Wedding Bliss

My big brother is married!!  This week/weekend has been super crazy and busy as my oldest brother married his soul mate.  The wedding was beautiful and everything went great.  I am so happy for my big brother and excited to have Kassi and little Rian added to our family.  It was great to hangout with family and see so many good friends.  And now its back to reality.... Here are some pics from the big day though (there are more on Facebook):      

Love this little family :)

She loves her Aunt Maddie

Love these two

30 Weeks.

I am 30 weeks!!  I can't believe in 10 weeks (more or less) we will be meeting our precious baby girl.  We are so excited!  I have been feeling pretty good.  I feel like my stomach gets bigger everyday but I am still pretty small- only having gained 9lbs so far.  But our baby girl is growing and healthy!  She is very active- mainly in the morning and when I am going to bed (go figure).  Exciting things have been going on recently- my big brother is married (more to come later) and we found a house we love!!  We will be making an offer in the next week.  Prayerfully, everything will go smoothly but you never know with houses!  Other than that we are just preparing to meet our little girl!  Can't wait!     

What's going on with Baby?? Your belly’s increasing size is a definite clue that your baby is getting bigger every day, weighing in at over three pounds now (she will be packing on the weight at a rate of half a pound per week for the next seven weeks). Also growing daily is her brain, which is actually starting to look like the real thing with those characteristic grooves and wrinkles. And now that your little genius can regulate her own body temperature and turn up the heat, she will start shedding lanugo, the downy body hair that's been keeping her warm up until now.

What's Next??  Baby Shower :)

Stats:

Baby's Size:  Head of Lettuce (18 inches and 3.2 lbs)

Baby's heartbeat:  151 bpm 

Momma's weight: 137

Weight Gain:  9 pounds!!  

Days to go:  10 weeks!!!

Raining

So the past two weeks have been filled with a lot of trials, tears, heartache, and hard realities.  The saying, 'when it rains, it pours' has been true the past few weeks for me and Jonny.  But through these valley's God has been at work.  I am so thankful for His promise of peace, comfort, and compassion.  I have felt God so close the past two weeks.  His presence has been so close and clear to me and for that I am so thankful.  I am thankful for His word and the hope it brings when everything seems to be going wrong.  I am thankful for the family and friends the Lord has surrounded me and Jonny with to help encourage and pray with us through the hard times.  I am thankful for a husband who loves me and encourages me.  Thankful for a husband who is compassionate and sacrifices so much for me!  So I am writing this post just to share a little bit of what God is doing in me.  He is stretching me and growing my faith.  He is drawing me close to Him and calling me to go deeper with Him.   Challenging me to trust who He is and what He can do!  So even when its pouring, I am thankful.  Because God is faithful, good, and loving.  He will never leave of forsake.

Some verses the Lord has been pressing on my heart lately/daily:

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail."  Lamentations 3:22

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble."  Psalm 46:1

"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you."  Isaiah 54:10

"I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”  Genesis 28:15      

Summer 2012 Photo Book

Check out the photo book I made of our summer!!  Right now if you enter the code "SUMMERBOOK" you get a free 8x8 book!

Click here to view this photo book larger

Photo books are the perfect gift for any occasion.

12 Weeks to go!!

Hello 3rd Trimester!!!  I am now 28 weeks!!  Only 12 weeks to go!

Things to do:  Pick a name for our sweet daughter, decide a nursery theme- colors and such, actually move so she can have a nursery, and get out all Payton's baby stuff and start going through it all to see what we need to buy and such :)

Payton's 1st Day of "School"

Well Payton had her first day of school/mothers day out yesterday!  She will go two days a week from 9-2:30.  Unfortunately, my camera was completely dead Thursday morning so I was stuck with my phone- which doesn't take great pictures.  Payton did great at school!  She walked right in her classroom and didn't look back when I dropped her off.  Mamma may have shed some tears but she was trooper and didn't cry a bit.  Her teachers said she did great!  And she was in a great mood when I picked her up.  I didn't really know what to do with myself after I dropped her off lol.  I got so much done with my alone time.  I know in a few months that will all change because I will have another precious baby girl to take care of but I sure am enjoying it now :)

Yes I took a picture of her lunch lol

Doesn't seem too excited...

When I first put her backpack on she fell over

Goodbye Summer 2012

Well Summer is over!  And as much as I love the summer, I love fall and the holidays even more.  I am so ready for football, pumpkins, cooler weather, leaves falling (although not looking forward to picking them up), getting dark earlier and all the smells that come with fall!  I know the cooler weather is still a little ways off but I am excited for when it comes!  So I made a summer "bucket list" in May.  Lets see how we did :)

1.  Lots of Swimming-  We sure did a ton of swimming!  She loves swimming at her Nana's and MeMe's.  And since it is still hot outside- the swimming days are not over just yet :)  (just a few pics- I didn't take too many of her swimming cause we did it a ton)

 

 

2.  Dallas World Aquarium-  Unfortunately, we never made it to the Aquarium.  We were going to go last week but because of all the mosquitos around I decided not to take her.  I did take her to the Children's Museum instead.  Maybe one weekend we will take her.    

 3.  ZOO-  We did make it to the Zoo this summer, despite the heat.  We went in the morning for a few hours so it wasn't so bad.  Payton loved the Zoo.  We will be going a lot more once the heat goes down!  We went with Joanna, her cousin, and her cousin's two boys.  Payton loved being with older kids!

  

 

 

4.  Little Gym Class once a week-  She loved going to the little gym.  Because school (and its so expensive) we will not be doing little gym this fall.   

 

These were taken last semester.  I didn't take any over the summer!

5.  Play dates-  We had a few play dates this summer.  Not as many as I would of liked but because of work and not feeling great we didn't get to squeeze more in.

 

6.  Water Park-  Didn't make it to a water park this summer.  I feel like she is a little too young for that still.  

7.  Library Story time-  Nope :(
8.  Lots of Park time-  Yup!  Payton loves the park!  And we were there whenever the weather was nice enough!  

9.  Ranger Game-  Yup!  I made it to 4 Ranger games this season!!  I love Ranger games.  Jonny made it to two!  We are going to take Payton to one next month.  Hopefully it will be cooler and she will enjoy it.  

 

 

 10.  Picnics-  We had one at the park! 

11.  Children's Museum-  Yup!  We made it to the children's museum last week.  It wasn't as cool as I remember as a kid but it was nice to be out of the house and Payton enjoyed it.  She loved the Aquarium there way more than the Science part. 

12.  A week with Aunt Maddie in Plano-  While I was in Alaska Aunt Maddie took Payton for a week.  They had lots of fun!  And I think Maddie decided that she is not going to have kids for some time lol.  

13.  Lake Fun-  Nope :(
14.  Date Nights-  Yup!  We did enjoy a few date nights!  And we celebrated our 4th Anniversary!  Thankful for Jonny's parents who kept Payton over night several times so we could have time alone and sleep in a little :)
15.  Gender Reveal Party- YES!!  We found out we are having a precious little girl!  Thankful for the family who came to celebrate with us.  We can't wait to meet her. 

 

16.  Clean Garage-  We still have some work to do but its getting there :) 

17.  Move- We are still looking at houses- taking our time.  But we are in the process for sure! 
18.  Catch up on my scrap-booking and journaling-  Still have some stuff to do but I am way ahead :)
19.  Get back yard nice looking
20.  Have a girls weekend-  Sadly it never happened :(  Just too busy with everyones schedule

So 15 out of 20 isn't bad!!  Thankful for a slow summer with work so me and Payton could hangout and do lots of fun things!