Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens

So as part of Christmas this year I wanted to do something more for Brian besides the presents that he chose and was already aware of. Thanks to pinterest I had the idea to do 25 Days of Christmas for him. Most of the days consist of compliments, things that I love about him, but some of the days are activities that I have planned for us that cost little/no money. December 2nd we made our first outing. It was to Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden for their Holiday Open House. We have driven past these gardens several times since moving here and I have been curious about what it has to offer. Luckily for us the open house was free so we didn't have to spend a dime to enjoy its beauty. There was a light drizzle going on that day, but not so bad as to make us change our minds. Here are some of the pictures we took at the gardens:

When we first walked in we saw this cute little bunny.

Enjoying the cactus plants.

Crazy looking plant.

This tree was awesome. Because of the wetness from the rain it was this really pretty vibrant red color.

Here is another one of the vibrant red trees.

The base of this tree was huge.

See....it even looks huge next to my baby bump.

Pretty leaf.

The entire bush that this leaf was from was covered with water droplets. 

The pod coming out from this plant was so tall, at least 10 ft.

Funny squirrel with a huge bushy tail.

The leaves from this tree were so vibrant.

Blossoms on the top of the cacti. 

This is the beaver tail cactus.

The rain made the bark on this tree turn to camouflage.

There were only a few bushes of poppies,  and even fewer blossoms, but I love the way the rain sits on this one.

I enjoyed our trip to the gardens. When we were still living in Idaho we would often go on walks to gardens on campus and it was always a nice way to rewind from the week. I am glad we took the time to check out these gardens, it will be nice to check them out during different parts of the year and see how the plants change. I definitely can't wait to go back during a time that flowers are blossoming. It will be really beautiful. I think it will be fun to take Chloe on walks here once she arrives.

Baby Shower

So this past Saturday (December 1st) my baby shower was held. It was so much fun to have a group of people come together to celebrate the life that will be coming into this world so soon. Even though my mom and sister were the hosts for the baby shower I did a lot of the planning since I don't have as many responsibilities to worry about as they did. It was so much fun to plan. When I was younger I used to be such a party planner, but as I've gotten older I haven't had as much time to plan events. For the baby shower I new right of the back that I wanted to have an owl theme since that it what Chloe's room will be, but to make it more festive instead of traditional colors you would think of for a baby shower or owl themed shower I decide to go with Christmas color (reds, greens, whites). I really like the way everything turned out. I wish some things I could have done more with, but there is only so much a pregnant person can do.

Leanna flew out to California a couple nights before the shower and then Brian and I drove down to my parents to pick her up so I could have her around the house on Friday to help me bake the different treats for us to eat at the baby shower. I am so so so glad that I had her around to help me. We were going to make a Berry Cake Roll and a Peppermint Cake Roll, but since neither of us felt confident enough to actually roll the cake we ended up using the same recipe, but then just cutting the cake so we could do layers. The other thing that we had fun making that day was the different flavored popcorns. River did not like the sound of the air popper. We made a Cajun popcorn (Brian wanted something more savory), a Caramel popcorn, and a Heavenly Hash popcorn. I wish I had thought to take pictures while we were baking all day, but it slipped my mind, which is probably good since my kitchen was a wonderful mess. It was funny to have Leanna in the kitchen baking with me since the kitchen is narrow and we both have our baby bumps so we kept bumping into each other and the counters.

Here are some photos of the decorations from the baby shower.

Banner that I made. I might shorten it now and put it up in her room somewhere.

The room where the shower was held. Nice big comfy seats.

The table with things for guests to do when they arrive and  we wait for others.

This was to give each guest an opportunity to write down their wishes for our baby girl. I am putting them all together into a book that I will keep for her.

This wasn't as popular as I thought it would be. We had sharpies for guests to write words of encouragement or a funny message on a diaper. I think some must have thought that what they wrote had to do with poop.....so only about 20 diapers were written on.

The favors that I made, and a sheet for guests to write their guesses for when the baby will arrive.

One of the many cute owl decorations that I made.

Balloons hanging from the ceiling.

 Here are pictures of the food that we served at the baby shower:

The more healthy food.

And the sweets. :)

These pinwheel cookies were fun to make, and luckily I could make the dough in advance and then just bake them a couple days in advance.

Closeup of the Peppermint Cake

Closeup of the Berry Cake

I was really happy with the turnout of guests, I wasn't sure what to expect since I have not been living in California for the past 4 years, but it was great to see people that I hadn't seen for awhile and celebrate the coming of our little girl. First we played "Baby Animals", the guests had to guess the name of what the baby is called for a particular animal, such as "kitten" for "cat" or "gosling" for "goose". It was funny to see how many people were stumped for some of the animals, I guess I made it a little too hard. The next game we played was "The Price is Right". It was funny to have Leanna walking around to show everyone the product because she kept accidentally flashing the actual retail price to some of the guests. Next we had everyone cut ribbon to the length they thought it would take to go around my belly. That was entertaining because as people were walking in they kept saying that I look small, but then many of them made the ribbon too long. But we had 3 people that were so close to matching the correct length that we ended up with a 3 way tie. Originally after playing that game we were going to play a game of "Guess the Baby Food", but because of the demographic of the crowd we decided to skip that so as to avoid having several unhappy older ladies in the room. It would have been fun, but I think it was a wise decision.

