Kaua'i Heli ride

Our first day on the island of Kaua'i, we took a doors off helicopter ride over the island. It was so breathtaking to see, (although definitely raised my blood pressure=) so beautiful, and the only way to see the entire island because the northwest part of it is inaccessible by road/foot.

 Rainbows really are everywhere. We saw this one just as we started the ride!

waterfalls are everywhere...

the famous Jurassic Falls...

 Flying over Waimea Canyon...

and the Na Pali Coast.

 

 Where the rich and famous own homes...

 Valleys and more waterfalls...

 This is a view of Wailua falls from the air...

 and this is a view from the lookout you can drive to...

Next up...around the Big Island!

Beautiful bluebonnets

Spring is in full swing here in Austin, and the bluebonnets are beautiful...

  Oh those sweet curls...

A trip to the EXOTIC Zoo

The weather in Austin has been absolutely picturesque lately, so we've been trying to take advantage before the scorcher summer arrives. Last Friday, we took a scenic hill country drive out to Johnson City to the Exotic Zoo.  We enjoyed a safari style tour and saw many different animals...and fed them...=)

 their newest addition, sweet white baby goat.

 buffalo...

 feeding buffalo...check out that tongue!!!

 Dada fed the ostrich...

 Cate loved seeing the zebras...

She wasn't too fond of the crazy camel...

but loved feeding the goats...

This zoo was pretty fun. (Although the goats tried to eat my cardigan, I have no idea why?!?) Matt and I thought it may be better than the regular zoo because you can't get that close to the big animals at the zoo, but the animals here are very different animals, so I guess it depends on what kind of animals you want to see?  Here the animals (buffalo included) come running up the the tour and they are ready for food!!! Can you say that you have fed a buffalo?!? I can!  Definitely a fun place out in the gorgeous Texas hill country!

An exciting day!

We went to the Exotic Zoo in Johnson City,

more detailed post with pics to come...

my spice rack came in...!!!!! 

and someone has enough hair to wear a bow... 

and left it in for a few hours!!! EEK!

Happy weekend!

 

My newest purchase

I'm really excited about my newest purchase. It's the little things right?

I've been wanting a double decker lazy susan spice rack for FOREVER. My mother in law has one and I love it, but she will not give it up. I searched long and hard for one a while back and came up with nothing. Well, a couple of days ago, I came across this beauty, (and yes I said beauty).

I found it online and ordered it from here.  I know its not the most fancy thing out there, 

but it's what I need and have been looking for. 

This little spice rack will finally let me tackle this project...

Pictured above is what I call my "baking cabinet." My hubby calls it a huge mess. Gasp, I guess it kind of is. The funny thing is, is that I think it is completely organized and know where EVERYTHING is in it and what I have to move to get to what I need=) I know which bowls are stacked into which, and how every baking pan needs to be placed in there for the doors to shut!

I have been wanting to re-organize this cabinet for a while, but always talked myself out of it because I know where everything is, and it works for me. As for why the lazy susan, I keep some baking spices in here, and some others in the little cabinets above our stove, which I can't reach, so when I need one of those spices, I will either grab a pair of tongs and grab the spice, which works fine until those spices get all out of sorts and I can't see what I am trying to grab, so then I grab a chair to stand on. Oh the joys of being petite...

Anyways, now that my new little spice rack lazy susan is on its way, I am determined to re-organize this little cabinet, and with some inspiration from Pinterest, I hope for it to look something like this...

 

source

At least I would like for all my baking supplies to look like this, 

and then organize all the equipment underneath. 

We shall see.

Wish me luck y'all!

 

 

Sharing Hawaii

So now, The Biggest Loser is in Hawaii, and really making me miss it, again. I know I have shared some pics from our trip last October on here before, but I thought I would just go ahead and share the posts I wrote on my little family blog on this blog, sprinkled out here and there over the next few weeks. This trip was the best trip we have taken thus far. I highly recommend putting a trip to Hawaii on your bucket list. I thought we would go once, do everything we wanted to do, and then not have to go back. Boy was I wrong, I SO want to go back, and we will one day...I hope you enjoy!

Hawaii was amazing!!!

Definitely worth the (five plus one year) wait! From the time we were married, we knew we wanted to go to Hawaii for our five year anniversary. Well, last year on our five year anniversary, we had a newborn/three month old...not really feasible, right? Plus, Matt was still in MBA school, and we knew timing just wasn't right. So we waited, and thought maybe we would go during his winter break in December of last year. Well, we had a five month old, and couldn’t imagine leaving her, timing wasn't quite right then either. Then we planned on going this past May when Matt graduated. Well, timing wasn't quite right then either, we had a 10 month old who was not weaned, and we still weren't quite ready to leave her. So we waited a little longer, and then, after months of looking for just the right deal to come up, we found it, knew that it was it, and booked the trip back in August. I wanted to go as soon as possible, like the minute we booked it, but Matt said he thought it would be fun to go for our six year anniversary in October. I agreed. What better way to spend six years of wedded bliss than on the islands of Hawaii?!? 
Finally, the timing was PERFECT! 
By the time we would take the trip, we would have a 15 month old toddler, who would be weaned and not totally dependent on us, and LOVE spending time at her grandparents, and we figured Mama and Dada would finally be ready for a break as well. We were, and Cate did fabulous staying with her grandparents! The week was long without her, but Mama and Daddy kept VERY busy! We had a jam packed trip! Matt and I knew as we were planning this trip we wanted to explore the islands because there is just SO much to see there. We stayed on the island of Kauai, and did a couple of island hopping day trips over to the Big Island to see the volcanoes, and to Oahu to see Pearl Harbor and other parts of that island.  Those days were long and very busy, but we are SO glad we were able to see so much of Hawaii and learn so much about the history. On the days we stayed on Kauai, we rented a Jeep and just explored that island on our own. Between site seeing and trying to hit up all of the "ono" (which means really yummy) places to eat, those days ended up pretty jam packed as well! The food there is incredible. SO fresh and SO tasty! MMMM my mouth is watering right now thinking about the banana macadamia nut pancakes and macadamia nut butter mahi mahi we ate... SO good, some of the best meals we ate in our lives! 
We only took over 1000 photos while we were there, so I will share some of my faves from the different days  For now...enjoy...  

  

Next up will be the Kauai heli ride.

New loves

Sometimes just browsing Etsy during my downtime can take me to such a happy place. (which can also be dangerous=) There's just SO much prettiness on there!I LOVE discovering new (to me) shops, and I LOVE sharing new finds, so I thought I would share a few of my newest loves...Lucy Jane Her beach bags are GORGEOUS! So colorful and FUN! 
Adelaide This outfit is just bursting with cuteness!! 
What are some of your favorite shops? Please share!

Goats, and moo cows, and chicks Oh my!

This past weekend we headed out to the Star of Texas fair and rodeo.

Cate had a BLAST at the petting zoo...we did too!

we gave her plenty of time outside the cages to warm up to the animals...

 she had no fear, she loved being in there with the little crazy goats

 fed the deer...

she wanted to feed the goats herself, so she did, and they all came running up to her...

 I have no idea what this animal is, a baby buffalo?

and I didn't think this would happen, Cate rode a pony! Guess all of the carousel riding at the mall will never compare now...

 she loved it so much, we asked her if she wanted to go again, and her reply was a VERY excited "ISHHHH"! (which means YES!) So we went again...

 She was a John Deer Model...

and also got to see baby chicks, pigs, and more moo cows...

We couldn't believe how well she did with all the animals, she just couldn't get enough! It was a super super fun outing, and we can't wait to take her on more outings like this this summer!