This is how big baby is today

14 weeks - actual size of a lemon

This kid is already making me exhausted, so he/she better be growing big and strong!

Fall Festivities

We've had a fun fall in CA - really enjoying the fact that we have extended family in the bay area and that a trip down to so cal is not too hard to manage.  Here are some photos from our latest adventures:

We went down to Irvine for a weekend in October and got to see my brother perform with the marching band.  He's been doing it for four years but this was the first time I got to see him!

It was homecoming, so they made "IHS" - Gordy's in there somewhere!  Happy senior year, Gordo!

My mom and I went to a baby shower for Meredith (middle).  Mer, Katie and I were all babies together in the IPC nursery about 26 years ago!

Meredith with some of her loot :-)

While in Irvine we also went to a big suprise party for Katie's mom, but I sadly don't have any pictures of the Beatles cover band, gorgeous view, or crazy dancing. 

We took a trip to Sacramento to visit my cousins and spent a rainy day at soccer games and the pumpkin patch.  They're awesome kids!!  (Holly even scored a goal, but I don't have a pic of that.)

After church on Sunday we discovered the local donut shop was closed so I showed them how to make "boko dogo" (short for "kiboko kidogo," one of my made-up Kenyan recipes.  It means "little hippo" since the fried dough looks like hippos floating in the oil.)

Then I found out I was pregnant. 

(sorry if that's an awkward picture, it's all I have for now!)

For Halloween, we dressed up Alphie.  He didn't seem to mind until he began chasing a squirrel and jumped right out of the shirt collar.

Lauren and her boyfriend Ryan came over to carve pumpkins.  (Note the World Series in the background - YAY GIANTS!!)

We took 100 of my students to the Harry Potter premier, and we even dressed up, can't you tell??   We're James and Lily Potter.  See inspiration here.

Lauren came, too, and since she's my sister, that makes her Aunt Petunia.

For Thanksgiving we went to the Sacramento area to visit Chris's grandparents and uncle and went for a hike by the American river.

In early December we went down to Santa Cruz for a relative's Christmas party, and decided to stop by the lighted boat show first.

Those were fire-breathing dragons!  By far the coolest boat.

Ok, that's all for now, since that brings us up to about last week.  Clearly I need to update the blog more often!  Stay tuned for more info and pictures about that whole "I got pregnant" part! ;-)

Normal Saturday

Sometimes life isn't an adventure ... sometimes it's just normal, and sometimes normal is fantastic.  It's been a busy week at work for me, and I wanted nothing more from this weekend than to relax and catch up with all the aspects of my real life that seem to be ignored between Monday and Friday.

I particularly love Saturdays in fall.  Crisp, cool air and crunchy leaves when we walk the dog ... wearing sweaters and scarves ... and college football on TV.  I thought I would sleep in this morning, but woke up at 7 like usual ... Chris tried to convince me to go back to sleep while I tried to convince him to wake up ... of course he woke up right as I fell back asleep.  Finally we both got up to discover that the Northwestern game was actually being broadcast, so we put on purple shirts and watched them BEAT Iowa!!  (and then Wisconsin scored 83 against Indiana ... EIGHTY-THREE?!)

The rest of the day will most likely involve cleaning the house, running some errands, and hopefully catching up with some friends on the phone.  I also plan to make cookies for a church bake sale tomorrow, and may read a book.  I know my life is boring right now ... but it's wonderful :-)

Alphie's Adventures

Hello, blog readers ... if we have any anymore (or perhaps readers via facebook is more accurate). 

The Stahl household is doing well - and has grown by one!  We got a dog :-)  His name is Alphie the ALPHA dog (the dorm we live in is called ALPHA, and we thought it was a funny/cute name).  He's a golden retriever mix, about 5 years old, 30 lbs - he kinda looks like a golden puppy, but he's full-grown!  After finding him on Petfinder we adopted him through Golden Retriever Rescue.  He was staying with a foster family for a few weeks, and we LOVED the experience of adopting from a foster family.  Instead of a quick visit to the pound or humane society, the first time we visited the family we spent an hour hanging out with Alphie, walking him, playing with him, and talking to the foster family about him.  They really knew his behavior and wanted us to wait a week or two to think about it while they were on vacation, so after they got back we went to visit again and got to bring him home :-)  They called to check up on us for the first few weeks and helped us trouble-shoot whatever issues were going on. 

