Is this not the coolest birthday cake a husband ever made for his wife? I am so lucky. Dan is funny. And creative. He makes me smile. Did you notice how the boy bird is giving the girl bird a balloon? Just wanted to point that out.

Thanks, everyone, for the birthday messages - both on facebook and in real life. I appreciated them so much! I had a great birthday. Sam and I met Dan downtown so that we could go out to eat at the Cheesecake Factory. Going downtown reminds us of how much we like NOT living downtown. Too much traffic. Dinner was really good, other than the slow waiter and the other waiter spilling sauce all over Dan's shirt and his shoes. I got the usual chicken costoletta. AMAZING. I love it every time.

We came home and opened some presents. Here's Sam showing off the spoonrest he got me.

All my wonderful presents.

Me and Sam showing off our bellies. (How's that for a belly, Kirk? But please keep in mind, I'd just had the world's largest entree plus a piece of cheesecake.)

It was a great day!

Back in Business!

FINALLY! My life as a nomad has come to an end. Not that I really missed anything by not having a computer during the day - in fact, I was more productive. But just THINKING that I was missing something was annoying. Now it's going to take me lightyears to figure out this new computer. It's too high-tech for me, makes funny sounds I'm not used to, and some of the buttons are in different spots.

We also got a new (well, new to us) car. A 2009 Ford Fusion. Dan likes it. Especially the ambient lighting all throughout the interior. Even though he has yet to drive it at night. We've got the subaru up on craigslist and have had a few nibbles, but no bites yet. Hopefully this weekend or next someone will come and take it off our hands.

Here are some pictures that I hadn't been able to post before now:

A cute picture of Sam from Easter.

Dan and Sam at the Arboretum.

Sam and me at the Arboretum.

My growing belly. And a nasty burn on my arm from the oven. I hope it doesn't scar. Dan directed my awkward hand placement in this picture. He thought it showed the bump better.

Computerless

Well, the subaru died, as you know. We don't have a replacement yet. And now the computer is dead, too. Looks like it may take about 2 weeks to get another one. That's why it's so quiet around here.

We're having a...

GIRL!

Yesterday we went in for the anatomy ultrasound. The baby looks healthy and the tech said everything looked great! She asked if we wanted to know the gender. We said yes. At the very end of the ultrasound, after she'd looked at all the important stuff, she got a good shot and said, "Looks like someone's going to have to have a garage sale!" (I had mentioned that we already have a boy.) I was kind of confused, but Dan picked up on it right away. She then wrote "GIRL" on the image and I got what she meant. Blame it on the pregnancy brain...

Dan had guessed we were having a boy. I'd guessed girl and had been calling it a "she" for the past few days. Too bad we didn't have a bet going! We're excited to add a girl to the family. Now I need to start learning how to do hair.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter, everyone! This morning started off with Sam's first Easter egg hunt. Dan The Easter bunny hid the eggs perfectly. Sam had a fun time finding one, opening it, dumping the egg and candy into the basket, and moving on to the next egg.

As you can tell from these pictures, he's got a new "surprised" face that he likes to make. A lot.

And here he is with his basket. He was afraid of the flash so he didn't give me a good smile.

After the hunt, we went to a church member's house for a delicious breakfast and then came home to enjoy general conference. It has been very nice and relaxing... unlike yesterday when our dear, trusty old subaru (lovingly called Soobie) finally kicked the bucket. We hope you all had a great Easter, too!

Candice asked for pictures of Sam's room. I guess you couldn't really tell the walls were green in the other pictures. Here are two I took before the battery died.

When you're looking at the curtains, there's a wardrobe to the left that you can't see. To the right, beside the crib, is the toy chest Dan made.

For a few random days, Sam decided he wanted to wear his bike helmet around the house.

Here's a picture from last Sunday - 16.5 weeks.

Today our community had a "Spring Eggstravaganza." We missed the big egg hunt, but made it in time to see the Easter Bunny. Sam loved it about as much as last year.

Flashback to last year:

This year:

I set Sam down on the bunny's lap, but by the time I took the picture, he looked like this - all sliding down and everything. Poor kid. I don't know why he hates giant animal costumes. Sam perked up when we rode the mini-train and he played in the moonbounce.

Sewing Project #1

We had these brown curtains from our old apartment. We hung them up in Sam's room, but I wasn't feeling the brown with the green walls and blue ceiling we've got in Sam's room. I bought some fabric that brought out the other colors in the room and my mom helped me sew the big panels of fabric on the curtains. Well, my mom sewed the big panels on them. After that, I still felt like they needed something more, so I sewed the ties at the top and tied them to the loops. Dan thinks it's girly, but I like it.

Sam saw me taking a picture and ran up and yelled, "CHEESE!"

Second overtime? I can't handle this!

GO COUGARS!

Sam is napping. Perfect timing because BYU is playing Florida right now. It just went into overtime. My blood pressure is rising. We were ahead by 13 at one point. It ended tied at 75. I can't handle the stress. C'mon, cougars! They said that BYU has lost in the first round the last 7 times they've played in the tournament. So I guess I can't get my hopes up, but still...

