His island birthday adventure

The husband had never set foot upon Catalina Island, and they were offering a complimentary roundtrip boat ride for this year's birthday celebrants, so it was a day-long adventure we could not pass up. He commenced his birthday perusing "leaves of encouragement" from dear loved ones on the boat ride there, and then had a bona fide blast snorkeling the lush underwater forests at Lovers Cove, while I hovered by the pebbly sidelines and snapped pictures because swimming is not in my repertoire (I nearly drowned trying to learn how to snorkel in 2 feet deep water during our honeymoon). This may perhaps be foreshadowing of my role to come as a mama while this little miss in my belly frolics in the sea with her papa. By the way, I am 6 months along, and my belly most definitely popped out this month!

Little birthday suprises

The Monday prior was the Mister's birthday, and we'd a sweet and fun-filled celebration over the course of several days to commemorate the gift of another year in his life! I love the husband so much; he truly is the greatest earthly gift from the Lord. I am so thankful for how he leads our growing little family with grace, love, vulnerability, humility, and a passionate adherence to the Word of God - which is evident through the "leaves of encouragement" dear loved ones wrote for him as part of his birthday gift, with reference to this lovely verse (thank you to all the sweet friends who encouraged him in this way - he loved it so much that I am going to sew them all together into a garland to hang up in our little home so that he can gander at them when he needs a lift-me-up amid the storms of ministry).The husband also indulged in decadent cupcakes, little handmade surprises, a schmancy dinner with family at our favorite bougie restaurant, a manly BBQ feast with dear friends, and a snorkeling adventure on a little island he had yet to traverse until his birthday, which I shall divulge in full detail in the following post. I love celebrating birthdays, especially his. Happiest of belated birthdays, my love!!!

A cheery summertide

I reckon that one of summertide's best virtues is its bounty of summer fruits: mangoes, pineapples, watermelon, peaches, and perhaps my very favorite of them all, cherries! Since it is prime time for the sweet stone fruit, we went cherry-picking a couple of weekends ago. I have been itching to go for years, but I always missed the short window they were available. Though the husband is attuned to my predilection for the fruit-picking pastime by now (we've picked strawberries, pumpkins, apples, and Christmas trees together since we've tied the knot), he wasn't a fan of cherries until we arrived at the cherry orchard. The towering trees were dripping with huge, ripe, juicy cherries of varieties aplenty (my most preferred are the yellow Rainier cherries - yum!).  "Why do cherries look like little butts?" the husband asked as we plucked them from the leafy branches. Regardless of their quirky shape, we couldn't help but sample some, and when the husband did, he couldn't stop - they were just so good! I couldn't bend as easily under branches while being five and a half months pregnant that exceedingly warm afternoon, but we still stowed away with two baskets full of tasty cherries for snacking throughout the week. So worth it!

In good company

Perpetual sunshine has been established around these parts, and we are loving it, especially when that entailed good company (replete with adorable little ones!) along the shore over the Memorial Day holiday last weekend. Frozen bananas were a spiffy highlight, too.