Melvin's 90th Birthday Party

We had a great time this past weekend! It was my Great Uncle Melvin's 90th birthday, and my aunt Joan and uncle Barry had a party at their home. It was an awesome turnout, with about 30 people that attended. It was nice to see our extended family. This picture below is Melvin's sister (Elsie Mae), my mom (blue shirt), and her cousins Linda (pink) and Michelle (dots). It was so special to watch Uncle Melvin blow out the candles on his 90th birthday cake.

Melvin and his sister, Elsie Mae. My grandpa Harold was their brother, but he passed away a few years ago.

It's not often that we can get a family pic!!

My cousin, Scott, and Jason

My cousin, Stacey, and her daughter, Makenzie. We got to celebrate her 2nd birthday.

There was even more excitement...here is my uncle Barry opening his Father's Day gift from my cousin, Scott, and his wife, Ashley. What is it??? It's a calendar...announcing that...

They are expecting a little one in January 2011!!

The girls - Me, Ashley (cousin Scott's wife), Jill (my cousin), Avadelle (cousin Brent's wife), and Stacey (my cousin)

The guys in the hot tub

Fun playing volleyball

Aunt Joan and Stacey with Haley and Makenzie

Jason being goofy :)

Jason pretending he's a shark for Haley (cousin Brent and Avadelle's daughter)

We had such a fun time! There were so many things to celebrate and it was nice to get in the pool for the first time this summer. We definitely need to do this more often!

Memorial Weekend

We had a fun, but BUSY time this past Memorial Weekend! The "main event" was my brother's graduation from Medical School, but we did a LOT of other things as well. My brother, Alan, got engaged last Tuesday, so my mom invited us down to Oklahoma City on Friday evening for a celebration dinner. It was at a really neat restaurant in the Paseo District in OKC -- Paseo Grill! The decor and food were awesome! We were there with Alan and Carrie, my mom and stepdad, and my brother, Grant, and his girlfriend, Abbey. We had a great time hearing the proposal story and watching Alan and Carrie open engagement and graduation gifts. Grant and Abbey
Mom and Chuck
Alan and Carrie
Yummy OU Cake - Congrats and Boomer Sooner!

Saturday was the big graduation day! The event was held at the Civic Center Music Hall in downtown Oklahoma City. Since my dad is also a physician (and OU College of Medicine grad), he had the privilage of being able to "hood" my brother during the ceremony. Carrie's dad is also a doctor, so he was able to hood her also! It was pretty neat!

Dad getting ready to hood Alan

Alan and Carrie after graduation

Dad and Alan

My aunt, uncle, and cousins were in Oklahoma for the holiday weekend, and they had the opportunity to come to the graduation also! It was great to see them. Here is a pic of Jason and I with my cousins, Lianne and Andrea (aren't they beautiful girls?!)

After a graduation lunch at Pearl's Crabtown in Bricktown with my family and Carrie's family, we headed back home to Wichita. The next day (Sunday), we caught a ride with my dad and stepmom up to Kansas City. Alan and Carrie are both doing their medical residencies in Kansas City, so it was time to move into their new apartment. It is in a historic district hear Hyde Park and the Plaza (a great shopping/dining area), so they will be living in the perfect location. Their "apartment" is gorgeous!! (I put that word in quotes because it's almost as big as our house!) It is an old building that was beautifully renovated.

Here is the kitchen - I love the appliances and cabinets!

Look at the crown molding, built-in bookcases, hardwood floors, and beautiful fireplace!

Here is the sunroom - So inviting for afternoon catnaps! :)

Master bathroom - Isn't this tub/shower combo awesome?

Here is the nice 2-car garage

View of their building from the street - there are 2 units in this building. Alan and Carrie have the entire downstairs!

After helping them unload some furniture and boxes (well, Jason helped unload and I "helped" by holding the doors open for everyone), we had a yummy dinner in the Plaza with my dad and stepmom. We headed back to Wichita that night, so it was a fast trip!

My long-time friend, Emily, came to visit me on Monday. She works for a bank so was fortunate enough to have the day off too! We went shopping and had a great time! It was so good to see her. We have been close friends since 1st grade!

Well, that's our whirlwind of a weekend! I honestly don't think we could've packed anything else into these few days. This next weekend will be fun-filled too...we are heading to Enid to celebrate my great-uncle's 90th birthday!

Pregnancy Update

Today marks 25 weeks exactly! I have been feeling great for the most part. There are a few days where I feel kind of uncomfortable, but I think that baby Ian is growing a lot right now. I am finally starting to show a little bit, although it's hard to tell at work because I am always wearing a white coat. :) I can feel him moving around quite a bit...generally when I'm sitting down resting, or at night when I'm lying in bed. Maybe he already sleeps through the night! haha!

