these glorious moments...

1 || a beautiful, sunny southern california day. 

2 || went for a drive (sometimes my lethargic, third trimester pregnant self just needs to get outside, even if i don't know where i am driving to) and amos fell asleep within first 5 minutes. chilled in the car with him for 2 hours. 

3 || amos wakes up! and we grab some lunch

4 || 34 weeks big

5 || one of the chillier days we have had here and we still made it to the park

6 || had the joy of watching amos' little best friend preston for the day, and those boys had so much fun {and they look like twins! }

7 || last weekend our church had it's annual "world mandate conference". so provoking, and such a conversation launcher for ricky and i

8 || amos the city boy rockin' his jordans

i'd love a vote from you here! 

conversations with amos

convowithamos from Tiffany Valdez on Vimeo.


so these are a little old. and it's crazy how much a week or two can increase a toddler's vocabulary. he just makes life so bright.

4/52

"a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

4/52

and i just need to learn how to work my camera better. i get frustrated because i have this fancy shmancy camera, and my pictures aren't super focused or vibrant like others i see around. anybody have any online courses (through blogs or...?) that they suggest. help a sister out! especially one who doesn't have time to go to a class.

oh and this is amos eating red lentil curried soup, minus the curry. I JUST LOVE HIS FACE.

dates are good. yes, dates are fun.

FIRST! please head over to my dear friend allison's blog. i did a guest post about a day with amos. it's full of dinos, thrifting, and if you keep scrolling you can peer into ali's beautiful life of a mom of 3 boys. she exemplifies the joy and grace of motherhood so beautifully!!!!

-----

i have the amazing blessing of having close family that LOVES to hang out with my son. this gives ricky and i tons of opportunities for dates - or during the week, time for me to do graphic design and make some extra cash. it's such a great feeling to leave your child with people you know love him as much as you do. 

this weekend ricky, who finished a crazy, crazy work week (speeches, leading meetings, training new staff, school, LA trip, etc.) had a little reprieve before his spring semester starts today. we decided to grab some dinner and then head over to our church's conference they were hosting.

we talked a lot about a message i had heard from max lucado on the friday night session about our individual roles in the church. 

max highlighted these scriptures, along with pentecost in acts 2. 

"we have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us..." romans 12:6 or as he worded it, "God has given each of us the ability to do certain things well."

and 

"He fashions their heart individually..." psalm 33:15

and he began to ask the question about who we were created by God to be. uniquely us. what language, of what culture, were we appointed to speak. 

and so we talked over these questions:

when were you the most alive and the most happy? what were you doing? where were you? who were you with? what was the environment like?

when did the clock move too quickly? what were you doing that you didn't want to stop, that you felt like you could do forever?

what are your natural strengths? what topic do you get the most passionate to talk about/discuss? what skills come easily to you?

i think that these things are always good to think through. i think about Amos and the things he loves to do, that it seems he was MADE to do. he is very, very verbal and loves telling stories and asking questions. he loves exploring nature. he LOVES reading books. and as his mother i love to watch him do what he was made to do. rather that be play imaginatively as a 2 year old, or play with dinosaurs like a little boy. to see him be who he is intended to be, to be what brings him joy, what is natural - brings me joy. and that is how the Father is.

and that is always good to evaluate. that the will of God isn't hard, it isn't burdensome, it isn't some enigma that takes difficulty to discover. it is to glorify the Father in all we do, in who we are. whether we eat or drink, do it all for His glory. rather we sing, or draw, or mother, or clean, or lead, or make money - do it to the glory of His name. point to His beauty, His majesty, His glory - in the most basic activities of our day. 

and be fully alive. and to be alive is to function as we were created to function. 

it was a liberating message, and a very liberating discussion. dreaming with ricky about what it is we want to do. where we want to go. what lies within us that we want to draw out and make more time for. 

these are the sweetest moments of marriage. calling out the greatness, the beauty of Christ within each other.

i'm so in love.

oh and i'd love a vote from you today!

office inspiration

the first room i'm tackling in my little brain is our office/guest bedroom. we have decided to turn the master bedroom, that is at the back of the house and leads out into the backyard with big glass doors to be a more social room. it also has a bathroom and master closet attached. i think, for now, it will be best for ricky to have both of those in a space separate from our bedroom. lucia will be in our room for the first months, and any extra sleep we can get will be nice. ricky has a hard time being quiet. i actually think it is impossible for him. he even wakes me up now when he is putting on his socks. ;)

this is looking in from the kitchen/living room down the hall into the back master (or as we will have it office/guest bedroom) and out into the back yard.

a peek into the room.

this was my original inspiration. i love vintage mixed with modern. i love the black and white mixed with the wood and the industrial lighting elements. 

on Thursday we found this pull out bed sofa at a second hand store in great condition. it has a thatched, burlap material and is a little darker than a salmon.

this lead to some pinterest searching of what i had in mind to incorparate it into the office vision. our current computer desk is a black, clean lined ikea desk so I wanted to tie in the black and white. i found this office tour.

i'm loving the big black and white prints with the huge text poster.

i found some of these elements already, and hoping to start pulling it together soon!

1. asher desk chair / world market 2. door knob finial / urban outfitters 3. brimfield bookcase / urban outfitters 4. capiz shell laptop table / world market 5. black and white pillow / ikea 6. magical thinking crewel ikat pillow / urban outfitters 7. checkered throw / ikea 8. rugs / ikea vitten & ikea lappijung ruta . 9. mini storage rack / urban outfitters 10. cities of california typography collage / stay gold media.


here's to hoping it will all come together!!!

these glorious moments...

