Huntington Beach

We declared today a family day and headed out to Huntington Beach with our friends, the Miskins (Kory, Elizabeth, and Conner).
For the first time in a LONG time, my inner photographer emerged...and it felt SO GOOD.
As a result, I took LOTS of pictures and will be posting LOTS of them here. :) So, enjoy!

Huntington Beach:


We walked and walked down the beautiful beach...








...until we came to our (perfect) spot (and can I just say, Travis can sure pick 'em!):


We set down our things and set off to play!


Here we are playing with the Miskins:




Grace and Conner are pretty much BFF. ;) Too cute!


Elizabeth and Conner catching some waves:


Grace and Conner LOVED playing in the sand! (It was a good thing we both brought lots of sand toys!)
Conner:


The Grace girl:








(I love her sweet face!)


Grace thought it was so neat to run her hands through the sand (or "dirt" as she called it; probably because playing in the dirt isn't typically encouraged by mom):


She could have played in the sand all day :)


Travis and I...
In the usual self-portrait:


And the not-so-usual feet photo:


And Grace, with lots of smiles...






...and a few funny faces:




This is often how Grace comes to us when we call her. SO funny!


Speaking of Grace walking...doesn't this totally look like a big foot pose? Grace the Sasquatch!


We played, then had a nice picnic lunch, and played some more!

Grace & Travis (she just LOVES her time with dad):


Daddy-daughter footprints :)




:)




Playing in the sand together:


Grace & Me:


Holding hands :) (Melts my heart!)


After some long, hard test weeks, it was SO nice to have a family day together. (Thanks Miskins for joining us!) We loved our time at the beach and can't wait to go back again next summer!

Summer Fun

Poor Travis has had a super busy summer this year with boards (a BIG medical school test) in mid-July (and weeks beforehand to study for it), and more school tests at the beginning of this month to study for and take. So while he's been hitting the books hard, Grace and I have kept ourselves busy with playdates and library story times (it's a pretty rough life, huh? ;) But we have sure missed having Travis along on our adventures :( ).

Anyways, we are so blessed to be in a ward with lots of other great podiatry student and other young families, and Grace and I have enjoyed getting together lots with them this summer!
Our most regular adventures have been going to library story times on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, and play dates at the park with some other moms and kids from the ward on Thursdays.
On June 29th, our little park playgroup went to Preston's Hope Playground (in Beachwood).
We had gone here last summer too, but now that Grace is super mobile, she enjoyed running all around the playground by herself!
Taking a break from exploring to swing with mom:


She's really become a great climber lately, and climbed up the stairs...


...and onto the dinosaur all by herself!


The sandbox was a big hit with all the kids:


Grace having fun on one of the rockers with "friend Grace":


Big smiles!

We LOVE getting together to play every week with our friends!

We decided to buy a Zoo pass this summer, and it's been SO nice to have! We've been at least 5 times already (whether it be just Grace and I, as a family, or Grace and I with friends). We love the whole zoo, but our favorite exhibits are the bats, fish, wolves, birds, sea lions, turtles, and elephants. We're excited to use our pass in the fall and winter too!

Watching the birds in the Zoo Rainforest:


Last time we were there, the same pink birds from the above picture jumped down and walked around by us! We thought it was pretty cool!


The beautiful foliage outside the Rainforest:


On July 29th, we headed to the Memphis Kiddie Park for some fun with our friends Elizabeth and Conner.
Grace was super brave and went on the boat ride all by herself. I was SO proud!


She loved "driving" it and ringing the bell (and eating the string):


Grace opted out of the carousel ride, but Conner had a couple of great rides on it:


The big hit ride of the day (for Grace and me) was the train ride. I just loved snuggling my girl as we took a ride (or two ;) ) around the park, watching all the rides and people go by.


Grace and Conner both decided to be brave and try the car ride together.
Cuteness!


Riding away together. :)

Their feelings about the car ride were a little mixed, and a few tears were shed, but they finished it and Elizabeth and I were proud of them!
Thanks for sharing the morning with us Elizabeth and Conner! We had a great time with you!

On Monday (this week), our friends Courtney, Luke, and Leo invited us to join them at the Museum of Natural History. (Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my camera :(, but) Grace had a great time with Luke and Leo coloring, "digging," and playing with blocks, puzzles, and dinosaurs, and I enjoyed watching Grace learn and explore, and having girl talk with Courtney. :) Thanks again guys for bringing us along!

And this past Wednesday our good friends Misty and Grace invited us to play with them at one of our favorite places: The Great Lakes Science Center. We always love getting together with Misty and "friend Grace," and had a great morning playing and talking together there!

Grace checking herself out in the funny mirrors:


Grace LOVES playing in water, and had so much fun playing in the (new-to-us) outdoor portion of the kids area:


The Graces :)


Checking out the touch and feel wall:


Grace thought the ball-sucker toy was pretty neat...


...so neat in fact that she thought she'd stick her arm up in it to learn more about it :)


Ahhh...a kid-friendly computer. Grace loved it, and I loved being able to let her have free reign on a computer (for once)!


The Grace's experimenting with the headphones. The cuties!


We had SO much fun! Thanks again Misty & Grace for letting us join you!

