Indulging in my cravings (Mexican hot chocolate, nutella on banana bread, blackberries, cheese, and chocolate covered strawberries…YUM), pampering myself with green and glitter nails, showing off the lovely leaf clip that was gifted to me from one of my oldest blogging friends, Kaley! She runs the etsy shop Honey Pie Headbands where she makes gorgeous flower crowns, hair clips, and so on. Pretty much, if you want something cute to put in your hair, go to her shop!!! She is such an incredibly sweet and talented lady and when I recieved my leaf clip in the mail, I was too excited to not share it with the rest of the world. It’s pretty much been on my head non-stop since. And since she’s a dear friend of mine and an all around wonderful lady, check out her personal blog. cold hands + warm heart. Definitely one of my favorites.

My sweet Layla girl standing on the couch weird, And lastly, a peek at the 21 week belly. Also, me in my first maternity dress/tunic/thing? I feel like the photo is a bit decieving and makes the belly look rather larger than usual! But that dress does hug me well and brings out the essence of the bump, so I’m not complaining. I feel great!

Jimmy should be coming home VERY soon so I will be in early nesting/cleaning mode starting tomorrow. I feel like a tough lady for being alone this whole month while he’s been out of the country, (although I know it’s nothing compared to a deployment) But I have been missing him like crazy and couldn’t be more excited to have him back home with me, baby boy, and Layla

Will you look out your window to find a Moose happily eating off your neighbors tree. No big deal. We’ve been here about two months now and never tire of seeing Moose outside our backyard gate, on the side of the road, and walking around the commissary parking lot. I’m sure I can think of more places, too. My record so far has been 4 Moose sightings in one day.

For the first month after we arrived, we would see only cows and occasionally their little ones. You gotta watch out for those ones though, they are protective of their little Mooselings. For the past two weeks, however, there have been more manly bulls roaming around with their growing antlers. While it’s quite obvious that you shouldn’t walk up to one and try to be it’s bff, they’re actually peaceful animals and don’t seem to get phased by 10+ cars pulled over on the street to take their picture. They pretty much mind their own business. And on days like today when I have somewhat of the Weather Blues and I look out my window to find a little fella grazing on the grass, it always makes me smile.

And yes, I just dedicated a blog post to Moose. Is it obvious that I’m in a bit of a writer’s block?

Ok, well maybe I’m a little ashamed. This was me a few days ago. For the majority of the day. Don’t act like you’ve never stayed in your pj’s all day! Right now I’m in sort of a “quiet before the storm” phase. I have all the free time in the world, but that will change in less than two weeks when Jimmy comes home and we pack up all our stuff to move! It’s crazy to think that in exactly a month we’ll be getting settled in to our new home in Alaska. Anyway, these days it’s really easy for me to get comfortable and relax, which I love, but I also need to discipline myself.

On this day, I was not disciplined. Let me go ahead and show you the lovely view I had from my bed…

All of that right there is freshly washed pillowcases, sheets, and clothes. Hey, at least they were clean. But all day as I Facebooked, read your blogs, and emailed, I heard the voice of my sweet husband in my head saying, “Baby, what about the clothes on the chair?” Yup, I’m notorious for it. After getting married, doing laundry and folding clothes quickly became something I loathed doing. So I procrastinate and leave it on the trusty chair in our room until I’m poked and prodded by my man.

I’m just being real with you guys! As much as I love going on adventures, being outdoors, and just spending time with my favorite people..there is nothing quite like staying comfortable in my Christmas pj’s from two years ago and cuddling up with some coffee. I am a bona fide homebody.

