blush photography = A+

this is a little vain...and self-indulgent, but let me explain. one of my oldest, sweetest friends Brooke is an emergent photographer....and let me tell you what, she is hitting the industry with a bang. she did me the awesome favor of doing a little prego shoot- now, even I, the harshest critic of myself, felt lovely looking at some of these shots. AND if someone can make a 7 1/2 month prego lady feel beautiful, she truly has talent. check out these pics, and be sure to check out her photography blog, blush photography for more...and for other amazing work! let me know what you think...

i love her creativity! for all of you who know me or who have been following my blog... you know that i am a prego fruit addict! so the strawberries are very fitting :)



i even got to enjoy my Mikey for lots of the shots! i love him more everyday.



i love how this looks like it could be from an old film or something. so romantic.





i'm looking at baby chappy saying, "if you move like that one more time, i swear, i'm going to come in there and..."





dreaming of all that lies ahead!

thank you brooke for such wonderful shots! such wonderful memories.
xoxo

field trip day!

remember when you were like 5 and you couldn't sleep at night because the next day you were going to get to go somewhere really really cool like the zoo or a pumpkin patch or something?? well, this last week, my 5 year olds lived the dream....FIELD TRIP DAY! that's right, this last week, we took the kindergartners (yes, all 260 of them) to the Discovery Gateway in Salt Lake City for a field trip. the morning monsters got to go on Wednesday and the afternoon monsters got to go on Thursday. let's just say the whole experience wiped me out so much that i'm just barely feeling rested enough to write about it. keeping up with 25 maniacs each day is a beast! if anyone is bored at any point of their life, please, go hang out with a 5 year old for 5 minutes...they know how to kick it...hard. i think they had an absolute blast.

this is only half of the kids waiting patiently (well, let's be honest...they're never really patient, especially on field trip day) for the day to begin. there are TONS of kindergartners in our school!

on day 1, M came and hung out for the day. he actually fell asleep in the car waiting for me at the end of the day! hecka cute. anyway, at the Discovery Gateway, they have this awesome Sesame Street Bodies exhibit going on; everything is all decked out in Sesame Street stuff. it's actually really, really cool...even for us oldies.
our favorite part of the bodies exhibit was the digestion station. we love potty humor in our little Chapman family.

a little glimpse into what the Chapmans deem "hilarious:" a POO machine! serious, you push the red button and WABAM...poo comes sliding down the plastic tube. it's actually really gross.

all in all, the field trip was a huge success! i'm just glad i don't have to worry about another one till next year...

look at you!

surprisingly, photo shoot #2 went much better than photo shoot #1. we took 2 or 3 pictures and BAM, done. i think it's partially my growing impatience in front of a thing flashing at me when i don't really feel comfortable in this other person's body. i think it's also partially due to the fact that i've come to terms with the fact that i will be wearing someone else's body for a very long time so i may as well just get used to it.

30 weeks! (minus a couple of days...)

my new favorite (and not so favorite) prego things:

1. she loves to roll...and stretch. i didn't realize that me feeing her move would be more than just short kicks... my favorite is feeling her stretch her back up against my tummy. it reminds me of Baloo from the Jungle Book movie scratching his back up against a coconut tree.

1a. i love watching my tummy as it shakes and rolls when she is moving like crazy. it is such a miracle!

2. i pee, all the time. i thought i peed a lot in the first trimester...but nothing compares to now. i drink 8 oz of water and i have to pee. i jump, i have to pee. i wake up, i have to pee. i cough, i have to pee. the urgency to pee is ruling my life.

3. i love that i love chocolate! i have never been a fan of chocolate...often making me an "outcast" of my gender. pregnancy has sweetened my tastebuds into craving chocolatey goodness 24-7. i relate to women in a way i've never been able to before.

4. i'm addicted to fruit. give me a nectarine, orange, grapes, cherries, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, apples, plums...you name it, i'm in HEAVEN.

5. maternity clothes were not made for me. especially pants. my legs are too short, my cuban butt is too big. please, somebody fix this problem.

6. i must exercise to feel good. weird, yet true. i think labor still freaks me out...and i somehow feel i need to be "in shape" for the blessed event. who knows.

7. i've never been so excited to be a mom...and for mike to be a dad. i am obsessed with babies and children of all kinds. i watch them (and wonder if their parents are creeped out by me and my staring) and try to imagine what my little girl will look like and be like. i cannot wait!

love you, pops.

this is a little late, but i'd like to give a shout out to my pops. it was his birthday last weekend- big 4-7. i have to say, my life is what it is because of my dad. he is the hardest working person i know-- and the smartest person i know-- and the most generous person i know. i love you, pops! happy birthday.

he really didn't want to blow out the candles because he claimed "there's no way NOT to spit on the cake..."

p.s. i have to tell a little story about this cake. so, my dad's favorite cake is this amazing carrot cake that my mom makes. my mom always wants to add all this fancy shmancy stuff to the recipe...but my dad always notices and is never too happy about it. so my mom decided she'd leave the cake plain jane, his favorite. well, while the boys were golfing, she finished the cake and began making the frosting. she decided to color it with yellow food coloring, thinking it would be quite festive. well, the frosting turned this putrid yellow color (sure to be found in a 1970's living room) and she freaked. we tried fixing it...but our best option was to turn the frosting green... an interesting combo with an orange cake. it truly looked like a giant carrot.

the first thing my dad said when he walked in the house from golfing was, "what the heck happened to the frosting? it's green." we all laughed. i don't think he realized asking for a carrot cake would get him a cake that actually resembled a carrot.

pizza pizza

"Believe it or not, Americans eat 75 acres of pizza a day."

-Boyd Matson, TV journalist

i'm proud to say that i alone have probably consumed 75 acres of pizza in my lifetime. i mean, bread & cheese- two of my favorite foods- in one brilliant concoction. LOVE IT.

so, the last few weeks, i've been on a homemade pizza kick. homemade pizza is divine! i've decided to aspire to become a pizza connoisseur. anyone have any tips/recipes to share?? i'd LOVE some!

1/2 Tomato & Basil, 1/2 Ham & Pineapple (freshly cut...mmmm)


1/2 Ham & Pineapple, 1/2 Pepperoni

they're real.

recently, some friends of mine had a debate whether my eyes were really blue or not. in fact, one friend actually thought that i had brown eyes and wore color contacts all of the time.

false.

my eyes are really blue.

(Brooke wins)