It's been a great, busy summer. And it's really flown by; I can't believe it's almost over! So, here's hoping we'll have a nice, long fall, so we can enjoy more fun times with our friends (and now Travis too)!

25 Weeks

25 weeks...can I really be that far along?! It's so crazy to think that I'm over halfway with this pregnancy, and that in just 15 (short) weeks, our baby will be here.

25 week baby bump photo:


I don't know if this is the typical time to be nesting, but boy am I! I've been on a major baby-stuff kick lately, and have been madly checking things off the list of baby needs, from clothes, to Christmas presents, to bassinets (plus cleaning all the things that we already have). It feels so good to know that in terms of "gear," we're almost totally ready for our baby to come. Plus, buying things for our little girl to wear or play with makes me that much more excited for her arrival. :)

A friend of ours tipped me off to a GREAT sale on baby things, which really helped us fill out our little girl's wardrobe. Here are some of the finds:


Now I feel like I just need a refresher on basic baby protocol, like swaddling & feeding & napping. But I have 3 more months for that, right? ;)

I went in for another Dr. appointment this past Thursday, and got the news that our baby's heartbeat is still nice and strong and that I'm measuring (lbs and belly wise) almost spot on. :) (It's always SO reassuring to hear those things!) In terms of development (from What to Expect), our baby girl is 9 inches long and 1 1/2 lbs in weight this week! Her face is almost fully formed, she has facial and body hair, and her lungs and capillaries are further developing. Also, her kicks are getting stronger and more frequent, which has been fun since I can now see her move from the outside and Travis can now feel her too! All in all, she's looking and acting more and more like the little one we'll meet in 3 months (did I mention that we can't wait?!). :) Grace just loves to look at the "picture of baby sister" in the book and on our blog, and to talk about what baby sister will do when she comes ("cry all the time"). It's so fun to have her share in the excitement of baby with us!

Til next time dear readers...

Happy You & Me Day

For our 4 year anniversary, Travis and I decided to go on a harbor cruise around Lake Erie. And I'm so glad we did! The 3 1/2 hour cruise felt way too short--I never wanted it to end!

Our cruise ship, the Nautica Queen:


We boarded right in the heart of downtown, in an area called the "Flats" (because it's the lowest part of the city), surrounded by buildings from the 1800's.


Once the ship left the shore, we were fed a buffet dinner of various salads, fresh fruit, rolls, green beans, roasted potatoes, beef, and chicken.
Here we are waiting at our table before dinner begins:




We stuffed ourselves silly for dinner. And for dessert, we had NY cheesecake with raspberry sauce--YUM (still not sure how we squeezed it in)!


The morning and early afternoon of our anniversary had been rainy and gray, but thankfully God answered my silent prayers and blessed us with a beautiful evening. :)


It was wonderful to watch the sun set over the water (and very romantic ;) ):


After dinner, we headed out on deck to better take in the view.



It was warm and breezy--perfect.

A nice man saw us taking the above pictures and asked us if he could take some pictures for us (he basically said "Here, give me that camera and get over there!"):


The lovebirds:

Thanks again nice man!

Heading back toward the city, from the bow of the ship:


The skyline:


After being in the front of the ship for awhile, we decided to go up on top...


...where we got these pictures of the city as the sun set...






...and danced to a slow song just before the night was through.

We had a wonderful time talking, eating, laughing, sightseeing, cuddling, kissing, and dancing. It was the perfect setting to remind me of how in love I am with Travis and how much I love him too...and always will. Happy Anniversary, my love! I'm so glad I get to spend forever with you!

Baby Names & Preggo Pic

We finally narrowed down the list of baby names to our top 5 picks, and would love to hear what your favorites are. Just go to the poll on the top left side of our blog to vote! (Note: you can only vote once, but if you'd like to give a shout out for your #2 & 3 picks, you can leave a comment under this post).

And because we're on the topic of babies, here's a pic of my baby bump from Week 23:

21/22 Week Update

Since I saw the Dr. last Thursday, I wanted to give everyone another update on our baby. The Dr. said that our little girl's heartbeat is strong and that my tummy is measuring right on (21 cm for 21 weeks), so everything looks good! According to "What to Expect", our baby is 1 lb in weight and almost 8 inches long this week (week 22), and is developing all of her senses. She's also getting more coordinated. Example: I asked Grace this morning if we should sing baby a song and suggested we sing "If you're happy and you know it" (since that's her favorite one to sing for FHE). Well, when we got to "If you're happy and you know it, shout hooray," baby sister gave me a little punch in the stomach. It was a pretty funny coincidence. I love feeling our baby kick, and am so grateful I get to feel her every day.

And since my mom always wants to know how big my tummy is now:
Week 21:


Week 22:


And a picture from today of our sweet Grace to make you smile:

The Great Singing Grace

Grace has become quite the little singer lately, and since she usually won't perform for more than 2 seconds when we pull out the video camera, I was SO excited when I was able to capture her singing some of her favorite songs on video at lunch today.
So here she is in her blog musical debut singing...

"Popcorn Popping" (unfortunately my camera malfunctioned and I didn't catch the whole thing. I was SO bummed! I love her little signs with it though :) ):


"The Itsy Bitsy Spider":


The "ABC Song":


And "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star":


We love to hear her sing, and are so glad that she enjoys music as much as we do!