White Christmas...

Love that we got to have have white Christmas this year. The last white Christmas we had Ryan asked me to marry him, this white Christmas we are expecting our first baby! We had a great time in Broken Arrow and got there before the snow started to fall. Since our Parent's live in adjoining neighborhoods we didn't have to alter any of our holiday plans. We had sleds waiting by our stockings on Christmas morning, so needless to say (as evidenced below) the big kids and little kids thoroughly enjoyed all the fun the snow had to offer:

Ryan and Rory:

Ryan's mom:

Me and the girls:

Ryan and I in front of his parent's house:

Ryan and Rory playing in the snow after their wipe out:

Rory wasn't sure at first about the snow but ended up loving it!

Ultra Sounds

Well the ultra sound this weekend went fine as the possible problem they were checking out isn't actually a problem at all. So great news no problem, bad news is it sounds like from what they said my doctor could of figured this out at their office instead of sending me to the specialist. Either way just thankful its all good. They did confirm again its a girl. The ultra sound didn't end up being 3-d but they did give us a CD of the pictures but they are less clear then the ones we had at 18 weeks. They said she was all curled up with her little face facing my back through most of the ultra sound so I guess thats why these are hard to make out. So this is definitely like an ink blot test to me but they tell me this is a baby. See what you can see:

I opened my presents from Ryan tonight and one of them was a gift certificate to go get a fancy 3-d one at a special place that will make a DVD of it so that will be fun, we have to wait till about February to do that one.

Crossing the half way point!!

Here's my 21 week photo. Starting this week its pretty much maternity clothes all the time, I was getting away with still wearing quite a few of my regular tops up to this point. Another recent change is I finally started to feel some movement this week! And also this week we had our doctor visit, my doctor stated that there was a possible issue that showed on my last ultra sound with my body that could put me at risk for pre-term labor but may be just fine. So she is having us complete another ultra sound that is more advanced this Saturday, It will be a 4d one so that part is exciting to hopefully see our little girl more closely than ever. Well that brings you up to speed for now. We have now crossed the halfway point!

holiday happenings

This week was the week for holiday parties. We had Ryan's work party, my work holiday brunch and our bible class party this week. I love Christmas and new year and this one is so special with all the new year brings for us. Hope you are all enjoying the season!

This is a very sweet ornament my boss at work gave me, I just think its adorable:

Here's our family Christmas card picture:

Boy oh boy its a....

GIRL!!

Thats right, the technician said she is 95% sure its a girl. So Ryan will be out numbered 3 to 1 come April. Ryan says he's not disapointed its a girl, just more nervous. I am super excited to do the pink & brown nursrey I wanted to do! Found some bedding this weekend that I think is the winner:

Carter's Love Bug 4 Piece Crib Bedding Set - Carters - Babies "R" Us

I am now 5 months along, showing a bit but not to much. This week is chocked full of fun events, book club, Ryan's Christmas Party, my work holiday brunch. So, I will hopefully take another picture somtime this week so I can post on here. Can't believe this pregnancy is already at the half way point!

Whew, What a Week!

Well last week was quite a packed week, I realize looking back this time next year Lord willing with a baby on board our lives will be so different. But it was fun week enjoying the freedom of making my own schedule and spending lots of time out with friends. I want to live more in the moment and not look to far down the road or spend time looking back behind and be grateful for where I am now, so this was a busy week filled with lots of fun activities and friends and next year with a baby on board there will be a whole set of new activities and adventures. God gives a time and season for everything, I am enjoying this time and season in my life and the many blessings it brings.

Monday: In the morning A.M. and I went to go to our Gym and then out of no where when we pull it said it was closed and had moved to another location. I assume the location had to be worse and was annoyed there was no warning and I would for sure be cancelling my membership but much to my surprise it is a great new location very close to my house now! So the week started with a not nice surprise ended being a great one.

Tuesday: Then I went to melting pot with book club, it was as yummy as always and we discussed the latest read, "Same Kind of Different as Me". Parking was another adventure, I didn't think about it being the same night as the NBA game going on down town so parking was scarce and expensive. It ended up I thought I had more cash then I actually did so I had to park far away and hike to restaurant.

Wednesday: Small group at our friends house and then hit the Gym. This was nice with no unexpected surprises.

Thursday: Went out to Birthday dinner to celebrate a friends birthday at Van's Pig Stand and enjoyed some pretty yummy BBQ. (I am usually not that into BBQ but since being pregnant I very much enjoy it lately!)

Friday: We went to the homecoming Alumni Banquet Dinner at OC with several friends which was a good time and more good eats.

Saturday: Lunch with my sister at one of my favorite cafe's, enjoyed some shopping and then a quiet night at home with Ryan and Rory.

Halloween Happenings.

Saturday we stayed in and had friends over to watch the OSU game.

Here's Ryan and Rory ready in their OSU gear:

Ryan says Rory was Dez Bryant for Halloween:

During the game the girls made gourmet candy apples. It was pretty fun:

Here's an updated pregnancy pic at 15 weeks:

Happy Halloween!!

