This past weekend my husband, my in-laws and I ventured up the mountains to Steamboat Springs to celebrate Adam's birthday! It's always so fun jumping in the car and driving 2 hours to an entirely new place.

Before this weekend, I'd never been to Steamboat, so I was super excited to explore and see what this mountain town has to offer. We did it all. Even at (almost) 34 weeks pregnant, I didn't let that slow me down. Sure I wasn't hiking the highest peaks, but I loved walking around the town.

Have you ever been to Steamboat? Tell me your favs!


WHAT TO DO // There is so much to do in Steamboat. From cute shops to great restaurants, I promise you won't be bored. Steamboat is the cutest cowboy mountain town, it's totally different from the other mountain towns I've been too, but its full of fun stuff.

• Ski 
• FM Light and Sons // It is this classic western shop with the best western gear and so many boots. I bought baby girl the cutest pink moccasins. 

• Rodeo 
• Farmers Market // We ventured down to the Farmers Market Saturday after brunch and it was amazing. There had to be over 150 vendors of all kinds of goods. Fresh fruit, clothing, leather goods. It was so fun perusing all the shops. 
• Soak in the Hot Springs // I mean it' s called Steamboat Springs for a reason.
• Mountain Tap Brewery // Can't go to a town and not visit the local brewery!

• Hike 
• Storm Peak Brewing Company
• Shops at the Gondola and Ride the Gondola // Get a view of the entire mountain and town.

WHERE TO STAY //  We wanted to stay all together, so we rented a VRBO, but Steamboat has a ton of darling hotels. These are some of the cutest I found:

• The Steamboat Grand  
• Dulany at the Gondola  
• Steamboat Mountain Lodge  
• Hotel Bristol 

WHERE TO EAT // I was super surprised at all the amazing restaurants Steamboat had to offer. You gotta seek them out, but they are there. These are a few of my favs.

• Creekside Cafe // Creekside is this darling little spot for breakfast right on the creek (hence the name, obvs). I had the best oatmeal pancakes of my life. 
• Cafe Diva // Such a delicious dinner. This place is a little fancier, but its Steamboat, so no-one looked twice at my converse.
• Smell that bread bakery // The cutest little bakery with homemade breads, cookies and pastries. Get their early, they sell out fast! 

• Truffled Pig // This restaurant is in the shops by the gondola and has the best outside patio! Make sure to get the key-lime pie!

I've said it once and I'll say it again, July flew by. Even with 5 weeks, I found myself wishing it could be longer. We had so many awesome things happen in July and its time for a little recap. Plus, we're getting close to fall. I can feel the crisp air in the mornings so remembering those warm winter nights is just what I need right now.


Happy Thursday everyone, let's reminisce.

• First of July: A little road trip to Omaha to visit family and a chance for me to visit my best B and her new baby, Elle. I am loving the fact that all my best friends are having babies. It's incredible. I spent the morning basking in new baby glow with Elle (B's babe) and Caroline (Lynds' babe). I told you babies are everywhere and I am loving every minute of the baby cuddles.
• Middle of July: Baby showers, Denver blogger events and we had some great friends in town and we saw ADELE. If you saw my snapchat, you saw the glory that was Adele. (PS, dirty selfish plug -- follow me at kgrace01). I was crying the entire concert. I'm not sure if that was wine induced or the amazingness that is Adele, but it was hands-down the best concert I've ever seen. If you have a chance to see her, GO! 
• (More) Middle of July: The Englert Family Reunion took place this year in Lake Tahoe. My family has been vacationing in Tahoe since I was a little girl. My parents still go every summer and we try to go whenever we can. This trip was imperative because my entire Englert fam (we missed you Dan and Carolyn!) were there. We even made shirts. My Englert family is so special to me. For living in Michigan they are at every event in Arizona and we get back to MI about once a year, so spending some extra time with them was amazing. 
• End of July: I threw Adam and surprise 30th Birthday. It was one of the hardest things ever. Do you know how impossible it is to throw a surprise party when you share joint banking accounts? Cue the $100 withdraw at the grocery store and claiming you bought "great steaks" for dinner and hoping he buys it. Man oh man, it was so hard, but seeing his face made it all worth it. All of our family and friends were there. It was so cool to spend the evening with everyone, eating crawfish, drinking beer and celebrating Adam. 

