Congratulations Sy & Jen on the beautiful little addition of my new niece, Sloane Adele! Born September 21, 2011 at 4:34pm. 7 pounds 1 ounce and 20.5 inches long - a beautiful addition to the family!

You guys are continually in our prayers that everything goes well while you're adjusting to parenthood!

Hey Folks! I know it's been awhile... since last August (ouch), but now with a huge change in events, I've become MUCH more inspired to keep everyone abreast of the goings-on in our lives.

As you all can see, there have been a few changes to the site, but I'm hoping this will make the pages easier to navigate and access. There will continue to be additions and modifications that will be implemented as I find time in between work and feeling like crap. However, we're hoping the later only last a couple more weeks. I'm slowly archiving all of my old posts back to 2008 (which is taking a bit of time), and I'm finishing up the archives to the weekly pics from last year. So yes, there are a few gaps in the site, but they'll be filled in eventually.

You will also notice that there are already posts from this year. It's weird backtracking like that, but that way you all can see what we've been up to and I don't have to cram all of 2011 into a single post (that's a scary thought!).

And finally, we're in the process of getting the kitchen remodeled. Phase 1 was the countertops and sink which should be installed later today! Woohoo!! Pictures to come of the finished product!

It's official: we're due December 10! We had our first "real" doctor visit today and got to see the baby on the monitor. It has a strong heartbeat and everything looks like it's developing just as it should. Connie, our nurse practitioner, said the baby is perfect by the books, and I'll tell you, nothing gives you more confidence and ease than a professional acknowledging that everything is just right with the baby! God is SOOOOO good!

So how did we find out? Right after Rick and I got back from Hawaii, I was due in for my annual. Leading up to that Friday, I thought my PMSing symptoms were lasting a bit longer than usual, but that would just be something I'd ask the doctor about when I went in. I was also going to ask about getting back on the fertility drugs since I finally had a period all on my own in February (this was no small feat since I hadn't had one in over a year!). So after talking with one of nurses about what's been going on, she thought I should take a test, just to be sure. (Well, back in March I was having some crazy emotions and eating and a slight weight gain, and Mama said I should probably take a pregnancy test. That one came out negative which wasn't a surprise to me, but disappointing just the same (funny thing was, I was a week pregnant at that point). But back to the doctor visit - I'm sitting in the little room waiting for the results and trying not to get my hopes up, but about 3 minutes later (a very LONG 3 minutes) the nurse comes back in and shows me the test: I'M PREGNANT!! I lost it at that point, lol!! And it figures I find out when Rick's in D.C. on business. So I called him and told him he was going to be a daddy. Not exactly the usual news to be told on your lunch break, but all of his coworkers took him out that night!

We will definitely be posting more on this as news comes around so stay tuned!

Though I was envious of all my friends in Texas with their warm weather, it appears that spring is finally starting to debut here in Colorado. The lilacs have buds all over them, the aspens are staring to put on new leaves, the grass is greening, and a number of other plants are coming out of hibernation. This also means that the Home Depot has stocked their nursery with new plants for the season.

I make a concerted effort to clip coupons and shop when the shopping is good, but when it comes to plants, I cave every time. Just this last week I bought a couple of arborvitae to plant in the urns by the garage, and I also found some gorgeous ranunculus that I planted in a pot on the front porch. And of course when I saw the basil and roma tomato plants I HAD to get some. My new little friends are now happily planted and hopefully thriving. We're hoping the last of the freezing weather is gone, but then again, it is April and crazy things happen with the weather in April - 70° one day, snowing the next, you get the idea.

And with spring comes spring cleaning. We just finished painting the laundry room yesterday. It's the same color green as the guest bedroom and the woodwork is a stark white. Coupled with the new washer and dryer we had to get in February, it now looks like a place I WANT to wash clothes, rather than a room I'd prefer to keep closed 95% of the time. Additionally, the new machines are SO QUIET!! Gotta love it!

Lastly, I'm working on getting all the quirks out of my website and bringing in files from 2008 and 2009 that were permanently archived, and just going through and cleaning out the coding in general. I have a feeling I'll be posting much more than I have recently. Cheers!