To think this time next year we will hopefully have a cute little 6 month old to dress up! :0)
I love a great costume for kids and pets. I put Rory's hot dog costume on her over the weekend, so much fun, she didn't even fight me to put it on, she's knows its great too!! I stole these pics from my sister's facebook, my nieces are always impressive with their creative idea's for Halloween, I remember what made a good costume for me and my sis was if we could spray our hair a crazy color, I am glad to see the tradition is living on:

This year we have Super Chloe and Grapes:

A legacy of love...

This weekend Ryan and I traveled to Kirksville, Mo to celebrate my grandparent's 60th wedding anniversary. What a tremendous gift it is the legacy all 4 sets of our grandparents have given us to all have marriages that have lasted 50+ years.

The Bell Kids:

Here's how cute they were on their wedding day:

And still cute 60 years later:

Baby Celebration with Friends.

Last Sunday night we went out with friends to Texas Road House to celebrate our baby news. My sis-in-law Amy made these cute little pink & blue m&m treats for everyone. It was really just a great excuse to get the crew together. We all went to OC together and have remained close since. Friends are such a wonderful blessing. One of my favorite quotes I have in my office at work is "Friends are the family we choose". I love my family family and my friend family, I am so thankful for the blessing they are in my life and will be in our child's life too!

Goodbye first tri-mester!

Well its funny how in the beginning the weeks are just creeping by when your holding this secret in and now its like where did the time already go! Today marks the first day of the 2nd tri-mester! I think it will be time in the next few weeks to do some maternity clothes shopping. So far everything still fits, which is nice and since I've been sick a lot I've not actually gained weight yet.

12 weeks:

10 weeks:

Heath got Hitched!

Last weekend Ryan and I were in Tulsa for my cousin Heath's wedding. Its was a very sweet wedding and we enjoyed participating in the festivities. Heath and his wife met at my brother's wedding several years ago. Okay get out your family tree diagram, Heath is our first cousin and his wife is Lori's first cousin (my sister-in-law) but no worries Heath and Brook are in fact not cousins, so its all good.

The married couple and their first dance:

Ryan and I at the reception:

I caught this picture of Matt and Lori, It always good to see them, I wish we all lived closser:

Allie and Rory zonked out after the long weekend on the way home:

Our News!

Wow holding this in for this long has been hard and still debated to wait a little bit longer to share our news but maybe more prayers out there for a safe and healthy pregnancy couldn't be a bad thing.

So for those interested here's been our story so far on this baby roller coaster ride so far.

The Test: I just felt like I knew I was pregnant before we took the at home test. Ryan of course was like who knows, probably not. So we debated about when to take the test and waited painfully till a Friday night after we had went out with Friends. (Ryan said we should take the test when we could properly take it in and celebrate it so we waited till the weekend). So I took the test and we wait the painful 3 minutes together and looked at it at the same time. (choosing the method of walking in the room backwards and turning it around at the same time.) All I could do was laugh and laugh at first then soon after felt a heavy feeling of fear in thinking our lives are already changed and will only continue to change more and then as it all set in a little longer the joy took over again.

Here's the pics from the night we found out:

Ryan taking it all in:

The first doctor visit:

I guess it didn't quite feel real just yet. We went about a month after taking the at home test to the doctor. (My doctor doesn't want to see you till 8 weeks unless otherwise indicated). I had some anxiety due to knowing they would need to take blood and I am phobic of needles, often passing out during the process. I didn't know what to expect but at the end of the visit we got to go the ultra sound room and hear and see the heart beat. I can't even describe what that moment felt like, absolutely amazing. As ironic as it is that moment was surreal and very real all at the same time. (Also I almost but didn't actually pass out with the 6 viles of blood they took, I consider that success!!)

How I've been feeling: I have been sick off and on and very exhausted since about week 6, I am looking forward to some relief in hopefully a few more weeks, when we will be through the first trimester. I keep reading being sick is a great sign for the pregnancy going well so in that strange way its also calms some of anxiety in worrying about things going wrong.

What else we know a this point:

We are due in April.

We are about 10 weeks along.

We will find out if its a boy or a girl maybe around Thanksgiving time.

I will work part time after the baby arrives and take a full 3 month leave.

We don't have any names or even ideas of names.

well that brings you up to speed for now, stay tuned!

Ryan passed another one!

Here's some pictures from our house a few weeks ago when Ryan was taking a study break from studying for the CPA exam. Luckily he really devoted himself to study and it paid off he passed his 2nd section!! So 2 down and just 2 more to go. I am really proud of him and it feels good seeing the light at the end of this tunnel, which as you can see both Rory and I will be very happy for!

Happy 10th Birthday Chloe!

Tomorrow is Chloe's 10th birthday! We celebrated last weekend at the zoo. Its hard to beleive she's already entering the double digits. She is such a beautiful person inside and out, I know few kids as compassionate, thoughtful and kind as she is, and it is such a joy to be a part of her life in the way I get to be. Happy Birthday Chloe!!

