Happy Halloween - Party at The Prows'

Every year Dale and Linda Prows throw a Halloween Party...well this is our first year here in Germantown, TN and with me being 37 weeks pregnant I was NOT thinking about doing any type of Halloween partying.  Well Gary talked me into going and I had to think, the day of the party, what we could dress up as.  Now if any of you know me, you will know I don't have many creative bones in my body so I was struggling!
In September 2010 Gary and I went to Hawaii with my Sister Lucretia and her husband Bobby.  While we were there, we just HAD to find "Dog" The Bounty Hunters Bail Bonds Office...well we found it and next door is a merchandise shop.  I'm telling you this because we bought Gary a sleeveless shirt that says "DOG" on the front of it.  Well that just happens to make a GREAT Halloween costume...as shown in the picture below...

Yep he was a "white trash" guy...

I have to say when we got there no one recognized him...he really had a great costume.  The only way people knew it was him was because we were together and my costume was nothing like his.  I was in all black with cat ears, a tail and I painted whiskers.  Yep I did this costume a few years ago and like I said I'm not too creative...

That's his signature move

I didn't get a picture of his boots...but he was wearing army style boots with his get up.

I can't recognize him in this pic... We drew a few tattoos on his arms too.

Some of the party girls, Me (Pregnant Cat), Belinda (Queen Bee), Christine (Disco Girl), Megan (Flashdancer - and she is pregnant too - I told her I would crop the pic but I forgot, sorry Megan you still look great!) & Emily (Wanda - Waldo's wife).  

I didn't get a good pic of this but there was a contest and Gary won Funniest Costume, LaDell won Best over all (he is the Disco King) and then scariest was The Baldwins - The Frankensteins!

The Disco Couple - The George's

Where is Wanda and Waldo - The Lowes

LOVED their costumes - she was Little Red Riding Hood and she caught the Big Bad Wolf - The Rice's

Mr Adventure and Queen Bee (The Wright's) and Mike and Carol Brady (The Brady's)

The Fabulous hosts!  Disco King and Queen!!  The Prows'

Part of the Blue Man Group - The Klepko's

Frankenstein and The Bride of Frankenstein - The Baldwins

I have to say we had a great time at the party...I'm so glad we went...there were so many other people there and I didn't get pics but everyone was dressed up and having so much fun!  Thank's Dale and Linda for a great party!!

It's raining Showers...Baby Showers that is

Well, I never doubted it but I truly have the best friends around!  My friends Dana and Chantelle were so sweet to throw me a shower in Nashville the beginning of October.  It was perfect!  It was so great to see all my Nashville friends!  The only problem is I didn't take one picture - what is wrong with me!?  Danielle made the cutest cupcakes with chocolate in the shape of a baby's foot...so adorable!  Natalie made my very favorite snack food...sausage balls (Sausage, cheese and bisquick - so good).  We had such a great time (at least I did).  Thanks guys for a GREAT Saturday afternoon!!

A week later the FABULOUS girls from church in Germantown threw me a shower.  I was so overwhelmed by the amount of people who came out to support me and this little guy!  Some of the Young Women were even able to make it to the shower.  I loved everything we got and this little guy is about set, now he just needs to make his appearance! :-)

We had brunch at the shower and look at the sweet diaper "cake".  The sweet Young Women of the ward made that for us

Here are the Hosts and a few of the girls who were able to make it!  Yes the Diaper Cake is there to hide my HUGE belly!

A group shot of the fabulous women of our Ward who came out to support this new addition!  I'm so lucky!!

Catching Up...

Well it's been awhile since we've blogged so here is a little catch up of what we have been doing lately...

We moved into our home in Germantown, TN the beginning of July and are finally getting settled in...We love the house and our neighborhood is fantastic!  Everyone is so welcoming - we really lucked up with the location.  My Mom, Staci, Bryn, Addison and Alli came up to help us get settled in and unpack (which I LOVED!).  It was so nice having them here for a week!  While they were here we did hit up the zoo - Memphis has a pretty great Zoo and I wouldn't have known that if my family hadn't been visiting.

They had such a great time - even though it was pretty hot that day.

Gary was exercising his parenting skills - he's gonna be doing a lot of stroller pushing before long!

Mema with Addi and Alli - Always making the grandkids happy!

We also took a trip to Florida for my Granny's 95th birthday party.  We had a family get together to celebrate her.  We got a picture of Granny with (almost) all her Great Grandchildren.  We love you Granny!

Addison, Hudson, Alli, Carson, Keaton, Bryn, Lailan, Chapman & Eloise

Yep an Elephant cake for Granny

In August we headed to California to visit Gary's parents.  We were there for my birthday so Gary needed a little golf time with his Dad and Scott while Brenda and I went for a foot massage and to see a movie (The Help).  Later that night we went to Cheesecake Factory for my birthday dinner then (birthday) cheesecake and gifts at home.  It was a great Birthday!

Since we left the day before Gary's birthday we went to one of his favorite restaurants (mexican of course) and had cake and ice cream after.

My birthday cheesecake 

Gary's Red Velvet Birthday Cake

Birthday Boy!

After we returned home to Tennessee, The Duncan's came out for the weekend and we went to the BYU vs. Ole Miss game...I was a little nervous with the weather (since the game was at 3pm and it's the south and can be pretty HOT) but we definitely lucked up!  It was overcast and not nearly as hot as I was thinking it would be.  We had great seats and BYU won!  So that made for a great game :-).  Of course the night before, we had to go to downtown Memphis and eat at Rendezvous for some great BBQ.  We never pass up a chance to eat there!

The Olsen's and The Duncan's

And most recently, Gary signed us up for a few classes to prepare for our new addition...We toured the hospital and took a natural child birth class.  Umm, thanks for setting up the classes but I am NOT going natural and especially after the class - I'm definitely going for the drugs! I told my Dr about the class and he said technology is here for a reason and I 100% believe that and will gladly take full advantage of it! :-)

I'm DEFINITELY not one to show any pregnancy pics but my friend Dana has been asking so I sent her one.  This is me at 34 weeks.  I'm posting it because it's very deceiving...I'm MUCH bigger than the photo but I'll take this as a memory :-)

34 weeks

It's crazy to think we will be meeting our little guy in 5 1/2 weeks...I'm not sure I'm truly prepared for it but I don't think you are ever really prepared for this kind of change but we are looking forward to it!

This past weekend, Gary and Walt decided to enter into an obstacle course race in Manchester, TN.  It is called The Warrior Dash.  It's a 3 mile course and you have to army crawl under barbed wire, scale walls, jump over fire pits and dive into mud.  Doesn't that just sound like lots of fun?!  Well not to me but definitely to a guy.  They had a great time and I'm glad they went and had some bonding time...I of course opted to stay home and I think it was a wise choice.

Yep, they left their clothes there after they were hosed off...I think that was a smart choice :-)

Gary's Utah Trip

Well Gary doesn't get the opportunity to see a lot of his friends out west so a group of his buddies got together and took a weekend and hiked around in Southern Utah...I don't have much to say about this trip since I wasn't there but I'm glad he was able to go and catch up with his friends!

Yep It's a BOY!

I have a lot of updating to do but the first and most important is to talk about this little baby which is rapidly growing inside me! 
We went in on June 9th and found out that it was in fact a baby BOY!  I felt it was a boy all along - (mainly because I LOVE looking at all the cute little girl stuff and never wanted to look at boy stuff.)  I even told my girlfriend, Chantelle early on that I needed to look at boy things because it wasn't a girl.  Although I would have been happy with news of a girl, we are beyond excited to have a boy!
Of course as we were having the ultrasound done I asked how "sure" are you that it's a boy and I got the "oh I'm 100% sure it's a boy" response. And here is her proof...okay, okay I'll accept!

It was a really neat experience to watch him on the ultrasound - he was an active little guy during the ultrasound and frequently positioned himself right above my bladder which is something he still does!  I couldn't feel all the movements so much during the ultrasound but now that I'm 26 weeks, my little acrobat is giving me some really good performances!  I'm hoping he is a little more "calm" in person :-).

Our Big News!

That's the head and it's fingers and toes

A bigger body shot...it's growing but only about the size of a lime in this picture.

The pictures aren't the best but we are beside ourselves excited for this new step in our lives!  I have been very fortunate when it comes to feeling sick...lucky for me I haven't had any bouts of nausea but I have felt extremely tired and have had such unbearable lower back pain that I've since made many visits to a chiropractor who has helped tremendously!  

It still doesn't seem real since I don't feel any different with my body...I have had NO problem eating food (unfortunately)...I actually have been really good with cleaning my plate lately and I'm not a real big fan of that.  I'm hoping my increased appetite doesn't cause me to gain more than I need to (or want to).  With that said though, I do truly just want a healthy happy baby so if I gain the weight and can't lose it - that will then be Gary's fault for not getting me a gym membership :-).

Our Dr. has given me a due date of October 29th but...I'm dead set against having a Halloween baby.  People think I'm being a little dramatic about that and say I won't care once I am so close to the due date.  They say I will just want to have it but I'm telling you now, I am definitely hoping for it to come early OR the first week of November.  I'm really hoping for the 1st week of November (sorry Marc I know you don't like to share your birthday month).  There's a pretty good chance I'll be late, and I'm hoping I'm a week late and not 2 days late!

On a more serious note, we feel so blessed and fortunate to have the opportunity to bring another life into the world.  It is going to be a challenge and a HUGE adjustment to our everyday lives but we couldn't be happier for it to happen!  I know Gary will be a great Dad and I truly lucked up with him!

I'll try to post more soon!

The Cliffs of Moher...Ireland

I meant to add this weeks ago and I just haven't had much time to sit and add it...On our last day in Ireland I was fortunate enough to have Gary tour with me and we took a 10 hr tour to see The Cliffs of Moher.  The cliffs were beautiful!  Such an amazing sight!  On our way up the weather wasn't the best...rainy and foggy but by the time we made it to our stop, it was nothing but pure sunshine!  We couldn't be happier...there are many rainy and overcast days in Ireland...but not today!

The amazing Cliff of Moher...so breathtaking

Of course I wanted to go beyond this point...it looked like such a great view from there but Gary then pointed out...

this sign...oh well

Yeah Gary pushed me...I could have fallen!  Thank goodness for the fence being there.

We were told this castle tower behind us is owned by an american family.  Yeah could that be my vacation home please?  Gary, get on that would ya?

Yep he should be scared! haha

These aren't the Cliffs of Moher but they are still amazing...



We would like to go back please



Endless amount of rocks out on this side of Ireland....so of course Gary had to throw a few

This was is the entire group from Gary's audit along with the driver, Brian who was there every day to pick the guys up for work and to take us to and from the airport.  He was like family by the time we left!

More Ireland...does it ever end?

I feel like I have toured so much of Ireland...but in reality I have only see maybe half of the country...
I was trying to think of a tour to take and Gary and I had watched the movie "In the name of the father" which took place in Belfast, Ireland and I thought, that might be a cool place to see.  So I booked it and headed North to Belfast.  Northern Ireland is part of the UK not Ireland so there is still a bit of anomosity between the Catholics (want to be a part of Ireland) and the Protestants (want to be a part of the UK).  They have their own "Berlin Wall" in a sense.  It spans 3 1/2 miles and divides the 2 groups who to this day (according to the local tour) do not mix other then in the "netural zone" which is their city center.  The gates along their dividing wall are closed every night at dark to avoid and teenagers starting fights between each other (which is obviously a learned hatred from their parents).  There are still many terriost groups in the area and the police station is surrounded by a stone wall and barbwire (as if it were a prison) due to the amount of debris and other objects thrown in at them.  It blew my mind thinking this still goes on (well other then in the middle east).  They aren't divided because of religion (Catholic & Protestant) it is more political (Catholics are more for the Irish way and Protestant are for the British).  Anyway, it was a rainy day (which generally is any day in Belfast) and not a very pretty place to view but I loved hearing the history!

Some of the graffiti on government owned buildings...this is of a member of one of the terrorist groups who died in his apartment but is thought to have been killed rather then an overdose.  It is illegal to paint these but the authorities do nothing about it in fear of an uprising.

This is the famous Black Cab tour of Belfast I did...pretty interesting information.  The drivier wouldn't tell me which side he was on...the Protastant or Catholic.  I have my hunches though...



The "Berlin Wall" of Belfast dividing the 2 groups. People also write peace messages on the wall...

All in all it was a very interesting tour...not much to see but lots of history.