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.

Matt's Birthday, the 4th and week 17

Once again I did poorly on the picture taking. Part of my excuse is that we need a new camera because our battery does not stay charged for very long.

We had a wonderful 4th and spent the evening with friends. The night was full of good food, fireworks, laughter and beverages. As I always say we have the coolest friends.

Saturday we celebrated Matt's birthday up north with his family. We had some excellent grub; chicken, potatoes, grilled corn on the cob, and fruit. AND of course cake, Matt likes confetti cake even though he is 27. His birthday was actually the 7th, he is lucky kid, 7/7. We celebrated at home last night with steak and crab and some barefoot contessa marble squares.

We also received our first set of baby clothes from Matt's older brother's family.

I am feeling well for the most part. Sleeping has been a little frustrating because I have never had a problem doing it. I am normally a stomach sleeper so depending on one side (left) is different. BUT when you get tired enough it doesn't matter. I am also feeling our lil' one move. Baby is a jumper and it feels like a bag of popcorn is popping in my belly...mmmm popcorn sounds good. My appetite is good. No crazy cravings as of yet but I do think I should invest in a watermelon company. I can not get enough of that stuff.

You might notice we added a poll to our blog. We will find out the sex on July 29th and we our curious what most people think. I am carry high and wide if that helps.

Happy Birthday Keegan and Kai!

Well today my favorite little guy turned 2, so happy birthday from your Auntie and your Uncle. Also Happy Birthday ( a little late) to my bestie Kai. I wish I could have been in AK to celebrate with you. Kisses and hugs to all.

Our weekend started out with a stressful Friday. I locked my keys in my car out at a jobsite and needless to say my innocent mistake turned into a day of stress trying to get into my car. Thank god for good friends, my husband and my amazing parents. I enjoyed some Dateline with a cold one on Friday evening while Matt and Cerbo had dinner in Golden and watched some college basketball. I love being married but I still love my alone time, when I can get it.

Satuday evening was a blast I got a little girl time. I wish I had some pictures and maybe I can get some from Kathryn. One of my best buddies (Kathryn) and I went out to see Super Diamond ( a Neil Diamond cover band). We started the evening by meeting up with some of her business school class mates from DU. We did a brief but benificial pub crawl that commenced at the Ogden on Colfax. Now 70's music and especially Neil Diamond are not on my itunes list but hanging out with one of my favorite people, meeting new people and people watching definitely made the evening worth while. Thanks Kathryn for the invite.

Well we are headed to San Diego on Thursday morning for a little vacation with Matt's family. We are actually going to celebrate Angela's spring break, which we are very grateful we were included. I will definitely post photos of the trip next week. I am really excited to go to the zoo.

Happy April to everyone! Sure doesn't feel like spring yet.