Denver, CO

Since we spent the first two weeks of September on the road, I figured I would just finish up the roadtrip post, throw in a few photos from the end of September and call it good. Getting back to our roadtrip...we left Arches National Park and headed toward the Starr home in Denver.

Madeleine reads while we drive.

Traveling with a child is WAY different than just the two of us roadtrippin'. So, we found some nice rest areas to let Madeleine run around a little bit. Doing this post in December, it seems crazy to me that I was still two months away from delivering Gracen. Here she is, with us on our trip!

We traveled some beautiful country. My favorite were the San Rafael Reefs in Utah- of course, the red rocks is my fav, but Tim prefers the mountains with their greenery.

We stopped at Independence Pass to let Madeleine walk around a little bit. It was cold, but we got some great views.

We picked up a Real Estate guide after falling in love with a lovely little town called Frisco, CO. I"m pretty sure, a long time ago, I had seen it featured in Runner's World and I always wanted to see what it looked like. When we stopped by as a side-trip we were pretty much ready to move there. Too bad the neighboring cities are Vail and Breckenridge. Frisco is just a little bit out of our price range!

Our last rest stop before reaching Denver!

Here is Madeleine in the Starr basement. She liked playing with the toys down there. When we got into Denver, we grabbed some pizza to share with the Starrs and headed to their house.
The Starrs also have some lovely chickens, and we got to see some home-grown eggs. Tim shows Mads the chickens. The Starr kids would pick them up for us to see, and they are very pretty. I like the black and white ones, I can't remember their names right now. One is Pat Benetar right Rose?

We went to a park with the Starrs and I love this perspective shot of Madeleine. Emma is swinging in the background.

Even though the weather was not cold enough (even in Denver, which was hotter than I expected) I indulged in my first soy pumpkin spice latte of the season. My favorite drink from the 'Bucks.

Tim mustered up the courage to wrangle a chicken for Madeleine to touch. You can see Todd Jr. in the background on the coop.

After a visit to Fancy Tiger fabrics (which carry Amy Butler designs) we went to Sweet Action Ice Cream, a delicious boutique ice cream parlor downtown. You can see all the flavors they offer on the fridge to the left of me and Rose. Since it was the Great American Beer Festival in Denver the week we were there, the parlor was offering some crazy yummy flavors that featured beer. They make all sorts of interesting concotions.

Tim and his girls toured the Denver Library. Here Tim snuggles the table at which the UN council met when clinton was president. I can't remember what the guy's name was, but Tim is getting back to his roots by carressing the French Prime Minister's seat.

Checking out the view. Wow, Madeleine looks so young in this pic- she's growing up too fast!

Outside a Denver Art Museum

Even though Madeleine did a fairly good job on our trip, we decided in Hot Springs to fly her and me back home. Tim would then drive the way back to Utah, pick up our boat and head home. This was due to the fact that our daughter was starting to show signs of road wear. She was cranky, not napping well and we didn't really want to sit in the car for another 48 hours trying to get her home. So, we said good-bye to the Starrs for all their hospitality and headed home. My parents picked me and Mads up in San Diego at 9am and we waited for Tim to arrive around 2am that night.

He stopped by Frisco again on the way home =)

Thank you Starrs, for sharing your home and some more of Denver with us. We always enjoy hanging out with you, and hope you can meet little Gracen sooner than later.

Love, Lauren

30 Before 30: # 20 Buy Awesome Maternity Jeans

Knowing that I would be pregnant in November, I wanted to invest in at least one pair of nice fitting maternity jeans for Peanut and future pregnancies. Tim took me to Motherhood Maternity where I quickly (we had Madeleine) browsed for jeans. I also quickly found out that I have no desire to spend over $30 on jeans. I didn't even look at the Pea in the Pod selection they featured. For me, it's all about functionality and price. I ended up buying a pair, but couldn't even stand them for one day. I like the secret belly fit type with the Lycra panel that lifts over your bump, but unfortunately, the jean material is too heavy to stay up without the help of a stronger panel. All day I was trying to pull the jeans up into my hip area and feeling like I was losing a losing battle anyways. So, Tim took me back and I quickly (we had Madeleine) browsed for a new pair. I decided on a black pair of corduroy pants. They were less expensive, and the lightness of the corduroy in combination with the color created a flattering and versatile look. They aren't quite as easy to match as jeans (I find that I can only wear black shoes) but they work. Now I can check #20 "Buy Awesome Maternity Jeans Pants" off my list =)

