Berlin & Paris, Here We Come!

I just booked our apartment in Paris, so now I'm starting to get giddy about our trip this summer! Nate got invited to a conference in Berlin this summer, so Anna and I are going to tag along! We'll be in Berlin almost a week, then we're heading to Paris for a week. We are finally doing our trip to Paris. Yea!!! I'm so excited I don't even care that the cost of our plane tickets is going to put us in the poor house.

So, here's the apartment we're going to stay in: Rue de Beaune

And here is the neighborhood we'll be in: Go to Google Maps and copy & paste "Rue de Beaune, 75007 7ème Arrondissement Paris, Paris, France" in the search field.

Literally a hop, skip and a tiny jump to the Seine, Musee d'Orsay, the Louvre...Paris here we come!

Oh, and how stinkin' cute is this?!?!


Our parents are making this possible by taking Cate the two weeks we're gone. THANK YOU!!!

Anna's First Food!

Anna ventured into the world of real food on Saturday. It was kind of successful. She started out pretty happy with it and swallowed some.


But suddenly things took a turn for the worst...It was so funny.




My mom was in town this weekend and got to witness the big moment in person! It was great having her here.


I have tons of pictures from Utah...we'll see how long it takes me to get them up here!

A few random shots...

I just did 7 posts, so keep scrolling and scrolling!

Cate has a new "skateboard" - if we say scooter, she corrects us.

She absolutely loves her new helmet.

We got this AWESOME adirondack chair last week. Anna really likes to sit back and relax in it...

Ladies who lunch...

Anna loves the exersaucer. It's so cute - she just looks so busy when she's in it, very focused. The last 3 weeks or so she has really gotten interested in toys and reaches for everything. It's amazing how fast they learn. Doesn't get any less amazing with the second child, either.

A few things about Anna I don't want to forget...she kicks and waves her arms all the time, especially when she's happy and excited. She's rolling like crazy! She rolled over for the first time on March 17, right before we left the house for Nate's defense. She's a mover...we have a feeling she'll be very different than Cate, who didn't care so much about moving around. When she's nursing she grabs my arm HARD and it hurts like crazy...or she practically pulls her own ear off. It's funny. She's just happy happy happy.

Sisters...

I love that my girls have sisters. It's just so cute. Anna loves Cate SO MUCH, and Cate is such a great big sister. Gotta love it!


These two pictures are funny...they're both making the same faces in each shot.


Cate is seriously really cute with her. Except for the times when she's not...which can get scary! But we really have been lucky so far. They're a good pair.

Happy Mother's Day!

I really wanted a picture with my girls on Mother's Day...and it was much trickier than I anticipated...

This is the only one where Anna is smiling at the camera...figures.

Close.

Almost.

Really, Mom? Another picture?

I love this girl!!!

The Perfect Curl

This is honestly what Cate's hair looked like the other Sunday...all on its very own. I'm so jealous.

Anna Photo Shoot

The other day Anna had on her totally adorable "Anna Louisa" t-shirt that one of my clients sent to me when she was born. I wanted to catch a few shots of her in it, and the lighting was so perfect, I WENT CRAZY. This is just a handful of the shots I took. I told you I went crazy. If you're not a grandmother or Paula (she ordered the shirt, which also came with matching burp cloths), then you are probably going to get bored...sorry!

Hello, my name is ANNA LOUISA! :)

I like winking...


...and looking cute...

...and laughing...

...and drooling!

She was out like a light by the time I put the camera away.

Monterey, Pebble Beach & Carmel

A couple weekends ago we took to the road and drove down to Carmel, via Monterey & the 17-Mile Drive, which takes you by Pebble Beach. It was a beautiful day. Perfect weather, so clear.

Here's Pebble Beach. Seriously so pretty. Oh yeah, and we drove out on an access road that took us right on the course (um, definitely not a public road) and accidentally honked the horn. And yes, there were golfers on the course when that happened. We laughed SO HARD...while we tried to get out of there as fast as possible. Woops.
Who LIVES in those houses anyway?!?!

The 17-Mile Drive around Monterey Peninsula (where Pebble Beach lies) is worth every penny of the $9.25 you have to pay to drive it. AWESOME.

Carmel was, of course, charming. We found a beautiful white beach with hardly anyone on it. The sand where the waves hit the beach was SO STEEP and tall. It was like a mini dune or something. Here's a picture of Cate sitting on top of it...

And here is Nate peaking from below...

The coast in Monterey was so pretty...there was a whole stretch just blanketed with these flowers.

Moving!

Here are a few shots from the week we moved...

Goodbye party with my book club - it was SO FUN. We had another goodbye party with our church friends, but I didn't take any pictures...although, our friend Brittany took about a billion, so I'm sure I'll have some to post eventually. :)

Cate LOVED the hotel room we stayed in on our drive up. It was really cute. Both girls crashed that night...which was awesome. We got some good sleep in before the long drive. Shoot, Cate kept calling our hotel room something cute, but I can't remember it. 10 points for writing things down when they happen.

Having kids is great...we didn't have to drive at all. Cate just took care of it.

Here's our new place! We're on the 1st floor...

Lots of windows in the living room and kitchen, our patio is great, it's a great apartment for a lot of reasons. The neighborhood is the best...quiet street, we can walk to restaurants, the library, the grocery store, Trader Joe's, and on and on. It's a great place! And my landscape architect friend Christy has drawn up some plans for our little planting area and planter boxes...that's next on the to-do list! I just noticed today that the vine by our front door is jasmine, and there's jasmine all over the place...it's starting to bloom and the air smells sweet. I'm so happy!

beautiful baby