Harvest Festival Corn Maze!

Mark and I had a super fun Fall-filled weekend!  We also did a lot of first's (for me).  We started off the day with lunch at Chipotle! Mmmm...

Then we headed to Forneris Farms in Mission Hills, California for their annual Harvest Festival!

Supposedly, it's the best place for fall festivities for families out in So-Cal.  There were lots of families there with cutie pie kids.  But we got to spend the whole day just the two of us...no diapers to change, tired and cranky kiddos, or having to hurry home for nap time.  Benefits of life without kids! :)

We ran into my old friend from the Northridge ward and also saw the Heder's from our church.  Guess it is the cool thing to do!

My first ever corn maze!  A part of me wishes it had been at night and haunted, though we still had  a great time!  And Mark, the scaredy-cat, appreciated the lack of monsters and corn people.

They had a little dinosaur scavenger hunt throughout the maze and if you correctly identified all 10 dinosaurs, you would be entered into a drawing for $100!  Mark was hooked.  He had some sort of strategy for where they had placed all the dinosaurs so I just blindly followed him and took pictures, ha.

Triceratops!

A little lost...

We were super thirsty after all that walking.  I wanted to go to Dairy Queen but Mark wanted slurpees.  I told him I'd never had a slurpee so that did it.  We got slurpees!  They were DELICIOUS!!!  So icy and cold!!!

Then we headed home to relax for a bit before going over to Birk and Al's to do laundry.  They weren't there so we made ourselves at home and had a Halloween movie marathon!  The Addams Family and Casper!

Then we came home and made homemade pumpkin pie!  It was so late though we didn't try it until the next day.  SO. GOOD.

Next weekend should be even more fun!  Trunk or treating at the church, passing out candy with Jake and Sam and taking them trick or treating!  And then...good-bye October!  Hello  November!

7 Week Bumpdate

WEEK 7

Baby is the size of a blueberry!

How far along?  7 weeks

Total weight gain/loss?  Um 6.4 pounds!!!  I cannot believe this!!!  I have never weighed this much in my entire life!  It's kind of frightening...at the end of the day it's like 8 lbs!  But in the morning it's still 5-6.  I think this might be due to the fact that (this might be TMI) I haven't pooped in 3 days!!!  I am so constipated it's not even funny.  That's supposedly a common symptom of pregnancy but it's pretty awful.  I actually wasn't even sure I was constipated because I thought that meant you were trying to poop but couldn't.  I never even feel like I have to go!  But I just realized that means I'm constipated and is probably the reason for all the bloating and weight gain.

Maternity clothes?  No but I should be soon!  All my jeans feel so tight and barely button already!  That could be because most of my jeans were already barely fitting me before I got pregnant.  That's just how I buy them or something I guess, haha.

Stretch marks?  No!  Using Palmer's Cocoa Butter after showers so hope it works!

Best moment this week?  Trying my first slurpee yesterday!  It was DELICIOUS!!!

Miss anything?  Not feeling sick every second of the day.  It's. Getting. So. Old.  Sometimes I start crying and grunting because it's so frustrating and annoying and contemplate killing myself.  Ha. Not really, but in a dramatic sort of way!

Movement?  I wish!

Food cravings?  I HATE food these days!  Any food I eat I never want it again.  But we went to Chipotle for lunch yesterday and that burrito tasted pretty good!  Also, I think I must have been craving pumpkin pie because we made one from scratch last night!  Homemade crust and with real pumpkin!  We haven't tried it yet though...tonight after dinner!

Anything making you queasy or sick?  Um everything?  Pretty much, the thought of any food.  Even my favorite foods!  A few times this week I have gotten out ice-cream (Ben & Jerry's!) and put it on the table trying to will myself to eat it.  Once I actually took a few bites but nope.  Had to put it back.  You guys, THIS IS SERIOUS!!!

Have you started to show yet?  YES!!!  Okay, you can't tell in the pictures this week but I swear after I eat I look 4 months pregnant!!!  Maybe I'll be brave enough one of these days and take one of those pictures.  Looking down at the scarily large number on the scale over my big pregnant 7 week belly, ha!

