Maternity/Family Photo Shoot

Tio's brother Hank is a professional photographer and has told us before he would take pictures for us if we wanted. We finally took him up on his offer when he was in town last weekend. We are not a big "posed photo" family but I think since Jon and I know Hank and Reed had been around him the night before it really helped us loosen up, have fun with the photo shoot, and get some great pictures. I didn't know if I was being silly requesting to take family pictures just 10 days before our family got a new addition, but I'm so glad we did. Hank was able to capture some really great moments between the three of us and a few shots that tastefully show off my belly. All of the photos are great reminders of our family now and the new child that we are so excited to welcome. Some of these will definitely be going up on our walls soon, but I can't help but share our favorites!!!

A Dirty Thirty meets Halloween

Thursday was Tio's big 3-0. His whole family came to town to celebrate and we had a great dinner over at Pepe and Nonna's. Since we've been celebrating Birthdays non-stop for the last two months Reed new the drill and was happy to don a party hat and help with present opening duties.

After a classy evening earlier in the week "C" and Tio hosted their annual Halloween party and in honor of Drew's "Dirty Thirty" the theme was "A Homeless Halloween." A lot of us really struggled with the theme because once we tried to figure out costumes it felt like we were making fun of the less fortunate, but we all managed to come up with some great outfits (and embraced the theme as a celebration for Drew) and had a great time!!!

Tio was Oscar the Grouch

New Family Picture

The Huerta Family

The Rodriguez Family with their "Doggy" Connor



Megan was a shelter dog

Nonna and Pepe came by to say hi



Michael was the most infamous hitchhiker of the year - Kai

Extended Family Picture



Shannon the homeless hooker with her pet Monkey Clara

Mountain Retreat

Jon had to be out of town for work for the first half of my 38th week of pregnancy. We knew this all along, but when the time finally came we were both pretty concerned that #2 would make an early appearance. I'm happy to report that didn't happen and that instead Reed and I spent two of the days/nights up at Grandpa and Grandma's cabin. They have been restoring the upstairs of the cabin all summer and we were officially the first guests to get to spend the night in the newly completed bedrooms and loft. Dodger loves the mountains (not so much the car rides to the mountains) so Reed and I took him along too. To be honest I don't know which of my boys had more fun!!!

It was such a great weekend of talking, eating, sleeping, forest adventures, pumpkin carving, playing, and doing whatever else we felt like. We were spoiled having all of our meals made for us and generally being "taken care of." I tried to narrow down the pictures to share but there are just too many that make me smile. The funny part is that in most of them Reed isn't looking at the camera, but I think that's a pretty accurate depiction of the weekend, he was just on the go the entire time.

The kid had no fear of running off by himself!

Helping Grandpa build a fire

First Bath in the Cabin

Taking the "hard" way through the forest



My other boy enjoying himself

Grandpa's "sunset" chair

Balancing on logs was a huge hit!

Hikes with Grandpa always turn into Scavenger Hunts

Figuring out how to get the pumpkins up the hill

 

Tower Building

Taking a break

Learning how to use binoculars

 

We tried for a few posed shots on the front porch with our jack 'o lantern, but you can see how well that went!