Thursday, June 30, 2011

J's birthday extravaganza: Part 3

After all that, then came June 23rd. 

We both decided to take the {thurs}day off and make it count.
best. decision. ever.

The morning brought:
many fun cards to open (which were spread throughout the day of course)

puppy birthday smiles

birthday "26 ways i love you" signs all around the house

and some presents... a polo shirt, swim shorts,

We continued the celebration with Starbucks [it wouldn't be J's birthday without it!]
and a fun maternity photo shoot and lunch date in Coronado with our life pals Mark and Katie.


they were so sweet to get our lunch and him a few types of yummy candy :)
this was my personal favorite!
so fun to celebrate with such special friends!

The afternoon brought a special treat from the kids

 (yes those are their paw prints... minus luigi, he refused)
"shorts for our walks... we love dad!"

 The evening brought an HOA meeting, filming an event at church, and packing.
{packing = start to finish, 3 loads of laundry and cleaning}
not quite as exciting... although the packing was exciting in an anticipatory way!
However, we did manage to squeeze in one more gift in the wee hours of the morning before bedtime.

I love you babe.
So blessed to be your wife. So proud to call you my husband.
Happy birthday!!!

Wednesday, June 29, 2011

J's birthday extravaganza: Part 2

To continue the fun, J and I met my parents and sister at the best burger joint ever for dinner on Tuesday.


We made quite the ruckus with all our photos in our big booth
{i'm not sure if ruckus is a good thing or not, but when i say it, it's a good thing}

The proof:

 we love each other

 we love each other too, though it's hard to tell based on my sister's faces ;)

the presents:
 super cute polo shirts and shorts
 a memory card and case
 a navy seal book for my handsome navy seal ;) and a cool black journal!

The parents {so cute}:
 I made them do this. Reason #543 why I love them: they did it. :)

the three muskateers

So fun to celebrate my baby again! 
And still, the big birthday to come!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

J's birthday extravaganza: Part 1

We began J's 26th birthday extravaganza at J's parents' house last Sunday 
for a Mexican fiesta Father's day combo, 
complete with homemade tortillas and two special grandmas. :)

A few fun photos from the evening:

on our way, puppies in tow

fiesta!

even sam and valinda made an appearance! 
too bad this picture is blurry, because we actually all smiled for it :)

father-son father's day/birthday photo

j and his ladies

me and my babies

We had a lot of fun, and it was only the beginning!

A dime + a nickel = a whole lot of change

A couple weeks ago, my mom and I held the most enormous yard sale I've ever seen
to raise money for the 3-day this November.
We had so many wonderful donations from friends and family of stuff to sell,
which really helped us out!

Although it was scheduled to start at 6am, we had customers that started coming at 5:15am!
Which means, I hardly got any pictures except a few later in the morning on my phone, since there were people there the whole time. Which is great :)

Here's a few pictures of semi-poor quality...

my dear friends from YMC, Marghee and Candice, came to support us. These girls seriously cracked us both up. They rotated from station to station, parking themselves at each and laughing the whole time. 
It meant so much to have them there.

My in-laws also stopped in for some homemade bread loaves! 
They aren't the biggest yard salers, so it was really fun to have them both there. 
And of course, my rockstar hubby who was there by 8am and hung out with us the whole time 
and then stayed through clean up. I just adore him.

 Mom and I made homemade bread loaves to sell for breakfast...
she made pumpkin and I made zucchini :)

 and Grandma was so sweet to make her yummy chocolate chip cookies and brownies also! 
Complete with the pretty pink ribbon :) She's seriously the best.

And my buddy ole pal, walking partner, fundraising companion, mom and friend.
(thanks Marghee for this photo!)

So what was the final total??

$800!!!! $400 each!!! 
{seriously, did you know you could raise that much at a yard sale? I didn't!}

Which means,


Thank you to all of my friends and family who have supported me by donating funds, attending our open house, sharing stuff for the yard sale, coming to the sale, and praying. I could not have done this alone. I am so thankful for each and every one of you. Truly, truly, truly. 

My mom is sooooo close with only $150 left to raise!! 

Of course, we are allowed to raise more than the minimum :)
But now we can focus on training physically!
It has been an amazing journey so far, and we are still just beginning.
I'm so excited!

Monday, June 27, 2011

Recap: birthdays, friends, and vacation

It has been a whirlwind of a week/weekend! In a good way :)

More details {and pictures!} to come, but for now,
the recap:

Monday: date night 

Tuesday: fuddruckers birthday dinner for J with my family

Wednesday: claim jumper reunion with one of J's best friends and the groupies

Thursday: J's 26th birthday extravaganza - shooting maternity pictures of Katie and Mark, 
Coronado lunch at Miguels, some shopping, a couple meetings, and a lot of packing.

Friday: San Francisco for the day! Pier 39, Ghiradelli square, Union square, 
and an amazing city view from our hotel.

Saturday: San Jose to see J's bro and sis-in-law and family! Visited their church and had a yummy Greek dinner, which made me miss my Greek bestie Aristoula. late {late late} night laughing and chatting with j, s and v.

Sunday: my father-in-law's birthday celebration lunch, Sam and V's first anniversary, 
shopping on the cutest little strip, chill time with all the fam, and a black angus dinner.

Monday (today): breakfast with the McGoverns, shopping, shipping, and flying home to our puppies and Luigi.

Now: unpacking, laundry, and mentally/physically preparing for the week. 

June has been non-stop action!

