October Photo Wrap-up

 

Here is a little photo dump of our month:

 

We finally got motivated to start our massive list of home reno projects...
 

 

Our favorite creamer can now be found in grocery stores!... 

 

My little sister in the Homecoming Parade for the Varsity Volleyball team and is loving school...
(she's the cute one closest to the cab looking back at us)
 

 

We celebrated finding out we will be welcoming a little man into this world...

 

 

Enjoyed Autumn colors...

 

 

Celebrated both our birthdays...

 

 

 

Visited the Pumpkin Patch with friends...

 

Continued taking adorable photos of our boys...

 

 

Went on vacation to sunny California...

 

 

 

and whipped up a couple of last-minute ridiculous Halloween costumes.

 

 

I feel like we have found a lot more balance this month as well. We've started a budget and are feeling more secure financially and are finding we have more disposable income to use to pay things off and to buy supplies needed to do projects. We still need to work on balancing our time, but we're getting there. :)

 

Looking forward to the holiday season! Hoping you all had a wonderful month!

Mission: Kitchen

I mentioned a cleaning spree a few weeks ago and I have finally started that! My mission is starting in the kitchen.  Today is garbage day so I figured last night was a good time to clean out my pantry.

All of our cabinets are pretty organized except for our pantry.  It wasn't terrible, I just wanted to put like items together and throw away some stuff that needed to go.
 

Here is our pantry before:
 

 

And our pantry after!

 

Top Shelf:  All canned and jarred items

Second Shelf: All pastas, boxed rice/noodles and crackers

Third Shelf: chips, Salad toppings and pancake batter

Fourth Shelf: All spices, seasonings and cooking oils/liquids

Bottom Shelf: All baking goods

 

 

It's so nice to have everything is some sort of order.  It's not perfect but I'm not having to dig for certain things and I know about where everything is. :)

 

I also tackled the shelf above the pantry.  There were empty bottles I wanted to keep for who knows why, honey, rice, pasta Tupperware... lots of random stuff.

 

 

Now its much better! The rice and balsamic stayed because they are too tall to fit on the other shelves.  I also keep my tall Tupperware storage up there and Plastic utensils, paper plates, etc..

 

 

Moving on to other things....

 

You all probably remember the little chalkboard I made out of a mirror last year...

 

Well, we use it all the time.  Whether it's to track our budget, write our favorite bible verse of the day or just to jot something down, we wanted to scribble space to put our thoughts, inspirations and day to to day info.

 

 

Well... I had a bunch of leftover paint and decided to paint the whole wall! 

 

Here it is after the first coat...

 

 

The second coat...

 

 

and finally the last coat with all the tape taken off!

 

 

My plan is to put my little chalkboard back up there and have our bible verses on there while the rest can be used for whatever!  I also was thinking about adding 3 months worth of calendar space on there so we can see what events/holidays/birthdays we have coming up.  Things are about to get real busy and it's nice to keep things straight. :) 

 

I also love the contrast it adds to the kitchen.  Having a dark wall makes all the darker features in the kitchen pop!  We're also going to add a piece of quarter round to the top and upper right corner to completely frame it in.

 

We need to let it cure for a few days but when it's ready I will give you an update post!

C A L I F O R N I A

Last week Justin and I snuck away for our Babymoon (a last hurrah vacation before baby comes!).  We flew down to Palm Springs and enjoyed the Sun, good food, family and of course a little Disney!

I documented our trip in iphone photos, so I apologize for the quality of the pictures. :)

Our flight took a quick pit stop in San Francisco so I snapped some photos of the sites we were flying over.

Alcatraz Island
 

 

Golden Gate Bridge

 

 

We landed in Palm Springs on Saturday afternoon.  It was hot and beautiful!

 

This is the golf course in my in-laws and grandparents neighborhood.  I love the hills that surround it, so beautiful!

 

My cute man!

 

 

Saturday night and Sunday we spent time with my aunt and uncle and cousins on my moms side.  I forgot to take a photo but we had a Mexican dinner and spent much needed time catching up!

 

Sunday evening we went to Kobe to celebrate my birthday.  The food was delish and the company was great! My dad and step-mom and aunt and uncle on her side spent the week in Palm Desert, just 15 minutes away so it was fun visiting with them as well!

 

 

My ma-in-law was there too! 

 

 

 

Monday and Tuesday we spent the days at my parents villa getting our tan on!  It was wonderful!

 

 

 

 

Tuesday night we went to Ruth's Chris Steak House for dinner.  Best meal. Ever.

 

 

 

 Wednesday we headed out to Anaheim to get our Disney on but had to make a lunch stop before we hit the road.  When in Rome California!

 

 

 

Wednesday night we met my aunt, uncle and cousin on my dads side at the Lazy Dog Cafe.  Another yum meal!  Can you tell that this pregnant chick loves to eat?

 

 

 Thursday morning we hit the Disney gates at opening and spent the whole day in both Disneyland and California Adventure.

 

 

 

It's Halloween Time in Disneyland so everything was decked out in pumpkins, leaves and full of Autumn festiveness.

 

 

We had lunch at the Blue Bayou, the restaurant located inside the Pirates of the Caribbean ride.

 

 

 

The food was again fantastic and they even had desserts to celebrate Justin and my October birthdays!!

*note: If you go here, definitely share a meal.  Even if you think your going to die of starvation.  They give you so much food and you want to leave room for the other yum snacks you can munch on at the parks.

 

 

 

 

The Haunted Mansion was decked out as Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas. I personally wish they would leave the Haunted Mansion original but understand the cult following this movie has.  It was still fun but I missed the original.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you're followers on instagram or facebook, we made our baby gender announcement via a picture.  Not this picture, but it was another one we took.  IT'S A BOY!!!

 

 

California Adventure is a whole new park!  They have totally revamped it and there are lots of new rides to try!  They got rid of the C A L I F O R N I A that stood in front of the park and now have an art deco style entrance that pays homage to the 1930s when Walt first came to California.

 

 

 They've also added a new street car that takes you to the "Old Hollywood Back Lot" and back. 

 

 

Cathay Circle now stands tall and serves and the main architectural focus and has a restaurant that I heard was delicious!

 

 

A 1930s style car drives around with a lead singer and band that plays swinging tunes of the era Walt loved so much.

 

 

One of the many wonderful rides I was unable to go on. :(  Luckily people watching was at an all time high. :)

 

 

Justin and my dad on the California Screaming.  And some other lady.

 

 

 

We also got to check out the new "Cars Land".  They matched Radiator Springs to perfection and there are two or three new rides in there.  We didn't go on any but it was fun to see all the detail that went into it.

 

 

 

 

They also added a "Little Mermaid" ride.  Those of you who know me know that Ariel is my home-girl.  I took a ton of photos from the ride but decided to just share one.  :)

 

 

We jetted back over to Disneyland and took in the lit up castle (with snow already on it) and a super cute parade.

 

 

King Arthur's Carousel was all lit and beautiful looking so I took a picture as we were waiting to board a pirate ship to Neverland.

 

 

It was a fun trip! Lots of time with family and sunshine.  I can't wait to go back with our little man.

 

Speaking of little man...

 

We had two little men who were super duper excited to have mommy and daddy home :) 

 

We will get back to our regular home reno programming this week.  Thanks for stopping by!