Happy 4th!

We had a fun, relaxing 4th this year. We just hung out with family, barbecued and watched fireworks. Perfect for me, I can't handle too much excitement these days!

She loved the sparklers

Dad had to hold her at first, not quite sure what to think of them!

A little side note, Ella's new thing is to put my shoes on, only my heels, and walk around the house in them. I don't know how she walks in those heels, but she loves to wear "mommy's shoes". So stinkin cute!

Baby Update

Just a little update on our new baby, I went to my doctor today and he finally scheduled an induction date for me. Yay!! I will be induced on the 19th or 21st, depending on how busy they are on that Saturday. I'm dilated to a 2 right now, so I'm sure I won't be going into labor before the 21st (but I will keep praying). 3 weeks though, I can make it 3 weeks. At least I know that I won't be going over 3 weeks - I can do it. Being 9 months pregnant in the dead of summer is probably not something I will strive for ever again!

I also finished the nursery, nothing great, but the best I can do for now. We are sure getting excited to meet this little guy - I'm starting to have these sad feelings for Ella though because I know that it is never going to be just me and her ever again. We've had so much fun together. I'm so excited for the baby, but a little sad to know that this is probably going to rock Ella's little world for a bit. I hope she does better than I am thinking, but we'll just deal with whatever happens. She is such the center of our world right now, I'm sure its going to be hard on her. Anyway, enjoy the heat - I see all these fun summer activities everyone is doing with their kids, but I'll just continue to be inside for the rest of the month too woosy to even take my child out to the pool!

Not sure why I'm posting this - I'm already regretting it. I think my nose seriously gets bigger with each pregnancy.

Yay for Grass!

Not much going on with us lately - we finally got our yard in and are so happy!! It is so nice for Ella to have a place to play outside now, besides in the yucky dirt. Now that our yard is in, our next project is getting ready for the new babe. I've been working on the nursery, so hopefully it will be done before this little guy arrives! Not much time left (thank goodness)! Maybe if I'm brave I'll post some recent pictures of my belly. I'm humongeous(?) - every where I go people ask me if I'm due any day now. Nope - still like 5 weeks left. So sad

Nothing to do with this post, but today I walked into the room and found her reading my People magazine like this! Yeah, I think she is pretty much my daughter! She woud turn the pages and say "cute" and "oh so pretty!" I think I've created a mini-me - I hope its not as bad as it sounds!

MEXICO!

We just got back from our week-long vacation in Mexico - which was so much fun! We went with my family and left Ella at home with my in-laws (that should be a post in and of itself - I had major issues about this for about 6 months before we left for the trip, but thanks to a couple of blessings from Matt, I did just fine!) Anyway, it was good to be able to get away and enjoy ourselves, especially before life gets crazier when #2 comes along! Here are some pics of our trip - no making fun of the preggo pictures. I'm not especially attractive being 7 months pregnant, in a swim suit and in 90 degree weather!!


One of the first days we were in Mexico. Can't you tell by how white we still are:)


Matt taking a little nap in the hammock. Oh, we loved the hammocks! They were all over our resort, and we ended up in them half of the day. Only problem was I had a little tough time getting myself out of them!


The family enjoying a family sized hammock!


The girls posing with a couple of the resort parrots

Morgan getting ready to snorkel. She is so stinkin cute!

Matt and I at Chichen Itza. Oh, this place was quite an experience! I almost fainted a couple times from heat exhaustion it was so hot and humid. People kept looking at me like 'what it this crazy pregnant girl doing out here in this heat!' I have decided to stay inside my house with the a/c blasting the rest of my pregnancy!

A water hole down in the ground we went swimming in. You can't really tell, but it was so pretty and the water was so clear!

Crazy Dave! He traded his shoes for this Mexican mask to a kid selling them on the streets! We tried to tell him it wasn't cool enough to have to go around the rest of the day with no shoes!

In front of the church we went to on Sunday in Playa del Carmen. It was really cool to go to church in a different country and speaking a different language. Even though we couldn't understand much, it was awesome to see how grateful and dedicated the members were there. You could feel it just by being there.

And finally, Ella in her Mexico dress we brought back for her. She seemed so much older when we got home! She was talking so much more and saying the funniest things - I think she learned a lot from her cousins she was staying with! I know it was only a week, but it seemed like longer to me!
I'm so glad to be home with my little stinker! I missed her so much!

Welcome Home Dave!!

It's hard to believe that 2 years have gone by, but my brother Dave came home on Monday from his mission in the West Indies. A lot of our family came to the airport to celebrate with us - it was so crazy and awesome to see him again - and after awhile, it was almost like he never left! He is a little different than the Dave that left though, so cute and innocent!

Morgan had the hardest time with him being gone. Excited doesn't even begin to explain how happy she was he came home!

Some of the signs we made for him. Matt was really proud of his artwork!

Since he had never met Ella and Luke before, we made them name tags - just in case!

Happy Easter

I {heart} Shoes

So many of you know that I am a little obsessed with shoes, so I guess its fitting that I am obsessed with shoes for Ella too. I just thought I'd share our most recent find!


When we were trying them on at the store, she kept saying "petty shoes, petty shoes" I love that some of her very first words have been pretty and shoes!

Just playing with the safest toddler toys around - batteries!

Just an update on her hair - I know it looks pretty scary right here, but we are definitely making progress!