california bucket list: pumpkin patch

Kristin writing:
I've always loved the fall.  It's my favorite season, hands down.  I love the hot apple cider, hot chocolate, smell of a crackling fire, changing colors of leaves, and the coolness in the air.  And I REALLY love pumpkin patches.

We were really fortunate to live just down the road from an amazing pumpkin patch in Dixon, California.  The place is absolutely huge, and there's no limit to the varieties of pumpkins and gourds that you can find.  They also boast the Guinness Book of World Records largest corn maze!  Every year, I would drag Nathan out to that pumpkin patch - we'd pick out our pumpkins for that year (one for carving, one for baking) and then make our way through the gigantic corn maze.

This year, we invited a few friends from our Bible study to go with us.  We unfortunately didn't make it there before the corn maze closed (no, I didn't cry...just almost), but we still got to roam the pumpkin patch together and have a great time.  Here are some of my favorite pictures from that evening.

Yes, I like to pose with every pumpkin that I think is cute.  No, it doesn't make sense.

Monica (left) and Stacia (middle) - we were all pregnant!  

More posing with cute pumpkins.  I wanted to take this one home with me, but Nathan said no.  He had a valid point...we were moving in about a week.

Stacia and Justin.  They were expecting their baby to arrive any day.  Justin was attempting to look just as pregnant as Stacia. :)

The three of us picked pumpkins approximately the size of our unborn babies!  I begged and begged, and Nathan let me keep my "baby".

It's true...I like just about all pumpkins.

Ed and Monica were really into these cuties because they looked like the "one-up" mushrooms on the old-school Nintendo Mario Brothers games.

Oh, Ed.

Posing again with my "baby".  It was such a cute little pumpkin!  I'm so glad Nathan let me keep it.

Even though we had just gone out for a steak dinner, Monica was still hungry.  I blame it on pregnancy hormones. :)

This gourd looked like a duck.  I wanted to buy it as well, but I settled for just a picture.

Monica and Ed found Mario!!!

 My "baby"!

So, you ask...what did you end up doing with your "baby"?  Well, it rode in the car all the way from California to Plano, decorated our mantle for a few weeks, and then we ate it.  We're cannibals.

Our marbled pumpkin cheesecake tasted good, though! :)

california bucket list - corndogs and apples, oh my!

As much as we were ready to move from California and back toward our families, there were a lot of things we loved about where we lived.  When we found out that Nathan got the job in Dallas, we made a "bucket list" of things to do before we left.

One of our favorite things about Davis was the Farmer's Market.  The Farmer's Market (believe it or not) is one of the main things that drew Kristin to graduate school at UC Davis, and we often loved to walk there during good weather to have a picnic and people watch.  Nathan's going to miss the bolani guys...Kristin's going to miss the corn dogs.

She got to have one last corn dog before they left, and it was delicious!  She wouldn't let them sell her one that had been precooked a few minutes earlier.  She demanded a fresh-dipped, fresh cooked one and enjoyed every second of it.

Very unflattering picture here...just focus on how delicious the corn dog looks.

Another of our favorite places is Apple Hill near Placerville.  Every year, when the leaves start to change colors and apples start weighing down the trees, we head up to Apple Hill for a morning of looking at crafts, taste testing apple butters and apple wines, and eating lots of apply goodness!

This year, the first thing we ate...apple cider donuts.  So good.

Kristin got to smell her favorite variety of apple, the Gravenstein.  It's not a type of apple we've seen outside of California, but it is by far the best.  It literally smells like apple cider and makes a great apple crisp.

Then there were all of the buildings and stalls with crafts!  These buildings feature Gooseberry Patch items, so of course Kristin has to go check them out.

We stopped by the pond to watch a little boy fish for the first time.  They had that pond so well stocked that he caught his fish within a matter of minutes.

And of course, we couldn't forget to sample fudge at the Fudge Factory!

We ended our morning with lunch and a piece of buttermilk apple pie.

Yes, it's true...our bucket list has just as much to do with food we like to eat as it does with places we like to go.  :)

pumpkin carving

As we do every year for Halloween, we decided to carve a pumpkin.  Normally, we would go to a pumpkin patch.  In Plano, the only "pumpkin patches" we found were in church parking lots.  The churches would have a section of the parking lot roped off, some hay scattered around, and pumpkins lying on the concrete.  It was really funny!

