Saint Louis

I can't believe that it has been 1 1/2 years since Chris and I last saw our friend Lisa! Although life sometimes gets in the way of friendships (kids, med school, distance), we are lucky that Lisa is one of those great friends who you can not see/talk to much, yet pick right back up where you left off. So, when we were pondering what to do for our Memorial Day weekend a mere four days prior to it, we came up with St Louis and were so excited when Lisa said that she was free! We knew that we would have a great time while we were there, but we were just a little concerned with how the 5 1/2 hour trip would go with our little lady.

Azra did surprisingly well, and thanks to Chris, we have some great photos to document Azra's first vacation:

I do love me an impromptu vacation, and I'm so glad to know that it doesn't have to end once you have kids!

Bermuda, Baby!

Last weekend, Chris and I took a trip with six of our friends to visit two other friends who moved to Bermuda last year. They were just living life in Des Moines and decided, "oh, Bermuda, why not?!" How awesome is that? I'd like to think that I have the audacity to do the same, but the truth is that deep down, I could never do it. After going off on my own to Spain for a semester, I now know the feeling of completely severing all physical ties to anyone I know. It is a completely freeing experience, but I'm nearly certain that I couldn't do it at this stage in my life. So, props to our friends, Ben and Smita, for having the courage to do something that very few of us would do (but would like to do) given the chance.

Onto the good stuff. Now, I'm no photographer, so you'll have to check out Chris' photos at a later point, but here are a few of my favs from my new camera:

We got off the plane and saw the most beautiful ocean waters that I have ever seen. The colors didn't even look real...

Even during walks along the beaches, we couldn't believe just how beautiful the place was...

(No, I'm not fat/pregnant, the dress was just billowing in the wind. :) )

The guys played golf with views like this...

We ate dinner with the most beautiful surroundings I've ever experienced...

Even below the surface was amazing...

Chris and I are so lucky to have been able to experience such a wonderful place with such an amazing group of friends. We never could have imagined that when we packed our bags to start our adventure in Des Moines (which now doesn't seem so big in comparison to Ben & Smita's move to Bermuda!), that we would be so lucky to call these people our friends. Ben & Smita were the most hospitable hosts and made sure that we had only the best time. Between the crystal caves, snorkeling in the ocean, taking the boat around the island, or even just taking silly pictures in their apartment, I can't decide which was my favorite. It was a great trip, and I'm so thankful that I had the experience, but we were both so ready to see our baby!

So, a special thanks goes out to our friends for the visit, as well as to our parents for watching Azra, for this was a trip that we never could have experienced on our own.

San Diego - FINALLY!

So, it only took me five months to get this posted - what is wrong with me?! You'd think that we must not have had a very good time if it took me this long, but quite the contrary - we had an AMAZING time! Let's start off with a recap:

Chris celebrated his 30th birthday this February. I wanted to do something big and unexpected, and we happened to have a few thousand flight points lying around and a good friend out in San Diego who we hadn't been out to visit. What's better than a free birthday gift, right?! Chris was driving me nuts about theXBox he thought he was receiving, so imagine his surprise when my brother (in town to take care of Lola while we were gone) and I picked him up from work the Friday before his birthday! Adam drove us to the airport while Chris started to figure it out. I wasn't going to let him see the tickets beforehand, but I caved and showed him where we were going. He was super excited, and I was even more excited because I love giving gifts!

We were there for 3.5 days, and I must say that we loved every single minute of it. Matt had a great apartment just outside of Little Italy downtown. We were walking distance from great little shops and restaurants, the ocean, and the famous San Diego Zoo. Being the early bird that I am, I got up and walked around downtown until I stumbled upon a coffee shop and just sat outside enjoying the beautiful city and weather. We just loved the city and the people. Everyone was so laid back and friendly. They all seemed to be walking their dogs, and some even took them to work with them likeMochaccino here:


Saturday morning was spent on a much anticipated whale watching cruise. Chris and I really wanted to go while in Iceland, but we didn't get it done, so we were super excited to see some up close in the prime of their migration.

We saw a ton of dolphins, which was really neat...

...but, unfortunately, the only whales we saw during our vacation were these:Bummer.

Next up: Tijuana. I had been to Cancun before, but never had I experienced anything like the Mexican border town of Tijuana. It was so odd that I don't even have the words for it.

Here's Chris looking a little apprehensive about his entry into the foreign land...

...and he still looks a little scared on our way back to the U.S....
I think just about everyone in Tijuana wanted out of there. Check out the wait back into the border:It's a good thing we walked across so we didn't have to wait in line!

We also visited something on the very top of my list: the world-famous San Diego Zoo. I absolutely love zoos, so I was super excited to see something that blows even the Omaha Zoo out of the water. Chris took some fantastic photos of many of the animals there which we've hung in the babies room, so you'll have to wait until the big reveal of the nursery to see those. For fun, I'll tease you with this awesome shot of me:
The rest of the time was spent by Matt showing us around pretty much every single part of San Diego (or so it seemed), so I'll leave you with a few more pictures:

La Jolla

Ocean Beach

San Diego Skyline

And no birthday would be complete without a shot of tequila from an unmarked bottle purchased from a creepy dude in Tijuana. Good thing I had the excuse of being pregnant so I could sit this one out!

Memorial Day Weekend

With a few appointments over the weekend keeping us from taking our originally planned 4-day trip to Chicago, we decided to take a short trip to Minneapolis instead. We left very early Sunday morning with Lola in tow. It was her first vacation with us and she was having the time of her life!


On the way, we stopped at a rest stop for a walk through the woods (even though it was a rest stop, it was beautiful nonetheless) and then on to a little shopping at an outlet mall. We did well and bought only a few things, including a baby onesie with a whale on the butt (we just couldn't resist!). Then we were off to our hotel. We stayed at Sofitel, a super nice French hotel that has a few locations here in the States. I would highly recommend it. It was a beautiful smoke-free hotel in a great location and they even allow pets to stay free of charge, which is super rare. Luckily our hotel room was ready super early, so we headed straight there for a comfy bed. Actually, it ended up being the most comfortable bed I've ever slept on! Lola loved it too.


We stayed awhile at the hotel for a little relaxation and play time. Doesn't the bed just look like heaven?? It was even better than a Marriott bed, which is hard to beat!

We did some exploring and shopping throughout the trip, and while IKEA is usually what I look forward to, we happened to stumble upon something even greater. I'm a huge organization nerd, and if I could afford all the great organization stuff then my pantry would definitely look like this:

Alas, my pantry definitely doesn't look like this. Actually, I don't even have a pantry, but a girl can dream. And dream I did when I entered the monstrosity that was The Container Store. An organization nerd's dream! Chris really had no interest in the place, but he was a good sport and spent my allotted 1/2 hour in the awesome store. I came out with some great ideas of how I'd like my yet-to-be-built master closet look.

We ended the trip with a picnic at Minnehaha Park and were home in time to relax a bit before bedtime. All in all, it was a fun and much-needed get away!