Working in the Vineyard

The LDS Church has a vineyard close by.  Every year, members of our church here locally work in the vineyard to help harvest all the grapes.  Last year was our family's first year in Fresno for the harvest and I was pregnant and tired, so I volunteered to stay home with the kids while Aaron worked in the vineyard.  This year though was my turn (Aaron actually still went too and put in way more hours then me in the end but I was there opening night and felt pretty cool about it :)).  My church assignment recently changed to working with the 12-13 year old girls in our ward and my first mutual activity with them was the vineyard.  Exciting stuff.  I brought my grape knife and working gloves and joined everyone who turned out to work.   We cut down grapes as quickly as we could before the sun went down.  I really enjoyed my time out there and was happy to be able to serve.

There's just something so picturesque about rows and rows of grapes, not to mention the good people in the midst of those rows and rows who give up their weeknights to "labor in the vineyard."

And here's a video of a church vineyard that a friend shared on Facebook.  I don't know if it's of our Madera vineyard or not but it sure is pretty and mesmerizing to watch.

Summer Splash Pad

We haven't been to the splash pad very often this summer (I just can't bring myself to take Ford out in 100+ heat just to sit there) but a good opportunity came when my friend Allison had her baby and we had her older son Ashton for the afternoon.

Ford shocked me by drifting off peacefully in his stroller and Eleanor and Ashton had a great time cooling off.  I was exhausted after the whole thing but I was grateful the kids had a fun, summery afternoon.  Summer splash pad trips are what childhood dreams are made of :)

 ^^Eleanor posed like that all on her own.  Her sweet little hand on my arm melted my heart.

^^All tuckered out

Youth Conference 2015

I spent early August at the coast with a group of over 100 youth.  Here's the backstory to that fun adventure...

Last June, I was called to work as the secretary in our Stake Young Women's Presidency and I have been amazed at the women I work with.  They had just finished planning and attending Girl's Camp when I came on board and they were already knee deep in prep for Youth Conference.  My first week "on the job" I was given a committee of 5 seniors and we started planning the All Camp activity for the final day of Youth Conference.  After many, many meetings, we headed to the coast for the first week in August for four days of Youth Conference fun (and work :)).

Aaron's parents were so kind to watch Eleanor that week in Riverside while Aaron worked and I was at conference.  That was the longest that we had been away from her and I savored every video they sent of her woof-ing like a dog.  It was hard being away but I'm so glad she had that time to bond with them.  Thank you Mark and Susan for watching her!

Youth Conference was a success and the youth seemed to have a really great time while also strengthening their faith in Christ.  I'm honored to be around such great people--both the youth and the leaders--and was really grateful for the opportunity to grow myself.  I was about 13 weeks pregnant at this point felt blessed with added energy to do all that I needed to.

At the end of the week, I drove down to Riverside to pick up Eleanor and then the next day we drove back home to Fresno.  It was a sweet reunion for sure :)

Girl's Trip 2015

Through a series of fortunate events, we were able to make a girl's trip happen this past September with five out of the seven of us BYU girls.  Our last reunion was the summer of 2013 and we weren't planning a major get together so soon but I am so glad that stars aligned to make this week happen.

Jessica's parents very kindly let us use their beach house in Aptos (thank you Veaters!) and we had ourselves a really, really good time.  There's just nothing like your college friends who seem to really get you.  We would have a deep, late night chat one night and then a hilarious, roll on the ground and take selfies night the next.  I love growing old with these ladies and I love seeing our babies grow together too.  Here's a smattering of photos that don't do the week true justice but still make me smile nonetheless...

 ^^So funny to me that these three (all born within months of each other) are each in their own worlds in this picture.

 ^^Nine years ago we met as randomly assigned freshmen roommates and now look at us!  Each with our own little girls born five months apart.  (And Kasee, out of the ten photos we took in this pose, this was the only remotely decent one. ha!)

 ^^Couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a pyramid pictures, although this makes it very clear that our group wasn't complete...we missed you Molly and Ellen!

^^I think we were re-enacting something?  I dunno. 

^^Goodness, I miss those summer rompers!

For the last girl's reunion go here.  I was 16 weeks pregnant then and I was about 16 weeks pregnant here, craziness!

Brad and Emily's Walnut Creek Open House

After Brad and Emily's Utah wedding, Eleanor and I stayed in Walnut Creek for the week to help prep for the open house.  I had the great idea to string lights in the backyard over the table area and we devoted a crucial evening to making it happen.  And then we laughed at ourselves (or at least at me ;)) when it didn't get dark until after the open house had ended, making the lights pointless.  Oh well!

Other than the lights, the week was spent finalizing the menu, moving bark around the backyard, going to Costco (several times), and arranging flowers (thanks to super talented ladies of the WC2nd ward).  I hit 6 weeks of pregnancy towards the end of the week and felt the crazy nausea/exhaustion take over.  One day I was going strong and being productive and then the next day, I had to be eating constantly and laying on the couch (all while trying to not make it too obvious to the family because we wanted to wait a bit longer to tell).  Fun, fun!

The open house was a really beautiful, summer-y event.  Everything was just so pretty to start with and then once you fill it up with family and long-time friends it becomes even more magical.  I love being in my home town and getting to catch up with all of the amazing Walnut Creek people.  We are blessed to know them.  The hit of the night was the gelato stand, naturally, and there were a couple people (who will not be named ;)) that seemed to camp out there all night.  They were the smart ones, I wish I was one of them!

Once the event had ended and the last guest had trickled out, our family set up a projector screen outside, sat under the lights (see they were worth it!) and watched Brad and Emily's wedding video.  It was wonderful and sappy.  We then started to share favorite youtubes, of course.  

Thanks for getting married Brad!  It made for a real good time :)

 ^^The traditional Stewart's groom's cake

 ^^these two very pictured-out people were good sports about taking "just one more," which really was like ten more... :)