Warning-Lots of photos! Our Spring Break trip!

The "books" say that you should plan a Babymoon around 9wks of pregnancy. Well, we didn't. We took a very relaxing amazing trip to Florida a little early

Over spring break we were about 5-6 wks pregnant! We flew down to see Matt's family and then flew over to the Bahamas with Steve (Matt's brother). The first night we got there we had dinner with everyone (Dad, Rochelle, Lindsey and her boyfriend, Lauren, and Steve). Matt prayed for our meal and thanked God that the three of us arrived safely. Where we were eating was a little loud; but Matt's dad and Steve got it right away. We were so thrilled and blessed to be able to tell all our parents face to face. We instructed the girls to try to avoid announcing it on facebook for the next 2 wks until we had the ultrasound and saw the heart beat. They were awesome and kept their end of the deal!!!

We got to spend some time with Dad and Lindsey one day. We went to Lion Country Safari and Dad bought us a little giraffe because I love giraffes and it will go in the nursery!

We were so blessed to go to the Bahamas! Steve came with us and we so enjoyed the company. Dinner was amazing both nights!

The first day was full of sun so we took the opportunity to step in the Caribbean!

I was a little bummed that I couldn't go crazy on all the adrenaline water rides; but I did enjoy watching Matt take "the leap of faith!" I think it's a 60ft drop. Matt reported he felt his back lift off the slide at one point. We decided this is the moment when 75% of the people scream on the slide!

The slide goes through a shark tank and then out to a pool!

Way to go Matt!

Steve told us the yacht behind us he had seen before and that it is millions of dollars. We decided we could at least take a photo with us near it.

This is the lobby of Atlantis where we stayed. It is an adult and family playground. We had a wonderful time!

Every night there is a festival with loud music and costumes. I think it was beautiful. I am not sure, but from a little research in one of the shops it appears to be similar to a festival that occurred during slavery on the island. The slaves were given a day off during Christmas and it was celebrated with a parade, music, and costume.

Our view from our room.

On the last day we interacted with the dolphins. Some of the dolphins were rescued during Hurricane Katrina and will be living their lives here. They also have had baby dolphins here!

Our flight back was suppose to be a 30 minute flight. We waited sitting on the plane for 2hrs. I started feeling a little woozy (sp?) and found some snacks in my bag. They also provided us with water while we waited and waited.

These were the pesky clouds/storm that caused us to wait.

These clouds/winds gave us a little bit of a ride! For a second we were having flashbacks of the first LOST episode! I actually enjoy a little turbulence as long as the plane stays in the air of course!!!

There was light at the end of the tunnel and we landed safely!

Our last day in Florida we headed to South Beach with Dad and Lindsey. We got to see a lot of people watching while we ate lunch over looking the beach. It was such a wonderful day!

Our last night with family before we flew back Lauren and I enjoyed our Virgin Pina Coladas!

We are so excited and praying that our little one continues to grow healthy. We covet your prayers at this time as we look forward to holding our baby in our arms come November!

Easter is in the air....

Easter brings new life and it is amazing to see how God shows us Easter in such a tangible way in our world!

It's beginning to look a lot like Easter!!!! We bought mulch Saturday and got it all done in less than 2hrs- and that was with 2 trips to the ACE store! We love the "chocolate" brown color of pine mulch w got! It looks so great with all the greenery and the bricks!

This is our side fruit tree! When we moved in during the summer, so all we saw were green leaves! It has been so exciting to see all the spring flowers and bulbs that are shooting up through the ground! Here are a few photos of spring in Etown USA!

The creeping phlox is creeping and starting to bloom!

This is an oriental cherry blossom- we never knew what it was until we went to the ACE store and saw them selling trees that look exactly like ours!

Our blossoming pear tree is gorgeous!

