Bring Out The Quilts!

We are lucky that we know many talented and creative people because if it wasn't for them our bean would not have any homemade blankets or quilts.  Because, Lord knows, I am far from crafty in the sewing, knitting, crocheting arena.  Each blanket and quilt that people have made for us is extraordinary.  I don't know how they do it!  I almost couldn't even imagine anything cuter than the things these ladies are able to make.  Since I am obsessed with our baby quilts, I thought I'd display their amazing handiwork here.  Please, don't be too jealous.

Travel the World quilt made by our friend, Christa Martin - she is an amazing & prolific quilter!

Zigzag quilt made by my Aunt Beverly - I cannot get over how cute the fabrics are

Woodland creatures quilt made by Drew's family friend, Paula Choy - the back is fleece.  So cozy!

Block quilt made by my paternal Great-Grandma, Fannie Kanode  - it is such a special family heirloom 

Cape Cod

Drew and I spent this past weekend in Cape Cod for a Valentine's Day/President's Day/Babymoon celebration.  Every single moment was amazing!  We most certainly did not want to leave. 

We stayed at the most charming bed & breakfast called The Platinum Pebble in West Harwich.  We splurged and went for the room with a king bed, fireplace, and gigantic soaking tub (it was even big enough to fit me!).  It was really one of the nicest places we have stayed.  Each morning, breakfast was brought to us in our room!!  It was so wonderful to be able to eat in our jammies in front of the fire.  Each afternoon the wife, of the British husband/wife duo that owns the place, would bake a delicious treat for us and the room was stocked full of complimentary snacks and beverages.  Drew was also enamored with the fact that they provided free scotch in the main common space for a pre-dinner drink or nightcap.

On Saturday night there happened to be blizzard-like conditions while we were out there on the Cape, but it really didn't effect us much since it didn't get nasty until later in the evening and just lasted through the night.  We awoke to a beautiful wintery landscape on Sunday morning and took full advantage of it!  We went for a gorgeous snowy walk along the Cape Cod Rail Trail in the afternoon and capped off our exercise with a post-blizzard Blizzard from Dairy Queen.  On Sunday night we had a romantic and tasty dinner at a cute little restaurant named Fin.  Other than eating, we went to the Sandwich Glass Museum, explored some of the Cape's coastline, spent a lot of time in front the fireplace watching the Olympics, playing Scrabble, reading, relaxing, and just enjoying each other's company.  We are doing all we can to embrace the calm before our little bundle arrives.

Other than feeling bigger by the day, I am still thankfully feeling great.  The other day as I tried to turn over in bed, my loving husband joked, "Caution, makes wide turns."  I guess I can't really argue with that.

Rubber ducky gift for our little one compliments of the Platinum Pebble

Beginning of the blizzard!

Still smiling even though I beat him at Scrabble

Post-blizzard Blizzard!

Yep, we definitely toured this chip factory.  Walked out with five bags... 

Gourmet breakfast in our room.  Such luxury!  This morning we both woke
up very sad that somebody wasn't bringing us breakfast in bed.  

Happy Belated Valentine's Day from me & the bean! 

Yowzers!

Can you really even say you have a blog if you haven't written in four months?!  A lot sure has happened since I last wrote.  Our niece, Ainsley Grace, was born on October 9, 2013.  I got to be there for her birth and it was such an amazing experience.  She is a perfect little girl and her parents are doing an amazing job!

My baby niece on her birthday

She's growing too quickly!

I've been lucky enough to see Ainsley every month since her birth, but I haven't seen her yet in January and don't know if I will be able to.  I miss her so much already!

Also, in other baby news we are expecting our own little bundle of joy in March!  Less than two months away!!  I have been very fortunate to have had such a smooth pregnancy so far.  No nausea, heartburn, sleepless nights, or really any other negative side effects.  I feel great, if just a little slower getting up and around these days.  I hope the labor, birth & baby are as easy as the pregnancy has been.  I also haven't really had any cravings or odd pregnancy quirks.  I've just been eating a lot more ice cream than I normally would, but I feel like it all the time anyways.  The holidays were a really good time to be pregnant because I was just able to eat as much as I wanted of everything.  I think only once have I actually gorged myself completely.  It was due to a delicious dim sum lunch and I couldn't eat for the rest of the day.  I basically had to lay in bed because of my poor food control.

Our baby is quite the active little peanut (well, actually more like a honeydew at this point) and it is so fun to feel the love moving around in there.  We don't know the gender yet and are waiting until the big day to find out.  Drew & I worked a lot on the nursery this weekend and have it just about all set up.  It is looking pretty cute in there and we are so excited/astonished that we will have a baby living with us soon!  Hopefully I'll be better at blogging once our baby arrives.  I know I'll have lots of updates then! Since I missed posting for most of my pregnancy, here is a my most recent photo - 32 weeks.

