heart day

Jeff and I were able to celebrate Valentine's Day a night early. I took charge of the date... Jeff should have been worried! :) We went to a thai restaurant for dinner, which was nice since we don't have thai food too often and I sure love a little pad thai! Then we went to the Hyatt in Gainey Ranch for a gondola boat ride. It was Valentine's weekend so we had to cheese it up. The ride was okay. I would have liked to have taken the boats out on our own, but hey- it was fun to do once. Next time it will have to be in Italy!

On Sunday, the big day, Jeff and I made quite a delicious dinner. We had salad, 7-up chicken, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and rolls. Lately, I have been bad about cooking a good Sunday dinner, so it was nice for a change. To top it off we had chocolate souffle! I have never made them before, but I found a great and easy recipe here. They turned out great. I've been waiting to use my ramekins for something good and this was that something.

(the picture doesn't do it justice)

another play date-

Last Tuesday, we had our weekly play date. I was able to score a culture pass to the Arizona Museum for Youth in Mesa. Maylee was all about holding anyone and everyone's hands (well, except mine- but who can really compete with the cousins and grandma?)

The girls had fun playing in the kitchen making delicious snacks, listening to the book at story time, painting (which happened to be Maylee's first time! She made a beautiful masterpiece without even getting messy), and reading books.



After the museum, we headed with our packed lunches to eat on the lawn of the Mesa Arts Center. Then to we did a little boutique shopping. Downtown Mesa has some really cute little shops and a yummy sandwich shop that has delicious (and nutritious, I'm sure ;) cookies. It was so nice to leisurely walk around enjoying the nice weather.

Happy Valentine's Day!

the lastest...

Everything has seemed to calm down a bit after the holidays- just like it always does. We are enjoying it being a little more low key.

The weather has been perfect and Maylee and I make it part of our daily schedule to hit the park. She is getting so coordinated- she runs around the playground structure all by herself- going up and down the stairs, across the wobbly bridge, down the slides, rocking on the cars. She is so independent these days!


(Her new favorite trick is going down the slide on her belly- so tricky!)

The weather is just too perfect- we have to take advantage of it!!

We also have spent a lot of time reading books and playing with all the new Christmas toys (and getting "all dolled up" while doing so!) She loves the play food, tent, bike, and oh yes- the golf clubs. Daddy is showing her the correct way to hold the club already, two hands and all.


(She goes and gets the tutu and tiara all by herself; I have no part in it!)

(I could watch them play together all day!)

We had a crazy storm that came through a couple of weeks ago. It left our front tree leaning so badly that we needed to cut it down, but it also gave Maylee the chance to splash in some puddles and really experience RAIN! She wasn't so sure about it hitting her face at first, but then didn't seem to mind it once she was running and jumping in the puddles.


The pregnancy is going great. The little babe is moving like crazy and I even felt a little leg/ foot that happened to be poking out the other day! That is the best!

and then there were two...

Two little GIRLS in our family that is! We are expecting a little baby girl to arrive the end of May!

We are very excited for Maylee to have a little sister to bug- I mean play with. Play dolls, read, play kitchen, dress up... all that girlie stuff!

We had our ultrasound on Dec. 21st. One of my friends, Brandi, mentioned the idea of not finding out the gender and then wrapping up the picture and putting it under the Christmas tree to open on Christmas morning. We did that, and it was so much fun to have Jeff's family around to hear the news as we saw it for the first time!

Although it was so exciting to find out the gender, the best news came when we had a level 2 ultrasound the Thursday after Christmas. Our first ultrasound showed something called CP cysts in our little baby's brain. The words cyst and brain sound so scary together. The doctor warned us that these cysts are sometimes associated with Trisomy 18, a severe and deadly form of Down Syndrome. She recommended we go see a high risk OB and have the level 2 ultrasound. I tried not to think about the worst, but what woman wouldn't worry about the little baby growing inside her?

It was so reassuring to go to the level 2 ultrasound. Our little one didn't show any other signs of Trisomy 18. She looked completely healthy!! We also got to see her in 3-D and got to take a CD home with pics and a little video of her moving around enjoying life.

I am so grateful to have this little one inside of me and am so grateful for a Heavenly Father that knows each one of us and listens to our prayers.

The part that looks like her hand by her face is actually her foot!! :)

Christmas

For Christmas, we went up to St. George. We did the 7 1/2 hour drive (well, it used to take us 6 1/2 but that was before the little sweetie arrived!) the Wednesday before. Maylee did pretty good considering that it is a long time for anyone to be in the car (Thanks goodness the Fosters let us borrow their DVD player!!) Everyone arrived on the same day, except Scott's family- they came up the day after Christmas. We played a lot of Wii, ate a lot of yummy food, and had a great time visiting with family.

Maylee was so cute on Christmas day. I think she was a little embarrassed since she was the only kid and all these adults were looking at her as she saw what she got from Santa. It was only a small amount of time, however, before she went to town playing with her new toys. She got a stroller, shopping cart, purse, broom... She is totally into the pretend play stuff! I am constantly amazed at how girlie she is! She also got a trike from Jeff's parents that she loves.



Maylee loved playing with her cousins- Anna, Aimee, and Nathan- when they arrived on Saturday. She would grab them by the hand and walk off, pulling them as she went. They were good sports! :) We were all together that Saturday and Sunday and then half of the family went up to Mapleton. We were going to go up north for a few days as well, but then changed our minds. We didn't want to drive another 4 hours and have to drive the whole way home on Wednesday.

We stuck around St. George for another day, along with Eric and Angela. Since we didn't go up north, we took Maylee to play in some snow about 45 minutes away. Jeff concocted some kind of sled out of her trike box. It was quite impressive! She loved being pulled around by Jeff and going down the little hills. It was perfect snow for sledding, not so much for snowballs.



We headed back home on Tuesday. It was so fun to hang out with everyone. We don't get the chance to hang out with ALL of Jeff's family very often so it was extra nice.

The last few weeks...

I can't believe the holidays have already come and gone! It was so fun to watch Maylee this year and see her excitement. She really enjoyed it. She loved all the special toys in the store (a little too much- I either had to go Christmas shopping alone or Jeff had to be distracting her so she wouldn't see what was put in the cart...), the Christmas lights, and our Christmas tree. I gave her a "special" ornament that she would touch and play with, which was good since she thought they were balls! Good thing it was a shatterproof one! :)

A couple weeks before Christmas, we were able to make it to the Mesa Temple lights. Then Maylee and I were able to see the Winter Wonderland at Bass Pro Shops as a ward play date- Maylee could have sat on that 4-wheeler for hours!




My family celebrated our own little Christmas the Sunday before the 25th. The kiddos looked so cute dressed in their holiday attire; too bad I wasn't able to get a good pic to really capture it! :) It is almost impossible with 4 kids, ages 5 and under.




We had a delicious prime rib dinner, hung out, and opened presents. It was so nice. One of the gifts my parents got us was a bike trailer. My mom mentioned that we could just borrow one of their bikes (since they have a TON and Jeff and I don't have any!) But then, in comes Jeff rolling in a brand new bike with a big red bow. I was completely surprised. I knew Maylee would love going for bike rides since she went crazy the times we went bike riding at April and Rob's. It was a great gift and has been used almost everyday since!



It was so nice to have our own little family Christmas together. They are the best!