AZ baby shower

this past weekend will and i drove down to visit my family.

my mom and sister planned me an awesome baby shower while we were down.

my mom made the cutest decorations (as always) and a diaper cake centerpiece.

my sister, grandma, and aunt all helped making such yummy food... i couldn't stop eating!

it was so much fun catching up with my friends and family!

here are some pictures that my sister took for us during the shower (thanks cheeri!)

 can't wait to introduce our sweet girl to beautiful aurora. yay for baby friends!

 my friend macy made this cute diaper wreath. i love it so much i don't want to take them off!

 one of my many trips to the punch bowl and food table. i'm telling you, DELICIOUS!

 our girl is SO loved! we got so many nice gifts and cute outfits for her.

 my oldest sister, cheeri

 i love these girls! special thanks to metzli for making me look like a princess for the day.

 playing the alphabet baby game. metz kicked our bums at this game!

 so happy (and relieved) to have our car seat! thanks to all who contributed!

 excuse my unlady-like pose... these days it's all about comfort right? 

p.s. love the smile taylor!

me and my mom. she is already such a great grandma to our little girl!

fresh air and a craft

one of the many reasons i'm glad for our dogs is they motivate me to get exercise daily.

usually i either take max on a long walk to the park or else we go to the dog park and i do laps.

he LOVES either one, but especially playing with his doggy friends.

in other news, here is the latest wall decoration i made. 

i love the accent colors we picked out for our front room, yellow and blue.

most of our living room furniture is darker, so i've been adding some splashes to brighten it up.

i also paper macheted (spelling?) a big letter "B" in yellow and hung that up.

it's so much fun working on little projects to make our house feel more "homey".

i'll be sure to continually post pictures as we add more to the rooms. next up, baby's room!

the birthday boy

thursday was will's birthday. he turned the big 2-5!

we celebrated with a group of our friends last weekend at our house.

i made a double chocolate cake (simple, but delicious!) and added strawberries.

it was so much fun catching up with our friends and singing happy birthday to him.

he even managed to blow out all 25 candles in one shot! whew!

on his actual birthday, he opened his gifts at midnight and then i made crepes for breakfast.

we found time in between studying for finals to do some shopping at the mall later.

that night his family took us out to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. so yummy!

i love my birthday boy SOOOO much!

24 weeks

pregnancy update:

HOW FAR ALONG? 24 weeks, 4 days

TOTAL WEIGHT GAIN: 10 lbs. so far 

MATERNITY CLOTHES? not yet, but things are getting tighter

STRETCH MARKS? not yet...

MOVEMENT: yes, all the time! will can feel her now too. :)

SLEEP:still good for me, not so much for poor will though. i guess i breathe heavier now...

FOOD CRAVINGS: cereal, especially corn flakes. nom nom nom.

ANYTHING MAKING YOU SICK? not really, thank goodness!

GENDER: a beautiful GIRL!

WEDDING RINGS ON OR OFF? on

BELLY BUTTON: IN/OUT? mostly out and i love it!

LOOKING FORWARD TO: visiting my family in 2 weeks and swimming all summer.

on the green

will has gotten hooked on golf the past several months and goes a few times a month.

this weekend his main buddy that goes with went out of town, so i came along.

before you laugh... i didn't play, just drove the cart and had fun being a photographer.

there was another single playing ahead of him so they joined up and played 9 holes together.

will has gotten pretty good and i had fun watching him enjoy a passion of his. 

chalkboard tutorial

we've been wanting a chalkboard to put up in our kitchen for quite a while.

they are pretty pricey in stores for the size we wanted though...

so after seeing some cute homemade ones my friends have done, i decided to make my own! 

9 dollars total covered a D.I. frame (i took out the glass to paint), 2 brushes, and 2 bottles of paint.

i did 8 layers of chalkboard paint on the glass to make it thick enough(change direction per coat).

it took me 4 layers of the red to cover the frame because it was a splotchy gold underneath.

vwala! this is now hanging proudly in our kitchen (which has splashes of red to match)!

our little princess

will and i both pictured having a boy first, we were SO sure that's what was going to happen.

it's not that we thought we'd love a girl any less, but we were just positive our baby was a boy.

now there's nothing better than imagining all of the fun and joy we will experience with a girl!

lately, i've been feeling waves of responsibility hitting me of just how much i'm being trusted with.

it's hard being born into the world at this time for any gender, but being a girl has it's own stresses.

i never want her to hear me talking negative of myself or see me with low self-esteem.

i want her to know she is a precious daughter of God and her body is sacred.

i want her to hold her head high and believe she is worth more than anything in the world.

i want her to feel safe, loved unconditionally, and that she can come to her parents with anything.

i think just knowing the pressures and emotions that come along with being female myself,

i can't stress enough how i want her to be raised with so much positive,motivating force around her.

and will's going to be ready for those boys when she starts bringing them home. ;)

16 week ultrasound 

the ultrasound tech called her "floozie" because she made it easy to get good pictures of her parts.

of course will didn't like that one bit haha i thought it was funny.

winter wardrobe on sale! 

18 weeks at the gym. i'm loving having my energy back during this 2nd trimester!

19 weeks- mid pregnancy ultrasound. saluting us?

we love you little princess and can't wait to meet you!