Rob + Rafael

Welp, still here and pregnant. The baby can officially come at any time now because we were able to successfully make it down to San Diego last weekend to attend the festival that was Rob & Rafael getting married!

Eleven years in the making and it felt like a great accumulation and celebration. Their date was very important to them, so the wedding itself was on Thursday, August 3, followed by a reception on Friday, August 4 and a picnic in the park on Saturday, August 5. Even though Thursday was rushed since AJ was still working, it was great because after being exhausted from the three days, we drove home on Saturday night and then had Sunday to relax and recover before the week (as much as anyone with a toddler can). 

It was such a great San Diego wedding, which is totally their style, and the ceremony was at the Presidio, which, no one I had talked to had been to before (myself included) so it was great to spend time there, and it was a perfect venue for a wedding, especially including being on top of the hill and having a beautiful view that stretched to the bay and we even got to see the fireworks show from Sea World at 9p.

Isn't this venue lovely?

Their colored pants matched each
of their mothers dresses, it was so sweet

Yep, 9 months pregnant alright

Table Cuatla!

The decor and tablescaping was lovely

This sparkling cider is very good

This photo was too magic not to share

Kinda recreating Vegas 2020

2/3 of What A Bust! Sri said that Palak
could be the guy in the hat

Bordeaux Besties

This was the Wordle word for the day of their wedding!
Quite apropos

The Saturday reception was held at Stone Brewery in Liberty Station. When we arrived I said "we're here for the wedding" and the receptionist asked "Which one?" and I said "Oh, I didn't realize there were two" and she said "We have three tonight" LOL

We never got a chance to corral them
together for a photo with us so we improvised

Debbie giving Kacey a head massage for her headache

Pam and Doug delivering their speech. I so appreciated
Rob's shout-out to me each time a "reprise" was mentioned

It was a really nice picnic in the park on Sunday in Mission Hills, very relaxed and nice with great taco truck catering and can't forget the piñatas! It was a nice way to end the weekend even though it was still sad to say goodbye to everyone.

And now they are living their best lives for almost two weeks in the south of Spain (so heavenly sounding!) and I am at work, so very pregnant still with no end in sight; even my blood pressure is still good! I guess we're in it for the long haul. 

Maternity Photos

We didn't get to do a lot with Sophie since 2/3 of her existence were during Covid, and while I didn't really at all relish the idea of maternity photos because of the entire process and having to do it all pregnant, I still pushed myself to do it (and continue to push myself to do a lot of what we did with Sophie, even though I don't have the energy for it, mostly because, as a second born, I am acutely aware of how the first born gets a lot of things that the second born doesn't and I'm determined to break that cycle!) and with Jim being able to really pursue his love of photography in his retirement, it worked out perfectly for him to take some for us.

And wow, I definitely got more than I bargained for - I was like, here I bought a dress off Amazon, throw up a background and let's take a couple - but no, I underestimated his love of photography. He had bought multiple outfits, planned multiple backdrops and locations and had looked up some really impressive inspiration photos that we tried to emulate! We got some really great and fun looks out of it, and some good outtakes.

This photo needed my mom on one side
and AJ on the other to throw the sides of
the fabric at the same time for the camera LOL

I specifically asked Jim to put us in a castle

Sophie's look here just gets to me

A great outtake of a fabric-throwing fail

My serious face doesn't always translate
well to the camera 

Stop talking kid, we're Vogueing

We did not bring Kiwi along, this is his
doppelganger, my mom's cat Oliver

We don't do "natural" poses well, I think
we learned that from our wedding photos

See that fluffball in the bottom right??

Two rogue additions

Sophie frustrated the kitten isn't cooperating

Fashionista

AJ and I were vogueing great,
Sophie kinda ruined it

I remember that day being hot, and a bit complicated navigating it with Sophie around and cats running into the frame, but wow I'm so glad we did it, cause these have been really fun to look back on.

With my due date being August 26, it's not out of the realm of possibility that this kid would come in September, but I really don't see that happening, so I'm fairly confident that this is the month we will meet her!