Baby Shower at the McCurry Casa

I meant to post this earlier but time got away from me. But in late July, me and another friend hosted a baby shower for our friend Chanda (yes, the famed Chanda of the hair products) from church. I was SO excited to celebrate the coming arrival of their spout (they also didn't find out the gender of their baby, hence the neutral nickname) and to have the event at our house. We love hosting and feel that it is one of the blessings of having a home.

And I have to say, the McCurry house looked cute!

Don't you agree?

And now, we have white lights on the patio! I will have to take a picture at night so you can see how great it turned out. And, the vegetable garden that Ian and his sister Heather planted is going gangbusters! I already made two loaves of zucchini bread just from the zucchini's we picked over the weekend. So yummy! I'll try to take a picture of that too. Too bad I can't give you a slice of my bread.

Frugal Challenge Update

A while ago, I did a post on a frugal challenge I was undertaking, as one of our many money saving attempts before our cricket comes. I am back with an update.

So far, I have gone through three of the original 10 bottles that were in my basket. Great success! In that post, my friend Chanda responded saying she had some hair products she was going to get rid of and did I want them. Did I ever!

So here is the new loot donated by said Chanda, to add to my stock. The way I see it, I'm good until at least March or April of next year, maybe later. Amazing, huh? Thanks Chanda!

Scrabble

In the evenings, Ian and I often play Scrabble. Sometimes we play it at our dining room table, sometimes on our bed, but most often these days, on our back patio. We love our back patio. In the heat we've had the last few days especially, it is a welcome place to eat dinner, play a game of Scrabble and chat until bed time. Everyone tells us to soak up as much time together just the two of us before our cricket comes and we're trying to do just that.

So here is Ian, using the Scrabble dictionary, to make his next move.

I know some people are sticklers about using the dictionary to find a word, but we're not. Neither of us abuse it, and we're trying to get better. So when it's just the two of us, dictionary use is allowed.

Whenever we play Scrabble, we always have a good time. We're both word people, neither of us is too competitive (though this may only seem true to me because I usually win) and it's a slow, relaxed game that allows for plenty of interaction while we're playing.

If you're not really a game person, I just have to say, you're missing out. It's so much fun.

And if you are a game person, you wondering about the final score and final board. I actually can't remember the final score, though I do know I won, but I will post the final board knowing that some of you will judge our words. But so be it.

Family Vacation Report!

We didn't get kidnapped in Mexico - I've just been swamped with work, a new life group at church and other social obligations and so I'm just now getting around to posting about family vacation.

It was so great! We had a wonderful time. It was just what vacation should be - relaxing, low-key, fun, full of good eating and sunshine, lots of time with family, lots and lots of game playing, sleeping in, building memories, you get the idea.

The only part that wasn't good was how many pictures I took. I had SUCH big plans to show you all our tournament competition (outdoor games with the whole family divided into teams of 4 with 6 rotations - it was awesome), how we do the meals and feed 24 people three times a day, poker night, going to the beach, playing in the pool, and so much more.

Alas, all I managed to capture was a bit of the scenery from our condo and the "Girls Afternoon" I hosted. I sent out invitations to my 5 nieces and my mom, inviting them (and their moms, if they wanted to stay) to a spa/nail party at my condo. It was lots of fun.


Here is me and Mary, working on her toes. =)


My mom had the great idea to bring cucumbers, so here is Kara, David and Gina's youngest girl, relaxing after having one hand painted by Grandma and one hand painted by herself.

Here is Sophie, Peter and Sheila's girl, relaxing with some cucumbers after I painted her nails and toenails.

And here is Elena (David and Gina's oldest)- I did a little French manicure on her that turned out so cute! (Oh, and I had suckers as part of my afternoon. And party favors (lip glass, bath soaps, etc.) - what would a party be with no party favors?)

Here is Kara again, showing her sass and fine handy work in painting her own nails.

And here is our matriarch, with Elena.

Sarah's daughter, Hannah, was not able to join us due to a much needed nap. We missed her. And Mary's daughter, Abigail, came down from her nap just in time to have her tiny toes painted pink but sadly, I didn't get a picture of it. =(

One of the things Ian got to do was rent a surf board (his was too big to bring from home) and surf the famous K-39 surf spot. He is down on the sand with the blue board.

We shared a villa with Mary and Mike - they had the main house and we had the back house. It worked out great, because everyone has plenty of space, but we still get to hang out with them and their kids and enjoy the view from our condo.

Speaking of, the view from our condo...

And the other direction...

It was a WONDERFUL week and I'm sad it's over. I never do well when vacations end, but this year, I took Monday off as well and Ian and I still acted like we were on vacation, so that was fun. Tuesday of last week was a bit of a shocker, but as you can clearly see, I've lived to tell of it.

