Rose Garden: SUMMERTIME

I'm kind of slacking on this blog thing, huh? Long hiatus. But we have been super busy. I'll try to keep the recap short, and then show you a few pics :)

We moved! Yes. After six months on the market, we sold our beautiful custom home in South West Reno. And guess what, we couldn't be happier. That place was A LOT OF WORK. I just did not have the time or patience for all the upkeep, both inside and out. Bottom line, I decided it was more important to be able to play with my kids than spend hours mopping. So we are back to our little house in the northwest. It's pretty amazing to be able to clean my whole house in about 3 hours. Whew. We did discover we have too much cr@p. Like, 2 storage units worth of too much. I see a garage sale in our future.

The kids are all doing amazing. Keenan was here for the summer, just left last week. He is 16, has his permit, and is a recluse. Pretty typical for a teenage boy, I'd say. Sleep all day and play all night (remember those days? they are far far away from me, ha!). Branson is great. He is almost 4, and I can't believe it. He can hold an hour long debate, frustrate me to all ends, then tell me I look like a princess or that I'm "the best maker ever mom" and I melt into gooey nothing. He is my child that tests all the limits, pushes all the buttons, and then snuggles it all away. Noa, the little doll face, is our princess. She is easy going, eats well, plays well, sleeps well. But if she has an opinion about something, she is going to let you know. Based on other Sagittariuses that I know (that's you I'm talking to, Chrissy Lamun!) she is right on par :) She is talking a ton, running and climbing everything, and is daddy's little girl.

Ryan is amazing, as always. Working hard to allow our family to play hard. He is by far the best father and partner I could have ever been lucky enough to snag. It feels like in the last few years we kind of just fell into our groove together as a couple and as parents. Almost always on the same page ;)

We did a little bit of traveling this year, with a few more trips coming up. Our wonderful friends Nolan and Evelyn got married in Kauai in early July. Ryan and I got to go sans children, and it was my longest time away from them. That was hard, but I gotta tell ya, it was so nice to actually hang out with adults! I made amazing new friends from New York, got to connect with long time friends from home, and even got to talk to my husband over a nice meal that we both actually got to sit down and enjoy. Our wonderful friends Graham and Simone also became Mr. & Mrs. Bartlett in a private ceremony in Kona. Congrats to all you newly married couples! Kauai is beautiful, but I think Maui is my favorite island. The bug bites I got from this trip left marks still showing on my legs. Crazy. The other trip we took was to Vegas. You ready for this ride? We weren't. We decided to take Keenan on a big kid trip, since he is usually stuck doing little kid things. Ryan loves the Counting Crows, they were playing in Vegas, so we booked it! The whole trip ended up being a disaster. What should have been an hour long flight, ended up being an 8 hour flight, causing us to miss the Cirque show and dinner reservations we had Friday night. Then, Saturday night, the concert was cancelled due to weather. We did get to eat some awesome food, and do a little shopping (Ray Ban's all around!) which Vegas is always good for. Needless to say we were ready to come home. Ahead of us is a trip to the LA area next month. We will be taking the kids to Disneyland for 3 days, then visiting family. Ryan's sister recently moved to Ventura, so they will get to show us the ropes for a few days. And we will sneak in a little time to see my Grandma, Aunt and cousins as well. Immediately following that trip, we will spend a week at Walley's. It's the trip we look forward to every year. The food, the Candy Dance, hanging with Momo - it's always a favorite for us. Not to mention we got married out there, and our daughter is named after the cute little town :) Hopefully after that, if we can squeeze it in, Ryan and I will be heading back to Vegas for a music festival. Mainly just to see our favorite band, The Killers. Then of course, it is the Holiday Season. I'll be turning 30 (just threw up a little bit in my mouth) and 90% of the family will celebrate birthdays and anniversaries. Busy, right? Enjoy the pics!