Playing in the Rain

Last Sunday, we had a BIG storm in the afternoon. Kenzie has never really gotten to play in the rain, and since it was still warm outside even with the rain, I thought it would be a good time to let her get a little wet : )






Trying to keep up with our neighbor girl, Sammi. Kenzie loves trying to be like the big girls!






By the time we came in she was SOAKED!



But we got her in a nice warm bath.....here she is afterwards, all snuggly in her towel : )


Thank you Lord for the FUN weather and for the excitement I got to see my little girl experience with something "new". What a gift it was for both of us : )

Kenzie's Photo Shoot

On June 25th, our neighbor Becki did a "photo shoot" with Kenzie in our grassy area in the back of our condos. She has her own photography business...check out her website and blog.

It was hot and muggy and just not a great day to take pictures....Kenzie got tired of it PRETTY fast. So we're going to try again another day. But she did get a few REALLY cute ones : )

Thought we'd share our favorites!

My birthday week : )

Last week it was my birthday week! The week was fun : )


These first pictures were taken on Monday....Kenzie decided to be silly and hold her fork and spoon at the same time.


She was trying REALLY hard to keep them under control.


But ended up giving up a little bit and using her other hand to put a grape on the fork : )


Here she is chewing up some food with her little chipmunk cheeks.


She LOVES to get out this old computer keyboard we're not using and "type".


On Tuesday morning, we went over to our friend Melissa's house in the morning and she took some maternity/family/Kenzie pictures for us. Once we get those from her I will put up a post for sure! Thanks Mel : )

Another exciting part of Tuesday was the birth of the Fortner's new baby girl, Evelyn Mae! Due to some complications, Christen had to have a C-section...but ended up going into labor 2 weeks before her C-sec was scheduled to take place! They still did a C-section and everyone is doing GREAT! Evelyn is SUCH a cute and TEENY little thing. Congratulations Josh and Christen!!!

So....on to my birthday!! Wednesday, July 9th was my 23rd birthday : )

We decided to celebrate my birthday PLUS have a little "babymoon" before Ryken gets here. We thought that between the two events, we should spoil ourselves a little bit! My parents agreed to take Kenzie for the night....so we had our FIRST baby-free getaway! It was only for one night, but we had a great time.

We left for Tucson after breakfast on Wednesday morning at around 9am. We got to Tucson and picked up a Chicago stuffed pizza at Oregano's for lunch.....SO GOOD but SOO FILLING. We all know why they call it a "stuffed" pizza, because we were all feeling it after only having 1 piece!

After lunch we hung out with my parents for awhile and Kenzie went down for a nap. We left mid-afternoon to start our "getaway". Our first stop was our first massage experience! We got a couples massage done. Chip thought it was nice, but not worth the money.......but with my sore, pregnant body I did NOT agree. I DEFINITELY thought it was worth the money : )

Next, we headed to Cold Stone for my free birthday creation! YUM! I got a flavor I had never had before called Cookie Dough Batter.......and my mix-ins were Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and Oreos! I split it with Chip.

After that we went and checked into our hotel. We stayed at a Doubletree. It was nice....not a resort, but definitely comfortable and fun! The posted rates were $108, but we named our price on Priceline and got it for $50! YAY! The best part was that we each got a yummy warm chocolate chip cookie when we checked in! LOL. Here is our room....nothing special....but the bed was super comfy!





We weren't hungry and didn't know what to do, so we decided to go swimming. Afterwards we showered and got ready...still not knowing what we were going to do. Here I am getting ready:


We still weren't hungry after the pizza, ice cream, and cookies : ) So we decided to go walk around Trail Dust Town, a little western "town". There is a steak house there that we went to quite a bit growing up, and I thought about having us eat there, but since we weren't hungry we just decided to walk around and take pictures.








I asked Chip if I was holding the gun right and he said yes.......haha....right....





Haha...he always does these nerdy "model" poses. I love him.




