I think...

someone has the hiccups! ;) Now that is a weird feeling! :)

Happy 30th Anniversary!!!!

to my amazing parents! Their anniversary was actually yesterday but I wasn't near a computer to post a message for them. I did, however, get to spend some time with both of them this weekend and thoroughly enjoyed it!

Here's to another 30 years, Mom and Dad! And I have to say, the next time I'm visiting, I have to get some photos of the 2 of you together!!

simple pleasures

...fresh tomatoes from my very first tomato plant
...summer thunder showers that cool on a hot day
...yummy fresh summer fruit, I can't get enough
...buying a gift for my new neice, Meadow
...getting an email from a friend
...knowing that I will see my sister, Melinda, in 2 days, it's been a year since I saw her last
...sitting in the car, opening an envelope of photos that I just had developed
...moving into a new place, a fresh start, finding new places for things to go
...feeling the baby move
...reading a new scrapbooking magazine
...buying new jeans on sale!!!
...hanging out with Kelsey, my brother's girlfriend
...getting a thank-you card in the mail
...getting some maternity clothes from a friend and my sister

what's making you happy right now?

the black dress

finally, some photos. I have to say though, because I did most of the photography that day, there weren't very many good ones of me. This was the best I could do. I look like a hunched over old lady! DOH! Guess I really need to work on my posture, eh?!


It's kinda weird to see myself getting a belly like that!

I found it!!!

I found the black dress! Oh my gosh, I am SOOOOO relieved! And it fits! Woohooo!!! I will be sure to take some photos this weekend and post them for you when we get back!
YAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAYAY!!!!!!!!!!!

I wish...

I could have taken you all shopping with me last night. You are all so encouraging! Unfortunately the shopping trip was a bit of a bust (HA! no pun intended, I only ended up getting bras). I didn't buy anything to wear this weekend. I found a few cute things but just couldn't justify the price of them right now. It was a bit depressing.
Tonight I'm going to search again for my black dress. It has to be in one of our boxes. I am seriously determined to find it otherwise, I might end up wearing jeans to the birthday party which would NOT go over well.
The mall was a zoo. I should have known better not to go to the biggest mall in Calgary during the Stampede. What a zoo.
And the lady at the maternity store was really pushy. I did not like that. If I don't want to buy something, I don't want to buy it. I hate when they just try and force you to buy something. It just makes me more determined NOT to buy something. Yah, I'm like that. I can be a little stubborn. ;)
If I find the black dress, I'll be sure to take some photos this weekend of me wearing it. Let's just hope it looks as cute as I think it will with a prego belly.
DH thinks I'd be fine to go in a tank top and shorts. Huh?! Seriously?! Coming from the guy who still owned and wore clothes he had from Junior high when we met. Thankfully I have thrown them all out. The guy would be happy owning one t-shirt and one pair of jeans for the rest of his life. At least I don't have to worry that he'll ever have more shoes than me (which is sad because I have less than 10 pairs).
Okay, whine over. Must. find. dress.

Alrighty...

so I'm taking Carmen's advice and going shopping tonight (much to DH's dismay). I have this really cute pink/brown/white paisley top and I'd love to find a matching skirt. We'll see if that happens. I also want to pick up a new pair of shoes, courtesy of my grandma (gotta love getting birthday money) and a new bra. This might be tmi but seriously, the ones I have one are so TIGHT! I feel like my circulation is getting cut off, I have underwire indents by the end of the day and I feel like something's gonna pop out at any given moment during the day. I actually think it's quite humorous because I have never, ever had this problem before. I usually have the opposite problem - nothing fits.
Wish me luck. I am NOT a shopper. I like to get in and out of the mall/store as quickly as possible. I get easily discouraged and frustrated (partly because of the money issue and partly because of the bashing my self esteem takes every time I go). Ya know, I'm tempted to have a friend sign me up for What Not To Wear. It's not that I think I'm horribly out of style but I am so low maintenance that sometimes I wish I would put more time and effort into how I look. And that $5000, a new haircut and makeover would be SO nice.
I was laughing at myself the other day because I was worried about turning into a frumpy overweight mom and then realized, 'wait, I already am a frump'. HAHAHAHAHA! DOH!
Anyway, I'll be sure to fill you in on the details of how tonight's escapade goes.

because

of this.

