A Trip to Howth

Saturday was honestly the first nice, non-rainy Saturday since we have been here. I have been kind of grumpy the past Saturday's because it's our one day to get out and do stuff as a family and we've been confined to the house. So I was really happy when this last Saturday was sunny and warm with no rain in sight! We decided to take off early in the morning and go up to the fishing village of Howth, which is on the peninsula on the northern bay of Dublin. We rode the train, which Easton loves, ate breakfast near the bay, let Easton play on the playground and walked a bit into the actual town. It was nice to see a new part of Dublin and enjoy the sun!

Easton and Rob on the train...that is Easton's smile believe it or not.


Some Frenchman took this pic after we asked him to get the cliffs in the background. Obviously we need to brush up on our French.


After Howth and a nap for Easton we headed for the park that is near our house for some more playground time and to feed the ducks. The ducks there are brazen! Easton's fingers have been bitten more than once!




And here are a few pictures of the inside of our house that I promised a while ago and that some people who will not be mentioned (Nicole) have been asking for. It is only a few rooms that were clean right before I posted! I'll get more up soon.


Kitchen...the fridge and freezer are the tall 'cabinets' on the left side of the pic disguised as cabinets.

The sun room/enclosed patio/conservatory. They call it a conservatory here but I just can't make that fancy of a word come out of my mouth on a regular basis.

Our downstairs wc (water closet...bathroom in American) that is the width of Rob's shoulders! I know it's kind of weird to show you all the bathroom but it's just the kind of thing I know my mom will ask about..."What does the bathroom look like?"

The living room

Until next time...

We went to the Dublin Zoo last weekend. There were lots of lions, elephants, monkeys and farm animals to keep us busy. Easton loved the monkeys and has been asking to go back and see them since! It was actually a nice day...the last week has been pretty rainy, windy and all around nasty...it puts me in a bit of a funk but I'm working on being peppy anyway.




This is Easton and I with the rhinos. Also, my unattractive hair and our new stroller...double stroller that is!

Rob and Easton snorting with the pigs.

Today was another rare sunny day so we played outside in the yard after church. Some pics of the boys :




This week was mostly spent in the house. Rob went to London for a work conference and talked about the past, present and future of famous financial institutions...riveting. Today at church Easton made it through all of nursery without us which allowed us to go to all of our meetings...I think the first time since he was born! We also showed up a bit late to church which landed us a spot in the front row...yikes. Easton usually is occupied by cars and food on the floor of the back row. He actually was a stellar little buddy though and was quiet and not crazy the whole time. Maybe we'll sit in the front row more often!

Sunday Stroll

Last Sunday was actually a gorgeous day in Dublin so after Church we decided to go for a walk at the sea shore. It is only a 10 minute walk from our house which is great! The 'beach' isn't the classic SoCal beach that we are used to...much more rocky and not really lounge in the sand-able but it is still pretty and nice to be on the water. Easton chased a lot of dogs and kites and we chased Easton.



A shot of the houses on the beach




I just finished the book I had been reading and am on the market for another. Any suggestions? I am also in the midst of several projects...a quilt for Easton, painting some old picture frames and maybe attempting to make a quiet book for church. As most of you know I am not the craftiest girl but I'm stretching my soul (as Sarah would say) and trying to be more resourceful. any helpful hints on the quiet book would be welcome!

My Name is Katie and I'm a Chocoholic

So seriously. Of all the things there are to love about Ireland, I might love chocolate spread the most. This blessed concoction is not only an Irish delicacy. Years ago while I was a missionary in Spain I found Nocilla. It is a lot like Nutella but there are no hazelnuts...it is just pure, creamy, chocolate. I bought Nocilla on one of my first preparation days and shockingly enough downed the entire peanut butter sized jar in one day! The madness had to stop. I limited myself to one jar of Nocilla after each 6 months of my mission, which would give me 3 days of pure gluttony. I kept to my guns...mostly because I knew if I didn't I would come home 50 pounds heavier and pre-diabetic. Fast forward 4 years...Rob went out grocery shopping the first night we were here and among his purchases is a jar of familiar looking chocolate spread. In Ireland it is simply called 'chocolate spread' but I knew what this was. So again I finished a whole jar in about 36 hours and told Rob to never let me buy it again. And I haven't. But Rob did go to the store one more time and he brought with him another jar of my nemesis. I finished 3/4 of this jar and then threw it away after making Rob vow to never buy it again. If I come back a big as a house you all will know why.



