Baby oh baby!

As many of you have noticed, there is a little baby counter on the side of the blog. I thought I would stick it up there before formally announcing to see if anyone would notice, and many of you did! This little blessing is also a HUGE surprise. I mean, humongous. I've been on a roller coaster of emotions since finding out which is another reason we waited so long to say anything

We had our ultrasound yesterday, but all the pictures I got stink, so I won't bother you with blobs of white on a black screen that make no sense to anyone but the doctor. The baby is healthy, though. And we found out that we are having... a surprise! We decided not to found out the baby's gender just to shake things up. We have a boy and a girl so we wanted a little extra excitement this time.

So far, everyone I've talked to raves about how wonderful it is not knowing the gender of the baby and how it adds a lot more excitement to labor. I'll let you know if this is the case for me.

I am due November 9th which means if this little person comes on time, we will have three kids in less than three years! woot woot! I think that deserves some kind of award, don't you?

Happy Father's Day

This is for all the Fathers out there who, like this man, work so hard for their families, spend time with their children, honor their priesthood, and do the best they can for us.

Song for My Garlic Press

(to the tune of "Till There Was You")




There was fresh garlic zesty, but I never used it cooking.
No, I never used it at all, till there was you.

I used dried garlic salty, but not cloves of flavor yummy,
No, I never used them at all, till there was you.

And now there is pasta, and recipes countless I'm dying
to try because garlic's now pressed and usable.

Oh my press, you're so lovely, you make life a new adventure
For now fresh garlic is back, because of you.

Thomas the Train

Baylub has always liked the show Thomas the Train. Not his fav, but he likes it fine. My bro and his wife are here visiting from Ohio (medical school) and we thought we should do something fun all together. So, I, Suzanne, Mom, Jessie, and all the grandkids drove up to Heber to meet Thomas.



We took a 25 minute ride on Thomas. Oddly enough, Thomas's passenger cars were so old, it made me feel like I was back in Ukraine. Here is Baylub on the train right after he got LOST!



That's right, it finally happened. I lost my son. I took him out of the stroller, bent down to get Lulu out telling him to go run by his cousins who were two feet behind me, the next thing I know, I can't see him anywhere. It was insanely crowded with people everywhere. I stayed surprisingly calm through the whole ordeal. I contacted security, we searched for about fifteen minutes on and off the train. While standing on the train, I spotted him being carried by an employee on the other side of the tracks. He wasn't fazed a bit, didn't even know he was lost.

Here is some of our party enjoying the ride (which was actually pretty boring). The other activities were a blast though. I highly recommend going. Lulu was feeling so sick but she stuck it out so well. What a sweetheart.



Suzanne, Daniel, and Maren.



Along with the petting zoo here, they had huge bubble wands, a large toy area with tables filled with trains and train tracks, a tent with a detailed lego city with a moving train driving throughout, Mr. Topamhat, and live shows including a a magician and musicians.



It was for sure Baylub's cup of tea. He could have stayed there for hours more than we did. I felt bad making him leave, but Lulu had had enough and I could tell he himself was getting tired. He zonked out right when we started driving. He is getting a lot better at his picture smile so I had to show an example.



Thank you for such a fun day, Meema!

Childhood

It's amazing what childhood experiences can still make you feel 20 years later. So, everyone knows the Disney movie "Enchated"...




...I personally thought it was darling. I LOVE Prince Edward and how he hams it up. Being a little girl at one point in my life, Disney princesses, especially Ariel, still have a special place in my heart.

I recently discovered that some REAL Disney princesses make some cameo appearances in the film, "Enchanted" and I am amazed at how excited I am by seeing my real princesses in real life...on film.

Ever wonder about that random part where Giselle puts a live fish in her mouth and then spits it out? It's a bizarre and subtle reference to the fact that the secretary is the original voice of Ariel! The real Ariel! I keep watching her over and over again trying to hear if Ariel pops out of one of her lines.

Then there is the soap opera that inspires the bad guy Nathaniel. You'll here a small musical reference to "Beauty and the Beast" because the mean woman is the original voice of Belle.

Last of all, as Prince Edward knocks on apartment doors looking for Giselle, a pregnant woman opens the door surrounded by tons of kids. THAT is the original Pocahontas. She's blond, I was amazed to discover.

It makes me so excited to see the real voices of the princesses. So magical!

Happy Birthday Easter

Lulu is one and we are so happy! So is she. We had a fun two days celebrating her first birthday ever. She really didn't know it was all about her except for when we sang Happy Birthday to her and used her name. Then, she grinned a lot and you could tell she felt special.




So far, our family tradition is the birthday girl/boy has to wear a very special hat. She loved it enough to leave it on her head for about thirty seconds, which, considering her age, I thought was pretty good.

Here is everybody helping her open her presents. Bayleb did pretty well not wanting to keep everything himself.



She also needed help diving into the easter themed birthday cake. I wanted it cute but I'm just not hip enough to make an AMAZINGLY awesome cake with fondant and toys and characters on top. I thought it turned out pretty cute anyways.


If you can't tell, its an easter egg.





Easter was very special. The Easter bunny came to our house and brought some books and candy. He brought Lulu a Berenstein Bears book. I have forgotten how much I LOVE the Berenstein Bears. I want to read it every night by myself when the kids don't want to. It makes me want to collect them all. These are their new Easter outfits that Grandma bought for them. They are so cute.



Looking especially feminine and petite, Lulu weighs only 18lbs at one year old. She is in the 95th percentile for height and the 8th percentile for weight. She eats really well, I think she just got her dad's genes.



Caleb went nuts with the easter stickers that came in the egg dying packs. He loves stickers almost as much as candy!


We hope you all had a wonderful and peaceful Easter weekend.

So Proud...

My little sister, Amy, got third place in her age division running the half marathon in Salt Lake City. There were 349 other girls running and she was faster than almost all of them, and she says she didn't train that much. What a champion!





Congratulations Amy. I love you!