Cannon Beach, OR Weekend with the Craft Family (Feb. 18th-20th)

My parents rented a house at Cannon Beach, Oregon right on the water directly in front of Haystack Rock for President's Day weekend.  We didn't show up until about 9:30pm on friday night since we didn't leave till Todd got off work and then friday traffic was horrible in addition to it being a holiday weekend.  It actually snowed on our travels when we crossed the Oregon line at Kelso/Longview once we gained some elevation.  I don't think out of all the years I've gone to the Oregon Coast that I can say it has snowed!  It made for a more interesting drive though.  When we arrived my family was relaxing.  They had saved us dinner so we scarfed that down since we were definitely hungry!  The house was nice....two stories, 3 bedroom with a hide a bed sofa in a a common area upstairs, 2 bathrooms (unfortunately one had a tub so only one shower), and half wrap around deck.  We couldn't have asked for a better location either.  You literally looked straight at Haystack Rock!  

There weren't exactly enough places for us all to sit in front room so my mom was trying to snuggle with my dad....I think her bottom is sinking!

Todd lounging after our long drive friday night (5hrs.....yuck!)

Megan and Steve.....kids are already off to bed.

Haystack Rock as I said directly in front of the rental house!  Couldn't have asked for a better view!

The rental house from the side

We got up at a decent hour on saturday morning, had a quick breakfast snack, and then headed down to the rock for low tide so we could see all the sea creatures that had been revealed.  There is cute Makenna in her boots...sun was kind of in her eyes so she is a little squinty!

Lovinus Family...Megan, Steve, Makenna, & Cameron

Steve is crazy...first of all he goes down to the beach wearing shorts!  Then we got a little caught in the tide so his shoes and socks got completely soaked...then there is that the water is freezing...hello it's still winter!

Mom and Dad

Todd is getting Daddy practice playing with his cute niece.  He's so good with her!

Megan and Cameron huddling on a rock as a wave comes around them.  Man Cameron is sure getting tall!

It was windy down on the North end of the beach but it was cool to watch the dry sand move across the wet sand!

The happy couple with Braden in the belly! Next year he'll be having fun at the beach!

View of Cannon Beach from Ecola State Park

Crazy to see snow on the hillside!

Todd and I on the new look out point at Ecola State Park

My parents

Who's that handsome man!

Getting artistic taking photos with Todd's Lumix camera.  It takes pretty good photos and has an awesome zoom.

Indian Beach from Ecola State Park

Sun is starting to set

Light house off in the distance at Ecola State Park

This poor tree doesn't look anything like it used too.  My parents used to sit my sister and I on one of the tree limbs when we were young every year that we came to the beach.  Sad to see it gone now =(

We decided to head Indian Beach especially since we paid to enter the park

The sun is getting lower

My husband is showing that he does have some camera skills after all....Hahaha!!!!  Good job honey!  I just keep joking since I got him the digital camera 2 years ago for christmas but I use it more...guess it was sort of a gift for me too!  Picture was taken from the house.

My belly is expanding.  I'm a day shy of 29wks here.

Side profile shows the belly more.  I still look at myself in pictures like this and say wow I'm pregnant.

Sunday morning we went down to the rock again at low tide.....they had nature specialists out there educating us all on the sea life and pointing things out.  It was very interesting.  Funny to think most of these animals cling onto the rock and really don't move very far if at all their whole life.

Starfish and Mussels

Sand dollar

Pretty purple Starfish and sea enemies

Pretty green sea enemies

Todd and I went walking further south on the beach from Haystack

Cameron with his bucket...he's ready to go!

Tons of sea enemies...looks kind of gross!

The sun was out most of the weekend even though cold...we couldn't have asked for better weather...the reflection of the sun and clouds was too gorgeous to pass by without taking a picture.

I had to write in the sand and didn't want to leave Braden out since he was there as well!  He'll be here before we know it!!!!!  I'm so excited to meet him!

Baby Craft Projects!

