Ellen Show...

Thanks to my cute friend (and wedding photog) Jessica I was able to go to the Ellen show last week.

I braved the traffic to Burbank and was excited to be at the Warner Brothers Studio's.

Boy was it a blast. 

The four of us were pulled aside to be quizzed for the game.

Later, our cute friend Jenny was chosen as one of three contestants on Ellen's game.

She won a trip to Vegas, shopping spree included.

I desperately wanted to get Ellen to kiss my baby bump.

Unfortunately, she chose another bump to kiss for the day.

Bummer.

Nevertheless, it was an absolute blast to be in the audience with stars in our eyes.

Speaking of Jessica, she is coming to our neck of the woods this summer to do some photo shoots.

Let me know if you are interested.

San Diego :: Casa De Luz

 Last week I was in L.A. on Tuesday, Redlands on Thursday and San Diego on Friday.

I am really getting to know the lay of the land in Southern California to say the least.

{as well as those rising gas prices}

But it was all worth it to see people that I love.

My Dad had meetings in San Diego so my Mom tagged along to enjoy the sunshine.

After work and a surprise lunch with my favorite date, I headed down to see my parents.

Dad was in meetings so Mom and I caught up and then made the trek to Babies R Us.

We were sorely disappointed when our phones took us to the scariest Toys R Us I have ever seen.

Oh well. We enjoyed each others company nonetheless.

Then it was off to Horton Plaza for a little shopping before picking my Dad up for dinner.

As previously mentioned, my parents eat a plant based diet.

So we set out to find a vegan restaurant.

Good thing we can all laugh about their crazy eating requirements because 

boy was it a trek.

We were sorely disappointed by one hole in the wall 

and then stumbled upon this Casa De Luz restaurant on accident.

It had a really fun concept and if you are looking for something new and edgy to try, 

I'd recommend it.

Even if I am still warming up to this whole eating pure plants bit.

No matter what you eat - the atmosphere was really fun and reminded me of The Communal in Provo.

Every one is served the same entree - with an option of soup or salad to start.

I opted for the Spaghetti Squash and Fig soup, which was amazing.

The entree {veggie, sweet potato enchiladas}

 was pretty good and my parents went back the next night and said it was even better.

It was really nice to have a long date night with my parents.

I miss those two.

And the best part - laying in their hotel room while they oohed and awed over their grand baby kicking.

It seems that even after having umpteen million grandkids - 

a new life is still absolutely thrilling.

Life in the Making:: 30 Weeks

How is it that I am just a few days from being 7 months pregnant?

7 months?

The time is zipping by and before we know it our baby girl will be here.

With every passing day I get more excited

and feel more overwhelmed that I am being entrusted with this child.

Blessed has truly become the word of this pregnancy.

I must think how blessed I am a hundred times a day.

But there are the realities of pregnancy, despite the overwhelming gratitude.

Overall, I am feeling good.

I am starting to understand the pains of pregnancy more and more.

My biggest complaint in the last month?

My right ribs - ouch!

I am fairly certain that she isn't kicking it - just hanging out right up against it.

Constantly.

Sitting has become less and less comfortable for this reason.

Yesterday James told me that I, "need to tell her who is boss."

I think he is in for a rude awakening that she is now boss.

She is getting more and more feisty.

I think it must be because she is squished in there.

Her kicks have changed from hard and little to feeling like an elbow or bum is going to pop out of my skin.

She is also moving more frequently.

James loves feeling her move.

He even had our friends feel it the other day.

I love how proud he already is.

I think we are set on a name.

We have basically been set since day one - I just have a hard time letting people call my belly a name.

We are still working on the middle name

We will see what she comes on as.

I had my 30 week doctors appointment today.

I don't think I will ever get tired of hearing that little heart beat coming out of my belly.

What a miracle.

I now go to the doctor every 2 weeks for 3 visits - and then every week.

I know this will make time fly by.

I had the 2 hour glucose test on Friday.

I begged the nurse to let me eat a candy bar instead of drinking the juice.

Obviously that was a no-go.

I found out today that I passed. Hallelujah!

But I am still slightly anemic.

I have eaten enough beets and spinach to nearly kill a person.

I guess I will have to get to the vitamins now.

I am measuring right on the money as the doctor put it.

He pushed around on my ribs and said that the only people that don't have rib pain are 6'7.

He then looked at me, smiled and said - how tall are you again.

We both had a good chuckle - I guess my height dooms me to rib pain.

I should probably just toughen up.

I am grateful for my short happy visits at this point.

Can't complain.

I will be the first to admit that in the beginning I was a little overly concerned with weight gain.

I used to dread going to the doctor for fear of stepping onto that scale.

Lets be honest, it is one of the most talked about parts of this growing a baby bit.

