Raspberry picking

Three years ago Dusty and I built some raised beds and I started a little vegetable garden....it's since grown to almost 200 square feet of veggies and flowers, 60 feet of raspberry canes, 6 blueberry bushes, 10 tomato plants (all 4 ft tall already!).  But our favorite is picking raspberries every day...especially when we have the boys over!  Chase, Drew and Nick (Drew's napping brother) are such fun neighborhood buddies.  We are so fortunate to live near great families like theirs!  I love that Bella has friends to play with right outside our doorstep.  Today the boys took a break from playing soccer, crabbing and riding their bikes to chow down on some raspberries and they sure were good! 

Bella is going to be a BIG SISTER!!

BIG NEWS!!  Bella is going to be a big sister!  Here's a picture of our little baby a few weeks ago at our first ultrasound.  It's so clear!  She/He is the size of a lime now and starting to grow fingernails and toenails!  We're due January 30th...10 days after Bella's 3rd birthday!  Bella is so sweet and wants to talk to the baby every day through my bellybutton, and is always talking about her baby brudder or sister. 

What an exciting time!

Happy 4th of July!

We had SO much fun at the beach with Grandpa and Grandma this past weekend for the Fourth of July!  I can't believe I only had my camera out for like 5 minutes - it was just so beautiful we spent the whole time playing outside, eating, napping, relaxing and watching fireworks or the great Home Parade!  Thank you so much mom and dad for a wonderful weekend!!  Dad - I'm glad you took a bunch of pictures, can't wait to see them!

She was so excited to go to the beach (and totally doesn't understand the concept of time or days yet), that I made a little calendar of activities for the days counting down to the beach so I didn't have to try and explain for the 400th time that no, we weren't going to the beach "right now".  :)

keeping watch over the beach...

Getting a sticker from the firefighters

showing off her tattoos

SUP!

All I gotta say is Dusty is so cool.  He got to try out something this past weekend he's been wanting to for a LOOONG time - stand up paddling (SUP), and like everything he tries, he's a total natural at it!  It's such a fun way to be out on the water without having to drive hours down to the shore to catch a wave!  Bella and I got to watch from the beach but we'll be out there next time - they even have boards that are wide enough to take kids on.  We'll definitely be making this a new family adventure!

If you are interested, he hooked up through Dolans Board Sports - a great guy here in Tacoma that is building a community of SUP enthusiasts and lets people demo boards and paddles down at Owens Beach in Pt. Defiance Park. 

Dressed to impress

Dusty said he's pretty sure Paris Hilton started this trend of tank, undies and waist high boots.  I'm pretty sure he's right.

This is how we found her, fast asleep after we had already tucked her in.  She had to put her tutu on for sweet dreams apparently!

And who doesn't love strutting a little salsa dancing, flower in the mouth, off the shoulder look every now and then?