Alphie investigating the apartment

 His favorite spot to get attention

So far it's been really fun and he's a great dog.  He's fantastic in the house - he's completely house-trained (no accidents!), doesn't mess with or chew on things, and seems fine being home alone.  He already knew how to sit, stay, lie down, and go to bed, and we taught him to stay in certain rooms of the house.  So far the only major issue has been his barking - he's rather inclined to bark at people who startle him as well as bicycles, skateboards, and other dogs.  It was rather rough the first couple weeks as students wanted to pet him and we live right at the busy center of campus.  Luckily it's been getting a lot better - he has a relapse here and there, and we may still talk to a behaviorist, but we know he is capable of really good behavior.  He's such a silly, fun dog around the house - he amuses us, and as Chris says, is probably amused by us as well ;-)   

Look at that face!

Sleepy puppy

Mombasa door paper cuts

In Mombasa and along the East African coast (Lamu, Zanzibar) there are some beautiful old doors in historic buildings and museums. We saw the following doors and carved artifacts at Fort Jesus when we visited in November.  The fort itself was occupied by Portuguese, Arab, and British, and finally Kenyan people over the last 400 years, and many of the artifacts in the museum came from an 18th century (I think) merchant ship that was recovered near the port. 

I loved these items - I'm not sure why I gravitate toward them so much, but something about the wood being carved with the combination of organic and geometric patterns - something I've always really liked.  Since you can't really bring home a door, I took a bunch of pictures with the idea that  would create some original art - not wood carving, but the next closest thing - paper cutting! 
So I studied the pictures, sketched the individual elements that repeat in patterns, and came up with these:

Design 1:

Design 2:

Design 3:

I still need to give them some backing/matting/framing - I'm thinking a really dark brown or black behind them so it is reminiscent of the original wood carving, and maybe a simple black frame.  And since this post is mostly for my mom, who inspired me to make my own papercuts ... mom, what do you think?

Adventures in Road-Tripping!

Here is a blog post I wrote while on the road in early July and forgot about in the craziness of moving and starting a job ...

***

After nearly a year of traveling in Kenya and living in other peoples' homes, Chris and I have spent the last few weeks ... traveling in the US and living in other peoples' homes! We were reunited about two weeks ago in Illinois, where we spent some time visiting with his family and meeting our new nephew for the first time. Then we packed up all our earthly belongings in a Uhaul, attached our Jetta to a trailer on back, and hit the road for California!

Our nephew, Robby, and niece, Libby, on a boat in IL. 

All packed up and ready to go!

Day 1: Edwardsville, IL (near St. Louis) to Lawrence, KS
Miles: 304
- Stopped for coffee on the way out of town, had to park in the far end of a remote parking lot because of our enormous vehicle, and found $20 crumpled in the gutter. There wasn't even a shop around at which to turn it in, so we considered it gas money.
- Drove through Illinois, Missouri, and into Kansas. Missouri always has the greenest grass, bluest sky, and perfectly fluffy white clouds.
- Stayed with my aunt and uncle, enjoyed a nice meal at Free State Brewing Co. and browsing at Signs of Life bookstore.

Day 2: Lawrence KS to Denver, CO.
Miles: 572
- Drove through Kansas and Colorado in heavy wind, going about 4000 feet vertically over 500 miles to get to the mile-high city.
- Stayed with our friends from college, Scott & Marisa. We enjoyed a nice meal and barely lost a rousing game of couples corn-hole - Chris rocked, I sucked.

This smile is completely fake.  I hated driving the Uhaul.  You may notice my death-grip on the steering wheel.

Mountains!

