Baby's Got Sauce

Elijah has more refined taste in music than I. He enjoys listening to actual musicians, while I'll take almost anything a big label throws at me. Because of this, we don't always agree on what we should listen to together.

However, almost thirteen years ago, we found some common ground when Elijah introduced me to the music of G. Love & Special Sauce. We have a lot of sweet dating memories associated with this band. Many tied to one of their first singles, Baby's Got Sauce.




Neither of us had ever seen Mr. Love in concert though, so when Elijah told me about the show at La Zona Rosa a few weeks back I knew we had to go.

We got a sitter.

Called some friends.

And even lucked out with a meet and greet.

We were young again, and nostalgically in love, for one fantastic night.

 *Note: After posting the above picture to Instagram and Facebook, I got several comments on how great Elijah and I looked together (even from my parents). I then felt obligated to post the following picture so people who knew better didn't think I was trying to pass off G. Love as my husband.

Photo Op

Elijah's birthday was this past Sunday.

Instead of a family celebration I dropped the kids with friends so we could spend the day together, without all the screaming and stress, in and around Austin taking pictures.

Other than some early morning grumbles (mine, not his) we had a lovely day. We spent the gloomy morning in Austin, with brunch at Max's Wine Dive (so delicious) and then drove a bit outside the city to Hamilton Pool.

As you can see, we got some great shots, had some laughs and really enjoyed getting away for a little while together.

In his element.

By Perdernales River

Look at me, enjoying the hike!

Hamilton Pool

It's Wednesday, so you know I'm linking up with iPPP!

The Best Kind of Dozen

Elijah and I celebrated 12 years of happily ever after, December 30, 2011.

We don't usually make a big deal of our anniversary. We rarely go out to celebrate, opting instead to grill out, open a bottle of wine and snuggle in front of a movie after putting the kids to bed.

Often we don't even exchange gifts, or we simply buy ourselves something from the other person.

Like every other aspect of our marriage, we do what works for us.

This year we took a night out. Left our kids with random visiting members of our family and escaped for an evening that included a quiet dinner, adult conversation and a late movie in downtown Austin.

It was perfect.

Low-key, yet delicious dinner at Cover 3.

Good clean fun.

Brownie for him, key lime pie for me.

Late movie at the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz on 6th Street, Downtown Austin

Movies are always better with beer!

Extra Special "cool" points for any one who can guess what movie we watched.

Linking up with #iPPP 

I'm also going to link up to my FIRST EVER Lovelinks 

because this post is all about love.

To Market, To Market

The weather yesterday was amazing! After 70+ days of over 100 degree weather we finally got a taste of Fall. The temps hovered around 80 and we had a nice cool breeze. It was the perfect day for an Austin outing.

We met some friends and had dinner at Central Market, which is essentially a grocery store with a restaurant, outdoor seating and a playground. It was the perfect day to sit outside, drink some wine, watch the kids play and even do a little geocaching.

Elijah took the following shots which, I think, are amazing. He was good enough to not capture all the chaos, crying and tantrums that inevitably accompany any trip that doesn't include a Nintendo DS  or whatever random toy Amelia is screaming about that day!

La La Love You

We kicked off the summer with a visit from our niece Harper. Her parents (Elijah's brother and sister-in-law) came too, but she's the main attraction so whatever.

We are now old fogies with kids so we stayed close to home and didn't partake much of Austin's nightlife. We did take turns (boys, then girls) having an evening without the babes. Rikki and I spent our free time - OMG CAN YOU BELIEVE WE GOT OUT WITHOUT THE SCREAMING TWO YEAR OLDS! - shopping, getting pedicures, and eating the most amazing meal at Second Bar + Kitchen. If you ever want a great meal, but aren't quite ready to commit to David Bull's Congress. Just head to the sister restaurant next door for some wonderfully understated and delicious food. (Plus, there's no kids menu!)

So since that's pretty much the highlight of the visit, I'll just leave you with some pictures of the little ones. It was adorable to see the cousins playing together. Asher treated Harper just like his own little sister chasing her around and letting her climb all over him. Harper is a little over two months older than Amelia and they also got on swimmingly - pun intended.

Sunday Outing

This photo pretty much sums up our family outings these days. We get some great shots (as you'll see) but mostly the day is filled with weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. I'm not saying that I don't have the cutest children on the planet, I'm just saying, don't let the adorable pictures fool you, my children can, and are apt to be, little monsters (and I'm not referring to those tame Lady Gaga fans either).

That being said, here are some pictures from our trip to Mc Kinney Falls Park last weekend. It was a beautiful day, we took the new car and had a great time exploring nature. Really, I swear.

The Obligatory Bluebonnet Photos

(This is my blog, so I get top billing!)

Not being from Texas, I had no idea that Bluebonnet photos were such a big thing. We missed the flowers last year, not because we weren't here, but because, aside from the large fields along the highway, a thick spot of them are pretty hard to find. Also, they have a fairly short window of flowering time and sometimes the weather and the blooming of the Bluebonnets don't cooperate with each other. But I was determined to get the kids out and in the flowers this year!

I heard about this field from a friend, it was also suggested online and on Twitter (I wasn't leaving anything to chance) it was probably much thicker last weekend, but again, the weather wasn't favorable to pictures when we were available. Anyway, here is what we got, I think every shot I picked for this post is from Elijah's camera. Mine are adorable of course, but his are brilliant.  Enjoy!

 Asher kept Amelia occupied so Elijah & I

could get some shots together.

Spontaneity Becomes Us

Seeing as we all spent pretty much the entirety of Spring Break in our pajamas, on the couch, glued to one type of screen or another, I declared yesterday "screen free" for all the Ogden clan.

We hadn't planned any activities (aside from the weekly vacuuming), so we shut off the TVs, computers, iPad, iPhones, and gaming systems and stared at each other until we came up with the brilliant idea to climb into the car.

Everyone got to pick a place to go. I wanted to stop in at this great little consignment store we have nearby, Elijah wanted to stop at a local nursery and pick up something for the front yard and Asher decided that he and Amelia wanted to go to the park. So that's just what we did.

And it was so totally awesome.

Especially the part where we stopped for frozen yogurt before heading home for dinner!