Suprise Birthday for Dad and weeks 18 and 19

Sorry I have not written in a while. We have been a busy lil' family over the past weeks. My dad turned 60 this past weekend and our family threw him a surprise birthday party at Piney Lake. We have been planning this since April and it turned out wonderful. About 50 of our closest friends and family made the trek into the mountains to celebrate with my dad.


Matt and I decided to make this a little vacation and we headed up to the mountains early Wednesday morning. Piney Lake is a camp ground just outside of Vail (about 10 miles north) in the White River National Forest. Cade and I grew up camping there so we knew this would be special location to celebrate with our dad.



Our family had rented some "pop up" campers for our stay and I have to admit I am so thankful we did. I wasn't sure sleeping on the rocky ground would be as easy as it use to be (prior to the bump) for five nights. The pop up was just perfect. Those portable trailers are really slick. We had a king size mattress and a double on the other side and a table, stove and lots of storage. The dogs even got a nice plush bed.



On Wednesday we just set up camp and explored the streams and nearby forest. I had decided to prepare our meals prior to leaving home. So we dined on Spaghetti and peppers and hit the sack early. It was really warm in the high country (high 80's) and this pregnant mama was hot. I insisted we leave some of the "pop up" windows unzipped so I could fall asleep. At about 3 am we woke up freezing, even our dogs were shivering. OOps! We had to get them covered up and cuddled which in return got us warm.

Thursday was relatively overcast and only in the 60's which was AWESOME. We decided to take a good hike back towards the gore range. It is absolutely beautiful. The doggies got to run leash free and must have ran and swam 10 miles. Our hike was roughly 5 miles. We only saw two people on the trail. Thursday evening we spent getting ready for my mom and Dad and my Uncle Darrell and Aunt Annie to arrive. They didn't get there until 11:45. We felt so bad for them so Matt got out of bed and helped them set up camp.

Friday was busy getting ready for the party and keeping it from my dad. Up at the lake there is a lodge and cabins. My mom had rented a cabin so we could shower and have a place to get prepared. I am still unsure how we kept all of this from my dad. I think part of it was the fact that my dad had to have two teeth pulled a few days before arriving and the pain killers might have helped him go to "la la" land during all of this. I will post some party pictures as soon as Josh gets them downloaded:)


All of the guest started to arrive around 5. We had told my dad that we would be having dinner up at the lodge to celebrate his birthday, so when he and my mom arrived about 5:30 he was shocked to see all of these people waiting for him. He teared up and was truly touched. Dinner was great and afterwards we showed the slide show Matt and I had prepared of my dad, our family, and friends through the years. Everyone was teary.

I am such a lucky girl to have such an amazing dad. Its hard to believe he is 60 (he doesn't act like it) but I feel so blessed to be his daughter. He has taught me so much and with my mom made me the person I am today. He is a wonderful grandfather to Keegan and I can not wait for our baby to know him. Love you dad!

This is one of my favorite pictures of my dad and I. This was our spot when I was little. He use to take me here with a milkshake and fries and dip my toes in the cold water.

Sorry this post is so long......

On the pregnancy front, things are going well. I am getting huge or at least that is how I feel. I have about 50 mosquito bites from the camping trip because they love pregnant women and pregnant women can't use deet. I bought a non-deet spray but I am pretty sure those harmful chemicals are the way to keep them at bay. That is my only real complaint of the trip. We go next Tuesday to find out if we are naming this lil' one Madison or Mason. I of course will let you know. It seems pretty fair that all of our voters are tied on the issue, I mean it is a 50% chance either way.

Week 19, I am not for the full body shot because my legs look horrible with all the bites.

Last night Matt said to me, "we are going to have one huge baby, I am thinking 8 lbs" that's great I love to imagine how that is going to fit out of that area. I told my mom about his comment this morning and she said "oh definitely, I am thinking 9 lbs. at least!" Well thanks guys and god bless epidurals.