The jeans I took back (36 weeks):

The pants I kept (39 weeks):

Love, Lauren

30 Before 30: # 13 Spend a Night Away with Tim

Tim and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary a month early this year. With our impending birth, we decided to not risk missing out on a night away together because once Peanut is out, it will be quite a while until we can leave her overnight. We left early on a Tuesday in October and headed down to my 38 week appointment in San Marcos. Tim was able to hear Peanut's heartbeat again and we had a chance to discuss and finalize our birthplan with our doctor. Then, it was on to San Diego! We planned NOTHING! Tim did have some possible plans in case we felt up to doing anything, but for all you parents out there, you know what I mean when I say that what we wanted the most was to sleep in and do nothing. Or, maybe we are just boring =) Regardless, Tim took me to this Mexican place famous for its connection to Nacho Libre-esque wrestling called Lucho Libre. The ambiance was very fun and festive, the food was ok. It was a novelty type eatery and we enjoyed pondering how one can sit at the gold-plated "Champions" table. We decided to try and get an early check-in at our hotel: Andaz. Originally, we had booked at the Omni, but we decided to try and save a few bucks and be spontaneous by using Priceline. We chose our desired neighborhood (Gaslamp- we were all over the map the previous weeks checking out everything from Downtown highrise to Coronado condos to La Jolla motels to a resort on Shelter Island) and our desired hotel level (4 star) and we let our price do the picking. We ended up at a Hilton called Andaz. Tim was concerned because he really tries to make everything perfect for me, and the one thing I told him I wanted was quiet and relaxing. So, when we found out that this hotel was very famous for being a club first, then a hotel, he started to worry. He checked out the site and found that the rooftop pool boasts some 800 socialites looking for action on the weekends. So, we were interested to see what it would be like on a Tuesday night. We were able to get an early check-in and were very impressed with the modern decor. This boutique hotel also had two pimped-out Escalades that would taxi you anywhere within a 2 mile radius, we were enjoying the luxurious catering. The concierge, Phil, upgraded our room to a junior suite and it was awesome! But, like most of the reviews told us, this hotel is not kid-friendly! (picture of our room). We got into our room and took a nap! Yup, we napped for about two hours before laying in bed and reading.

We went to dinner at 'de Medici, the restaurant we went to on our 1st date. I had saffron risotto with lobster! Oh my goodness, it was amazing. Tim had ravioli, and it was delectable.

We re-visited the rooftop pool and the huge rock fire pit. We went to bed around 9:30! I know, we are so lame, right!? Then, we slept in until a blissful 9am!! We grabbed a Jamba Juice for breakfast and checked out at 12. We had the Escalade take us to the harbor where we boarded the ferry to Coronado. We enjoyed a stroll on the island and some lunch and by then, it was time to come home. It was wonderful! We thoroughly enjoyed joking, snuggling and just loving the other person with no pressures or agenda or discussions pressing. We grabbed coffee on our 22 block walk back to our car (we kinda missed the ferry to the convention center and had to disembark farther upshore) and chatted on the ride back home about nothing and everything. It was perfect and relaxing, just like we wanted.

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life

Love, Lauren

30 Before 30: # 28 Organize a Summer Book Club

Good thing I said that I only needed to organize a summer book club, because it was disasterous! I started the SBC in July with the book Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. The impetus behind the club was to help me stay accountable for reading over the summer. I had found that my ravenous reading had dwindled to meager snippets here and there with the pressures of being a SAHM and no real involvement in academia per se. I don't usually read multiple books by a single author, but I have coincidentally found that every book (ok, everybook but one) I have read from the Salinas native has been a real enjoyment. I love his style and authenticity. I love his grit and compassion. I love his insight into the human character and the unassuming way he goes about presenting it. I've only read 5 of his books, but that is more than any other author for me. Anyways, I chose Grapes of Wrath for June and invited people through Facebook and some word of mouth. At the time of the invite, I had not decided on a book, but I later messaged people to tell them it was to be GOW. Only two people replied that they were coming, but as I messaged them to confirm, neither knew that I had actually chosen a book. I don't know how it happened, but through some communication error, June's book club only had two people saying that they would come, but unaware of the reading.

