Coming soon!

The closer we get to Baby Sandy's arrival, the more and more excited we are to welcome our sweet baby girl. As excited as I am to meet this little one, I absolutely love being pregnant. I love the sweet kicks and rolls from Baby Sandy. I love learning about babies and how to become a parent with Dave. I love feeling so special because this new life is forming inside of me. While I'm so anxious for her arrival, I know I will miss being pregnant. So, I am trying to enjoy this time. I'm soaking up those little movements, basking in the smiles from strangers that only pregnant women get, enjoying the advice from moms who have come before me, and even loving this giant belly. Mostly, I'm enjoying this time with Dave. We are so ready to welcome our baby girl, but it's nice to have this time together, and to have had the past 7 years "just us". 

 Pictures taken by the amazing Richlyn Dehner - pharmacist by trade, photographer by passion. Special thanks to her fantastic assistant Matt Dehner and very patient little one, Nathan. 

It's been a while...

It's October. I love this time of year, even when harvesting has me completely congested, I am filled with the excitement of upcoming holidays and much awaited weather change. I am ready for autumn. I realize I haven't posted in several months. We've been busy welcoming babies, traveling, work (and work, and more work), preparing for more babies, keeping up with two very energetic pups, football (and football, and more football), enjoying friends and treasuring family. Instead of attempting to update in words, I've posted some picture updates (because a picture speaks a thousand words, and who has time to read that many words!?!).  

Beautiful Mia Louise, welcomed in January.

Nanaimo, fetch in the Spring

Remington, serious face while playing fetch in the spring.

Big brother Brayden welcoming sweet baby Nathan in March.

Shafter-Wasco alumni football game, March.

Beach trip with the pups and friends, April.

Kiss the cook :), April.

The other Royal Wedding, April.

Welcome precious Isabella, May!

Dodger game with friends, June.

Welcome home Donny, June!

Crashing the guys trip to Honduras, June.

Lion fish hunters, June. 

The dive crew, June.

Unc Dave with Brayden in Santa Cruz, July.

The real colosseum, July.

A fountain in Rome worth going back for, July.

The best news? Finding out we will be welcoming a baby of our own in April :)  Dave and I couldn't be happier to embark on the greatest adventure of our lives together. We are richly blessed with babies this year, and are thankful to be preparing for parenthood with people we love.

winter gloom

As soon as Christmas is over and a new year begins, I'm officially over winter weather. I love to celebrate Christmas with a nice warm fire, and I'm a huge fan of winter clothes, boots, and accessories, but I can only take so much gloom. When it's foggy and cold all day, I long to soak up some sun. So, last weekend I decided to find some. Thank you, Santa Barbara, for your warm, perfectly sunny weather. 

Beautiful day at the beach

 Nanaimo, in mid-shake

The chuck-it. For those of you with fetch-obsessed dogs, invest in one of these. They keep your hands slime-free, and require much less effort to launch a tennis ball.  I'm pretty sure if we were in a burning building and Nanaimo had to choose to save me or the chuck-it, he would save the chuck-it.

Remington's terrified of my new camera. Every time I try to capture his great big, goofy smile, he get's nervous and changes into his serious face. We're going to have to work together to get over this fear...

Snow, snow, snow, snow, SNOOOOWWWWW

We decided to start the new year right with a quick trip to the snow, and it was a HUGE success!

What's better than playing fetch?

Playing fetch in the snow!

Remember when Remington was just a pup? He was so small and sweet. Now he's huge and sweet. 

 Partners in crime. Friends. Competitors. Brothers. 

Happy New Year!

Yellow Seahorse

Last December, Dave and I became scuba certified in Hawaii. I enjoy diving, but Dave L-O-V-E-S it. I'm not much for cold water, seaweed, and sharks, so I avoid diving off the California coast like the plague. Dave, however, goes diving pretty regularly off the coast of Catalina and the Channel Islands, and is now advance certified. Due to my aversion to cold water, and love for tropical getaways, we decided to venture down to Roatan Honduras for some amazing (and warm) diving. What we discovered, in addition to my renewed love for diving, was this little guy: a yellow seahorse. Isn't he magnificent! How amazing is it that this beautiful, bright, and somewhat strange creature lives more than 80 feet underwater!?! So cool. So, so cool.