The Post of 2017

As we're sitting on our bed at 11:30pm on New Year's Eve reflecting on 2017 the topic of this blog came up. Our last post was in February 2016 and boy have times changed. Starting this blog in 2013 the possibilities of  "adulthood" loomed in the very near future. We were just about to get married and take off for American Samoa. Fast forward to tonight and all of our wildest dreams have come true. We had the second little love of  our life, Harper Wren. She's a force to be reckoned with and such a perfect addition to our family. We decided to do something that many people call us crazy for and move downtown with our two little babies. Although it's not the typical "suburban" young family experience, it feels SO much like home. Really, it is home. Teagan is 2.5!!!! (WHAT?!?!?!?!). She's our big girl in every sense of the phrase. She knows her way around down here (geographically), she has such a mature grasp of things that are far beyond her years, and she has the most amazing  devotion/love for her baby sister.  Our parent hearts melt on the regular!

2018, it's going to be SO tough to beat 2017. Over the last almost 10 years we've been together we had good years and we've had bad years (some worse than others). We've been beyond blessed this past year and we're so aware of that. 2018, we're ready for you! :)

Parenting, always.

The two little loves of our life.

El. Oh. Vee. Ee

Valentine’s Day Weekend (yes, we celebrate the whole weekend in our house) was a blast. I’m usually a little pessimistic about the “holiday.” I was raised to see it as being a commercial holiday and was taught that you should celebrate love throughout the year instead of focusing on a single day. I still feel that celebrating love throughout the year is important, and giving gifts to my wife on a regular basis is something that I’m happy was instilled in me (happy wife, happy life). However, over the years Chelsia has shown me how much fun it can be to embrace holidays like Valentine’s Day and use them as a reason to do things that we wouldn’t normally do. Valentine’s Day is now a reason for us to surprise each other with gifts, get out and explore, and eat good food (and lots of sweets!). Valentine’s Day is not only a great holiday to celebrate our love for one another (and now our little Teagan as well), but it also allows us to create traditions as a family and gives us something to look forward to every February.

Our Valentine’s Day Weekend Festivities include, but are not limited to “perishable” gifts, good food, an adventure of some kind, a romantic movie, and NBA All Star Weekend.

We decided to exchange gifts on Friday when I got home from work, which was the opening ceremony of this year’s Valentine’s Day Weekend festivities. The theme for our Valentine’s Day gifts is “something perishable.” That basically means anything that we won’t feel the need to hold onto forever (no jewelry, photo albums, etc.). The thinking behind that is that if we got each other gifts like that every Valentine’s Day (in addition to birthdays, anniversaries, etc.) then we would have a garage full of things in a few years. We each took different interpretations of the rule. We each got the other something sweet, and I got Chelsia roses and tickets to a random concert in Hollywood so we could have a date night. She got me a smorgasbord including my favorite gin and animal crackers.

Our adventure of the weekend consisted of a trip down to Newport Beach. We had lunch at a bougie seafood shack called Slapfish where we enjoyed some warm lobster rolls and a lobster and crab grilled cheese. The lobster rolls were definitely worth the price of admission. After lunch, we drove around Newport and ended up at a popular surfing spot called “The Wedge.” We took a walk in the sand and took a break on the edge of the water to watch the boogie boarders and surfers. We let Teagan get her toes dirty in the sand as we watched. She hadn’t been to the beach since she was too young to interact with the world. She had a lot of fun with the sand time and really seemed to enjoy watching the huge waves breaking from the safety of my shoulders.

Valentine’s Day also happens to correspond with another great holiday: NBA All Star Weekend. Since the only day that really matters during NBA All Star Weekend is Saturday night, we had to watch the Saturday night festivities. Just for the record, we both think that Aaron Gordon was robbed in the dunk contest.

We ended the weekend strong with a trip to the Aquarium of the Pacific and with our Valentine’s Day traditions of going out to brunch and watching a love movie. We used to watch Ghost every year, but we came to the conclusion that it’s not even really a love movie, despite having one awesome and classically romantic song. This year we watched Something New, which is an underrated RomCom. We capped the night off by exchanging cards since we exchanged gifts at the weekend’s opening ceremony.

I’m happy to report that our first Valentine’s Day with Teagan was a success. We were able to capture the same romance that we had before we were a family of three, while also incorporating the new type of love that we now have in our family into our festivities. We further established our traditions, while adding to them to better suit our growing family.

-S (say what?!!)

Slapfish in Newport Beach. Lobster rolls and a crab/lobster grilled cheese.

 

The Wedge in Newport Beach

She's so close to walking. She can take two or three steps on her own before wimping out.

She loved the beach but especially the sand.

Beautiful day in Newport

At the Local Spot for Valentine's Day brunch.

LB Aquarium on Valentine's Day.

Teagan is perfecting the selfie.

At the lighthouse in downtown Long Beach.

The Long Beach convention center.

Onward and Upward

Valentine's Day is in two days and we still haven't posted about Christmas//New Years//My Birthday.

