She's growing!

I'm not one to post these on facebook, so if you follow my blog, you get to see them! Our little girl is growing! It's a girl! When I went to church on Sunday I had a few people tell me, "Wow, you're finally showing!" It only took 24 weeks! My doctor says I should start seeing the pounds pack on in the next few weeks, which I am a little anxious about, but as long as that means our little girl is healthy and getting everything she needs, I am happy!

Here's a pic at 15 weeks:

20 weeks:

And Ben took the last pic for me on Sunday at 24 weeks. Only 16 weeks until she's here! I am so excited to meet her and see what she looks like. Will she have red hair like Ben? Will she have curly hair like me? In the next few weeks we'll be moving into a bigger apartment and I can start getting her room set up! So far we have a crib, a dresser, a rocker/glider, and a really cute ladybug crib bedding set. I've heard different things about the crib bumper. An article I read said that they can possibly be unsafe. Does anyone have any insight into that? I don't want to put it on the crib if it might be a hazard for the baby. Thanks everyone for your love and support!

Boy or Girl? In two weeks we'll know!

I'll admit it, seeing as how my last post was about Halloween, I have been a horrible blogger. But I'm hanging out tonight with Ben at the law school while he tries to get some work done, so it's time for a new blog post! Most of you know that Ben and I are expecting our first baby on July 30th. For those of you who didn't know, now you do. (See pic above for proof) We are so excited and anxious to start this next chapter of our lives and become parents. In two weeks we find out if the baby will be a boy or a girl, but I have had 3 dreams that it's going to be a boy, so I would be very shocked if it was a girl. My mom has also had a dream about us having a baby boy, but we will be happy either way. Today I bought a beautiful crib and dresser/changing table from a lady in my parents' neighborhood, and the more things we start to get, the more real it all starts to seem. I am now 18 weeks pregnant which is about 4 1/2 months for those not familiar with pregnancy timelines. I am starting to poke out a little, but not enough that people are asking if I am pregnant or not yet. I'll admit I have been taking those "weekly" photos, but I may not be posting those for the whole world to see. So far I have had a fairly easy pregnancy, with hardly any sickness. Lately I have been feeling so blessed with so much love and support from family and friends. Last weekend Ben and I went to Midland and saw a lot of his extended family, and his cousins threw me a surprise baby shower! It was so unexpected and wonderful, and it made me realize how lucky we are to have so many awesome people in our lives. :) Thank you. You know who you are.

Time now for guesses! Boy or girl? The day we find out is March 15th! (I'll ask on facebook when it gets closer)

Halloween Photos

The pumpkin Ben and I carved for Halloween this year. If you can't tell who it is, you must not watch Disney movies.

This Halloween my friend Caterine and I threw a Halloween Couples Party. We had such a blast throwing it together, and it could not have turned out more perfectly. We had 9 couples total, which made 18 people at the party. Everyone dressed up in their costumes and got really into it. We carved pumpkins, had a costume contest, ate really awesome food, and played Halloween bingo. For more pictures from the party, go to my facebook page, I've added them all there.

On actual Halloween night, Ben and I went to my parent's house in Buda and all dressed up to walk around the neighborhood. The theme this year was "Clue" characters. Grant dressed up as Professor Plum, but didn't walk around with us. Some people had a hard time telling who we were. Umm...are we the only family that played Clue growing up? I thought it was pretty obvious who we were. Anyway, Halloween night was fun, and now the countdown is on for Thanksgiving!

Alli's Birthday Party

Guess who's turning 12 this month? This girl:

Her birthday's not until August 25th, but we had a little family party this weekend to celebrate before school starts up again. It was Disney-themed, so we all got to dress up! Naturally Alli's costume was awesome:

Us with the birthday girl.

Can you guess who everybody is? My dad was Gaston, but it's kinda hard to tell from the photo. We had a lot of fun and I'm always happy to have an excuse to get in costume!

Dallas Trip Last Weekend

Cynthia took Ben and I to the Genghis Khan Exhibit at the Irving Arts Center. We couldn't take any photos inside the exhibit, so this is all we got. With my IPhone too, so not as good. The exhibit was really beautiful, and I learned so much about the great warlord. There was a video that tested the DNA of men in Asia, and I think something like 3/4 of them are related to Genghis Khan in some way.
After the exhibit, we went to "Genghis Grill." They were giving out coupons at the exhibit, plus it's delicious. They just built one in Austin, so we will get to go more often!

In the evening we went to Chili's for dinner with Daniel and then to the dollar movie to see Thor. It was awesome, and I'm not just saying that. Really, it was probably my favorite superhero movie that came out this year.

Every time I take a picture of Ben and Daniel, I am always blown away by how alike they look. On Sunday we went to hang out with Millie and Dean, Ben's grandparents, and it was fun to visit with them as well. Only a few more weeks of freedom before Ben's second year of law school starts!

Party Boat!

This weekend we went on a party boat with a bunch of people from my family's ward. We had an awesome time.

Best picture of my Dad. EVER.

Summertime

Summer is already going by way too fast. Here's a few things we've been up to:

In May, Andrea and Daniel came to Austin to visit. We took them to our favorite spot at Zilker Park, overlooking the downtown area. It was a perfect day for it.

