our story

It all began on the evening of Nov 29th 2003, at former Chat Noir French Restaurant in Costa Mesa, CA. Brad approached me [Jana] and we instantly connected; it was love at first sight. The next 4 years that followed were a whirlwind of romance, growing pains, and adventures. We circled the globe, traveling to South America, Europe, and Asia. Then one night, Brad surprised me with a romantic beachside proposal. We made it official on August 23rd 2008 with an intimate wedding at a hip art gallery in Laguna Beach. A year later we finished redesigning our home in the beach village of Corona del Mar.

On May 18th, 2010, we were blessed with a sweet little miracle of our own, our baby boy Taj Leon. He stole our hearts and took our breath away! Then, 19 months later, his incredible little brother, Jax Franz, arrived on Christmas morning (December 25th) 2011. What an amazing gift we received! In an effort to slow down the clock and enjoy our beautiful family, in Spring of 2012, we sold our CA seaside home and moved across the country to our dream lake house in Brad's hometown of Bemus Point, a resort village on Chautauqua Lake in Western New York! Even though we are living a more slow paced life, we are living a life far from ordinary!

From the West Coast to the East Coast, our Grover family adventures continue! So won't you come along and join us on this journey of love, family, and travel we like to call our La Vida Grover!

Monday, August 29, 2016

Spain Roadtrip 2016, Part II: Maria & Sergio's Wedding, Madrid

 Maria & Sergio's Wedding weekend!
 Beginning with a surprise Boda Ibicensa (white Ibiza wedding) for the couple, the night before, at their countryside wedding weekend rental compound, that had us doing a wild good chase driving unmarked dirt path roads to get there!
 American and Spanish cousins reunited.... all boys except for their girl cousin!




 Next day's wedding in beautiful gem beach town of Nerja
 on Balcon de Europa


 The reception, back at Torre del Mar .... the waterpark event area


 My lovely senora and I... my Spanish mama


 a little dip in the pool after such a big and long wedding day!

 Sunday family day massive paella
 Torre del Mar beach day before driving through Granada to Madrid

 Beautiful Nerja



 Madrid!









 our rooftop pool was so necessary to cool off after exploring the city by foot... 
we loved our accommodations and would definitely stay here again!!


Madrid- the cosmopolitan city!  Absolutely love how EVERY city in Spain is so different and cool!

Saturday, August 20, 2016

Spain RoadTrip 2016, Part I: Barcelona to Torre del Mar (Costa Blanca)


espana 2016 from jana grover on Vimeo.
After a grueling but luckily short flight to Barcelona from Vienna (mama had a weird 24 hour flu... caught it from Taj when he was down and out with it at Babi and Deda's.)  The boys were such amazing helpers and travelers when this mama could barely function on the flight and then getting us to our rental apartment in Barcelona city upon arrival.  Thank goodness we had these incredible views from our apartment terrace to make up for the tough travel experience!






The next morning, Daddy flew in to reunite with us on Spanish adventure!  Felt so good to be reunited in such a fantastic place!  Brad's and the boys very first time in Barcelona, Spain! I couldn't wait to show them around, take them to all the impressive Gaudi's structures, have lots of Sangria and paella, and even go back to one of my favorite Picasso museums I vividly remember from when I studied abroad and traveled in college!















La Sagrada Familia










Park Guell









We celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary on our gorgeous terrace!

Road trippin' down the coast of Costa Blanca, 
stopping in the colorful beach town Villajoyoisa for lunch





Made it to our Alicante hotel where we spent the night, and relaxed by the pool before heading to Nerja for my Spanish sister Maria's wedding!




We arrived at our Spanish casa, in the beach town of Torre Del Mar!  Really close to the wedding festivities!  We were psyched to reunite with my Spanish family, introduce the boys to their Spanish cousins and family, and of course, celebrate a big wedding weekend!
Water park fun right near our rental! It was the boys' first time at an outdoor water park and they were able to experience it in Spain where it was HOT and they played fun Spanish techno music!








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