July

We had a lot of fun Natalie's masquerade party celebrating her graduation from her master's program.  It was such a fun night and such an amazing accomplishment for Natalie!  In this photo we are both are almost 24 weeks along:

Hudson enjoys all things boy... like getting dirty and sticking hay in your mouth :) 

We had a wonderful 4th of July.  We had some good friends over, played at the beach, walked back to our house for a bbq, then headed back down to the beach to watch the fire works, and back to our house to roast smores and "bread on a stick" (a danish tradition). 

Hudson does this ALL the time... he constantly says "two hugs" and grabs both Trav and I to give us hugs.  He is extremely affectionate and such a sweet boy.  I have said it before, but I absolutely love having a son:

Walking down to the beach after dinner for the fireworks show:

Hudson with a few of his best buddies:

The crew:

As I am writing this, Natalie and I are only 9 days away from our due date.  Looking at all the pictures of us pregnant together really reminds me of what a sweet blessing it has been to have such a good friend to be pregnant with :) 

Lina made the dough for our "bread on the stick" roasting: 

It was delicious!  The bread actually rises as you slowly cook it over the fire.  It really allows time to just sit and talk versus how quickly you can roast a marshmallows.  Once the bread is cooked you put butter or jam on it and it is amazing!!!

Hudson and I spent some time with Emily and Jackson down at baby beach a few times.  It is fun to see our boys friendship develop:

Then of course, what time is better than the summer to create new fun games.  This was a basically a huge slide for his cars:

More time at the beach:

Travis used to go to baby beach as a kid, so it was fun continuing the tradition and taking Hudson there to play:

Then for my 29th birthday we took our bikes to Balboa Island and rode them down the peninsula, took the ferry across to the island, got some famous ice cream, took the ferry back, played at the park at the beach and then off to dinner at one of my favorites... Spaghetti Factory:

This is right in front of the Harborside Pavilion at the end of the peninsula which happens to be the place where our wedding reception was 6 years ago!

And again the pavilion is in the background:

Then for our 6th anniversary Trav and I headed to Palm Springs for a couple of days.  We got a great deal on our room because we shot a wedding at this hotel last year and they used some of our photos for advertisements for weddings at their hotel.  So, they gave us a great price and upgraded the room when we got there!  We had a such a wonderful time that we both cherish... sweet moments and conversations and time to refocus and to reflect on all that God is doing and has done in our lives.  

Then at the end of July, I got to go to the annual CBU girls reunion.  There are 8 of us who have been getting together since we graduated and it is something we all look forward to all year long.  

We always start the weekend out with a really good meal and we end up staying up way too late talking, laughing and just enjoying each other. 

This year we were only missing our sweet friend, Sarah.  We are hoping next year to have perfect attendance :)

A night out to dress up and eat a delicious meal:

Sweet little Brayden was our chaperon: 

And again, we just enjoyed more time at the beach: 

I just love this photo below.  There is something about the freedom of a child that is so refreshing.  A big field + pretending like you are flying = childhood at it's best