Gender?  I'm thinking twins :)

Labor signs?  No way Jose

Belly Button in or out?  In

Wedding rings on or off?  On but already unable to take them off to put on my cocoa butter.  Congratulations Mark, you get to do it every night now :)

Happy or Moody most of the time?  Generally just annoyed and cranky from feeling so sick!

Looking forward to?  The end of morning sickness!!!

Fall Bucket List

Mark and Catherine's Fall Bucket List

1. Decorate the house

2. Buy pumpkin flavored everything at Trader Joe's

3. Visit a pumpkin patch

4. Carve pumpkins

5. Haunted Hayride @ Griffith Park

6. Harvest Festival

7. Corn maze

8. Disneyland!

9. Watch Hocus Pocus

10. Find pieces for our Halloween costumes

11. Studio City Halloween party

12. Take Jake & Sam trick-or-treating

13. Road trip to Hearst Castle

14. Anniversary Trip to Vegas

15. Make homemade pumpkin pie

16. Bob for apples

17. Thanksgiving dinner at the Rawlings!

18. Have a baby...just kidding, sort of

Boy October is flying!  Only one week left before Halloween!  Then NOVEMBER is here!!!  AHHH and then CHRISTMAS!!!!  We have to get cracking on our Fall Bucket List.  I count Fall pretty much until December 1st so we still have a good month but lots of these are Halloween sensitive... We're doing a lot today!  We're going to the Harvest Festival where we'll knock off pumpkins and a corn maze and we're carving pumpkins on Monday for FHE.  The Studio City Halloween party is Friday and then we're doing DISNEY on HALLOWEEN and taking Jake and Sam trick or treating that night.  The rest of the stuff will be in November.  I might add stuff too...

We've sure got a fun week ahead!  Also, I'm getting a little confused which holiday is coming up because I listen to Christmas music every day hahaha.  I would listen to Halloween or Thanksgiving music but there isn't any!  So at least it's festive!

Tuesdays

Tuesdays are the one day a week that Mark and I sometimes go the ENTIRE day without seeing each other!!!  He plays soccer with his brother and best friends behind the temple on Tuesday nights and because we live in LA and traffic can take hours at the wrong time, he heads to Santa Monica after work on those days instead of coming home.  The day goes a little something like this...

5:15 am - Mark's alarm goes off.  Sometimes I wake up while he's in the closet getting ready but I fall back asleep before he leaves at 5:30.  Sometimes I feel his goodbye kiss on my cheek...

8:00 am - I wake up for the day, eat breakfast and will myself to do the chores and work out before heading to work

2:30 pm - I leave for work

3:30 pm - Mark gets off work but heads to the boys' place in Santa Monica instead of coming home

6:30 pm - I get off work and come home to an empty house.  Sometimes I enjoy the alone time and the freedom of making whatever I want for dinner (usually homemade mac n cheese that is my specialty!  Or a frozen pizza if I'm lazy..)

8:00 pm - I read for a bit...currently I'm reading "What to Expect" and "The Girlfriends' Guide to Pregnancy" haha.  Can you tell I'm a little baby obsessed?!

9:00 pm - I get ready for bed or watch a movie and usually get sleepy enough to go to bed.

10:00 pm - I get in bed and sometimes fall asleep before Mark gets home around 10:30 pm!

10:30 pm - Mark showers and tries to be in bed by 11 because, yes, he has to be up again at 5:15.  EVERY DAY!!  I don't know how he does it!

So that is Tuesdays for you.  If I slept in and am not that tired, I will wait up for Mark and read to him (we're currently reading The Hunger Games series) while he showers.  And then we cuddle and I tell him how much I missed him and how much I wished we could rewind and spend the whole evening together because I won't see him again until tomorrow at 7 pm!  So the next day he sends me cute selfies like this so I won't miss him too much...

He's a keeper ;)

Pregnancy Update: Morning Sicky Blues

I really did not think I was going to get morning sickness!  I don't know what made me think that...I guess I thought it was kind of a myth, HA!  It's just so many people I know, including my mom, never got it!  My mom says it's all in your head.  Boy do I wish that were true!

