Earlier this month my aunt–whose birthday is TODAY–graciously asked me to be her Plus One on her work’s achievement trip to the Ritz-Carlton at Half Moon Bay, just south of San Francisco. It took this Wyoming Girl all of two seconds to scream ‘YES!’ and have her bags packed. We’ve had a lot of adventures together and we’re birds of the same {middle child} feather when it comes to enjoying vacation. The keys to our success: a lot of good food, a lot of good company, a lot of relaxing, and a lot of laughing.

In fact, after meeting at the hotel, it took less than five minutes to be in our room with mimosas laughing.

And unpacking the Hurts Donuts she brought with her.

Honey, hush! Doughnuts and champagne might just be the best way to describe me.

The first jaw-dropping moment I had on this trip was the view from our room. It was phenomenal.

That large fire pit was hardly vacant the entire time we were there, so we took the first opportunity we had to warm our feet and listen to the ocean.

Cheers!

That night was a meet-and-greet at a Peruvian restaurant (also right on the ocean).

No longer being in Wyoming, I thought I could get away wearing the sundress and linen jacket I first wore in Hawaii, but, hello…that coastline of California is 200% wind. Give me everyone’s jackets.

At least we had a front-row seat for the sunset, which was lovely.

The next day she had a morning meeting and I had the best breakfast of my life. Seems fair, right?

This is the Ritz’s Farmer’s Market Benedict with wild mushrooms, spinach, cheese (I think they substituted cheddar when I said I didn’t want goat), tomato hollandaise and pesto. Holy smokes. If I were in my own home, I would have licked the entire plate, but you know…manners.

Afterwards I headed out on the coastal trail.

It was incredible, but the wind was so strong I had a massive ear ache when I returned. I realize this is a ridiculous complaint when seeing these views, but I’m keepin’ it real here.

It was sometime this afternoon, after we had been to town and back, that I was reading under the covers and Pam comes running into the room and says “Do you have pants on??”  Haha! A valid question when traveling with me. She just realized we had Club Lounge access, which was a private room with 24-hour free food and drink. Like anything you want. At any time. Including this fancy wine machine…

…and all the club soda and gummy bears I could manage. (Spoiler: A lot)

It was basically heaven. And we spent a good deal of our time there for the rest of the trip. (They changed the food spread every three hours, and had games and more amazing views minus the wind and crowds.) It was like a 24-hour five-star restaurant you had all to yourself. Why would anyone want to leave?

That night we celebrated all of the participants at a fancy dinner on site. Fancy for me: pearls and contacts.

Saturday, our last full day, was a spa day (compliments of the trip), so we started on the same coastal trail I trekked yesterday, but this time hitting up the beach at low tide.

Half Moon Bay is the home of the famous Mavericks surfing contest. Those waves were no joke, even at low tide. But, again, gorgeous. We had the entire beach almost to ourselves.

After our massages and a million trips to the Club Lounge, we went to dinner with Pam’s longtime friend Jane.

This is us with our blood orange margaritas, which were to die(t) for. We also had roasted mushroom and pear salads…

…and Pam had her first, her FIRST, bowl of homemade gnocchi. This was literally MY crowning achievement of her achievement trip.

I had a “Highway 92” pizza with roasted butternut squash, garlic, caramelized onions, feta, parmesan, arugula and sage. Mouth is watering…

It was a fabulous way to go out. The next morning’s fog perfectly captured how we felt about leaving — sad, gray, but also so THANKFUL.

Good food — check!
Good company — check!
Relaxing — check!
Laughing — check!
Club Lounging — triple check!

Pam, I’d celebrate you and WITH you any time. Thanks for letting me join your adventures and recognize your hard work. Happy birthday to one of the most amazing, generous, funny and loving people I’ll ever know. All the hearts!

You might think the hummingbirds and moose were the eye-candy in Colorado, but get a look at this bunch. I spent 10 days surrounded by my lovely family embraced by Colorado’s Rocky Mountain glory. The cast of characters included my Dad, Janet and Rachel; Bryan, Robbi and Rowan for the first half; and Krista, Tim, Lily and Linc for the second half. Joe, unfortunately, had to work, so here was my date for the trip.

She was so. excited. to be in the mountains and around her favorite people. Rowan also got a lot of love those first few days. We’re all smitten with him and the other littles.

Rowan finally met Bella, my own little, who looks thrilled.

The first full day we drove Trail Ridge Road through the park. It was stunning.

