Aaaand we're back.

I finally finished the busiest time of year (well...besides spring...) at work and my life is back to normal!  I'm so happy =)  This is the last update of what's been going on this summer and then we'll be all caught up.  Enjoy!

June
Cohen Felice Beach Vacation 2011 (AKA...CFBV2K11!)
For those who don't know, the Cohens are made up of Jill and Josh, Jill being my best friend since we were 3 (ahh!) and Matron of Honor (matron...how old...hehe) at our wedding.  Not only do Jill and I revert back to childhood ways whenever we're together, but our husbands actually really like each other too!  Trust me, this comes as a relief to all parties involved.  They bromance and they bromance hard...which is a great counter-balance to the crazy laughter hurricane that is Nicole and Jill.

This year, the Cohens and Felices decided to start a little tradition (well, assuming this will be a tradition...maybe not yearly but definitely will be something we will try to keep doing!) by going on a little beach vacay together.  Actually, this is something the Cohens do every year and they were gracious enough to invite us along this time.  We had an absolute BLAST with them!  Here are some highlights:

Jill and Josh picked us up at the airport in Atlanta and we headed down to Sarasota, Florida.  The gals had a great time catching up, eating cheetoes and watching Eclipse in the backseat...while the boys talked about sports or something =)

A picture of where we stayed!  The Veranda Beach Club in Sarasota - highly recommend!

The week was filled with your normal beach activities including going to Publix (for some reason we did this quite a bit...), laying out at the beach (the girls), drinking in the ocean (the boys), visiting the Jewish bakery and deli (mostly Josh and Jill) and eating...both at various seafood restaurants and in the condo.  Marc and I make it a priority to eat seafood whenever we're East of the Mississippi River.  Makes sense to me, right?

The ladies in our uniforms - bathing suit, beach hat, cover-up =)

Outside of Daiquiri Deck where we had some delish and yummy seafood!

Jill and I also indulged ourselves with a spa day and I had the most amazing massage of my life.  So fun!

Since we were in Florida, Marc and I decided to take advantage of the close proximity to Fort Myers and pay my grandparents a visit.  We drove down to their house for the day and Nanni made us TWO dinners...in one night.  She actually asked us "Which do you prefer, spaghetti and meatballs or lemon chicken?"  Turns out she shouldn't have asked because she just ended up making both...plus homemade tiramisu.  We drove back to the Veranda full and happy and it was SO fabulous to see them =)

My amazing grandparents =)

I must say, this was one of the most fun vacations we've had in a long time.  We left Florida with very fully bellies (we basically ate the WHOLE time) and nice tans...and lots of good memories =)  Can't wait for the next trip!
  
Marc's Birthday
Marc's birthday is in June and it's significant not only because it's his birthday, but it's also the day we "sorta" got engaged.  For those who don't know the story, Marc is bad at hiding stuff and I found the ring in his underwear drawer while he was out of town (that's the truth!!!).

To celebrate, Marc said he would cook dinner as long as I made him a cookie cake.  So that's what I did =)

I can bake - I never said I could decorate a cake...

July and August
Peaky and Kirby Visit!
The next two months saw some much anticipated visitors at the Felice house!  My other besties, Peak and Kirby, both came to visit and it was such a joy to see them =)  They were supposed to come at the same time, but due to some scheduling snaffoos, they came about a week apart.  No complaints here, though!  I was thankful to have 1:1 time with my fave ladies and show them my new home-state.

A couple highlights from their visits:

Mount Evans!  We took both Peak and Kirby to Mount Evans and Echo Lake for some great views, photo-ops and hiking.  Probably the funniest thing about Kirby's particular visit was that she was in a cast due to an injury, so we kept getting very funny looks.  It basically looked like I was "forcing" my injured friend to hike a mountain, but I swear, she wanted to!

A view of Summit Lake on Mount Evans.

Me at Peak at the top of Mt. Evans.  Kirby took all the pictures of her stay and I need to get them!

Waffle Brothers - a local spot that Marc and I loooove.  Kirby and I experienced their waffle and ice cream bowls, while Peak and I ate sandwiches.  This is one of those places we always like to take visitors when they come to town because you can walk there from our house, it's a small, local company, and the food is crazy good =)

Ciatano Winery in Lyons, Colorado.  We took Peak up to this local winery to experience some local wines grown in Palisades and Grand Junction.  Marc and I love this winery and it's about an hour north of Denver, so there is some great scenery on the way, plus wine tasting!  So yummy =)  Afterwards, we had dinner in Boulder and it was so much fun.  I was glad we got Peak out of Denver to see that there's more to do in Colorado than just be in the city or the mountains.

Enjoying our Colorado wine =)

Vail Village - Kirby and I headed to Vail Village after our "hike" in Mount Evans to soak up some mountain scenery, have dinner, and do some shopping.  The weather was amazing and it was a great day to just stroll around the village...and eat ice cream =)

Brass Armadillo Antiquing - Kirby and I decided to hit up one of the big antique markets just north of Denver and do a little digging.  It was so much fun and Kirby was able to find some great stuff to take home and decorate her new house!

Of course, I was sad to see them go home, but I was so thankful they came to visit!  Now we have to try and get them in a pair of skis in the spring =) 

Double Trouble in Bloomington =)
At the end of August, we FINALLY got to Bloomington, Indiana, to visit Marc's brother and sis-in-law and our cute patootie new niece and nephew =)  We booked this trip as soon as the twins were born and I had been counting down the days to when we were finally on our way.  Rachel does a great job of sending us pics of the kiddos, but I wanted get to their house as soon as possible!

It was definitely worth the wait, and Renata and Dominic are absolutely adorable.  I will say this trip was quite different from when we used to go visit them in the past, but we had such a great time and I can't wait to watch these kids grow up!

Even with two babies in tow, we managed to do some great dining in Bloomington, both at restaurants and in the Felice Casa (we made sure to cook some healthy meals with lots of leftovers for the new parents).

Dominic and Renata also celebrated their 2 month birthday while we were there - and they just turned 3 months yesterday!  I can't believe how big they are!  Here are some pics from our trip:

Posing for the "We're 2 Months Old" photo.

Okay - now I'm mad because I didn't take nearly enough pictures =(  I'll fix it next time.

And that brings us through all the exciting stuff we did over the summer!  We were busy but it was so incredibly worth it.  Now we're looking forward to the fall, football season (Go Jackets!) and the ski slopes opening in 40 days (whoo hoo!!!)

Go Jackets!

One of my fave places, Breckenridge, CO.

 Hope you had a great summer!  Have an awesome weekend =)