PINSPIRATION FOR THE WEEKEND

life has been hot & sleepy over here (heat=sleepiness if you're me) so we've been keeping it mellow. this was the last week for all of the playgroups we go to until the middle of september. it's so weird to me that this happens. it was especially weird when all the mama's were saying their goodbyes to one another, i've gotten used to seeing these ladies multiple times a week & now i'm not going to see most of them until mid september. it's weird! the city is definitely starting to clear out & it shows as you walk around, it's a little less crowded & i'd be lying if i said it wasn't nice, haha. i've been spending most of the days at the park eating all the popsicles & ice cream offered to me, going to the pool with friends, & finishing up details on our summer trips. i'm really excited for those to come up! i've been getting a lot of inspiration from pinterest (naturally, am i the only one that turns to pinterest when planning trips!?) & thought i'd share some of my pinspiration! happy weekend everybody!
you can follow me on pinterest here

10 THINGS YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME

my fun blog friend leah challenged me to tell 10 things you hopefully don't know about me. i love doing these sort of things & reading other peoples, so i was pretty excited to read her & see that she asked me to play along! for some reason it took me an insanely long time to think of 10 things, but i finally did it!
1// growing up i played tennis just about 5 days a week from the time i was 4 until i quit when i was 10. i don't think i touched a tennis racket again until i was 14 & i joined my high school tennis team. considering how long i played & that my family is really into tennis, or was, i should be a lot better than i am... but i actually didn't like playing until i was about 16, so i never took it seriously.

2// i'm a sucker for tv series, i can get sucked in easily & then i have to finish it. no matter how bad of a show it is.

3// my ringtone has been hip hop by dead prez for the last 4 years. if you don't know that song, listen to it here!

4// if something is made with cilantro & lime, or lemon i automatically want to get it. even if it's something i don't usually like. i just really love those 3 flavors.

5// i had hair to my waist & sometimes longer until i was 12. i always begged my mom to cut my hair & she didn't want to, then the day of my sisters wedding i was left alone with the hair stylist & she noticed my hair was slightly crooked so i asked her to cut it to my shoulders. i still remember my moms less-than-impressed face when she saw my hair when they all came out of the temple.

6// i have an ongoing list in my head of all the places i want to go to & am constantly planning adventures.

7// when i was little i would hum a lot & was convinced other people couldn't hear it.

8// i have a pretty firm belief that dreams have meanings, not all dreams of course, but there are just some that do, or sort of are a prediction of sorts. i've had multiple cases of having a dream & something incredibly similar happening shortly after. because of this i got interested in lucid dreaming for a couple years & read a ton about it & practiced it. dreams really intrigue me, but now.... i hardly ever have dreams. it's weird.

9// i know every single word to i wish by skee-lo. if you don't know it you can listen to it here! not sure why i know it, or how i came to know all the words, but it's pretty cool that i do, ha!

10// i have absolutely no rhythm what so ever. so i'm basically the worst dancer in the world / most embarrassing one. i've learned to embrace it :)

i challenge whoever else wants to play along!

CURRENTLY...

sorry things around here have been a little quiet! turns out when your computer (that pretty much has your whole life on it) crashes, blogging comes to a slight halt. at least it did for me, haha. but it's time for an update, & some instagram pictures since they're sort of all i have to work with for the time being :)
austin started his new term at school & it's a full term squeezed into 2 months so it is keeping him busy, plus he is doing an online internship as well. talk about busy! but there is a major silver lining- once he's finished with this term he has an entire month off!!!! i cannot wait. our summer plans aren't finalized yet, but i have a pretty good idea of what we're going to do, plus we are going on a trip with my family that i am really excited about! so it should be good. the year has seriously flown by. by the time we come back from summer austin will only have three months of school left & then who knows what will happen. i mean, hopefully by then we will actually know, but as of right now we have no clue where we will be. it's kind of exciting, the options seem so endless!
cedar & i have been keeping busy going to the park & pool on the hot days, jumping in puddles & going to the retiro library on the rainy days we had last week & finishing up at playgroups. i've learned that everything starts to end & close in june, here in madrid. so all playgroups are coming to an end which is leaving me wondering what we will do all of july.. haha but i'm sure we will figure it out. luckily we won't be here for the extreme, extreme heat of august & for the complete city shut down. one piece of advice: don't go to madrid in august. it's hot, everything is closed & no one is really here, so it's a bit like a ghost town.. & i'm already seeing it start to happen. it blows my mind how an entire city can close down for a month & while i haven't been in spain in august, i have been to milan, italy in august & almost nothing was open. it was a real buzz kill for our trip, but i'm guessing that's how madrid will be.
i've been keeping myself busy working on a bit of a side project. i haven't talked about it much on here yet because i have been protective & worried that it wouldn't fully workout, so i didn't want to chance myself! i'm working on opening an online shop soon-ish & for some reason starting this project makes me feel a little vulnerable. i won't say a whole lot more quite yet but what i will say about it is a) it's been keeping me really busy & it has been really fun & exciting! b) it makes me nervous c) my computer crashing has made it REALLY hard but i'm trying to get it going still.
cedar has changed so much already since his birthday. it's as if he turned 2 & a switch went off, in a good way. he hasn't hit the terrible two's yet & it is leaving me really hopeful, haha. but he has grown so much! he is talking SO much more, repeating everything i say & using it on his own in the correct ways & just learning so much. it's amazing to watch & it makes my heart so proud. he is pulling his own sentences together & really trying to say what he wants or is feeling. i have waited so long for this to happen, speech has come a little slower to cedar since he has been dealing with the dual language thing, but he's really getting it now. even more than speaking his motor skills are going wild, he has always been good at stacking different objects, but he is all of a sudden obsessed with puzzles & can do them on his own & loves naming the shapes while he does it. it is really, really fun to watch.

