Trip to VA & NC!

Eric and I had the excitement of visiting family in Virginia and North Carolina this past month. It was soo much fun meeting Eric's side of the family that I haven't met before as well as seeing this little guy for the first time below..

Baby Joseph-Cutest Baby Ever!

Family, Erin and Dallin Merrill, hosted us at their cute apartment in Alexandria for a whole week with the exception of 2 days in NC. It was a long flight out there but we were soo happy to finally get there and settled in. The weather was remarkably a lot warmer than anticipated. But you can definitely feel the difference in air with the heavy humidity.  Here is some pics of the first night..

Me and Joseph..I look tired lol but soo happy to see this little guy

Me, Joseph, and Eric lookin all comfy in his sweats

Eric and Joseph

In the pics of Eric and Joseph, Eric is bouncing Joseph on a yoga/pilates workout ball. Joseph loves to be bounced! It keeps him happy and content :)
The next day Erin and Dallin showed us a lot of sights in downtown DC. We went to several museums and enjoyed the sunshine we were blessed with.

Museum of Natural History

Museum of Natural History 

Museum of Natural History 

Museum of Air and Space 

Joseph smiling in the Museum of Air and Space 

Museum of Air and Space 

 Eric holding Joseph in front an exhibit that showed some of the requirements of flight attendants back in the day...ridiculous!/ Museum of Air and Space 

 Walking to the State Capital Building

State Capital Building

That night Eric and I joined Dallin for dinner while Erin and baby Joseph got some rest. We went to this yummy french cafe mmmm. It was in downtown Alexandria. 

 

http://www.lamadeleine.com/

The next day Dallin had to work and Erin needed to rest at home due to an accident she had on our museum adventure injuring her foot (thanks goodness shes okay!). So Eric and I set on a quest to see the memorials and other sites downtown. We took the metro which was my fist underground subway experience! It was exciting but made me feel a bit queasy lol Im so fragile sometimes. 

Me waiting for the Metro. The train starts above ground then when it gets closer to downtown it begins going underground.

Eric is such a stud :)

 Riding the train

Trying not to be sick LOL

Our first stop was the Arlington National Cemetery. A-mazing place. So much history. You just feel so proud to see the resting place of soo many people who fought for our countries freedoms.

Here above is our first stop at J.F.K.'s resting place

 You can see behind Eric the Washington Monument in the background

J.F.K.'s grave where a flame is always lit in his honor 

Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. Always guarded day and night.

 Behind the Tomb a gorgeous amphitheater

 Washington Monument

 My favorite stop the Lincoln Memorial

 I loved the feeling of history inside the Lincoln Memorial

 The Ceiling in the Lincoln Memorial was beautiful

 War of Vietnam Memorial Wall

Then we took a day trip with Erin to the home of  George Washington . Another one of my favorite stops

 Erin had Joseph snuggled up in her swaddle carrier (not sure what it was called) so cute. They are in the outdoor cooking area of Washington's home.

 Erin, Eric and Joseph standing in front of some of the amazing view George Washington had from his home.

 George Washington's tomb and other families resting place

We enjoyed an "old fashioned" meal together on the George Washington's museums site

Joseph was quite pleased at the moment until he got hungry himself and had a little bit of a meltdown. But mommy got it under control!

 Wednesday we drove down to N.C. to visit some of Eric's family. They are soo great :). They arranged for us to eat at Parker's. A famous restaurant in the area known for its fried goods. 

 It was quite a "blast from the past" sort of feel. Eric and I had to take a picture outside.

 The next day Eric, Erin, Joseph and I came down the the Speight family home which has been in the family for many years. Across the street a ways is a beautiful fishing pond. Eric just had to feed the ducks! 

I tried to get them to get closer 

 Cousin Jenny and little Joseph!

 Grandma Mildred just loves her little grandson!

 Thursday night Eric's family made a gorgeous meal that took most of the day to prepare! Sweet potatoes, pastry, and cornbread covered the table. I felt spoiled to say the least!

 Our last day I had to take a picture outside the gorgeous Speight home. Very colonial historic looking.

Some family saying goodbye. They made me feel so warm and welcome. 

Our trip back on Friday everyone was a bit tired. We decided to take it fairly easy that night. Then Saturday we woke up and said our goodbyes :(. Dallin and Erin were such wonderful hosts!

Eric and I stopped at the Holocaust Museum on the way to the airport and had about an hour to visit there. Its more of a 3-4 hour trip but we were able to walk around and learn a lot about our history. Then it was off to the airport for our journey back!