After trail dust town we went and got "cheap" Mexican food from a "scary" little place (Los Betos)....I ate there all the time when I was a life guard and haven't had it in a few years. Mmmm...it was GOOD! We took it to-go and went to a park. It was PERFECT weather outside....in the 70's, barely sprinkling, slight breeze. AHHHH! After we ate we walked around. It was such a fun feeling to just be out and not be worrying about getting "home" at a certain time so our babysitters could go home or so we could get Kenzie to bed. It was like we were dating!

Here's me with the food....SO EXCITED!


After the park, we made our date night complete.....with a stop at Wal-Mart. We got a gallon of water (we REALLY like "good" water......we'd rather spend money on water than any other drinks...LOL) and we got dice so we could go back to the hotel and play Yahtzee. Haha. Yep....we're just THAT cool!


The next morning we stopped at Costco to fill up the gas tank.

We were happy when we saw the price. It was (and is) still over $4.00 at most places in Phoenix....so we got to save some money by filling up there. (I don't know if it is too hard to see, but it says $3.73)


Next stop.....lunch at Eegee's! A Tucson Thing. YUM! We got Turkey grinders, fries (with ranch), and a Frito Chillito thing......PLUS.....Eegee Drinks! MMMM! I got one of my ABSOLUTE favorites, an Eegee Fizz of Watermelon Eegees with Pepsi! SO GOOD. Chip got a Strawberry/Pina Colada Eegee. It is making me hungry just typing this and looking at the pictures. I am pretty sure I was actually saying "mmmmm" in the first picture!




After lunch we went over to my parents house and spent the rest of the day with them. That night my mom made and AMAZING dinner....chicken, cheesy potatoes, corn, cresent rolls, fruit salad......my mom is SUCH a good cook. She made me a YUMMY birthday cake with the French Silk Frosting I requested. YUM!

Happy Birthday to me!



We left around 9pm Thursday night. Friday, we just relaxed in the morning and unpacked. Chip had to work that afternoon. We had such a FUN week. Thanks to everyone who helped make my birthday exciting and fun : )

The first week of July......

So.....July started out quite well. Tuesday Chip had the day off and we just hung around and went swimming. We had gone swimming the day before and went swimming on Thursday too. We decided we might as well make the most of having a pool so close on these hot summer days. Chip has gotten a little routine down with Kenzie when putting sunscreen on. He does her front, and then has her lay down to do her back......I think it is SO cute : )



Chip's mom got Kenzie these cute little sunglasses. She usually won't keep them on, but was feeling pretty good in them one day, so we were able to snap a few pictures. She actually wore them all the way to the pool before taking them off!


(Haha....I like how the stickers are still on the front of them....)

Here is cute little Kenzie fresh out of the shower after swimming....gotta love those big blue eyes....I wonder what color of eyes Ryken will have.


On Wednesday, I had a doctors appointment. Everything went fast and smoothly....good blood pressure, good heartbeat, etc. The one thing that did come up is that my doctor thinks this guy is gonna be big! Kenzie was almost 8lbs and was 2 weeks early (meaning if I had gone to my due date she could have been well over 9....maybe even 10lbs!) Well....from what my doctor has seen, she said that usually 2nd babies are bigger than the first and that boys are usually bigger than girls. She scheduled me for my next appointment (on the 16th...this coming Wednesday) and then also said that the next week she wants me to have a growth ultrasound to see if they can guesstimate how big he's getting in there. THEN she told me to come in as soon after I turn 37 weeks as possible, so she can do a procedure called "stripping the membranes" which CAN help get things going....if your body is ready for labor. That appointment is set for July 28th. She did that when I was pregnant with Kenzie...and my water broke 45 minutes later....so we'll see. I am trying not to get my hopes up too much, because it might do NOTHING at all! But that was the latest update on little (or big!) Ryken : )

On Thursday, Kenzie and I went to her little playgroup. We always have fun. It is a group of 8 moms and once I have Ryken we will have 11 kids who will all be under 2! It is pretty hectic, but we all have fun getting together. Here are a couple pictures I took that day...but the kids weren't really cooperating too well.


