a broad returned from being abroad

uhem... 

I know its been forever and a day, 

but I'm back, babaayy! (channeling Frank Costanza  of Seinfeld right there)

We landed in Chicago Tuesday night after 7 days of many seafood platters, lots of hours rocking and cuddling our new niece, 1 day trip to San Francisco, and approximately 26 hours of sightseeing/driving/picture snapping along the Oregon coast.

Yesterday I spent the day, wide awake recovering from the switch back to central time from west coast time, editing pictures I took during my very first newborn photography session with my niece. 

Like always I'm behind on laundry and Chris is complaining that he is out of fresh boxers so an in-depth account of everything that was the west coast will have to wait until.. maybe tomorrow?

So for now I will just have to leave you with this delectable, mid-afternoon snack of a photograph..

Be careful not to get a sugar rush while viewing.

Yes, it IS that sweet.

I am pleased to introduce

li'l miss Geneva Ann Palacios

born November 27th, 2011, 9:17am

7 lbs, 13oz     20.5 inches long

pretty proud aunt & uncle

Well, as you might have guessed...

my sister's water broke last night around 10pm (California time, of course)..

While I was feverishly cross-stitching my way into the early hours of morning here in Illinois (working on a family cross-stitch project I spied in Pinterest, dad who is in California with my brother, was sending me text updates on Jenna's condition.

When I talked to my sister  on the phone around 2am (IL time) I broke into tears of sheer and utter excitement. I realized that the next time I got her on the phone, I would be speaking to a brand spankin' new mom. This transition that takes place, morphing a regular old gal into bonafide momma has always fascinated me. One instant you are you and the next instant your entire life changes. You will always be a mother for everyday you live. Kinda neat..Needless to say I kept my phone on loud all night just incase dad called with updates and had to force myself to go to bed around 4. The anticipation was greater than any Christmas morning I could remember. Just when I was putting the finishing touches on my little knick knack cross-stitch gift for the new family, dad called and told me that little Geneva had arrived.

She weighed in at 7lbs 13oz and was born at 9:17am (Cali time)

Chris & I will board a Southwest bound for San Fran tomorrow morning. I've been putting off packing and laundry all day. Kinda wishing I could just teleport there.. We are so excited to meet our new niece. She has no idea how spoiled she's going to be. 

We are thanking God that her & her mama are in tip-tip shape,too

So here's to another absence from blogging..

But I promise that when I return, I will have many tales of our adventures in the greater San Francisco area, as well as our long anticipated road trip north to Seattle.. and if I had to guess, a slew of ridiculously stinkin' adorable newborn photos, to boot!

The Great Northwest

vintage postcard of Highway 101 in California 

No more boring, harvest related posts for this gal...

Now that I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel (we will be done with harvest by Monday *fingers crossed*), I can finally discuss exactly how much I am looking forward to November.. Our November will be busy, busy, busy but only in good ways....

Here's the breakdown (chronologically, of course):

• Chris & I will be making a trek south to Louisville, Kentucky to attend the North American International Livestock Exposistion (or N.A.I.L.E.). As I've mentioned before, we raise purebred Hereford cattle (ya know, the pretty red ones with white faces). NAILE is a national livestock show (i.e. breeders from around the country select their best animals, give them baths, haircuts, & blowouts and lead them into a ring where they are lined up with peers their own age and judged on their beauty... Ya..  in Lehman's terms its pretty much a beauty contest for cows. We will be exhibiting our gals Izzie & a calf we own with another breeder, Trisha.. 

Me, Samantha, & my sister Jenna in front of our playhouse

• One of my besties, Samantha, is finally turning 21!!!!! Sam grew up across the ally from my sister & I in our hometown of 200.. We pretty much all grew up like sisters playing hide and seek with the neighborhood kids with the entire town as our playground (perimeter of town was 1 mi), doing cartwheels, laying out in our preteen bikinis on Sam's picnic table drinking kool-aid & eating grilled cheese sandwiches.. I'm already doing research on kool-aid flavored "adult beverages" for her inaugural night
• I will be moving on to the ripe-old-age of 25 on the 20th.. I've always loved the date of my birthday due to its close proximity to my fave holiday, THANKSGIVING.
• Sometime soon, we will be booking a one-way flight to California to meet our new niece!!!!!!!! I just received the personalized onesie I ordered for her off of Etsy and sat there in awe of how tiny the little trinket actually was.. Little toes, little fingers, little eyes, little smiles... lets just say I'm pretty excited to be a tiny somebody's auntie.. 

• One-way ticket to California, you ask? Yep.. Why? Because my husband is amazing.. A couple of days ago, during some down time that I didn't have to be cooped up in my tractor, I rode along with Chris in the cab of his combine and he did something.. One of the things I love MOST about him.. He proposed an aimless, surprise adventure. The kind of adventure that always yields our favorite memories.. We were talking about our California visit and I had mentioned staying a couple extra days to get a hotel room and just meander around San Francisco. He agreed and then countered with another proposition.. "What if we just rented a car and drove to Seattle along the coast?"                                                                                                                                         We found really, REALLY cheap airfare one-way from Chicago to San Fran and even cheaper airfare to fly from Seattle back to Chicago.. Driving along Pacific Coast Highway from San Fran northward has been one of my major travel dreams for a long, long time. Even though its like an 800 mile trip by car, I still look forward to every mile... We're going to stretch it out over 4 days or so..I love driving long distances with Chris. There's hardly ever an agenda.. we just go where we please, stop where we want, listening to great music and laughing