A California Christmas

This was our first Christmas not going to Missouri over break. It was very strange for us, but it was also a big blessing that the doctor allowed us to travel to California. Jarred's sister and bro-in-law graciously invited us to join them over the holiday so we made the journey to southern California!

We left on Saturday morning and made it to Cali late afternoon. We did so much during our trip, I might get some of the details confused, but this is the gist of our trip :-) Pretty sure the first afternoon/evening we just hung out. We played Scrabble, and thanks to living with the Scrabble-master and playing Words with Friends against him, I barely squeaked out a win.

Sunday was excellent! We went to church and I really loved the service!! The worship was wonderful and the message of the Christmas story was presented so simply but was so good. It really reminded me of our church in VA, which made me miss everyone there, but it was so good and refreshing to be a part of the service that day. After church we went to Orange Co to visit some more family. We went to lunch with our Aunt Rob and that woman is such a blessing!! Every time I see her, she shares a part of her or her families testimony and it's just beautiful!!! Her love for the Lord is so evident and so inspiring - such a blessing!!! I think we just hung out Sunday evening - maybe that's the day we watched some of the movie "Elf"??

Let's see...Monday was Christmas Eve. We were lazy getting ready and then headed to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Normally I'm not much of a museum-type person, but the library was very nice and a great experience. Plus, they had two exhibits going that are not always there. The first exhibit was one of Christmas trees representing every decade of American history...it was a LOT of trees! ha! But they were soo well done and so beautiful!! The second exhibit was the Disney archives which was really fun to see the history of Disney from the beginnings to the present. I also learned that Disney really got started in Kansas City...pretty cool! On Monday we also exchanged gifts because the bro-in-law had to work on Christmas. Jarred got me an awesome gift!!! He is SO good! He had my VT diploma framed!!! Techs diploma's are like super huge and you have to have them custom framed - and I would have never spent the money myself so it was the PERFECT gift!!!!! Oh, and we went to Friday's for dinner before the Christmas Eve service at church!

On Christmas we were just lazy. Then, as part of the Caple family tradition, we saw a movie in the evening. We saw, "This is 40"which, I unfortunately do not recommend. It was not that funny and there was a lot of language and it was a really sad picture of what the typical American marriage looks like these days. But, thanks to Bethany and Drew's generosity, we didn't have to pay for the movie because they gave us two free tickets!!
Oh - and I forgot Jarred's favorite part...we went to the beach on Christmas!!!! I saw dolphins for the first time! It was very cool :-) I just love going for walks on the beach with my baby!! He loves the ocean so much and it just makes me so happy when he is happy!!

Then, on Wednesday, we did some shopping and more hanging out. We also took their dog to the dog park that evening which was beautiful! I would absolutely take my dog there!! The park is on top of a mountain overlooking the whole valley and the sun was setting - it was just amazing! And we topped the evening off with some toasted raviolis :-)

Oh - and we got some very exciting news!! One of my bffs from home, Trish, and my sis-in-law Sarah both got engaged!!!!! We're so excited for you both!!!

Overall, we ate way too many sweets (oreo truffles, peanut butter cookies with hershey kisses in them...way too many!), we were spoiled by Bethany and Drew providing so many meals and a place to stay, and we were able to celebrate the birth of Jesus with family. We are blessed!!

Jarred's rents come for a visit :-)

Just two short days after my parents left, Jarred's parents came for a visit! They got in on Thursday, but I had decided to stay home from work. Some of my preceptors insisted I go to the labor and delivery evaluation room as I had another really bad migraine during work. Unfortunately, I was there for five hours on Wednesday evening and the drugs they gave me made me really sick feeling. So, on top of feeling kinda yucky from the migraine, I also didn't get much sleep from feeling so nauseous from the meds...so I stayed home!

When Jarred's parents got in that afternoon, we were pretty chill. We actually received a giant package during the day, which ended up being a glider and ottoman from Jarred's parents. So, since we had this giant box in our living room, his parents decided we should just open our Christmas presents that evening as well!! So, we celebrated Christmas and went to Pei Wei for dinner.

On Friday, I went back to work - thankfully feeling significantly better!! Praise the Lord for rest and relaxation, and a boss who allows you to take time off!! Also, big thanks to my fellow interns for covering my patient load while I was gone!! But while I was at work, Jarred took his parents to our local mall, Costco and In and Out because it was one of like ten rainy days for the year. After they picked me up from work we went to a Mexican restaurant for dinner - Jarred's dad is a big fan of Mexican food :-) And we had gelato for dessert!!

On Saturday, it was unfortunately cold and rainy (again...). But we decided to brave the weather and head to The Desert Museum. It's a really cool outdoor, natural museum. I think we spent like 4 hours there!! And we kinda rushed it toward the end because we were getting so cold. But we got to see lots of animals and plants and all kinds of local deserty things! ha! Saturday evening, we played Mexican train.

Sunday we went to church and the message was quite powerful. The pastor spoke about how Christians have such hope in the promise of everlasting life for those who believe in the Lord. For some reason, I still kinda struggle with fear of death. I absolutely believe that those who believe Jesus Christ died for our sins will absolutely have life everlasting. But for some reason, it's like I fear/believe I'm the exception to the rule and I worry about my salvation. That's something I've been continuing to pray for - confidence in my faith in Him and trusting in His salvation.

