friday wrap up: news years edition

For this week's friday wrap up I decided to make a list of my favorite blog posts of 2010.

I've been going thru and reading several older posts this week so I thought I'd share them with you. Really, I blog for myself and hope that others will read it. It's become something of a journal, a way to document what's going on in my life so that in 5, 10, 15 years I can look back and see how much the Lord has grown me or how much better I've become at crafting (well, maybe :)

So enjoy the list and Happy New Years!

*my favorite quilt

*a chair makeover

*a headband diy

*my thrifting tips

*sometimes He grows me

*235th birthday

*our love story: the story of us

My favorite photo from the week:
Our kitty Cal snuggling up with my husband on the couch. They are two of a kind.

Happy New Year!!

friday wrap up- Christmas Craft Edition

For this week's wrap up, I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite craft blogs and projects. A lot of them are featuring great Christmas crafts and gift wrapping ideas. I love it!! I hope you do too:

*this blog caught my attention just because of the name.. so clever! some of my favorite projects from her site are this onesie and this camera strap

*beautiful gift wrapping ideas

*this lady's house looks like a Pottery Barn catalogue

*cute ideas for a craft party or just for some Christmas crafts to do!

*2 super adorable DIY gift ideas

*tutorials for every wreath you could ever dream of

*the cutest felt flower tutorial. you could use it as part of your gift wrap, wear it in your hair, make it into a pin or add it to a wreath!

*interesting ways to re purpose a burlap sack and an old sweater

I hope these put you in the mood to do some crafting this last week before Christmas.. if not to make gifts, maybe just to wrap them?? I think homemade wrapping is so thoughtful (and fun!)

Here are some pictures from this week as well. We went to the Parade of Lights over at the harbor (yes, that's what we do in Southern California.. we decorate boats with Christmas lights and oooh and aaaah at them). Enjoy:




I hope you had a great week. I can't believe Christmas is only a week away! Are you ready?? I almost am.. just some wrapping to do and I'm all set.

Have a great weekend!!

the story of us: part 5

you can start from the beginning here

part 5: here we go again!

We had one pretty miserable year in Vegas.. I won't bore you with the details. It consisted mostly of me going to school full time and working very early 4am shifts at Vons while Ben was bouncing between jobs trying to find one that suited him. Oh and really, really hot, hot weather. I don't really even have pictures to share from that year because we were just so busy working and going to school.

{most of our things were packed in the garage for the entire year}

I do have to mention, though, that Ben was accepted into the police academy for Las Vegas Metro. He was in for a month or so and decided it just wasn't going to work for him. He would much rather re-enlist in the Marine Corps and do what he really truly loved (What can I say? I married a Marine). There is actually a huge difference between the police force and the military (although a lot of people think the 2 are similar). My husband figured this out pretty quickly.

So, the day came. We went to the recruiting office. He signed the paperwork, and just like that, he was a Marine again. We had orders to head back to Camp Pendleton, CA and within just a couple months we would be headed back to sunny San Diego!

I cannot even begin to explain the huge weight that was lifted from my shoulders almost the moment he signed his contract with the Marine Corps. It felt like the whole year we had been searching, trying to figure out what exactly God wanted us to do in Vegas. While all along He just wanted us to head back to San Diego. It was as if He had been standing right behind us the whole time, almost tapping on our shoulders, waiting for us to turn around and see Him. He had the plan the whole time, we were just too busy trying to figure it out on our own to turn to Him.

{moving day!!}

We arrived June 1, 2007 to our new home in Oceanside. I found us a quaint 2 bedroom apartment just 6 blocks from the beach. We settled in easily and quickly because we already knew the area from living here before. It felt so good to be back, like we were supposed to have been in Oceanside the whole time.

Ben returned to work and I noticed an immediate change in him. He was happy, rested, looked forward to work, and made friends quickly. I got plugged back into church, this time as a high school small group leader. I also started volunteering as a counselor at the local Pregnancy Resource Center.

And we had a lot more time together. We started going on date nights every Friday night and usually to the movies every weekend. We purchased an xbox, which meant long nights of trading the controller back and forth to play Call of Duty (those are still my favorite nights).

And so all was well again in our lives, until we decided to start a family...

