A Last Break

With the end of Keith's 2nd year of school, he had another break which was much needed and appreciated! We had wanted to go to St. Louis but with our car having continual issues, funds ran out and we ended up having a fun time hanging out in our hometown.

First off, the zoo to check out the new Glacier Run. We've loved having a zoo pass as it's somewhere we all love to go over and over again.

These next few pictures were before our trip to Bernheim Forest. I can finally pull this little girls hair back in a ponytail. I can't get over how grown up she is starting to look.

We met up with friends at Bernheim Forest which is always beautiful. This particular day was a little too hot with temperatures hitting the 90's and bad humidity but we had fun and Kenz enjoyed running around.

 

Keith spent some quality time with Kenzie in the visitor's center building with the quirky nature objects while I tried to cool off and calm my contractions down. I am so not fun to take anywhere anymore. Every time we walk, I get painful, cramping contractions and if we go uphill I have to majorly slow down and stop to breathe every few minutes. The doctor said it's normal and I was worried about it for awhile but I'm getting used to it. So much for those work out plans though!

The only bad part about the break was saying goodbye to our good friends the Birds. They've been here the past couple of years we have and are moving on to Oregon. We had a little going away party at our apt. the night they left and I'm so mad I didn't get pictures. We'll miss them a lot and I know Mackenzie will miss their little girl Brynlie.

 

Brynlie came over to play while her parents packed and the girls spent a lot of time zipped up in Kenzie's tent with their babies.

For the rest of break, we spent time enjoying the sunshine outside and spent Saturday night at a baseball game with some friends. It was a lot of fun and something we want to do a few more times this season.
After a full week of leisure, Keith and I got the bug to start some projects we've been intending to do. First up, painting our kitchen table, and recovering the chairs. Here it is sanded down. We need to do a finishing coat and then I need to borrow a staple gun to put the fabric on the chairs. I'm majorly nesting and have about 5 projects I got for free or bought cheap at yard sales this weekend to work on so maybe I'll be good about taking before and after pics. No promises though!

Boy or Girl?

21 wks.

22 wks.

Who knew it would be so hard to find out the gender of our baby? We went in for a 20 week appointment on the 18th. I had a feeling the day before that we were not going to be know the gender and as a precaution, took orange juice and drank it right before. The feeling proved to be justified as we went in and immediately saw the baby's legs crossed and curled up. After a good 20 minutes, the ultrasound tech let me empty my bladder then come back. Baby still hadn't moved and wasn't cooperating for pictures in general. It seemed my uterus was split in two parts, one part filled with a curled up, sleeping, thumb sucking baby and the other side with most of the amniotic fluid. She let me go to my doctor's appointment then come back again. I jumped up and down, layed on my stomach to no avail, the baby was in the same stubborn position 10 minutes later. The tech was so nice and I think she was just as frustrated because she said she only gets babies this stubborn about every 2 months, and even then she can normally give a 80% prediction. She overrode the doctor and set up my appointment for the next week instead of the next month.

We went in on the morning of the 27th and the moment that wand was on my stomach, we had a leg shot and I said "It's a girl." The tech said, "I think you're right..." and kept prodding until she could determine it 100%. I was a little surprised because I've felt this whole pregnancy it was a boy but I knew if I could choose, I would choose a girl so I was really excited.

We also confirmed that the baby is in my back which is the reason for my smaller belly (don't be fooled, I've gained PLENTY of weight) and the reason for my back pain. I had pain last time but not shooting nerve pain like this. Also, baby has measured for Sep. 3rd the last 3 ultrasounds so that's the date I'm sticking to. Hooray for a healthy baby!!! I would endure any amount of pain for this pregnancy.

Easter 2011

We had a great Easter Sunday. Church was wonderful and we were able to have dinner with a good group of friends. We have so many blessings in our lives and I'm so grateful for the Savior and all that He did for us and the hope that comes with His resurrection.

These were our Easter family photos. I always forget to have someone take pictures for us and Keith and I were in need of a nasty close up after our Sunday naps.

Keith's parents were so sweet and sent us an Easter package. This cute dress was made by Keith's mom. Kenzie's in love with it and likes to twirl so I couldn't get a straight shot.

This is totally not Easter related, but we found this little guy a few weeks ago in "our backyard" and I had to include him in a post because it's been fun to go out and try to find him and catch him.