And for her and her.
I've never met them but I read about their sister's story online and my heart broke.
You can support the cause by buying some cool apparel here and then have your name entered to win a prize. details are here
The quote on the tee I got says, ""For me, running is a lifestyle and an art. I'm far more interested in the magic of it than the mechanics." -- Lorraine Moller, Olympian
Such a worthwhile cause. I hope and pray my children never have to deal with this.

some more scrapping...

I played around some more this weekend. I did some things that I haven't done in a while - stamping with versamark and then chalking! It was so fun - I might have to do that more.
I've had this photo sitting around for quite a while now and decided it was time to scrap it. I actually had the quote on the vellum on the photo a long time ago, attempting to do something with the photo for a different layout but I didn't like how it was turning out so I packed it away. I pulled the photo out again on Saturday and here's what I came up with. Stamps and patterned paper are Fontwerks. I am in love with those stamps!!!! YUMMY shapes! The letters (rub-ons and metal ones) are KI Memories.
And I just have to say, doesn't my mom look amazing?! I always get comments about how young my mom looks and it's so true. She has aged so well - I hope I have inherited those genes! ;)
The rest of the weekend was very relaxing, which was nice because the next few weeks are gonna be crazy busy. We're moving next Monday and are gone this coming weekend for DH's grandma's 80th birthday celebration. I have this cute black dress that I wanted to wear but I searched through all of our clothes last night and I cannot find it anywhere. I'm so sad. I have no idea what I'm going to do now. I have a cute top that I could wear but nothing to go with it and I don't really want to go shopping. Sigh... what's a girl to do?!

a challenge...

I did this layout for this week's challenge on the me blog.

Something different and kinda fun!
Journaling reads: Every time I hop in the car, I tune in to 93.7 CKUA, public radio. I love the mix of music this station plays. It's not the same songs over and over with the same annoying commercials. Every time I listen, I hear a new song by a different artist and I learn a little bit about them too. And every day, the genre of music varies so I am exposed to so many different types of music. This station has opened my eyes up and has definitely expanded my muisc collection.

We went for dinner with my parents last night before they headed to the airport on their way to Taiwan, China and Hong Kong. I was really wishing I could have gone with them last night. I think they will have an amazing time there.
My brother and his girlfriend came over last night to drop off a present for me. His GF bought me the cutest maternity capris and a book (the Modern Girls Guide to Motherhood). So incredibly sweet! I love the capris and can't wait to read the book.
Nothing too big planned for the weekend and I'm looking forward to that! What are you up to this weekend?

Because I just can't resist...

sharing some more photos of my beautiful niece and sister....

And one of Jonathan and I holding her... I can't wait until ours arrives!

Another layout...

I just had to share. I did a little bit of scrapping yesterday. This is one of the layouts I managed to finish. I had another one done but then changed my mind so I'm still tweaking it. Hopefully I'll finish it up tonight or tomorrow.

I used a full sheet of Fontwerks unmounted rubber stamps (before I cut them apart) to stamp the letters. The papers are We R Memory Keepers, alphabet paper clips are Joann's, screw snaps are Making Memories. Ther photo is of my mom and her sister and the journaling reads: So much more than sisters, they are also good friends. Their relationship is full of laughter, sharing, tears and is an inspiration to me. Auntie Esther and Mom. Oct. 05
Thanks for taking a look!

I am an Auntie!!!!!

YAY!!! My sister had a baby girl on Friday, June 30th at 2:18pm. Her name is Meadow Hope and she weighed 6lbs 9 oz. We managed to get up for a very quick visit yesterday on my birthday and it was the perfect birthday present. She is absolutely GORGEOUS, I am totally in love with her!

She loves to sleep on her daddy's chest and she is already a little daddy's girl! It is SO sweet to see!
I am so happy for these two, Naomi and Jerry. It is so awesome to see them as parents. My sister is absolutely amazing - bfeeding is going so well for her (she was feeding Meadow and eating dinner with us last night and Meadow is only 2 days old!!!) and she has become such a beauiful Mom.
And yes, now I am so excited to become a Mom myself. It's a good thing I'm already pregnant because they baby fever is out of control now! ;)

On Saturday we spent the day hiking up to a lovely wildflower meadow. I kept thinking it was rather appropriate considering my niece, Meadow, was born the night before. It was a great hike - 16 km so I was tired afterwards.

Jonathan snapped a couple photos of me at 21 weeks. I wanted our kids to see some day that their mom was still hiking when she was pregnant!
After our hike we met up with my sister-in-law, Rachel and her fiance in Banff for dinner. It was so good to see them again and dinner was amazing.
So it was a busy but very good weekend! :)