In other food news...we accidentally bought asian black bean sauce instead of black beans for our chicken enchiladas...those ended up pretty interesting. And after searching for Crisco I finally found it under the name 'baking fat'. I wonder if anyone would buy it in the U.S. if we called it baking fat? Live and Learn.

The Mother of all Posts

Ok...there are quite a few items to cover in this post so I am warning you now it could get lengthy! We are officially moved to Ireland but before we got here, there were 3 weeks of living out of suitcases in 3 different states and multiple households...here is a recap of the mayhem:
We moved out of our apartment in L.A. and into a hotel for a few days while we wrapped everything up there. It was super swanky...we paid $8 for Easton's glass of milk! We also said goodbye to all of our friends and I cried like a baby. Here are a few pics of that and some of a little farewell party thrown for us before we left.


Me and my friend Heidi

Our good buddies the Roberts family

Easton and his BFF, Josh



Nicole and I showing our not too pregnant yet bellies


The Smiths. Minutes before Val and I were crying our eyes out

We went from L.A. to Ireland and left Easton with my parents for about a week while we finalized our house and furnished it as much as we could. I went back to Colorado and Rob stayed in Ireland for another week. In CO Easton had a blast without us being spoiled by his grandparents. Once I got there we played in the pool a lot, saw some farm animals, had some BBQ's, even took Easton on a bike ride in Breckenridge. Here are the pics

Easton sees the goat

Grandpa and Grandma Nancy with Easton in tow...Nathan and Lindsay should be proud (I also went on this bike ride lest anyone should call me lazy :)

Easton lounging at the pool

From Colorado we headed to SLC for Rob's sister, Juli's wedding. Rob met us there after working in L.A. for a few days and the festivities began. While in SLC we got to meet up with our good friends the Millers from and the Smiths from L.A. We also got to see our friends the Rosens. Other than that it was pretty much wedding mania. Mania isn't quite true. Juli is pretty laid back so mania was minimum. We had a great day. The sealing in the temple was great and the luncheon was super cute...done by the grooms sisters. Then we had the reception at the Lion House in downtown SLC. It was outside which was nice especially so the kids could roam and not break anything. We are really happy for Juli and Rob (yep, that's one more Rob in the family) and excited to have him in our fam.


Friends reunite. Beckham, Noah and Easton


Juli and the men in her life

The cousins

Easton workin' the bow tie

So that was it in the US of A and then we came over to Dublin. The flights over were not too bad. Easton did pretty well even though I had a minor breakdown at one point (I think right before or after we changed the 2nd dirty diaper in an airplane bathroom with no changing table) . We have now been here 4 days and we are just settling in and getting adjusted. We are trying to keep busy and trying to get our house all set and furnished. I am thrilled with our backyard and the washer and dryer and our neighborhood is really nice and quiet but also really close to the city center, where Rob works. Rob is doing great at work too. Here is a pic of our house here. It is pretty cute. I will post pics of the inside once we get organized.



So there you go...lots of pics and news...don't say I didn't warn you! Between moving in and playing with Easton I am reading a book I am loving called the Lemon Tree...a recommendation from Nicole and I am about to start a new quilt for Easton's toddler bed (when he'll actually be in said bed, who knows!). Keep us posted of all your news and we'll do the same!

Congratulations! It's a...

Hey All...
So we went to our new doctor in Ireland and apparently there they don't wait until 20 weeks to determine the gender of babies! So we found out that we are having a boy! We are excited...we kindof wanted another boy so that Easton would have a playmate and because dealing with girl drama scares me a bit to be honest! Easton and I are back in CO after I left him for a week with my folks to go to Ireland to do some house shopping and furnishing. I will post pics of our new house (with a backyard and washer and dryer I might add!) and others of Dublin when I get my life on track here in a bit. I also will post some pics of our last week in L.A. which was actually extremely sad for me! We will miss our friends so much, it was really hard to say goodbye.

Hurricane Harbor

A few of my friends and I all have season passes to Hurricane Harbor...it's the water park attached to Six Flags. Before you say to yourself "wow...cool...Katie is adventurous and daring and her friends must be too" you should know that we got the passes pretty much only to hang out in the kids area with our little ones. Maybe that is actually more daring than the crazy water slides and tubes!
This last Saturday my friend Nicole and I took our husbands along to share in the fun. The kids had a blast, I got drenched following Easton around making sure he didn't die and Rob got to ride a 'big kids ride'. We ended the trip with some nutritious Wendy's burgers and chicken nuggets...what could be better than that?



Rob with Easton and Justin with Josh...looks like Rob and Easton won that race!


Easton hangin' out on the octopus tentacle.


Me and Easton riding on a killer slide...we're thrill seekers.