Day 3: Denver, CO to Salt Lake City UT
Miles: 543
- Drove through Colorado, Wyoming, and into Utah, traveling alongside and through beautiful rolling hills and the Rocky Mountains. Definitely the prettiest day of the trip.
- Stayed with Nancy and Dave, a couple we met through Couch Surfing. It was our first time using the website, but I had a good gut feeling about them - and they were fantastic! They are retired teachers, active Christians (Presbyterians, even!), love to travel and do outdoor stuff, have kids about our age, and Nancy spends 4 months of every year teaching in Tanzania! They fed us, drove us around to see the mountains and ski resorts, and even prayed for our trip the next morning. Chris and I agreed they felt like family and couldn't have been better hosts.

Snow?!

Yay, more mountains!

Day 4: Salt Lake City, UT to Sacramento, CA
Miles: 650
- Drove through Utah, Nevada, and into California
- After passing by the Great Salt Lake, drove into the middle of the Great Salt Lake Dessert. Saw multiple signs for a town where we planned to get gas, only to find that there were "no services." Ran out of gas 40 miles past and 35 miles until the next gas station. Called AAA, played with the salt/rocks until they came.
- Stayed with Chris's grandparents, who we hadn't seen in a couple years.

Sad face.  In reality, I pouted and Chris played in the salt.

That's salt, not snow!

Day 5: Sacramento, CA to Santa Clara, CA
Miles: 138
-Had breakfast with Grandma & Grandpa Baribeau, Uncle Gerald & Donna, while watching Germany beat Argentina in the World Cup quarter-finals.  Sad as we were that the US didn't continue, we were also a little relieved that we wouldn't have to alter our travel plans to watch them play.
-Arrived in Santa Clara, CA, and began moving in to our new apartment!  I am so thrilled to finally be home.

Chris shows pictures while I take pictures.

 Celebrating our 4th anniversary a few days after we moved in.

Great Salt Lake Desert

Looking through pics from this summer, I came across this one ... for about an hour we hung out in the middle of the Great Salt Lake Desert, where our Uhaul ran out of gas.  The white is salt!

Story of Stuff

Following right on the heels of the blogpost in which I talk about how much I love my stuff, comes a video that shows what I actually know to be true about "stuff."  This video really resonated with both Chris and me, and the relationship of environmental responsibility and social justice reminded us of Blessed Unrest (see Chris's post about the book).  Although I can cognitively rationalize my consumer behavior to justify my frequent trips to Target and IKEA, I know my experiences in Kenya and my gut reaction tell me that she's right. 

Watch this - it is worth your 20 minutes. 
http://www.storyofstuff.com/

Design challenge - Marrying Craftsman and Kenyan

One of the happiest things about being "home" again is that we have an apartment and our household things back.  Now, I'm not that much of a "thing" person - we parted with a lot of our possessions before leaving, but I do particularly love my home furnishings and decor.  However, I encountered a design challenge when I realized that our pre-Kenya and post-Kenya possessions really didn't go together. 

Here is a glimpse of our style before we left for Kenya - mostly Craftsman/Frank Lloyd Wright inspired:

And here is a glimpse of the beautiful things we brought home from Kenya:

So I have a challenge on my hands:  I still love the decor we had pre-Kenya, but I also love the new items we picked up.  How do I mix the straight lines and muted colors of FLW with the geometric curves and bright hues of Kenya?   For a while I thought I had to pick one and ignore the other.  Then, after watching a fair amount of HGTV and analyzing the actual differences, I realized I could challenge my traditional sense of what matches, and could also create my own pieces of decor to bring the two divergent styles together. 

Idea 1:  Just put different pieces together and see how it goes

Idea 2:  Make my own throw pillows that use both muted and bright tones of the same color (so far have just purchased fabric, but I plan to put them in alternating thick stripes)

Idea 3:  Create original papercuts that ties in one of my favorite Kenyan themes (the Mombasa doors) while being executed in a format that fits with previous home decor (they will be similar to the FLW papercut coasters above)

Any other ideas for me?  I love getting input, especially from people who are better at home decor than I am :-).  I still have a lot of work to do, like sewing the pillows and getting art framed, but it can get very costly very quickly (especially custom framing), so it will be a work in progress for a while.