It hit me at 6 weeks to the day.  I woke up on Sunday just feeling awful.  Food sounded terrible but my stomach was empty and I was worried I'd throw up if I didn't eat something (weird right?)  I knew it was bad when all my favorite breakfast foods sounded terrible...bagels?  YUCK!  Instead, I managed to take a few bites of Cheerios and a couple bites of a banana.  We were visiting Mark's parents' ward in PV to hear Marja's talk.  She did great!  I, on the other hand...not so good.  We had to leave after Sacrament and made the long drive back home.

We were supposed to go to the circus with Jake and Sam but Jake wasn't feeling well.  I wasn't either so luckily we got to relax at home the rest of the day.

Monday morning I felt SO nauseous!  I had to call in sick to work (I work at 7 am Monday's, Thursday's and Friday's).  And I've found early mornings are the worst!  If I have to wake up to an alarm, I always feel much worse.  I couldn't even go back to sleep I felt so sick.  I forced myself to eat some peanut butter toast (the only thing that sounded semi-good) and then took a nap(?) from 8:30-1:00!  I just wanted to be unconscious so I couldn't feel sick.  By 1 pm, I could not sleep anymore so I forced myself to eat again (cereal and raspberries) and then did the chores for the day and went on a walk.  I finally started to feel better around 3.  I've heard "morning sickness" can last all day but for me it's worst in the mornings.

When Mark got home from work we went grocery shopping and got so much junk food!  I picked out anything that sounded good including Kraft Mac and cheese, plain goldfish, cracker packs, Lay's potato chips, chicken nuggets, frozen pizza, cereal, raisin bread, yogurt and jolly ranchers (for the terrible taste that stays in my mouth after eating anything and makes me want to gag).  For dinner that night I had chicken nuggets, rice and peas, haha the food of a toddler!

Tuesday I was able to sleep in so it wasn't as bad.  Still didn't have much of an appetite for anything and already my snacks were beginning to look terrible to me.  Basically after I ate anything one time I was so sick of it!

Wednesday was BAD.  I had this miserable feeling all day that I had to burp but couldn't.  It was AWFUL!  It doesn't sound that bad but imagine you just chugged a can of coke and you are ready for that big burp that is sure to come because your chest is so full of air bubbles and carbonation it's gotta be released.  The pressure is building.  You feel it starting in your stomach.  Traveling up your throat.  You open your mouth and...NOTHING.  Nothing comes!  Not a sound, not a bit of air.  It's all STUCK there in your body that feels like a balloon.  It feels like I'm going to die!  And because I want to burp so bad, I feel like I'm going to throw up but that never comes either.  Nothing works!  Every so often a pathetic tiny little burp will come out but the relief is so small and temporary it doesn't even matter.  And it never goes away!   I had to call in sick to my other nanny job and then Wednesday night was...the worst night of my life?

I woke up at 3 am feeling like I had to burp so bad.  But I couldn't, again.  I started pounding on my chest, desperate for anything to come out.  Throwing up would have been such a relief at this point! (I still have not thrown up and I basically think it won't be happening, just this awful indigestion or whatever it is?)  I got up and drank some root beer, walked around (laying down is the worst! Feels like I can't breathe), took some Tums and finally I was able to burp a bit. I still didn't feel great though.  Mark woke up from all my pounding on my chest and I dropped the Tums in the bathroom and they went everywhere!  I felt bad because he had to get up in a few hours, but then so did I!

I continued to sit up every 20 minutes or so and pound on my chest, desperate to burp.  Finally at 5:15 when Mark got up, I did too.  I thought about quitting my job but we need the extra money now more than ever.  It's good pay and an easy gig, too.  So I forced myself to go to work.

Today it's FRIDAY!  Finally!!!  I seriously just have to take it one day at a time.  My boss, Kelley, (the only one I have told I'm pregnant just because I may be calling in sick a lot) said for her the nausea went away at Week 13.  THAT IS SO FAR!!!  I've also read that morning sickness peaks at weeks 8 and 9, meaning it's going to get worse?!