Needless to say we were both happy and tired when we got home at 1:00 in the morning! We spent the next day sleeping and recovering from our great adventure back east :) 

Master Bathroom

Back in July 2011 Eric and I's bathroom looked like this...Please excuse the messiness of the photo below..

Photo taken pre-wedding in 2011

Very dark brown walls that made the bathroom seem small and dark. After moving in with Eric I couldn't take the dark space anymore! So Eric agreed we could make the bathroom a weekend paint project. After several trips to home depot and several days of painting its now has a calming light blue color below..!

The paint project finished around November and since then I have been adding things here and there. In the photo above you can see 3 large clear jars on the counter-top, vintage blue towel holder, and two white laundry baskets under the counter. We removed the towel racks when we painted and I haven't put them back up yet because I am still deciding what I want to do. I have a few ideas on shelves or other accessory towel racks that fit in with our whole master bedroom beach scene.
We also added a medicine cabinet which is wonderful! It keeps all the scattered bottles and toothpaste off the counter space. Now the bathroom counter-top isn't always clean, I must admit that right now hahaha. But we do our best to maintain it during the week and it keeps me sane. Here is some more recent bathroom pics below..

Its a process but its getting there. The ceiling needs some TLC too. The previous owner/painter got the dark paint on the ceiling.

So needless to say it looks blah. We haven't quite decided if we will paint it ourselves or hire someone to do it for us. We discovered painting is one of our least favorite things to do hahaha. Now that we have had some time pass since we have painted it we might be up for the challenge again! We will see. My priority with the bathroom right now is aimed more towards decorative and storage. 

Here is some inspiration pics I am working from below to give you an idea..

Forever Project... Master bedroom and bath

A little before Eric and I got married I started spinning up ideas on how to put together the master bedroom and bath to make it our own stylish, and most of all, comfortable space to escape to. As all of you know Eric and I are forever beach bums. We love the ocean and the warm weather so I thought it fitting to stream that feel into our home. Now don't get me wrong I am still a Utah mountain girl as well but there is something about a light and airy beachy feel of the home that screams comfort and peace to me. So I began looking for ideas for the master bedroom and heres what I have been working from to give you all a picture..
The Master Bedroom....

The color scheme is a light blue, tan, white...and maybe a touch of red. I would like to use a lot of woods with a rustic antique white finish. I have some beautiful barn wood frames I will be using like the ones pictured above, very beach rustic :). 

Its hard to tell right now but there has been significant changes in the bedroom decor already. For starters Eric and I moved around a few things including the bed. The bed now sits between two smaller windows. I painted two nightstands a few months ago in black to put on either side. I am going to end up putting the black end tables in the upstairs bedroom when I buy some new ones. I also temporarily have a tall black armoire for extra clothing storage. I feel like I have no clothes yet our closet and drawers are packed to the max! I have a small light blue painted dresser near the foot of the bed that Eric is using for his clothing.

Here is some before and present photos for you to get a picture. The before isnt the actually beginning before, this is after we moved the original bed in between the windows. I couldn't find one where the bed used to be in front of the large window.

Before

Before

Present 

Present

Present

Present

Present

Last week Eric with the help of my dad put up the iron curtain rods. I have also bought curtains but my Mom is helping me attach blackout curtain material to all of them. Two panels of the curtains have been finished and are hanging in the present photo. Of course you can notice the big new bed in the present photo. Eric and I were soo excited when we bought this. Super comfortable and relaxing. The bed is actually on stilts because of my silliness in letting Duke sleep under the bed. Its his favorite little spot, I know I am ridiculous. I bought a new comforter and bed skirt but am still working on pillows and sheets. We also got a new tv after Christmas. I loooove it. Nothing better after a long day then getting cozy in your bed and relaxing to the tube. The tv is a smart tv so were able to stream Netflix and watch movies and shows in our room. Love it!

So as you can see its a constant process but I love planning and working on the little details. And I am grateful for Eric and his patience for all my little "projects" he gets subjected to hahaha 

We have done some work on the bathroom so I will be sure to post that next since my blog posts tend to get lengthy lol so more to come!

A little preview...here is the next item I am having added to our bedroom...cant wait!

Antique white wooden shelf to go over bed

It Feels Like Yesterday..