A new camera! A Nikon D90, to be exact. He got the package with a camera case, SD card, and a 70-300 mm lens. Holy canoli, the thing is MASSIVE. I was super surprised and not expecting it at all. I have had my D50 for about 6 years now and while it captured some great memories, truth be told, it was definitely time for a new one. The flash on it was broken, my kit lens was half-broken, ect. I will own up to my mistakes and say that I didn’t take as good care of it as I should have but hey, lesson learned. I am definitely going to be more careful and considerate of this one! Not gonna lie, it was a pretty big purchase. However, it’s going to last us for so long and is perfect to document our move and our new life in AK, for our little family of two that will one day expand. I am thrilled and excited to learn about this camera and how to use it. So here are the pictures I’ve taken with it so far. Most of them consist of my beautiful niece Josselyn because she’s the most photogenic human being I know and also because she is way too much fun to play with.

And some fun with myself (There’s no way to say that without sounding naughty)

When the weather permits, I’m gonna try to take this baby outside and play with it more. Happy Sunday, everyone!

Uncle Jimmy babysitting Joss and teaching her how to play guitar.

We were on a budget with buying decorations so we had to get creative, but getting creative also happens to be the funnest way to decorate!

Capturing some sweet moments with my camera…

I LOVE this picture!

And lastly, a picture of Jimmy and I at Chuck E. Cheese!

Happy Sunday!

Other than resizing these pictures, I didn’t touch the coloring or edit them in any way. I’m so surprised and amazed at how much more vibrant and crisp my photos are coming out. Needless to say I am DEFINITELY happy about my new birthday present. Also, I had been having problems with my kit lens for a long time now, so my handyman of a hubby took the time to try and fix it. He took it completely apart, soldered some parts, put it back together and it was as good as new! Jimmy impresses me every day with how smart he is

Then later on yesterday we went on a double date with Jimmy’s good friend Jake and his fiance Britney.

^ Jimmy got his indiana hat at Disneyland on friday and hasn’t stopped wearing it since!

So to go further into detail on my birthday festivities…on Friday, just Jimmy and I went on a date to Disneyland and it was great, as usual. We bought our hats (his Indiana hat, I got a Davy Crockett hat) walked around and did our usual things we do whenever we go to the park. Afterwards we came home and snuggled to a movie. That man makes me feel so special and loved and not just on my birthday.

Saturday, I went out to dinner with Jimmy, his sis Jhen, her hubby Jon, their precious Joss, and Jimmy’s mom. We went to T.G.I Friday’s and ate, ate, and ate. Jimmy ate two meals!

Sunday, I went to a beautiful Arboretum with my best friend Taryne and we spent the whole day there walking around and taking pictures. Later on that night, my other two besties Ashley and Krystal met up with us and we had dinner and drinks at Downtown Disney. We ate at a restaurant that was a wee bit too expensive for my liking, but I had fun nonetheless. We walked around and went in all the stores and had some girl talk and catch up time. I love my girls!

aaand on Tuesday, it was back to Disneyland but this time with some co-workers. We were there ALLLL day and man I was tired. But, it was worth it. Jimmy decided to stay home so I was a little bummed, but it was still a great day. I’ve hung out with work friends before, but it’s always nice to see them more often since I’ve met so many amazing people through my job!

Needless to say, I’m pretty wiped. It was an amazing week and now I’m just relaxing and enjoying my day off before it’s back to work tomorrow. I took literally hundreds of pictures this weekend, so many that I’m just going to have to make a separate post for each day!

I’ll end this entry with me and my minnie shaped candy apple that I got this weekend. I’ve been wanting one for a while now so I finally treated myself. I haven’t even eaten it yet, It’s so cute that I just want to keep looking at it

Jen

for this date we went and grabbed dinner at Red Brick Pizza and it was so….just, yum. we started off sharing a greek salad, pepperoni pizza, and mint chip gelato for dessert. also, we had a cool little tv next to us so we ate while laughing at an episode of “world’s dumbest inventions”. my, i have been getting way too spoiled with all these special dates! but i am definitely grateful and cherishing these moments with jimmy before he leaves in november

do you ever have so much of one food that sooner or later even the smell of it grosses you out? i used to feel that way about pizza. see, around two years ago i used to help out as a youth leader for jr. high and high school kids at my church and we would have events almost every weekend and at most of the events the food that we ate was pizza. haha, i got so sick of it after a while that i would just eat before the event so i didn’t feel hungry enough to eat pizza. it’s been a while though and i’m glad that my aversion to pizza faded. in fact, just looking at these pictures is making me crave a slice!