How was your July? Tell me about it!

This post is a few weeks overdue, but so worth remembering. A couple weeks ago, Adam and I ventured to Omaha. We went for a variety of reasons; babies, baby showers, grandpa visits, engagements and extra family time.

I am sure that extra family (and friend) time is never a waste and always worth it. Even if it is an 8 hour drive.

Omaha is always so wonderful because it's full. It's full of dinner, friends, family, delicious cocktails and this time -- babies.

Two of my best girls are mamas and almost mamas. Lyndsey had the sweetest little bun, Caroline, in March and this was my weekend to meet the little love. Lyndsey is a natural. She is such a great and relaxed mom, even when Caroline pukes on her favorite aunt --> me. She's a happy, beautiful baby and lunch with her and my girls was just what my heart needed.


After the girls lunch, Adam and I ventured to visit Grandpa. Little did we know that this would be one of our last visits with him, but it was such a good visit. We were so lucky to have the extra time with him.

Dinner with family to follow and lots of cocktails with my Adam and mother and father in law. The next day it was baby shower time! My girl B is the cutest little pregnant mama. The afternoon was spent with coconut chicken salads, too many mimosas with my girlfriends and lots of baby clothes and necessities. I cannot wait to watch B become a mama.

After the shower, I ventured down to the lake for a surprise engagement for my brother-in-law and now almost future sister-in-law. My brother-in-law arranged all the family and her family to be at the lake so when he proposed on the boat, we'd all be on the dock. Needless to say, she did not see it coming. Bring on the next wedding!


Family weekends are the best. They are good for the soul and the heart. I love that I have such amazing friends and family to love and to miss.

Until next time.

"I'm upset." Let's be honest, that's never the way you want a phone conversation to start. Coti was calling to tell me she was upset I wasn't coming into Arizona for an engagement party for mutual friends of ours.

Now, let me explain. We had planned on coming but in the busyness and expense of life, Adam and I decided we couldn't make it. I apologized to Coti and moved on. Next came the phone call from my mom, "I wish you were coming." Well, as much as I wanted to go to the party, I stood firm.

Then, last Monday, Whitney called, baby Blakely had arrived. 6 pounds, 8 ounces and 20 inches long. The long awaited arrival and she was here.

Then it hit me, not only will I not see my family until July, nor see Blakley until June and miss the engagement party of two very close friends, I decided to venture to Southwest.com to see what they had to offer. $11.20 later, I was booked on a flight to Arizona for 18 hours.


Needless to say, it was a whirlwind.. and a wonderful whirlwind at that.

3:35 am: The morning had started.

4:30 am: I was en route to the airport.

7:00 am: One americano from Cartel coffee and Coti's fiance, Matt picked me up. I walked into Coti's house and her room and as she woke up she just stared at me. Breakfast and multiple cups of coffee later, we were in route to surprise my parents.



10:00 am: "What the hell are you doing here/?" was my moms response followed by big hugs and another cup of coffee.

11:30 am: Time to go meet baby Blakley. How wonderful to see your best friend becoming a mom. It was an hour spent taking pictures, cooing and enjoying time with the girls.



2:00 pm: Time to surprise dad. Back to the house we went. A couple hours spent enjoying the afternoon with my family. Tom, Camila and Tomás stopped by and we just enjoyed each other company. I'm so lucky for such a great family.


6:00 pm: Time to celebrate the engagement of two very good friends of mine and their love. What a wonderful celebration watching two families come together. It brings tears to my eyes thinking about their love. I cant wait to watch them get married. 4 glasses of wine later it was time to head to the airport.



9:00 pm and a flight delay. If flight delays when the airport is shutting down isn't the worst thing I'm not sure what is. I met some ladies who were there at a makeup convention selling towels that take your makeup off. I wish i was lying. A full convention devoted to makeup removal towels. I need a career change.

