The Price Hotel: Open for Business

We're currently dubbing April (and May) as the "family months." This last week, we had the pleasure of hosting a whole lot of Radfords (and serendipitously nearly finishing our remodel) for a few days of fun. And next week, we're off to the Hawaiian islands for a little Price family vacay.

All in all, it's pretty nice not to be lone Prices/Radfords in sunny SoCal(/Hawaii). Daniel, Melanie and Astoria Rose graced us on Saturday night, then Jon joined the fun on Sunday afternoon. We hit the beach trail with them just before RP wowed us all with his bbq chicken skills.

The Radfords happened to stop in at an opportune time -- the week of Mom's, Chases's, and RP's birthdays. They all shared a ginormous chocolate cake and took turns opening presents.

RP will be getting his "handy" on soon enough with his haul, which included a toolbox, tool belt, and screw driver set. He also received socks and t-shirts, since he won't buy these for himself and I'm tired of being seen all over creation with a husband wearing clothing full of holes. Especially since I've been known to Goodwill clothing after one wearing.

The next day, the Radfords met up with the Las Vegas Nordstroms for a day of enchantment at Disneyland. It was priceless (and also RP-less, as he's a work junkie). Although we all had a grand time, I think it's safe to say that it was little Story Rose who found the ultimate joy:

But the rest of us had fun too.

Splash Mountain before:

....and after:

My favorite pic of the day, mostly because of Mama:

So long, Radfords. Hope you'll visit the Price Hotel again soon. 



A March Through March

I admit that my writing has become somewhat sporadic of late. Rest assured, I have valid reasons for this.

Basically my life is in shambles.

And by life, I mean house. RP and I are neck-deep in apartment renovations, which I find alternately exciting and tear-inducing. Something about the lack of usable shower facilities and plastic sheeting draped over every piece of my bedroom furniture seems to make a home a bit less "homey."

They say home is where the heart is. I say home is where the tile saw isn't.

Not to mention that I can't recall a Saturday in the past two months that wasn't at least partially spent at Lowe's, Home Depot, Floor & Decor, or something really glamorous like Plumber's Warehouse.

Oh, except our anniversary weekend. Which was lovely. Since we're both insatiable romantics, we decided to be over the top this year by eating sushi and catching a late-night showing of Lincoln. Because nothing says marital bliss like a hole in the (president's) head.


We did, however, manage to get a great view from our San Diego Marina hotel:

Happy two years to us.

But March turned out to be not half-bad. We saw RP's parents a whole lot of cousins at beautiful Chelsea Kelley's wedding. The highlight for RP was his cousin's little girl requesting a photo because she was absolutely CONVINCED he was Tom Cruise.

There will be no living with him now.

I also managed to play hooky from work for a day to work out with Shape Magazine at an Oakley Progression Session. And I brought Julia along for the ride, in the event that I needed to skip out on the nutrition seminar in favor of a frozen yogurt run. Which I did.

Of course, the highlight of March was Easter, even if hosting a pre-Easter dinner at my house proved a tad difficult (see first three paragraphs for a refresher). Somehow I managed a ham and some baked delicacies that even an Easter Bunny might compliment.

Speaking of Easter Bunnies, I happen to have one that is well-acquainted with my tastes. Easter morning brought this lovely assortment.

Not to be outshined by RP's own basket.

Or us in our Easter finest.

It should also be noted that this March marked the first year in three that I'm posed (and mathematically guaranteed) to beat RP in our NCAA bracket challenge. Thanks, Louisville.

What will April bring? Forget flowers; around the Price household we're looking forward to finished renovations and a much-needed Hawaiian vacay. So long, March.