A Tourist Weekend

This past weekend Kurt's brother, Kevin, and his wife, Cara came to visit. We did our darndest to pack everything you've just got to see in SB into one weekend! These two have a lot of energy, so we were pretty much able to do it! We ate some great cajun and seafood, browsed the harbor, shopped on State Street, toured the Museum of Art and visited the artwalk along the water. On Saturday night we went bowling at Zodo's and just had the best time! I have to put in a plug for myself...I beat everyone the first game and lost to Kurt by one point in the second! Cara said she's getting me a bowling ball for Christmas- ha,ha! We will miss these two and had such a great time visiting!

Howdy Y'all!

A side view of Susan and I with our "baby bellies"! As you can tell I have a long way to go still!


Mom and Dad


With my college roomie Rachel Fisher


With my old back door neighbor and childhood friend, Julie Young


My Mom's best friends who are like family to me, Betty Hamilton and Mary Ann Grimsrud



Last week I went back to Texas to help throw a baby shower for my best friend, Susan Williams. Susan in having a little boy that they will name Ethan in August! I also got to see Susan's new house while I was in town- it is so beautiful!! While in town I was able to meet up with lots of old friends for lunches/dinners- with the dual purpose of sneaking in some of my favorite food joints at the same time! It was so great to see everyone and catch up! Lyndsey, Alison and Holly- I am so bummed I forgot to take a picture when we had dinner so I could post it!! My parents were also kind enough to cart me around to look at baby furniture and bedding in the Rice Village and over on 1960. I didn't fly out until the 4th of July, so I was able to go see the Friendswood Parade in the morning and still be back in SB for the fireworks on West Beach with my honey!

Fire Update: This is for those of you that I haven't talked to but have been hearing about the fires in SB. It is really about 6-8 miles away from where we live and more over in Goleta (the little town that borders SB along the coast to the north and where Kurt works). It is the highest priority fire in California right now because it is so close to many homes. Many residents have been evacuated from their homes. We heard they have it up to 28% contained, so it appears to be getting better. We aren't getting much smoke and ash over here in SB unless the winds shift in the evening. It was pretty bad over in Goleta when I flew in on the 4th though- ash falling like tiny snow flurries.

Summer Solstice

We went down to State St. Friday night to get some gelato and noticed that everyone already had their chairs set up for the Solstice Parade on Saturday! This parade celebrates the first day of summer. We didn't want to be left out...so we went home and grabbed our chairs and went down to set them out. People are seriously psycho about this event...they rope off their little areas along the sides of the street so they can have the best view possible! So since we already had our spot we walked down to the parade with Stella about 11:30 on Saturday. The parade was supposed to start at noon, but I don't think it made it down to where we were until 2:00! Boy was it hot- felt like Texas at close to 100 degrees! Thank goodness for umbrellas! Later after the parade was over we walked to the park where they were holding the festival for a couple of hours. We noticed the food offerings were healthier than in TX- haha- guacamole and roasted corn! Also listened to some good music, and of course the best entertainment was the people-watching!

A weekend in Sequoia Nat'l Park

Kurt and I packed up the P-finder and drove to Sequoia Nat'l Park for a long weekend. We stayed in a little cabin so we could cook some of our own meals and also take the dogs! The scenery was absolutely gorgeous- it is amazing that some of those trees are over 2,000 years old! Just think of all they have "seen" change in the world! We went on a 3.5 mile hike up to the top of Topokah Falls, which was really cool because the snow up in the high elevations is still melting so the waterfall was really flowing! We also happened upon 3 bears (two mamas and one cub). That was probably the coolest thing even though we were quite a bit closer than the 150 feet they advise you to stay away from them!

Smile you're on camera!

We went to the doctor again last week and got a new ultrasound pic! It definitely looks more like a baby now! We were able to see it "jumping" around and flipping over- apparently it's a pretty active one- not sure if that's good or bad!

Here's our first official pic!

This ultrasound pic was taken about a month ago, but supposedly it really is a little tiny baby! Cute huh?

Our beautiful SB!

We just wanted to share a few pics from the beautiful community we are lucky enough to be spending 8 months in!

Mission Santa Barbara













Looking back toward East Beach and the city from Stearns Wharf













SB Courthouse













View looking down at the city from high up on the Riviera in Franciscan Park