Spring time fun in Texas

Oh Baby!

Thought I would try out this blogging thing. Forgive me, although I am quite the voyeur, I have never posted anything myself. I am warning you there are some pretty hot pictures of me on this post. Like the one below!

We have less than eight weeks before the baby will be born. The girls are super excited. Zoe is beginning to understand that she is going to be a big sister. She is in for a very rude awakening, as she will no longer be the center of attention.

We need help narrowing down names.
These are the three we like. 1. Ava 2. Adeline 3. Aven (pronounced Avin).
It was not intentional that they all start with an A, just so happened, these are our favorites.

Boating in Austin



We went to Austin on the 14th, for part of Spring Break. For the past three years every time we visit Austin we talk about how great it would be to live there. For some reason it is not our time. Oh well, maybe one day.

We stayed with our friends Matt and Shayla, they live right on Lake Austin and have a boat. The weather could not have been more perfect (89 degrees).
We had the best time.

We love you Matt and Shayla!!

This is Bella on one of Matt and Shayla's custom designed surfboards. They have a side business where they design and shape boards. How cool is that?! For those of you who have never seen "Fresh water surfing" it is pretty amazing. You are pulled behind the boat like you're water skiing and then when you feel the current move beneath the board you let go of the rope and like magic you stay right behind the boat and surf the wake.

The Limo

Last year on Bella's sixth birthday, she informed us she was not making a wish when she blew out her candles. I asked her why, and she said that she had been wishing for a limo for the past three years and that wishes just don't come true. Although, we did not buy her a limo, we rented one and surprised her for her seventh birthday. The limo picked up each of her cousins who were also surprised. It was so much fun to see their faces. We blasted Hannah Montana and had juice in fancy glasses all the way to the cheesecake factory 45 minutes away. I have to admit that by the time we got there I was a little insane.



Bella at the Cheesecake factory

After the limo ride the whole family met at the cheesecake factory. It was no easy task trying to get a table for 23 people. Thank you, Weston and Nicole.

Bella totally scored on gifts this year, including the all-time classic game Operation. We can finally have Family Home Evening again. Thank you Knorrps.

Easter

Easter was a lot of fun this year - we all got together at Kevin and Chelsea's house and ate tons. We were grateful to have Weston, Nicole (Weston's girlfriend) and Bella in town. Bella was supposed to be in California this year, but we got to have her with us, which is always such a blessing.

Here are some pictures of the girls gathering eggs. I know they aren't that great, but it turns out they are the best we had.

Cheeeeese!!!

Kid(ney) Rock

So, Tuesday night, as I was working to get the girls in bed (so I could hang with Josh McKinney who had casually dropped by from Austin), I started to get this sharp pain in my abdomen. Me no likey, but I thought it would go away soon enough. Well, it didn't, so we left Josh with the girls and went to the ER. I ended up getting sick of waiting, but the next day I succeeded in finding a stand-alone ER where I got a CT scan. The doc came out after taking a look at that and said, "You have one of the largest kidney stones I have ever seen". So, I made an emergency appointment with a urologist and procured the following x-ray:




If you look just left of center, you can see the stone--that white spot left of the darker area.

The urologist informed me that I actually had an 11 millimeter (1/2 inch for non-metric users) stone trying to make its way into my life. As that is much larger than you want to pass, I was scheduled for a procedure wherein they shock you in hopes of breaking up the stone. You still have to pass the remaining fragments, but at least they are smaller.

So, the night before the procedure, I asked my brother and the EQP for a blessing. The next day, as they were doing a final x-ray to determine the exact location of the monster before putting me under, the doctor and x-ray tech looked up and said, "It's gone".

They said I must have passed it, but I never felt anything remotely like that and really hadn't felt very much pain since getting the x-ray. So, this blessing is right near the top of my blessing list, sandwiched between having my beautiful children and getting the GI Joe Aircraft Carrier for Christmas in 1986, in no certain order.

Thanks for those who knew about this and offered prayers in my behalf. Drink lots of water and take care of yourselves.

Cutie pie.

We didn't pony up the money for the 4D stuff, but we think the ultrasound shows that our girl is going to be another beautiful baby. What do you think?