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The title of this post was Nate's idea.
It's a GIRL GIRL GIRL!

I have never been one of those mothers that has "known" she is having a boy/girl, but this pregnancy I was pretty darn confident in my prediction (girl). It's hard to explain. I just really thought it was a girl, and so did Nate. We had the ultrasound this morning and things look great and we are of course EXCITED!

Before the doctor came in Nate and I were trying to brush up on our sign language and this was the best we could remember for the letter "G" meaning we think it's a girl. As many of you may know, we were SOOOOO off as far as the sign language, but SOOOOO on with our baby prediction!

 

Something Else We Did

We had big plans to go hiking last Saturday, but the rain rain rain came down down down so we drove drove drove out to Dayton to visit the Air Force Museum. Monica took most of these pictures...the nice looking ones are from her camera...the rest are from mine.

Where's Waldo? Can you find me?

Lunch was next on the agenda, so we stopped for pizza at a fun place called Dewey's.

Here's why the kids enjoyed it:

4 very cute people:

Not sure what we are going to do this Saturday, but the Saturday after that we will be on our way to Illinois as we make our way to Vegas!

Packing in the Fun and a Recipe

These pictures are from World of Bounce...probably the place that my kids beg me most often about going to. Who doesn't love big huge slides that give you a wedgie? I usually only go when Nate is with me...then I can send him through small awkward openings to rescue scared children.

Beaming.

Not all guys can pull off the hula hoop look. To find two in the same room that can is pretty unheard of, so I snapped a picture.

Having a bad day? Look at Sofie's cheesy smile...the day is already feeling much brighter isn't it???

Oh and here's a great dinner recipe from Annie's Eats. Nate and I both loved it.

Baked Southwestern Egg Rolls


Ingredients:

2 cups frozen corn, thawed

1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained

1 (10 oz.) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry (I used fresh)

2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

1 (4 oz.) can diced green chiles, drained

4 green onions, chopped

1 tsp. ground cumin

½ tsp. chili powder

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

1 package egg roll wrappers (about 24 total)

Directions:

In a large bowl, combine everything but the egg roll wrappers. Mix well to blend. Lay an egg roll wrapper out on a work surface so that one of the corners is pointing toward you and place ¼ cup of the filling in the center. Fold the tip closest to you up over the filling, roll a bit, then take the points pointing outward and fold them in toward the center. Continue rolling into an egg roll shape until a small part of the remaining point is still free. Dip a finger in water or beaten egg and lightly brush on the edges of the free corner. Finish rolling and press to seal closed. Repeat with the remaining wrappers and filling.

Preheat the oven to 425˚ F. Lightly oil a baking sheet with cooking spray. Place the sealed egg rolls on the baking sheet seam side down and spray the tops of the egg rolls with cooking spray. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly brown, turning halfway through baking. Serve warm with salsa (I served them with ranch mixed with chili powder.)

Guys Just Wanna Have Fun

And Nate's idea of fun is to go canoeing down Big Darby Creek. (I would actually really enjoy doing that as well.) Just wanted to share a quick picture of him and the guys before they set off on their adventure. These are all men who are not allowed to take cameras near water. Some of them (Nate) have committed multiple violations...including jumping in a hot tub, camera-in-hand...the camera that had the first half of our honeymoon on it...it still hurts to think about it. He has not yet earned his camera-water privileges back.

It's Inevitable

Natalie asked to sleep with the soccer ball a few nights ago. And she often says to me, "Mommy, I want to play soccer!" I just have this sense that she is going to love the sport and play it for awhile. I couldn't be more thrilled. The smell of freshly cut grass will take on a new meaning for her and crazy tan lines will be become a part of life. I miss soccer.

Though lately I have been wanting to rip my hair out. Natalie whines SO MUCH and I feel like 75% of her communication with us is in this voice that makes me crazy. We are making some progress as I am figuring out what works best to help her stop, but man some days I just want to sit down and cry. These things are so temporary, and she will outgrow it, but today was just one of those days.

Just So You Know

We DID celebrate Easter.

It WAS wonderful.

Natalie DOES have really cute friends.

The candy is LONG gone.

We DID do an egg hunt.

And THIS my friends, is the way to watch General Conference. In a box. Eating a burrito.

Our Big Purchase

It's finally official...we bought our first house! Wow, buying a house is sure an adventure/roller coaster and an expensive one at that, but we got a great place at a great price and we are so excited. And there is even some real grass in the backyard...pretty uncommon for Las Vegas. I love that it's in a culdesac and there is a nice park and walking trail nearby. See you in a month, house of mine!

Adults Egg Hunt

Oh what a night. (You know the tune.)

Nate and I hosted an adults only Easter egg hunt this past weekend. We asked each couple to drop off a dozen filled eggs sometime before the night of the hunt, combined those with the many eggs we had filled (I always have a lot of fun with this...think nail polish, stamps, small figurines, candy, money, tattoos, earrings...) and Nate hid them around the pond across the street from our house.

We even found these TOO COOL HUGE EGGS. Hahaha, I laughed every time I saw them. We filled the biggest one with a half gallon of milk and a pack of Oreos. One of the other ones had Ironman underwear (contributed by Annie) and potted meat. You heard me right. You can find it at the dollar store.

It was an evening event. We had everyone bring flashlights. Here's everyone lined up waiting for the signal to start.

Ah, my favorite part of the evening. After everyone ran recklessly around the pond in search of eggs and other goodies, we gathered in the living room for everyone to show off their spoils. The crowning event: Annie begins to open a large egg...it starts opening itself...Annie screams, "Is it alive Bryan!!??"...and a real live frog jumps out. Landon had found it out by the pond and convinced Bryan to put it in an egg for his wife to open. As this is all happening I jump from my seat and scream, "Shut up! No way!" I loved it soooooo much.

The egg hunters:

Just a shot I grabbed of me and some darling friends:

Now that's what I call an Easter egg hunt.

From Last Week

MONDAY: Too long ago. Can't remember.

TUESDAY: For the past couple years, a group of girls has gotten together at the church on Tuesday nights and we scrimmage for an hour and a half or so. I have officially stopped going because of pregnancy (honestly, I'm just being lazy), but oh how I will miss it! I loved chatting with my gals before and after playing, giving each other a hard time on the court, getting some good heart-pumping exercise, and getting out of the house for a little break. There are lots of players missing from this picture, but here are some of the great girls I have loved playing with:

WEDNESDAY: Celebrated Bryan's 30th birthday sombrero style! My love for fried ice cream is undying.

THURSDAY: Nate is becoming quite successful in his attempt to turn these kids into birdwatchers. Natalie is always yelling, "Dad! I see some two cardinals!" We love taking them out to explore.

FRIDAY: Deserves its own post! To come...our Adults Only Easter Egg Hunt!

Perfect Ending to a Day

Eat ice cream and watch the sunset. Or watch the sun set.

Yeah, life is good.