Because I don't have time for anything else right now...

I know I am such a slacker for not posting more often these days, but c'mon, give me a break. I'm almost 31 weeks preggo, I am chasing after a two year old, trying to turn the house we just bought into a home, acclimate to our new surroundings including the house, the ward, the city etc., and Kevin just left for a job assignment in Tucson for 6 weeks. So, this is what you get today:

We wanted to turn our old queen bed set into a guest bed for all of the people we are expecting to visit this summer, plus our mattress is getting up there in age, so we decided that one of the first large purchases we would make would be a new king sized bed set. We found a great deal at a local furniture store who not only was having a phenomenal sale on their merchandise, they were also paying the sales tax on purchases for their customers as well. So, with the savings we received we were able to purchase a king size memory foam mattress, the headboard, foot board, and rails, two night stands, and a matching dresser with a mirror for the same price we were planning on spending just for the mattress and bed alone. Awesome! I know that probably no one else cares and I am wasting my time blogging about this, but my blog is every bit as much for me as it is for everyone else and I am excited about our bedroom set! (And it's made out of real wood, not the crappy particle board and laminate stuff we have purchased in the past! We're becoming real adults!!!) So, here's the new bed with one of the night stands and the lovely bedding set we got to go along with it. Yay for us!

New Keys, New Life!

We have officially moved into our new home! We have lived here for almost a week and we LOVE our little piece of heaven! I have to admit that I really didn't understand what I was up against when it came to cleaning a house this size!!! I have gotten out of bed between 6:30 and 7:30 am and have worked until I go to bed around 10pm and I still haven't gotten this place scrubbed from top to bottom! But, I'm not complaining. It's so nice to have the room and Anslie and I love running around the house all day doing chores. It's rewarding and fulfilling and we are very blessed!

I am officially in my third trimester! I hit 28 weeks last Thursday but was buried under moving boxes so I couldn't put an update up (and we didn't get our internet working until today either). My dad has been in town since Thursday helping us to do some minor repairs around the house and I asked him to take a few belly pictures of me. I just have to say that the pose in the last picture was NOT my idea...but it's a funny picture so I decided to post it anyway.




Anslie has had a blast running around our empty house (empty because we don't own enough to fill it up!!!) and helping out with cleaning and un-boxing. We took a break from our chores today for some Playdoh fun. She made a HUGE mess, but at least it was over linoleum and not carpet, like every other home we have ever lived in has in the dining area. (Such a stupid idea!!!)




All in all, we're doing great and looking forward to our things finding their places and life settling into a routine. And we would love for any and everyone to come for a visit! Hope to see you soon!

I know this is a little strange....

I got my disk from Diane today with all of the maternity pictures she took of Kevin and I. So fun! I'm a lucky girl to have such a talented buddy! Anyway, I just wanted to share my absolute FAVORITE photo of the bunch. My choice may seem strange to a lot of people, but it really, really moves me and I will seriously be printing and hanging this in our new home (which, by the way, we signed our final loan documents for today and will officially own in a few days to come!).

I'm excited to share our new home with my sweet, generous and loving husband, darling and spunky daughter, and our new little boy on the way!

Anslie's Last Tumbling Class

Today was mine and Anslie's last mommy and me tumbling class. It was bittersweet, as most endings are. Over the 8 week course, there were lots of ups and downs for a simple 45 minute class. Anslie liked parts, hated others. I was happy to have some place to take her at least once a week with some kind of constructive activity and exercise, at the same time I was a little disappointed with the lack of structure. So, we're happy to have our time back to ourselves, not so happy to have to think of something creative to do on our own :) Hopefully we can find some fun parks and rec stuff to do in our new town when we move! I hope to find a dance class that will take 2 year olds, and once it gets a little warmer, swimming lessons.

Here are a few shots of Anslie at her last class. She had a great time today and it was a happy 45 minutes!

Digi Moms Workshops by Garrett Delph

I had the pleasure of attending/helping out at a workshop in Solana Beach presented by a photographer named Garrett Delph. He had the wonderful idea of creating a class designed to help parents better understand how to use their cameras and how to take better pictures of their kids. What a wonderful concept! I know so many people who wanted to take great pictures of their kids to preserves memories and bought fancy cameras to do it with, thinking that was the key. They have since realized that it doesn't really matter what kind of camera you have if you don't know how to put it to proper use.

This workshop was such a fun experience! It was a small gathering of women who were all eager to master their tools. It was a joy to see the light bulbs turn on in their heads as Garrett taught them about shutter speed, aperture, ISO, depth of field, composition, and lighting. Although I understand these concepts, it was a nice refresher course for me and I was also able to answer some questions for the other ladies if Garrett was busy helping someone else when they needed him.

I was so grateful that Garrett let me be part of this workshop and I look forward to becoming more involved in the future! If you are interested in signing up for a Digi Moms Workshop, click here to check out the Digi Mom's Facebook page! Hope to see you at the next meeting!


Garrett's Studio in Solana Beach

Our fearless leader

The "tools"

Part two of the workshop involved a live photo shoot with an adorable model named Sophie.





And then everyone practiced shooting each other.



We also got to try shooting with different lenses. The image on the left was taken with a 50mm lens at f/1.2 and a lens extension, the image on the right with a 16-35mm wide angle lens.

I encourage anyone and everyone who would like to learn how to use their dSLRs better to sign up for this workshop! It's a real treat and I don't think one single person regretted being there one bit!

I'm Rough and I'm Tough with My BIG Afro-Puff

This is a product of 1. French Briads and 2. Bed Head. Awesome. I died laughing when I saw Anslie this morning so I let her run around the house all day like that to keep my mood light. Don't worry, though. I'll tame it before we go out in public!

Maternity Shoot

For me, this time! My sweet friend, Diane, took some maternity pictures for me last weekend and I stole these from her blog. Click here to see her entire post, or go to www.dianejonesblog.com. Happy viewing! I think they turned out beautiful! (I'm 26 weeks-ish along in these photos)