welcome to the world, kalina!

Our friends Matt and Mary had their sweet baby girl yesterday afternoon, and we went to visit them this morning. Benjamin was very interested in why Kalina's hand was hidden in her sleeve...
I don't remember Benjamin being so small! :)

things i'll miss about nc: 1. maple view farm ice cream

Tim wanted to do a long run ending at a YUMMY dairy farm/store where they sell the BEST ice cream and you can sit on the front porch in rocking chairs enjoying it. That's what we did yesterday morning [well, Benjamin and I ran errands and played at Barnes & Noble until it was time to meet Tim - I found incredible deals on some clothes at Old Navy!].

the farewells are beginning...

We're leaving in just over three weeks and have started saying goodbye to our NC friends (who have become our family!)

Benjamin and I had ice cream with Sam and Jen last week before they left for their new home in Nebraska!  Have a safe drive!!

Last night, our church threw us and another family a farewell party, complete with yummy cake, lots of fabulous food, and funny/sweet stories about us.  We love you all and will miss you so much!  Come visit us in California anytime!
Sally & Krista:

Nadine:

Krista, Ericka, Mary:
Todd & Laura with Nadine:
Matt, Andrew, and Tim:  (these are two kids from the youth group we used to lead...they're great kids!)
Alisa, Krista, Debbie:
Seth & Benjamin:

our new place!

We're approved! We have a townhome in Westlake Village, leased for the year beginning July 21! There is a pool in the community, lots of grass for my sons to run around in, includes appliances (even washer/dryer!), one free month of rent, free cable, and best of all [because of said free month of rent and free cable] it's just what we wanted to spend! Now we can relax a bit, someone from the moving company is coming over on Tuesday to see how much "stuff" we have to move, and I can measure some furniture and figure out where we're putting aforementioned stuff. :) We're really excited! I'll be emailing you all our new address soon. Here's the floor plan (left is downstairs, right is upstairs):

some of my belly (27 weeks) + updated to-do list

hmmm, my husband's going to take over my photography business any day! :) Here are a few photos of my belly that he took yesterday. I thought I should do it before it got so hot here that I wouldn't be able to get my rings on any longer...

And our newly updated to-do list!
Updates are in brown italics!

• sell/rent our house (I wish I could control that one...) - we at least have a plan to rent it to someone in Tim's current office if it doesn't sell by the end of June, though of course we would rather sell it!
  
• find a place in CA to rent.We'll be in Westlake Village! Watch your email for new contact info - our phone numbers will remain the same for a bit though. Krista's email address will be the same as well.
  
• determine exact moving dates.Yes, we have figured this out! Tim + my dad + my brother are driving both our cars across 40 leaving on July 17 or 18! (Probably 17th). My mom is coming out here to fly back with Benjamin and I, and we're leaving on the 16th!
  
• get medical records for Benjamin and I. I'll get mine at my last appointment, and I still have to call for Benjamin's.
  
• buy plane tickets. Again, this depends on my last doctor's appointment, and Pepperdine has to do Benjamin's and my tickets. We should decide this one soon! *We bought my mom's tickets last night, so the three of us are leaving NC on JULY 16th!!!
  
• pack all our stuff. and give away/sell stuff we don't want to move. or haven't seen in the 2 years we've lived in this house. :) I'm working on it. Anyone want to buy a cordless phone and answering machine? Or need some books? We even managed to pack some things from the kitchen last week (vases, pitchers, etc). It doesn't seem that we have tons more to box up.
  
• go to 2 more OB appointments here. I had my glucose tolerance test on Friday, and heard today that I didn't pass, so I have to take the three-hour test next week. Hope for the best! My next appointment is only a week and a half away!
  
• choose insurance and make a doctor's appointment in CA (recommendations, anyone?). We've pretty much decided to go with the Kaiser insurance, based on how amazing their benefits are and how helpful they've been to me when I've called with questions. This also kind of takes care of the doctor choice, since I'll be going to the practice closest to us and I'm pretty confident that I'll like at least one doc there. Plus which, when the time comes to have this baby I'm pretty sure I won't care who the person is getting him out!
  
• be sad about leaving all our dear NC friends behind (I probably won't be able to cross that off. You'd all better keep in touch.)
  
• plan photography for two weddings I'm shooting for friends the first week of August (since I'm crazy like that. You'd all better be praying that baby boy stays put until at least August 11th!) I have possible photo lists to the brides, just need final lists from them! And I'm going to one wedding on July 26th with my parents in Santa Barbara (not working though, just attending. I'm looking forward to it and to staying with Rachel and Nathan!). And I'm doing swim team photos tomorrow. I'm enjoying getting some jobs here and there!
  
