Huntington Beach

This past weekend, I took Friday and Monday off work and Ian and I headed to Huntington Beach. If you know me, you know I LOVE Huntington Beach. It is truly one of my favorite places in the world. As a child, we vacationed every year, staying in the tiny apartment that has been in our family for years. After we moved to California, I would still come here, with high school friends or family. In college, my "posse" girls and I spent many a weekend in the cabin and have since had reunions there. Ian and I got engaged on the grassy knoll off PCH. And now, we get to go there as married couple for some time away from work, chores and familiar life. We love it.

Since it is likely that the property will be sold in the next few years, I felt particularly nostalgic on this trip. So, for the first time, Ian and I documented some of our time there. And we made sure to do many of my favorites, including getting shaved ice from the donut store next door. Truly, I've been getting shaved ice at that place for 25 years. It is just part of what you do when you go to Huntington (don't worry - we got donuts there twice too, I just don't have any photos of it).
We also went to the sand, pretty much all day long for three of the days we were there. Mary and Mike joined us down there for one of the days and it was super fun having their family there. For a few minutes, we got to watch the kids while they went for a walk. Naturally, I feed them in order to buy their love. Those are pita chips in their stroller. See how Sam is a little worried Abbie is going to steal all the food? And rightfully so - that little lady can eat!

Here we are on the sand. We got slightly more than sun-kissed but had an amazing time laying out, reading, playing in the waves and even boogie-boarding together. It was so fun!

Here is Ian putting on his fins and getting ready to catch some waves!

Of course, being a Sunukjian, I had to play backgammon. Ian played this game in college so it's something we also play at home, but memories of my dad and grandpa playing this game, in this same cabin, made me so sentimental!

Here we are, at the kitchen table. I will be so sad when this place is gone, but we really enjoyed our time together and I'm so thankful for the years I've had to enjoy this special place.

Attention, Attention! Riveting Baby Updates Below

It finally happened! I got my first "Are you pregnant?" question! Yay! Actually, they didn't ask me directly but it still made me so glad because that means I'm finally showing! At 20 weeks, I certainly thought I would be more pregnant looking than I am, but everyone tells me I should be thankful that I'm not huge, that it will make it easier in the long run. But when you're feeling fat and also so excited to be pregnant, it's hard to wait for the world to know.

But, judging by the comment in my board meeting this morning, I'm on my way! (Apparently, when I got up to get some juice, one board member elbowed another and said, "Is she pregnant?" Thankfully, the other board member knew that I was (though how she knew, I'm not sure, since I never told her but I guess word is spreading) and confirmed it (and later told me about it).

Other baby updates include:

• Feeling the baby move! I've been feeling our little cricket move for a few weeks now, a little more each day. It's very exciting. Both Ian and I can't wait until he can feel too.


• Increase in heartburn - it's like I've substituted vomiting for heartburn. And trust me, I would choose the heartburn, but man, things like this sure take the glam right out of pregnancy.


• Restored energy - now that I'm several weeks into my 2nd trimesters, I have way more energy and it's wonderful!


• Countdown has begun! I plan on working up until the week of Thanksgiving, which means I've got about 17 more weeks to go...


• A good ultrasound - at least, we think it was good. We haven't heard from the doctor and it was last Thursday, so we're taking that as a good sign (and not a sign that she hasn't looked at it, which was what happened last time we had an ultrasound). I guess we'll find out more in our appointment next Friday.

Stay tuned for future details! (I know, I know, you're on the edge of your seat, hardly able to contain your anticipation.)

Signs That You Might Have Too Many Shoes

There are many signs that indicate one might have too many shoes. For example, all your shoes might not fit in the shoe rack. Another example - all your shoes might not fit in the shoe rack and basket you keep in the closet combined. 3rd sign? You have shoes in the spare room, given the overflow from said rack and basket.

Of course, one could argue that the shoe rack has an usually small number of slots for your shoes and that the basket, which is really only a smallish basket, is crowded because some of the shoes in there are boots, which take up more room than regular shoes. And one might even say that the reason there are shoes in the guest bedroom is because those are the "off season" shoes, or the "B" team shoes, that don't need as frequent access, so really, why clutter up the master bedroom closet with those?

But an undeniable sign that you have too many shoes? I found evidence of this morning when I put my shoes on. They had dust on them. Dust!?! When I pulled the shoes out and looked at them, I wondered how long it had been since I'd worn these shoes. One year? Two years? Three years? Clearly, I have a lot of choices, given that some of my shoes can actually build up dust in between wears.

Of course, you could also consider this frugal. =) I buy a lot of shoes, yes, but I keep them a very long time.

What do they say are the signs of being an addict? Denial? Rationalization? Not that I know anything about that...

A Frugal Challenge

I've mentioned it on this blog before, but I follow another blog called Frugal Girl. She has cooking recipes (we used one of her jam recipes and I'm thinking about trying my hand at homemade yogurt) as well as other tips in being frugal. You can check her out here: http://www.thefrugalgirl.com/

One thing she said recently was that if you let people know you're willing to take hand-me-downs or left over items, you will be surprised at how much you can get.

As Ian and I think about living on one income, we're having lots of conversations about being frugal. In fact, that's one of the reasons we're not going to find out the gender of our baby. We would prefer that people give us items that we need instead of pink frilly dresses or baseball gloves. Not that those aren't great and we would certainly love either of those; we just lean more on the practical side of diaper genies and crib bumpers. So, we're letting it be known - if you've got kid stuff you don't want, we'll take it!

