2013 in Review

Before it gets too late into January I have to do my 2013 in review! Thirteen has always been a lucky number for me and this year was no exception. Finally, things started coming together this year. Joe and I were married in 2012 but we didn't move in together until 2013. This year we finally met our adorable kitty-girl, Mrs. Peacock, who was added to the family. Not to mention the biggest news, our little bear cub, Ellie, came into the picture this year too! I'm really looking forward to 2014 and all the change that will happen. Thank goodness it is also my last year in the Army! I'm looking forward to that change as well. This is the year when I have to seriously figure out what I want to do for school when I get out. I'm so excited!

January
We started off 2013 at a Devotchka concert in Alaska while Joe was up visiting for the holidays! It was awesome. My New Years Resolution was to have a home with Joe and get a pet kitty... I guess I fulfilled both my resolutions!

February
I officially rented an apartment for Joe and I! Finally living like an adult again was a good feeling. My first baking project in the new place was Banana Bread and I painted a bunch of stuff for the wall, including a Chevron Painting for our living room.

March

Joe finally flew in from New York and we officially moved in together, a few weeks after out first wedding anniversary. I started experimenting with baking apple pie and began painting my nails a little more often (which I need to keep on doing!) Most importantly we got Mrs. Peacock! She was in the shelter for more than two months, probably because she was already 12 years old (by the way, Happy 13th Birthday Mrs. Peacock!!) It turns out she is the most awesome cat ever. I even made a DIY Crochet Kitty Toy tutorial. She still loves those little things. I also sewed my first dress this month!

April
I made a lemon curd recipe this month, which was delicious (try it!) and I also made myself a hoodie. I was supposed to make Joe one too, but I have this problem with using the same pattern twice... I guess it's like second sock syndrome?

May
I crocheted a peter pan collar for my shirt and made a yummy apple crumble. I also decided to participate in Blog Everyday in May Challenge from the Story of My Life blog, which included fun posts like photo an hour, sorry I love cats and letting Mrs. Peacock go outside. I also started the terrible hobby of collecting silly cat figurines.

June

Joe and I climbed up Flattop Mountain in Alaska. I normally don't like hiking at all but this time was really fun. I also collected a few more silly cat figurines and concocted a white wine spritzer recipe.

July

Joe and I found a film camera at a thrift store and developed our first film photos and we ventured out on another hike to Thunderbird Falls. Since I was on vacation we even headed down to Seward for a day and took some nice pictures by the marina. We also got to introduce Charlie to Mrs. Peacock when our friends went on vacation and we dog-sat for them. Not to mention, this month I made a pretty sweet recipe for Blueberry Chutney, Summer Lemonade and shared a recipe for Balsamic Glaze to go on our freshly caught Kenai Sockeye salmon we got from the neighbors. 

August

This was a big, big month for us this year! Not only was it Joe's and my birthday, but we also found out that we were going to have a little bear cub of our own! The best news ever! Joe even ran his first Alaskan marathon this month. His goal is to run a marathon in every state. I was so proud!

I got crafty this month and painted myself a Margaret Keane style portrait with myself and Mrs. Peacock. Pretty silly! We did a little more exploring and took a trip to Talkeetna for a day. We tried making it to Denali but it didn't happen. I also did a little cooking and made a recipe for curried quinoa.

September

I started preparing for baby by sewing up some whale print diaper covers and started posting (semi) weekly bump photos along with our first sonogram photos! 

October

We spoiled Miss Kitty by getting her a cat tower and made pumpkin bread from roasted pumpkins. I knitted up a bear blanket buddy for the little bear cub, learned how to make balloon animals and carved our first Halloween pumpkin. We went as Agent Scully and Mulder from the X-Files! 

November

This month we prepared to move again and I set up my second travel scrapbook kit. We went to out 20 week appointment and found out that our little bear cub is a girl!