11:45 pm: Two more glasses of wine and I was almost on my way.

I made it home eventually after a whirlwind 18 hours. While I don't always recommend one day travels I always recommend spending more time with family and friends, that is something you'll never regret.

This past weekend, Denver graced us with 80 degree weather. Blue skies, bright sun and cold beer was on tap for our Saturday. Because it was so nice, Adam and I decided to explore Denver a little bit and we headed down to Union Station. If you live in Denver and haven't been, or are visiting Denver, you must go. Union Station still has its original purpose, used as a station for Amtrack, but now it's been upgraded and has a hotel, tons of restaurants, bars, bookstores and the cutest flower shop. We spent the afternoon wandering around, looking in shops, sipping beer and enjoying our blast from the past.
Our first stop was at the Terminal Bar to get some of that cold beer I was talking about. It felt like we stepped back into time as we chatted with the bartender, sipped our beer and watched people venture in and out of Union Station. The Terminal Bar doesn't have food, but it offers the menu from Acme Burger and Brat. Just do it, order everything.

We spent about 2 hours wandering Union Station and soaking in all the sounds, smell and beer it had to offer. Next time, we're going to eat brunch at Snooze. We've been to the Snooze in downtown, but I cannot wait to sit outside Union Station sipping mimosas and eating eggs Benedict next time!
And make sure, the next time you're in Denver, you go to Union Station. It's worth all the time and energy it takes to park downtown :) I hope you fall in love with this city like I have.

This weekend was a blast. After a long, long January, a calm weekend was just what I needed. And, being from Arizona and not being in Arizona for the SuperBowl/Phoenix Open was such a bummer, so Adam and I knew we had to make up for it! Friday night Adam and I made home-made pizza, drank wine and caught up on our recorded TV shows. Saturday we skied with friends and ate fabulous Mexican food. Sunday we woke up to a winter wonderful, we rooted for the Patriots in the SuperBowl with some friends, ate great appetizers and drank delicious beer. What a weekend. I hope your weekends were great too! It's Monday, let's do this.


Some exciting news today! I am hanging out with Morgan over at Believe in the Sparks! You've gotta come check me out and while you're at it, check out Morgan's blog, it's incredible!

Hello blogworld, sorry for the lack of blogging! Things are changing over here at Everyday Grace and I've been working on all that fun stuff. But have no fear, I'm back! One exciting change, is my domain name is officially changed. Now when you want to read my daily musings you can go to www.theeverydaygrace.com. We're making moves people and it's exciting! I have an official Facebook page (feel free to head on over and like it!) and a Google+ account! Let's be friends everywhere! Okay, enough blog promotion.

Since Thanksgiving is 4 days away (hooray!), every day this week, I'm going to blog about what I'm thankful for. Since I'm late to the game, I'm going to do it all this week, through Sunday. Let's be real, 7 days isn't enough to come close to all the things I'm thankful for, but I'll come close.

#1: Adam, weekends & the Denver Broncos. 
This week we we're lucky enough to get to go to our first Broncos game! It was freezing cold and snowing occasionally, but it was so fun! We tailgated, drank some beers and watched our team win! I'm thankful for Adam always, but the chance to go to the Broncos game with him was the cherry on top of a great weekend.

Weekends are so much more fun when you work during the week. Pre-job, weekends were fine. I mean, I got to hang out with Adam more, but other than that my daily life didn't change much. Working Kristen makes weekends that much more fun! Adam and I have been taking advantage of our weekends and spending a good portion of them in the mountains. Before we headed up the mountain, we stopped at Red Mango for some fro-yo. Pumpkin swirled with vanilla, yes please! Saturday afternoon we ventured up to Grand Lake, Colorado. Adam's best friend was up there with his girlfriend and what a perfect excuse to escape for the night. We cooked a delicious (paleo!) dinner, drank copious amounts of wine and took a million pictures. Sunday morning we got caught in a snowstorm on our drive back, which just topped off a perfect weekend. I hope you all had fabulous weekends too!