Father's Day :: 2013

Like Mother's Day, we split our time between Jason's parents and mine.

Again, what a blessing to be so close to our families.

The day was quiet mellow and there wasn't a lot to document.

But, I wanted to make sure to get some generation pictures with both sides of the family.

We started with lunch at Jason's parents.
 

I think Jason looks like his dad.

Jason does not think so.

 

We ended the day with dinner at my sisters with my family.
 

Lately, most people have been saying that Jack looks like Jason.

I've always thought he looks like me (especially as a baby).

But, more so, ever since Jack was a newborn, Jason and I have thought he looked like my dad.
I posted the above picture on Instagram and Facebook on Sunday, and finally people see it.
 

Jack is a mini-Jimmy!

  So glad I was able to get pictures of all my favorite guys together.

It was a perfectly mellow Father's Day.

Jack's 6 Month Photo Shoot & A Comparison

I wanted some updated 'professional' looking pics of Jack, since we only have newborn ones and he looks nothing like that anymore.

So thankful for my sister Mel who is the best and took these AWESOME pics of Jack the other weekend.

I am a little obsessed with them and look at them over and over.

These are my favorites out of about 50 that I initially liked

Still can't pic the 1 or 2 that I want to frame.

So, here we are.

Photo overload of Jack at six months old.

And, I thought it would be fun to do a comparison picture of me, Jason, and Jack at 6 months.

Everyone seems to have a strong opinion of who they think Jack looks like. Some say definitely me, while others say definitely Jason.

Who do you think Jack looks like?

2 Years

Two years since we said 'I do.'

It sure has gone by fast!

I know...it's only been two years...

but lots has happened in those two years!

By our first anniversary, we had bought our first house together.

And, I was entering my second trimester of pregnancy.

Excited to not be pregnant for this anniversary!

 We are planning on celebrating this weekend by going out to dinner in the city.

So blessed to go through life with this hottie!

Important Dates

Three years ago today on November 1, 2009, I met Jason. 
And now...we are married and have a six week old baby boy.
Crazy how life can change so much in a matter of three years.

I'm a date person.
I'm kinda obsessed with dates...people's birthdays, cool number combinations, significant events happening on dates related to other significant events...

So, I thought I'd write out the significant dates of our life for the past three years.

11.1.09: Jason and I meet at the young adults group at our church.
11.28.09: Jason and I go on our first official date to Aliotos in SF.
9.19.10: Jason proposes in San Francisco along the Lands End Trail.

4.2.11: We are married!

1.21.12: We find out we are pregnant with an EDD of 9.28.12.

1.27.12: We put an offer on a house (accepted on 1.30.12).

9.19.12: Our son Jack William is born.

So, most of these dates aren't that cool when it comes to number combinations... Lots of odd months with even days or years, so the dates don't look cool according to my taste.

However, I love the story behind some of these dates....

For example, I love that Jason and I met and started dating in November.

I used to call November 'Black November' because I had a few rough Novembers in a row... from starting a not fun job...to surgery....to a break-up that lasted from the start of November and ended on the 30th. So, I think it's great that Jason redeemed November for me.

When we found out our due date was the end of September, I was actually hoping the baby would be late and come in October.

I really wanted an October baby because October is my favorite month :)

Plus, I loved the dates of 10.1.12 or 10.2.12.

Very fun number combinations, right?

And, I thought that 10.2.12 would be neat because it was the 18 month anniversary of our wedding day.

Well, clearly Jack came early, so no October baby. But I love that he was born on the two year anniversary of our engagement. So very special.

And that is the fun with numbers I like to have!

Babymoon

My mom gave me and Jason some great advice shortly after we told them we were pregnant. She told us to find a week to get away together before the baby was due. 

It was hard to fathom the idea of a vacation at that point in my pregnancy, as I felt extremely nauseous. But we were hopeful that my the first week of by third trimester, I would be up for something fun.

I was. 

So, last week we headed off on our babymoon. Felt like we had just taken our honeymoon...oh...we had...just a little over a year ago.

We decided to keep it somewhat cheap and simple, so we did a So Cal sail. We knew ourselves...and knew we would get bored in one place the whole time, so we had three stops along the way.

Our first stop was Orange County on Saturday. First thing we did after checking into our hotel: Coffee Bean (the first of five stops at Coffee Bean). That has to be one of the best things about Southern CA.

Two years ago we had done an LA trip and Jason took me to Downtown Disney for the first time. We knew we wanted to revisit there and eat at one of our favorite restaurants: The Jazz Kitchen.

 

This place definitely is on our top 5 for best ambiance and food! I think we both ordered the same entrees as last time too: Jambalaya for Jason and Pecan Crusted Salmon for me.

 

 

It's great to walk around and get in the Disney spirit without having to deal with the chaos of the park. And, ESPN Zone is one of Jason's favorite places.

