the  ride

 love that.

 loved the day, didn't love the crazy clouds and sudden rays of sun

that made taking photos a true challenge

but I think we did ok

speaking of mormon bloggers - naomi is my favorite, fyi

just shopping in san francisco with the girls

yesterday Everly went on her first trip to San Francisco

we were on the hunt for bridesmaids dresses for Jaymee's wedding

and from start to finish the day was a success

we found dresses and shoes

changed diapers on Bart

[bay area regional transit]

and were even asked if we were looking for prom dresses

and considering I'm on the closer side of thirty

I'm going to take that as a compliment

and clearly even having Everly in my arms isn't aging me much!

and even after a day of shopping with the girls

E still had a little energy for a quick pizza date 

with those boys we left behind

[I think she had more energy than Jaymee and myself actually]

talk about a thankful mama

I feel like with every week I get more confident with our outings

and I find myself forgetting how road trips used to be before Everly Mae

and I'm pretty ok with that

all photos edited with Afterglow

because we love all things vintage...and we think E does too

a few years back the mr. and I discovered one of our favorite places 

to go antiquing, Long Beach Antique Mall II

there are technically two Long Beach Antique Malls, but their second location

is my favorite

and so this is where I decided to snap a few pictures of Everly doing her first

"vacation antiquing"

because hey, having a baby doesn't mean you have to stop doing things you like

so here it is

turns out that antiquing can actually be a great baby activity

there is just so much for them to see

I love this last image, the boys are clearly pondering that giant pot

but not our E, she has already figured out that thing, and moved onto that vintage sled

 another thing I'm loving now that Everly is bigger

is we love holding her so she can see everything

and no, don't hold her like a baby

because she will cry, and if you have spent any time with her

you know she doesn't cry very easily

so you don't want to be the person to put her over the edge!