Springtime

Despite all of the crazy storms we've had here, spring has been beautiful. We go outside every chance we get and soak up the Vitamin D.

Kenz is such a tree hugger. When we go for walks, she has to hug every tree along the way and sometimes lays a big kiss on them. Not sure where she learned it, but I think the trees feel the most loved when she comes along.

This is Kenzie's new stand-in aunt, Sarah. She is so incredibly good with Mackenzie and last Sunday, Kenzie sat by her all of Sacrament meeting and wanted only Sarah to take her to nursery. She asks for her often.

We love having so many sudents in our complex. We get together often for BBQ's and once the weather warms up, volleyball.

Kenz was mad at me one day and stormed into my room and put herself to bed. It was great!

Oh our never ending battle with our windows. I took these as proof of how bad the rain had soaked my carpet, walls, blinds, ect. and they finally came out and tried to seal them again. Too bad it didn't work, we're just waiting on a sunny forecast so they can try to check them out again.

We take walks every chance we can. I'm so in love with how beautiful spring is here and feel blessed to live in such a nice area where we feel safe walking.

Food Glorious Food

The beginning of my pregnancy my diet consisted mostly of these staples: Saltines, cereal, oranges.
I'm just now starting to get back into cooking and Mackenzie has decided she needs to be apart of the process every night. Keith was home early enough one night to document his girls making some stuffed french toast.

Cute apron courtesy of Grandma Joan.

Please ignore our hair, mine doesn't know what to do with the humidity and Kenzie's styles never last more than a few hours.

We learned this recipe at YW's and I love the simplicity of it:

Cut a loaf of french bread in half. Soften up some cream cheese and spread it on both sides of your bread. Dice up whatever fruit you love and press lightly into cream cheese on one side. Put your bread together and cut in slices. Whisk together some eggs, a little vanilla, a generous amount of cinnamon and a little milk. Heat a skillet to 330. Grease hot skillet with butter. Dip your slices into the egg mixture and cook on each side until golden brown. Serve with Buttermilk Syrup.

Some people like to blog about beauty/cleaning products they love. As my life kind of revolves around eating right now, I'm going to share some of my obsessions in that category.

First off, has anyone tried this yet? AMAZING. We bought 2 boxes to start and they were gone within a couple of days. All 3 of us are obsessed.
Peanut Butter+ Oatmeal+ Milk+ Brown Sugar+ Dash of Cinnamon+ Raspberries= Heaven

And for some reason, I have a hard time with chocolate when I'm pregnant which is about as weird as it gets because I'm normally a MAJOR chocoholic. So while M&M's still taste off and hurt my belly, these little guys are replacing them. Not a lot of chocolate but lots of creamy PB. Thank you Reese's!

Spring Break

The rest of Spring break turned out to be pretty relaxing.

We slept in and Keith enjoyed making up for lost time with Mackenzie

On Thursday, we went to Cincinnati. Keith was a good sport and took me to the Gap outlet first. This is the cheapest outlet because a lot of the merchandise has broken zippers or little defects that are usually really easy to fix. I only spent an hour and a half there and we came out with clothes for the three of us all for the price of a pair of jeans I took back to the Gap a month ago.

Driving into Cinci
At the outlet, we had the luck of running into a sweet woman in the ward who gave us her passes to the Newport Aquarium. We've heard a lot about this aquarium the past couple of years and were really excited to get a chance to go. It definitely lived up to the hype and was most enjoyable because we could go on a weekday when it wasn't busy.
I don't know what I would do if I encountered these guys in the ocean:
Their faces made me laugh in this photo:
The jellyfish were so beautiful! I don't have any good shots because the room was dark but there were several tanks of different kinds of jellyfish swimming to classical music.
The shark tunnel was the highlight. We spent a lot of time watching them swim and imagining we were underwater with them.

After the tunnel, we were able to pet some of the sharks. They weren't as smooth as I thought they would be.

Right outside the aquarium:

This isn't related to break but for documentation I thought I would include a belly shot. I have 3 total with Mackenzie and I hate that I didn't take more. My belly is completely different this time around. I'm 17 weeks now and I feel so good that if it weren't for my voracious appetite, afternoon fatigue, and little kicks, I would forget I'm pregnant. Hooray for actually enjoying my second trimester this time!

For comparison, here's my belly at 13 weeks with Mackenzie