Mark and I are really leaning towards twins!  I mean, my symptoms are pretty severe for only 6 weeks.  If this is heartburn or indigestion or whatever, isn't that supposed to come way later?  I've read that when you're carrying multiples, you get heartburn and other symptoms earlier in the pregnancy.  Also, I have gained 8 lbs already!  Maybe it's all the junk food, haha.  But I really am not eating any more than normal.  It's all in my tummy too.  I guess we'll see in a little less than a month!  Feels.  So.  Far.

The Legend of Frank Acorn Squash

Once upon a time there was a little squirrel by the name of Mr. Frank Acorn Squash.  Was he married, a bachelor, dating seriously?  Nobody knows.  But one day we saw him jumping through the trees, scouring for acorns.

No, Mark is not Mr. Frank Acorn Squash

He would find acorns and nuts up in the branches and throw them down to the ground, making little piles everywhere.  A couple times he nearly fell as he climbed all the way to the outskirts of this HUGE tree.  But Mr. Frank Acorn Squash was not deterred.  He kept climbing and climbing until he reached the tippy top, where he remained for quite some time until we had to be heading back.

So we will never know what happened to Mr. Frank Acorn Squash (a combination of what Mark and I both thought his name was).  Or if he went down to gather the acorns he spent so long collecting.  Or if he had a family to feed back up in that tree.  Hopefully, we will see him again one day soon.

We made some good wishes :)

And maybe the next time we meet him, we will have a little someone to introduce him to... who I'm sure will appreciate Mr. Frank Acorn Squash much more than you! HA.

6 Week Bumpdate

WEEK 6

Baby is the size of a sweet pea!

How far along? 6 weeks

Total weight gain/loss? 3 pounds!  I don't know what's up with all this weight gain but something tells me there might be more than one baby growing in there!

Maternity clothes? I'm actually trying to take advantage of my jeans and everything I won't be able to wear for the next long while.  But I confess, when I come home I usually just sit around in my underwear, haha.

Stretch marks? None

Best moment this week? I slept for like 12 hours on Thursday night (9:30 pm to 9:30 am) and when I woke up on Friday morning I felt amazing!  I then had the easiest job ever...testing out brand new games at Disney Interactive and getting paid $150 for a half hour of playing games!!!  It was a pretty good day :)

Miss anything? Feeling normal!  Oh my gosh, I will get to this more in a later question but I have started experiencing morning sickness!  It started even before 6 weeks!!!  Another sign of multiples...

Movement? Nope

Food cravings? I had been craving chicken pot pie for a long time and I finally had one today and now I don't think I want one ever again in my life.  Hahahaha, so weird but when I crave things lately, I eat so much of them that I'm completely sick of them when I'm done!  On Friday I was craving chicken flautas with sweet jalapeno jelly and we went to El Torito and I got them and afterwards and all night I felt SO sick and miserable!!!  Even thinking of them now is making me queasy.  But in general, I've been craving salty/savory foods...burgers and fries, home-cooked meals, etc.

Anything making you queasy or sick? YES!  Certain smells...anything with a strong smell really.  Certain foods (see above post!) and anytime I go for more than a few hours without eating.  It's weird because I used to think morning sickness meant you weren't hungry and couldn't stand the thought of food but when I feel sick, I immediately start to think of what to eat to make myself feel better.  When I'm eating (as long as it's the right food) my stomach settles and eating is really the only time I don't feel sick!  Hence, eating an entire (not family size but still very big!) chicken pot pie for lunch!

Have you started to show yet? My tummy is not completely flat anymore but no one but me would notice.

Gender? I dreamed it was a girl last night!  They say you dream the opposite though...speaking of dreams, I have been having some CRAZY weird pregnancy dreams!

Labor signs? Definitely not

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time?  Happy when I'm not feeling sick but otherwise wishing for it to stop :(

Looking forward to? The 2nd trimester, haha and the week this sickly feeling decides to go away!

There's only one picture this week.  We took about a million but I felt like I looked as bad as I felt so that is the only picture for this week.  Hoping next week's will be cuter!

On another note (since I don't know when else I'll talk about pregnancy stuff because I can't publish any posts that I do until we tell!) Aunt Michelle and Jenna are coming down to stay with us for a week in November!  Jenna is attending a conference out here or something...we are actually going to be gone that weekend to celebrate our anniversary but we will see them a few days before we leave and they'll still be here when we get back.

