Lucky I'm in love with my best friend...

A few weeks ago Philip and I celebrated our 4th anniversary!  I can't believe it's been four years already.  Over the last few years we have made it through 11 months of deployment, countless ship underways, a cross-country move, and a cross-California move, three jobs for me, three ships for Phil, a year of grad school, raising a dog, and seven months of pregnancy!  Although we haven't always been together (in fact we've spent nearly half of it apart) it's been a pretty amazing four years, and I'm looking forward to the next forty-four!! 

Autumn visitors

So, we're all still alive and doing well.  This fall has just been flying by!!  I can't believe Thanksgiving is this week.  Although it's been kind of a blur, we had a wonderful visit with my grandparents in October.  We showed six seniors around Monterey, and they kicked my behind!  In just three days we were able to cover the Aquarium, 17-Mile Drive, Carmel, Pt. Lobos, Monterey, NPS, several amazing restaurants, and more. It was a wonderful visit and it was exciting to show them around beautiful Northern CA!

Bump and Deb, my amazing grandparents.

 I was able to get some pretty neat photos at the Aquarium.

 Pt. Lobos was beautiful, as always.

 The deer let us get so close!  I took lots and lots of photos. :)

A hiking we will go...

This past weekend we ventured off the peninsula, and headed to Big Sur.  It was a beautiful weekend so we thought we would take advantage of the weather and do some hiking.  We had a wonderful day and enjoyed getting out and doing something together!

I've never been very far on Hwy 1, but it was a beautiful, and crazy ride!  The highway runs right along the edge of the coast and gives you some breathtaking views of the ocean.

Crazy, winding roads on our drive.  I may have gotten a little carsick on the way there, but went ahead and napped on the way home! 

 Redwoods!  First time I've actually seen some big ones, and these weren't event the biggest!

One of the trails we hiked lead to the Limekilns.  We were trying to figure out what they were as we were hiking there.  Turns out they're literally kilns for lime smelting.  Who knew? 

 The next trail we took led up to a waterfall.  Very pretty!

Charlie and I posed by the falls. :)

 Beautiful woods at the end of our hike.

Baby bump (and kicks, and thumps)

We had our twenty week ultrasound Friday.  Guess what?

We're having a boy!  A kicking, moving, active little guy. :)  He was bouncing all around during the ultrasound, and he reminds me all the time that he's still there with some well placed kicks.  Our little man measure right at 20 weeks, and they estimated that he weighs about 11oz.  Check out the bump: 

Getting my craft on

So, I feel like I've lost my creative mojo lately.  I've gotten behind in my knitting, my sewing machine is broken, and I'm afraid if I bake I'll sit and eat the entire cake by myself.  However, one of my coworkers had a birthday this week and it inspired me to get crafty again.  I saw this link on Pinterest showing you how to make a cupcake bouquet and decided to give it a try.  I found a great recipe on Allrecipes for lemon cupcakes that I topped with strawberry frosting (super yum!!) and set to work putting together my little bouquet.  

Just needed a few pieces to make the bouquet.  A cute pot (or cute things like ribbons and sparkly butterflies to decorate your pot!) a styrofoam ball and some tissue paper.

Also, some delicious mini-cupcakes.

The ball goes in the pot, and the cupcakes go onto toothpicks spaced out along the top of the ball.  Frosting gets piped onto the cupcakes, and tissue paper strips tucked in between the "roses" to fill it all.  

Ta-da!!  My bouquet. Super cute.  

Shout out

I have a pretty awesome husband!!  Although I'm feeling better now that I've moved into the 2nd trimester, the last couple months have been a lot different than normal and I haven't been super on top of things.  I might spend a little bit of time (ok, maybe my whole lunch break!) reading the posts, ramblings, and drama of pregnancy boards and a major complaint of mamas-to-be is that their husbands don't do anything to help.  Phil has been the exact opposite. :)  Since we found out we were expecting he's gone from "I can make hot-dogs" to "Our first course tonight will be Italian soup..."  He's turned into a great cook, and has quite the repertoire of delicious recipes.  He also comes home between classes to clean the house and do the dishes, fold the laundry, and walk the dog!!  Last Saturday, after his gym class, he came home and had cinnamon rolls hot and ready for me when I woke up.  I love my husband!

Here comes the sun... maybe??

I like living in Northern CA.  I also like living on the water.  Eating breakfast and looking out at the ocean is pretty neat.  There are some downsides to this little bay though.  One being the complete lack of summer.  I saw this article today.  One of the top-three hottest summers in the last 60+ years??  Not here!  The only time I've worn shorts, tank tops, or my swimsuit this summer was when I vacationed on the East Coast.  There seems to be an eternal cloud that sits over my house, no lie.  Here's a few shots of my bright and sunny morning drive:

This thing, called love...

...it cries, in the cradle all night...

This is our baby!  Our little baby jumps around already, waves its arms, kicks its legs, and sucks its fingers. Baby makes me nausea and tired, and doesn't let me zip up my jean anymore.  He/she has turned me into the laziest housekeeper, and my husband into an amazing cook in just a few short weeks.  I can't wait to see all the other changes our little lovebug will bring about in the next 6 months, and long after that! 

Two bare-feet on the dashboard...

So, we're still alive and well.  It's been a crazy last couple months with school, work, and.... vacation!! We actually got to take some time out of our busy schedules and have a week off.  My family was planning a vacation to Cape Cod (the happiest place ever) and we decided to fly out and surprise them.  Best idea ever!!  Being on the porch of the rental house when they arrived was amazing and spending the week with everyone was a blast.  We hadn't all been together (with Phil included) since we our wedding three and a half years ago.  Here's some pictures to give you a glimpse into our wonderful week:

The family!

Sunset on the beach... 

 Also surprised my friend Abbey and got to see her cute little guy William!

 My adorable grandparents

  

 Turned Lydia into a mermaid

 Boogie boarding. Lydia was completely fearless and spent more time in the water than anyone else!

 All the girls

 Bump with his pretty girls!

 My latest knitting project and super cute little brother

Gracie, so pretty!

 It finally got warm enough that even the girls dared to get in the water.  I really am riding a wave!

"Our" lighthouse, Nauset Light

 Some epic games on the beach!

 Ice-cream and donuts are a very important part of the Cape!