Oh Hello.

I don't want to get too wordy on this post, so I'll highlight the last few weeks (or few months...has it been that long?) in bullet points, with a smattering of photos to break up the monotony of text:

life as a wife, mother, friend, designer:

• playing constantly with Clarke, who is now 11 months old and has no shortage of energy. God bless you mothers with more than one child.
• cleaning. Every day. It never ends.
• teaching Clarke sign language--his favorite sign is "more," no surprise there.
• planning two-week meal calendars and buying groceries every two weeks. Life. Changing.
• keeping up with a birthday calendar, for once--this year I designed and printed birthday postcards and when I see a family member's or friend's birthday coming up on the calendar, I write a short message and pop the postcard in the mail. Easy, simple, effective, personalized, and inexpensive.
• jogging. That's right, three times a week!
• dating my husband regularly.
• designing logos, labels, invitations, business cards, t-shirts, book covers, posters, certificates, you name it.
• serving at an ever-growing capacity in the primary, and learning more than I ever thought possible.
• weekly piano teaching, a new job I started last year. I have two wonderful, dedicated students!

life as a family:

• waiting until Franco gets home from school every day so we can all play and laugh together.
• traveling to and from Camarillo and/or Santa Barbara as much as we can swing it.
• looking forward to pizza Fridays.
• attending the LA temple as often as we can.
• taking walks around our beautiful neighborhood.
• going to Disneyland in the rain or shine. Literally.
•  spring-breaking at museums in L.A. (and seeing the space-shuttle Endeavor up close--magnificent!) Soaking up the sun in Camarillo and Santa Barbara.
• contemplating where Franco's fourth year of externships will take us...do we want to stay local or travel around the country (and world) every three months? Definitely calls for many pro-cons lists.
• encouraging Mosiah, Franco's youngest brother, who will serve a two-year mission to Montreal, Canada starting May 1st. (!!!)

 So that's what we've been up to lately. I totally neglected to take any pictures on Easter, mostly because we were having such a good time that I forgot to pull out the camera. But we had a great day, well, great week, actually, for Franco's Spring Break. That's what I love about working from home, I can vacation whenever I want!

Happy April!

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Christmas Advent Calendar: Day 7

Build a gingerbread house.
I don't care if we're grown adults and that we waited until Clarke was asleep to do this! It was fun! Harder than it seems (that icing did not keep the walls together), but fun.

Antiquing.

A couple of weekends ago Franco and I went antiquing. Pomona has a famous "Antique Row" which houses dozens of antique and collector's shops, varying from the totally kitchy to the absolutely charming. Though the only things we bought were a Darth Maul action figure for $3 and a few necklaces for a dollar each, I saw some potential buys for the future, including a cherry red children's wooden chair for $18. I hope it's still there next month! Some things were priced high, I thought (but what do I know about the worth of antiques??) but there were some pieces I would have totally brought home with me if I could fit them in our apartment.

I really wanted to buy this lovely vintage turquoise, red, and yellow umbrella, but it didn't have a price and I was too lazy to go downstairs (this store was three floors) and ask. Remember, I was 7 1/2 months pregnant walking all day in shoes too snug for my feet...I do regret not making the "trek", however. I hope it's still there when April showers begin...

I bookmarked some vintage toys for our boy, but I thought it a little too early to buy him trucks he won't use until he's a little older. There were shelves and shelves full of these beautiful, old trucks, horses, and other things to play with. I'm more partial to the sturdy wooden and metal "toys" of the past. Those garish plastic singing toys will have no place in our home. Well, maybe, if the sound can be turned off.

Paint The Picture Of The Perfect Place.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The L.A. County Fair is huge. Huge! And it's 15 minutes away at the Pomona fairgrounds. We got to go at the end of last summer and the tram ride itself to get from the parking lot to the front entrance took 10 minutes! There were two big sections with all types of rides, many exhibitions, a zoo (we saw kangaroos!) a place called the "Pirate's Cove" where I got dubbed "Stub Leg Kidd", tons of shops, games, and of course food. 

Incidentally, that was the day I finally owned up to the fact that I might be pregnant (even though we had known for weeks) and I took a test. Guess what the result was? ;) You guessed it, positive! So what better way to celebrate than to wander around eating junk food and watching my favorite band, OneRepublic, in concert? It was a perfect day. And OneRepublic was amazing.

Another Beginning.

Happy New Year!

January is here, believe it or not, and we're back in the regular routine of school, work, and normal life. We spent a wonderful Christmas with our families here in California, and then drove to Utah to spend the week after with my cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. It was the first trip to Utah where Franco and I were able to have a day just to ourselves to explore--it was awesome!

We had a late lunch in Salt Lake at Gourmandise, a French bakery & restaurant highly recommended by my cousins Ed and Rachel, followed by our first-ever visit inside the beautiful and huge Salt Lake temple. Wow! doesn't even begin to describe the detail in each room, not to mention the endless hallways, stairways, and rooms. We're grateful we could always ask a helpful temple worker which way to go or we very well could still be there trying to find a way out!

Despite the 12-hour-long drives to and from (which should have taken us only 8 hours...) it was a successful and relaxing trip. To our surprise, my family threw me a little baby shower luncheon and our baby boy received so many adorable clothes, blankets, and even some tiny mittens! I'm officially addicted to cute baby clothes. I may or may not have just spent the last few hours hunting for vintage rompers (rompers!) and cardigans on Etsy. It's a curse! But a curse I'm glad to have.

Franco and my mutual goals are simple this year: read the scriptures together daily, attend the temple at least once a month, and prepare our home and our hearts for the third little member of our family coming April 2012. Here's to a fantastical year!

The Last Little Bit Of Summer.

I have had no desire to blog these past couple of weeks. Funny, because I thought that working from home and having virtually nothing else to do during the day would give me ample time to do it. But when it's 107° outside and the pool is right there calling your name, you wouldn't have any desire to stay cooped up in front of a computer all day either.

I do spend a lot of time on the computer, but it's mostly to edit pictures I've taken with my sis-in-law's borrowed Canon 40D & lenses (she is so nice to let me borrow it until I find my own camera, I'm so picky!). If I won't make time to share individual posts with you about each outing, at least I'll share a few pictures.

The first pictures are from the weekly local farmer's market when I went last week with my friend Brianne and her son. Lincoln loved the splash pad and it made for some cute pictures!

My brothers & sister came out last week for a few days, one last shindig before school started. We went to Downtown Disney to eat some heavenly beignet's and then cooled down inside the Grand California Hotel's lobby. We spent the rest of their stay at the pool, at the shops, and watching Avatar: The Last Airbender on Netflix.

I've taken a couple of day trips to new places with new friends, too, like a really cool park in Irvine that has a mini train station. How cute is that?

Have a fun and sunny Labor Day weekend! I'm going to try to convince Franco that 87° really isn't that hot so we can finally go to Disneyland on Monday. Cross your fingers for me! (Though if it doesn't work out, I'm still holding out for October 10, Columbus Day.)

They're My Friends.

Who says you can't have fun in Ventura County on a Wednesday night? Rocket Fizz is open 'til 9, and the beach is always open! Well, it might not be the most happening place, but to have a blast wherever you are, it comes down to who you're with. And the craziness they so naturally possess.

Here's to family + friends: may we never be without them!

Yup, we're pretty lucky to have friends like these.