July Update

Sorry it's been so long since I've written! So much has happened this month! On July 11th, I was able to attend my friend, Trina's, baby shower. Several (five!) of the girls in our church LifeGroup are pregnant right now, but Trina is due first! The shower was so great...yummy snacks, fun games, and lots of presents for the little one! Here is a pic of some of the girls from our LifeGroup. Trina is in the middle. Aren't these shower favors adorable? The picture is actually a sonogram of Trina's baby!

My 29th birthday was July 15th. Jason had to work that night, but some of my LifeGroup friends and I went out to eat at Jose Peppers. Earlier that day, one of my co-workers brought a cake into work to help celebrate. It was a great day! Isn't this the last birthday that I'm supposed to claim?!

On July 17th, I had my first baby shower! This was so exciting and I had a great time. The shower was in Enid, Oklahoma (my hometown), and was hosted by Ashley, Avadelle, and Amber. Ashley and Avadelle are my cousins' wives, and Amber is by best friend and college roommate. The shower was a "Sports" theme, which was perfect because that is the same theme of our nursery! It was so nice to see friends and family. Here are some pics from the special occasion:

L to R: Avadelle, Amber, me, Ashley

Avadelle made the YUMMY cake!

Amber made the adorable diaper cake!

Ashley painted the amazing letters and bookcase!

The invitations were so creative! They were like little "books" -- everyone signed a book instead of a card. Such a neat idea!

Everyone had to cut a piece of yarn that they thought would be long enough to go around my belly. My Aunt Joan was the closest -- see the little piece of yarn in her hand? This was all that she had left over! So close!

The bookcase is in the background. It was a perfect addition to Ian's room! I love it!

Ian received so many wonderful books!! What a great start to his collection!

Branson "Babymoon"

What better way to celebrate the "30-week" point than take a "babymoon?!" Since I am saving all of my leave time for after the baby is born, I wasn't really expecting to take a vacation this summer. However, when I realized that 4th of July weekend was my last 3-day weekend before September, I started to panic! (Also, my co-workers are all taking fun vacations this summer and I was starting to feel a little jealous ;-) Since both Jason and I had Monday off for the holiday, I decided to take one day of vacation (Tuesday) so we could enjoy a little getaway. As it turns out, we only live about 4.5 to 5 hours from Branson, so it seemed like a perfect destination!

We left early Sunday morning and we were starving when we got into town. Our first stop was the "Hard Luck Diner" in the Grand Village Shopping Center. We had both been here before and really liked the 50s diner-type atmosphere. Also, all of the waitstaff takes turns performing various songs in between working. The best part, I have to admit, are their desserts. I got a cherry soda, one of my long-time favorites since childhood. Jason got a chocolate shake. I think that mine had a better stage presentation though! (see below :) The evening of July 4th was our dinner cruise on the Branson Showboat Belle. Jason liked my dress because it showed off my preggo belly, so he snapped a pit in our hotel room.

After a day of traveling in the rain, the weather was perfect that evening. I know that fireworks displays were rained out at several places, so we lucked out! Once we got on the boat, we had dinner and visited with the other young couple at our table. Then, once it got dark, the boat stopped so all of the passengers could watch the huge fireworks display over Table Rock Lake. It was beautiful! Normally, the fireworks show isn't part of the dinner cruise package, so we just picked the perfect night! ;-) I tried to get pics of the fireworks, but they didn't turn out too well.

Monday, we spent the day shopping at Branson Landing. This is a shopping area in the older part of Branson. It was really nice because it was all new, and the area was surrounded with stores, restaurants, and hotels. We had lunch at Cantina Laredo and had a great view of the water fountain show...it is set to music like the fountains at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas, but this show even includes fire!!

That evening, we decided to go to the Dolly Parton Dixie Stampede dinner and show. If you've ever been to Midevil Times, this is a similar type of attraction. Basically, everyone is seated in a giant arena for dinner. The North or "Yankee" side competes against the South "Confederate" side. There are performers that sing/dance, tons of animals (horses, pigs, longhorns, etc.), and carriages that are all part of the show. Each "side" roots for their people that compete against each other in a series of 12 competitions...some involving audience members, some involve animals, and some involve the performers. During the show, we had a dinner that is eaten entirely without utensils! It was actually really good, and included chicken, pork, corn on the cob, potato, soup, bread, and dessert. We were stuffed! Unfortunately, our side (the Yankees) lost. :( We will had a great time though!

All of the horses used in the show are on display along the front of the theater.

When we weren't at shows, we were most likely at the outlet malls. :) Branson has two big outlet malls, so I had to get some shopping in! We got several cute outfits for Ian at the Carter's outlet, and I found some cute maternity dresses at the Motherhood Maternity outlet. One was only $4.32! That was definitely the best deal of the trip! On Tuesday morning before we left town, we stopped at the Branson Craft Mall. Jason really wanted a little sign made for Ian's room. He was so excited about it, so I went along with him. It turned out cute! I will post a pic soon when I give another nursery update!

3D/4D Ultrasound Pics

Many of you may have seen these pics on Facebook, but my blog just wouldn't seem complete if I didn't post them here! On June 22nd, we had the fortunate opportunity to see inside of baby Ian's "world." It must have been a serene place to be because he slept nearly the entire time! One cute little "habit" we saw is that he slept with his hand up by his face. Sometimes he touched the top of his head and it was hard to get any good pics. Jason sleeps like that too, so it will be fun to see if Ian does this after he's born! Although we are biased, we thought he was precious. My mom was able to come also which was nice. Since he slept for so long, we were worried that we wouldn't get any good pics. Finally he started waking up and moving around (with some friendly agitation :). We got a cute video of him yawning (see the bottom of this post for the video!) It was soooo amazing to see him in such detail. Some pics were kinda scary because he would look distorted, but the ultrasound tech said that this was because of the movement of the amniotic fluid and the reconstruction of the soundwaves from the 2D to the 3D image. We were sad when it was over because we realized that we probably wouldn't see him again until he was born! I wish I could just sit and watch him all of the time! :)

Here are some of the better pics...enjoy!

He has his little feet crossed! :)

Video of his big yawn!