We decided to go to the "pumpkin patch" at a Methodist church down the street from us.  It was an odd experience, walking through a parking lot to pick out a pumpkin, but the proceeds went to support their youth program.  Here's the one we picked!

Nathan started by cutting out the lid and emptying the contents.  We were too lazy to save any seeds for roasting this year...made the process go a lot faster!

Then, we taped up the design Nathan created and began punching it out with a tack.

 

Then...we carved!

And here it is...this year's design...

Winnie the Pooh!  Watch out for the bee!!!

we moved!

This is apparently the year for announcements!  First, we announce we are having a baby...now we announce that we've moved!  As of last Wednesday, we now live in Plano, Texas.

I think most people who read this already knew that we were moving, but many of you might not have heard why we moved or how the move went.  We figure it's time to give the full story. :)

The Explanation
Let's just start by saying that God works in awesome ways.  We had been praying for years that Nathan would be able to find a job in his field (orthopedic engineering) that would be within a day's drive of both of our families.  That's a pretty tall order, especially considering that orthopedic engineering jobs aren't that common in this area of the country. 

About a month and a half ago, Nathan got a call saying that he had a phone interview that day with a company that he'd been interested in for quite some time.  In fact, he'd actually done two previous phone interviews with them in the preceding years, but the jobs never worked out.  As you can imagine, the interview went great (despite prepping for an interview with a different company and thinking the interview was two hours later, thanks to some bad recruiter information) and ended with an invitation for him to come to Dallas and interview in person with the company two weeks later.

Nathan worked hard preparing for the interview - he had to put together a 20 minute technical presentation as well as do the usual research on the company that one does before interviews.  In Dallas, he did his presentation followed by a full day of interviews - the day ended with a verbal job offer! 

Ironically, the day got even more exciting, as he got stuck in the Dallas airport because of a storm.  His luggage ended up in Denver on an airline he never had a ticket for, and he had to take a cab home because Kristin's car broke down. So he made it home around 4:30am.

A week later, he got the official written job offer, and at that point we called our families to tell them the good news.  Our prayers had finally been answered...we were moving to Texas!  The crazy part was, we had just 3 weeks to move!

It's amazing how all of the details worked out.  We found an apartment online that "looked good" and decided to go with it.  Kristin got all of her health insurance for prenatal care worked out and ended up finding an amazing clinic here in the Dallas area through a referral from someone we've never met.  We managed to pack everything up AND say goodbye to most of our friends without losing too much sleep.  And, fortunately, our fathers blessed us by coming up to Sacramento and helping us get moved to Plano.

The Move
We had planned on doing the move in two parts. 

• Part 1 - Nathan and his dad would load everything into a stock trailer and leave Sacramento on late Monday afternoon (the 17th).  They would drive straight to Dallas with minimal stops and arrive at our apartment by Wednesday morning (the 19th).  
• Part 2 - Kristin and her dad would leave Sacramento early Monday morning.  They would stay in hotels each evening and make frequent stops since Kristin has to go to the bathroom more often than usual now.  They (optimistically) planned to make it to Gallup, New Mexico by Monday night, Dallas by Tuesday night, and then they could check into the apartment and prepare it for Nathan and his dad.

Things never go according to plan!  Instead, we all left on Sunday afternoon and made it to Bakersfield, CA by that evening.  After spending the night in a hotel, we once again left separately.  Kristin and her dad took their time and made it to Albuquerque that night.  Nathan and his dad hurried, locked the keys in the car at a rest stop, waited an hour to get the car unlocked, and then ended up spending the night at Albuquerque as well.  :) We once again left separately on Tuesday morning, and all made it to Plano within a 2 hour span.  Unfortunately, we arrived an hour after the apartment office closed, so we had to spend the night in a hotel once again.  We checked into the apartment complex on Wednesday morning and had everything unloaded by lunch time!

