And Baby Makes Three..

Well, now that it's out in the open and 'Facebook official', we're pregnant! Well, Hailey is. I'm just along for the ride, trying to make sure she gets what she wants with her cravings, or add a pillow to help her sore back. I'm a pregnancy assistant.

It's really crazy. I won't lie, there's days I still don't think I'm a dad, but I am. I've been told, and I believe it, but it'll snap into my head the closer we get to the due date in July.

So far, we've had a few appointments since the announcement (if you wanna watch the video, it'll be at the bottom of the post). Baby's doing good, mom's doing good (despite feeling pretty bad during the first trimester). I'm doing great, but who cares about me, it's about momma and the kiddo, right? Heartbeat has been rising more and more each time we've heard it, and the last two times we've had an ultrasound, the baby's been moving nonstop!

Seriously, if the kid moves as much out of the womb as it does in it, Hailey and I are gonna be rocking and rolling non-stop, which I'm excited for anyway. It'll keep me young and moving.

That said, I gotta write about an experience I've had today.

Today, I tried to do some research on gender reveals. Did you know that there's only about 20 ideas for a gender reveal, and every mommy blogger from here to Gymboree reposts them as 'the best ideas of *insert year here*'?

Because that's basically what it is. I want originality, or at least an idea I haven't seen before. But balloons out of a box, colored cake, silly string...blue or pink, blue or pink....it's dizzying.

The trick that makes it hard is the fact Hailey and I want to be surprised with everyone else. So outside of cutting a cake or just opening an envelope...how do we do that without knowing before?
It's a quandary, and gets hard to find a good idea that isn't the norm that everyone else does. The search will continue...we've got a month before we find out, anyway....

Now, here's that video...

Two Years and An I-Do Later...

Today's pretty crazy to think that two years ago I asked Hailey to marry me, and we've been married for a year and a half now. Tomorrow is also the day I asked her out, so these two days mean a lot to us. Looking back, it's great seeing how even in two years how far we've come

First stop on the date for us was the Zoo. I'm still trying to get her a meet and greet with a baby monkey (her one of many life goals).

Next up: Santa Monica Pier

Now, this is where I open up about a story I haven't posted about, and only friends we've told in-person have heard. 

Hailey really shouldn't have married me. Not after what I did to her leading up to it. The entire day went great. Spent the day at the zoo, enjoyed the pier, and enjoyed LA. I had dinner plans at Charthouse in Marina Del Rey for us that night, and it was going to be awesome. But, because of a variety of issues, mostly related to family, I was scared out of my mind to ask her. I knew I wanted to, but I let the pressure of what my family would think get into my head and I nutted up in the worst way. Everything I was going to say or do just went out the window, and it fell apart. 

Well, you're probably thinking, "Jake, it couldn't have been that bad, I mean, she still said 'yes', right?" 

YEAH. It was that bad. To me it was. 

So, walking up to Charthouse, we saw this odd couple. The dude was incredibly short, balding, sorta fat, etc. chick was incredibly tall, hairy..just a dynamic that threw off the balance, y'know? 

Hailey leans over to me and says "what I was that much taller than you?" 

I replied, with no filter to my idiotic thought: "what if I was that much more bald than you?"

STRIKE. ONE. 

You see, Hailey has alopecia. Don't know what that is? It's basically a autoimmune issue where her white blood cells get bored and attack things like hair follicles. It's not really bad for her, but occasionally she'll get a bald spot, and we go to the dermatologist and take care of it. 

So, I just called my future wife bald, and made fun of her autoimmune issue. 

I somehow made it through dinner without flubbing anything, but afterwards didn't stop me from

STRIKE. TWO. 

We're walking on the beach of the marina, she looks over to me and says "hey do I have anything in my teeth?" I go...."yeah, a fake one."

Firstly, my wife is a badass. She lost a tooth to a basketball fight in high school. Like, how many chicks do that?! Second, I'm a jerk. Like, how many dudes say that?! 

You'd think I'd be good by now. I get the jitters out of my system and I proceed with the night..

You'd think that it'd be smooth sailing by now, and it'd be all wonderful, right? 

There wouldn't be anything coming up around the corner buuuuutttt.....

STRIKE. THREE.

So, Hailey's wedding ring is actually her late-grandmothers. It was given to me to give to her by her family. I thought this would be a brilliant idea. Why? I have NO FREAKING CLUE. 

But, I ask her if she wanted a surprise. She knew it. She had every idea in the world of what was to come, and I shouldn't have said anything and just dropped a knee then and there. Nope. 

I hand her an empty ring box. Told her that the ring could be hidden at the restaurant, at another location, back at home, and she had to guess. 

I WAS SO DAFT. It never occurred to me that this was a bigger issue than I had thought, all because of her late grandmother's ring being in the possession of someone else. I was just trying to find a fun way to do this. 

I told her to close her eyes, I got behind her and dropped to a knee. Told her to open her eyes and she turned around. I asked if she wanted to marry me, she said yes and cried (I think more out of relief the ring was safe and the torture was hopefully over...). I hugged her, we kissed, and stood there for a long time. After that, we drove back home, with Hailey calling as many people as she could, elated. Why, I don't know. I just struck out, and yet I still somehow hit a home run. 

But now, because I made such a horrific mess of the proposal, I now intend to find a creative way to ask her every year to be my girl all over again. A lifetime of different proposals makes up for one bad one, hopefully. Either way, I'm the luckiest guy in the world to have a girl that puts up with some massively bad blunders. 

Disneyland Forever: An Orange Start to a Magical Kingdom

I'm trying to get back into a habit of posting more photos I've shot. Most of these have been sitting on my desktop for a while, and I've done nothing with them. A while back a friend of ours signed us into Disneyland, and we got to check out the new 60th Celebration stuff. All of the shows are fantastic, and the upgrades to the attractions are top notch. So, let's start this off with a opening shot of the new fireworks show, Disneyland Forever.

