It's a...........

...............GIRL!!!

We just found out this week that we are expecting a baby girl! I've already started working on her cupcake themed pink and brown room! So much fun!

Baby Update

16 weeks with baby #2

I'm not gonna be in regular clothes much longer! My belt is on its last hole so I will probably be giving in to wearing maternity pants this week :( I was going to post a picture of me at 16 weeks when I was pregnant with Brian but decided not to send myself into a downward spiraling depression!!! Actually, I don't look that much bigger this time, just take my word for it. On wednesday morning we go in for our ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby! So check back wednesday afternoon for a post with the results!!

Halloween Fun

Here are some pictures from all of our Halloween festivities this week. Last weekend we went to the squadron kids halloween party, which I didn't take any pictures of but I did get this picture of Brian after the party, when we went out to eat at a local German restaurant (yum) for Oktoberfest. He insisted on staying in his costume, a flight suit, and was dancing in his high chair to the live German music. Then on friday, he had his preschool Halloween party which I attended with him and we decorated candy bags, cookies, and had pizza for lunch. He was so cute at school and nice to the other kids, sat still for story time and participated in the ABC song and counting to 20, even though he can only count to 10. And then last night for Halloween, we went up to Surprise to our friend's the Cumming's house so Brian and Mason could trick-or-treat together. Mason was a dinosaur! Brian had the trick-or-treating down good last night because of his practice last weekend at the squadron party. He didn't have to be reminded to say trick-or-treat but we did have to remind him to leave when they gave him the candy. He would just stand there til they gave him more! He's been telling us all week "Happy Halloween!" and if you ask what he is, he says "I wear a flight suit, just like Daddy!"

Dancing to the German music

Cookie decorating at the school party

More eating than decorating was actually done here

Mason the dinosaur and Brian the pilot

"Cheeeeeeeeese!"

Tired of walking because he says he's "heaby" (heaby=heavy/I'm too lazy)

Getting Caught Up

I'm getting way behind on posts so I'll try to catch up right now. These are pictures from a few weeks ago when we loaded the ATV up and drove 1.5 hours west to the tallest mountain in SW AZ, Harquahala Peak. Steve got some insider info from the salesman at the ATV dealer that this was the best view on any trail in AZ. Steve had been dying to take the ATV outside of our little community to get the tires dirty and we had a few days of cooler weather (80s) so we went. It took almost 2 hours to reach the summit (5,681 feet elevation) from the trail head and about another 1.5 hours coming back down. We packed a lunch and ate at the top of the freezing cold mountain. It had to be in the 40s or 50s up there and was super windy. Steve and Brian loved the whole ride and I didn't hate it but was a little paranoid the whole time since we were the only humans on the mountain and had no cell phone signal. I don't think I'll be doing any more rides that bumpy while I'm pregnant though, I was sore and tired by the end of the day. Brian still says "I want to go up and down the mountain all day long Daddy!"

Lunch at the top

It was COLD but Brian was all smiles

View from the top

Brian "driving"

View of the summit from the trail head

Baby on the way!

I've been meaning to post this forever! I'm 15 weeks pregnant today! The baby is due April 16th, 2010 and we should find out on November 4th if this one is a boy or a girl. Brian is excited although we aren't sure that he completely understands the implications of the baby in mommy's belly and how his life will be changing soon! He does know that Mommy has "one" baby in her belly but his friend Mason's mommy, Katie, has "one, two!" babies in her belly!

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend we headed out of our house into the beautiful cooler weather (high 80s!) for the first of the fall traditions, the pumpkin patch. We never really did the pumpkin patch in SC because as far as we knew, there weren't any near us, suprising considering all the farms nearby. But anyways, I was sure this trip to the patch would be just like the overpriced, cheesy pumpkin farms of my childhood, and I was right. Brian loved it though, until some bratty little boy started drop kicking him in the bouncy house. Our boy stood his ground though, telling his attacker "no!" and only occasionally shooting us looks of terror. The bouncy-house rage continued though, even after Steve had a stern talk with the future gang-banger's mother, so we vacated the bouncy house until the brat was gone. The patch was complete with a "train" ride, which fooled Brian, but not me--it was an ATV pulling some hollowed out old barrels. The most important part was that we found a suitably round and clean pumpkin to take home and carve (and some delicious fresh corn on the cob, yum).

Feeding the "Goaps"

The "Train" Ride

My tomato and melon heads

Yosemite!!!