• pray for Tim's new job
• try not to be stressed out about the above list. or making new friends. I'm surprisingly calm, really. There are several things on this list, but most of them are quite easy to deal with. Plus, I can't wait to live in CA again...though I do have to get a new driver's license fairly quickly, since my NC license will expire on my birthday. Something for the "once we live in CA list" I suppose... :)

for your viewing enjoyment

A little video from last month that I finally managed to edit.

orange hands

I have now decided that fun = feeding your toddler cheese puffs. He thinks orange fingers are hilarious! Our eighth anniversary was yesterday, and because I have the best husband ever he surprised me with dinner out at Elmo's - we both had breakfast for dinner. He brought home these lovely flowers the night before:
And a couple of photos of Benjamin from earlier today. I still have to photoshop the first one to correct the color/brightness, but you can see the cute!

leavin' on a jet plane

It's official: Benjamin and I will be leaving North Carolina on July 16 at 7:20am. That's 5 weeks and 2 days from today. I'm excited to be back home - NC has been good to us but CA has always been where our hearts are! But I'll definitely miss our friends here, and I'm not looking forward to all the work that needs to go into the next 5 weeks. But I'm going to try to relax as much as possible! Tim, my dad, and my brother will be driving our two cars across the country leaving on July 17th. So come see us before then!

And also, congrats to Gary and Crystal on the birth of their baby girl Cadence this morning!!

super easy and yummy cucumber sandwiches

Did you ever think you'd see me post a recipe?! I found this one on another website, and can't remember where, but I tried it yesterday and it's my (and baby's) new favorite.

Ingredients:
cucumber
cream cheese (the whipped kind works best)
1 pkg ranch dressing mix
fresh dill (optional)
bread

Mix 1 tbsp ranch into 3 oz cream cheese. Slice cucumber very thin. Spread cream cheese on both sides of bread (I toast the bread first). Add a pinch of fresh dill if desired. Stack cucumber slices on bread, to desired thickness. Enjoy!

I was going to take a picture of the delectable goodness that is this sandwich, but all that was left were crumbs...

to do (updated 06.04)

Updates are in brown italics!

• sell/rent our house (I wish I could control that one...) - we at least have a plan to rent it to someone in Tim's current office if it doesn't sell by the end of June, though of course we would rather sell it!
  
• find a place in CA to rent. We have several good options in Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, and Calabasas thanks to Tim's family who have been graciously checking things out for us! We just need to decide, but won't be able to sign a lease for a few weeks because of:
  
• determine exact moving dates.Yes, we have figured this out - at least the driving portion. Tim + my dad + my brother are driving both our cars across 40 leaving on July 17 or 18! (Probably 17th). My mom is coming out here to fly back with Benjamin and I, and we're leaving on the 16th!
  
• get medical records for Benjamin and I. I'll get mine at my last appointment, and I still have to call for Benjamin's.
  
• buy plane tickets. Again, this depends on my last doctor's appointment, and Pepperdine has to do Benjamin's and my tickets. We should decide this one soon! *We bought my mom's tickets last night, so the three of us are leaving NC on JULY 16th!!!
  
• pack all our stuff. and give away/sell stuff we don't want to move. or haven't seen in the 2 years we've lived in this house. :) I'm working on it. Anyone want to buy a cordless phone and answering machine? Or need some books? We even managed to pack some things from the kitchen last week (vases, pitchers, etc). It doesn't seem that we have tons more to box up.
  
• go to 3 or 4 more OB appointments here (including the oh-so-fun syrupy glucose tolerance test in 2 weeks) My syrupy glucose test is next Friday, mmmmmmm.
  
• choose insurance and make a doctor's appointment in CA (recommendations, anyone?). We've pretty much decided to go with the Kaiser insurance, based on how amazing their benefits are and how helpful they've been to me when I've called with questions. This also kind of takes care of the doctor choice, since I'll be going to the practice closest to us and I'm pretty confident that I'll like at least one doc there. Plus which, when the time comes to have this baby I'm pretty sure I won't care who the person is getting him out!
  
• be sad about leaving all our dear NC friends behind (I probably won't be able to cross that off. You'd all better keep in touch.)
  
• plan photography for two weddings I'm shooting for friends the first week of August (since I'm crazy like that. You'd all better be praying that baby boy stays put until at least August 11th!) I have possible photo lists to the brides, just need final lists from them! And I'm going to one wedding on July 26th with my parents in Santa Barbara (not working though, just attending. I'm looking forward to it and to staying with Rachel and Nathan!). And I'm doing swim team photos tomorrow. I'm enjoying getting some jobs here and there!
  
• pray for Tim's new job
• try not to be stressed out about the above list. or making new friends. I'm surprisingly calm, really. There are several things on this list, but most of them are quite easy to deal with. Plus, I can't wait to live in CA again...though I do have to get a new driver's license fairly quickly, since my NC license will expire on my birthday. Something for the "once we live in CA list" I suppose... :)

And now, a photo of Benjamin eating pretzels. Who knew pretzels were so boring?