Thursday, January 31, 2019

2018 year in review


2018 year in review

JANUARY
Rose Bowl & National Championship


FEBRUARY
Buying our Cottonwood home

MARCH/APRIL
Remodeling Cottonwood home

MAY
Bought our scooter
Switzerland/France 
4 year wedding anniversary



JUNE
Bought Gus Jr.

JULY
4th of July in Alabama
Finding out we are pregnant!
My 28th bday & Aaron's 30th
....start of morning sickness


AUGUST
Moab retreat with Big O
Opening Day at Georgia & announcing we are pregnant to my parents
Susanne & Lee come home from their New Zealand mission



SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER
IFA Phoenix convention
More Cottonwood home remodeling


NOVEMBER
Spain

DECEMBER
Final small projects on Cottonwood home
Christmas with my family, David surprising everyone again, Lee & Susanne in town for Christmas


Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Palma


After a few days in Madrid, we jetted of to Palma de Mallorca.

Before our trip, I was scrolling through Pinterest and saw this gorgeous picture of a tall cathedral nestled right next to the ocean. 

It looked A-MA-ZING! Aaaand... it was in Spain! I looked up to see if it was feasible to go there, and luckily there were plenty of cheap flights to the island. We immediately worked it in to our itinerary. 


We finally were able to meet the Finter's there! After their battle with sick kids and multiple booked flights from London, they made it! 


Our first day was spent walking along one of the many beach towns, grabbing lunch, McDonald's ice cream cones, exploring castles and strolling down the main streets at night. 

We were so luckily and caught the most spectacular Spanish sunsets EVERY night. 

They were

INCREDIBLE! 


We rented a car, which was the best thing we've ever done (besides street parking at night).

It gave us the flexibility and ease to move around the island quickly, and we loved the little Fiat we had with the convertible top. 

We drove to tiny Soller the next day. 

Aaron LOVED the cute little downtown center. 


We also drove to Port de Soller. 

It was a ghost town.... well the whole island was. Since it was off season, it was a little chilly. 

But we didn't mind. 

We had unobstructed views. 

Plenty of parking. 

And quiet viewpoints.


Slowly, we made our way back to the apartment for the night. 

We absolutely loved driving through the cutest cities along the way back. 

They were so charming and quaint. 

My camera was going full speed trying to capture every detail.

Aar and I wish we had more time to drive around, that was one of our favorite parts of Majorca!

Our nights were spent making dinner and catching up/playing games with Landon and Nina while their little boys slumbered away. 


Our last day we traveled across the island for more beach views in Porto Cristo. 

 The white limestone cliffs against the turquoise water were right out of a postcard and so dreamy.



We had such a fun time and I'm so glad we were able to squeeze in one more trip before Baby B comes.



Monday, January 28, 2019

Madrid


We LOVED Madrid!

It was such a beautiful, urban, European city.


We took a short flight from Barcelona to Madrid and quickly checked into one of theee cutest AirBnb's we've stayed in.

I'm still in love with it.




Sadly the Finter's still weren't able to meet us in Spain yet, so we had a big 3 bed 3 bath apartment all to ourselves.

The balcony views were spot on.

We loved the Mexican restaurant across the street from our place- we ate their two nights in a row! Hey when you find a place you like, stick with it instead of gambling on one... especially in foreign countries.

After checking in to our apartment, we strolled the city.

First stop......

You guessed it- the stock exchange.

Afterwards we stumbled across a big city park. I convinced Aaron that we should do the row boats on the small pond in the middle.



It was the sweetest, he rowed us around in the golden daylight and I wish I could take in that moment forever.

The next day we found Aaron's weakness: Primark.


I've never seen him spend so much money/be so excited about shopping. Wish there was one closer to us!

Visited some markets






We visited the Royal Palace as much as we could, and caught another pretty sunset while walking around the Egyptian sculptures downtown.



Friday, January 25, 2019

Barcelona Babymoon


So so so behind.

Buuuuut better late than never right.

So quick recap on Spain: we loved it.


Highlights include...


MADRID.

Cruising in our little rented Fiat around the island of Majorca.




But first up...

Barcelona

Our AirBnb was literally a block away from the famous Sagrada Familia cathedral.

I love the way Aaron and I have learned to travel lately. We have a loose schedule to follow, but don't pack ourselves too tight.

Giving ourselves time to sleep in, grab a pastry at the local bakery and walk around town is my favorite.


....which is exactly what we did.

We hiked up to the old war bunkers overlooking the city(which was rough on this pregnant girl)


Stopped for some Spanish Paella

Walked along the boardwalk by the ocean

Visited the famous Park Guell



Toured the Sagrada Familia

And enjoyed plenty of treats and emoji worthy balcony views


We did plenty of walking... luckily my hips loosened up from being so tight in Amsterdam! 

Barcelona reminded us a lot of South America, nothing bad against it, but it definitely had that vibe.