EARTHQUAKE!!

Yes, it is true . . . Matt and I survived our very first EARTHQUAKE!!

Don't be alarmed. We were able to walk away from the 5.4 rated quake with only minor injuries. I had to stop reading about "Molecules of Emotion" - good ol' BYU independent study - and jump up out of my chair quicker than my prego belly would have liked, but no major trauma occurred. And Matt, who was up on the 34th floor of his law office high rise, suffered from slight dizziness caused by the swaying motion of his building. Pretty intense. :)

The shaking lasted about 20 seconds - or so the newscasters informed us. It was a very weird feeling, having the whole earth shake underneath you and having no control and no idea of when the shaking would stop or if it would get worse. I couldn't call out on my cell phone for nearly 2 whole hours!! No more putting off getting those emergency preparedness kits!!

Earthquake Damage Done:

After many hours of hard labor, I was able to restore our home to its pre-earthquake state:

Flying Never Looked So Good

As most of you know, Matt got his private pilot's license during his last semester of Law School. Flying has become one of his favorite things to do. He gets so excited about soaring around in the sky and will take any opportunity to go. A couple of weekends ago he was craving a winged adventure, so we called up our pals and headed over to the airport.

*Sorry to those of you who missed out . . . we texted everyone but it turns out that our phones' text messaging wasn't working . . . don't worry, if you still want to go, just mention flying to Matt and you'll be up in the air before you know it.

Us girls had to occupy our time while Matt completed the standard flight checklist; so, we pulled out the camera and had our own little ANTM photo shoot, crammed into the cockpit of the plane. (For those of you who are unfamiliar with the term ANTM, look it up and join the addict train). Here is a little glimpse into the chaos and hilarity of our photo shoot:

Real Life Arachnophobia

This is my friend Shellie - and her adorable little baby, Avery. Matt and I met Shellie and her hubby Scott at Pepperdine Law School and have shared some really memorable moments with them: Scott smacking by butt, Matt drinking Shellie's breast milk . . . (out of a bottle), our crazy Mexico trip with Ricky Bobby (aka Ryan #2), and - sorry Shellie, I have to mention it - my glorious arm wrestling triumph! - to name a few.

Our most recent "memorable moment" involves the creatures that I am most terrified of . . . SPIDERS!! Many of you know of my fear of spiders . . .it began when I was stuck helplessly in one of those awful kiddie swings - the ones that act like a giant rubber strait jacket diaper. Yeah, I was stuck in one of those and a huge spider came crawling up my leg, and there was nothing I could do about it. My fear was later heightened by my cousins holding me down, making me watch Arachnophobia. I have never gotten over my phobia. . .

So, I called up Shellie one day as I was heading home from work - just to check in, see how she was doing . . . she was distraught. The spider pictured below had somehow landed on her neck when she opened her laundry room door, biting her twice, before she was able to swipe it off and kill it with Raid. I headed over to her house and was able to muster up the courage to scoop the evil predator off the floor and take numerous up-close pictures of the disgusting creature. I stayed brave the whole night until I was taking out the bag of trash and another spider - not nearly the same size, but a spider nonetheless - crawled onto my hand. I freaked out. Poor Shellie. She was already shaken up enough. Pretty sure the spiders were out to get us . . . How's that for a real life Arachnophobia!!?

I Love Being an Aunt

Matt's older brother, Adam, his wife, Michelle, and their 3 kids, came and visited us this past week. Matt and I had so much fun playing Auntie and Uncle.

Kailee is the cutest little blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl you'll ever see.

And Preston gets more and more handsome every day. He is so sweet to his younger sister and brother.

Michael is such a happy baby. He has the biggest, cutest grin. He and Matt really bonded this week. It was so fun to watch Matt entertain Michael with his wide array of goofy faces. Michael, Mini-Matt, Matt's sister Annie's baby, Brooklyn, and his brother Brandon's baby will all be super close in age. I'm so excited for the 4 of them to hang out together . . .

Michelle and I took the kids to Seal Beach and I got to follow the her and the kids around with my camera. It was so much fun. Michelle is the cutest mom ever and her kids couldn't be any more adorable.

*Thanks for spending the week with us!! We love you and we'll miss you when you move to Texas . . . Hopefully we'll both be able to meet up with you in October!

4th of July Fun

We had a really fun 4th of July at Dana Point with a great group of friends and our adorable brother and sister-in-law, Brandon and Lindsay. Thanks Adam and Melissa for "opening your hearts and your home . . . " :)

The firework show was great! Luckily, we had an awesome photographer - thanks Ashley - who was able to capture the fireworks lighting up the sky behind us . . . so romantical . . . :)

Earlier that evening, before the fireworks kicked off, the boys cooked us up a delicious barbeque - best sliders ever!! It's all about the Hawaiian rolls! MMmmmm. The Belly was thoroughly satisfied . . . until it heard that there was ice cream in the freezer . . . May I introduce you to:

"Ice Cream Willey"
(insert creepy ice cream truck music here)

When I took this picture, I didn't realize how creepy my ice cream man looked . . . he seemed so adorable when I opened up the wrapper and found his crooked little smile grinning back up at me . . . he tasted yummy and that's all that really matters anyway. :)

We all had a great time staying up late playing cards games and Guesstures. I got a little bit competitive with Speed . . . only because I was just not on my game!! Ashley, Natalie . . . I officially challenge the both of you to a rematch!!

