A low-key dinner with friends, followed by a low-key hang out, makes a fancy New Year's Eve in my book. I guess I'm getting old, but I was exhausted by midnight.Crew stayed awake the whole night and was so good (Lord help me have a child like that one day...).

It's always fun to see friends who live far away (or across town) during the holidays, everyone is always so busy during the year. I should resolve to see more friends, more often. Ok, I will.

New Year's Day was great, and oh so relaxing. Each year Garrett's family has seafood on New Year's Day. This is a newer tradition to me, but I like it. This year most of Gar's family was traveling over the holiday so we made a seafood fest, just the two of us.
We had lobster, shrimp, and crab. Instead of a regular ol' baked potato, we tried a sweet potato... I don't know what happened but the one I ate (kinda) didn't turn out so great. I love sweet potatoes, so we'll try again. Maybe next year.

Last weekend Teenie and I went on a long weekend trip to visit Karyn in California. Teenie flew in from NYC for the week, we rented a car, and drove to California so we could see baby Estelle before she got any bigger. It was pretty nice having two 3-day weekends in a row and even though we left pretty late on Friday afternoon, we still made it there around 2 a.m.
All I can say is the short trip was well worth the long drive! Oh man, I think I can speak for both of us by saying, we had a great time. It was relaxing, fun, and there were no expectations--which was exactly what I needed. We just hung around and caught up with each other, and mostly played with the most beautiful baby ever (seriously, she is one of the most beautiful babies I have ever seen, not to mention how good she is--I seriously only heard her cry once the entire weekend).

Oh man. Those cheeks and that face...

What struck me most from the visit is that while I have so many friends that have kids, I've never really seen any of them be parents. That may sound weird, but it's different when you get to see someone interact with their child for longer than a few hours. It gives you a different perspective of a person and for me it was actually really special and amazing to see someone I've known for a long time in this role.
Karyn is hands down one of the best mothers I've ever seen. She is so loving, careful, and intuitive, yet relaxed and fun too. It made me excited to have children one day and I seriously hope I am can be half the mother she is. I hate to be all cheesy, but I was seriously so impressed by the example that Karyn and Kevin set for Estelle. I know she is still a baby, but they are some of the most hard-working, nice, and down-right respectable people I know and I am so very blessed to have them as friends.
I loved spending time with Teenie, Karyn and Estelle, it was so fun to talk and listen to them; we had some great conversation and I took some very positive things away from the weekend, which was far from what I was expecting, but really something I needed. I don't get to see some friends nearly as often as I would like, but it's so nice when I do.
I didn't take many pictures because I was feeling kind of lazy. I think I took more on my phone than I did with my camera. Anyhow, I love these girls. Thank you for a great weekend all of you. And thank you for letting us sleep on your couch and cooking for us all weekend, Karyn!

At the beach.

Teenie and Estelle.

Teenie taking a photograph, with film hanging out of her swimsuit.

Love her.

It's been a stressful (to say the least) last few months. For the first time in my life, I was in a different place every weekend for five weeks straight. While I enjoyed getting away, I also miss having lazy weekends. And even though life may not be perfect during the week, I can still say that I enjoy the beautiful things this world has to offer --like these weekend adventures from February. Nothing like a Sunday afternoon to explore some of Utah's greatest.
I give you rural mines, never-ending pits, and floating airplanes. Enjoy... you know you wish you were there.

N.C. and C.K. making the rounds in Eureka, Ut.

Snowball off the beaten track. Literally.

Pretty.

We climbed all over and let our feet hang over the edge. Do not try this at home!

I had to run to get in the picture, after a few attempts, we finally got one.

Mine ruins and graffiti, the best combo.

Notice C.K. in the corner.

Is it a plane? Is it a boat? Nope. It's a duck!

Your co-captain and first lady.

Following our shadow.

Saw plenty of this...

And a lot of this...loved every inch of it. Notice the cute, small lighthouse.

After the flail (sail + flight). "Smooth seas do not make skillful sailors."

This is Teenie and I riding the new lawn mower, I pushed the brake and shifted, and she steered. Don't try this at home, kids! It has a wagon that you can attach to it. I can't wait until the sprinklers are in so I can haul stuff up from the bottom of the hill. Oh, the joys of having a house and a big yard!