Kenzie close-up...she wanted the camera


Kenzie and Avie


Kenzie and Jack....looking real intelligent : )

SOOO.....that brings us to Friday....the 4th of July!
The only year that Chip and I have gotten to watch fireworks together on the 4th of July was the year we were dating. The first year we were married, we were working night time security and saw some in the distance as we drove to work....but didn't really get to go somewhere and sit and watch them and enjoy them. Now, for the past 3 years, Chip has worked EVERY 4th of July night. I am hoping MAYBE he can get next year off.....it would be fun to have him around for it one of these years!

Besides that part of the 4th of July, we had a fun time. Kenzie and I went over to Chip's grandparent's house for dinner. They ordered takeout from Joe's (where Chip works) and his parents and aunt/uncle/cousins from Tucson came up as well. Before dinner we went swimming and worked up a good appetite, and then we enjoyed PLENTY of YUMMMMMMY food! After we got done eating, we watched the first part of the HBO mini-series on John Adams. It was very well done and I am looking forward to borrowing the whole thing from Chip's parents and watching it! As soon as that was over, it was time for fireworks. We came back to our condo (with Chip's parents and his cousins....his aunt/uncle/grandparents stayed at his g-parents house). We happen to live RIGHT behind Mesa Country Club, and they literally shoot off the fireworks right behind the wall of our condo property. To make things even nicer, there is a big nice grassy area that backs up to that wall! So every year I go out there with Kenzie (and whoever else wants to come) and watch the fireworks! It was lots of fun. Kenzie LOVED them and ooooo'ed and ahhhhhh'ed with the rest of us : ) It was cute!

With Chip working the past couple years, I have started a tradition of video-taping the fireworks for him......but the first year I wasn't planning on doing it and only got the last few minutes, and then last year I forgot to charge the camera battery and was only able to get a few. This year, I made sure that everything was ready to go and I got the whole 20 minute show : ) When he came home from work I had it all hooked up to the TV, had our picnic blanket spread out on the living room floor and had some watermelon out to snack on. I found a small bottle of sparkling cider that we had in the back of the fridge, too : ) So even though it wasn't the "real thing", we had a nice little private fireworks show in our living room......


We were both pretty tired since he didn't get home until after 11pm, but it was fun and we will remember these years, I'm sure!

The next morning we all slept in (Kenzie is our alarm clock.....she is usually up by 7:30 at the latest, but let us sleep until after 8 that morning!) We headed over to Chip's grandparents house once again for some cinnamon rolls for breakfast...yum...and to see his cousins again, since he hadn't been able to spend time with them yet. He had some good ping-pong matches with them and after they left, we decided to stay and swim and eat lunch. Chip's mom and grandma decided that lunchtime would be a good time to surprise me with a little early b-day celebration : ) Chip's parents got me a YUMMY Dairy Queen ice cream cake. They also got me the CUTEST suitcase that is brown with pink polka dots....I LOVE it. It came with a little case that matches and a diaper bag too! They found it in Hawaii of all places! I got a gift card to AMC theaters from Chip's grandparents which will be fun for a date night!

Later that afternoon Chip went to work and some of our friends stopped by to drop off a bassinet that they are letting us borrow! Thanks Dan and Tara : ) Their little boy Jonathan was GREAT entertainment for Kenzie....and I had the privilege of meeting their new little girl, Piper, who was such a sweetie : )

The week was so much fun. I love posting this, because as I do I am able to stop and really look at all the many blessings God has placed in our lives. As I lived the week I have just written about, I did feel blessed and thankful, but as I review the details and the events, the blessings stand out even more profoundly, and I am so thankful to THE ONE who made it possible. I suppose that at the time, I may not have had the most thankful attitude that Chip had to work (AGAIN) on the 4th of July.....and I am sure there were many other things that I grumbled and complained about. Please forgive me Lord! And help me to praise you in ALL things!

And so we continue this walk......resting In His Hands..........