ANNIVERSARY DATE

for our 3rd anniversary we went big. at least for us. we got a babysitter for the very first time since moving to madrid & went to a fancy dinner, just the two of us. see? big things.
i was fairly nervous leaving cedar with a sitter, but luckily we found an extremely trustworthy one through a friend that works at the u.s. embassy with my friends husband. it worked out fairly easily since no where is really open before 8, the babysitter arrived right when cedar was going down for the night & naturally this was the one night that he didn't want to go to sleep... kids can seriously tell when you're leaving, it's nuts! once we got him down we were off on our big date.

we went to a restaurant called la bodega de los secretos that's in downtown madrid. we got all dressed up, i even wore a dress & heels which is a rarity these days with all the walking i have to do! by the time we got the the restaurant we had half an hour to kill before our reservation, so we took the opportunity to wander around the downtown area, just the two of us. discovering the city just the two of us was completely different than when cedar is with us. we get so occupied with him, making sure he's happy, not hungry, entertained & just being with him that it was really different without him. we got to wander the streets hand in hand, just the two of us with the city being so romantic & not having a care in the world about anything or anyone else, it was really nice. but don't get me wrong,
the restaurant is one of the cooler places i've gone, it's in madrid's oldest winery that has been transformed perfectly into a restaurant while maintaining all the charm of a cellar. the little cellars are the perfect fit for little, intimate tables, making it a pretty romantic spot. & then there's the food. the food was amaaaaaazing, we were both in heaven. we had delicious ceviche, tomato & burratta cheese salad, great ox tail & delicious desserts. i could go on & on about it. it was also the fastest spanish restaurant i have ever been to. most dinners we go to that start at 9 aren't finished until midnight, but we were out of there within 2 hours which was a surprise to both austin & i! but it was perfect for us to be able to get back to our little sleeping guy & finish the night off with a movie.




TWO YEARS OLD

i can't get over that i have a 2 year old. where has the time gone!? the day of cedars birthday i took close to no pictures. can you believe that? i don't know what i was thinking, but i guess i was busy having fun with him to bother with my camera or even my phone. i've been kicking myself over it ever since, but at the same time he had my complete attention like he should! we woke up & went out for a little celebratory breakfast (in all honesty this was more an excuse for austin & i to go out to breakfast cause it's not like cedar cared!) for cinnamon rolls & muffins. after breakfast we came home to open presents & play with all the goods. it was so cute watching him open his gifts, he was so excited over every single one & wanting to play with it immediately after opening it! when i put cedar down for his nap i baked carrot cake cupcakes (every. single. one. fell.) & rice krispie treats to take to his party later in the afternoon. once he woke up we booked it to retiro where his party was happening, put out some blankets & let the kids run wild around the playground. the party was really fun, i was nervous at first that there wouldn't be a huge turn out, but i invited everyone from the playgroups we attend & so many people came! it was so sweet, everyone was so excited for his birthday & he was loving being the star. cedar was soooo excited when everyone sang happy birthday to him too, it was adorable every time they said "birthday" he would quietly say "birthday" back & clapping. he definitely loved his birthday & was totally partied out by the time we got home. it was also fun because the majority of people that came to the party aren't from the states & had never had rice krispie treats the way we make them & everyone devoured them!

dear mr. cedar,
you are two years old which i think means you are officially a toddler. you're no longer a little baby, but i'll still treat you like one & call you one because no matter what you will always be my baby. it feels weird to think that i have a two year old, it feels like just yesterday that we were taking you back to our little home in provo for the very first time. it's amazing how much you have grown & changed in the last year of your life. you are such a brave & independent little soul & i couldn't be more proud of you for that. the constant string of babbles coming out of your mouth are never ending & always make me smile, partly because i have no idea what half of them mean but you say them with such determination. you have such an imagination & you know just what you want to happen. you are completely obsessed with animals of all shapes & sizes. you get so excited by every bird or dog you see around the city, it is so fun to walk with you because you point all of them out & are constantly looking at the sky for birds. i love catching you sitting in the middle of all your books, reading them to yourself & hearing how you tell the stories. you are too much fun & keep your dad & i really, really busy! we love you with all our hearts, cedar baby.

favorite food: corn, indian food, watermelon, strawberries
favorite drink: chocolate milk
favorite snack: suckers
favorite toy: any & all animals, especially your hippo & cars
favorite show: toy story
favorite song: theme song to robin hood
traveled to: new mexico, california, costa rica, spain, morocco, germany, france & portugal
flown: 25 x's
lived in: 1 new country / continent / city
weighs: 24 lbs
side note: my computer has completely died. won't turn on or anything. i'm pretty devastated over it cause i haven't backed it up in WAY too long, in typical kerry fashion, so i haven't been able to access anything for my blog, so sorry it's been slow! we've taken it to get fixed though so hopefully it'll be up & running again soon. wish me luck!