Me at 24 weeks

We have also been starting to get the nursery together. Our crib and changer came in about a month ago, and Jason has been working to get them put together. He did a great job on the crib a few weeks ago, and he worked on the changing table/dresser this past Saturday. It is so funny how people review these products. Many of the reviews we read for the changer said that "it takes 4+ hours to put this thing together because the instructions are so confusing!" It took Jason about 2 hours and he didn't really think it was that hard! It is so hard to trust those silly reviews. I think that they both turned out pretty nice! Now it's time to start decorating. I will post more pics as the room progresses. :)

Congratulations Alan and Carrie!!!

My brother, Alan, got engaged last night! He has been dating a wonderful girl, Carrie, for the past few years. They went to medical school together and they are both graduating this upcoming Saturday! Alan is going to do a residency in Opthamology at University of Kansas, and Carrie is doing a Pediatrics residency at University of Missouri in Kansas City (UMKC). We are so happy that Carrie will be joining our family! She is a true sweetheart, and I will be lucky to have her as a sister-in-law! Congrats you two!! Let the wedding planning begin!! :)

Office Redo

As we prepare for baby Ian's arrival, it's time to start thinking about his nursery. When we moved into our house, two of the upstairs bedrooms were decorated in kid-friendly decor. One room was light green with pink butterflies, and the other room was red and white with a baseball theme. Since we found out that we're having a little boy, we coincidentally also decided to use a baseball/sports theme for a nursery. We've been using that room as an office since our black furniture looked nice with the red and white walls, but it was time to move out! I didn't particularly want a "butterfly-themed" office (although the butterflies were very well-painted), so we decided to do a room makeover. I've never actually painted a room before, but fortunately, Jason has painting experience. We decided to go with a creamy color on one wall (window wall) and a tan on the remaining walls. I really love how it turned out, although we will still have a few little touch-ups to do where the two colors meet. Next project...putting together the crib and changer! Here are some before and after pics of the office:

Before

After

Redhawks Game - Suite-Style!

On Saturday we had the opportunity to go to an Oklahoma City Redhawks baseball game. It wasn't just a regular game...we had a suite! Jason's parents received free suite tickets from Jani-King, the company that cleans the school where they work. They were able to accomodate 12 people, so they called to invite us! Jason LOVES baseball, so he was definitely interested. Neither of us had ever been able to have access to a suite, so we thought it would be fun...and it was! Here is a pic of the outside seating area - the inside part was "ours" too! Here is a view of the ballpark from our seats. We got there super early because we had to watch the team warm up (of course... ;)

Jason and his dad went down before the game to get autographs from the players. I think it's funny that it's all kids...except Jason! :) He's definitely still a kid at heart!

Waiting for an autograph...

Jason and his dad looking up at us after they got the autographs

Another cool thing that happened...during the game, they shot up foam "Powerballs" from the field as part of an Oklahoma Lottery promotion. Jason caught 2 balls, and one happened to have the "winning" number on it....six! He won a T-shirt and 4 lottery tickets. Unfortunately, the tickets weren't winners. Oh well...it was fun anyhow!

Jason and I during the game

Chelci (our niece) and her boyfriend, Jeremy

View of the field from inside the suite

Unfortunately the Redhawks lost.... :( We still had a great time though! Thanks Cathy and Harlan for the invite!

Jason's Birthday

May 2nd was Jason's 32nd birthday! To celebrate, we had several friends over for a cookout. My mom and stepdad were able to come up as well! There was a great turnout and we had a lot of fun! For entertainment, we got a Bocce set and a Croquet set. It had been a loooong time since I played croquet, but it was pretty fun! Thanks to all who were able to come!

Nursery Furniture/Bedding

The crib, changer, and nursery bedding are on their way! We are so excited to have finally decided on a crib set and bedding. Jason really wanted to go with a "Sports/Baseball" theme, but we had a hard time finding bedding that I liked. Luckily, my mom found this sports-themed bedding through Pottery Barn Kids and we love it! Although you can't tell from the picture, there are baseball images on the quilt (I had to e-mail the company to "verify"). We decided to go with the dark brown/espresso crib, although I liked several of the color choices. We weren't particularly wanting or needing a convertible crib, but this one does convert if we ever decide to use it that way. Anyway, we're anxiously awaiting for these items to arrive! Once they do, we'll still have to paint the nursery and move some furniture out of the room. It will be a fun "project." I'm glad that God gives us several months to get ready for a little one...we need it!