Did you know they have TVs in the bathroom stalls there? CRAZY!

And, we got a good laugh at this shirt, which will probably be true for our son...

 And, a TV sized version of Fruit Ninja?! Heck ya!

 

Sunday we went to an Angels game. No, neither one of us are Angels fans, but Jason wanted to take me to this park. We were totally impressed by how clean it us and how fan-centered it is. And, it was a great game - four home runs! Jason was excited to see his guy Mike Trout (learned all about him) hit one of the homers.

 

On Monday we left for San Diego (after a quick fix to our flat tire). This was the stretch of the trip that I was most excited about. I hadn't been to San Diego in ten years since my senior trip. We stayed in a beach house that whole week then, so we weren't really in San Diego much.
We spent Monday walking around downtown and exploring the Gaslamp District.

Check out the view from our hotel window: We both quoted at the same time, "So, this is how David must have felt..."

Monday night we headed to Old Town for dinner - Mexican food, of course.

Coronado Beach was the agenda for Tuesday. Finally, our first beach day :)

Apparently Coronado Beach is rated as the second best beach in America? I think that is a bit of a stretch, but it was very nice.

 

 

We enjoyed the white sand beach and exploring the Hotel del Coronado.

 

Before heading to Santa Barbara on Wednesday, we wanted to beach it up again, so we headed to Pacific Beach for some sun before heading out of town. After battling LA traffic, we finally arrived in Santa Barbara. So glad we live in Nor Cal...

We didn't arrive until late afternoon, so we decided to head down to State Street to explore and have dinner. This was Jason's first time to Santa Barbara and it did not disappoint. 

It was overcast all day Thursday and only 68 degrees, so we didn't go to the beach. (But we were thankful for those weather conditions compared to the 100+ degrees at home). We did lots of walking around Santa Barbara and Carpenteria and lots of antique shopping.

Thursday was Jason's birthday and a Lebanese restaurant, Zaytoon, was recommended to us by a friend, so we thought it would be perfect for his birthday dinner. You know how much we like our crazy cuisines. 

We saw pictures of this restaurant online and the ambiance looked incredible. It did not disappoint. One of the coolest restaurants I have ever eaten at. I will do a separate post about the restaurant, but here are a few (fuzzy) pics...camera broke :(

Jason was excited they had hooka.

The sun finally came out on Friday, so we got some beach time in before hitting the road for home.

I am so glad that we took some time to get away for a week. It was just what we needed. Pregnancy and me have not been great friends, so I have therefore not been a very fun person, let alone wife. Since I've been feeling much more like myself the past month or two, it was great for Jason and I to have some quality time together...just the two of us...before our little man joins us :)

Celebrating

Well, I have disappeared once again since the New Year (just like I did last year between January and April). Last year I was busy in wedding planning mode. This year, I have been busy, too...just with some different things.

One year ago today, Jason and I celebrated our wedding day.

Still can't believe it has already been a year. It has definitely flown by! We are so thankful that our first year of marriage didn't live up to everyone's sayings of being 'very difficult.' We both adjusted very well to marriage, and while it has not been perfect and has had its challenges, we feel so blessed by this past year together and seeing our love for one another grow.

So, what have we been so busy with? Well, at the end of January, our offer was accepted on our first place! We are currently in renovation mode (making more trips to Home Depot than I would ever want to in a lifetime), and are hoping to move in this weekend! (Pictures to come soon). Meanwhile, we are bunking up with my parents, which has been such a blessing.

We have also been busy celebrating this...

Well, maybe it's just that I have felt too sick these last two months to actually feel motivated to blog. Nonetheless, we have been celebrating that we will be parents in six months, which we are thrilled about.

Also thrilled to be celebrating this...

Yes, my sister and I are less than 7 weeks apart! Could not have planned that if we tried. Never did I think that her and I would have kids the same age. So fun! She is calling them "cousin-siblings" since they will pretty much grow up side by side. We are so glad to go through this process with each other. We're convinced that it will be the hottest summer in years because we are pregnant. We are already making plans for our summer days floating in her pool.

So looking forward to celebrating this next year to come! So much to be excited for. We are blessed. Praise to our Great God!

Jason on Ice

* I have been given permission by Jason to write this post. Permission was necessary based on the content of this post, as it could be considered blackmail.*

Our church small group decided to go ice skating (dressed in our finest tacky Christmas sweaters) as part of our Christmas party.

Jason told me that he was a horrible ice skater, and when I thought about that, I was sure it was true. There is just something about his size that doesn't lend to graceful on ice skates.

Well, when he made his debut, he did not disappoint. It was more than I imagined. Check him out.

Jason on Ice

While this was the best video I captured, it wasn't his best act...but I'm sure he's glad that this was all I captured.

We didn't last long out there, but we sure had some great laughs (and bruises) along the way!