RETIRO

living in a city, in an apartment, means that you don't have a yard which can be a really big bummer. especially on days where you don't feel like getting fully dressed, are tired or don't feel like making the trek to a park. those are the times it really sucks not to have a backyard. but then there are those days where the trek isn't so bad & the park becomes your backyard & all is well. we are lucky & actually have a playground just a couple blocks away from us, but i gotten into dedicating at least one day a week to parque retiro.
retiro is a dream park. it is gigantic, it is beatuiful, it is never ending & there is something for everyone. i seriously discover a new piece of this park every single time we go & i am in love with it for that very reason. i loved it as soon as we got here, with the fall leaves & colors everywhere i couldn't imagine it to be any prettier. & then spring happened. everything is in bloom, there are roses everywhere, fountains surrounded by flowers that i had no idea about, so many trees, it is truly amazing. i love to get lost in the park.
cedar has really gotten to know his way around the city & as soon as we're near the park he just keeps asking me to get him out of the stroller, he gets so excited. as soon as we cross into the park i let him out & let him run wild wherever his tiny heart desires & i just follow him, it's great. he gets all his wiggles out, checks out the ducks, plays on one of the million playgrounds for a few minutes & then goes to find a new one. it's my favorite activity. if i'm lucky, there are days that he gets so worn out that he will fall asleep in his stroller & i can stay & enjoy the park either walking around or stopping in one of the grassy, secluded fields & read while he naps. & when he wakes up i reward the both of us with some ice cream. going to retiro is pretty much our favorite activity. if you ever, ever come to madrid, go to retiro & spend a lot of time taking it all in.

IT'S OUR ANNIVERSARY!

today is our THIRD wedding anniversary. i can't believe it has been three years already, it has gone by so fast but at the same time it feels like a lot has happened so we should have been married for longer! life has been one big adventure ever since i met austin & i love him for that. as soon as i met austin i knew there was something different with him, something i was just drawn to, something i had never experienced before. our relationship moved quickly once i met him & it feels like we've been in fast forward ever since, it's been a whirlwind but an incredible one & i wouldn't have it any other way.

i don't think i've ever shared exactly how austin & i met & what better time to do so than on our anniversary? i want to have it written down here in this blog world, because most of the important parts of my life are already on here.

the year before i met austin i became good friends with a group of boys that lived in a house across the street from me while i was in school in provo, ut. at the beginning of the new school year (2011) i had been over at the house & my debit card fell out of my pocket, it was late & i was lazy so i decided i didn't need it until the next day. when i went back to the house i walked in without knocking, per usual, & austin was sitting at the couch in the front room. i had never seen him in the house before & i didn't think anyone was going to be there so i was surprised when he was home & instead of being a normal nice girl & saying "hello", i accusingly said "who are you?" as if it was my house. from there we exchanged pleasantries & he sat on the couch playing hot & cold with me while i looked for my debit card around his house (his roommate hid it from me since i didn't immediately go & get it, so austin sort of helped by telling me whether i was close to it or not). a couple of days after our first encounter i was back at his house hanging out with another roommate & decided to go home but before leaving i thought i would say bye to austin, trying to make a new friend & we ended up talking for hours instead & after that i was hooked. there was something about him, i just wanted to be around him & know more, in our talking i learned that he loved rock climbing & i was looking for someone to climb with, so after a lot of effort & possibly forcing on my part, i finally got him to go climbing with me (later he told me he was terrified that i was going to kill him because he didn't think i actually knew how to climb & that was partially why he didn't want to go. which is rude.) & after that day we saw each other almost every single day. i was so weird & nervous around him. once we got home after our first time climbing together i didn't know if he wanted to hangout still so i just said bye & ran across the street. i was seriously so weird. luckily it didn't scare him off too much though. a couple weeks later we had our first kiss & i think it was maybe that same week or the week after we were putting sticky notes over this gigantic map he had, mapping out all the places in the world we wanted to see & i jokingly told him he would have to marry me if he wanted me to go on the world trip, otherwise my mom wouldn't like it & he just looked at me, i think not knowing what to say & finally just said "ok" (just to clarify, this is in no way when we actually got engaged..... haha).
call me crazy, but i knew at that point that i really wanted to marry austin & it freaked me out because i had maybe known him a month & i had never been that kind of person to jump into things so quickly. but everything was different with austin. i fell in love fast with him & i wouldn't change a single thing about it. 9 months later we got married & it is the best thing i have ever done.

& now for a slew of engagement / wedding photos because i am still obsessed with them & like to share them whenever possible!