August - Tour de California

Instead of blogging, I spent the month of August on vacation in California.  In one month, I managed to squeeze a lot in!  I didn't spend more than 3 nights in a row at any one place and it was wonderful.  I spent at least a night in each of the following places: Pasadena, Huntington Beach, Seal Beach, Piedmont, Yosemite, Atherton, San Francisco, Cayucos, Santa Barbara, and Pismo Beach.  I'm a little tired just writing that list, but I wish I could do it all over again!  I got to attend two baby showers for my sister-in-law, go to a beautiful wedding in Yosemite for two of our dear friends, visit loads of friends, help plan (sort of) an engagement for one of my besties, see my other sister-in-law's new apartment in the big city (of SF), do a girls' weekend at the beach, celebrate a belated birthday with my Dad and Grandma, and go to the Charles Family reunion.  I had the best time and am so grateful for all of my family and friends.  It is sad being so far away, but I am so happy for the opportunity I had to hang out in California for so long.  And without further ado, here is the picture tour: 

Miss Rebecca Lynn is soon to be a Mrs!  So excited for
her & Jules!  XOXO

Charles cousins (at Angela's first baby shower) - sorry for cutting
you off Dawn, Daniel & Goose

Angela's second baby shower - a loverly tea

I couldn't resist!  Tucker is by far the cutest naked piano
player I have ever seen.  And, no, thankfully I haven't seen any others.

Hottest groomsman!

We loved being in Yosemite and saw a huge deer right by
our cabin - so awesome 

Sadly, the only pictures I have from my visit with Lindsay are of her
classroom, but I had so much fun helping her out & seeing her
amazing creativity.  Love you, Ms. Balzer!

Again, I don't have any pictures actually of Maggie from my visit in SF - I just have this one 

picture of a delicious cookie milkshake that I got after we saw Planes together.  

Girls weekend (plus three of the cutest little boys) in Cayucos! 

No birthday is complete without an ice cream cake

Love you, Sarah!  

I love these faces.  Wish we were all snuggling right now!

Me & Pops

Cousins! 

Little Naomi is too precious

Charles Family Reunion 2013 - I love my family!

Lunch date at McDonald's.  I love these boys & their momma!

Also, on a last note, my niece is due in just about two weeks and I could not be more excited!!  Drew and I are so excited to meet her and be an aunt & uncle.  We love you, Ainsley Grace!

July - The Month of Visitors

Drew & I have been busy!  Apparently too busy to blog!  At the end of June I travelled to Chicago to meet up with my dear friend, Ashlee.  We had a wonderful time sightseeing & exploring Chicago.  I hadn't been there since my family took a road trip through there way back when I was a wee one, so it was very fun to explore the city.  And what a lovely city it is!

After I got back from Chicago, Drew & I hopped an airplane for Seattle for the wedding of two of our best friends from Guam.  It was wonderful to have a Guam reunion!  Neither one of us had ever been to Seattle and we loved it!  We packed so much into just our three short days there.  While we were in the Pacific Northwest, we also headed down to Portland for two nights to visit family & friends.  We had a superb time!

One of the best museums I've ever been to - Chihuly Glass & Gardens
in Seattle, WA

Wedding chic

Cousins! 

I love my family! 

When we got back from Seattle, Drew's sister, Maggie, arrived in Newport for the 4th of July.  We had a wonderful time of sightseeing, cooking, eating, beaching & playing Catan while Marge was here.  We were sad to see her go, but only had to wait about 2 days until our next visitors arrived!

Showing our patriotic spirit at the oldest continuously running
4th of July parade in the country in Bristol, RI

Jake & Angela flew up from North Carolina to help me celebrate my 30th birthday!  It was the perfect birthday present and we all had such a fun time together.  I was a little bit scared of turning 30, but really it's not bad at all.  In fact, so far I'm loving it.  On my actual birthday, the four of us went to up to Providence, ate dinner at a very tasty Peruvian restaurant (thanks for the recommendation, Yelp) and saw the WaterFire show along the Riverwalk in Providence.  It was quite spectacular!  For about a mile of the river in the middle of Providence, they have all of these wood fire pits floating on top of the water.  They come by in boats and light them all and it is brilliant.  There is music playing, tons of people, vendors - it was just a great celebration for my birthday!  Again, we were sad to see Jake & Angela leave and this time we had to wait 3 whole days until our next visitors arrived....

WaterFire Providence - I showed some real maturity on my 30th
by ringing it in with a glow stick necklace

Drew's parents, Rick & Sue, came to visit us for a long weekend!  We did a lot of new sightseeing things with them - like taking a ferry to Rose Island, touring the Rose Island Lighthouse, touring Fort Adams, and going to Fall River to see Battleship Cove & Lizzie Borden's house.  And we played a LOT of bridge!  It was a lovely visit.

Now July is almost over (I can't believe it!) and I'll be heading to California soon!  I'm planning to stay basically the whole month of August in California so I'm looking forward to visiting with lots of family and friends.

Oh, and I can't believe I forgot to mention that in between all of our visitor fun, Drew & I managed to fit in a US Men's Gold Cup soccer game!!  It was in Connecticut, so we figured it wouldn't get much closer than that & we just went for it.  It was so much fun!  And even better now that they won the Gold Cup!  USA!  USA!