27 years old

A birthday and summer celebration with old friends, new friends and lots of babies.  
Seriously, look at the baby bounty. And this is only 3 of 5.  Little Miss Adalene is still partying it up in Vegas and Mr Phinehas is grounded until he sleeps more during the night and less during the day.

Get your rodeo on!

It's been a while since we've found ourselves at a rodeo but that's all about to change. Rodeos are fun! We both headed home with the feeling that we had missed our life's calling as a cowboy and a cowgirl. Denver was diagnosed with FOMO, otherwise know as fear-of-missing-out, ages ago so his reaction really isn't much of a surprise. I have to agree though, there's really something pretty awesome about cowboy hats, cowboy boots, big trucks and riding bucking angry animals.

Spencer Hot Springs & Austin, NV

We drove eight hours across the state this weekend on what has been coined "the loneliest road in America." While driving, we had some time to come up with the following list

Our top 3 favorite things about living in NV:

 1. Pristine and vacant hot springs, all over
 2. Free America
 3. No state income tax and free roadside camping tie for third place

(while free roadside camping may seem like a mute point, when you're camping hundreds of miles from any population source, it's such a relief to fall asleep without any fear of an angry rancher or ranger interrupting your sweet dreams)

Our destination was Great Basin National Park on the far east side of NV (which unfortunately did not make it into our top three list). We toured the park and hiked Wheeler Peak but mostly we drove through the desert. Along the drive we saw lots of sagebrush and scrub, wild horses and burros, the occasional scary creature* and small run-down mining towns. The highlight of the trip was soaking in the Spencer hot springs and the nearby town of Austin, NV. Austin is certainly an old and run-down mining town but also very quaint and charming.

 
*Scary creature mentioned above 
 

Great Basin National Park

The Patriarch

The head of the household, my Dad

The kind of Dad that drives ten hours roundtrip to come for a visit and then spoils us with fun activities and fancy dinners. All on the one weekend, when any holiday authority deems that it should be the other way around.

He's kind of exceptional

House renovation: guest bedroom & bath

Before:

After:






Before:

After:


 

Family

St Lawrence exterior before & after

Now that we're done with the house and landscaping I thought it would be fun to do a few more before and after posts to document our project. As I've mentioned before, our biggest regret with the entire project is the lack of legitimate "before" photos. We do have few photos from the day we moved and we've also copied some photos from the original MLS listing.

Our goal during the renovation was to maintain the original styling and architecture of a 1924 bungalow while updating to a more modern comfort level. We ended up almost completely gutting the interior but left all the original exterior brick walls intact ("we" is code for Denver). During the renovation we had to constantly keep our modern preferences on the down-low and try to keep things looking more 1920s. Hopefully the blend worked to eyes other then our own.

Before:

After:

Because once just isn't enough

Camping:


Biking:


Lounging:


Bedheads:

Couldn't resist sharing these fresh faces. Good morning sunshine!

Weekend

Really pretty hooked on our surf weekends, the days go as all days should go

Early morning coffee and fresh donuts

Paddling into the cold foamy water. The slap of the waves and the smell of neoprene in the morning sun. Focusing so intently on catching waves and riding waves. Watching the other surfers look so effortless and talented. Arms and shoulders refusing to make another paddling rotation. Waiting for the last ride to shore and hoping to call it quits on a good note.  Hands and feet so numb from the cold that it's hard holding onto the board and walking up the stairs.

Warming up on the sand with a good book

Hiking through the redwoods, checking out tide pools, running on the beach trail

Camping in the back of the car undisturbed and for free

Waking up and doing it all over again

Another flat

We made it last year without any flats on the trail. In the last three weeks we've counted eight, quickly making up for last year's streak of good luck. "A quick downhill" he says, "should take about an hour or so." Six flats and three hours later we made it back to the parking lot. I'd say we've paid our dues.