This show's technology is fantastic. Steve Davison and his team took the projection mapping from previous shows they've done in other Disney parks and brought it home for the 60th. It starts out with orange groves, as it once was before Disneyland was built. To see something like this, even projected, gives a really surreal idea of what it must have been like for Walt to look at trees, and see where his Castle would go, or where the world of Tomorrow would be. Tying it back to what was once there was really awesome to see, and to think that imagination truly has no limits is inspiring, to say the least. 

Meet Winnie

It's been about a week since we've had our new family member, and she's already captured my heart. It's funny, because I didn't even want her. Hailey has been on me for about the last six months, trying to convince me that we needed a dog. I haven't wanted one since I lost my first dog DJ. It just never really felt right.

But, a week ago, after coming home from a trip to Long Beach, she had looked up at least half a dozen puppies of various breeds, and wanted to 'just go look'. I had started to take a nap, but I was woken up around 8:00pm with a phone in my face and Hailey saying "Theres puppies we can 'just go look' at right now. Well, look at how well 'just go look' went. We 'just bought' a puppy. Not just any puppy, the first puppy we looked at. There wasn't any hesitation or doubt. She was ours.

The owner was a good old country boy. I'm not talking your basic redneck. I'm talking, the guy had a definitive twang, and when we walked up, he was finishing up a pack of bud light with his friend, and smoking deer jerky from a recent hunting trip. Shorts, tank top, fishing hat, he fit the stereotypical bill for redneck. But, he was an absolute gentleman, and came off as a guy who would hug you over hit you. His dog, our puppy's mom, was super clean, well behaved, so I figured the puppy had to be the same way. We walk to his backyard, and there she was, laying by the side wall of the house, in the shade. There she was, a little half Queensland, half uhm...half...Schnauzer? Terrier? We don't really know. Anyway, Hailey held her first, and watching her, I knew that this was it. The minute I would hold her would be it. I'd melt, and say yes.

Now I've got two girls to look after. 

Well, that obviously happened, because now we're a week into owning this puppy, and she's adapted so well into our little family of two. Hailey was right. A dog would be great for us, especially me. I've been grumpy lately, because of a variety of reasons. Coming home now to a dog gets my mind off things, and I've got a little thing that loves me unconditionally and doesn't care what happened during the day, and just wants to play. It really is the best.

 Obviously we're still learning how to train her and housebreak her a little bit, but she really is quite adorable, and learns fast. On friday nights, we decided she gets to sleep up on the bed with us, but otherwise she's adapting well to her crate. In the next few weeks we go to get her second round of shots, and once she's cleared, I'm thinking a trip to the park to play is in order.

As for now, I'm going to go play some tug of war with this little one, and just enjoy some pure happiness. 

The Blackjack Birthday: Hailey's Vegas Adventure

I wish I could say I took credit for coming up with going to Vegas for Hailey's 21st birthday, but I can't. It was all her parents' doing. Which was totally cool, because they made the trip what it was.

This is the first sign you know you're leaving Bakersfield

Welcome to nowhere!

Stare down. 

So...Planet Hollywood is pretty rad. 

All green for the birthday girl! 

The Linq's block area is one of my favorite areas. Really feels like the Grove in LA. 

Family! 

St. Patty's day in Vegas is probably one of the funnest things I've done in my short adult life. Also, it was never intended that my father in law and I matched.

Me and my lady <3

We had to sit around and wait for 12:00am to hit so she could order her first drink! Waitress wanted a photo taken to celebrate. 

Mama and daughter. 

First gamble! 

The next set of photos was really fun to try and capture. Hailey had no idea, but I had gotten ahold of our friend Alison, who lives in NorCal, and she was going to be in Vegas at the same time we were, so I surprised Hailey with meeting up with her! Tears were had.

After this....

Shots! This entire trip, Hailey didn't pay for a single drink. 

Next morning..

Birthday girl all dressed up in green! 

Fremont Street! 

This was the first time I've ever been down here, and I must say, it rocked. Didn't have time to go back at night, so I guess we gotta go back. 

Military drill for St. Patricks Day.

Hard to see, but there was a celtic band, too.

Big screen is big.

Only in Vegas will you see a senior citizen in a Borat thong.

And duct tape pasties.

Had lunch here, and..

OHMYGOSH. Easily one of the BEST burgers I've ever had. It was the most tender hamburger, and loaded with a over easy egg, and DUCK bacon. 

DUCK.

BACON.

Bacon is great, but DUCK BACON. COME ON! 

I could get used to a view like this. 

Did I mention St. Patricks Day in Vegas is great?

Birthday Dinner! 

This was shot shortly after dinner at Margaritaville. Hailey landed a balloon had, and Steve and Kristy (family who live in the area) came down to meet up with us! 

Hey look! It's a grown up Yogurtland! ;) 

Old Vegas is still beautiful. 

Couldn't not see this. 

Not World of Color, but man is it beautiful and elegant. 

They were near inseparable. 

There were two ladies who lived in a shoe...

And then the weird dude who sat in one too...

Junebug! 

Bartenders getting in on the St. Patty's Day action with us too. 

Next day before we left, we went out to this place for Kelly to check out some furniture for her company. Never been inside until now, but it's AWESOME. Really cool (but uber expensive) stuff here.

We don't wanna leave! 

Vegas as a grown up is a lot of fun. Next time we want to check out a show or two, and spend more time, but as a first time trip to drink and gamble, it was a total blast. Definitely the best way to kick of Hailey's 21st year of birth. I gotta give major props to my in-laws for planning this, and going all out for Hailey. It was such a great time. Now onto the next time....