My dad in his element.

We reached the cold summit, where Rowan snuggled close and there was still considerable snow.

Other adventures included taking everyone to Estes Park, including Bella, who got a lot of AWWWW’s around town.

I also was on baby duty so Bryan and Robbi could fly fish near our cabin.

Rowan was not convinced of my wearing his burp cloth on my head to block the sun. Just the start to a long tradition of me embarrassing him.

And then Krista and her crew arrived and we were all together for two days. Aunt NoNo was very happy to be with these faces.

We hiked to Adams Falls, which was a hit and totally family friendly. This is a good group.

I gave Lily my GoPro camera for our hike.

That girl. She took some dang good photos, including this one, which is one of my favorites of the entire trip.

She’s got the bug!

Before they left, we celebrated Robbi’s birthday with homemade ice cream and this ridiculous cake with a cookie dough center that Lily helped me make. Total hit.

Then we had another few days of special food, like Micky pancakes…

…to games like Cranium and Dominion (which is SO FUN!)…

…and making popsicles with leftover yogurt, oreos and sprinkles.

We finished the trip by seeing The Little Mermaid live; a fitting end to a fabulous and much-needed 10 days. A big shout-out to my Dad and Janet for bringing us all together amidst the busy schedules and miles. It was a perfect trip. Love my fam.

Sometimes you reach the middle of a week and just need a vacation. And when you can’t take one, the next best thing is to relive the one you had over a month ago. My family’s time in Colorado was the perfect antidote to our busy lives and let us spend quality time together–which, when you’re as spread apart as we are, doesn’t happen as often as we would like.

I’ll get to the family action in my new posts, but wanted to share all of the wildlife we encountered at our cabin in Grand Lake. First, the hummingbirds. They were E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E. Sometimes 15 or more at a feeder at a time! I spent many a morning sitting on our deck, armed with my camera trying to capture them all.

This guy is one of my favorites. He looks so angry, ha!

I had never seen them sit still when not at a feeder.

Turns out, the ruby-throated ones were the hardest to catch because the other hummers didn’t want them around. Poor guys. Beauty can be so hard. …so can being patient, but I finally found one on his own.

We saw deer and chipmunks in the park, but our greatest encounter came when I drove to take our trash out one night and saw a group of people by the road with their phones out. I took the bait and stopped only to see three huge bull moose together, which I now know is rare. I called my dad immediately and said “grab the cameras!”

You can only see two here, but they were eating every tree and bush in this poor person’s yard.

Then we walked around the house to find the other one. We were so. close. Dangerous, people. I didn’t realize how easily we could have been hurt, but we shouldn’t have been this close.

Pretty magnificent creatures, though. More soon (I promise!) on the less hairy and aggressive members of our party.

To see the rest of my wildlife photos, click here.

The final piece of the Oklahoma puzzle! Picking up right where I left off…

We had a belated birthday celebration for Lily right after Bryan and Robbi’s shower. Our little reader got a slew of awesome new books, including one of my faves (Nancy Drew) from one of my faves (Memaw).

We went for the Yoda birthday card that made you blow out your own candles, mostly so Tim and I could try all night.

Then we just relaxed…

…and took awkward pictures next to our height-challenged grandmother.

And Lily surprised me with a few photos of her own. Haha, I love this one.

There was the most spectacular sunset that night. Their front view is A++++!

Later that night, when it was just the sibs, Lily had us pass a ball around a circle using only the body part she called out.

I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in my life.

The neck one was just a taaaad uncomfortable…or awesome, depending on who was up.

The next morning was my last with these cuties. Linc…he is so expressive. These were all taken in quick succession.

It makes my heart sing to see him and Lily get along so well. Knucks!

Well, usually so well.

That night was the Super Bowl, which called for a ridiculously awesome spread of snacks at my Dad’s house.

More on those cookies this weekend. They knocked my socks off.

Then I was on a plane back to Utah with my heart and my stomach so full.  And when I was walking to the baggage claim, I noticed that Sports Illustrated had copied our shower game for their cover, haha.

That’s a wrap on a very action-packed trip!

I was so excited to share the details of my trip to Oklahoma two weeks ago, even going so far to process all of my photos the day after I got home. A new record, surely. But then I was hit with a bronchitis-mystery-virus monster that left me in bed with a high fever and ridiculous cough for the last week. No joke. Today is the first day I’m fever-free, sitting up-right, at my desk, walking my dog, feeling somewhat normal. It has been R-O-U-G-H. PSA: Traveling twice in one month when you are normally only exposed to your husband and dog can wreak havoc on your immune system. But, I’m happy to report it no longer feels like confetti is blowing around my lungs every time I try to take a breath, something I managed to take for granted in the years since I last had bronchitis. Stay well, my friends.

