Flashback To That Time I Went To San Francisco

Clear back in January I had the amazing privilege of getting together with some dear friends from our Philly days in the beautiful city of San Francisco. Here are just some of our adventures:

Why yes, we did find a favorite brunch spot pretty quickly.  At Honey, Honey.

Clare, me, Sara, Danica, Jessica, Dani, and Lisa

We had... probably... just finished a meal and were... probably... planning out which places we needed to go to eat at next.  Sounds about right.

My morning sickness decided to make its debut the very weekend I left on this little trip. I was pretty miserable a good half of the time, but hey, if you gotta be miserable, at least be miserable in California. (Here I am at the Museè Mechanique... or spelled something like that.)

We walked... a lot. Like, we're talking miles and miles per day. It was great! Though the picture is blurry, my memory of this quaint alley we stumbled across is not. It was so picturesque with the city in the background, the surrounding lush foliage and quiet escape feel to the place. I could definitely live there!

We made it to Chinatown, but the visit wasn't too notable since we arrived pretty late. Here we are, taking a break on some dirty steps upon which I'm pretty sure someone had recently urinated....

The delicious brown butter smell that permeated the air in the block surrounding Tartine Bakery was almost enough to put me in an early grave it made me so nauseated. Brown butter! The smell I live for! Pregnancy oddities are just sometimes full of dark humor. Luckily, my craving to take part in all things Delicious won over my instinct to flee and I enjoyed the bread pudding and a quiche that my mouth is watering over at just the memory.

The contents of that Holy Grail of baked goodness.

Who can resist a good thrift store? Not us.

Who can resist a good fabric warehouse? Not us.

When in San Francisco, you visit The Painted Ladies, if only to sing the Full House theme song out in full vibrato. (No, I personally didn't do that; there were plenty of volunteers who knew the song much better than me.)

So, did I like the trip? No. I LOVED the trip. Will I ever miss a chance to hang out with these good friends? Not if I can help it. Speaking of which, we're already in the planning stages of the next trip: Savanna, Georgia March 2017!

Okay, let me sum up:

I'm doing dental marionette shows again with the Utah Dental Alliance for elementary schools in Utah County this month. It's been busy, but a good distraction from my nausea.

February has been unseasonably warm, of which we are not going to complain.

Ignore unfinished picnic area in foreground. Back there is Margo's lovely new kennel Chad and I set up one day.

Tea Party at preschool for "Letter T Week"

...but we do some learnin' too sometimes.

Visiting Brother Brätt, post-cancer surgery.

Ezra may have started to understand that he is no longer going to be Mommy's baby. Terrible Two's are going out with a BANG!

Modeling their new Valentine skirts (my only recent sewing project.)

There's a first time for everything. Ez finally got to "officially" go to the dentist.

Grandma Camp turned 80!!! I asked her what her advice to me was and she told me to just enjoy every minute with my family. 

Chad is living with us and it's just too perfect that his dog our dog are friends to let a week-long play date pass us by. (...and yes, they did have fun tearing up the back yard and pulling up old landscaping fabric. So. Much. Fun.) 

These munchkins have put up with a lot of griping and lazy days from their mama lately.  I love 'em to pieces!

Two-ish Months In

February has been a crazy month for us. It was crazy-warm outside practically every day until yesterday so winter didn't really linger like it usually does around these parts.  I absolutely can't complain because we were able to clean up the yard that Margo had torn up over the months of November, December, and January. (Having a puppy has been a lot more work at times than having three children under the ages of 7.) After we cleaned up the yard, the neighbor's dog had worked up the courage to come over and meet his friend through the fence, and literally busted THROUGH the fence to play with Margo. After a few rather large holes and a few trips of her own over to neigbor's yard, Margo was given a large, but still confined space of her own on the opposite end of the yard. I love our dog, but I feel like the worst person ever keeping her not only strictly outdoors, but now in a kennel (however large it may be.)

Anyway, once the Margo drama was out of the way, I could really focus on being The World's Best Mom!

Ha.

Yeah, that never happened.  We still have our routine, but I've kind of been M.I.A. from it thanks to a little thing called Morning Sickness. Blah! It has definitely wreaked havoc on me this time.  I mean, it's all day long and through the night sometimes.  I can't get my energy up to do anything until mid-morning (this includes getting out of bed sometimes.)

Oh wait, did I not mention I was pregnant yet??

 Sorry, my bad.  Ta Da! I'm having another baby!  Due date is August 31st right now. We wanted to have a baby earlier but insurance issues got in the way thanks to good 'ol ObamaCare and Open-Enrollment restrictions.  "Water under the bridge now," I keep telling myself. Side note: my opinion is that it's good for some, bad for others. We just happen to fall into the latter category, which I justifiably don't need to like. (Yay for pregnant lady rants!) But mooooving on... the kids were so excited when we told them. Juan started by sharing some x-rays of animals and recognizable human bones. Then we pulled out the ultrasound wrapped up like swaddled baby in a baby carrier. They were a little confused at first, but upon further inspection of the ultrasound, they were squealing with joy. August will be quite the busy month for us, assuming many plans don't change.  Also, I accepted the request (in a moment of weakness caused by a wave of mom-guilt) to be in charge of the school's Reflections program which gets pretty busy in September. "Stacia, Stacia... Do you need to be institutionalized?"

Anyway, I'm hoping that after all this whining and complaining Juan will still stick around.  He says he loves me, but I'm starting to suspect he has ulterior motives because nobody, I mean NOBODY has as much patience as he has. Maybe he married me for my money....