December

We finally got to leave Alaska for good this month. I've been here for three years and it went by so slow! Now it's time for a new start in a new year. We travelled from the icy glaciers of Alaska to the rain of Washington, the fog of San Francisco and the sunshine of Santa Cruz and spent the holidays on the beach.

Baby Bump - 26 Weeks!

Weight Gain: Not really sure at this point. Hotels never have scales!

Name: Ellie, Ellie-Bear and "Ellie Belly." 

Maternity Clothes: Just bought some "palazzo pants" and hopefully they look trendy and not like lazy-pants.

Feeling: My back starts to hurt after a while of standing up.

Food I'm Missing: Once again, bagels with lox. We went to a bagel shop and I really wanted some smoked salmon lox.

Movement: Joe and I can both see her punching at my belly. It's so weird how strong she is! I was poking back at her to see if she would react. It work (I think.) I will have to try a flashlight!

Dreams: Nothing unusual this week!

Listening to: The Yeah Yeah Yeah's and an audiobook by Craig Clevenger called The Contortionists Handbook. It's a really good book! Not so kid-friendly, but Ellie doesn't know that yet.

Looking Forward to: Decorating the new house. I got all my furniture out of storage and it's being shipped to Louisiana. I haven't seen my stuff in so long! I have some pretty unique things and I'm excited to put everything together. 

I know I'm skipping ahead with my posts right now, but since these are the only photos we took in Phoenix I might as well update. We had a nice breakfast at Lola's Coffee Bar and went skating in Tempe. I got to go shopping at a second hand store and we picked up a bunch of stuff - I was all excited to find some legit southwestern turquoise jewelry. I figured we weren't going to have many cool places to shop in Louisiana so we should probably pick up some stuff now. 

I love the landscape of the desert! I wanted to go through Joshua Tree in California - it's an amazing place - but it was faster to skip it. There will be plenty of desert in New Mexico to see though, and I'm hoping we can get a little visit into Roswell. Yay, aliens!

Monterey Bay and a Sunset on the Coast

We said goodbye to Santa Cruz on Saturday morning and headed down the coast. I'm really going to miss my grandpa! It's so difficult to think that this might have been the last time I will ever see him. I'm really glad that I got the chance to see him though, since it's hard to plan trips out to California. I hope he is still around to meet Ellie-bear next year.

We stopped in Monterey Bay for lunch and enjoyed the view of the coast along route 1. We got some really pretty shots of the sunset too! Just amazing.

The Pool

Joe found out about this pool in Santa Cruz that is going to be destroyed soon, so we went out for a day of skating. After we were there for a while a little seven year old kid came with his parents and they started doing a photo shoot. He was really good, but we could hear the dad telling him he needs to "go higher" and do-this and do-that, like a coach. He would drop down off the deep end of the pool over and over again trying to get a picture that was just right and his parents were talking about "getting paid" to skate. It really upset Joe that the little kid was being used like that. It made me uncomfortable too. The poor kid looked like he wasn't having very much fun either and kept looking at the adult skaters like he had to be better than them.
I don't know, I suppose that's how big successes like Michael Jackson and Beyonce happened. I still feel like it's too much to put a kid through. I'm happy Joe won't be that type of dad!

...and just on a side note, yes, the pool says "tits."
I love it.

Monarchs

My family decided to go to the Natural Bridges State Beach the day after Christmas to look at the butterflies. I remember going as a child and seeing huge clusters of monarchs hanging from the trees like leaves. When it's too cold for them to fly around they huddle up together in the trees like banana bunches.

We walked along the beach for a little bit before enjoying the rest of the day at my grandpas house.

I hope everyone is enjoying the new year!

Happy New Year!

It's true, as you get older every year goes by faster. I remember thinking how insane it was that 2012 was over and it was 2013 already! This year will be Ellie-bear's birthday year too! Insane. 

My aunt April took a ton of great photos of Christmas, so this is Christmas photos part two. For my present this year my dad flew my brother in as a surprise! I was so excited to see him.