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!

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!