ABC tag

A. Attached or single? attached
B. Best Friend? Nathan
C. Cake or pie? cheesecake
D. Day of Choice? Sunday because I know we don't have to be anywhere but church and home
E. Essential Item ? carmex
F. Favorite Color? green
G. Gummy bears or worms? doesn't matter
H. Hometown? chandler
I. Ideal Vacation? one with beautiful weather, friends and/or family and no worries about how much it costs!!!
J. January or July? January
K. Kids? Julia, and soon baby Mason
L. Life isn't complete without? The plan of salvation
M. Marriage date? July 17, 2004
N. Number of brothers/sisters? 4-bros and 3-sisters
O. Oranges or apples? Oranges
P. Phobias? heights
Q. Quotes? I can't think of any, but I've been hearing a lot lately "God helps those who help themselves"
R. Reasons to smile? I have a healthy family
S. Season of choice? Fall or spring
T. Tag some people: Kara Barnes, Heather Peck, Cathrine Griffith and Jodi Stapley
U. Unknown fact about me? I can't think of anything. I've done enough of these tags that my unknown facts are no longer unknown :) Maybe people don't know that my dream job growing up was to be a marine biologist, and I was so serious about it that I wanted to change my name to Marina. I still think it would be a sweet job, and I love the ocean.
V. Vegetable? Asparagus
W. Worst habit? Gossiping (before you judge me, you know we all do it)
X. X-ray or Ultrasound? Ultrasound
Y. Your favorite food? pizza
Z. Zodiac Sign? Sagittarius

Baby Boy Shower!

Thursday, my friend, Taya, threw me a baby shower! It was so fun and she is so sweet for thinking if me :) I'm so grateful for all my friends that made the drive out from the east side!
and I'm so happy to have been able to see all of me friends from the west side!
I got some cute clothes, Kara made a super soft blanket, Taya gave me some of her awesome baby accessories from Jonesy baby, I got diapers and wipes, Cheyenne made a really cool cake, and I got some other good necessities (binkies, receiving blankets, cash :).
Nathan's mom. She's excited for the baby to come :)
I had to throw this picture in here, too. Julia got into my sister's lipstick, and even though she did get into trouble, I thought she did such a good job I had to snap a few photos ;)

Daddy's Visit

Nathan was able to sneak away for a week, and we were sooooo happy to see him! He was such a big help with Julia, and it was so nice to have my best friend back! I don't know how army wives do it for so long!!! We were able to spend the week visiting friends and family and just hanging out. It was great! I had to take him to the airport yesterday, though, and I am already so sad he is gone. Only four more weeks and he'll hopefully never have to leave again :)
His first day here we attempted to take family pictures along with some maternity photos. It didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. Julia, as most of you have heard before, does not do well with pictures. We were not able to get any good family shots, well, maybe a few with some good editing, but we did get some fun ones.


And here are a few shots of my big ol belly.


I've decided I could never be a model. It was so awkward having pictures taken of me by myself. Hopefully after the baby's born we can get Julia to sit still for a few pictures for Christmas cards.
So Nathan's in Virginia now and will be home sometime before Nov 2nd. I'm hoping he'll be home by Halloween for two reasons. One, I'd like him to be able to go trick or treating with us b/c he missed it last year (he was on rotation in New Mexico) and two, it would be awesome to have the baby on Halloween, so of course I would want him here for that :)

Our California Adventure

Julia, Nathan's mom (Laurie) and I took a trip last Wednesday to Los Angeles to hunt for apartments. What a nightmare. I'd never driven in LA before, only gone to Disneyland. The traffic and roads are crazy! And there's never anywhere to park. Luckly we were driving Laurie's car that had GPS, or we would probably still be lost in the middle of the city. We found a few apartments that I wouldn't mind living in. The problem is, we will most likely have to rent a one bedroom because of prices, and we have to try back again end of October b/c no one would hold an apartment for us until our move the end of November. The hospital he will be working at is in a very nice area near Beverly Hills, and that's why it was so hard for us. But we don't want to be too far away, b/c even just a twelve mile drive can turn into an hour or more drive in traffic. I was so drained after two days of searching. Luckly, my mother in law was so sweet to take Julia and I to Disneyland the last day of our trip. She even bought me a season pass so that we can go whenever we want once we move :)
The coolest part about Disneyland was that while we were waiting in line, I saw Mark and Gev from the show So You Think You Can Dance. I asked them if I could take a picture and they were so cool. I saw them later on and Courtney from the show was with them, along with another blonde girl I didn't recognize.

Julia was so excited to see Pluto. I can't belive how much more she was into the Disney characters than our trip eight months ago in February.

She has her pirate hat and beads from New Orleans square. Also, Laurie bought her this Cinerella baby that she was absolutely obsessed with. For journaling purposes I need to add that we watched the parade and Julia was just so excited about it and dancing the whole time. At the very end the princess float came and the princesses got out to dance. Julia was beside herself with amazement. Then once they passed, she grabbed my hand to follow behind them while crying, "Wait for me princesses, I'm coming!" But we were unable to keep up b/c of the crouds, and it just broke my heart that she was so serious about it all and very upset they weren't waiting for her. She was ok, though once we distracted her with some more rides :) Dumbo is her favorite still.

At the end of the night I wanted to get one picture of her with the Mickey pumpkin, and she would have nothing to do with it. She was happy until I got out the camera. Why is my daughter so anti pictures???

I'm glad we were able to have a little bit of vacation on our trip, and I really hope we are able to sign a lease with a safe, affordable apartment soon!
Also, good news, Nathan is here this week. Yeah! He was able to sneak a break before he's off to Virginia for another month. We love Daddy!