Emily is always after me to take pictures as my belly grows, the funny girl! I try to limit it to once every couple of weeks. It makes me wonder how eager I'll be to do this towards the end?
Also..we were able to hear the heartbeat for the first time on April 17. It was beating away rapidly at 160 beats per minute. There is a still a question as to my definite dates because I'm larger than I should be all along. So our ultrasound is going to be the first week of June (we don't have a definite date yet).
These sweet babies were born sometime between 10:00 pm Saturday night and early Sunday morning. We still can't believe Becca (the mama bunny) had so many babies! (there are nine) The last little she had was seven and they all died, we believe due to prematurity and likely the cold (it was late January). The girls are anxiously awaiting the time when they are big enough to play with!
OK, so one of the fun things we did while in CA was to ditch all the kids and go to Oakland for a totally awesome marriage seminar. Our friends Randy and JoDeann joined us, and it was a blast of a weekend! I'm grateful they had children over the age of 18 that we could trust with our younger kids for those two days.
The Tale of Two Brains is a part of Mark Gungor's presentation called "Laugh Your Way to a Better Marriage". We've had his DVD's for probably a year or so and have shared them with several friends. Most people laugh to the point of tears and we just love this guy. Combine a stand up comedian with a Christian pastor and a marriage counselor, and it makes for a great time! We were fortunate enough to get to sit on the front row both days, and got to take our picture with Mark Gungor himself too! (and the brains!)
After the marriage seminar was done, Randy and JoDeann drove us up to the Oakland temple! What a gorgeous place that is, and a spectacular view of the bay area. I just wish I felt better that weekend. I'd been fighting a terrible cold/sinus infection the whole week and hadn't slept much...makes me look just awful in those pictures! But, I enjoyed our time there just the same.
I've added a youtube video of Mark Gungor's presentation so you can see just how funny (and true!) it is!! Enjoy!
Geez, seeing these pictures makes me realize how behind I am in doing our updates! This is a trip that we took from February 1-8 earlier this year to Elk Grove, CA (just outside Sacramento). It was a LONG 10+ hour drive, but so worth it so we could see our good friends and do a few things in the area. While we were there, our family went to San Francisco for a couple of days. We were able to see the Golden Gate Bridge, Lombard Street (the most crooked street in the world, and they aren't kidding about that!), the Exploratorium Science Center, Pier 39, The Aquarium at the Bay, Chinatown and just enjoying the beauty of the city in general. It truly was a beautiful place and the worst thing about it was the parking...not much of it and it gets expensive! Jason and I want to go back "someday" without kids so we can see more!
I can hardly believe our baby girl is now a six year old! We kept things simple for her birthday this year. The Friday before her actual birthday, she had a "late night" birthday party with her little friends. We had a kid-friendly dinner, played games, opened gifts, had birthday treats (not cake though!) and then the girls watched a movie. They all had a great time!
Then that weekend, we had a grandparents only family birthday party. I just wasn't up for doing something big with all the aunts, uncles and cousins this year.
I still need to get Sarah's professional birthday portraits done too! The weather has been so unpredictable, I'm holding out for the nice warm afternoons to do it.
Here are my three pretty girls this past Easter Sunday! We had a nice day that day, with Church in the morning, a delicious family dinner in the late afternoon, then an Easter egg hunt after. That evening we also watched The Church's Easter video about the life, miracles and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The older the kids get, the more I want to shy away from "the Easter Bunny" and the expectation of "gifts", to focus more on what Easter is really about. Not that we haven't every year, but when the kids are small they don't really think about that. Same thing at Christmas and the whole Santa Claus thing. Its kind of hard sometimes when presents and candy are what's promoted everywhere during these holidays. So, they got more spiritual type things in their Easter baskets. Maegan got a book for teens by John Bytheway, and some "Mormon Ad" cards she can display in her room with good messages. Emily got an activity book for LDS girls to keep her busy in Church and some new "crocs" since she outgrew her other ones, and Sarah got the Velveteen Rabbit book and a pair of sunglasses. (ok, so Velveteen rabbit isn't exactly spiritual, but its a darn cute story just the same!)
OK, so its been FOREVER since I've posted anything to our blog. The only disclaimer for these pictures is that there is a possibility that my dates are off by about a month. I'm measuring several weeks ahead of where I should be. So maybe I'm due in early October rather than early November???? We won't know for sure until I have an ultrasound in June. My midwife is really cautious about doing any ultrasounds before then, so as not to 'zap' the baby's brain any more than necessary. So in the meantime, I just keep growing. At least the growth is all in the belly so far!! I haven't gained any weight that I know of. Yay! I know I'll have to start gaining soon though. Thanks for letting me share my belly growth!
