August - A BIG BIRTHDAY MONTH!

August is an important month for my family as so many special guys were born in August!
My dad's birthday is TODAY!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY!!!
I love you very much and feel soooooooo blessed to have been born to a father like you! You have been everything a dad should be and so much more! Thank you for all your love and support and understanding through the years.


My little nephew shares a birthday month with his dad (my brother-in-law), Fred who turned um... thirty something (he is at that age where you don't share the age - HA) on Aug. 14th.
AND.... Liam turns 1 on the 26th!!
His big bday party is this weekend and I'm so sad to miss it. Have fun and Happy Birthday Fred and Liam!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LOGAN!

Logan turns 3! She is the closest thing I have to a little niece and I am so glad I got to see her when she visited last week!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BABER!

John turns 31 today!! What a treat to celebrate his bday together, since he was deployed his last 2 birthdays.

Vistiors and some sightseeing!

My mom made a trip to WA b/c she was dying to see our new house! It was nice to have her around and wish she lived closer and could pop on over any day. It is especially hard to say good-bye to her this time and strange to know that the next time I see her she will be a grandma to my little girl!
Here are some pictures of us before we went out to dinner at the Star Bar.

A few short days after Mom left, Heather, Chris, Logan and Finn visited us to see a little bit of the Pacific Northwest.
We enjoyed spending time together and visiting The San Juan Islands (Friday Harbor) with them. We ended our trip in Seattle (Pike's Place Market) before they took off for their Alaskan Cruise!


When they left John and I spent the rest of the day in Seattle... and hit the Experience Music Project (EMP) and then met up w/ the whole Hilburn family for an early birthday dinner celebration! John will officially be old tomorrow (the 19th) when he turns 31!

Looking forward to our next visitors - Jen and then Lauren in Rod in a few weeks! :)

BIGGER AND BIGGER!!!!

OK, so here are some fully dressed pictures of me at the start of my 7th Month!
Wow!! I don't know that my stomach can stretch any more than it has!

Showered and so grateful!!

Just wanted to thank all of my friends and family that planned such an amazing Baby Shower for me! I had so much fun seeing everyone and being showered w/ so many cute baby items.
I will say that our little girl will be one of the best dressed girls in the state of Washington.
It's funny b/c John and I don't think we need to buy her another article of clothing for a whole year! ;) I'm sure we will anyway though! HA HA

Anyway... I feel so very lucky to have such a loving group of friends and can only hope the same for our little one too.
You all are the best. Here are some pictures from the day!

Babies Galore!

I guess I'm at that age now.... all my friends (like me) are popping out babies! It's just so exciting and I have post some pictures! My friend Carrie had a handsome baby boy, Ryan a couple of months ago that I FINALLY got to meet.

Then a beautiful baby girl, Kelan entered this world into the arms of Kerry and Sean. I can't believe that at 3 weeks she was able to sit through a 2 1/2 hour dinner with us - what an angel!

Next came Graysen Elizabeth... I am so sad that I haven't met Kitty and Jeff's southern belle yet.. but know that she will have pearls in her ears in no time. check out the Harper Blog link to the left to see pictures of the sweetheart, as I don't have any of my own to share yet :(
UPDATE - JUST ADDED GRAYSEN'S PICTURE!!

On top of all this exciting news...Heather just found out that she is expecting her 3rd!! I can't believe that we are actually having babies together w/in in months of each other! Stacie is due w/ her first (sex a mystery) 1 week before I'm due and Sally is having a boy (so they say) a month after me (although, her belly had not yet popped).
I WISH I WERE CLOSER TO ALL OF YOU MOMMY'S AND MOMMY'S TO BE!! LOVE YOU ALL AND MISS YOU TONS!
oh, also had to post the latest of my adorable nephew, Liam - he is almost a year old!

Happy Birthday Elena!

Hope you are finding a special way to celebrate in OK!

Happy Birthday to Jack & Dad H!!!

Little baby Jack turns 1 today and Dad turns, well... we won't say.. but another year older tomorrow :) How wonderful it was to be able to celebrate all together last Saturday and J&D's house!
The celebration will continue when everyone heads to Anacortes this weekend for a "Hilburn Men Fishing Excursion"! John and Mom treated Dad & Jay to a charted fishing trip for their birthdays! (Sorry Jay I missed posting your bday on the blog in June) oops!
Anyway... let's hope they catch something so we can feast on salmon Saturday night... the last meal to be prepped in our kitchen before the renovations begin on Sunday.

Happy Birthday Kitty!!

Soooo sad that I'm not there to celebrate with you! Sucks being so far away from some of the best friends we've made... I can't imagine our time in JAX without you and jeff (and of course all the other jax five). The memories we made there will last a lifetime.. but I know there will be many more adventures w/ you, Jeff and Graysen very soon!
Happy Birthday!!