I'm thankful for a relaxing trip and fun times with Sam and Valinda and family. I love those two. 
And I'm thankful for my sweet husband who truly made this trip so awesome. Love that he's my travel buddy.
And I'm thankful for my amazing sister who took such great care of my little ones while we were away, 
complete with baths, fun outings, and house cleaning. love her.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

And for this weekend's recap...

my weekend... in a nutshell 
{there's another one of those phrases that is somewhat confusing to me...}

lots of time with mom prepping for our yard sale
puppy play time with sammy
celebrating paige's 34th birthday with a surprise mexican fiesta
a super successful 3-day yard sale with mom
fundraising excitement
marghee and candice hunting around at the sale... i love my friends
j and steve helping us clean up [i love my family]
visiting my favorite place in san diego... point loma
adalbertos #22 breakfast burrito
starbucks on the harbor with j's bestie brandon and his beautiful sarah and fam
starbucks planning sesh with my handsome hubby
ymc convo about love and the importance of praise
tropicana no pulp orange juice
celebrating fathers
a little shopping and some learning too
father's day dinner/j's first of many birthday bashes ;)
puppy play time at grandma k and grandpa j's house

i'm looking forward to a three-day work week,
j's 26th birthday,
and visiting sam and valinda!

Celebrate the weekends

Well, I'm a week behind, but last weekend was awesome, so I wanted to share a few highlights.

 the marriage conference at shadow
spending {late night super quality} time with our good friends j&j... and yogurt mill :)

celebrating katie and her baby-girl-elle-in-her-tummy with friends jen and jessi
{p.s. i adore these girls}

a much needed and perfect 3-hour nap with j

aunt linda's 50th birthday bash with c... aunt lin adds so much life to my italian side :)

and the beginning of a new marriage series at ymc.

[since i'm writing a week later and {unofficially} suffer from short-term memory loss,
this is all i remember at this time. 
but i remember it was awesome. i remember we were tired but had time to be home,
and spend quality time with each other and with special friends and family.]

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Capture the moment

Baker's first trip to the beach, 6/14/11 ... he loved it!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

11 Goals for 2011: Checking In


June 15, 2011
Well, we are at the halfway-through-2011 point.
Which means, it's time to check in with my goals for the year.
Here we go.

1. Spend time with Jesus daily
in the Word, in prayer, in worship, in nature, embracing His creation
doing pretty good... definitely been in more prayer daily and looking for Him in the little {and big} things.
loving worship music in the car {not a new thing, but always refreshing}.
reading the Word more frequently - still working on daily consistency.

2. Find a job in a hospital
and do a little professional development
i became NRP certified and an ENPC-provider.
i have a few classes lined up for the fall.
still working on the job in a hospital part.

3. Pay off my school loans 
yes, this is a lofty goal... but i think it's attainable
paid off one of three! working on #2 now.

4. Put in new carpeting/flooring in our condo
[this is a must if we are ever going to invite people over again :)]
hasn't happened yet. but lots of talk. need more action.. :)

5. Work on our marriage and love my husband even deeper than in 2010
[this is an even bigger must]
this has been a great year so far, marriage-wise.
lots of heartfelt chats about us and where we are headed.
we went to a marriage conference last weekend at church, which was awesome.
after discussing the idea for some time, we recently implemented "weekly check-in and planning" sessions.
best. idea. ever.

6. Take a few trips 
 [possibly Oregon/Washington, to visit my sister, and to visit S&V]
headed to visit S&V next week! so excited.
a slight change of plans, but we're headed to nevada in september to photograph a friend's wedding.
so there's another trip for the books. ;)

7. Plan our Italy trip and learn a little Italian
i believe we have decided on January 2013. our 5-year anniversary.
both of us are getting excited about the thought of going.
haven't begun planning yet, but have begun saving a bit.

8. Try some new [healthy] recipes and make dinner at least three times a week
this may seem rediculous since most people make dinner every night of the week
however, i am not most people [sorry babe]
good news: i have definitely have had multiple weeks of 3 homemade meals.
bad news: i think those weeks still may be the minority of weeks.
good news: this week, we went to the classy market across the street, picked up some yummy marinated chicken, salad and garlic bread, and cooked ourselves a feast. inspiration!
bottom line: getting there.

9. Spend some time crafting and exploring new crafts
and maybe make a few things that are show-able :)
this includes making birthday cards...and sending them on time
i've started making homemade greeting cards this spring, even selling some for $90 profit for the 3-day!
looking forward to making more soon.
haven't gotten to make as many birthday cards as i would like, but trying to send them.
i think my track record for getting them out and there on time is about 50%.
again, working on it.

10. Exercise. and Be on Time.
these are not related. but both are next to impossible for me to achieve, so they get a combined category
{on exercise} i signed up for the 3-day walk with my mom, which requires 24 weeks of lotsssss of walking!
last week was week 1... so i'm hoping by the end of the year i'll be able to say i am an avid exerciser/walker.
for now, i'll say i walked 3 miles yesterday.
{on being on time} well... i was going good. haven't done great. but definitely making effort.
good news is, tonight, we were five minutes early to an appointment. i think that's pretty good.

11. Live this passage:
 "Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgivingpresent your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things." 
Philippians 4:4-8
difficult to evaluate. i have made serious effort to be in prayer in every situation. i've made effort to rejoice in the Lord and to have my heart guarded by peace. I believe the Lord has given me His peace in many situations over the last six months. i always get stuck at "what is true... think about such things." and now, i will move on to think about things that fit into the rest of the list. :)

All in all, I'm making progress. Definitely have much more progress to be made, 
but thankful for this time to check in and keep myself accountable.

How are you doing on your goals?

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Avian-Canine love

Baker and Luigi have a special relationship. 

 watching each other

Needless to say, 
Mom doesn't let them play together when she's not home.
Like they say, Mom knows best. :)