Now, at 7 months I look back and laugh at my vein, naive concerns.

I love that belly of mine and so does James.

Weight gain is all part of it.

I eat healthy when it sounds good.

I give in to unhealthy cravings more often than I should.

I try to spin once or twice a week - but sometimes fail miserably.

I eat when I am hungry, which on occasion is all day.

But I am on track to GAIN my goal weight.

Yes, gaining is the goal. Gasp.

{A goal that doesn't take much work}

Is it hard to watch that scale slowly creep up? Yes.

Do I laugh when I try to squeeze into jeans 

or use that belly band to hold my pants together.

Absolutely.

But for the first time in my life I am a-ok with it.

Maybe its part of my deepest desires to have a positive body image to help this little girl do the same.

Or maybe its just what pregnancy does to you.

Either way I know its beautiful and meant to be.

Baby prep.

I am still slow at making decisions.

There is just so much research to do.

And to be honest, I will probably never master these safety ratings.

For now, suggestions from friends and family is doing the trick.

Thanks to your comments I decided on a carseat, crib and stroller.

Yay! That is progress for me.

Now I am looking at my piles of clothes and wondering if I have enough or way too much for some ages.

How many outfits should I have for each age?

Any diaper bag suggestions or tips?

Of course I have my eye on a few, 

but I am trying to be realistic and practical.

Your suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Before I left for my shower James and I lay awake talking about how our life is about to change forever.

With all the hub bub of a shower, registering, bumper pads, sheets etc etc

it seems that the important things get over looked.

The important thing isn't the color of her bedding or how many outfits she has.

What is important is this life and perfect spirit that is coming into our home.

Over the past few weeks all I can think about is the delivery room

and seeing James hold our little piece of heaven.

My heart swoons over the thought of our growing family.

I am fairly certain that we are already obsessed with this little munchkin.

Mad Love...

James and I decided to host a little Valentines dinner party for some of our friends.

If you ask me the holiday of romance is the perfect excuse to get together with other couples.

Why not share it with others?

We love having people over to our humble abode

but have longed to throw something a little more swanky for a while.

Let's be honest, dressing up and eating on your lap in our family room is fun - 

but not exactly glamorous or romantic.

Thanks to Hotel Hanford and my blog at OC Family,

 we were able to host a little bit of a fancier party.

You can read a little more about the party planning aspect here.

Usually James and I invite over "circles of friends" that already know each other.

But this time we opted to invite several random couples from different Southern California cities.

Although we all graduated from BYU at the same time we had never all connected.

We loved it and I think every one thoroughly enjoyed getting to know each other better.

The Mad Love theme and shimmery look was inspired by this photo that I saw on Pinterest.

We don't really watch Mad Men (ha) but I just really like the style.

So, I went for it.

It seemed like the perfect fit for the hotel and for a glamourous party.

Why not?

The Hotel is a boutique and was wonderful to work with.

I adored the catering manager and loved chatting about the monkey party she just planned.

I basically want to move in to the retro lobby.

We felt a a little silly and almost like superstars dining in their fancy room.

It was beautiful.

But above all else the food was to die for.

They served 7 different dishes 

and every.single.thing. was incredible.

All of the ingredients are grown locally or organic.

James loved the scallop but I downed the homemade pasta.

As crazy as it sounds, we can't wait to go back to the hotel restaurant (Savoy) to eat.

{Eric and Candace}

{Dave and Karly}

{Aaron and Mercedes}

My favorite part of the evening was the newlywed game that James planned.

When I met James I had no idea he was Mr. Social

but boy does he love a good gathering.

Our good friend Drew Ludlow once told us

 that in the olden days couples were separated at parties to encourage conversation.

So, half way through the dinner we decided to split couples up to play the game.

I thought it was a crazy idea but James insisted.

I must admit that up until that point the conversation was broken between the two sides of the table.

As soon as we all moved and started playing the entire table was engaged and chatting.

We were all laughing so hard we could barely contain ourselves.

I am even trying to convince my parents to host a dinner party and play.

Even though it is the "newlywed" game I think it is even funnier the longer you've been married.

If you are interested in his questions, leave me a comment and I will email them to you.

Truly so grateful for this man for putting up with my crazy holiday obsessions.

Thankfully he even kissed me goodnight with what he calls "that nasty stuff" on aka lipstick.

Now that my friends, is Mad Love.

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentines week.

XOXO

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The Best Valentines Day of His Life...

James is a busy boy these days and I knew I couldn't/shouldn't expect much for Valentines.

There was simply no time for him to plan and execute.

So I told him that all I wanted was a love letter.

That's it.

I knew it just wasn't nice to expect more.

 Sunday evening rolled around and my CEO called.

He invited us to a Lakers game and dinner with him and his wife.

