NH trip pt 2

Monday morning we headed to breakfast with dad and met Shannon and Ron again.  After breakfast we were going to pick up Scott, Angel and Hunter and head off to the Flume (up in the White Mts).  It's only a 2 mile hike and is very easy.  Dad didn't end up joining us. 

It took us about an hour and a half to get there, but the views were gorgeous!  I miss having mountains and trees!  I absolutely loved it!  I was so excited to bring Jon up there too!

The trail started off near one of those classic New England wooden bridges. 

Here is a picture of all of us:

Along the way there were a lot of wooden walkways and stairs that went right next to the falls.  We were in a sort of gorge and on both sides of us were just huge glacier rock walls.  They were gorgeous and all were covered in vibrant green vegetation and moss.

Angel, Scott and Hunter

Shannon and Ron

Jon and Hunter having fun :)

There was one point in the hike where there was this sign saying "wolf den" and it talked about a small passageway that you could crawl through (in the rock) and you would come out on another part of the trail.  So, all the men had to show off their "manliness" and crawl through hehe!

Entrance:

Where Ron is looking is where you turn to head in the tunnel

Exit:

We took the hike slow and had a great time together.  Once we were done we found a picnic table in the shade and ate our lunch and then headed back home.

Scott, Hunter, Angel, Crystal, Jon, Shannon and Ron

That night Jon and I got pizza for us, Shannon, Ron and my dad and we watched Star Trek at Shannon's house.  Shannon had never seen it before, so it was fun to hear what she thought afterwards.

Tuesday morning we went to Leah and Logan's house for breakfast.  It was delicious and really great to see them.  We enjoyed the cool weather outside. After we headed back to Dad's house and Jon helped him with a few computer things and then he took us to a nearby mountain: Mt. Uncanoonuk

Then in the afternoon, Ron picked us up and we headed up to Shannon's work to meet her.  We got the grand tour :)  Then we split up.  Shannon and I went to Kohls to shop and Jon went with Ron to one of his private lacrosse sessions.  After, we met for dinner at Mr Mac's.  Ron really wanted to go there- so we figured why not??  I'm always up for mac n cheese!  It was really good too!  Then we headed back to their place, watched the olympics and ended up taking their van back to Dad's house late that night.

Wednesday morning we dropped the van off at Shannon's work and we met her boss.  Then we headed off to Scott's house for breakfast.  Hunter made some amazing pancakes :)  It was delicious as well as our Tuesday breakfast!  Yum!!  After, we took dad home and then Jon and I headed out to meet my bff, Charlene for lunch!  We hit up our old favorite- TGIF!  After we went and got some froyo and hung out for a while catching up.  It was so great to see her.  I wish we lived closer!

After, we headed to Shannon and Ron's to go up the to the beach! Ron had picked up Madison from camp earlier that day, so she was able to come.  It had rained quite a bit and the beach had cancelled their usual Wednesday night fireworks!  Bummer!  So, we just walked around, went into a few stores, at dinner in the car and people watched. 

Jon, Crystal, Ron, Madison and Shannon

After we headed out we went to the "Beach Plum" for ice cream.  Apparently this place was rated #1 for their lobster rolls.  Who knew?  Here I am sitting in the "lobster chair" haha!

We got back to their house and headed back to dad's and we watched some olympics and then headed to bed.


Next post is all about Thursday!

NH trip Pt 1.

Last week we spent our time in New Hampshire visiting my family.  We had a wonderful time!  I wish we could have stayed longer, but that's life :)

We got in at 10:45pm on Friday, July 27th.  My dad picked us up at the airport.  We went back to his house and were surprised with my old room being completely redone!  It looked amazing!  I am wishing that we had taken a picture of it.  I just didn't think about it.  Oops!

The next day, Saturday, we went to breakfast with my dad and Eleanor and met Shannon, Ron, Madison, Serena and my Uncle Roger.  From there we decided to go blueberry picking.  Jon had never been, so that was really fun to take him!  He was a bit too tall for all the netting haha!  While blueberry picking we met up with Scott, Angel, Hunter, Jacob and Dale. 

Afterwards, we headed to the grocery store with my sister and her family for some items that we needed for the week.  We had fun hanging out with them and people watching.  After, we headed back to my dad's house for lunch.  When we got there my dad was busy making a fruit salad and we got to making the rest of our lunch.  Then at around 4:30pm we headed out to Litchfield, NH to play mini golf.  It was Jon, me, Dad, Eleanor, Shannon's family and Scott's family.  It was raining out, but we were still able to play.  We had a lot of fun watching the nieces and nephews play.  After we all went out for dinner and ice cream! Yum!

That night Jon and I slept over Shannon and Ron's house so we could take Madison and Serena to their different camps the next day.  Madison headed to lacrosse camp and Serena went to an overnight YMCA camp.  On Sunday, we dropped Madison off first.  It was at a boarding school up north and she had 2 roommates.  She was so excited to be there!  We had lunch in the car and said our goodbyes.  Then off to Serena's camp we went.  We let her show us the way to all the different buildings.  She was so cute!  You could just tell she was bursting with excitement!  We checked her in, found her cabin and got her settled.  We saw the lake there and also the horses.  It was beautiful and it reminded me of my YMCA camp days. 