Andrea just took the LSAT, and should find out her score soon! UT is one of the schools she's applied to, so we are hoping that's where she chooses. We'd love to see her more often.
My brother Grant starred in his high school play, where he got to kiss two girls! He was hilarious, and definitely stole the show. We went to support and snapped this photo of some of the kids.

I drove up to Round Rock to see my friend Allisa and meet her new baby Molly! She's 3 months old, and such a doll. Allisa and I had a great time chatting and catching up since it's been a while since I'd seen her.

Me with Molly.

And finally, Grant got his Eagle Scout! He is now officially an Eagle, and he's only 16! His project was to plant a historical marker. About 45 people from the church and community came out to help him. He finished the project in December, and he had his Eagle Scout ceremony just a few weeks ago:Yay for Grant! Some other fun things we plan to do this summer: go camping, go to Schlitterbahn, spend time with Adrienne (she comes home to visit this week!), swim as much as possible, go to Dallas, and relax. Ben also has scout camp and high adventure for young men's that he will be going to. We're doing well, and enjoying life in Austin as usual. :)

Alice in Weinerland

No, this is not a duplicate post. If you are a steady Ben and Elena blog follower, these pictures might look a little familiar. It was the annual Buda Weiner Dog festival again this year, and Ben and I couldn't miss it! Adrienne wasn't there this time around, and Grant didn't want to go because he was too tired, but Ben and I still went with my mom and dad. The theme this year was "Alice in Weinerland". Lol. Some of the dogs' names were hilarious. My favorite was "Red Log".

Latest Gillis Happenings

It feels like these last couple of months have gone by so fast! Ben has been super busy with school, and I have been keeping on top of work, school, basketball, etc. I know it's been awhile since I blogged, so here's an update on us. The weekend of April 15th, Ben and I went to Dallas to visit his parents and grandparents. We went to White Rock Lake with Cynthia, which was absolutely gorgeous. I got a tad bit sunburned, but it was worth it for the fantastic view.

Whenever we go to Dallas, we stay at Daniel's house, and Ricey likes to climb to the very top of the kitchen cabinets and observe the action going on down below. Here's a good shot of her just chilling up there:

Daniel and Ben made these wooden cutouts about 15 years ago, and Ben said they would always display them during Christmastime. Daniel, Ben, and I are all huge Calvin and Hobbs fans.

We went to dinner at Uncle Julio's Mexican Restaurant, which I have been dying to go to forever. The food was really really good, and it was super noisy because it was so busy.

On Sunday we went over to Ben's grandparents' house, Millie and Dean Walden, where we played scrabble, ate Easter cake and ice cream, and got to visit. We got to see photos of Millie and Dean's cruise to Hawaii. They are frequent cruise goers. When I can convince Ben to take me on one, I know who to go to for advice on the best cruise! We always have so much fun visiting Dallas and it's so nice to see family and get away for awhile.

Dallas February Road Trip

At the end of February, Ben and I went to Dallas to visit his parents and take a weekend away from work and school. One of the best parts about the trip was getting to see my friend Jessi from freshman year at BYU. Her family lives in Dallas and we've been trying for the past couple of months to pick a weekend where we're both in Dallas and can see each other. Finally the stars aligned. We had a great time driving around in her dad's fancy car, eating at Jason's Deli, and just catching up on life. She and Erik are expecting a baby boy in a few weeks, and I am so excited for her. Jessi and I got married within a week of each other, we're both from Texas, we both have dark hair, etc, etc. I love this girl and was so glad I got to see her!

While in Dallas Ben and I went to the Dallas temple with his mom Cynthia and did an endowment session. The Dallas temple is not as pretty as San Antonio on the outside, but I am liking it more and more every time we go. After the temple, I tried to get this little kid to take a picture of us all together, and this is the best photo we got. Yep. Oh well. Cynthia took us to this great Italian place and we had a nice time catching up.
Later that day we went to the Dallas nature preserve and walked around and enjoyed the beautiful weather. We really wanted to go to the zoo, but it was way too crowded and would have been chaotic. The nature preserve has this spot where you can go up to the top of a building and see the landscape from up high. It was quite windy, but such a nice day for February. Here are some shots of the nature preserve:

Me, Ben, and Ben's dad Daniel.

Ricey giving me the stink-eye. She loves Dallas because she has the reign of the whole house.

On Sunday, Ben and Daniel brought out this map of the world that he and Ben put together when Ben was little. It was all made out of cardboard and colored and cut out by the two of them. We had a fun time putting it together. I managed to do South America, but I don't quite excel in the geography department. We had a great time and are excited to go again soon!

Indiana Trip

The weekend of Jan. 21st I went to Indiana to visit my older sister Natalie, her husband Trevor, and their new baby girl Madelyn Emery Hedman. I added all of my pics to my facebook page, but here are just a few for fun:

Trevor, Natalie, and Maddie

Me and Maddie

Maddie smiling at me

I had such a great time in Indiana and enjoyed getting to catch up with Natalie and Trevor and spend time with Maddie. It was hard being away from Ben for a couple of days, but it was worth it to take a break from work and get to meet my new niece. Due to the large amounts of snow in Indiana, I can definitely say I wouldn't want to move there any time soon, but it made me wish Nat and Trevor lived close by so I could see them more often.