White Sands

 I have finally worked up the courage to go through our road trip photos (there are SO many) One of the highlights of our trip would have to be our visit to White Sands, NM. First off because in husband's family this is a tradition, they have generations of family that have all climbed those dunes. Can I also take this moment to talk about climbing those dunes, sure the slide down is fun but the intense cardio workout of getting up there holding a toddler and having a baby bump was enough to make me rethink doing it more than a two times. WOW!

Without getting too nerdy White Sands NM is one of only two places in the world that actually has completely snow white sand, it was incredible there were moment that you looked over and actually thought it could be snow. We spent the morning there with family eating breakfast, sliding down dunes (two times for me thank you) and just enjoyed this beautiful sight. I fell in love with the mid century looking shelters all scattered around the camp site. Definitely a place I would love to go back and visit again.

20/52

                                       " A portrait of my boys, once a week, every week, in 2013 "

Bear: Those lashes
Wolf: Peeping Tom


This weeks pictures are hand selected by Bear. He sat on my lap while I edited and now as I am posting. It's kind of adorable.

                                                   **linking to Jodi's 52 week challenge**

19/52

                                     A portrait of my boys, once a week, every week, in 2013 "
Bear: This boy cannot get enough of the outdoors
Wolf: This boy sure is silly, it sort of makes our hearts melt.

                                                      **linking to Jodi's 52 week challenge**

Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day weekend. I hope you all enjoy it. I am looking forward to sleeping in and..... well honestly sleeping in is enough of  a gift on it's own.

The Baby Shower

I have the most amazing friends and family in California. (why did I ever move?) One of my best friends hosted the most thoughtful and adorable baby co-ed baby  shower. Can I just say that co-ed was totally  the way to go. It was like a giant reunion of all the super special people in my life.  Good food, great people, a lot of laughs and all helping us welcome this new baby. I felt so special.

We immediately set out on the next leg of our road trip after the shower. It made saying goodbye a little extra hard but my heart was swelling with love. I feel so blessed to have such amazing people in my life.

The Desert

We spent the majority of our road trip in the desert. The landscape was big skies, random plant life that poked through cracked and brittle dirt and distant mountains that seemed to go on forever. It seemed  that no matter how many miles we drove or states we went through very little changed.

There is a certain beauty in that landscape. I appreciated it most during dusk or dawn when the sun is barely poking out from  behind the hills (mainly because mid day I wanted to die under that heat) or at night when stars seemed closer and the moon was so bright you could read under its light.

I bring all this up because I need to remind myself that there is beauty in everything, even when things seem rough. Life as taken some unexpected turns in the last few days and I am not sure what lies ahead. But through this rough terrain there is still things worth appreciating.

• I have an awesome husband 
• I have two wonderful boys and one little surprise nugget on the way. 
• we have family that love and support us. 

I am not sure what's in store or how many more miles of the same scenery we will be in. But I need to remember that these times won't last forever and while I am here I might as well appreciate what I do have.

18/52

  A portrait of my boys, once a week, every week, in 2013 "

Bear: Finally conquered the slide all on his own, and loves it!

Wolf: The genuine smile and joy of getting to play after being in a car for a very long time 

**linking to Jodi's 52 week challenge**

17/52

  A portrait of my boys, once a week, every week, in 2013 "

Bear: A boy and his great grandmom 

Wolf:  When you road trip across the desert with your bubbie you get to be a major tourist and get faux raccoon hats and moccasins 

 **linking to Jodi's 52 week challenge**

16/52

                                   A portrait of my boys, once a week, every week, in 2013 "

Bear: Mesmerized 

Wolf: That crinkle nose 

                                                      **linking to Jodi's 52 week challenge**

15/52... time to catch up

Bear: The cautious one

Wolf: The not so cautious one

These brothers are becoming little boys right before my eyes. They are wild, and funny and can most likely be found with battle wounds from their adventures. (Bear most likely on his knees from climbing and Wolf on his face from a lost battle with who knows what) Bear is a little more cautious he make sure things are overall safe before jumping in, but once he's checked out his surroundings there is no stopping him. Wolf on the other hand, dives right in sometimes learning the hard way that it may not be the best choice. Falls, bumps and scratches are inevitable with these two but at least they have each other to  always to help shake it off, offer a kiss and point out the next adventure.

Leaving on a jet plane..... and coming back in a car

Hey there blog world, did you miss me? Life has been so crazy that I don't really know where to begin.
Well just like the title of this post states we indeed left on a plane and fourteen days, and eight states later we are back home. That's right we traveled with two toddlers a pregnant self and a very calm husband all around the western USA and returned in one piece. Can you believe it?... I sure can't. Not to mention we came back and hit the ground running on our decision to move out of state yet again and true to our fashion we will be moving in the next two weeks. See I told you there is a lot going on.  The photo of Bear was taken the morning we left from Portland to Los Angeles to visit our family.  This was the first leg of a very crazy couple of weeks but  there are so many good memories that made it all worth it. I can't wait to share them here.