HAPPY FALL!

Every year my grandpa grows gigantic pumpkins! He decided a few years ago to carve names in them, and this year each one of the grandkids and the great-grandkids all got a pumpkin with their name carved in it. Its so fun during the summer to watch your pumpkin grow, and when the day finally comes to take the pumpkin home, its super exciting! I love to take Madison's pumpkin and display it with other pumpkins so you can see how big it really is. I love pulling up to the house and seeing the cute display of pumpkins sitting by the door. So, thanks Grandpa for the cute personalized pumpkins that no other kids in the neighborhood have!

I hate rude people!

Seriously! I hate rude people! Yesterday morning, Sunday, Chris went for a bike ride. He couldn't sleep, so at about 7 a.m. he went out on his bike. Riding on Sunday was probably his first offense, but he needed a good morning exercise. Anyway that's beside the point. So he came home, came inside, and left his bike in front of the car. We got ready for church, and decided to walk because it was such a nice day. At this point, the bike was still in front of the car. 3 hours later we come home from church, and Chris' bike is gone. Somebody stole his bike while we were at church! I couldn't believe it. It made me feel bad, because it was a really nice bike, and he just got it this summer. But I was also so mad to think that someone would steal it! I feel like we live in a pretty safe neighborhood, and it bugs me to think that someone would steal something right out of our driveway. I heard from our neighbor that they showed on the news that because times are so hard for a lot of people right now that there have been a lot of thefts lately. But come on! Seriously do people really have to steal! It is so frustrating for those of us that are honest. We have to lock our doors, lock our cars, hide our bikes, watch our kids in the front yard... What happened to the good ol' days when we didn't have to worry about that? I wish that those who feel like they have to steal, cheat or lie their way through life get a good wake up call one day! KARMA! It will come back to bite them! Or at least I hope it will... ;)

Sorry I needed a good vent! So if anyone sees a bike in our neighborhood like the one above, please let me know. Its a Next brand bike, and it was silver with yellow on the bars. And the kid or adult who stole it had better not ride it past my house, because I already vowed to push them off the bike and take it back!

Simply Bliss

Hey everyone! My cousins and aunt are starting a boutique! Its will be really fun because they are offering all sorts of vendors with cute stuff for sale. The best part is that the prices are very reasonable! I would encourage everyone to check out their blog, simplyblissboutique.blogspot.com. Its a great way to start the Christmas shopping! Hope to see you there!

Baby Update

I had another doctors appointment today. I always look forward to my appointments, because its just another reassurance that everything is ok. My worst fear is that there will be something wrong, and I can't imagine how I would handle it. So today, they took me back, and got out the machine to hear the heartbeat. Brooke (the medical assistant who I love!) moved it all around, and no heartbeat. I didn't get nervous, because I know its still early, but at this point we should be able to hear the heartbeat. After a few minutes of her moving it all around there was still no heartbeat. So naturally Brooke says, "Don't worry, sometimes this happens." Yeah right don't worry!! Of course I was terrified! Brooke told me to stay where I was and she would go see if the ultrasound room was open so we could try to see the baby's heartbeat. As soon as she left the room, I looked at Chris, and he knew I was about to cry. I kept telling myself,"Don't cry, don't cry, its ok..." Brooke came back and told me to come into the ultrasound room. We hurried over there, and my doctor came right in before she had even closed the door. He flipped on the machine, and gooped up my stomach. I took a deep breath, and looked at the screen. What did I see? A sweet little baby moving like crazy!! We were able to see the heart beating just fine, and boy does that kid move! "It" kept moving its head and arms. We saw its perfect little round head, its back and arms and legs. It had its hands up by its face, and every time the doctor would push, the baby would go crazy! It was a huge relief! My doctor said that the placenta is actually sitting in front of the baby, so the heartbeat machine couldn't pick up the heartbeat. After seeing the baby move and see the heartbeat, I was so relieved. We left the office, and I felt so much peace. I can't wait to see this sweet baby, and after seeing how much it moved today, I have a feeling that its an active little thing. I'm in trouble. We will find out what it is next month, so I will update when I find out! Its times like this when I am so grateful that Chris was able to go to the appointment with me. I honestly would not have been as calm as I was without him. Thanks babe for taking the time to go with me. It means more than you know!

