We're having a...

Well, for some of you, you might not have heard we are having a baby! We are very excited and cautiously waited to share the news until just the last few weeks. Things have gone really well this pregnancy. It has been different in a lot of ways from Harrison, but I think a lot of that has to do with the circumstances. I am no longer working full time, it is hot down here and I pick up a very heavy almost 3 year old several times a day. But we are all very excited to have this little one join our family around Christmas time. (December 26, 2011) But I'm not holding my breath that this one will come on time!

So on to the big news, which might not even be big news to most, but now it is officially on the blog too.

We are having a little girl! Harrison has been saying little sister this whole time and he was right. We were so excited to see her in the ultrasound and see that all seems healthy and she is growing very well. So, we look forward to meeting our little girl soon and can't wait to see Harrison interact with her. He already loves her so much and we just hope he doesn't smother her in that love!
Her little feet...
Her face...
She doesn't look like any of us, she is kind of weird looking I think. But she looks good none the less and was very low to get good pictures of so we will just have to wait until she comes to see if she looks more like me or like Jeff.

Quick Weekend In DC/Virginia

We left the beach and again hit the road. This time we made the drive from North Carolina to the Virginia/DC area to visit my sister for a quick trip. Jeff had to head to New York on work, so we thought we would take him to there and then let him go the last few hours on his own.
Apparently, at Deana's house, we eat...

Thanks for letting us crash at your place Deana and eat all your food!
While we were there we got to see Jeff's sister and her family one more time. Kind of a last fix after spending the week at the beach with them. They live not far from my sister so we spent the morning at the pool with them.
Fearless on the diving board...

And the splash...
Making their own kiddy pool, next to the kiddy pool.
Harrison and his cousin Katie, who he just adores.
Then after a quick trip, we made the 7 hour car drive back to North Carolina and then took a flight from there home to Houston. It was by far the longest traveling day I can ever remember and Harrison was a trooper. He passed out on the airplane!
Now we are back home and I am so glad to be sleeping in my own bed again! We had such a great time on our many vacations all packed together and were so glad to see so many of our friends and family.

NC Beach Trip/Ward Family Reunion

We left Chicago and headed straight to North Carolina for a much anticipated family reunion at the beach. This was our big trip of the summer and we were all excited. We spent 6 days on the beach just playing around and nights enjoying each others company with visiting and games.
We rented a kayak for a couple of days and we did get some good rides in, but Jeff and Tyson spent a lot of time towing kids through the waves too.







One of the 2 houses we stayed in.
All the siblings and spouses went out to eat one night. Thanks to grandma and grandpa for watching 14 kids! (Some were in bed!)
We are just missing Jeff's oldest brother, who is taking the picture.

Then one night Grandpa rented a boat and we got to go for a long boat ride on an inter coastal water way. We had a really nice ride...thanks Grandpa!

Harrison kept stealing Grandma's sun hat and wore it around like a cowboy hat! He would say "giddy up, ride um cowboy" and then run around the house with the hat. He got some good laughs!
We did a little program on the last night and all the grandkids (but 1) were there to sing to Grandma and Grandpa.

One night we got everyone together (30+ people) and took some family pictures on the beach. I brought my nice camera out, hoping to get some good pictures of our little family and then my camera looked like this...
The humidity fogged up my lense and we got no pictures on my camera. Luckily my amazing sister in law (who is a professional) took some for us. She also took the ones of the whole family so I am looking forward to see how those turned out. They might need a lot of photo shop. We had some crying babies and kids and I'm pretty sure Harrison didn't smile in a single one. Oh-well, I guess it still captures the moment. We had a great time and can't wait to see everyone again!

Quick Trip to Chicago

My very first, freshman roommate from college got married at the beginning of August. We only had a little time to go to the wedding before our next vacation started, but we made the most of it. My family was out of town (of course), so we had 2 days there. One for the wedding and one open day. We spent the open day going downtown. We haven't taken Harrison downtown and the day worked out beautifully!
We took the train down...
And of course Harrison loved it. And the colors that we took (blue, read and brown lines) all corresponded with his Thomas trains.
Listening for the train noises.
We stopped for lunch at this little hot dog place. So good! We got our Chicago dogs and Italian Beef. Both were amazing! And I ate about 7 pickles, guess those pregnancy cravings kick in every once and a while.

Not sure what the face is, but they both look exactly the same!

Then we headed up to Wrigley Field to show my little Cubs fan where the magic (or someday the magic) happens!

Harry Caray statue in the background.
Go Cubbies!
A tour of the field was $25 per person. We were not ready to spend $75! So instead we walked around and Harrison liked the view of the field. He did try to crawl through the bars. No luck though!
Enjoying a slurpy at 7-11. We don't see these much in Houston!


Next was Millennium Park.
The bean...and don't let the name fool you! Harrison tried licking it and decided it wasn't a good bean to eat! Gross!
Still trying to master a good picture of ourselves in the reflection.
The fountains...
And whoever designed this was crazy. The ground is all slate and it says not to run, but Harrison could hardly even walk without falling. He did enjoy the water though.

Then we met up with my friend Melissa (also in for the wedding) and she headed to Navy Pier with us.


We have a picture very similar to this one with the lighthouse in the background, taken 9 years ago when Jeff and I were dating. Boy has our life changed!
Shaking hands/hooks with a pirate on the pier.
Navy Pier also has a nice botanical garden. Harrison of course loved the water features and the lights in the water that he thought were fire.
We ended the day at Gino's East, my favorite Chicago pizza place. It was a long and exhausting day walking around the city pregnant with a 2 year old, but we had a great time!

Then the next day was the wedding. Everything was awesome. And it was extra special for Jeff and I because this was at the same temple we were married in. We haven't been back since and we made it back exactly 1 week before our 6 year anniversary.

It was a magical day for us then and on that day as well as I got to watch a good friend be married there as well. I am so thankful for where our lives have taken us these last 6 years together and am excited for the eternity to come!