I am so lucky to work for the company that I do.

Truly.

It was an offer we couldn't refuse.

We rarely go to L.A. and I often forget how fun that city is in the evening.

We went to dinner at The Palm across from the Staples Center.

Very tasty to say the least.

Then, it was off to the game.

Our seats were amazing and the company was even better.

It was our first Lakers game and we relished in the whole scene.

As I have been told, a Lakers game is much more than a basketball game.

We thoroughly enjoyed scoping out the front row for celebrities.

But my husband was sorely disappointed that we didn't get on the kiss cam.

That boy has never wanted to kiss me in public so badly.

He hammed it up trying to get the camera to take notice.

Sadly, we left as kiss cam virgins.

James had a good laugh with Steve, saying he called in the nick of time 

because he had nothing planned for the holiday of romance.

But - he gave me that love letter.

And that was all I wanted.

We exchanged our notes and I couldn't have been more happy.

As much as I love all of the holiday hub bub 

nothing says romance like a hand written love note.

Good Cheer...

(design created by kortney eggertz and inspired by kate spade)

In case you missed it - we have a new blog design and name around here.

The Married Life just wasn't going to cut it with a little bambina running around.

We needed a change to the ol' blog name to fit our growing family.

Good Cheer comes from an old saying of my Grandpa's.

I didn't know him all that well, as I was only three when he passed away.

But his motto has stuck with me at every age.

As I long for a record of all the good cheer in his life -

I have promised myself that I will keep a track of all the good cheer in ours.

So, cheers to celebrations. to marriage. to colorful living. to food. and to family.

And in case anyone else is obsessing with confetti -

check out this DIY Confetti Tablecloth on Oh Happy Day today.

Craft day anyone?

What a Smile Can Do...

My first day at church in California was a bit nerve racking.

I didn't know very many people in the area and was hoping to make friends at church. 

During the summer our ward nearly quadruples in size with beach goers. 

I wondered how we would ever let people know that we were here to stay - not just vacationing.

As I walked into Relief Society a lady came up to me, grabbed my hand and said,

"Are you new?"

She was smiling, classy and oh so graceful.

She reminded me of my Mom and suddenly I felt at home.

I said yes and immediately she sat down next to me as if we were old friends.

She raised her hand to introduce me and before I knew it she had taken me under her wing.

This is just one simple example of Alicia Furst.

She and her husband Bruce have become a couple that James and I hope to emulate.

They are enthusiastic about life and are kind to everyone they meet.

Yesterday, she invited me over for a sweet luncheon with some of her darling friends.

I was thrilled with the invite and loved getting to know some remarkable women.

On top of her kindness, this woman is the picturesque hostess.

While we devoured these lemon desserts,

 her daughter Ashley sang with a pianist that played throughout the afternoon.

She sang classic Valentines songs and it took me back to my choir days in high school.

It doesn't quite feel like Valentines without hearing some of those classic tunes.

Alicia even shared some of her party planning tips with me.

This luncheon was somewhat of a dream for me.

She collects these little gems ahead of time and saves them for the perfect party.

Something I really need to work on.

She says she belongs to the NPR club - never pay retail.

Ha. I love it!

But more than her fabulous Valentines party is her kind, welcoming spirit and smile.

By simply grabbing my hand and sitting next to me 9 months ago,

she changed my entire attitude about moving to a new area.

She made me want to jump in and get involved.

She made a scared, homesick girl feel right at home in a new place.

It is truly remarkable what a warm smile can do.

My Valentine...

It's the every day moments like snuggling on a Saturday morning

or cracking up at your absurd dance moves around the house

that make me truly smitten with you.

Now, you have given me one sweet Valentines gift.

A little you and a little me.

But just as I will tell her and the others to come after -

I will always love their Daddy most.

Our complete adoration of each other is one of the greatest gifts we can give each other and our children.

You are my forever Valentine.

To a Tea Events

Churm Media is home to OC Metro, where I work, and several other media brands.

I was lucky enough to be asked by the folks at OC Family

 to blog about planning events in Orange County.

I can't help but laugh because the parties I plan are nothing fancy and certainly far from perfect.

They are usually a result of many attempts, failures and what I call a creative mess.

Surely if I can do it, you can too.

Join me in my weekly "Tea Party" at OC Family. 

And if you have a party you'd like featured or thrown...

don't hesitate to share.

We'd love to share your kiddos party.

You can check out my first "Mad Love" event here.

More pictures to come later this week.

Sugar & Spice

We are filled with all things baby over here.

Especially after some great news from my brother and sister-in-law.

Thrilled to have another cousin on the way!

Last weekend this little baby girl and I were showered with love.

I flew into St. George for a shower thrown by my lovely Mom and sister.

From the beginning stages of this party I told my Mom and Katie that I really didn't want anything big.