Instead of playing the last game we skipped straight to opening the gifts. Honestly I preferred the moments that we were playing to games over opening the presents since I hate being the center of attention, but it was so much fun to open all those presents and see the many cute outfits that I can dress Chloe in in the future. I am really grateful for all the gifts that we were given, they will help out so much. Now I have the fun  task of writing thank you notes. I should probably get on those before the baby arrives so I'm not overwhelmed with all the work. I had so much fun at the baby shower and I hope that those that came had fun as well. It would not have been as much fun if others had not come to show their love and support.

Here are some pictures of people during the shower.

Here's my lovely mother. I definitely appreciate her help.

Leanna cutting the ribbon to my belly.

High school friends

"I have a present for you!"

Flashback to colorguard days.

Not the best picture, but funny because we were joking that she was ready to pop with twins.

Planning baby showers is a little different than planning birthday parties, but now that I have planned one I know more of what to expect of future baby showers. It was so much fun. I can't believe that Chloe will be here in possibly less than 2 months now.

Life is Rushing By

I remember when I was younger it seemed like time moved at a snails pace. I sometimes wish life would move that slowly again. I cannot believe how fast the days are rushing by. It feels like it was just yesterday that I discovered the happy news about the pregnancy. And now...well I have 10 weeks left if she decides to stay in there until exactly her due date, 75 days...I feel so anxious and unprepared now. It makes me wonder if life will continue to pass by with increasing momentum, or if it will slow down so I can enjoy my child's childhood. More than likely it will still move quickly for me, but she will feel the same as I did as a kid, with Christmas and holidays seeming to be so far away.

Since moving to California we have had the advantage of going to Disneyland several times since we decided it would be worth it to invest in some passes. It has been interesting to see how my endurance for a full day at Disneyland has changed since high school and now as the weeks pass by in my pregnancy. It's a lot harder to keep up as my body changes, but I still love Disneyland. I especially love going to Disneyland at this time of year. Its so much more fun without the Summer crowds and with the Halloween decorations....soon I suppose they will be putting up the Christmas decorations. Here are some pictures from our last trip to Disneyland, right before Halloween:

There were too many people for us to take a picture in front of the big pumpkin Mickey....

He didn't remember Toon Town so we made sure to spend time exploring.

Such a strong man.

My favorite part of Halloween: The Haunted Mansion being decorated as Nightmare Before Christmas

Now even though we didn't go out to any Halloween parties, and stayed in for Halloween because Brian had to study, we still dressed up and had a good time.....plus ate a ton of candy since we only had about 7 sets of trick or treaters. I had the idea to be a pregnant skeleton, but decided it cost way too much money to buy one of the pre-made shirts, so in the weeks prior to Halloween I had a fun time designing and making the shirt on my own. Brian also made his own costume. As many of you know Brian loves anything to do with Batman. As the opening of the "Dark Knight Rises" drew near Brian started talking about making his own Batman costume....using motorcycle/dirtbike armor. It was really fun to go to the showing of "Dark Knight Rises" with him wearing his costume that he spent many hours planning, and since we made the investment in the dirtbike armor he is going to be enjoying wearing this costume for many years to come.

Prior to Halloween, showing off the finished product.

On Halloween, with my fun skeleton face painting.

The pumpkin I carved.

Brian "Batman" with his enormous cape spread.

Fighting "evil"...

I have made a lot of progress on the nursery, and am really loving the way it looks right now. Before we even knew the gender we had decided to go with an owl theme. There is so much you can do to build off of that concept. For awhile I thought maybe I was going a little overboard with the owls, but now that I probably have the nursery 95% complete it makes me smile with the way its all come together. So I thought I'd share my hard work. (This is what I have been doing with my days, along with other crafts and cooking since I have been unable to find a job since moving to California)

 

The tree wall cling I scored off of amazon for only $ 4.

I love this rug we found at Ikea.

I painted these a couple years ago and thought they fit in perfectly with the rest of the room.

Our little girl's name. I had fun drawing/painting the owls.

Cutest wall clock, say "Owl always love you"

I feel blessed with how well this pregnancy has gone. According to the doctors she is measuring right on for how many weeks she is. I did the 2 hour glucose test in the beginning of the month to check for gestational diabetes. It really wasn't as bad as what everyone makes it out to be. The worst part was waiting for the blood to be drawn, and that was just boring. No gestational diabetes for me, and I have been lucky enough not to gain an absurd amount of weight. At the rate I am going I will probably only gain 20 lbs total, which definitely makes me happy. The worst part of this pregnancy so far has been my back pain, but I am still able to work out and so spend a good amount of time each day stretching and trying to relieve the stress that my back is feeling.

I am so excited for these next couple months. Thanksgiving is only a couple of weeks away, and luckily since we are so close to my parents I won't have to stress about making the whole Thanksgiving feast....although I think a may still try to whip out a pie or two. And then December 1st I will be having my baby shower, and I am happy that Leanna won't be so pregnant at that point that she can't fly down for it. In a little over a month it will be Christmas. I love Christmas! I love California Christmas'! I do wish it was a little cooler, but I am so thankful that I don't have to fear slipping on ice this year, especially since I am pregnant. And then a month after Christmas our little girl should be making her appearance!! Wow, time is moving by way to quickly is all I can say, but I am so excited for the future.