A few weeks ago we found our sun room furniture!!! We were at the Giant food store and found our furniture!! Go gas points!!! Matt had found a few photos of some furniture at other stores that were in the $400-$800 range. We walked into Giant and saw this furniture, the price tag and both agreed we liked it! The cats love it too! And Regan enjoys it too!

This is Matt's reading chair.

We have so enjoyed our sun room, especially with the wonderful weather we have had for the last few weeks! Today we sat out here for over an hour with the cats and Regan played with her bone. The breeze was wonderful, then it was back to reality and Matt went back to working on audiovisual stuff for class and I started blogging. The cats are still sleeping in the sun room as I type....

A heart beat confirms it!

Thurs Feb 18, 2010 we were thrilled to find out our lives would never be the same!

Friday Feb 19th another test confirmed it! Then I freaked out and thought I might not be reading it right. How many pregnancy tests have I read in my lifetime as an RN? Hundreds, thousands?

So that afternoon I took the idiots version-

Yesterday we got to see the tiny fluttering heart beat of our future child! We are just over 8 wks pregnant and are praying that this pregnancy keeps according to God's will. According to dates and ultrasound we may see this little one around November 2, 2010!

We covet your prayers during this time of development, growth, and change!

The tree must come down!!! Action Tree Service is awesome!

What are you doing with your tax refund?

We spoke with our neighbor this last fall and asked him what his thoughts were about taking down the tree. He was thrilled and had hoped the last 2 owners had taken it down!

Tuesday morning Action Tree Service arrived at our home to take down the pine tree on the side of our home. Tim Taylor owner of Action Tree Service came in mid February when we had a dumping of snow. He said he would notify us when the snow had melted enough to take down the tree. Thanks to the nice weather and sunshine while we were in KS, Tuesday was the day!

Here are a few before photos. The big huge tree in between our two homes.

This tree clogs up our gutters and we are glad to see it go!

This tree is almost twice the height of our house! And it drops pine cones and needles that gets all over our porch and onto our floors.

This photo was taken in the spring...I am so looking forward to spring without the big tree!

Here come the trucks and the wood chipper!

And down come the branches!!! Without any damage to our house or our neighbors!!!

Up there is the Tree Man Tim!

The branches are gone, now goes the tree!

Hello Tim- glad you didn't fall down!

The after!!!! In a few more days or so Tim will arrange the man with the stump remover to come over and get rid of the tree stump and the stump from the bush he also got cut down for us!

Once the stumps are removed it will be time to get quotes to redo our driveway......home ownership/maintenance never ends :)

What are you doing with your tax refund? It seems my parent's history continues. My parents seemed to always use their tax refund to help fund some sort of home maintenance/repair.

Getting back to Kansas and my little sis's baby shower!

I worked Wed night and got off work on time Thursday morning. We got on the train from Etown at 0515. We arrived to the Philly airport a little bit before 0800 and noticed we might be in for an interesting day. Our flight to get back home was suppose to leave Philly at 11:06 on Delta Thursday morning. Well, with the weather our flight was cancelled and we were rebooked to a 6PM flight. We were hesitantly optimistic as Southwest had canceled all it's flights. Matt found the US Airways first class lounge and we were able to have a day pass. I slept on a love seat for 6+ hrs since I hadn't slept since Wed night. Well a little before 6PM our plane arrived and we boarded- but our pilots arrived from Atlanta 30 minutes later (the pilots were to arrived shortly after we boarded-the gate agent said 5 minutes.....) After the pilots arrived we waited and waited. We had to taxi to the de-icer station and then had to get in line to take off. After 2 hrs we took off en route to Minneapolis. We arrived to Minneapolis with 50 minutes to our connecting- success. We arrived to Wtown at 2340 where my parents picked us up. We enjoyed a weekend of family.

These are the de-icer machines in Minneapolis.

Friday evening I went to one of JoJo's shower. It was so much fun to see her with her coworkers. I loved the yellow ducky cake- it was soooooo cute!

Come March I will see my new niece or nephew!!!