Sugar and Spice

It's another girl for this family!  

We're so excited for Haven to have a little sister!

Abby gets hitched!

Over the past couple years I've had the privilege to be a part of a few friends' big day by doing their wedding hair.  Although admittedly very nerve-wracking on my end, I always feel very honored to be a small part of the whole package.  Yesterday was no exception - after two practice sessions we finally had the perfect bridal hair nailed down.

This girl has a LOT of hair, so it was fun to work with and stayed put exactly how I wanted it.

She looked beautiful, but that wasn't because of me!  She's always beautiful. 

And anybody that in love has a certain glow. ;)

Here's my girl on her big day, lookin' gorgeous!

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Carbajal!  Have fun on your honeymoon!

Countdown to Monday

Baby Yellow.

Here I am, 19 weeks 5 days.

Yes, preggo ladies usually know EXACTLY how pregnant they are.  

Nothing more fun than to keep up with baby's growth via pregnancy books and websites!

Right now baby is as big as a mango.

And in only a few days, we get to find out whether Baby Yellow is team PINK or team BLUE.

As for now I'll just enjoy the little kicks that are barely able to be registered with my hand.

Wait and wonder.

Happy-ish Campers

I can't believe that I'm 15 weeks pregnant today!

According to my pregnancy websites, baby is as big as a softball at this point.  Time is really flying.  I am closing in on the halfway point of my pregnancy!  I am happy to say that I am over my morning sickness. (Knock on wood!)  I feel pretty good.  

We even went camping!  

We stayed at the Ledges State Park.

Our campsite.

 Helping Daddy gather dry leaves for the fire.

 Campsite with our tent in the background.

Haven LOVED that she got to ride her trike for hours on end.  I usually get sick of sitting outside while she rides WAY before she's ready, so it really felt like a special treat to her.


And during the night, while Haven slept soundly I might add, we had an intruder to the campsite!  A big, fat raccoon opened our cooler and ate 4 of 6 of ours eggs!  Luke almost stabbed him with his knife.  I kind of wish he would have as the stupid critter wouldn't leave us alone THE WHOLE NIGHT!  He sat outside of our tent and gnawed on an empty water bottle for endless amounts of time, no matter how many times Luke got up to scare him away.  We're pretty sure he just lives at that campsite, eats campers food when they sleep, and stays fat, lazy, and happy.

LOVE!

This interview gives me so much joy I can't stand it.

But mostly her dancing makes me laugh hysterically.

It's True!

I'm gonna be a mommy!....

again!

I'm due April 3rd, 2011.

Lukey's birthday!

The Wilderness Downtown

You guys have GOT to try this out!! 

The Wilderness Downtown


Ehem...click the link ^^^^ up there!!

Two

My little girl turned 2!

On August 20th, 2008, my life was blessed immeasurably.  

I did not know what I was getting into.  I did not know how challenging or rewarding it would be.  I only knew I loved her instantly.  

INSTANTLY she was the most important thing in my life.  My life was devoted.

My life changed forever.  Thank you, Jesus.

Oh yeah, did I mention she got a bird for her birthday?

She named him Kota.

And oh yeah, she got another bird a week later (to keep bird #1 company) and named him Twinkle.

Goodbye Summer

I'm having mixed emotions.  

There's not much sadder than the summer ending: it's the end of great weather, friends go back to school, and pools start to close.  

On the other hand, I'm excited for cooler weather after an extremely hot couple of weeks, and football season just sounds enticing!  I love that atmosphere.  Friends get together with a bunch of great snacks and the boys hoot and holler over things I normally don't understand.  Or maybe I do understand but I wasn't paying attention. ;)

Either way, there's good and bad about the changing seasons.  Things I will miss and things I look forward to.  I will miss my sister and other college age friends, but I know she's excited to get back to school.  

And hey, at least my fall TV line-up will get goin' again!  Yay Grey's Anatomy!

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

Disclaimer:  This is going to be a long one.  I took lots of pictures!  

Or as Haven calls them, "pitch-kers."

Last night we arrived home LATE from our road trip to Florida.

It was a fun trip with lots of time for family bonding, especially since we drove for a total of 4 days (there and back).  There is so much to tell about everything we did that I am going to break it up into a few different posts.  