I made a stronger attempt in July to make sure people knew when we were meeting and what we were reading. However, I boggled this month's club too. I chose Dave Egger's A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. I memoir of sorts, I chose it because it was talked about highly in some circles I used to frequent and he had won a Pulitzer for a different work, and I had bought it years ago and it was just sitting on my bookshelf. I sent out the invite and started reading. That's when I realized that although I cannot expect pagan authors to keep their works clean, that I was unwilling to ask my friends to read this book which was stuffed full of vulgar language. It wasn't just an exclamatory here or there, it was superfluous and gratuitous vulgar language. So, I had to change the book; the problem was that some people had already replied they were going to come based on the book choice! I chose The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs instead. This book is about an atheist Jew who chooses to try and live out the Bible literally. He doesn't cut his hair, blows a horn every morning and stones adulterers. It was amusing and insightful, but I would have liked to discuss his shortcomings in regards to the new testament. I chose this book because my mom and Tim had already read it. I think I was hoping to at least host someone! Some people said they would come, but changed plans at the last minute and I was left alone on another book club.

For August, I took a request from Becky Lawlor and we read Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore. It was a good book and a totally engaging read. However, I changed the meeting date on everyone because of some scheduling conflict and successfully bumped anyone who was planning on coming from actually coming. In the end, I was glad to be done with my bungled book club because it was a little stressful for me to choose the books, wonder who would come and then prepare to entertain. I am so enjoying being part of a book club, but not organizing it anymore. Oh well, I did it! And, it's one more thing off my list =)

Love, Lauren

Crazy Baby Boom

I know it has to be the age I am at, but I just had to post on how amazingly explosive the baby-making is getting around here. Here is a list from fabulous friends to slight acquaintances who have recently delivered or announced a pregnancy:

Sarah M. (delivered August 8)

Coley D. (delivered September 15)

Patricia M (delivered September 11)

Julie B. (delivered October)

Meredith L. (delivered October 15)

Allison (due October 25)

Me (due November 4)

Joey S. (due November 5)

Christina K. (due November 23)

Rachael S. (due November 25)

Mary M. (due November 28)

Joyy L. (due December)

Renee W. (due January 2011)

Katrina L. (due March 2011)

Alison B. (due April 2011)

Kari M. (due April 2011)

Regina (due APril 2011)

Lauren D. (due April 2011)

Erin T. (due June 2011)

Jenny G.(due June 2011)

Elizabeth M. (due June 2011)

Korina A.

Courtney C.

Nicole S.

I wonder who else will be added to this list...

Love, Lauren

30 Before 30: # 7 Go to a National Park

When I wrote the 30 Before 30 List, I was pretty sure that a few things wouldn't really get done, and I was totally fine with that. It was mostly a goal list and, as I'm finding out, a good way to figure out what I think I enjoy doing and what I actually enjoy doing. It's also revealing in the sense that my life has changed so much, but I am still transitioning into that change. For instance, have a fun karaoke night with friends probably won't happen for a few reasons. One, I really don't have that many friends who I would actually invite to a sing-along fest, and even if I did, we all have kids, so hitting a pizza joint and staying up singing "Eye of the Tiger" until midnight doesn't even really sound like a super-blast. I guess I'm moving from thinking in terms of "single/married fun" to "family fun". Not that anything I did was uber-un-family, it's just that you don't take your 16 month old out to the Round Bar at 11pm and sleep in until 9 the next morning.

Anyways, all that to say, when I wrote the list, I wasn't quite sure how we were going to get to a National Park. The closest one is probably Joshua Tree, but we didn't have any realistic plans to head out to that area, let alone in September heat. So, when Tim suggested we extend our Lake Powell trip another week and tour the southwest again, I knew there were quite a few places we could go to complete this item. We were pretty ambitious in our planning, at first, but we did temper the trip and ended up choosing Arches National Park. Not only did this complete a 30B30 item, but it's actually been my #1 desired NP destination for about 6 years now. There is nothing more glorious to me than red rocks. I don't know what it is, I think it's the influence of hot summers driving in an old Suburban, with the windows down, out through the Mohave toward red rock county for endless family vacations. It's the folding levels of Lake Powell's shores that slip into sparkling blue water. It's the spiring pinnacles of stacked sun-burnt rock in Valley of Fire SP. I don't know what it is, but I just love this landscape. Pretty much everyone is familiar with the ubiquitous Delicate Arch, but I was very excited to seeLandscape Arch too. Of course, the largest natural arch is actually at Lake Powell: Rainbow Bridge.

So, we stored our boat and stayed in St. George on Saturday and headed out for Arches NP the next day. We drove into the park and took our obligatory family park sign picture.

