FYI...

It's the much anticipated Foothill Village Sidewalk Sale this weekend. If you happen to be in my neck of the woods... mark your calendars and come by and check it out (and visit me, I'll be working a lot this week)...

Look who came to visit...

... my dear friend Amy and her precious little Hope.

Gahw... I wanted to eat her up.

She's beautiful and amazing and I was thankful for all the practice I got nuzzling a new baby girl!

Look at those lips!
Adorable!

I can't wait for these 2 little girls to be the littlest of girlfriends!

my babydaddy...

IS HAVING A BIRTHDAY!!!!

and I couldn't love him more!


Happy Birthday CJ!

I love you to the moon and back!

Maybe we can celebrate with some chocolate & lemon gelato?

One of the many, many reasons I love you! :)

XOXO

From Empty to Blank Canvas

Remember this charming bedroom that we have left empty for 2+ years? From the moment that we first walked through the house, we knew that it would be the perfect nursery for a little one. However, when that didn't come quickly or easily, we were stumped as to what else to do with the room. And so it sat, empty and sad... a symbolic example of our "elephant in the room".

Well... it's empty no more....

I get a little giddy (and to be honest, a little teary-eyed and choked up) when I walk past and look in to see that it now houses the shell of a nursery, a real nursery, our nursery. We officially have furniture for our little peanut and now the fun stuff begins!!!! I'm having a hard time gathering all of the thoughts in my head as I dream of the possibilities..... It still seems surreal!

A little girl's nursery...

all ready to be decorated with all the special treasures & trimmings to welcome her to our home.

Stay tuned...

Awesome. Not Awesome.

I can't seem to keep up on blogging... so here's our recent highlights:

Awesome: Youth Conference. We love being lucky enough to spend time with these great kids every week and it's even better when we get them out of there element and away from cell phones, ipods, etc. This year was especially fun, because we weren't in charge, all we had to do was be there and keep our youth out of trouble. It was a great few days, starting with an all day service project at the Utah Food Bank. We were then off to Snow College for plenty of outdoor fun, an evening at the Manti Pageant and some of the best testimony meetings and devotionals that I have ever been a part of. Definately awesome.

NOT Awesome: 3 hour hot sweaty bus rides and sleeping in a twin size dorm bed.

Awesome: Summertime, sunshine and warm temperatures. Sno-cone anyone?
Also Awesome: Being lucky enough to be pregnant. Such an amazing and magical time in our lives. I absolutely love feeling her move and kick and squirm and I don't take one single minute of it for granted.

NOT Awesome or always easy: Being pregnant in the hot, sunny summertime. Another sno-cone, please!

Awesome: 4th of July Traditions. I love that we live in a neighborhood that has strong, patriotic traditions. Our neighborhood has been hosting this annual "breakfast in the park" and party for everyone throughout our area for decades and it seems to get better every year. Not only is an amazing pancake breakfast served, but the kids go all out for the traditional bike parade, we have the ridiculously fun slip-n-slide with the water courtesy of the amazing firefighters that join us, this year also included a bouncy house and most importantly, the amazing opportunity to stand with hundreds of friends and neighbors to salute our flag and sing the national anthem and recite the pledge of allegiance. It is especially awesome when the adorable old lady who is leading us in the national anthem at the top of her lungs into the microphone messes up all the words but still keeps proudly singing random mumbled words, still at the top of her lungs. It might have been my favorite part this year. Yep, it was! Awesome, indeed!

NOT awesome: The fact that the youth of our ward are in charge of setting everything up at 6 o'clock in the morning. That means loading every single table and chair from the church over to the park and then making it all look pretty. Just so you know... 6am is early, really early, but did they all show up, work hard and have a blast doing it? Of course they did. Love them.

Also NOT awesome: Having to go straight to work after the party. Working on your feet all day until evening, after waking up at 5:15am to start the day working hard...definately not awesome. Needless to say, the C*K*J's were in bed, long before the lights in the sky started exploding!!

Awesome: Getting to babysit my boss and good friends' dog, Coco for the weekend. We've had her before and couldn't love her more. She's teeny tiny and so low maintenance. We pretty much love ooing and ahhing over her and having a little lap dog to snuggle with.

NOT awesome: having to give her back tonight. :(


And a little about what's coming up this month:

* Starting to set up the nursery (awesome)

* Paying for it all (not awesome)

* CJ's birthday (awesome)

* CJ being another year closer to over the hill (not awesome)

* Finishing our storage room and finally being able to organize and feel settled (awesome)

* Being out of excuses and having to think about and pay for food storage (not awesome)

* Getting closer and closer to welcoming our baby girl to our family (AWESOME!)

* Getting bigger and bigger and more and more uncomfortable (not so awesome)

All in all... our "awesomes" far outweigh our "not awesomes" and it's all worth it!