Happy news...

Well, many of you already know, but Josh and I are happy to announce that we'll soon have a new addition to our family.  Baby #2 is on it's way!

I'm only about 8 weeks along, and it feels so early to be telling everyone.  For us, at least, there's a little joy in sharing such special knowledge just between the two of us.  Weird? I know.  But - I've been feeling pretty crappy, and I was tired of pretending to be feeling fine to hide a pregnancy.

During the last couple weeks I've been wondering why I wanted to be pregnant again.  With Corban, I was tired - really tired - but that's not so bad.  This time, I'm tired - really tired - but also nauseous and dealing with insomnia about every third night.  I can't say I've been too pleasant to be around.  Well, at least for Josh and Corban.  Poor Corban.  These days are not the best examples of my parenting skills.  But, I'm sure we'll survive each other.  And I'm so happy he'll have the chance to be a big brother.  He's a sweet boy and I know he'll be wonderful.

Father's Day Presents

For Father's Day this year, I had a last minute stroke of genius (meaning Saturday morning).  Right next to the Ventura Lassen's store is a California native plant nursery.  Josh and I were there a while back getting some vegetables and I saw they had a great selection of succulents.  So, I decided I would put together some manly plant arrangements...

For Josh

For Grandpa Deever and Grandpa Lassen

Succulents are amazing plants.  There is such a huge variety with lots of shapes, heights, and colors, which lend to some really cool and really easy arrangements.  And, they're drought resistant!  Perfect for men.

One step closer to domestication...

Take a look at my birthday present -

 

I'm in love with this machine, even if I've only sewn one thing so far (it always takes me a while to get going with new things).  When I was a teenager, I never thought that I'd ever really sew.  It seemed complicated, and kind of like something only old ladies did.  But - seeing some of the awesome things Gayle makes (ask to see her aprons!) and lots of amazing projects out in blogland, I've gotten the itch to start sewing.  And so has my sister-in-law, Megan.  So we're taking a sewing class together at Joanne's and it starts tomorrow. Exciting!

So, thanks so much Mom & Dad, Peter & Gayle, Grandpa Deever, and Grandma & Grandpa Hanson.  One of the best birthday presents ever.

Nojoqui Falls

I've been a bit behind on photo organization, so I just looked at these photos we took back in March.  We took a trip to Solvang for breakfast and decided to check out the local waterfall.  We went right after a big rainstorm, so the falls were quite impressive...

I was about to say "it was a nice hike to the falls," but seeing that it was less than a 1/4 mile from the parking lot, I'll say, "it was a nice walk to the falls." But it was really beautiful.  It was still overcast from the recent storms and brisk and everything smelled cleaned.  Since it was so short we had Corban walk and let him stop often to explore.

We threw rocks...

And played with sticks...

And climbed rocks...

There was a ton of mud, but we somehow managed to keep Corban out of most of it.  A small miracle. It was really the perfect time to visit, and it made me feel better that we didn't drive an hour and a half just to have breakfast.  But who wouldn't drive an hour and a half for hard rolls?

Mother's Day Gifts

I know this is a bit belated, but I got my craft on for Mother's Day and wanted to share my handiwork -

I made this bracelet for Josh's mom...

And this for my mom...

That's me in the middle!  I didn't have baby photos for Gayle's kids, so she got stock photos.

I felt so proud of myself because I actually planned and made these gifts a whole week in advance (as opposed to the usual night before routine).  Thank goodness for Martha Stewart's website.  I don't care what anyone says about her, I adore everything she does.

Birthday Girl

Yesterday was my 27th birthday, and it was a perfectly relaxing day, filled with phone calls, texts and visits from lots of my favorite people.  The weather was perfect too.  I spent a couple hours just laying on the lawn while Corban played around me.  It felt serene.

To celebrate, Josh, Corban and I went to the Santa Barbara Zoo on Saturday with the Zooks.  I wasn't in a very photographic mood so we ended up with very few pictures.  But I guess it at least proves we were there -

So here's my favorite birthday story - I teach Sunday School to the 6-year-olds at church and they were very sweet and sang Happy Birthday to me.  One of the boys says, "So how old are you going to be?  I know it's in your thirties!" To which, I smiled and replied, "Nope."  He then gave me a look part way between surprised and confused and asks, "Forties?"  Hah!  Kids are so great.

I actually didn't get to spend too much time with my favorite person yesterday.  Josh had to work a weird split shift from 10-1 and 6pm-2am.  But he still managed to find ways to make my day special, like bringing home See's candy and watching Corban while I took a nap.  And my awesome family took over while he was gone.  I was really spoiled.  Donny treated me to lunch.  Joel gave me a book.  My mom gave me this beautiful bowl (I happened to be obsessed with birds)

and I had dinner with Joel, Andrew, Megan, Kandra and my nephews. My day was filled with some seriously good food. After all of it, I have to say I'm feeling pretty fat and happy.  And very loved.  Thanks to everyone for making my day.  I love you guys!

My Nikon D90 is so awesome...

Josh got a nice DSLR camera for Christmas 5 years ago.  He then dropped it 8 days later (it happened to be the day we got engaged).  It had been on a slow path to destruction and finally crapped out last summer.  We put up with my point-and-shoot for a while but decided we needed an upgrade.  So, we pooled our Christmas resources, mostly from my parents, and bought the Nikon D90 package from Costco -

and it is

AWESOME

Evidence from Death Valley

standard lens

telephoto lens!!

I have yet to release the full potential of our camera, but its made my photos better just by being an amazing piece of equipment. No more blurry shots, no missing the moment because of shutter lag - I just love it.  And its probably the nicest thing we own. So, bonus points right there.