But, rewinding to the fabulous trip home. I left Utah begging for “more color” on Instagram. This was our drive to the airport.

Beautiful, but a little monotone for my taste.

Luckily, this is what I woke up to after my first night in my sister’s new home. Wish: Granted.

HELLO, COLOR! Oklahoma sunrises and sunsets are the best. Hands down. Game over. Case closed.

Here’s Booh’s new house with the most glorious of backdrops. Years in the making, this place is absolutely gorgeous and worth every minute of the wait.

Since they had just moved in like six days before I dropped my luggage in their entryway and yelled “Honey, I’m home!”, I’ll save more house photos for my next trip. But here’s a sneak peek of their powder bath.

Each room is this magical and vibrant. And filled to the brim with natural light. It’s a photographer’s dream. Especially the living room, where Lincoln *happily* modeled in a new chair.

Everyone should have a piece of furniture that matches their eyes, right?

My nights were spent in Lily’s Beauty Shop. She’s very talented and booked weeks in advance, so I was lucky to get a spot.

I also got to star as Proud Aunt at her school play, where a stray bird tempted to steal the spotlight.

Lily was the Star Fairy in Sleeping Beauty…

…and Little Red Riding Hood’s Mother…

…and recited a Spanish Nursery Rhyme.

Like any smitten fan, I had to get her autograph backstage.

We celebrated with a lunch selfie…

…which turned into a “hey, can I borrow your glasses and camera?” session for one…

I seriously have about 20 photos like this on my camera. So hilarious.

The next day was the day of the baby shower, which I’ll share all the details of in the next post. We all gathered bright and early to cheer Lily on at her last basketball game of the season.

It was an action-packed start to a great visit. Posts 2 and 3 coming soon!

After surviving last weekend’s drop of over a foot of snow, it’s imperative for me to recap my warm, sunny trip to Miami. This trip brought a lot of work, a lot of family and and a lot of good food. The pictures can *mostly* tell it all.

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that this building is this gorgeous. Many a productive meeting within these walls over the week I was there. New faces and old friends, new plans, new 16-17 season…#new.

But something that is neither new, nor never gets old is this rooftop view. This was the start of a glorious sunset.

My trip overlapped a visit my mother-in-law and brother-in-law made to Miami, so we were able to meet up for dinner and a movie in the park outside my building. Turns out, The Boy Friend is weird, so we didn’t last long.

The next day, my mom and Mike arrived for the weekend, which started with one of our PULSE concerts–a late-night, club-style event for orchestra and DJ.

It was a “white out” version, which means we were decked in our winter summer whites and wore these LED color-changing bracelets to be part of the show.

Here are a few glimpses of what PULSE is like…

I love my job.

Saturday was a nice day off with brunch at Big Pink (always, forever, amen) and time on the beach.

I have to give a big shout-out to these massive iguanas that were all over this tree on my walk to work. It was crawling with them. (Sorry, horrible.) At first I noticed one that was licking water off of a leaf when it was pouring rain. But then every time I walked by, there were more and more and more. So awesome.

At times you’d only see their scaly backs…

…and other times you’d only see them peeking through the leaves. So entertaining.

The highlight of my week was definitely our day trip to Sanibel to see Bobbie and her family. It’s a convenient halfway point between Miami and Tampa and a familiar haunt for me and Bobster. I hadn’t seen Abby (other than on Skype) since she was one-and-a-half, so this was a big moment. Clearly, she was thrilled to see me.

Just kidding, she really was thrilled, but probably not as much as I was to see her.

She even took a few pictures of her own with my camera.

Her parents are much more photogenic!

Our attempts at getting a girls’ photo were hilarious, albeit a little unsuccessful thanks to someone’s constant wiggles!

Baby’s First Game of Cornhole. That’s a baby book milestone, right?

We walked off our big lunches at a nature trail and center. Baby’s First Binoculars.

I love this picture. Lots of good conversation going on about ballet, friends, school…

More adventures at the nature center building birds…

…and listening for the ocean.

It was a big day for her…and Mike.

Overall, the most perfect day and trip.

“Everyone, hold hands!”

One more “swing me!”

Until next time, Florida!