please keep us in your prayers

jan had 2 interviews this week with the same company and it'll be a week or two before we hear back. it's the best option we have so far. well, and the only one. we'll keep applying if this doesn't work out, but we hope it does! just don't forget us. and little mango. he'll need food and diapers, and i can only provide the first. i just thought i'd put it out to the blogging world that any extra thoughts/prayers would be appreciated!!

what a week

where does the time go?? both of my work hours have increased, as well as dr's appt's, and with a husband back and catching up with friends, the time just flies. so my little blog suffers.

last night i dropped off a meal to a friend who just had a baby, and then we ate with another friend who just had a baby and brought the same main dish there. the recipe was from cooking light, called noodles with peanut sauce (basically pad thai), and i sauteed chicken in garlic olive oil for protein. it took longer than i figured w/making the batch bigger, but it got devoured and we still have plenty of leftovers for lunch today. the sauce was delish and smelled so good in the pan. garlic, ginger, natural peanut butter, soy, rice vinegar, sweet chili sauce, and a pinch of salt. plus noodles, carrots, peppers, peas and then a bunch of cilantro mixed in at the end. and cooking light means it's light on calories! (image via their cookbook)

2 whole years

tuesday, jan & i celebrated our 2 year anniversary. with a baby coming soon, we decided to put what we would have spent on us towards something longer lasting, for him. traditionally the 2 yr present is cloth, so we are working to save for a rocking chair. our initial ideas of a fancy beach restaurant turned to walking around the culver city farmers market and sampling all the fresh fruit, leaving with peruvian food and fresh squeezed mango/strawberry/pineapple juice from the stands. we drove to the marina del rey beach and sat on the rocks and watched surfers while the sun set. it was perfect. sometimes you want a big thing, but other years, simpler is better. photo via rachel

pregnant at the pool (the real pics)

rachel posted a whole bunch of images on her blog (click here). isn't she talented?? i'm huge and i don't look huge. i'm baring all and i still feel sexy. it helps that we are good friends and i feel completely comfortable in a bikini around her (we spent everyday in a bathing suit in costa rica), but i love what she did. and i love her. and grant. and my husband for being the father of our little man.

pregnancy in the house

some outtakes from the shoot with rachel yesterday (taken by jan & grant w/my polaroid). yes, i bared a lot by shooting in a bathing suit, but we wanted to embrace pregancy before my body is fully taken over by it. this was so, so much fun! i love shooting with photographer friends and can't wait to shoot her when the time comes. i love jan's lean in the last one - of course he didn't think anybody was looking and was trying not to get his white shirt dirty since he was in some of the photos. (and yes those are old school swim shorts on him - courtesy of grant.) thanks to farrah for letting us use her old school pool and chairs!

amish friendship bread

have any of you done this? this is my second time, and i'm excited because i remember how good the bread was last time.

amish friendship bread is called such because right before you bake it, you give 3 (?) friends their own starter to make their own, and then you keep one yourself. it takes 10 days to make a loaf, which is a lot more satisfying than buying a store bought loaf in seconds. if you live in la and want a starter, let me know and i'll pass one off to you. it's a sweet bread and delicious right out of the oven, and then for breakfast or whenever. if you look online you can make your own starter as well. i have four more days left till baking day which is perfect timing w/my parents coming into town for a wedding. squish every few days and add some ingredients when needed - easy!

new sites for bargains

i love hearing about bargains. today i'm sharing two discount sites that i heard about in the last month or so that have baby/kids stuff. the first is 'the mini social' (all babies/kids), and the second is 'haute look' (occasional babies/kids). also, one of my favorites, babysteals is launching kidssteals later this month. i picked up some baby legs at babysteals for mango the other week for 50% off retail and free shipping.

more photos

more images of kimi & allens shoot now posted here

today's shoot

was so much fun! while i definitely love taking journalistic photos, it's also an immense amount of fun to create a stylized shoot. i think people are wary when i say let's coordinate clothes, because the automatic assumption is the typical mormon photo: white polos, khaki pants, etc. the props i lean towards are more stylized and editorial. more to come later!

bad blogger - cute photos

Apologies for the bad blogging, it has been a zoo since J came home. I will try to be better this week! In the meantime, enjoy these photos from my 4th. Good friends from Indiana and my darling niece & nephew.