I'm not going to bore our loyal readers with every detail of Christmas 2016. I say loyal because we're horrible at posting on this (I'm talking to you Saul) and if you still come back and check our blog sporadically, thanks! :) Anyways, Christmas 2016 was sort of a big deal because it was Ms. Teagan's very first. I just wrote about two paragraphs about it and proceeded to proof read it but then thought to myself "this is so lame." So bullets shall suffice:

• We alternate which family we spend Thanksgiving//Christmas with each year. This year was Saul's so we went to his Aunt's.
• Teagan got so many presents that our living room pretty closely resembles a daycare center. Thanks fam! :)
• She loved playing with wrapping paper more than her gifts... intitally.
• Saul and I got our very first live Christmas tree and it was gorgeous...until we had to get it out of our house and the needles went EVERYWHERE!! Teagan loved the Christmas tree.
• We read Christmas in a Manger to Teagy before bed on Christmas Eve. It's important to us that she's aware of the reason we celebrate Christmas. 

Our first annual family Christmas card :)

One day old.

Teagan's hospital hat and bracelet.

Christmas Eve dinner: Filet Mignon chili and from scratch corn bread.

The PBK unicorn rocker that Santa brought Teagan.

Saul has many years ahead of him putting together Christmas presents.

She knows she's swaggy :-P

New Years Eve was just about as low key as they come. We wore our favorite Samoa t-shirts, drank champagne after Teagan went to sleep at 7:00pm, watched New Years specials and made dubsmashes. So cool of us. Teagan just so happened to wake up around 11:15pm so we let her stay up with us until midnight which was probably the only time I'd say Teagan waking up was a good thing.  I brought the New Year in with my two favorite people in the entire world and couldn't have been happier! :) It was kind of sad to say goodbye to 2015 though which was a really, really amazing year. Hopefully 2016 can top it.

Last event to play catch up on is my 27th birthday. You read that right ladies and gents. I'm 27 years old!!!! Yikes. It was one of the most amazing birthdays I've ever had. Saul, Teagan and I packed our bags and hopped on a JetBlue flight from LBC to Rip City to visit my seeeeesster. Portland is amazing although I shouldn't be surprised.  I was born in Oregon and it's just about the best state with the most amazing people. You see what I did there? haha. We got a great deal on a rental car through Costco -- $35 including taxes and fees for three days. We got in on Friday which was my actual birthday and picked up Addy. We immediately headed to Multnomah Falls which are right outside of Portland on the Columbia River Gorge. They were so ridiculously beautiful. Addy and Saul tried to kill me by making me hike half way up the falls. I was happy to enjoy them from the bottom. A lot of Portlanders are turned off by the falls not because they aren't breathtaking but because the hordes of tourists that visit them. The cold weather scared the tourists off and we were left with the natural wonder without all the people. Perfect! Afterwards we were able to get a table at Screen Door in about 15 minutes (it's notorious for its waits). Apparently the weather was cold even by late January Portland standards which actually played to our favor numerous times. Screen Door was fabulous Creole food. Nom worthy for sure.

I call this one: Hipster Hobbit :-P

My shrimp and grits.

Addy's pulled pork sandwich....

...and gumbo.

Saul's fried chicken and greens. Needless to say the food at Screen Door was so bomb.

On Saturday we checked out Downtown Portland (Powell's, Stumptown coffee, food trucks and such). Downtown Portland is exquisite. I love Los Angeles but our downtown is seriously lacking. We picked Addy up from work and she gave us a tour of Reed. It's a beautiful campus but really all of Portland is plagued with natural beauty. Afterwards we visited a cute little neighborhood of Portland called Hawthorne and got some more food truck grub. We all ordered unicorn burgers (donuts for buns, bacon and cheese) and beers. Yes. I'm sure if you've even half followed our blog you know the highlight of our travels is the food. Portland did not disappoint!

So in love with this little one.

Waffle window was so delicious!!

 The famous Powell's

Addy gave us a tour of Reed.

Graffiti basement?

On a bridge that crosses Reed Lake.

:)

Unicorn Burger! (so yum worthy)

Sunday we headed out of Portland and to the Oregon Coast more specifically Cannon Beach, Manzanita and Tillamook. The Oregon Coast was freezing but SO beautiful. The Tillamook Cheese Factory was a once in a lifetime kind of attraction. I'm glad  I went because I LOVE cheese (it's one of my favorite things) but I don't think I'll ever have the desire to go back. Of course we rounded out our trip by playing Catan which the husband won. Boo. I thought it was my birthday weekend?

Voodoo Donuts (Buckeye in Columbus is so much better)

So cheesy! Get it? ;)

cuuutte.

Monday came entirely too fast but we did get to do some fun last minute Addy-guided sight seeing in the AM. It was a wonderful start to being 27 and made the blow of almost being 30 a bit easier.

Pinestreet Biscuits

Bwhaha. It's legal in Oregon. 

Addy was paparazzi. Didn't partake but we had to at least go look. :-P

Addy showed us some cool spots before we flew back home on Monday.

Portlandia statue.

Saying goodbye to our rental!

-C (I think this is my 5th in a row or something)