Last week we ventured to San Diego, CA for Clark's brother's wedding. We had such a wonderful time. It was mine and Michael's first time to California, and it's definitely not going to be our last. I may have fallen in love with it. The longer we're here, the more I'm loving the West Coast in general.

Don't quote me on that just yet, though.





Our first full day there was the wedding rehearsal, but that was in the evening. Most of the day we were able to spend it in the sunshine. These pictures were taken at the pier on Pacific Beach, San Diego.

One more installment of this mini-vacation to come.

HAPPY SEPTEMBER! BRING ON THE FALL!
I know this has been over a week coming. We had SO MUCH FUN visiting family in Pella, Iowa. It brought back memories of growing up in Holland (MI).

Here are just some of the pictures. Second half are to come soon.










It was so wonderful to spend some time with my family. I'm really blessed if I get to see them more than once a year, and even luckier when I actually get to see my sister, brother-in-law, and niece. I hadn't seen them in over a year. That is WAY too long to go without seeing my sister and her sweet family. (You can see them all the time by checking out See You There!)

I love getting away, but coming home is always hard. While I really missed our space, the house definitely seems empty after being around so many wonderful people (and helping hands).

My family is full of history nuts. Probably because we were instilled with a love for it when we were very little. Anywhere we lived, we'd be taking road trips to any historical site possible. Lighthouses to battlefields to national parks, we've definitely seen it all. Don't even get me started with when my parents were living in Germany.

This picture comes to you from, I think, 1998 or 1999. Couldn't you tell? We were on a family trip to Gettysburg with some amazing family friends (the ones behind the camera, Tony and Bev).

The one standing on the pillar with the rockin' glasses, blue shirt, Tevas, and camera... that'd be me. I love this picture of my family because it's pretty much classic of everyone. The other rarity is that my older sister looks as though she was still taller than me at this point. (Love ya, KK!) My little sister looks like she's about to get in trouble. And my parents are just adorable. Even though my mom is a little overshadowed, she also has the classic camera hanging around her neck. If anyone wonders where we ladies get our love for taking pictures... blame her.

Please share links for your #TBTs!

Last week I was MIA in the blogosphere. Why? Because we took a spontaneous trip to Charleston, SC. It's the closest beach to us.

We were supposed to go in July. I was so excited because we were going to have a "real" vacation. But, as always, the real world trickled its way into my fairy-tale planning and I kept realizing that we just weren't going to be able to do it. The morning after Clark and I had this discussion, we loaded up the car and drove down.

Yeah. We're not good at paying attention to the real world much. Oops.

We had SO. MUCH. FUN.

The best part? Michael loved it. He wasn't exactly happy with the long car rides or the car rides around town, but whenever we got to our destination-- he was beyond thrilled. The pictures speak for themselves.

BTW, just so you are aware-- this is barely a glimpse at all the fun we had.
DAY ONE




DAY TWO










DAY THREE

Last night I was flipping through pictures trying to figure out what I wanted to do for #TBT. Not really having any old, old ones currently available, I focused in on the past six years. Going pre-Michael always seems to do the trick for me. I already feel like one of those people who can barely remember life pre-baby. That's normal, right? I have a hard time remembering how small Michael was at one point... but that's a different story.

So, I was flipping through travel pictures. When my parents were stationed in Germany it was one of the greatest periods of time. We all got to take advantage and travel. Not that this wouldn't have happened eventually, but having the option to go over when I was young and experience some of the world was such a blessing.

I wanted to find a picture from when we visited Versailles. It was my favorite part of Paris. I found a couple. This one was my favorite.

In the "Hall of Mirrors"
However, as I went through pictures. I noticed something. Can you see the similarities in the following?




For those of you who didn't figure it out, I'm referring to my curly locks.

I know. How vain can one get?

Lately my hair has been frizzy and limp and lifeless and all I've been wanting is my curly hair back. I know it was the pregnancy hormones (well, I'm hoping) and there's the possibility of the curls returning once I stop nursing... but part of me just wants to take matters into my own hands.

OK... I'm off the hair tangent. Have a #TBT (or a post-pregnancy-hair-story)? Please share!

Before I knew it, it was time to leave for Clark's graduation. I had lost track of time amidst working and having a roommate. We were having such a good time that I seemed to be ignoring all the stress that was revolving around me.

For instance, Clark's family had planned a Hawaiian vacation for his ten days of leave before his next step of training. While this was fabulous, I had soon realized it wasn't a good idea. We had to find a new place to live (our current landlord was not a fan of Luna and wanted to rent the house as a whole rather than two units). Clark had to look into jobs for when he returned. And there was the possibility that he would be late, which the Marine Corps would not accept, thanks to the flights his parents had reserved.

It was irresponsible to go. This I knew. Convincing Clark was going to be something else. As I drove to my in-law's, I started to think about this.

I was going to spend a night in Fayetteville before we left for South Carolina. The plan was to leave in the morning, bright and early, with plenty of time to spare. We didn't leave until the afternoon. I probably should have just up and left with my sister-in-law in tow in the mini-van, but I waited for my mother-in-law to join us. Clark's paternal grandparents were having some health issues, so Clark's father stayed behind to help, in hopes that he'd get there in time for the following day's festivities.