Anyway, I'm really excited but they wanted to go to Disneyland when they come for a day.  We even have annual passes and I was so excited but then I realized.  How could I go to Disneyland with them and not tell them I'm pregnant?!  I won't be able to go on half the rides!  What will I say?  I have no idea how I could get out of them and now I have to think up an excuse of why I can't go.  Unless I do tell them but then I still probably wouldn't go because I wouldn't want them to feel bad for leaving me out on most of the rides.  So what's the point of telling them and ruining the surprise if I don't end up going anyway?  I mean, I would love to tell them!  I'm dying to tell anyone...but I haven't even told my mom yet!  She might be a little sad she wasn't the first to know.  As it is she's probably going to be so mad I waited until the 2nd trimester to tell her!  Haha, but the surprise on her face and seeing her cry in person will make it all worth it!

Pretty Little Princesses

Can I just say I have the most adorable nieces and nephews imaginable?!  All blonde and blue eyed and the cutest little dimples!  They all make my heart melt.  And secretly I sometimes wonder if I will think my own kids are as cute as them, HA!  Or if I could love them as much.  Is that terrible?

I'm lucky because my nephews live 2 min away, like down a few streets from us!  But my precious little nieces live way too far away in Washington (my dream place to live! I've never actually been there but I hear it rains like every day and maybe I'm emo or something but that sounds amazing!!! I love rain and we get none of it here in good old sunny California.)

Yesterday was Faye's 4th birthday so we skyped them and heard about her day.  I asked Nora what they did and she exclaimed in the most excited, high-pitched voice, "We went SWIMMING and to the LIBRARY!!!"  Hahaha, they are just dolls!

I asked Heidi to take pictures of them for my princess party company website with little crowns on their head. They turned out so precious!  What pretty little princesses!!!

It was hard to narrow down which picture to choose for my website but I will probably use them all eventually.  For now I just have a launch page until I have at least 3 costumes done.  We've got Ariel done (gorgeous!) and I'm going to see how Anna's coming along this weekend!  Next in the works?  Rapunzel!  Can't wait to get my business up and running!

And just found out another little princess is coming on MY birthday!!!  I can't wait to have another beautiful little niece!  Hopefully, she will have a close cousin in the works soon! ;)

5 Week Bumpdate

WEEK 5

Baby is the size of an appleseed!

I made it to Week 5!!!  I never doubted I would but I think Mark did, he made me take another pregnancy test today and it was positive in 3 seconds flat!  The darkest one yet :)

Ever since we've been trying (since April) I've re-calculated my due date every month that I get my period, thinking up creative ways to announce based on the month!  My chemical pregnancy due date was the day before Valentine's Day!  I was so excited for our little baby love and we would have announced in October saying, "Expecting a little pumpkin, February 13, 2016" with us holding a baby pumpkin in front of my belly!  Cute, right?!

Well, NOW, we get to announce AT CHRISTMAS!!!  Best Christmas surprise ever!!!  I started thinking that might be a real possibility come August and we weren't pregnant again.  (We would have announced at Thanksgiving).  But I knew if we got pregnant either September or October then the 2nd trimester would hit right around Christmas!  I'm SOOOO excited but this is the hardest secret to keep for 3 whole months!!!  We actually have to wait until I'm 15 weeks to announce at Christmas but it will be SO worth the wait to see the look on my parents' faces when they open their Christmas presents!  I can go ahead and tell you our ideas because I won't be publishing these bumpdates until after we announce.

We're thinking of mugs for my parents that say "Grandma / Grandpa Est. June 2016" (YES baby is due in JUNE!!!)  This will be my parents' first grandbaby!!!  So exciting!!!  It will be Chip and Remi's 6th and since they already have 8 kids, another grandbaby isn't as big of a deal but my mom is going to spoil our baby rotten!!  For my sister, I'm thinking something like this...

Sean and Kara will be in Hawaii for Christmas so we're thinking of sending them t-shirts that say something like...

