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.

Death Valley

Hello again!  I've been busy this last month, but there's been stuff I wanted to share...

Last month we took a short camping trip to Death Valley with our friends, Robert and Angela Zook.  My childhood vision of Death Valley was a completely desolate place, where no one ever visited because there was nothing to do there but die.  Picture vultures surrounding carcasses.  Happily, such notions have been crushed. 

Our favorite sight, by far, was Badwater Basin - a seasonal salt water lake.  It also happens to be the lowest point in the US, at -282 feet.

There was only about 1 1/2 inches of water in the basin so we walked out to the middle of it.  It had this cool effect of looking like we were walking on water

Here's a view of Badwater from Dante's View -

And here's Corban practicing his smiles (he looks like such a goof!)

 

After Badwater we hiked to a Natural Rock Bridge where Corban had a great time throwing rocks - without pants because he got them wet at the lake.

Here's some of the scenery - 

Artist's Palette - note the blues and pinks

Devil's Golfcourse

View from Zabriskie Point

Weird guy on weird rock

Corban struttin his stuff on the Mesquite sand dunes

We actually saw a bunch of other stuff, but this post is getting long enough.  It was an awesome weekend getaway and things went nearly perfect - everything but the EXTREME wind our second night.  I really thought our tent was going to blow away.  None of us could sleep, except for Corban.  I only wish he'd sleep that well at home.

I finally caught up with Christmas...

As November was quickly rolling into December, I started thinking about what I wanted to give my little man for Christmas.  During my daily blog-stalk I hit up a couple of crafty blogs, so I felt inspired to do a bit of a "homemade" Christmas.  I came up with three gifts I wanted to make and personalize.  But, alas, there was not a single homemade present under the tree (or in our case, the poinsettia).  Lesson learned - start homemade gift planning in September.  But, I finally finished one of his Christmas presents this week!  Corban started becoming interested in the fridge magnets, so I made him some of his own

These were super easy and really cheap.  I bought some plain wood cutouts at Michael's, painted them with craft paint, spray painted them with a clear gloss, and glued magnets to the back.  Some of the details I just did with a fine tip Sharpie.  I don't consider myself very artistic, so I'm generally very impressed with anything I do. (Sorry, I hope that doesn't sound egotistic.  It's definitely not meant to be).

A great tip I found online: spray paint in a box -

Even though its clear paint, I didn't have any problems with dust or dead grass blowing over my pieces.

I gave the magnets to Corban in the morning right after he had a bottle.  He gave me a big smile.  Almost as good as Christmas morning.