Maternity Photo Shoot

Justin and I did a fun little photo shoot with our talented photog friend Michael a couple weeks ago, and I will be doing a few more solo shots with Michael tomorrow (which means I have to figure out what to wear...again...ugh...). We've only gotten a few teaser shots so far, but I love them and can't wait to see the rest! I'll be sure to share the others when I get them.

Thanks Michael for doing such a fabulous job (and on a really, really, really windy day no less!).

Our fur-baby

It's really hard to be Mozart...never getting any love or attention...

Home Improvement Fun Summer 2011!!!

Last summer we had the home improvement fun of painting, new floors and the tile backsplash in the kitchen. This summer, we had the fun of improving and adding to our back patio and improving our front porch area--yay!
Once again, we used the awesome website Service Magic to locate some contractors, and we found a GREAT guy who actually usually does super awesome pools and spas, but takes smaller jobs too (good for us!). We more than doubled the size of our back patio (which is awesome, since the patio pad that came with the house was super small and not really usable at all!), had the existing patio overlayed, stamped and stained to match, and had the front porch overlayed, stamped and stained to match.
We are SO happy with the results, and I for one can't wait to find some snazzy patio furniture so that we can get out and enjoy it (well, as much as we'll be able to enjoy it in the constant 100+ degree weather we've been having here lately!). After that, my next project will be convincing Justin to buy himself a grill (I'm sure he will one day, it's just hard to convince him in the hot weather that we should grill!!).

Here are a few before and after pictures:

Our sad, little patio pad before

The awesome new patio! Yay! We plan to put a couple chairs or swing on the small part near the window, and a bigger table and chairs with an umbrella on the large part.

Front porch--looking GREAT!

Hailey & Abigail

Have I ever mentioned how much I just love my adorable nieces? Well, I do. They are so much fun to watch grow, learn and change. This weekend we were able to help Hailey & Abigail celebrate their THIRD birthday. How did those precious little premies turn into adorable little three-year-olds? Wow!

We went over for pizza and cupcakes early in the day and had fun hearing about their adventures at Sea World the day before. It was so cute to listen to all their little stories :)! We're so blessed to live so close to them, even though it still feels like we never see them enough. It will be such fun to have cousins close for baby H to play with and grow up with!

Here are a few pictures from the birthday fun:

Yummy Cupcakes! It's hard to tell from the picture, but Miss Hailey is a girl after my own heart...she ate off all the frosting and then was done (because frosting is the BEST part of course!)

Princess Hailey showing off her new jewelry and flower crown...I think I got her mid "cheese" :)

Princess Abigail loving her new headband crown, jewelry and wand...we got turned into many fun things with their new wands (Uncle Justin got turned into a princess!)

The Birthday Girls--Love you Hailey & Abigail!!

Preparing for Baby H!

I'm super duper excited tonight because I finally had the time to wash and iron everything to get baby H's crib, etc. set up (oh, and probably also because tomorrow is my LAST official day of work till mid-October, and then it will only be part-time--woohoo!).

My mom and sister are coming tomorrow for a quick visit, and Re really, really wanted to see the crib all cutified...so I'm really glad I got it done in time for her to see! I'm soooo happy with how it all looks and am amazed that we painted the room last year and managed to find such an awesome, neutral bedding set that goes perfectly in the nursery! Yay us :)! Here are some pictures...of course there's still lots to do before baby H arrives, but at least this part is done!

Totally loving our safari theme!

And...the parts that still need work :) Good thing I have some time in the next few weeks to get everything organized and put in its place!