10 years

Today marks 10 years of marriage for Derek and I. I can hardly believe it's been that long. We were going to celebrate in San Diego since that's where we went on our honeymoon, but in an attempt to save some money, we decided to stay here. Our friend, Kyle, was nice enough to let us use his house near Scottsdale for the weekend. But this isn't just any house, this is a house that Kyle built out of steel with his own two hands. He is unbelievably talented! See for yourself:

Putting it on stilts like that was genius; you get covered parking AND an amazing view:

His studio home has an industrial loft feel to it. I love the brick on the back wall.

Although a different style than my own, I LOVE the kitchen! Everything was very well thought out.

These next 3 pics? All pieces that Kyle carved himself -

The kitchen bar

Kitchen cupboards

The bathroom door

Can you guess my favorite part of the bathroom?

It was fun to be able to spend some time together, just the two of us. Derek's been busy with work and school so it was nice to be able to relax and enjoy the quiet. We caught up on some reading, made some delicious meals, played Table Topics, I learned (well, kind of) how to swing a golf club, and we even made time for treasure hunting (I'll show you my finds on Friday!).

I can't think of a better way to have celebrated.

Carlsbad

It's been hard to get back into the swing of things after such a fun, relaxing week in Carlsbad, CA. We relaxed on the beach just about every day, took the kids to Legoland, ate lots of yummy food (I gained 3 pounds), and shopped at antique stores, the Carlsbad outlets, and Architectural Salvage ( a must if you're in San Diego!). It was the perfect family vacation.

Snow

We decided to forego our annual New Year's party and took some friends to the cabin instead. For once, we came prepared with all the snow gear and the kids played outside for hours! Although next time we go with kids I think it'll be just a day trip. Trying to get 10 kids to sleep in one room doesn't make for a very restful night.

Cabin

A few weeks ago we were able to go up north to our cabin with my family. Mase and Manda and Jonah were here from Florida and Kelli and J.D. from Utah, so we had everybody except Carter and Elliot. It was so beautiful and so much cooler; a very relaxing weekend!