Less Than 3 Weeks (but who's counting?!?)

It's been an eventful and super busy couple of weeks! Let me fill you in on all of the fun. The Saturday before Father's Day, Amanda invited us to a BBQ to celebrate her birthday and it was super fun! She invited my parents to come and they were so excited to meet her and they instantly fell in love with her too! She had a bunch of her family at the BBQ and it was awesome to meet them. We've had such an amazing experience getting to know her and are thrilled to have her in our lives!

(I totally had to crop myself out of the photo - one eye was closed and I kinda look like Quasimodo!! ha ha)

I've been busy cleaning and organizing the house and my project this past week was the baby's closet. We bought some fun storage cubes and I've had fun organizing them. I found these darling polka dot clothes organizers that I just had to have! We've been having a blast shopping for baby clothes - something that we've never dared to do in the past.

Last night Amanda and I had a Girls Night Out and got pedicures! It was so fun and I'm glad that we got some one-on-one girl time. The baby is going to be here before we know it and I'm grateful for every minute that we get to spend with Amanda! My mom gave me this darling picture frame and James and I thought this picture was perfect to fill it with:

Dear Sweet Pea:

I can't wait to one day bring you home and become a forever family. As I daydream of what our life will be like together, I can't help but imagine all of the special moments that we are sure to have.

I can't wait to hold you in my arms for the first time.

I can't wait for our home to be filled with the sound of your unique cry.

I can't wait to rock you to sleep.

I can't wait to see your daddy snuggle with you.

I can't wait to watch you learn how to crawl.

I can't wait for you to learn how to say "mama."

I can't wait for the day that you take your first step.

I can't wait to put a band-aid on your first owie.

I can't wait for daddy to teach you how to ride a bike.

I can't wait to see you wear a backpack on your first day of school.

I can't wait to teach you right from wrong.

I can't wait to watch you learn & grow to become the person that you're meant to be.

I want you to know, my sweet pea, that you will be coming to our home in a very special way. You will be loved more than most babies because you will have two mommies - me and the special mommy that brought you here to earth. She loves you more than you could possibly know and she wants you to have the best life possible. I can't wait for the day that we'll get to meet your special mommy and she'll tell us that she wants us to be your parents.

My first gift to you is your very own room, designed with only you in my heart. I'm so excited for the day that we get to bring you home from the hospital and lay you in your crib for the first time. I love you, my sweet pea!

Love,
Mommy

Nursery Teaser

A few weeks ago, I came up with the fun idea of hanging paper lanterns. We went over to Zurcher's and they had lanterns in all of our colors... it must've been fate! We found the cute little turquoise table for sale on KSL classifieds and I just HAD to have it. With this corner of the room completed, the nursery is almost totally finished! Just a few more touches and I'll post the completed room! As James and I have watched the room come to life, we are giddy with excitement to one day bring a baby home to it!!!

Nursery Teaser

Two weeks of planning, one day of shopping, 2 hours of taping, 3 hours of painting and... voila:

THE ACCENT WALL IN THE NURSERY!

It was surprisingly difficult to figure out the math for this project, but after a tree's worth of scratch paper and a mild headache, I came up with this concept for the accent wall in the nursery. It turned out super fun and I'm having a blast seeing all of the elements come together!

Nursery Teaser!

I spent this past weekend covered in paint and mod podge, doing a fun project for the baby's room! Designing a nursery that is "gender neutral" has proved a little challenging for me. I finally have the entire room completely designed in my head so now comes the fun part... seeing it come into fruition! This project is just a little sample of what's to come, to wet your whistle so to speak. I can't wait to post pic's of the finished design. (Don't mind our Lilly in the photo - I couldn't get her to move... I guess she's just as excited for the baby to come as we are!!!)

Little Graduates

At our church, James and I are nursery leaders. We teach (or mostly play) with all the 2 year-olds. At the beginning of January, our fun little class of 12 kids graduated to move into the "Big Primary Room." I made little hats and sashes for all the kids to celebrate their graduation! We were so sad to see them go, but now we have a brand new class of 2 year-olds. We're going to have to teach this new bunch all of the games that we played during the last year like ring-around-the-rosy and the ever popular duck, duck, goose! We have the best job in church if you ask us!!!

Christmas Day

Bright and early Christmas morning, we all gathered together in the hallway and waited for Grandpa to give us word if Santa had come... then everybody ran in to see what surprises awaited them!
"Can I go back to sleep yet?"
With all these gifts, I'm surprised that Santa didn't get stuck in the chimney!

Little Gavin showing off one of his favorite toys!

After opening our gifts and eating a scrumptious breakfast, we headed over to see James' family

We exchanged gifts and then ate more yummy food!

Cute Curtis couldn't wait until he got home to play with his new treasure!

We played a few games and then set off to meet up with Heather's family at the movie theatre!

This year's Christmas flick was TRON and it was awesome!

After a fun-filled day, we headed home to see that Santa had visited our house in West Jordan too!

He even remembered to leave a gift for our Lilly! She loves anything with feathers!

She got this cute Christmas collar that she wore just long enough to snap this picture! (her eyes look a little freaky in this pic - yikes)

It's a tradition in both of our families to lay out all of our Christmas gifts to display. Santa sure spoiled us this year...

He even left all kinds of fun presents for our future baby!

Turning the big 3-0!

Last Saturday was my dreaded 30th birthday! When I woke up I turned to James and asked, "Do I look like Betty White now?" Can't I just freeze time and stay in my 20's forever? To help soften the blow of becoming an oldie, James planned a super fun day for me! It started out with breakfast in bed, followed by James building my birthday presents:

A crib and a changing table for our new little one!!! Aren't they darling? I can't wait to get into my designer mode and make the nursery super cute! After a long afternoon of building, we went to dinner at La Caille with my mom and dad. I was born on my parents 10th wedding anniversary so as I was ringing in my 30 years, they were celebrating their 40th anniversary! As much as I hate getting older, I can't wait until it's me and James celebrating 40 years of an awesome marriage!