Sunday, May 31, 2009

Weekend Getaway

Memorial Day didn't prove to be the best day for Rob when he went shooting in the desert with some friends and ended up getting nailed in the head with a huge rock. It left him with a concussion and quite the bruise but we're lucky and grateful that he is on the mend and it didn't do much more damage.... He's been dealing with the after effects of headaches and nausea all week. I would post the picture we took but it grosses me out to even look at it so I'll spare everyone else.

But this weekend we were scheduled to celebrate my birthday and already had a hotel room that we couldn't cancel. So we left Ellie with Rob's parents for the weekend and headed out of town to Sedona, AZ. It's been on my list of places to visit for years and I'm glad we finally made it happen! The trip out there seemed long due to a lot of traffic that we hit but it was worth it when we arrived.

Our first stop was to visit this famous Chapel of the Holy Cross. It is a really amazing and peaceful building settled amongst the red rocks. And quite the popular destination and full of tourists. Very peaceful though and really gorgeous views!




We then walked around a lot of the shops in Sedona. We were amazed at how many psychic readers they have on just about every corner. We did decide to get an "aura reading" where they basically take a picture and show you your spiritual energy levels represented in colors. I was impressed at how spot on my colors were with my personality and thought process. Kind of fun!

We had dinner at a local pizza place and then headed to our hotel with a Redbox rental because there were thunderstorms and pouring rain. We missed out on the amazing sunsets that Sedona is known for but I was pretty happy with the cold weather and rain after the 100+ temperatures of Mesa in May.

Our hotel for the night was classified as a bed and breakfast but it seemed more like a luxury hotel. If you ever need a place to stay in Sedona and can find the right deal on hotels.com or expedia.com for the Adoba Grand Villas.... definitely snatch it up. The regular price for the night at this place was $500-700/night! (Don't worry - we paid like a fourth of that from Hotels.com). The place was really amazing though! Honestly - our villa was bigger than my house. And twice as nice. The bathroom was the most amazing thing I've ever seen! A jetted tub with a fireplace at the end. Double sink vanity. A waterfall shower. Separate toilet area. And every detail done to the nines! There was a fireplace in the bedroom as well with a balcony with views of the red rocks. And a whole kitchen suite as well with bread baking in a bread machine when we got in. They had tons of complimentary snacks and drinks and then we had a 3 course gourmet breakfast this morning. I think they were the best pancakes I have ever eaten! It was like a little slice of heaven to escape to for the weekend.



We didn't get to do much hiking with Rob's head still bothering him and my pregnant condition so we really just got to enjoy the peacefulness of this little city and the beauty of it. Next time we're definitely going on some hikes though!

Ellie did great with her grandparents while we were gone too so that made it even better for me to enjoy the short time away. I hit 20 weeks tomorrow so I'm about half way done with this pregnancy and I'm feeling it so much more than last time! And I feel like I look twice as big as last time too...

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Concert & Getting Older

I feel like I'm really at the end of the pregnancy sickness. I haven't thrown up or had to take my medicine in over a week now! I still get a little nauseated at night time but it's not nearly as bad as it was before so I can't complain.

I celebrated my 29th birthday this last weekend. I have to admit that I'm not such a fan of Sunday birthdays which is probably why we're extending the celebration!

On Saturday night, my friend Claire invited me to the No Doubt concert at Cricket Pavillion. One of her friends won a bunch of tickets in a radio contest and they had an extra one. We went to dinner at Carraba's and I had a yummy birthday dessert at the end. Then we went to the concert. It was a perfect night for a concert. We had quite the entertainment around us as our seats were in the lawn! We had four pregnant girls sitting on one blanket and tried to not inhale too many of the cigarette and other fumes around us.... I really hadn't heard of the opening band Paramore but knew quite a few of their songs. And No Doubt was AMAZING! It brought me back to Junior High days but it was fun and they are a really entertaining band and Gwen Stefani does a good job of not taking over the whole group.

Sunday morning (my actual birthday) I woke up to these beautiful roses from Rob. They are the most interesting color but I love them!

We celebrated later that day with a steak dinner and cake and ice cream at Rob's parents house. This weekend we're going to take a little road trip and leave Ellie with Grandma/Grandpa. That's my real birthday present! A day off from being a mom will be a wonderful birthday present.... as much as I love my daughter. :)

We celebrated Memorial Day with a bbq and pool party. Of course the pools were the kiddie ones in my backyard but that's okay. We had my uncle Vern and Natalie and Steffani and her girls along with Rob's parents, grandma, brother Warren and wife Melissa and their kids. I'm loving having a backyard that we can actually enjoy! (Even if I do need to catch up on the weeding). I don't know what we did the last 4 years without it being completed!