After church, we ate at another Mexican restaurant for lunch :-) And then that day we went on another quick hike around Sabino canyon and played some more Mexican train.

Sadly, they had to leave on Monday. While I was at work, Jarred took them up to the Phoenix area and they did all kinds of stuff. Jarred's mom used to live in the area so they drove through her old neighborhood, they did some shopping and I'm sure they did some eating as well!!!

We, as well as Kinsley, were so blessed to have them visit. Both of our parents just continually shower us with blessings in every way!! They provide us with gifts, they share their wisdom, they share their love...we are so blessed and we welcome their company anytime!!!

Again, I have pictures, but just not on this computer so I'll post those later :-)

The rents come for a visit!!

A few weeks ago when my mommy and daddy came for a visit, they came in on a Friday evening. We had the great pleasure of also having dinner with a friend from VA who was driving from CA to VA - so that was a great surprise and wonderful visit! After dinner and dessert with our friend, mom and dad arrived!! Pretty much as soon as we got home, we opened presents from our baby shower!

The Sunday before they came, mom was the guest of honor at my baby shower that was planned for me by a wonderful friend back home. But, the cool thing is, after my mom opened all the presents, all the presents were re-wrapped and sent my way so that I could open them! I was not expecting that, but it was such a blessing to open all our gifts!!

So after our gifts were opened, we briefly talked about our plans for the weekend and then headed to bed. The next morning, we took maternity pics. Mom had bought the cheetah dress for me as a Christmas gift so that I could wear them for pictures. So we just took a few quick pics at the really snazzy resort right across the street from our apartment. But, Kinsely wasn't too thrilled about pictures and I was really uncomfortable most of the day. So we cut the photo shoot short and headed to my grandparents for the weekend.

At grandma and grandpas, we had our family Christmas on Saturday evening. And Sunday, at church, was the Christmas Cantata which was a great celebration! I just love me some Christmas music!! Unfortunately, we had to head back to home Sunday evening as I had to work.

On Monday, mom and dad came to visit me at work for lunch. While I was working, Jarred took mom and dad to Sabino canyon for a quick hike. They saw some natural wildlife :-) For dinner, we took them to a local place and had some wonderful food and desserts!! Yummo!! Unfortunately, Monday evening is when my strange migraine things started to happen and they happened again on Tuesday right before mom and dad had to leave. So, they came to the hospital to have lunch with me and I ended up going to the airport with them to say goodbye and then went home to take a nap!

We had such a wonderful weekend with my family!! I wish so badly that we could be closer to our family (all of our family!!!) The older I get, the more sentimental I become and the more I want to be close to home to "be there" for my family. I just love them SOOOO much and I was SOOO incredibly thankful for their weekend visit!!!

Oh - and I have some pics to add to this post, but they are on another computer. So, I'll add those to another post :-)

Maternity pics!!

Welp, it's been a while since my last update!! We've been busy!! We've had lots of family/friends visiting us. First, our friend from VA stopped by for an evening on his way from California back to VA. Then, my family came for a few days and then two days after they left, Jarred's parents came. They just left today... And in between visitors, I suddenly had these awesome migraine things happening. I call them hormonally-exacerbated, light-induced migraines :-) Either way, prayers would be appreciated as I have to see an ophthalmologist tomorrow to make sure it's not a crazy random thing that can happen in pregnancy! Anywhos, we absolutely LOVED having them here and we miss them SO much!! I'll write two other posts about what we did while they were here.

This post is going to be solely dedicated to maternity pics :-) We didn't have much time to take too many pics at different locations with different outfits and such, but that's fine with me. I'd rather spend more quality time with my fam than take more pictures any day! So here are just a few of our favorites. We took these right across the street from our apartment, at that giant, fancy resort.

Oh, except this one :-) We took it in front of our tree!

Just a silly one - I said I didn't want any pictures kissing my belly

Just love the beautiful backdrop of this one!

Love my precious husband!!

Snuggle my belly, snuggly Miss Kinsley

Sunday Workday, Sunday Showerday

This weekend it was my turn to work on Sunday... So, Jarred and I went to church Saturday morning and then we were pretty lazy!!

Today I went to work and work was fine - it actually wasn't as bad as I thought it might be. I had heard horror stories of how busy it would be and such, but really, it was pretty doable! BUT, while I was at work, my mom was back home in Missouri representing me at my first ever BABY SHOWER!!! I am just blown away by the godly, generous women in my home church and my family. I wasn't even there and yet I was still showered with gifts and blessings...unbelievable!!!

So here is what I have gathered from the shower and here are some shenanigans that apparently went on...Oh, I only know these details because these pics were sent to my phone while I was at work :-)

1) There was apparently a lot of pink and a lot of delicious-looking cupcakes

That's my BFF and shower-planners little girlie helping out!

2) Onesies were made...I hear Kinsley now has about 30 homemade onesies of all different sizes!!

I believe this is where the onesie decorating took place!

Rumor has it that these are the ladies that put the whole shindig together!

Some of the final products :-)

3) Extended family and Church family blessed my baby girl!

There's so many of them! Look closely and you will see a video camera - that's my dad making sure I don't miss a thing!

4) Presents were opened!

My other BFF made that present - it's a little wall decoration :-) so cute!

My mama opening up some more gifts!

So yep - it looks like Miss Kinsley will be nicely taken care of!!! I'm still just kinda in shock at how we are being provided for...so blessed and so thankful!