That is my report! More blogging to come.

22 Weeks and Leftovers

Yesterday marked 22 weeks - almost 5 months! Very exciting.

I am finally starting to look pregnant. Not so much that people are really asking, but enough so that I feel like I don't just look like I'm getting a beer belly.

Here I am in a non-maternity dress that I bought recently for a friend's wedding. I'm amazed at how much bigger I am than even the first time I wore it three weeks ago.

Side note about the dress - I was having a "nothing looks good, nothing fits, I'm not cute" moment a day before the wedding and my husband wisely suggested we buy something I would feel attractive in. So while we were down in Huntington Beach a few weeks ago (see previous post), we went to the Forever 21 there and looked around. And Ian actually picked out this dress himself. Aren't you impressed? What a guy. Though when I casually suggested we could also stop by the Gap on Beach Blvd. on our way home, I could tell right away from his face that the one store we were in meant we had already done PLENTY of shopping. So stop we did not. But I did wear the dress to the wedding and felt cute enough. Sometimes, cute enough is the best you can do. =)

Anyway, here is me and the cricket at 22 weeks.
And now onto something totally unrelated. Since we're on the vacation count down (again, see previous post), we are using up food in the house that would otherwise go bad.

See exhibit A.

The plate up top is a peach and a tomato, both of which were really ripe and ready to be eaten. On our dinner plates are two different frozen Chinese food dishes from Trader Joe's (nothing goes together like tomatoes, peaches and Chinese food, right?)

The broccoli and beef dish we had eaten half of several weeks ago and then put the rest back in the freezer. Same story with the noodle dish. Except that I had a few asparagus stalks left over from a different dinner, so I threw those in the pre-made noodle dish. How did it turn out? Well, let's just say that the stir fry was heavily asparagus. =) But we both ate it all and got to use up two things in our freezer and saved three pieces of produce from going to the compost pile.

Compost pile, you ask? Well, I'll save that for another post. How is that for a teaser?!

Vacation Count Down!

Oh vacation, how I love thee. Let me count the ways in which I love thee.

Truly, who doesn't love a good vacation? In just a few short days, we leave for Mexico with my side of the family. That's right, all 24 of the Don and Nell Sunukjians will be heading south of the border for a week of fun, sun and food. I can't wait!!!

In order to celebrate the upcoming vacation, I thought I would list some of the things I love about family vacation.

1. Anticipating it. Seriously, I love looking forward to vacation and counting down to it. I love that our vacation is typically in August, which means that most other people in my office have already taken their vacation and I get to still look forward to mine. Are any of you guys like that? Can I get an amen?

2. Eating! Food is always really important to our family, but on vacation, we do it up. Each unit takes a dinner meal and gets to make whatever they want. I love it, because you get to see what other families eat and enjoy new food. And for breakfast, my dad runs a morning show that is something to behold. For almost two hours of every morning of vacation, you can find him in the main kitchen, making whatever you want. Seriously. You walk in, he hands you coffee and then offers you bacon, or scrambled eggs, or waffles with whipped cream and fresh peaches, or ... It's amazing. And then, we get to take this delicious breakfast out to the back porch and eat it while taking in the view. Which brings me to number 3.

3. The view! Our family has been coming to this same spot in Mexico for several years. Last year, due to two newborns and one about to come, we went to Arrowhead. But other than that, the last 7 or so years have found us in this spot, just south of Rosarito Beach. My parents rent 5 villas that all back up to the ocean. It's amazing. The beach is a rocky one and you can truly get lost in the sound of the ocean breaking and rolling across those rocks. And the view is breathtaking. And the salt water smell. We literally sit out there for hours, just looking at the ocean.

4. The time to do whatever we want! One of the things I love most about being on vacation is not working. Mind blowing, I know. But since I mostly work at a desk, I just count the days to when I can be outside, moving around, doing different activities. On our vacations, we do tons of different activities and tons of nothing. It's perfect.

5. Games, games and games! In the grand tradition of Sunukjian family get togethers, there will be plenty of game playing this next week. We'll play bocce in the grass behind the houses, we'll play Rook at the table on the porch in the afternoon, we'll play poker at night in one of the villas, we'll have an "outdoor game tournament" for one of our scheduled evening activities, and so on. What's a little friendly competition among family? Nothing but a good time, I say.

6. Time with Ian, time alone, time with nieces and nephews, time with siblings, time with my parents, you get the picture.

I could go on and on, but whenever I do a long post (especially with no photos) I always hear about it later. =) So I'll wrap up. Needless to say, I am so excited about our upcoming vacation and so thankful to my parents, who see the value in celebrating our family and are willing to take us all to Mexico for a week.

See everyone in just a few days!

Adios!