Snowflake

We had a delightful trip to Snowflake, AZ last weekend for the Pioneer Day celebration. There's a parade, fireworks, rodeo, town BBQ, etc that's always fun. Mark's grandparents live there, so we stayed at their house with other cousins and Aunts and Uncles. We usually stay in a hotel because there's not enough room at Grandma's, but this year some of the usual family members weren't able to make it, so we had a room at the house. It was so fun! I'll post some pics instead of going on and on about the details. :-) We missed those of you who couldn't make it!

The pics are out of order, but you'll get the idea.
Watching the parade. Natalie liked it, but sat on my lap the whole time.
She liked to pull "babies" around in this little wagon. Playing outside in the yard was her favorite thing to do on this trip.
Launching water balloons.
Catching the launched water balloons. They went so high it was like looking at a tiny colored dot.
The annual races. They have the different age groups of kids race, starting with one-year-olds (we missed it) and then they do a few combo races like daddy/daughter, mom/son, etc. You can see Mark and Natalie towards the right--he's the tall one.
Here they come!
I guess she didn't like it. Or she's sad they didn't win....
She was a little bit of a grump that morning until....
She "ran" the grandparent/granddaughter race with her grandma....And got a lollipop as a treat! That made her very happy. And sticky.

Mark and Natalie hanging out (no pun intended) in the hammock that Judy brought.
Eating a popsicle, or a "dol-ho" as she says it.
Natalie with her cute cousins Megan and Shayla. We think that Natalie sort of looks like Shayla (in the middle).
Helping fill water balloons. She would carry one around and call it her baby until it popped. It was so funny to watch her face as she got all wet unexpectedly!

We had a great time and can't wait to go back next year!

Tis the Season

I have a confession to make.

Today, I listened to a Christmas CD.

Usually I wait until after Halloween AT LEAST so I don't get tired of the songs before the actual holiday arrives. But today we were driving in my mom's car, and for some reason there was an instrumental Christmas CD sitting there. And somehow it got itself into the CD player.

It was wonderful. It was so refreshing to hear those familiar carols tied to so many memories and good feelings of the Christmas season without feeling the stress of shopping or crowds or party planning. I was able to think of my Savior in an out-of-the-norm way for a little while-in a way I usually tie to a different time of year.

I recommend it.

blog help?

Ok, I'm trying to change my blog to a cute template that I found at www.thecutestblogontheblock.com. It had me paste the html into the html page element thingy, instead of the "edit html" option on the dashboard. So now I have two templates mixed together. The sides of my blog are the new one that I want, but the middle is some random blah blogger template that I chose while I was changing things around.

Does anyone know how to get that middle one to go away and become the same as the sides? And arrrg, my links are gone again. Thanks!

20 weeks

Here is my 20wk belly. It feels big, but I know it will get SO much bigger. It's nice to be halfway, especially because of the fact that the first half FLEW by. This baby will be here before I know it. She is now 11oz and 10 inches from crown to heel (or 7 from crown to rump). I'm much better this time around at guessing her position by where I feel the kicks. With Natalie, it wasn't until I was over 30wks at least that I could tell where her feet/head/bum were. I can figure out with this one which side her feet are on, or if she's right side up. It's so fun!

By the way, do you like the skirt I made? I got this kind of fabric at Joann's that is supposed to be made into a smocked tube top dress:

I sewed it together, hemmed the bottom at about knee length, and viola! I've got myself a cute maternity skirt for $9. It was so easy and it's really comfy. It stretches over my belly and nobody can tell with a shirt over it. I got fabric for one more, which is another project that I need to tackle one of these naptimes.

One of my pregnancy woes is really bad headaches. They are unique pregnant headaches and last for a few days at a time. In fact, last night I had one and Natalie happened to wake up, so Mark was a dear and got up with her. He ended up sleeping with her most of the night on the recliner chair, something he used to do when she was a newborn. What a great husband I have.

I love this show

This is my new favorite show. I have recently gotten into it, and the good thing about not being into a show until much later is that there are plenty of reruns to watch! I've been watching this and getting fashion tips. What fun!

What we've been doing

Here are some pictures of things we've done in the past couple of weeks. It seems I have to do one of these posts once in a while to catch up on my journaling. And of course there are tons of other things we do that I don't get pictures of!

Mark bought me roses on our anniversary. It was a really rough day with Natalie and I was exhausted, but I was very happy to have my day brightened by these lovely beauties.
That weekend we went on a Friday night getaway to a nice resort place in Phoenix. They upgraded our room for free to a "view room" since it was our anniversary, and this is a pic of the view. It was our first time away from Natalie overnight, and I was really nervous, but she did great. My mom watched her and said she hardly even asked for me! It was cute when we came home because she first stood there looking at us for a few minutes, then flung herself on the floor and started sobbing. We think she was remembering how we had been gone and then was sad about it. She soon warmed up to us and was back to her old self. So funny!
It was a steep drive up this mountain to our room, and here's our car (on the right) about to tumble down the mountain! Well, it never did but boy was it hard to open the passenger door.
Natalie's cousin Kleven had a petting zoo at his 3rd birthday which we attended a couple of weeks ago, and it was so much fun. Natalie LOVED the animals and kept walking around to them all. I think I accidently bonked this poor brown bunny with my foot as I walked around. I hope it's ok.
Petting the "bock bock bock" as Natalie says.

She's not really sure what to think of this piglet. It was so cute though; it would squeal loudly anytime somebody didn't hold it right.

I went to Scottsdale to visit Melanie and Brooklyn, and along the way we stopped at Sprinkles, this trendy cupcake store. I have heard amazing reports of the deliciousness of these $3.25 bakery goodies, so we had to try one. I got pumpkin flavored (of course), Mel got strawberry with strawberry frosting, and I got a vanilla/vanilla one for Mark. They were amazing! I would recommend it if you're in the area. The only thing I didn't like is that they are the size of regular cupcakes. I would think that if I'm going to spend that much, it should at least be a little bigger!

Well, that's it for now. I'll post another belly shot soon. I can feel the baby almost every day now, but nothing from the outside yet. We found out via ultrasound that my placenta is anterior (in the front of my belly) so it will probably be a while before we can feel kicks through it or around it.

In other news, Mark's cousin Jennie had her baby last Wednesday July 2nd! Her name is Sadie, and I can't remember her other stats. I'm impatiently waiting for someone to email a pic or post one to their blog so I can see this new child! Her sister has red hair, so I'm wondering if Sadie does too. She had a problem with a heart valve so they had to operate on her (not open heart surgery though) on Friday the 4th. I hear that it went well. We are praying for their little family!

Mark has 4 weeks of work left before he quits to start school. He can't wait and we have had a countdown since 14 weeks. :-) We are excited for him to start class.

TTFN!

What Natalie learned today

Multi-tasking.