I don't think anybody except true, die-hard, dress-up to see the movie, stand-in-line-to-get-the-new-book Harry Potter fans will understand the unbelievable time my sister and I had at "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter."  The second I heard it was being built I knew we had to plan a trip down South.  I can tell you right now that the whole drive down there and back was well worth it just to go to that park.  If we had done nothing else I would have been completely satisfied with our trip.  


My mom and grandma were nice enough to stay at the hotel and watch Haven while my sister, Chelsea and I went to Universal.  It was so nice that we didn't have to push a stroller or worry about Haven needing a nap while we were there.  We were just able to completely enjoy and soak in the attractions.  


I have to set the scene for you.  It was HOT.  As a matter of fact, I really don't recommend a vacation to Florida at the end of July/beginning of August.  We dressed completely for comfort - tank tops, sport bras, shorts, flip-flops, ponytails, sunglasses, and if it would have been acceptable to wear less we would have.  I don't think I have ever sweat as much as I did on this trip.  Our clothes were totally drenched with sweat and our bodies felt slippery from the sunscreen we had applied earlier.  


When we got inside Universal, it was quite a walk to the Harry Potter park.  We walked and walked and when we finally got there a huge line was awaiting us.  I mean HUGE, and this was just to walk in to the park!!  It probably stretched a half a mile, (maybe more) outside of the entrance.  We thought we would be waiting to get in for hours, but lucky for us once the line started moving we were inside within 10 minutes.  I think they must have been waiting to let the crowds in, and then just let us all in at once.  


When we finally got to the entrance I had mixed emotions.  I didn't know whether to laugh or cry.  I said before that you would have to be a true H.Po fan to appreciate this post, but I am pretty sure ANYBODY could appreciate the details and intricacies of this place.  It was beautiful.  This was my reaction when we arrived....

And here's one of me and Chels that a friendly passer-by took for us with my iPhone.  

The Hogwarts Express is sitting just inside the entrance.

A view of Hogsmeade without my head in the way.

Zonko's!

Inside Zonko's

Honeyduke's

Inside Honeyduke's

The Three Broomsticks

Inside The Three Broomsticks

Hog's Head

Hog's Head over the barrels of butterbeer

Trying butterbeer for the first time (tastes JUST like cream soda, mmmm!)

Chelsea's first sip

Our meal at the Three Broomsticks.  Very authentic and very delish.

Chels diggin in to her turkey leg.

Owls

Talking and moving pictures inside Hogwarts

Dumbledore's Office

With the conductor of the Hogwarts Express.

Phew!  That's a lot of pictures.  If you want to see the rest of them you can look at the album on facebook that I will put up in the next few days.  


This may seem stupid to some of you, but seriously this was one of the coolest days of my life.  It was soooo much fun and I feel privileged to have been able to go.  


If you're a Harry Potter fan, simply put, YOU MUST GO!

Wants

I am in Florida for a week long excursion and I have about a million things to blog about.  However, I won't really have time until I get back.  So for now I thought I'd show you a couple of bags I am dying for that I found here in Florida.  

First, I really want this little diddy.  It's a small, cross-body purse with lots of pockets and much smaller than my current purse.  Probably a date night bag.  I am in love.  

Price: $108

Secondly, this cute little keyhole bag.  Bigger than the first bag but still modest sized.  It is really cute and really casual.  I am in love with those skeleton keyholes though.  Something so cute and vintage about them.  

Price:  $168

I might go with purse #1 just for economic reasons.  Plus, I like it a lot.  

Any thoughts?

Bragging Rights

Sometimes a mama's just gotta brag.  

I've never been more proud of my little girl.  She's weaned.  She sleeps in her own bed.  She is an incredible eater.  She uses manners.  We took her to see Toy Story 3 and she sat perfectly through the whole thing, even while other little kids were running around.  She is very artistic - she will sit and color for a half an hour at a time.  She loves to sing (and sometimes she's even on pitch!).  And her hair is finally long enough for a ponytail!

Now I'm not saying she's perfect.  She has some serious issues with selfishness and yelling, "Mine!"  And we're no where near being potty-trained.  But all in all, I am so proud of her and very happy with her abilities at this age.  

At her first movie.

Sliding.

Enjoying some watermelon.