The first thing to enter our new apartment - a pumpkin!  Kristin drove into California six years ago with a pumpkin in her car, so she decided that it was only appropriate to drive out of California with a pumpkin in her car.  It's now decorating our mantle.

Life in Plano (so far)
We've finally gotten our apartment in functioning order.  The place is nice with the only downside being the extremely small kitchen (Kristin had to repack some of her kitchen boxes because there wasn't enough cabinet space to hold her stuff!).  We managed to get our driver's licenses and car registrations, although it took several days.  Apparently the process isn't any easier in Texas than it is in California...we spent 2 1/2 hours waiting at the DMV and had to get Nathan's car inspected twice (with an additional 300 miles of driving after the first inspection to get the check engine system to reset).  It was an adventure!

Some fun things about where we live...

• There's a llama farm just down the street!  It's random but very fun.
• We can now shop at Hobby Lobby and eat at places like the Black Eyed Pea.  Chick-fil-A is right down the street!  So far, we're still learning our way around, but we figured out how to get to and from Wal-Mart the first day.
• We're within easy driving distance of at least 4 shopping malls, including the Dallas Galleria.
• Nathan's commute is still just about 25 minutes, and none of it is on a freeway.
• Nathan loved his first week of work.  He got cookies/brownies/cake/ice cream 4 days this week, free lunch 2 days this week, and went to work dressed up like a zombie today.  If he puts on a few pounds over the next few months, don't blame it on Kristin being pregnant.

What's next?  We're going to start house hunting soon (and have no idea what we're doing!).  If you have any tips on how to pick a mortgage banker, let us know.  We'd also love prayers as we look for a church community to get plugged into.  Kristin's main goal is to make some friends - it's getting a little lonely now that Nathan is going to work all day!

Before we left California, we made a "bucket list" of all of the things we wanted to do before we left.  Over the next few weeks, we plan on putting those pictures on here alongside our latest adventures in Texas.  Until then, see y'all later!

we're having a...

Yes, it's true!  We're having a baby!  As of today, Kristin is 18 weeks pregnant. :)

Us on the morning we found out.

We're expecting the baby to arrive in February, and no, we're not finding out the gender.  Right now, we're calling it Pebbles...after all, it's a little Stone! :)

On our recent trip home, we enjoyed telling our family members the news.  Here were their reactions!

Kristin's parents, Wayne and Dolly

Kristin's Granny and Pappy

Nathan's mom (Becky) and Mema

Nathan's dad, Gary

We've gotten lots of questions already from friends, so we'll answer a few of the most frequently asked:

• Was it planned?  It was in God's plan, and that's all that matters!
• Have you thought about names?  Yes, we have, but we're letting those be a surprise.  Right now we're telling people that we're considering Cadwallader or Jemima just to get a reaction.
• What symptoms has Kristin experienced?  We had to deal with morning sickness, lots of food aversions, gagging, and constant hunger.  Lately, Nathan's been doing most of the cooking and cleaning since Kristin has been avoiding the kitchen.  Other than that, she's just had the basic aches and pains that come with the package (no mood swings, so lucky Nathan)!
• How are you decorating the nursery?  Well, right now we're more concerned with actually making room for Pebbles (we still have more of an office than a nursery!).  But, we're thinking of a Noah's Ark theme, full of animals and lots of different colors.  Just because we're not finding out the gender doesn't mean that everything has to be green!
• Where are you registered?  We've made wish lists at Target and Babies 'R' Us, and we just discovered the awesomeness that is Pottery Barn Kids.  We'll probably set up a wish list there as well.
• Is Kristin still going to finish her dissertation?  Of course!  She's not disabled!
• Would you like my advice?  No, not really. :)

We'll be sharing more updates and pictures on this site as the weeks progress and especially when Pebbles finally comes.  Stay tuned!

may date - honoring your wife

Okay, we are really behind.  Lots has happened in the past few months, and there's so much to share!  We're going to do our best to get back on track and give regular updates.  First, though, we have to reach back to May.

Kristin talking:
You know we do monthly dates following ideas from the book 40 Unforgettable Dates with Your Mate.  In May, I organized an "intimate" date for Nathan...we won't be sharing details of that one. :)  For me, Nathan planned a date to show his appreciation for me.  It was one of the most wonderful and thoughtful dates we've ever been on!

