Maternity Photos

My darling friend of Ashley Daley Photography took our maternity photos a couple weekends ago. Against the odds of overcast weather and rain that started 15 min into the shoot, her talented self took such lovely photos! She is amazing! My favorite thing about her photos is that they capture how excited and happy we are expecting our son.

Thank you Ashley for capturing this time in our life so beautifully!

- Travel Tips -

We took these photos at Pearl Street Beach in Laguna. It is a lovely, small little cove that is rarely crowded. The rock formations are the main beauty of the beach, but the waves are also great for boogie boarding here. This would be a particularly perfect spot during the summer when Laguna's beaches are full of tourists.

Barbara's Lake Hike

In November, before my walk turned into a waddle, Landon and I explored some more of California by going on a hike to Barbara's Lake. Being the Seattle girl that I am, I really wanted to see the green trees and blue lake the online photos promised. However, with a 3 year drought we didn't have much of either of those. Actually you'll see in the below photos, there was actually no lake at all!

The hike was a sandy, mostly uncovered 3.12 mile loop path with a 679 mile elevation gain. I was so proud of myself for doing it at 28 weeks pregnant. I didn't have any expectations of myself as a pregnant woman but after being so sick the first trimester and hardly able to leave my bed, I have been so happy being able to be so active in the later trimesters. 

Coming up to the lake I thought we had just walked to the Desert Pavement of an African Desert! I couldn't wait to walk across it! I thought it would be hard and sturdy, but instead it was really soft and squishy like a sponge.

- Travel Tips -

By far our favorite website for information about hiking in Southern California is The So Cal Hiker. His information is organized so well and clearly presented making it easy to choose a hike based on your parameters for the day whether that is distance, elevation, weather or difficulty. He hikes each of the trails personally that way his information is reliable and up to date.