My Parents Came to Visit

Last weekend, my parents made a quick trip down to Houston. It was SO much fun to have them here and I only wish they would have stayed longer!


They got in Thursday night and we just had dinner/hung out/played a game. Friday, I took my parents to Mercer Arboretum. It was really pretty but a lot of the plants weren't in bloom, so we basically walked around. Sam found a swing that he refused to get off of, so my mom and dad sat with him for a while.

We also discovered a nice park and picnic area. We're definitely going back!

We had lunch at a local hot spot called the "Potatoe Patch" where a man walks around with a tray of hot rolls and throws them at you if you want one. They call them "throw'd rolls." It was good. We finished off the afternoon with a stroll around our neighborhood.

Saturday we ran errands in the morning and then headed to the world's largest rodeo: the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. The actual rodeo and performance afterwards were sold out so we walked around the exhibits and carnival. Sam got to experience his first petting zoo. He wasn't the least bit scared, even though the animals were basically at eye-level. He just walked around touching them. He kept pulling the goats' tails and lifting them up. (GROSS!) We're glad he didn't get kicked or pooped on.

After the petting zoo, we saw the biggest cow I'd ever seen in my life. It was gigantic. And it almost rolled over onto Dan. Hence his face in this picture.

Sam and Dan rode the carousel (on a bear, of course).

It was tons of fun and the weather was BEAUTIFUL!

Sunday my dad headed back to VA while my mom stayed and spoiled me until Wednesday. I'm so glad they came! Mom also helped me figure out my sewing machine and start my first project. I just have to add a few things and then I'll post pictures. Thank you so much for coming! We love you!

Special Christmas Surprise

I "forgot" to mention one other present that I gave Dan for Christmas:

Just Sam's Luck

Today I had planned to take Sam to get pictures taken at (Where else?) Walmart. I have a coupon for $3.99 pictures that expires on the 15th and the rest of the week is busy so I thought it would be perfect. Plus, I've only taken him to a studio once before and he didn't do very well so I want to get him more comfortable with them.

No more than 30 minutes before we were supposed to head out, Sam tripped and slammed his eyebrow on the toilet. Ouch! So much for pictures. So here are my pictures. Poor kid. It looks worse in person.

Week in pictures

These are the pictures we took this week:

For the first time in the entire history of owning this bundt pan (5+ years), I successfully got the cake out without it falling to pieces. I had to document it for future generations.

And if it looks like it's floating, it kind of was. It was a little rounded on the bottom.

We went to the park.

That's about it. We laid low this week. It's been rainy and cold. There's even a chance for snow this week, but I hope Gene Norman (our trusty meteorologist) is mistaken. I want 70 degrees back!

Lately I have been LOVING BlowPops. I got a bag of 16 for $1.97 at Walmart and have been having one a day. You can't really have them more often than that because then they cut your mouth. I only lament the fact that they put so many cherry-flavored ones in the bag. I have to alternate betweeen cherry and other flavors so I'm not left with tons of cherry at the end.

Sam loves to say "Walmart." We went there a few weeks ago and he looked up at the sign and yelled, "Walmart!" Kind of pathetic, I know, but I promise we only go once a week. He just loves it for some reason. We also saw a commercial for Walmart the other day and the same thing happened, "WALMART!". (It kind of sounds like "Mall-mart" though.) I guess he just likes a deal. I'll try to get him on camera saying it.

Dan the handy man

As you all know (or should know if you don't), Dan is amazing. Not only is he a wonderful husband and an excellent father, but he is also a really hard worker and such an all around good person. One thing you may not know about Dan is that he is quite the handy man. I always appreciate when he can fix things that break or do things on his own that otherwise we'd have to pay someone else to do.

When we first decided to build a home, the builder gave us some money with which we could add "upgrades" such as nicer flooring, nicer countertops, etc. One of the options was a built-in bookcase in the study. We really wanted one, but they were asking too much so we decided to wait. After we moved in, I got a few quotes to see how much it would be for someone to do and it was EXPENSIVE! Dan decided that he would like to try doing it himself. So he did. He's been working on it for at least a few hours practically every weekend since Halloween and it is finally done. I love it! What do you think?

Before (well, picture just an alcove without that wood there):

After (we're not done arranging the books):

I'm so excited about it. In other exciting news, today Sam put together two-word phrases for the first time. He said, "Mama's chair" and "Dada's shoes." We're so proud.

Last Monday Dan had the day off so we took advantage of the Houston Zoo's free day. So did a million other people. It was pretty crowded, but it was fun to watch Sam seeing some animals for the first time. We enjoyed the outrageous people watching. I wish I had gotten pictures of some outfits. My sister would have died.

Despite how Sam looks in these pictures, he did have fun. He just wanted us to put him down so he could walk around on his own.

The zoo also had a carousel that Sam really loved.

Also, does anyone know how to post video using this new format?