Ellie and I have had some fun playgroups lately too but I've been really lazy about bringing my camera. We're excited to start swimming lessons next week and spending as much time in the water as we can this summer!

And I needed to record some of the phrases that have been coming out of her mouth lately.
- She's started to tell me "five more minutes" whenever I ask her to do something.

- Another favorite phrase is "going to work, see ya" as she grabs my purse or any other object with a handle. Kind of funny because she's not usually awake to see Rob grab his briefcase and go to work.... so not really sure where that comes from!

- Numerous times a day she will run up to me and tell Rob or I "I need a hug" and then proceed to give us a huge hug (this is probably my favorite).

-She is also very aware of who her friends are and I constantly hear how she loves "Blooklyn"(Brooklyn), Hailey, or Lala (E*). She doesn't necessarily say their names right but that's okay - she knows who they are!

-She has really taken a liking to babies and most especially my cousin Steffani's little girl Kimber. All of her baby dolls are now named "Kimber" and she is constantly reminding me of how soft you need to be with babies and how sweet they are and how cute they are. She is very concerned with any baby "cryning". Gives me hope that she will be nice to her new baby sister when she comes later this year! (Especially since she still thinks she is getting a baby brother!)

- Ellie likes to tell me when she is scared. She has used this to try and get out of going to bed or taking a bath though (A little too smart for her own good).

- She is constantly counting things up to 10. The alphabet is still done with her own variations of the middle letters - so funny.

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

We're Having A.......

GIRL! It looks like Ellie gets to have a sister (something I never got!). We went to the ultrasound today and the little baby was hanging upside and moving her arms and didn't really want to show us in between her legs. Luckily, Dr. Beck is good at moving the baby around and we got a shot of the 3 little lines that indicate girl. I did ask this time though if he was positive that he didn't see any boy parts and he said that he couldn't see any and they should be pretty apparent at this stage! Everything else is on schedule and she is measuring exactly where she should be at 17 weeks and weighs about 6 ounces with a heartbeat in the 160's. Always a relief to know that everything has developed normally! And now to start planning and at least thinking of girl names....

Saturday, May 09, 2009

Early Mother's Day Presents

I feel like I got really spoiled this year for Mother's Day! I've been telling Rob for months that the one thing that we needed to make our backyard perfect was a misting system. My dream is now complete because Rob installed one in our backyard today! It's on our back porch and heavenly. I can already sit outside on my patio furniture and read a book while Ellie runs around. We just need to get the kiddie pool blown up next week and we can pretty much live in the backyard all summer now.


And then my second Mother's Day present was a new car! Or a new to us car anyway.... We were planning on trading in our truck this summer (the vehicle that I drive) for a more family friendly option. But when the air conditioning on the truck decided to go out this week and we couldn't fix it ourselves, we decided to go ahead and do the trade in a little earlier than we planned. We got ourselves a 2007 Hyundai Santa Fe and we love it! It has all the features that we wanted and even 3rd row seating that we can use if we need to (or extra cargo room). And it will fit the double stroller that I will be getting soon which was a very important piece of criteria for me. We will not be needing a new car for a very long time after this and I'm totally okay with that - I love this car!

Tomorrow we get to talk to my brother Kevin on his mission so I'm very excited about that as well. The actual day is always really hard for me since it really makes me miss my own Mom but I'm so grateful to be a mom to Ellie and to have this new baby come into our lives this year. Being a mom is the greatest blessing of my life!

Thursday, May 07, 2009

16.5 Weeks and Water Fun

We pulled out some of the water toys this week since it has been so hot. Ellie was in heaven with this Backyardigans splash pad toy that I picked up on clearance last year. Next up we need to get the backyard kidde pool inflated!



And here is a picture of me at 16.5 weeks pregnant. I'm already showing a lot more at a much earlier stage than with Ellie! So I'm really hoping I don't look gigantic by the end of this pregnancy.


If you haven't voted yet on if we're having a boy or a girl, get your vote in. We go on Tuesday for the big ultrasound!

Sunday, May 03, 2009

Phoenix Children's Museum Re-Visit

Last week my friend Claire called us up at the last minute and invited Ellie and I to go with her and her daughter Cecelia to the Children's Museum. She had a culture pass from the library that would get us in free! I hadn't been to the museum since it first opened last year and it wasn't quite completed when we went. So we quickly got ready and joined them there!

We had a blast and the girls did too. Everything was finally done this time and the girls really enjoyed the noodle forest, the book reading area, the ball room, the kitchen/grocery store and most especially the tricycle wash. I really think that was the favorite and Ellie would have stayed there all day! She wasn't quite big enough to ride on a lot of them but that didn't stop her. And then a nice little older boy gave her and Cecelia a ride through the tricycle wash. They were in heaven!





Thanks again Claire for inviting us! It was a fun day.