Nathan's date was a complete surprise to me.  I knew the day and the time.  I knew that I was supposed to wear a really fancy dress.  I knew that he would feed me.  That's it.

On the evening of the date, we got dressed up and headed to downtown Sacramento.  Nathan pulled up to a the Lucca Restaurant and splurged for valet parking (first time ever!).  When we got to the restaurant, who did we see but some of our good friends!  Turns out, Nathan had planned not only a date to honor me...he also encouraged two other men from our Bible study to honor their wives as well.

The two couples joining us were Weston and Emily...

and Ed and Monica.

Us girls were surprised (at least Monica and I...apparently, Weston isn't good at keeping surprises and filled Emily in on the plans).  We enjoyed a delicious meal together with great conversation.  Then, before dessert, the men pulled out the biggest surprise of the evening.  They had prepared statements to share with everyone describing what they appreciated about their wives.

It was such a wonderful moment to see each husband look at his wife and tell her exactly what she meant to him and what he loved about her.

Ed was engaging and funny as usual...

Weston's heartfelt admiration made Emily smile...

And Nathan's compliments made me blush.  I love him!

First, Nathan read a passage from Proverbs.

Proverbs 31: 10-30 (condensed):
10 A wife of noble character who can find?
She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
…she provides food for her family…
16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks…
20 She opens her arms to the poor
and extends her hands to the needy…
25 She is clothed with strength and dignity;
she can laugh at the days to come.
26 She speaks with wisdom,
and faithful instruction is on her tongue.
27 She watches over the affairs of her household
and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children arise and call her blessed;
her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women do noble things,
but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.

Then, his words...

Kristin is a truly amazing wife, and I delight in her constantly. I have full confidence in her, from her work and time management to her decisions and reliance on the Lord. I can trust her to be completely open with me hiding nothing, and I can be completely open with her. She is a diligent worker who is rarely satisfied despite constantly setting imaginary deadlines and standards of excellence and then surpassing them. She manages to keep the dissertation moving along while teaching, cooking amazing meals, keeping up with chores around the house, earning a bit of extra money from a blog, writing another blog for the church and another blog to minister to our family and friends, actively working to build our marriage and reading with me each night, and still finding time for hobbies like growing a small garden, cross-stitching, sewing, and scrap-booking. She is definitely not an idle person, but she continually manages to make time for us and for daily time of scripture reading, meditation, and prayer.

Kristin challenges me to be a more compassionate person as a witness for our Lord. I, like my father, look for long term justice, but she seeks to offer grace and mercy without diminishing the importance of justice. She has a heart for the poor that I hope I will someday have, and she is a natural teacher and mentor who generally does not see how gifted she is in reaching out to others. She’s encouraged me to get active and stay active in Bible studies and in my own reading and studying of scripture, and she’s encouraged me to change without trying to change me. And in all of this, she strengthens me through her faith and prayer and confidence in God’s plan for us, even though we have no clue what that plan is.

I trust Kristin to look for God’s guidance, and through that trust, I know that our marriage and her love are based on her reliance on God and not merely on feelings. She is truly a wonderful blessing to me, and I love her dearly.

I love you, too, Nathan!

After a fabulous dessert, the men took us ladies to the B Street Theatre in Sacramento for a play about marriage!  It was a story about Adam and Eve first meeting in the Garden of Eden and then later going back to visit the Garden on vacation after being married for several years.  Overall, it was a great experience.

Nathan talking:
I think Kristin pretty well summed it all up.  But, for a short bit at the beginning of the play, I really thought I'd blown it.  You can never be too sure of theaters out here and what odd stuff they'll do, and with the play being of Adam and Eve, I started wondering if the actors would have clothes.  The last ten minutes waiting for the play to start were pretty nerve-racking, and then once it started, I saw Adam doing some "awakening" dance thing on the floor, but I could only see from the waist up, and that was bare.  The lady in front of me blocked out everything else, so I started looking at the other guys in our group to see if we needed to make a quick get-away.  They seemed pretty relaxed, so I started to relax, and sure enough, Adam had shorts on.  What a relief that was!