Later that evening we (Jon, me, Shannon and Ron) met up with Dad and took him out to Bugaboo Creek (steak house).  It was nice to spend time together.  After, we made a quick stop at Target to pick up a few silly items to send in a care package to Serena.  Then we parted ways and headed home.

Next post will start with Monday- our trip to the Flume!  There will be lots of pictures too!

14.5wks!

Alright... it is time to debut the bump.  I realize this blog has been a bit boring lately... sorry about that.  Anyways.... here it is!  Me at 14.5wks and still feeling great!

Did any of you other ladies think it was awkward to stand perpendicular to the wall and turn your head to smile?  It's hard to make your face/neck/arm look good! :) Oh well...

But seriously... Check out the bump!  I'm still feeling surreal about the whole thing- but when I look at this picture.... wowzers! There are babIES in there! Craziness!

We are leaving on Friday to go see my family in NH and I am so very excited!  I have a lot to get done this week.  Dr appt on Monday, find a primary sub (all my go-to's are going to be out of town), have my "helper" (who is going to be watching Sookie while we're gone) come and meet the cat and so I can show her around, get my bangs cut, clean the house.... stuff like that.

This weekend Jon helped me make some freezer meals for when we get back from NH.  I'm also giving a few meals a test run... because I am going to need to start making freezer meals before the babies come... at least that's the goal!  Because, let's face it, life is going to be seriously hectic and the last thing I'm going to want to think about is "what am I going to make for dinner??" Does anyone know how long freezer meals stay good for?  I've made them before, but never kept them for more than a few weeks. 

It's already the middle of July??

I know it has been a while, but the good thing is that we have been busy :)

I guess I'll start with the 4th of July.  We went over to Jon's parents house and had a bbq.  Jon played handy man with helping his dad put up his HD antennae and we all had a good time.  After, we met in the parking lot of our neighborhood swimming pool to watch the fireworks from Towne Lake (a neighborhood that's very close to us).  They always put on a huge fireworks display.  It's nice to not have to drive there and deal with traffic- so where we were was nice.

That weekend, Jon and I headed up to the Austin area to see our friends, Nate and Jess.  It had been a little while since we've seen them, so it was nice to catch up and do a few fun things.  They live on a property that has quite a bit of land and they have like 35 chickens and at the moment, 3 sheep.  I've never seen chicken run up to people before.  It was really funny to watch.  We spent a lot of time swimming, cooking in the kitchen, playing with their little girl (Jane), watching movies and just hanging out.  Thanks, guys for letting us come out for the weekend!  It was a blast!

On the pregnancy front- things are going well.  I feel good.  I still get tired, but naps don't happen very often any more.  Maybe once a week, if any at all.  It has been raining here the majority of this last week and I haven't been able to get to the pool to do any workouts.  So, I've stuck to walking on the elliptical.

On Monday, Jon and I went for our 12wk ultrasound.  The babies were very active!  One of them kept spinning around and it took the nurse a little while to get his/her measurements.  They are looking good and healthy and are right on track of where they need to be.  I had blood work done too and will get the results at my next visit (23rd).  I'd post the pictures of the ultrasound, but to be honest, the ones the nurse printed out don't look that great.  I don't know if the printer on the machine was having problems, but the quality was really terrible lol oh well :)  I cannot tell you how excited I am to find out what we're having!! Ah!! The suspense is killing me!

On a completely unrelated topic, I read a really great book this week.  The Running Dream- By: Wendelin Van Draanen.  It's about a 16 year old girl who lost a leg in an accident coming home on a bus from a track meet.  She loved to run and was a star on her track team.  The book goes through her struggles, mentally and physically.   Along the way she learns important lessons.  The story was very moving.  I cried through some parts, but I did laugh a lot too.  If you are looking for a good book to read this summer- this one should be on your list!  It was a very fast read for me.  I read it in 2 days. 

Anyways, that's it for this boring post :)  Oh- I guess I haven't mentioned yet that we are going to NH to see my family at the end of this month!!  I am so excited!  Jon found a good price on some tickets and we pounced.  I have no idea when we'll be able to go back there once the twins come.  Twins... I'm still having a hard time grasping that lol...  So, it should be a great time!  We are really looking forward to it!

It's official...

None of my normal pants/shorts fit anymore LOL!! I bought some shorts at target that had an elastic waist (non-maternity) and those are the only ones that fit and they have gotten a little tighter since I bought them.  Yikes.  I'll start taking belly shots soon... I'm just trying to let it all sink in.  I'm in denial here lol... I just need to get used to it.  I sure hope Jon knows what he's in for haha! 


