Our Special Baby

So we had a chance to see our little baby today. It is such a joy to see the little one. Here is the baby's profile. Wes thinks the baby looks like his side of the family.

The baby kept its arms over its face most of the time.

Here is the baby's little foot!

And......it's a Girl!! We are super excited that we will have another little girl in our family. We are naming her Violet Helen and we can't wait to meet her in 5 months!

In Favor of Manly Ideas

So I was discussing my baby room ideas with Wesley and brought up the idea of "Wind in the Willows" for a boy and right away he said he would prefer we theme a boy's room around the "Jungle Book" by Rudyard Kipling. In his words the Wind in the Willows is just a story, Alice at least is a "mind trip" and the Jungle Book is a political commentary. Isn't our household interesting?


At first I was a little disappointed because, let's face it, the jungle theme is overly done in baby rooms. But then I started thinking about all of the fun things that I could do. Besides I would be centering the room around the book and not around pastel giraffes and monkeys, and the "Jungle Book" is set in India. I have already scoured the KSL Classifieds (my new love) to find all sorts of possibilities. I was even able to find a realistic, giant, stuffed Tiger for $20! Of course I am getting ahead of myself again. Tomorrow is the big day though! The ultrasound!!! Can you tell I'm excited? From there I can start working on my project. I think my poor husband is tired of hearing about it. Maybe I'm going crazy! They say it can happen to pregnant women. Personally being the pregnant woman at the moment it is hard to put everything into perspective. What do you think? Am I losing it?

Bursting with Baby Ideas

I have been bursting with ideas for the baby room recently. I have to admit that I never really had a theme for either of my girls when they were born. There was no grand color scheme, painted walls or wonderful accessories. They still had cute things, but nothing more than that.

For some reason I have just had the funnest time thinking of ideas for the new baby. Wes says I am nesting. I call it creativity. Why not plan something fun! I don't know yet if we are having a boy or a girl so I have come up with two different ideas. I am not a big fan of the same old themes. I wanted something entirely original. I am a big fan of classic literature and I think it would be a blast to have a room themed around a classic children's story.

If we have a girl I want the room to be centered around Alice in Wonderland. Now mind you, I'm not talking about the Disney Alice in Wonderland (which granted I still enjoy), but more around the original John Tenniel illustrations. It isn't a surprise to many that know me that I absolutely love the Alice story. I would love to frame some of the artwork and put it on the walls. I even have a grand idea of a stacked tea cup lamp that I think I could make own my own.

If we have a boy I think I would like to center around the classic story "Wind in the Willows". I haven't decided which illustrator I like the most, but I have always enjoyed the animal characters! I must admit though while I have seen the movies and read several shorter stories I have never read the full novel. So, I have decided to listen to the audio book while I work today. It is funny how these simple ideas have me so excited! Perhaps it is nesting, but isn't it a little early for that? Of course I will need to wait to find out what we are having before I jump head first into any projects. In the meantime though I'll enjoy my visions of the perfect room for my little one.

A HOT Day at the Park

Thursday afternoon I decided that I was going to only work a half day so I could start my Pioneer holiday weekend early. We decided to take advantage of our Tracy Aviary family pass. It was super hot on Thursday (over 100 degrees), but that didn't stop us from checking out the birds. The girls enjoyed feeding the ducks.

The girls really love the Cuckoo birds! There are some especially friendly ones that will chirp and follow you along the fence.

After the aviary we decided to head over the playground in Liberty Park. It was so hot I decided to join the girls near the water area while Wes hung out in the shade. Adelle kept getting braver and braver. Lydia wasn't so sure that she wanted to get very wet.

At one point Adelle asked if she could take all of her clothes off. Slightly alarmed I asked why. She was concerned that I wouldn't let her really get wet since she didn't have a swimming suit on. I advised her it's not okay to be naked in public! I did let her know she could get as soaked as possible even in her clothes. She completely let loose!

Lydia even decided to go for it! She still didn't get nearly as soaked as Adelle.

The cool water felt wonderful and I wished I had gotten wetter myself! It was a very hot, but fun day!

Someone Has Switched my Tomatoes

When purchasing my tomato plants at Costco this year I decided to go with the Beefsteak variety. They were so yummy last year and I thought they would be a delicious treat! I was slightly alarmed when the green, little fruit appeared on the plants not round but as skinny ovals. I wondered "Are my plants diseased?". As they continued to grow I realized that Costco had played a trick on me. Even though my plants were labeled as the Beefsteak variety I actually got Roma tomatoes. I can't complain too much because I still love the Roma tomatoes. It was just a bit surprising!

The 4th of July

Lydia wasn't with us for the 4th of July, but we still tried to have some fun. Even though there was occasional rain Adelle and I decided to head down the street to watch the local 4th of July parade. Adelle loved jumping up and down and calling to the people on the parade route. She ended up with massive amounts of candy!

In the afternoon we pulled out some boxes of snaps that we had received last year from a friend. If you weren't aware...snaps can expire it appears. They just weren't the same. It was hard to get any of them to pop.

Wes ended up turning it into a game of trying to scare the other person by throwing snaps at their feet.

Adelle didn't seem to mind too much.

Later in the evening Bill, Dustin and Kyle came over to watch our little display of fireworks.

We also got to see some of our neighbors "illegal" fireworks.

Our fireworks were small, but we still enjoyed them.

After our little show the local park put on a massive, thirty minute firework show which we could see pretty well from our house. It was a fun day and I enjoyed spending it with family.

Oregon Vacation Day 8

Our last day was spent cleaning the rental property and doing laundry. I guess that is the downside of a rental property. Overall though I loved it so much more than a hotel. I decided to take some pictures of the place before we left.

This patio was absolutely HUGE and we could have had a massive party if we had been near our loved ones.

We walked up the steep steps to our car for the last time and left Oregon behind.

We were going to stop at a hotel for the night, but we decided to just keep driving. I was very grateful that we had Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince audio book on CD to keep us awake on the drive home. We arrived home in the wee hours of the morning VERY TIRED. I think overall we were happy to be back. Honestly, I could have stayed on vacation much longer!!