I saw this in action recently with another matter all together - peaches. A few months ago, we met a couple at church who live in our neighborhood and have a peach tree. In one short conversation, I was my usual excited self upon hearing they had peach tree, and four months later, she called me to say she was going out of town and did I want to come pick all her peaches for the next three weeks. Did I? You better believe it! As of yesterday, Sarah and I have already made three jars of peach jam, with plans for more jam and perhaps some canning. And there will be a peach pie in there somewhere too.

Anyway, on to the point of this post. Sheesh, I'm so verbose today. =) Anyway, as Ian and I talk about how we can save money, I gave myself this challenge:

Use up every bottle of hair product I have before buying anything new. For some of you, that may be no big deal. But I love to experiment with hair products, and since I sometimes do my hair curly and sometimes do it straight...you get the idea.

I started that challenge about two weeks ago (though I haven't actually bought any hair products (except for shampoo and conditioner* for several months) and already, I've made my way through two bottles. I have so many bottles that are about 1/3 full.

See?
So my goal is to use all of these, regardless of whether I like how they work or not, and not buy anything new until they are gone. So brace yourself for some bad hair days! But I'm betting I can make it until at least October on just what I have in there. Which is probably over $100 worth of hair products! Wish me luck! (And don't make fun of my bad hair days.)

*It's probably a good thing that no boys read this blog (at least, to my knowledge), except my husband. Because they would probably be thinking, "What other hair products are there besides shampoo and conditioner?" Ahh, if only they knew.

Making Brownies with Sam

I think I've mentioned before that every other Sunday (for the most part), Ian and I watch Mary and Mike's kids, Sam and Abbie. We love it. Well, I love it and Ian loves me, and he loves helping. They both work every other weekend and have about a two hour window where they need coverage. It's a super easy shift and sometimes, I even get to have the kids at my house, which I especially love.

This Sunday, the kids came over right after church, so we could put them down and get them back up again in time for their cousin's (our nephew on Ian's side) birthday party. Rowan turned 1 yesterday and we had a great time at his circus themed party at Heather and Rob's place.

We agreed to bring a dessert to the party so I enlisted Sam to help me make the brownies. This recipe, which our family as used for years, calls for caramels, which I buy individually wrapped. Sam helped me unwrap the caramels, and he helped add the chocolate chips.

He also helped lick the beater.
I think you can see in the photo below that he thought our brownies were very delicious.

And judging from the response at the party, everyone else did too. Though their faces were a little cleaner.

Mary Roseanne's Holiday Shoppe

Disclaimer - I am trying to win a DARLING b-day banner from this shop and I can increase my chances if I post about them on my blog. Since you all know I how much I love celebrating, I would love to have the banner. But truthfully, this shop has tons of great stuff and I'm happy to promote them (plus, Amy is a great friend of mine!).

Here's a little about it:

Mary Roseanne’s Holiday Shoppe was founded in 2010 by sisters Heidi Weston and Amy Stokke. Their creativity was nurtured and cared for from birth by their mother, Judi. Judi was taught some of her first crafts by her grandmother, Mary Roseanne. And so, in a way, they all have Mary Roseanne to thank for the many crafts they find themselves involved in (some would say too many crafts). Between them, they enjoy crocheting, knitting, paper crafts, quilting, jewelry making, flower arranging, cooking, sewing, decorating and hand needle work.

Want to see some of their stuff? Visit the site: http://maryroseannes.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

18 Weeks, AKA 4 Months

Today marks 18 weeks. We're almost half way there! Crazy, and exciting. Next week we go in for our big ultrasound and we're really looking forward to it.

I hear you're supposed to chronicle your belly growth (at least, it's what everyone is saying in the "December Birth Club" that I'm a part of. People are crazy. Did you know that? Especially pregnant women. But I digress). And even though I've been told over and over again that I don't look 4 months pregnant, here is a photo of me from today. (Ian came to have lunch with me, so he took a picture of me.)
I am wearing maternity pants and a maternity shirt, because everything else just makes me look fat. Speaking of fat, my face looks huge in this photo! Maybe it is that huge in real life and I never see it from that angle...anyway, what can you do.

Today, our little cricket is supposedly the size of a bell pepper, weighing about 7 oz. In a lot of ways, it feels like this pregnancy is going quickly and in other ways, December feels so far away! I know it will be here before you know it and we really can't wait to bring our bundle o' joy home.

Pray for good news next week on the ultrasound!

Disneyland!

Ian and I had a chance to go to Disneyland recently, for our last time until the summer block days are over. We had a GREAT time. Even though we've been season pass holders for more than two years together, and me more than 10 years total, we still did TWO, that's right, TWO things we had never done before.

Isn't that just so Disney? That is one of the things I love most about Disney. It's always new and exciting. Anyway, one of the two new things was taking a ride on the Pirate Ship around the Rivers of America. It was my idea (and truthfully, not that exciting since the boat is about 2/3 the size of the river and we're only going about three miles an hour) but Ian was great to humor me. And I actually snapped a picture of him! Amazing! We were there for about 6 hours, but somehow, this was the only photo we took. So relish it.
Just so there is no blog-land suspense, I'll tell you the other new thing we did - the petting zoo. I didn't even know Disneyland had a petting zoo until one of my sister's told me about it. Which probably makes sense, since it's geared for kids. Anyway, we look forward to going back there with our little cricket some day!

Cheers to the Magic Kingdom. We believe that you are the happiest place on earth!