All I wanted was to be able to catch up with friends and celebrate the miracle of pregnancy and birth.

And I definitely didn't want any one to feel obligated to come.

Yet, my Mom hosted a party to remember and people came from far and wide.

This little baby girl is already loved by so many 

and I am feeling overwhelmed by everyone's generosity and love.

The night before the big event two of my best friends, Kourtney and Jessie, came into town.

It was just what the doctor ordered.

I needed some time with these two.

They were my roommates and lifelong best friends who were with me in a lot of pivotal life moments.

I miss them daily.

I also got to catch up with a childhood friend and her Mom, Takael and Debbie, 

Thursday evening.

I was there the day Takael was born.

I just adore her and was so glad to see her for a few minutes.

I was in love with these table cloths my Mom found via Forevermore Events.

:: Nicole, Shelby, Kelsey, Coleen and Lindsay::

adore each and every one of these ladies.

Nicole and Shelby became my close friends that last year at BYU.

We lived just doors away from each other and I long for those days back.

I am thrilled Nicole lives in STG now and so touched Shelby drove 4 hours for the event.

Kelsey - a sister more than a friend - and now an incredible mother and mentor.

She was by my side when we were just in diapers - 

and now here we are in the diaper phase all over again.

Coleen, an amazing Mom, doctor, friend and mentor.

And Lindsay, the one I "nannied" and now all grown up.

Love those Andruss girls.

It is always so nice to be in your hometown and around the people who made you who you are.

I could say something about each and every one of the women who attended.

Michelle, Cheryl and Elizabeth practically raised me alongside my Mom.

They all gave me the most touching and thought out gifts - as any second Mom would.

Jessica stopped by in between photo shoots. Love that girl.

Kris and Kim drove all the way from Vegas.

Kelsee Snow, never ceases to amaze me and I am so glad she was able to come.

The Rynearson girls always know how to put a smile on my face.

Courtney happened to be in town - and I loved getting to see her darling kiddos.

Sheron drove all the way from Salt Lake.

And Grandma Ora, well she is simply a delight at all times.

But you all know how I feel about her.

They all had a major impact on my life.

Now, if I can just take everything they have taught me into motherhood.

Fingers crossed.

::Thanks for being so "sweet"::

Little favors my Mom put together with chocolate covered cherries, blueberries and jelly beans.

Simple and perfect.

One such woman was my Mother-in-law Ann who came all the way from Virginia.

She was in Salt Lake visiting her Mom, who we call Nana.

The two of them drove up and back in one day.

I could not have been more thrilled that Nana and Ann were there.

Nana is truly adorable and I am lucky that I nabbed a husband with such a great Grandma.

I literally have the dream Mother-in-law.

As a Mother, I look up to her more than she knows.

She is kind, loving and would do anything for her children.

Not to mention, she is amazing talented.

She made this quilt to match our nursery.

I could hardly wait to see it and I know our little one is going to love this gift from her Nana.

I sure have a lot to live up to as a Barker Mama.

 

::Lily, Grandma Ora, Sheron, Coleen, Mom, Ann, Nana, Katie::

family that came so far for this event. love each of them

From the time I was little I have been a baby person. 

Carrying one {or a fake one} around everywhere I went.

When I was five years old my Mom bought me a doll that I could not live without.

We named him Christian, after Christian Adams

{sorry buddy}

We were all obsessed.

It kind of became my iconic toy. 

Some kids have blankies. 

I had Christian.

At the shower, my Mom handed me a box and said she had been saving this gift for almost 20 years.

Turns out, she had accidentally ordered two dolls all those years ago.

Rather than returning it, she kept it to give to my own little girl.

I was shocked and immediately teared up.

Life is coming full circle.

All those years ago my Mom knew that I would have one of my own.

Another sweet reminder that this little one has a rich heritage and future ahead of her.

What a wonderful idea that I hope to carry on with my own little girl.

Katie gave us her favorites basket.
Naturally Henry pulled it apart the next day.
But as his aunt I didn't mind and continued to stuff his face with cookies.
Oh I love him.

::Shelby, Jessie, Kelsee, Nicole, Kourtney::

Oh these girls.

How can you even begin to describe such wonderful friends like these girls?

Why can't they all live next door to me?

Miss.you.all.every.day.

My Mom truly out did herself with this shower.

I guess I know where I get my love for all things pretty.

Thank you to this magnificant Mama 

for making her baby girl's baby feel oh so special.

It has been said that it takes a village to raise a child.

I had a whole village of families that raised me.

And so did James.

As I sat there last weekend, basking in the company of loved ones,

I realized that James and I are creating our own village to raise our children.

This little one sure is lucky to have so many lovely ladies to look up to.

2.5 months and counting.