Last month we drove home to CA and went north to Yosemite with my parents and their dog Yeager in their motorhome. We camped for 5 nights and did all the typical Yosemite things, visited the falls (which didn't even have a drip of water), checked out the different villages with their gifts shops, mountain shops, and eateries. My favorite activity was a trip up to Glacier Point where you get the best views of the valley floor below and the surrounding valley walls and Half Dome. Steve enjoyed fly fishing the Merced River that passes through the valley. He figured out the fish were biting right at dinnertime and thus got out of helping prepare food each night and came back to camp for his cold dinner (can't run the motorhome generator after 7pm, thus no microwave means cold dinner for tardy fishermen). He caught several native trout but couldn't keep any because there are strict catch-and-release policies in place in the park to protect the native fish. Brian and I followed along on one fishing trip where he caught a little one. On that same trip, a super friendly duck came right up to us and we were able to feed it some cookies straight out of our hand. Brian didn't seem to understand how exciting this was and was highly concerned that he had to share his favorite "bumpy cookies" with the duck. Every time I'd hand him a cookie to feed to the duck, he'd pop it in his mouth before I could explain that he was supposed to give it to the duck. He did eventually catch on but was only satisfied to share with the duck if he got to eat one every time the duck got one! Brian's favorite camping activity was riding the free hybrid valley shuttle buses to and fro around the park (this was my least favorite thing considering the Yosemite hippees which number in the thousands tend to congregate on these crowded buses going to and from their hiking and camping experiences while totally avoiding good personal hygiene or cleaniness--even Brian at one point noticed the stentch of one particularly ripe hippee and from then on, called the bus, the "yucky bus")

The motorhome sleeping arrangements were: mom and dad in their little bedroom, Steve outside in a tent (his own choice, just in case he decided to get up early to fish, it never happened) and Brian and I on the top bunk or what he called "sleeping in the window" since he slept next to the window at the front of the motorhome. He insisted on spending every night sideways with his little feet stashed into the back of my neck or my upper back (it sort of reminded me of a massage I once had on a beach in Thailand). We even got up one morning and headed to the beautiful Ahwahnee hotel for a fancy breakfast to forget that we were camping, if only for a few minutes. After the fancy breakfast, we made a 3-hour stop at the nearby Yosemite Medical Clinic since Brian had developed a cough, sore throat, mild fever, and loss of appetite very similiar to what he had when he had strep throat a few months ago. Three hours and one educated hippee doctor later, the diagnoses was: your child has a cold virus, continue to do nothing until it gets better. Thanks for nothing Dr. Hippee! But it was a relief to find out he was strep-and-pneumonia-free. He's finally gotten rid of the cough (3 weeks later) and has stopped requesting daily to go "see the doctor Mommy" because "this hurts" (points to throat).

On the way out of Yosemite on our way home, the repeated whining and demands of one particularly annoying camper (Steve), caused us to stop at the giant Sequoia grove, so he could see the big trees. Wow, big huge trees, big deal. Steve and I have seen the Redwoods outside of San Francisco, same darn thing. It was quite a hike (uphill both ways) to the closest of the giant trees almost a mile away from the parking lot. Mom and I made it about halfway, where we settled for some smaller but still gigantic Sequoias and a rest. Dad and Steve with Brian atop his shoulders continued on to the first of the giant trees and came back impressed but tired. Then back into the vehicles and down the hill into Oakhurst, CA where we stopped for a little train ride at an old logging railway. Then on to lunch at the Forks in Bass Lake, basically a neat old diner on the water where we used to eat every time we went boating there. Eventually we made it back to Mom and Dad's house where we all got lots of rest and showers!!

The train ride (actually a "jenny car" that used to haul loggers out to the trees)

A big fallen tree

Steve and his little fish (there were stories of other massive catches that of course occured without witnesses)

Brian splashing around while Steve fished

One cold morning in camp

At the Ahwahnee

In the Great Hall of the Ahwahnee

Brian all "dressed up" for our fancy breakfast

"Grandma" and Brian and some deer that walked right through our camp

Brian bored at Glacier Point

The view at Glacier Point

Grandma and Brian and Papa

The "Up-and-Down" House!

This morning my friend Katie and I took the boys (Brian and Mason) to Pump It Up, a bouncy house place, Brian calls the "Up-and-Down House." This was Brian's second visit and while the first visit went great, the 40-minute car ride home did not, there was lots of screaming about going "back, Mommy!" This time was much better because we had a little talk before going in and I may or may not have bribed him to leave with promises of tractor-shaped fruit gummies in the car. Brian and Mason had tons of fun jumping and falling and running and sliding. And they were so good when we left that we even got to extend our playdate with lunch at Corner Bakery, yum!

They couldn't be more excited!!!

The faster we get off this thing, the sooner we can climb back up and do it again!

Brian star-fishing it down the slide (I think this is where he gets the "Up-and-Down House" from)

Go D-Backs!

We had busy weekend that started on friday with a retirement ceremony for one of our old Stinger squadron commanders, Col. "Moose" Reed. Thanks to Jen for the free babysitting so Steve and I could attend this special event together! And then Saturday night, we hit up a AZ Diamondbacks baseball game, which Brian calls "B-Ball." He was surprisingly good, watching alot of the game and telling Steve many times to "catch a ball daddy!" He happily ate traditional ballpark fare and only begged to go to the park once (they have a kiddy play area right off the cheap seats). Our friends Jen and Adam and their kids, Dylan and Addy came with us, as did our friends Katie and Mark and their son Mason. We even got to stay for some of the Montgomery Gentry concert that followed the game, until Brian just seemed too tired and thirsty and was asking to go home. But we had a great time overall and the D-Backs beat the Astros 9 to zero!!!

Katie, Mason and Mark

Jen, Dylan and Addy (Adam is behind them)

Us

The B-Ball lovers