THANKS DAD!!!

So I really think I have the kindest dad in the world!
Dad came out and slaved away in the yard for a week with John... they worked 12-14 hour days doing their best to clean up the mess of a yard we had! It still doesn't look amazing.. but I will say that it honestly looks 100 times better than it did! I can't believe how overgrown it was... our neighbors said it was neglected for 7 years!
Here are a few shots... luckily we did get to enjoy showing my dad around a bit too... we took him to Deception Pass which is GORGEOUS and only 15 minutes away!
Come visit and we'll take you too!!

MUCH bigger belly at 24 weeks!!

OK, I was going to stop taking as many pictures... but Heather won't get off my back b/c she says she wants to see how big I am now... and I AM def. bigger now... I still don't think these pictures really show what I look like in person though.. so you will just have to wait a couple of weeks when I'm home for the shower and you will seriously be shocked.. b/c I am sure I'll have gotten even rounder by then. I have worn the bella band now.. had to pull it out for a pair of shorts... and I am wearing maternity clothes that Liz was nice enough to send me! :) thanks sis!
I tried to go get some jeans this weekend so I am not stuck with nothing to wear when my belly finally says no more regular jeans... but I couldn't find a pair I liked :( will have to wait to hit the mall in Tysons!!!!
I did get some great shirts at Banana Republic this weekend that work.. oh and of course couldn't resist buying lots of cute stuff for baby! John picked out the CUTEST little dress from Nordstrom's I can't wait to meet her and dress her up!! Soooo exciting!!
oh and I think that I've reached the point where I should probably stop putting up bare belly shots (i'm probably way past that point actually :) so.... these are the LAST bare belly shots I'm posting... sorry to those who enjoy them.. or your welcome to those who have been offended by them. :) All pictures after these HAVE to be covered/clothed belly shots. HA HA!

A Very Special Belated Birthday to Laura!

Laura, how could I forget your birthday shout out? Well, besides the fact that it isn't in my calendar.
opps.. :) Miss you and really hope you and Bobby come to visit!! Come on! Portland and Cannon Beach?? Why can't I find a picture of you to post?? Don't we have some from the bowl games etc??
Send me some!

Happy Birthday Patsy!!

A little sad that Bradley has taken our place and is now the person you will be celebrating your bdays with... what's that all about? I guess I couldn't even drink a margarita w/ you this year anyway :( I'm thinking of you!

New Belly Shots

OK, I think i'm going to stop taking weekly pictures now and wait to take them at the beginning of the months. But here are the latest shots of 21 (pink shirt) and 22 weeks (green shirt). As you can see it is def. growing! What a difference a week makes! And Kitty will be happy to see that FINALLY at the age of 32 I have removed that belly ring! HA HA!

Our First Pacific Northwest Adventure

Thursday night John and I made our way to the airport anxious to catch a flight to Virginia Beach to visit our close friends Kitty & Jeff for their baby shower/party... we were very disappointed to find out that our flight was delayed which would cause us to miss our connection... and all other flights out were booked solid.
Stuck here for the weekend, we decided to make the most of our first beautiful (and somewhat hot) weather!

• Friday we took a 3 minute ferry ride over to Guemes Island and enjoyed exploring by bike. We plan to go back often as it is so convenient and enjoyable!

• Saturday we went to La Conner to have lunch and stroll around the Arts Festival. La Conner is only about 15 minutes away and is a cute little town with a lot of charm. We look forward to returning in September for a wedding.
• Sunday was a perfect convertible day, so we decided to take a real trip... we drove through Whidbey Island (exploring Coupville etc.) and took the ferry over to Port Townsend. Once there, we drove through the town to admire the beautiful old Victorians. Then we continued about an hour and half to the Olympic National Park/Hurricane Ridge and WOW... It is beautiful! I couldn't believe the snow capped mountains on an 80 degree day! There we had a picnic lunch and enjoyed a short hike before having to leave it all behind to catch the ferry in time home. It is definitely a place we plan to return to truly hike (maybe with our daughter on John's back soon) :)

Here are a few pictures we took:

IT'S A GIRL!!!!

Good thing I love pink!
We were excited and surprised to find out we are having a girl!
I am still worried the doctor isn't right b/c I was convinced I was having a boy, but the Dr. said he is 95% sure it's a girl! (I guess they can never say for sure it's a girl)
Here's a picture of our precious little daughter... we can't wait to meet her.
We are hoping obviously for a healthy baby! After that I hope she gets John's eyelashes! ha ha. Looks like she may get my overbite, as she is already a thumb sucker.

Today's The Day!

We will find if we will be blessed w/ a baby BOY or a baby GIRL.
Check back to hear the news!
Also, here are the latest pictures of me at 5 months! I can't believe I'm officially half way through!












John also wanted to share his progress.