And Guesstures . . . words cannot express the joy that this game brings to my life. No game has ever caused me to laugh harder. Thank you to Regan, Ashton, and now Natalie, for your amazing Guesstures performances - they will forever live in my memory.

We spent the next day at the beach before Brandon, Lindsay, Matt, and I headed back to LA to catch the 8pm performance of Wicked. I have been trying to get Matt to go to this show with me for months and months . . . It was fabulous!!

Utah Excitement

While I was in Utah visiting my newly-returned missionary sister, my wonderful family - both the Vandermydes and the Chamberlains/Tennants - put together some really fun baby showers for me and mini-Matt. It was so fun to get together with family and friends. I had such a great time catching up with everyone!

Thank you Michelle and Marsha, and Mom and Elise for the fun showers. And thank you to everyone for all the super cute gifts! My baby collection is starting to pile up!

MITNEY

This was the outcome of one of my baby shower games. Everyone got to cut and paste Matt's and my facial features to create their own unique version of what our little mini-Matt - or "Mitney" - is going to look like . . . Let's just hope that our little man doesn't come out looking anything like the images above . . .

** Special apology to: Chuck Bartholomew, Jennifur, Paco, Germain, PonchoVilla, and CyberClops . . . these creations were all just too disturbing to include in the Mitney Collage.

Hangin' with the Utah Crew

I got to see a bunch of my high school friends while I was in Utah. It was so great to get together. Everyone is doing such fun things with their lives. And I love that even though we've all branched out and are living our own lives, we can always get together and still just be the same group of crazy girlfriends that we were back in school. It was great seeing everyone!! I love you all!!


**I promise that the pictures of me in the yellow-striped shirt were all taken on the same day . . . though I do wear that shirt a lot nowadays. The Belly has the final say on my wardrobe each day and it tends to rotate between a select few articles of clothing . . .

Welcome Home Hermana Chamberlain!!

When we were younger, my mom used to paint signs up on our front window for special occasions. It became a fun tradition in our family. This most recent window-art was painted to celebrate the return of my older sister, Amber, from her mission.

My amazing sister, Amber, served in the Minneapolis, Minnesota Spanish speaking mission. She inspired our family through her faith-filled letters and strengthened us through her diligent service to the Lord. We are all so proud of her and are so happy to have her back home. She has the cutest chicitita accent ever . . . it only manifests itself when she gets really excited about something that happened on the mission.

I was able to spend a few days in Utah with Amber, my little sister Elise, and my wonderful parents. I had so much fun hearing missionary stories and staying up late laughing, singing, and just enjoying the time with my sisters. We can't wait for the return of our brother Max, who is serving in the Atlanta, Georgia mission. He's still got a little over a year left and is working hard and growing in spirituality more and more each day. We're so proud of him!!

Welcome Home Ber!!

The Belly

Let me introduce you to . . . THE BELLY!

(at about 22 weeks along)

This is how I feel about lugging around a 2lb little ball of energy in my belly all day long . . . a little bit fat but really really excited about having a BABY!!! :)

Celebrating the Mommy and Daddy To Be

Even though Mini-Matt hasn't yet graced this world with his wild little self, Matt and I decided that with all the life changes that pregnancy brings, we should celebrate Mothers and Fathers day this year.

• I made this "Pregnancy Survival Kit" for Matt for Father's Day. It included silly little things to help Matt get through all the mood swings and other craziness that comes along with pregnancy. The onesies were a reminder that "it will all be worth it in the end."

• Mothers Day was fabulous. Matt got up at the crack of dawn and made me the most amazing breakfast. I heard him up, banging pots and pans around, and I was listening for the familiar crack of eggs and sizzle of bacon - but there was more commotion than just that . . . he surprised me with french toast all cut into triangles, with little squares of butter on each one AND orange juice, eggs, toast, and bacon. He knew just what my pregnant belly needed. :) Unfortunately, the pictures for this amazing Mothers Day Breakfast included my truly precious morning look that is just not fit to post online.

IT'S A . . . MINI-MATT!!

I love this picture because it looks like our little man is doing a jig . . .

We went in to have the ultrasound done at about 18 weeks. The nurse asked us if we had any guesses at what we were having and Matt said, without hesitation, that we were having a boy. Sure enough, as soon as the ultrasound wand hit my belly, our little man was there showing off the fact that he was, indeed, a boy. Matt was so proud.

The little guy's expected entrance into this world is September 18th. We can't wait! :)

MATT'S NEW RIDE

DILEMMA: We just moved to a new apartment that is about 1 mile away from Matt's work. At first, we didn't know what to do about this new, lengthy commute . . . Matt had been spoiled by his 2-minute walking commute from our last apartment.

SOLUTION: THE RINCON 600

The Rincon 600 is a motorized skateboard, controlled by a little gun-looking remote-control that can propel this 75lb party-on-wheels up to a speedy 20 miles per hour. The Rincon 600 looks especially cool when paired with a hunky man dressed in business attire, weaving in and out of his coworkers' beamers and mercedes and onward into the lobby of his major corporate law firm.

**The Rincon 600 can also double as a shopping cart.

Caution: a high skill level is required if attempting this unique use of the Rincon 600.

Note: the most entertaining moment of this skateboard shopping cart manuever (pictured above) was not able to be captured due to the uncontrollable laughter of the camera operator. However, it is of worth to note that the trigger of the Rincon 600 is extremely sensitive and will send the contents of the skateboard shopping cart (which happened to be a new set of dishes) flying down the hallway with the Controller, practically on his hands and knees, chasing wildly after.