Shadow Box

If you live in Utah, you might have seen a familiar face (in a picture) on Studio 5 yesterday. Check it out here.

Great Article

I just read this article in the Ensign, and I really, really liked it. It's called "Start Moving."

Sometimes I get paralzyed with not knowing what decision to make, so I won't make one or I worry about the choice I made--if it's right or not. I thoroughly liked this article and the analogy of the smoke jumpers. It helped me realize that I just need to use my own intelligence and make the best choice, and if it's not right, then He will intervene and help make a course correction.

Anniversary

Last Thursday, Brian and I celebrated our 11th anniversary. He whisked me away on a little two-night getaway. Somehow he managed to convince my brother and his wife to watch our girls while we were gone. I think they were worn out by the time we got home, but everything seemed to go well. Ruby was afraid of their dog Billy. She was okay as long as he didn't move, but once he got up, she freaked out a bit.

After we dropped them off, we headed to the temple, which was a perfect way to celebrate where we were 11 years ago. Then we headed to our hotel--the Hyatt at Gainey Ranch, which is where we went after we were married, too. After settling in our room, we got a recommendation for dinner. We ate at the Spotted Donkey near the hotel. It was Mexican food and pretty good. The best was the queso dip we ordered at the beginning. After dinner we went to Scottsdale Mall and shopped for a bit and we grabbed some Yogurtology before heading back to our room.

Friday morning started with a huge breakfast. The TV in our room was pretty fuzzy, so we called to see if they could fix it. They spent a little while working on it and changing out a cable. So I guess for our trouble, they comped us with free room service breakfast. Yum!


From there we went to a car lot to look for a car. Brian has been thinking about getting a car for a while now--it's just time. He's been driving a 12+ year old car for the past, well for as long as we've been married almost. So we spend the morning into the afternoon at the dealer and ended up buying one. He is really excited--it seriously has so many great features, especially the cooled seats that are really neat. The bad thing is that it wasn't at their lot and is being delivered, so he doesn't have it yet. Hopefully it'll come soon.

From there we grabbed a bite to eat, then actually went home to get ready for a wedding reception. We went to that and then to yes--Yogurtology again--and then back to the hotel. On Saturday we went back to the mall and then out to Gilbert to Potato Barn where I found an awesome table and chairs. Brian couldn't convince me to buy it yet, although I really want to! We grabbed lunch and then headed back to pick up our girls.

We had a fun time together and enjoyed celebrating our anniversary.

Regionals

A couple of weekends ago, Brian and Eliza headed out to Albuquerque for her junior olympic regional track meet. They left Friday morning and got there late afternoon. Saturday mid-day was her event (high jump). She ended up getting 4th at the meet and qualifying to go to nationals, which we decided aren't going to attend this year. They headed home after she was done jumping and got home late Saturday night. They had fun together and had fun trip. Eliza had a great track season, but we are glad to see it finally be over!

A Good Listen

If you have some spare time--maybe while you are cleaning or driving--this will make for a good listen.

Enduring it Well: Interview with Meg Johnson

Gender Reveal Party

A while back before I was even pregnant, I saw the most darling idea for a gender reveal party on www.supermommoments.com. I thought it was just so darling and loved seeing the picture of the couple opening the box to reveal either pink or blue balloons, telling them if they would be having a boy or a girl. I knew if I were going to have another baby, I totally wanted to do that since it would be a big deal either way what we were having--either our 6th girl or a boy after having 5 girls. So, fast forward a few months, I was planning to do a gender reveal party with family and few close friends. I figured we would find out in the middle of July, so we'd have the party around then. But like I mentioned in couple of posts ago, I was able to get in for quick ultrasound. I hurried and put together the party since I knew I couldn't wait too long to find out. So here is our party in pictures.

the invite--ended up having to e-mail it out since it was so last minute...


We had everyone who thought it was a girl to wear pink and those who thought it was a boy to wear blue. These are the "teams." Note that I am in blue but really thought I would be seeing pink balloons. Brian went out the night before and found a lovely pink Rick Springfield t-shirt at Goodwill.



We had everyone tally his or her vote as they came in. I didn't get a picture of the final tally though.


My parents brought over a bouquet of pink roses with blue baby's breath. So fun!


The food...aka "What are you craving?"



We had food for sweet (oreo truffles and fruit), salty (chips and salsa and dipped pretzels), crunchy (kettle corn), chewy (dipped marshmallows and Reisens) and sour (lime and lemon bars and sour patch kids). We also served lemonade and water.





We had everyone offer name suggestions. Some funny ones were Brian Jr. (which was in both the girl jar and the boy jar), "Nacho" and "Stink.


We read those names, then it was time to open the box! The morning of the party, I went to Party City along with a big box and the envelope. I explained to the male employee what I was doing and instructed him--after we left--to look inside and if it said "boy" to put blue balloons in the box and if it said "girl" to put pink balloons in the box. The guy looked at me a little interestingly, then called for back up reinforcement, so I explained it to a female employee. We left and I was just dying, thinking of them opening the envelope and knowing before anyone else!! I had Terri pick up the box in case anything went wrong and she saw something. She would be the only one who knew and it wouldn't ruin it for me or Brian. I was SO nervous opening the box! I was prepared to open it and see pink balloons. It felt like I was opening a mission call! We undid the ribbon, then had to undo the tape they put on the box. We finally opened it and found...




BLUE!!!

Words cannot describe how I felt at that moment. Shock. Disbelief. Excitement. Everything!! It was just so bizarre to see blue balloons in the box. I really expected to open it and see pink. Everyone cheered and yelled (you can see the video below). It was so fun; I am so glad we did it this way to find out what we are having. So priceless. We looked at the ultrasound and it seemed pretty obvious that it was a boy. We hadn't see anything like that on the previous 5 ultrasounds we've had. LOL.



Yesterday was filled with even more emotions. I took Eliza, Libby and Ellie and we went up to the outlets and started his wardrobe and got a few outfits for him. As I was in Gap looking at a shirt, the thought hit me, "We have to do scouts now!" Waaaaaaahhh!! Haha. Pinewood derby--all of that!! Ugh! LOL. And I have to learn how to tie a tie. And what do little boys wear to church? We have to basically start from scratch--new clothes, new socks, new blankets, new burp cloths, etc!! Overwhelming! New car seat, new swing. It'll be fun though. The best part is that we get to get rid of all the clothes that are too small for Ruby! It'll be so nice to clean out like that. All in all, it is a huge shock for us to be having a little boy, but we couldn't all be any more excited.

The Big Reveal