All the Kids at the Party:

My favorite at the zoo:

My Social Worker Rant...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbSp88PBe9E

I don't post things work related very much but today at work we watched this short 3 minute video and it was just really well done and it portrays the experience of poverty so well from the eyes of its youngest victims. To invest in these little ones you must invest in their parents too. I know we all have strong feelings about why poverty occurs and how our tax dollars are spent to address this issue but I feel good that where I get to work everyday our tax dollars are being very well spent in that mental health services and assistance is being provided to family's with young kids who would not otherwise receive those services and who are the ones in the most need of them. I am also proud to be a member at a church where there is an excellent children's ministry vision for reaching into the community and bringing kids into the church to impact their lives and their family's in some really meaningful ways. Today I am feeling proud and privileged to do what I get to do and sometimes I lose site of that in the daily world of community mental health, when things get overwhelming, I'm drowning in paperwork and there is a daily on slaught of people hurting and struggling but today I was reminded its good work, its meaningful work and it matters.

Mema, Movies and Musicals...

Earlier this month, Ryan and I enjoyed a weekend in Broken Arrow. Always good to go home again.

The fun agenda was action packed:
Friday: I had a slumber party with my mema at her place.
Saturday: Tax free shopping, went and saw the Broadway musical "wicked", steak and shrimp cookout and then watched the movie "Ghost town" again (I forgot how funny that was!)
Sunday: We got to visit and see at tons of friends and family at church and then hit a new Italian restaurant in town.

Summer Saturday...

One of my favorite things is a great summer Saturday.

As there are really just a few left I enjoyed spending my time this Saturday doing lots of fun summer Saturday activities:

First item of fun was some care free shopping in flip flops. I went to Khols and the mall to pick up a few things. That was followed by a lazy afternoon with the my sis-in-law, sister and nieces at our new favorite pool. (Its worth the 20 minute drive to the MWC pool, this was our 3rd time there this summer). Allie got up the courage to go down the "Yellow" slide this time. It was a prefect sunny and hot but not too hot day to be at the pool. That evening Ryan cooked us a great summer time meal. We tried out making some sweet potato fries in the oven. So yummy:

P.S. Just so you know another great summer time event, this week is shark week on discovery. I am a sucker for this event and for the first time ever I will be watching in HD. Let the fun begin!

Birthdays and Bungees

Last weekend, we headed to Tulsa to celebrate my mom's birthday. We met and ate lunch at the cheesecake factory, then went over to the mall for some shopping:


While we were at the mall they had some bungee trampolines that Chloe & Allie had a lot of fun on:

What's on your list?

Wow, its been a whole year of book club! We've read some great books and a few duds but its been lots of fun none the less. This month's meeting was to review and discuss "The next thing on my list". General premise of this book is she finishes a list for someone else of things they wanted to do before 25. I liked this book a lot till the end, I laughed, I cried and then I was like what!? It didn't all come together in the end how I wanted it to. After we discussed the book we went to see the movie, "My sister's keeper." It was a book we read this year. So moving, cried through most of it. Another book we read is comming out in August, "The time traverlor's wife".

Its become a book club tradition to pick a great restaurant to discuss our books over great food.
Here's the group at ZIO's in bricktown.

Also a tradition to get a fabulous dessert or two to share, this is appropriately called and Oreo mountain. So yummy!!



It was interesting concept to consider a life list of things you want to accomplish. So here's what I came up with for mine so far, whats on yours?

• Visit Greece
• Camp at Yellow Stone National Park
• See waves at North Shore Hawaii during time of season they are so crazy high
• Snorkel Great Barrier Reef
• Go to cooking classes
• Go sailing
• Complete a 1/2 marathon.
• Go on a mission trip to Africa
• Write a book
• Grow out hair to give to locks of love or another place that takes hair to make wigs.
• Take my kids to Disney World

I'm sure I will think of more...

Well rested and ready.

We've had a good rest of our week home. Thursday we enjoyed massages and an afternoon movie together. Friday I went with my nieces to white water, followed by shopping and eating at the mall with Amy and Saturday I enjoyed a cookout and pool party with friends, while Ryan visited Friday and Saturday with his grandpa in Wetumka. Then Saturday evening we had a last minute change of firework watching due to thunderstorms in the area. We had a indoor picnic at my house till it blew over and then went to UCO. Tomorrow back to work, its been a fun time off! We are really excited Ryan is starting his new job in a couple weeks which will mean regular working hours for him, no more 60-80 hour work weeks and frequent traveling. So exciting for us! I feel well rested and ready to start again. Work week here I come!

Best Buddies, by that I mean the boys and their I-Phones:

Waiting for the fireworks to start at UCO:

We had a great time on our vacation to Key West, as usual best told in pictures ...

Beautiful sunsets every night:

Lots of seeing and interacting with local wild life:

We saw a mana ray and about a 4 foot nurse shark on our snorkel trip.

At the Key West aquarium:

Ft. Zachary Taylor State Park, Our favorite place on the island:

Ryan's favorite part by far, they had Bazillion steak house there his absolute favorite place to eat in the whole world:

Southern most beach, 90 miles from Cuba:

Bahia Honda Beach, Last Day we drove to another near by key: