Conference/Baby Shower/ Birthday

We had another fun filled weekend involving family and celebrations. Friday evening my brother and family got to come stay with us, our first overnight visitors in our new house. We feel so lucky that we've had so many opportunities to spend time with our lovely nieces. Friday we got to babysit them while their parents went out on a hot date. Gwenevere and Max made some cookies.
We learned that having two kids is difficult even with wonderfully behaved kids. Max and I were both home watching them and it was still hard. So I think it is good that we can ease into this parenthood thing one child at a time.

The next morning was conference and since Gwenevere had proved to us that she is a natural when it comes to baking she became my assistant for making homemade buttermilk pancakes.

She was really helpful!

We incorporated a mini science lesson on liquids and solids involving melted butter.

Overall, she was an excellent and enthusiastic helper...she earned that mickey mouse pancake.

We spent time watching General conference, one of the biggest lessons I learned was that conference is a little more difficult to watch with cute children around. I just got so distracted by their cuteness. Max and I have already been reviewing the talks to gain more enlightenment because we were a little distracted...or should I say distracting during conference.

In the evening my wonderful sister in law, Elizabeth, and cousin, Stephanie, put together an amazing baby shower. I felt overwhelmed with how many people were so generous to us and our baby boy. The food was great, the games were fun and the company was exquisite. Not to mention we got so much more of what we needed for our little boy, we can finally get his room set up.

Sadly, I was having so much fun that I took absolutely no pictures. I hope to steal some from some family members in the near future.

Our family members all went in on a great group gift, they got us this jogging stroller/carseat combo. We wanted it really bad as we are now is the most wonderful jogging/walking neighborhood. We couldn't wait for the baby to come to try it out so we went on a morning walk/jog with an empty stroller. There is clearly still a child inside me, luckily no one asked to see the "child" in the stroller.

We are so pleased. We feel that the baby can come anytime now that we have a carseat. 30 more days until my due date!!!

Random Interjection: Fall is here and it makes me even more happy to be back in the Northwest. I love the fall here!

So on Sunday was my birthday, of course it was spent watching conference like many of my birthdays. Max made all of us an amazing breakfast and we picnic-ed in the basement while watching conference. We just spent the day with my brother's family then in the evening we went to my Red Grandma's house for a family party and BBQ. It has been a long time since I was able to celebrate my birthday with the extended family. Then James and Elizabeth and family had to leave and go back to Tacoma with no set date of when we will see them again. It will probably be after "baby cousin" (as Gwenevere likes to call my belly) is born as I can't do much more traveling away from home. We just love that family so much and we're happy to be somewhat closer to them.

Since my birthday was spent with the extended family, Max decided that the next day would be our day to spend together. He really is such a gentleman and treats me like a queen all while not spending a ton of money which I really admire! I came upstairs to find this little surprise on the counter.
We then went out to a secret location which started with picking up lunch at Subway. We took it to-go so I quickly assumed we were going somewhere for a picnic. We ended up at the Portland rose test gardens in Washington Park. This is the location where we had a picnic together 7.5 years ago for my senior prom. We ate right there sitting on that stage both times.
We stopped to smell the roses while discussing our past, present, and future all while walking arm in arm. This is another reason I love being back in Portland, all the nostalgic memories!
Here we are May 22, 2004 before we officially had the boyfriend/girlfriend status

Here we are at the exact same location, with a much larger (or non-existent) waistline! October 3, 2011. I think we will need to have a family picture in this same location in a couple years.

After we wandered around for awhile and I became somewhat sore all over my oversized body. we headed back to the house and he had a couple more surprises for me.

First of all, I don't like him to spend money on cut flowers so he has found some creative ways to go about this. This year I got a whole large pack of tulip bulbs. I'm so excited this year to have a yard and now I can get a head start on the gardening because it is the perfect time to plant the bulbs.

Secondly, He got a new addition to the family, a beta fish who is yet to be named. (Names we have considered include : Spud, Stanley, Kartoshka etc. Please give us any input) This is the only pet I enjoy having. It will give some last minute parenting practice before our little boy arrives. He hope he survives. He couldn't eat right away because he is so small. This piece of food got stuck in his mouth for about 15 minutes. Don't worry, he is eating fine now. We will not let our babies starve!

We spent the rest of the day running errands and getting baby stuff with our birthday money and baby shower gift cards. Each day we are feeling more ready for this little guy to arrive.