CALIFORNIA!!!

So this past weekend, Chris and I went to California with our friends, Jill and Joe Hansen. And no kids! We had a blast! We flew out Thursday and landed in San Diego. It was beautiful. We ate lunch at the Seaport Village, and walked around and looked at the huge cruise ships, and the navy boat. The navy boat was awesome, because there was a little restaurant on one end, and other planes sitting on top. It was amazing to see how big those boats really are! This picture is really fun because by the navy ship they had this huge statue of a navy man and a nurse kissing before he left. It was so fun for us to pose like they did. We are not too far away from it, so you can tell how big the statue really is!

We bummed around for a little bit, and then drove to San Clemente where our hotel was. That night we went to dinner at the Fisherman's Wharf. Its basically a restaurant that is out on the pier. It was so fun to have dinner and watch the ocean and waves. There were also people "trying" to surf, but the waves were kinda choppy.

Our restaurant...

Us eating

The beach was beautiful!

The next day we drove to Disneyland!! It was so fun to go without kids, because we didn't have to worry about waiting in lines and entertaining them. The nice thing was that in the morning, we walked onto every ride. If we waited in line it was 5-10 minutes max! The other fun part was that it was the first day of Halloween in Disneyland. They had the whole park decorated for Halloween. It was so cute! Also the Haunted Mansion was totally different. They changed everything inside to make it the Nightmare before Christmas. I think it is way better than the original.

Mickey pumpkin style

They had these cute jack-o-lanterns in the grass.

Way cute sign in California Adventure!

We went over to California Adventure for part of the day too. Since I was the preggo one, I mostly sat and took pictures of everyone else on the rides. So when it was a ride that I could go on, I made them go like 5 times! We went on Grizzly Rapids, and I got soaked! This was me after I got wet. Everyone else stayed relatively dry that time...

The next day we bummed at the beach for a while, and then that night went to an Angels baseball game! It was a lot of fun, even though they got creamed! Unfortunately I forgot my camera, so I will have to rely on Jill for the pictures of that one! Thanks Jill!

That night we played cards at the hotel, and then went to bed. We got up the next morning and flew home. It was a fun weekend getaway, and was so nice to go without kids. Madison had a blast at my moms house, and didn't want to come home with us Sunday night. I'm glad we were able to take a little trip just us before the next baby. We realized that we definitely needed it! Thanks mom and dad for watching Maddie the whole weekend! We couldn't have gone without you guys! Love You!!

Any advice???

First a huge thanks to everyone who congratulated us on the announcement of our pregnancy! We seriously have the best family and friends, and are so happy to be able to share our excitement with you!

Next, Chris and I are leaving this week to go on vacation with a couple that we are good friends with. I am so nervous! I haven't ever left Madison over night. I keep thinking about all the things that could go wrong, and I think I freak myself out more. I know she'll have a great time at my moms house, and she is super excited to have a sleepover with Kelsey, but I still stress about the whole trip. So any suggestions on what I can do to make myself not worry so much?

Thanks for all your input!

WE'RE EXPECTING!!

Yep that's right, we are having another baby! We are so excited! I am 10 weeks along, and the baby is due April 14th. After the complications that we had with Madison's labor, we have already decided on a planned c-section for this baby a week early. So I guess we are looking at April 7th. We feel that this is our little miracle baby. We had been trying for about 13 months, and were just about ready to give up. Some days I felt like maybe we were only meant to have one child, but I always wanted another. We know that this baby is truly a blessing, and are so excited for another sweet spirit to join our family. I have been a lot sicker with this one, considering that I was only sick about 2 days with Madison. Its totally worth it though! Madison will be such a good big sister, and we couldn't be happier!