Haha, I think it's cute!  And we're going to send Christmas cards to all our family and close friends with a picture of our mantle and two stockings plus a baby size stocking!!!  The tagline: Hoping your Christmas is a bundle of joy.  Baby Rawlings Coming June 2016!

Ahhh now can you see why I'm so excited?!?!  I even downloaded a Christmas countdown app on my phone!  Haha, 74 more days.  Ahhh, an eternity!

The only person we are telling before Christmas is Mark's mom because we need her help!  She makes all the kids and grandkids stockings and we want her to do something cute to our baby stocking!  She will have to keep it a secret though!

OKAY, finally moving on to my bumpdates for this week in my pregnancy journey!

How far along? 5 weeks!

Total weight gain/loss? About a pound of bloating!

Maternity clothes? Haha, actually yes!  Yesterday Mark and I had a mall date and I got some new leggings that aren't specifically maternity but several pregnant mom blogs I follow highly recommended them before, during, and after pregnancy!  They're called HUE leggings and you can get them at Nordstrom, Bloomingdales, Macy's, etc.  They are SO soft and comfy, like a second skin, with plenty of room to grow :)

Stretch marks? At 5 weeks?  I hope not!  I'm already using Palmer's cocoa butter after showers and yesterday I snatched up some pumpkin body butter from Trader Joe's that I'm excited to use for Fall!

Sleep? My breasts are so sore and I sleep on my stomach/side so it hasn't been easy finding a comfortable position...I guess this is just the beginning, haha.

Best moment this week? Mark made me dinner AND did the dishes!  It was the best meal I ate all week.

Presenting our specialty...Asian Salmon Bowls! YUM!

Miss anything? I actually don't know if it's the pregnancy or what but I feel fat all the time now!  My arms look huge to me and my stomach isn't flat anymore!  Maybe it's just in my head but I miss my skinny self!

Movement? Nada

Food cravings? We watch a lot of cooking shows and they made homemade noodles on one this week and so I've been craving noodles!  We tried a new Pho restaurant last night and even though the noodles I ordered didn't end up being the thick kind like I wanted, they were still delish!  I'm craving comfort type foods but also fresh stuff like tomatoes and salad.

Anything making you queasy or sick? Nope, thank goodness!

Have you started to show yet? No, even though I feel bigger.

Gender? I have no idea

Labor signs? Haha

Belly Button in or out? In

Wedding rings on or off? On

Happy or Moody most of the time?  Moody actually!  I've been so easily irritated and very impatient.  Poor Mark.

Looking forward to? Getting a BIG audition for Disney over with!  I'm stressing but also excited!

Happy October!

It's finally October!!!  October is one of my favorite months and I am soooo excited it's finally here!  It's the start of all the magical months, the first true signs of fall weather, and all the holidays to look forward to!  Our anniversary and my birthday are also in the Fall!  Just so much fun stuff to look forward to! The whole season always flies by for me so I'm going to try and tell myself to enjoy every second of this glorious Fall season!

There's another reason October is one of my favorites...the haunted hayride!  Every year for the past 3 years I drag anyone and everyone I can find to the Haunted Hayride in Griffith Park!

If you know me at all you know that I love scary stuff...scary movies, stories, people?  Haha, maybe not people but I love being scared!!!  The Haunted Hayride is a 30 minute experience of being planted in the middle of every horror movie you can think of and watching everything happen around you!

It is SO. MUCH. FUN!!!  Maybe it's the actor in me but I love feeling like I'm in a movie...especially a scary movie!  Haha, it's actually not even that scary!  It's more entertaining and just FUN!

Well, my sister is into scary stuff too (I've taught her well) and ever since the first time I went on the hayride, I knew she had to go on it! We never figured out a way to do it though because she usually only comes to visit in the summer. Well, this time her visit happened to fall on the first weekend of October so we got to go! It did not disappoint...

This thing was on stilts outside the main entrance and decided to follow us!

We were terrified...not really ;)

You're not allowed to take pictures while on the hayride itself so all of you will just have to go experience it for yourself.  I can promise you will NOT be disappointed!!!  We usually don't go until closer to Halloween so now we'll have to find something else scary to do on Halloween! Mark will be so happy...hah.