the look on jimmy’s face is due to him watching a kid fall on his skateboard and hurting his nether regions.

well thats it for now, my next post might be postponed until the weekend is over because my birthday is in 4 days. the big 24. i might get a little emotional about it, we’ll see. no set plans as of yet, but i know whatever we do, i’ll be bringing my camera along to capture some fun! have a great weekend

Jen

Lemon poppyseed muffin with vanilla chai….

and a very grumpy Jimmy.

The muffin may have been questionable as well. As soon as I finished it, Jimmy walked into our room and our conversation went something like this…
Jimmy: “You didn’t eat one of the lemon poppyseed muffins, did you?”
Me: “…Why?”
Jimmy: “…They have some mold on them.”
Me: (still chewing the last of it) “….Oh.”

Umm, whoops.
However, it tasted fine, and 6 hours later I feel fine….hmmm.

Jimmy and I at a family friend’s place

Enjoyed a pool party with family and friends. And also, my sis-in-love Jax and her bf BJ came for a visit from Australia for a total of 6 days. Spending time with them was so lovely and parting was emotional since we don’t know when we’ll see them again, but all in all, such a blast.

dinner party with a bunch of families and friends

amazingly yummy desserts,

So now that Summer is slowing down and coming to an end, my hours at work are picking up. The end of summer will probably bring lots of changes for Jimmy and I. We are still patiently waiting, and at times even feeling a little antsy, but trying to make the most of it and cherishing our time, with each other and with family. We’ve been going on dates and hanging out with our friends often and it’s been so much fun! Jimmy’s 21st birthday is coming up in about a week and we will probably go out to dinner and order his first glass of wine

I just finished answering questions for another blog interview so I will be posting about that later. Blog interviews are way too much fun! Take care friends

x

These nail polishes were $1 each at the farmer’s market in Redlands. A good deal, if I do say so myself. I got them last Thursday and I’m so excited about them. So excited, in fact, that I actually had a dream someone was trying to steal my new nail polish collection from me. This is no lie. All in all I have a total of about 10 nail polish colors. But I want more, of course! It’s an addiction. It’s more of a new addiction for me, my sisters got me into it. I’m a huge fan of OPI nail polish and have 4 of my own (two of them donated to me from Jax. Thanks Jax!) but I’m not so much a fan of the price. But at least I know where to go when I want super affordable (and good quality from what I can tell so far) nail polishes!

I’ve done a test run on all the colors but I still currently have the baby blue on. No chipping so far! that baby blue, the lavender and the teal color all go on really nicely and don’t need a second or third coat. The peach however, goes on a little sheer and will probably need more coats.

Anyway things have been pretty good! Jacky and BJ came for a visit for a few days and we enjoyed having them around again. They’ll be back in August for two days and then flying back to Australia. Bj’s parents also came and visited and we all had a wonderful dinner party. It was really nice to meet his family! I’ve heard so many good things about them and they are all definitely true. I took lots of pictures from this past week with them here so I’ll be posting them by the end of the week.

Jimmy and I are still patiently waiting for a phone call from his recruiter for a date to leave for basic training. We were told to anticipate him leaving in August so it could be any time now. So anxious to hear back! He’s officially sworn in though, so it’s only a matter of when now, which is such a relief. Jimmy has been wanting this for so long and I’m so proud of him! I’ll be posting updates on that as we hear more.

I just finished answering questions for my first blog interview! I really enjoyed it and although the questions are answered and ready, I won’t post it until it’s posted on her blog so keep an eye out for that!

I will leave you all with my new favorite and most recent picture of Jimmy and I. We took my best friend Taryne to Disneyland for her birthday!

Until next time!