I went to my OBGYN on Monday.  It was a normal check up, nothing super exciting.  Pee in a cup, blood pressure check... all that fun stuff.  Anyways, she measured my uterus and I am measuring 15weeks lol... On Monday I was 10wks5days.  She was surprised with how large it was.  She said "you are measuring larger than I expected!  Those babies are growing!" So, it's a good thing... but with that also comes a moment of panic when you realize "I'm a month ahead in size... and nothing is going to be fitting me soon"  This was one reason why we wanted to announce everything this week as being official.  I'm in the awkward stage of "is she just getting fat.. or is she pregnant?" Awesome.

Some of you have asked why we didn't come out and tell everyone we were having twins when we said our results came back positive and that we were indeed pregnant.  At that time, when they were watching my hcg levels rise, things didn't rise as fast as they expected.  That happens sometimes when your hcg levels are really high to start with.  So it could mean one of two things: one of the twins weren't viable or my levels were just taking their sweet time to rise... and it was the latter.  I was just waiting to make sure all was well.  Since the scare of one of them not being viable we've been able to see and hear both heart beats every week for the last 5 weeks (starting at week 6)!  Both babies are always fighting to measure exactly the same in length and heart beats :)  There is one that is a little further back in positioning (the baby on the bottom of the ultrasound from our last post) and we have a hard time seeing all the details like we see in the other, but you can tell they look the same when they do a close up. 

Tomorrow is going to be bittersweet.  It is my "graduation visit" at my fertility clinic.  My actual doctor won't be there (he switched days with another doctor), but all the nurses will be there.  I'm happy to be moving on and out of their office.  I'm excited to stop paying $40/visit!!!  Our budget is going to start looking pretty good!!  I'm so thankful for the Houston Fertility Institute and for Doctor Griffith and his team.  I know we had a lot of ups and downs- but we could not have gotten here with out any of them.  I'm thankful for my OBGYN for referring me to them originally.

I am a firm believer that Heavenly Father places people in your life at the right time and for me, this was one of those times (how I found my OBGYN and how she referred me).  I cannot express how grateful I am.  We are truly blessed and none of this could have been possible without the guidance from our Heavenly Father.  He truly knows all of us and he knows what path to lead us down- even if that includes many stumbling blocks for us to learn from.

Rumor Has It...

A few weeks ago we posted this:

A picture of our official due date from Dr. G's office.

Since then there have been rumors floating around about our pregnancy and we are here to clear it up.

Before I go on, I wanted to talk about the special club on the movie UP.  Carl is given a special badge made from a grape soda cap from his new found love, Ellie.  At the end of the movie he presents this to the young Russell as the "Ellie Badge" for going above and beyond his duty as a Wilderness Explorer.  It is a very special moment- I pretty much cry every time I watch that part.  I mentioned in the previous post, how the movie UP is very special to Jon and me in our relationship. 

Anyways, about a year and a half ago, my sister, Shannon and her family found "grape soda" pins at Disney World.  They are so hard to find!!! When Jon and I went a little over a year ago we searched for the pins high and low and couldn't find them anywhere.  Since then, my sister found 2 more and sent them our way.  It was our way of being in this "special club".  It was silly, but special. Then, my dad went to WDW and he found a few badges and bought all the ones he could find (no joke).  I knew that whenever we got pregnant, I wanted a "badge" for our new addition to the family.  It was something between my family that was special and I wanted to pass it on.  Thanks, Dad for sending me what I needed :)

So, without further ado, we'd like to present the future addition to our "grape soda club"

That's right!  TWINS!  We've known for a while, but wanted to wait to make sure all was well.  Plus, it gave us something else to surprise people with :)  We know it will be tough when they come, but how more fitting will that be with our UP theme??? "Adventure is out there!!"   Besides, when do Jon and I ever do anything normal??  Also, don't ask me how I am going to carry twins.  I have no idea.  The thought is a little daunting, frankly.  :)  We are very excited and can't wait to welcome these little ones to our family.  It has been a long time coming, and we couldn't be happier.

Here they are at 10wks

Projects

So for the last LONG while I've been working on a project off and on.  It's a baby blanket.  I am still far from done, but I thought I would post it on the blog.  I've never done anything like this before.  It's one of those projects that I put down and pick up like a month later.  I decided I probably need to get on it and finish it haha!

Anyways, before I post the picture of it, I wanted to give a little background.  We love Disney's Pixar movie: UP.  I love the message of the movie and the first like 15 minutes have really meant a lot to us.  Our road of infertility has been quite an adventure and there have been a lot of ups and downs.  However, having each other to get through it has been such a blessing.  So just like the characters in the movie, we are ready to face our next adventure :)  We've also decided to do an "UP" theme for the nursery.  Completely gender neutral.  Lots of bright colors.  Don't worry, we're not going to have the dogs or the bird lol... just the parts of the movie that stick out to us the most.  The house, the mural painting Carl and Ellie have in their baby nursery that you see for like a split second in the beginning.  Because they work at a zoo- animals and some carnival type things fit in quite nice too :)

Here is the blanket so far!  I need to add clouds and maybe some more detail on the house.  Then I need to back it and bind it.... I've never done any binding before.  Wish me luck!

Also, I made the painting with the help of paper and mod podge :)  Oh, and since this picture was taken, it has been framed.