Check back soon for part 6 :)

christmas time

The decorations are up, the Christmas music is playing, the cards are ready to be sent, presents are being wrapped, the shopping is almost finished. We've been drinking lots of hot chocolate around here and have been enjoying the lights on the Christmas tree. I even caught my husband watching a special on Santa Claus the other night!

And while we don't get snow, or even temperatures much below 60 out here in San Diego, it really is starting to feel a lot like Christmas.





To help you get in the mood, here are some fun Christmas websites that I've been enjoying:

*An interactive Advent Calender. Each day includes a Bible verse, a craft, activity, recipe, hymn and Christmas song.

*A great explanation of advent

*The most adorable DIY yo-yo Christmas tree

*Elsie has been hosting 12 days of homemade this week with lots of DIY's and yummy food ideas

*my favorite Christmas time movie (okay it's not an official Christmas movie, but it's one I can watch over and over again.)

*A really cute Christmas binder with lots of great ideas

*Fun ornaments from Anthropologie and World Market

friday wrap up

This week has been a good week. Isn't it always great when your husband gets off work at like 10am every day?? The only down side: we tend to go out to lunch everyday, which is not so good for the budget (but very yummy for my tummy :)

this week i:

*am 32 weeks pregnant

*finally found a dresser for the baby's room! now we just to need to sand and paint it

*rented this movie and i almost feel dumber after watching it

*started reading this book and i'm really enjoying it. my husband read the men's version on deployment and loved it

*found great deals on these boots and these baby shoes on cyber monday

*think i found the crib i want

*danced my heart out in the car to this crazy song with my husband

*baked this coffee cake recipe (i'm a sucker for it)

*fell in love with this necklace and this ring

We also decorated for Christmas. We got our tree on the Sunday after Thanksgiving and pulled out all the fun decorations. My favorite time of year is fall, but my husband's favorite is Christmas time. I have never met a man more particular about his Christmas tree!

Anyways, we put on the Christmas tunes, set up the tree, hung ornaments and swept up pine needles (my least favorite part of the process but a necessary evil none the less). Here are some pictures of our apartment:




I hope you had a good week.. Have an even better weekend!!

32 weeks

This week I'm officially 32 weeks pregnant. I'm waiting for that pain, exhaustion and complete worn out feeling that everyone says comes with the third trimester. I haven't have it at all (ok, except last Wednesday when I cleaned the entire apartment and packed for the 2 of us to spend the weekend camping up north.. but I think that would wear anyone out!). My only complaint would be that my hips hurt at night when I'm in bed. But it usually subsides in the morning after I get up. I've been stretching a lot and walking just about everyday, so that may be helping.

Here is what the baby looks like now. And yes, he does have hair! We saw it on his last ultrasound. Yay!

The most wonderful part about right now is how active this little boy is. I love feeling him move (although sometimes he's a little rough). Sometimes a little elbow or knee will poke out or a foot will move from one side of my belly to the other. It's so amazing to watch and feel. I'm so in love with him!

{dressed up for a date night: pizza and beer (for Ben, not me)}

I still cannot believe that there is a tiny little human being in me! With only 8ish weeks left, I'm so anxious to meet this little blessing. We've been preparing more and more for his arrival. I've taken most of my classes: breastfeeding, diapering, CPR/first aid. The only things left to do are go to our birthing refresher class (Monday), tour the hospital and meet with his pediatrician. We're planning to have all of that done next week. Then, we pack our hospital bag and... wait!

In the mean time we are working on the baby room (I'm not a big fan of "nursery" so we're calling it the "baby room"). Here are some preliminary pictures. Please excuse the ugly walls. We're planning to move only a couple months after he is born (which is also why we don't have a crib yet) so it's just not worth all the work right now. There is still a dresser to paint, pictures to find and hang, shelves to hang and a few other little projects to finish. But all in all, my vision is slowly coming to fruition!

My focus for the next several weeks really is preparing for labor. I have several relaxation exercises and breathing techniques to master, music playlists to create and positions to practice. If you are interested, we are going to use the Mongan Method of natural childbirth (also known as Hypnobirthing, which sounds a little too new-agey to me, which is why I don't call it that :)