We then stopped by the park headquarters to see some of the exhibits and get oriented with the park. We also grabbed a map and took a few pictures of Madeleine. Unfortunately, we didn't get a picture of the huge bronze Borregos outside, they were much too hot in the sun. We did manage to snag this picture of an awesome Sportmobile. We're thinking when we hit 5 or more kids, this might be the way to go. We're saving now though, since a sup-ed up one can round out to $80,000! Or we'll just buy a horse and wagon =)
Outside the NP HQ, Dada creates Madeleine into an arch:
The sun was already on its way down, so we just did a quick drive tour. I used to bemoan the fact that so many of our national Parks are road accessible (Bryce Canyon comes to mind) and that you could really tour many of them from the luxury of your vehicle and never get out, but now I don't know if I want to moan about it anymore. When you have a toddler, are pregnant, or are elderly, I could see why accessibility is really for all people. Arches is a relatively small park, so we were able to see many of the prominent pinnacles, arches and windows from the car. We did get out to do a little one-mile hike to North and South window and Turret Arch.

South Window @ 33 weeks:

North and South windows:

After our little hike, we were debating trying to get out to see Delicate Arch. It is supposed to be amazing at sunset, especially for pictures. However, a 5 mile for our family wasn't really in the future and we decided to just go to the lookout. We saw lots of people lining the trail out to the arch. Delicate Arch

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We again miscalculated the time and our timing and pushed Madeleine a little far. We had to search for a long time for a campsite and had forgotten that when we were packing we did not have an propane for our stove. At home it was a simple, "We'll get it on the road". But since we needed it now, it became a drive to Moab and a late dinner for baby. She slept fine in the tent with me until I tired to cover her with a blanket around 5am. We were up and trying to get food down and get out of there for Madeleine was trying to wake everyone in the site with crying. It's quite a different experience camping with children. Yes, it was difficult, but she had already been on the road for two days after a week on the houseboat. I think we set some rather large expectations for her, and she really was amazing. After a nap on the drive into the park, she seemed a little more adjusted, but still was not interested in sitting in the KidPack for too long. We planned to go out to Navajo Arch but cut our trip short. I was very tired too, so Tim and I took turns heading out to see Landscape Arch.

Landscape Arch:

The scenery was breathtaking and I was glad to see Arches NP. We decided to head on toward Denver and try and give Madeleine a little rest from everything. Thanks to my wonderful husband for making it happen, and for understanding when Mama and babies needed to quit looking at rocks and lay down =)

Love, Lauren

Lake Powell Sept. 4-12

Once we got Sima on the road to recovery, we set out on Sunday to make the 14 hr. trek to Page, AZ.

Little miss with her "Baa" and "Lamby":

14 hrs, 3 tanks of gas, a hotel stay from hell, a boat that wouldn't start for 2 hours and two tired parents later, we were boating our way up to the San Juan Arm of Lake Powell. Once we were there, we let Nani and Popi take over some Madeleine duties and tried to rest and relax.

Popi, MJ and Nani go for a stroll:

We were able to get some rest and enjoyed the cool temps and lovely water along with the others on the houseboat. You can see our yellow sea-doo and orange Malibu. Isn't the water gorgeous? If I had to pick my favorite landscape, it would be red rock and turquoise water. The entire Lake Powell, Havasupai reservation, Lake Mead, Virigin River Gorge, Grand Canyon, San Rafael Cliffs area is superb.

We left Madeleine for a nap while Tim, Jared, Katie and I went to Dangling Rope Marina (about 45 minutes away). While on the way, Jared had brought a drink and he was having a hard time drinking it considering the ride was a little bumpy. So, I took a picture of him trying to drink it because it reminded me of the time when we were about 8 and 7 years old and our parents bought us ice cream cones. But, as we were leaving the London Bridge area, we hit a lot of chop in the boat. Our ice cream cones were dripping from 104+ degree heat and every time we went in for a bite they would end up all over our faces. I can't remember which of us ended up crying (maybe it was Alex) but I think we had to throw our cones over the side. Now that I think about it, I have no idea why we didn't just stay at the bridge and enjoy our treat...but, oh well. It made for a childhood laugh for Jared and me as I snapped this pic.

Madeleine helps her dada drive the boat back to Wahweap Marina:

Our funny family:

Mama & baby Madeleine enjoy the beach around the corner- room to walk about and shallow pool for baby to explore:

Dada & his baby girl on an early morning (letting Mama sleep in!)

Look at those beautiful loves!

Again...Lauren is a lucky girl!

Love, Lauren