 

1 || amos still needs skin to fall asleep, even though he's been weaned for months. holds my face before nap time.
2 || playdough is his new obsession. thai iced tea and curry is mine. (ps don't mind the messy faced boy lurking in the background.)
3 || exploring our "maybe" house with daddy
4 || 1/8th of our massive "maybe" backyard
5 || coffee house time during our retreat to palm springs with the valdez fam and doing some work for thegivingkeys. PLEASE GO CHECK THEM OUT. GREAT COMPANY. + my sexy man studying

3/52

"a portrait of my children, once a week, every week, in 2013."

3/52

so despite all my good intentions, i have yet to bust out my slr and take anything worthwhile. hoping to keep it out and stay inspired to give you something more than a blurry closeup of my sons bottom teeth + sun glare. for this week, it will have to do. 

And THIS might be happening...

so maybe, just maybe - everything will go smoothly and in 30-45 days we will be inside this home.
YES. A HOUSE. with a YARD. and that's just the front yard.
the back yard is ginormous, almost 10,000 square feet! room for a garden, and chickens, and maybe a goat or two? (our potential neighbors have about 4 that we can spy up the hill, so we can all be goat friends).

i had a small, dainty list of requests to the Lord I have been praying for the past 2 years.
this was my list:

1.) 3 bedrooms + 2 bathrooms
2.) A big yard for gardening/farming
3.) Lots of light because I am home all day and don't want to feel as if i'm in a dungeoun
4.) A larger kitchen WITH a dishwasher

Extra:

* hard wood floors

and Ricky's request

** In the city

This little home is all that and more. It is newly remodeled and has 4 bedrooms. For us this was way out of our price range to consider 4 bedrooms, because don't forget San Diego has one of the highest costs of living in America - it is INSANE. Honestly, 4 bedrooms is what we NEEDED. I can now have a growing family and put girls and boys in each room and for now have an office for graphic designing/playroom. It also has more square footage than anything we have looked at. And in the center of the city. (the ghetto part of the city, which i am thankful to be in the middle of. hoping to learn new ways to love my neighbor and give to my community)

I am so grateful to the Lord!

It's a bike ride (even a walk) from Ricky's work. 5 minutes from the interstate, which in San Diego, when you hit an interstate, you are literally 15 minutes from anywhere...beach, inland, border, downtown, etc.

And if all goes according to plan, we should be in before Ms. Lucia makes here entrance into the world.

I wish I would have taken more pictures, but we will be back in to plan.

The list of needs, once we move in, is a little overwhelming - but I am so confident of the Lord's provision. Has He ever not come through?

We will need a refrigerator, washer and dryer (this probably isn't as much an immediate need, since we have lived without one our entire marriage), new furniture (ours is all second hand placeholders until we got a home, or mini sized from our first mini beach apartment), lawn mower, fence and then just stuff to fill our space. Exciting and crazy as the next 7 weeks are full of madness. Packing, Baby Prep, Moving, TRANSITION.

Well - my dear Amos is napping so time to dream and plan via pinterest.

;)

these glorious moments...

1. A magical children's book loft + coffee shop on the harbor.
2. My new glasses I got for $11 (shipping) from coastal lenses. First pair free!
3. L - our first Monday back in routine after Christmas vacation. A muffin, coffee, and downtown.
    R - Amos happy, even though he had a stomach bug, and after running around like a burrito, he ran around the living room naked, laughing, and saying, "i'm nakey! i'm nakey!"
4. Much needed date day at the Linkery in our neighborhood (which we will be leaving soon - soooo sad). Ricky had some fries with a fried egg on it, and I had the best burger.
5. LOVE.
6. Me looking super angry, but actually feeling amazing at 32 weeks. I have energy, barely any discomfort, and am sleeping great. I'm so thankful to Jesus!

prophetic declaration over baby number 2.

2013, let's make magic!

THAT'S IT! My 2013 #1 goal is to blog. And I mean, BLOG. as in, keep an online journal of my life. think about what i write. take intentional pictures. video.

THE WHOLE SHE-BANG.

I had some negative feedback back in my early 2012 blogging days - along with morning sickness and it threw me off. Thus, blogging silence.

but 2013 is a big year for us:

we are becoming a family of 4 into our 4th year of marriage.
we are going to buy a house. (we better find one before 2014 or I'll go bananas)
my husband graduates with a masters and the never-ending school schedule of busyness will cease!
AND
i bet some other totally amazing things will commence also.

here's what i plan on doing over in this little space.

i want to do some monthly/weekly features. i may not be perfect, but at least it gives me a clear vision of what to include when i take the time to catalog on here.

conversations with my 2 year old. similar to this.
a portrait of each family member, once a week, every week, for 2013. idea stolen from here.
these glorious moments. snapshots from my instagram eye. old ones found over here.
a week to week update on the little baby girl. COMING SOON.
and a writing piece, hopefully weekly, in response to a scripture, quote, photograph, etc. it's just healthy for my brain to force myself to articulate. will be called WORDS.
hopefully some showcasing of art made separate from work. i think that would be really good for me, to do some design projects (both graphic and material) that's not making me money and not someone else's vision.
and perhaps a weekly cooking adventure.

hopefully this won't be a post of broken promises. but i think not. i feel ready.


while you are here, i want to tell you about some other amazing blogs and businesses from incredible people much more dedicated and consistent than myself.

allison over at after His smile writes a beautiful blog about her journey of grace in mothering, homemaking, and adoption.
britney gives little peaks into her life in canada as a new mom at her blog mike+brit.
my friend courtney has a wonderful handmade shop on etsy where she sells earrings made from unique beads and low-priced prints of her photography at burdees.

oh and i'm really enjoying some of this music magic today.


that's all for now. hoping to see you sooner than later. 2013, here we go!