Wow I cant believe it has already been a little over 6 months since Eric and I were wed. It feels like only yesterday! How time flys :)
The past few months since my last post have been very exciting and eventful. Not to mention three holidays have come and gone. With the ending of a whole year and beginning of a new I realize I have much to be grateful for. Eric and I have discussed how we truly feel blessed to have found each other. And also lucky in combining some of the coolest two families ever!

Holidays have been great this year with the Lopez/ Stewart families. In the month of October Halloween was celebrated with watching UFC of course..haha. Eric and I got together with family and friends at our home and ...unfortunately.. there was no dressing up..maybe next year!
November was a great month. We began getting hit with the cold weather which wasn't too fun but we were able to escape later in the month to Corpus Christi TX to join the Lopez/ Speight family in celebrating Thanksgiving! We had a blast! Eric and I flew out November 19th and stayed till the 26th. Eric's flight was more uncomfortable on the way down than most you could say. He decided not to eat or drink anything that whole day! I felt bad when I was munching on flight cookies and peanuts lol Eric was in a intense competition with his brother Jeremy Lopez. They went on a two week challenge to see who could lose the most weight before Thanksgiving. Pure craziness! Eric stuck to a strict diet with very light foods such as salads and lean meats. He really impressed me with his ability to resist temptation. He went the last few days snacking on carrots and celery and having salads with no dressing! I did my best during the two week period of his diet to cook meals that were low calorie. We came across some healthy recipes that were quite tasty. In the end Eric ending up losing 21lbs! Can you believe that? I hate him lol jk
But back to Thanksgiving in Texas. We had so much fun taking trips to the beach and discovering all the sea life TX has to offer. We visited the aquarium and did lots of beach shop shopping. Thanksgiving day was very relaxing and filling haha. Jeremy delighted us with a Turducken. It is a turkey, chicken, and duck entree. Then we had several other yummy sides to compliment our stomachs. It was a great time with Eric's grandparents, sister Katie and husband Kenny, and Margie and Jeremy. Oh and cant forget to mention Squint and Buster. Those two will forever remain enemies I think haha.
Texas Pics below..

Eric and Jeremy after a beach run

Me working in the kitchen

Other noteworthy things that happened in November. Eric and I were called to work in the American Fork, Utah Temple and began our first shift November 3rd. We will be serving in the temple for 6 months every Thursday. We feel super excited and blessed!
And I'm sure Eric would like me to mention. We watched the infamous Pacquiao fight Marquez November 12th. It was a nail biting event but Pacquiao came out on top of course! We actually watched both Boxing and UFC fights that night with family and friends it was a lot of fun.

December...one of my most favorite months of the year. I know call me crazy but I love the shopping and decorating, cooking, Christmas music and of course family time. Its actually pretty funny the amount of people who begin to become very scrooge like during the Christmas season. I'm sure I make their lives much worse with my constant humming of Christmas music and talk of presents. I just cant help it I love the time of year! The sad thing this year though was that we didn't get any snow! Maybe next year...
One of the most exciting things in 2011 was Eric performing his Guitar Solo performance at his work Christmas party. He was AMAZING! Eric ended up tying with several other co-workers in winning best performance! I am soo proud of him.
I made many treats and tried different recipes during the holiday season especially Christmas time. I probably gained a few pounds but I like to tell people I was hibernating and it will come off soon enough haha. One recipe that my Mother couldn't stop talking about was overnight blueberry french toast yummmm. We ate it on Christmas day with other scrumptious foods.

Blueberry French Toast

Eric's birthday was on December 10th and we threw a party at our home and watched UFC fights. I made a hug banner that consisted of two blown up pictures of Eric. My favorite being his Halloween costume last year of dressed like a Cholo...hahaha!

Early in the Christmas month Eric and I went and got a live tree. Eric wasnt too delighted but very supportive in the process. Here is some pics of us getting the tree and putting it up and then the final decorated version.

You cant tell but Eric is making a scrooge face in this one haha

Getting the tree set up at home

Before

After

Christmas eve and day were a lot of fun. We spent it at the Stewart residence this year. Like I said earlier there was a lot of cooking and eating. Christmas Eve we ate a sit down dinner and watched Our Idiot Brother(a movie lol). Christmas morning we attended my parents Church then came home and ate then opened presents. Later that evening Eric and I returned home and opened each others. Eric spoiled me to say the least. I hope to make it up to him with many back massages and watching episodes of Swamp People LOL (not my favorite show)
All in all I feel that 2011 was a fantastic year. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by people I love and lucky to meet the man of my dreams! 2012 will be even better...

Stay tuned for home improvement posts :))....