Oh, and she's beautiful!

House Hunt Adventure

One night last week with nothing to do, my sister Chelsea, our friend Elizabeth and I started looking at houses for sale online.  We weren't looking for any other reason than just for something to entertain us.  We looked at houses that were equal in price to mine, and also the most expensive houses on the website.  We found quite a few GIANT houses and some really cute small houses.  

The next morning, Chelsea had to leave to attend Nordic Fest, which left Elizabeth and I with nothing to do.  In very little time we had decided to go on a House Hunting Adventure.  (It's capitalized because it was epic!)  We wrote down the addresses to our top five favorite houses, looked them up on a map so we could visit them according to distance away from my house and what side of town they were on, and off we went!  

The first house we went to was out of sheer curiosity.  It was in a really sketchy neighborhood and was actually in the historic register for Des Moines.  Built in 1886, it was a classic Victorian that I may have thought about purchasing if it weren't for the possible drive-by shootings and also for it's resemblance to the Addams Family residence.

Now this is definitely a situation where you can't judge a book by it's cover.  The interior is absolutely beautiful.  All of the bedrooms are HUGE and remind me of something you'd see in a movie.  (You know how all teenagers in movies have rooms the size of my master suite?  Ok, probably bigger.)  

                                      

Seriously, I would've killed for a room like that growing up!  And check out this bathroom...

   

 

Sigh....  It's beautiful.

And the details just get me...  Why can't they build houses like this anymore?  Simply beautiful.

Oh, and the price, you ask?  $150,000!  It's a steal.

Family Reunion, Then and Now

Dear Followers, (Yes, all 11 of you!), I am so sorry for how long it has been since my last post.  Vacations (& summer in general) really take a toll on my blogging.  However, they make for some good posts.  Enjoy!   Sincerely, CK

It is amazing to me what can happen in 6 years.  That's how long it has been since our last family reunion.  My family owns an amazing cabin in amazing Custer, South Dakota.  It is nestled nicely in the Black Hills, between a couple of beautiful lakes, and only 20 minutes from Mount Rushmore.  The perfect setting for our huge family.

This is a picture from our Family Reunion in 2004. 

Two family members in this picture have passed away since our last family reunion.  My cousin Al Berry, (far right with the jacket with stripes down the arm), who was an amazing actor (He was actually in the beginning of the movie Halloween 3),  and just a treasured family member that we loved.  And of course, my sweet sweet Papa, (center of the picture, sitting down in a light blue shirt), who we miss so much each and everyday.  

We have had our share of sad things happen since this picture was taken, but also our share of great things.  Since this shot was snapped, we have added at least 9 new family members, who either married in or were born into the family.  

This is a picture from our Family Reunion 2010.

Please note Haven throwing a huge fit in my arms....

The reunion was an absolute blast.  It's always so much fun when our family from Seattle comes out to see us.  (I've already made a point to take a trip to see them this fall.  And while I'm there I may or may not take a trip out to Forks, WA!!)  It was really nice to be able to get to know the new family members and actually spend more than a few hours with them.  We all just bummed around the cabin, had a campfire and played Catch Phrase, ate a LOT, went hiking, and went to the lake.  

There were actually so many of us that our cabin couldn't accommodate everybody.  Some of the family had to rent cabins across the street just so everybody would have a place to sleep.  At one point there were 40 family members at the reunion.  My Aunt Pat is a savior and would get up early most mornings and cook a breakfast for the whole gang!  And not just cereal either.  I'm talkin' eggs, bacon, pancakes, toast - the whole shebang!

It was the best time.  I wish we could do it every year, or at least every other, or at least every 3!  :)  (Hey, I gotta be realistic.)

Here's a quick photo recap of the trip...

My Aunt and Grandma working in the kitchen.

Three little cousins, Haven, Asha, and Josiah.

The cabin.

The aforementioned campfire Catch Phrase night.

Cousin Kyle while the boys were ballin' it up.

Three beautiful West Coast cousins, Emily, Savannah, and Haley.

A bunch of us hiking Sunday Gulch.

Haven in the hiking backpack with Daddy, Chelsea, and Elizabeth.

Big group of us out for some outstanding prime rib!

My immediate family - descendants of my Grammy Beverly. :)