So loved...

I absolutely adore this picture that my friends Mika and Joey took when we were all in Sonoma together last month. It was pretty much spontaneous and I think is just so sweet.

Mika and Joey were my roommates in college. We met freshman year in the first week when we were all on the same dorm floor. They thought I was much cooler then, but let me stick around even when they learned better. We became thick as thieves and decided to move in together sophomore year and remained roommates through our senior year. We've been through a lot together. Almost what seems like a lifetimes worth of ups and downs. Mika is even the one responsible for introducing me to Jason! I owe so much to both of them.

I really feel like our friends are gifts in our lives. They teach us so much about who we are and about the kind of people we'd like to be. I feel especially lucky to have so many that I love so dearly. Mika and Joey are getting featured because they are in this darling picture that has become my new favorite; if I could write a whole post about all of my friends, you would be sick of reading it way before my emotional, pregnancy self was done. :)

I ordered my favorite new picture and a frame to put it in for the baby's nursery. This way the baby will always be reminded of how much he/she was loved by so many people, before it was even born.

"You took your pregnant wife where?!"

Jason and I love camping. It is an activity that Jason did much more as a child than I, and one that he continues to do way more hard core than I'm sure I'd ever be up to. He goes camping for a week at a time in the wild where you have to carry everything on your back, filter your water from the stream, and hang your food in the trees away from bears. My camping experience was much more limited to sleeping in my backyard with my brother and dad, and, if I'm being honest, my favorite part of the experience was "decorating" the tent. I must have drug half my bedroom out there. But every once in a while I enjoy a weekend of sleeping in the fresh air, eating smores, and laughing with friends by the campfire (showers and running water required). I really wanted to be able to do this one last time before I was too big to get myself up off the ground in the morning. :)

But when Jason told his friends and coworkers where he was going last weekend, most of them responded by saying, "You're taking your pregnant wife camping?!" Or as my mother-in-law put it to me, "Are you nuts?!" Nope folks. Not nuts. Sometimes a girl just needs to be one with the land. Ha!

So Jason and I and my best friend, Molly, and her husband, Brian, and our dogs headed to Kettle Moraine State Park in Wisconsin last weekend. The car ride is always one of the most interesting aspects of the trip. Getting two dogs anxious to play into the car with 4 adult's gear, clothes and food for 3 days is always a site to see. But, we seem to have mastered the craft in the past few years, and made it in one piece... happy dogs and all.

Saturday we hiked a great trail. The dogs were in absolute heaven. They got to run free (off leash) for much of the trail and had a blast together. Anyone that doesn't think they can tell when a dog is "smiling" doesn't know these dogs. They had a blast... and slept like a rock that night!

We laughed a lot, and ate too much. We made the staples, like smores and hot chocolate, but in addition, Molly treated us gourmet steel cut oatmeal each morning (apple on Saturday and cherry on Sunday). Jason assumed his usual camp chef duties and made portabella burgers on Friday night, and Chicken tacos on Saturday night. And Saturday night Jason coached Molly and me on the art of the perfect fry pie. It took us each two tries, but in the end they were delicious. Yum, yum. That, is the kind of camping made for a pregnant girl. The more food the better.

We had a great time. It was the perfect weekend of camping with great friends and happy wagging tails. Even for a pregnant lady.

For those of you keeping score....

The belly takes the lead!

22 weeks pregnant (woops, this post is a little late).