Driving there wasn't too bad. At this point I wasn't exactly a skilled driver. I had barely had my license for two years, and would still let others drive as much as possible when the opportunity presented itself. After coming to a fork in a road with my mother-in-law shouting, "Right, right, right!" I went left. It's just how I function. If someone is yelling at me to do one thing while driving, I do the exact opposite. Never mind that I was intending all along to go right, I went left.

The best part about this? Clark's little sister said, "Mom, that's left."

We all laughed it off over dinner, and then Clark's mom took the wheel. There was no way I was driving at dark in an unfamiliar area. As you may remember from M.I.C.: Defending My "Crown", I'm not exactly a fan of night driving.

We arrived ridiculously late. I'm pretty sure it was somewhere around 10pm. That may not sound late, but even then it was to me. I am an early-to-bed, early-to-ride type of gal.

Clark's mom gave me half of a sleeping pill to calm my nerves. Truly. I was that restless. All the long drive had done was give me even more jitters. Think about it. I had gone thirteen weeks without seeing Clark. Truly without REALLY talking to him. It didn't matter how many letters or how few phone calls there had been, it wasn't the same.

I honestly started to hate that Clark's parents and relatives were there. Don't get me wrong. I knew my in-laws had every right to see their son graduate from bootcamp. His brother and sister and grandparents and all had the right to hug him and congratulate and support him. And I knew he'd want it. But, those first moments, I wanted it to be just me and him. I wanted to love on him and have him tell me how much he'd missed me and tell me that we'd do what was right when it came to his leave. I wanted it to be just me and him, against the world.

That wasn't precisely how it was going to be.

Monday was picture day for us! I kept putting off blogging about my power-push because I wanted to share pictures, well here are some that turned out BEAUTIFULLY!

If you're in Western North Carolina or Eastern Tennessee, seriously look up Courtney Valentine. So gifted!

I tried to cut back on how many I was going to include in the post, but I just couldn't help sharing quite a few...

So sorry to go a few days without posting, and the beginning of the month no less!

July 31st we were blessed with a storm that made our power go out for four hours and involved thunder that shook the house.

But that isn't all.

Before the thunder made our house rattle and made Michael start crying (poor dear), part of our house was struck by lightning.

This, of course, was unknown to me.

Once the power kicked in and I realized that our air wasn't back on, I started to ponder. I walked outside and heard the fan going, so assumed, perhaps, it was just taking a while to regain its power.

Oooooh, no. That would have been convenient.

Come to find out (August 1st, once the repairman came) that part of our air unit/box/control/technical-termed-thing was fried by lightning. And the two parts that needed to be replaced are not parts he typically carries.

Figures.

So we are now on day three (and a half) of no air.

It's. Too. Hot.

I know, I shouldn't complain. We've had lots of rain and our heat doesn't begin to compare to others who do have highs in the 100s.

I still feel like complaining.

August 1st Michael and I did our best to keep cool. We played in his baby pool outside, laid around, drank cold water... good stuff.

Michael still thought it was too hot. He would barely nap and barely let me put him down. By the end of the day we were stinky and gross.

We finally gave in and went to buy a fan once the repairman said it could be ten days before a part came. He was so sweet. He came back trying to use old parts he had to give us a temporary fix, but it didn't work.

Why did we have to buy a fan, you ask? After all, our air conditioning broke last summer at our previous place. We should have fans, right?

Right. We do. But they're in Fayetteville. With Clark's family. We assumed our air conditioning wouldn't go out on us this year.

What's the chance of being struck by lightning? HA!

Yesterday we refused to endure the heat (or rather, Clark refused... never mind that Michael and I had to the day before). Out we went to do some payday shopping.

First we went to one "big city" to do some shopping. Clark needed clothes. Come to find out, the store in big city #1 didn't have what he wanted. So we went to big city #2.

On our way home from big city #2, it started to storm. It was storming so badly that we had to get a hotel room for the night because I refused to drive home in the pouring rain, thunder, and lightning on a curvy mountain road when it was getting dark outside. Absolutely refused.

No worries, our animals were safe and sound with food, water, and a fan going the entire time. Apparently it didn't storm that badly at our house, either.

We returned this morning to find everything in tact, including our broken air conditioning. I promise recipes soon... it's just too dang hot to run our oven and risk rising the temperature in our house.

It's amazing how traveling can leave you feeling "hung over" for a few days. We've been home since Sunday evening and I still can't seem to shake the feeling of laziness from the car trip.

It's true we did plenty while visiting Clark's family. That, however, does not excuse the fact that our suitcase has yet to be unpacked, or that our house is filthy and desperately needs to be vacuumed, or that we've been slow on catching up on washing the dishes. For whatever reason, this trip left us all feeling incredibly jet lagged-- even mores than mine and Michael's trip to Kansas.

So, here's what went down in Fayetteville, NC.

We arrived and Michael was a little afraid of his grandparents.

We played the piano.

We had the Fourth of July.



Michael successfully wiggled out of his Snug-a-Bunny seat, flipped over Luna's water bowl, and made a wet mess.

We went out for Pop's Birthday.

We went to the beach.

I made a fabulous looking Fruit Pizza.

Now if I could just recover and get things done!