Well I guess you could say I've been in a nesting kind of mood recently.  Since we got our taxes filed we can focus on moving the office downstairs so the nursery is available to start setting up.  I have also been busy with making craft projects for the baby and gifts for Brenna (Todd's cousin) who is having a baby almost 2 months ahead of us.  I always like to give homemade gifts if I can.  I think homemade gifts are the best gifts ever!!

 I love the idea of using the prefolded cloth diapers for burp cloths and had seen the idea years ago of sewing colored ribbons down the center to give it a fun look.  So fun and easy to do!  As I've been told babies use tons of burp cloths and a lot of burp cloths are too small or thin so these work great!

I could spend forever at JoAnn Fabrics!!!!  It's actually sort of dangerous for me to go there since who knows how much money I will spend by the time I leave.  I made the mistake of walking down the fabric aisles and of course almost everything was on sale.  Needless to say I walked out of the store with fabric for 3 different blankets for Braden.  This is the first one I've finished.  It is that of so soft fuzzy fabric.  It has the animals on the one side and solid light blue on the other with an imprint of little stars on the other.  I then used the light blue silky fabric to do the finished edges.  I want an adult size blanket for me.  I love the animals, they are so cute.  The other two are almost done...just need to do their binding so hopefully will have them done this weekend.  Stay tuned for more pictures for the other two!

 Okay maybe I got a little carried away here but these "Hooter Hiders" are so easy to make and much less expensive to make yourself besides you can pick out whatever fun patterns you want!  Plus once you start to make one and get in the groove it is easier to make them in batches.  Of course I made some for myself this time as well as spares for others.  I also think this is a pretty good baby shower gift and I have given like 4 away already!  They kind of look like aprons hanging there but you get the idea.  They have the boning at the top center too so you can see how your baby is feeding and no one else can see your hooters!  haha!!!  Thus the name!

 This may be a waste but since babies like tactile items ie tages on blankets, I decided to make a small square patch with ribbons around the edges so the baby can play with them.  I've seen people make larger blankets with the ribbon idea around the edges.  I made this as a gift so we'll see if the baby likes it or not!

 It's the start to our new home for our office!  We removed that nasty wall to wall ceiling to floor shelf/cabinet set.  I then had to paint the wall.  My dad came over one weekday and helped me put together the Ikea cabinets and then Todd and I last week moved his desk and computer downstairs.  I think it looks good.  We still have tons to move out of the office but it's a start and it feels good to get rid of items as we go and shred paper.

Our basement is always so cold that we re-hung Todd's thermal lined curtains but there was two problems.  They were about 7.5 inches too long so they always dragged on the floor.  You also couldn't fully open them since the top was just one long loop that slide onto the curtain rod instead of the tab top kind.  I ended up finding these cool rings with clips attached to them so I just clipped them onto the curtain and shortenend/hemmed them and now they are good to go.  It will be nice to be able to fully open them so we can get some natural light down there especially if we are going to be spending more time there with the office now in the basement.  I can't wait to get the old office empty to start setting up all the furniture I have for the nursery!  Fun Times!

28 Plus Weeks Belly Shot

28.4wks belly shot!  Wow I can't believe we are approaching 29 wks soon!  Time is flying.  We've been doing well...overall pregnancy thus far has been pretty good.  Nausea and vomiting has long since passed thank goodness.  I have started to get a little swelling in my ankles.  Nothing bad but when I look at my ankles they definitely don't look like they are mine.  I jokingly say that was the one area on my body that I could count on staying skinny no matter what my weight did....not anymore!!!  Bummer!  Well I guess the swelling is a hazard of my job especially when I work my 3 days in a row.  I have had several nights of insomnia recently waking up between the 3-4 o'clock hour and can't go back to sleep so I've just gotten up and made myself be productive.  I woke up this morning at 4:30am, awake and hungry.  When Todd woke up at 6am for work he found me in the basement.  I said good morning, I'm hungry do you want me to make us a breakfast sandwich!  We both had to laugh!!!  I made him breakfast, coffee, and got his lunch ready but told him not to expect that kind of service every morning. Hahaha!!!

Well we are headed off to Cannon Beach, Oregon later today for a long weekend.  My parents rented a house on the ocean for the family....sister and family, Todd and I, and my parents.  Should be fun so stay tuned for more photos!