Colorado!

For about the past year, I've been planning a surprise party for my dad's 60th birthday with my sister Ashley. I booked a barn out in Sedalia, CO, planned the food (which came from a TX style BBQ place), invited over 100 people (including his brother & sisters' families from UT), booked a band, planned a pregnancy and delivered my son 4 weeks prior to heading to CO so we could have a reason to gather. OK, so maybe some of it was luck-- but the plan to bless Gavin in CO gave my sisters family and mine a reason to travel to my parents house without causing my dad to suspect anything. We successfully pulled off the surprise and I learned a few things:

• I can be a good liar, but it kind of stresses me out... that goes double for my mom :)
  
• Not having to make the food is definitely the way to go
• Guests invited to surprise parties may drop off a card/gift the day of the party to say happy birthday (Hey...don't ruin it!)
• Having wedding decorations isn't so bad (there was a reception the next day and they decorated before the party)
• If you're using technology, plan on it failing-- and then stressing to pull something together. Ben did good :)
• The surprise will never be ruined for a 60 year-old man

My sister Ashley and I with my dad

Courtney & Jack getting ready to sing the entrance song of "You say it's your birthday" from Beatles

The "surprise" moment

Dancing and fun
{Check out that slide show projection below... it took me months to collect pictures for it, and our computer crashed right before the party. Plan B was almost as good :)}

You could say the party was "thumbs up"!

The rest of the weekend kept us busy too. Olivia turned 3! Everyone sang to her at my dad's party too (her actual birthday).

Gavin Benjamin was blessed:

and lots of playtime





Good times!

He's here! Gavin Benjamin Morrow, born 09/09/09.

It's the Final Countdown!

Since I've been thinking I'd have the baby "any minute now" for the past week, time got to be a real drag, and life was quite boring! But Labor Day weekend was awesome, thanks to the Merbacks! They came into town, and we had plans with them and our other friends everyday. Eating, talking, shopping, BYU football game, and more eating and talking pretty much covers it. I've started feeling anti-social during the summer/pregnancy, so I'm glad to have sparked my love for hanging out with friends again!

Now most pregnant people in their right mind don't like to post pictures of themselves for everyone to stare at, but I thought you'd like to see why people ask if I'm having twins, or commenting on how big and low I am... :)

Makes a good seat though :)

Ashley and Joey
(used to live in SA but moved to OK last year)

Abby and Georgie (their 3 yr. old)

Labor Day (which I had high hopes for...) turned out to be a good day--more shopping for me (walking around), biking for Ben, and swimming for the girls.


We also can't pass up free food, so we dressed in team shirts to get free chick-fi-lay sandwiches

...and ice cream of course

NEXT POST WILL BE ABOUT OUR NEW BABY!! I'm scheduled to be induced tomorrow, 9/9/09! Please don't let me be bumped!

Kindergarten!

Abby has now finished her 2nd week of Kindergarten and she loves it! Poor girl gets woken up at 6:45 am (after I'm already ready for the day, so feel sorry for ME), starts class at 7:45 and gets out at 2:45pm. I'm soooo glad she had pre-k every day last year to get her somewhat ready for this long schedule. So here are her "first-day" pictures, even though it was the 2nd day of school. She was sick and had to miss the real first day.

The whole family took her

No tears, no fuss, all smiles

End of Summer

...Okay, not temperature wise here in TX, but psychologically. School is back in session, our pool is closed (dumb), and fall clothes line the shelves in the stores (even though long sleeved stuff doesn't go very far here). So here are some pictures of our final summer days...

Braving the heat and trying to do fun things like "The Christmas Carol Train Tour" by Disney... that fan was the best part of it :)

Swimming days!

Being pregnant and getting ready for baby boy to join us (my friend and her mother-in-law threw me a shower, and we finally got the room ready and moved Livi in with Abby)

And, again, being pregnant! (me at 39 weeks... come on already!!)

Baby Update

50% effaced, 2 centimeters, 38 weeks...
When will we meet this little man of ours?

Five!

Abby had a blissful, laid-back 5th birthday. She got her big present in the morning, which distracted her and Olivia much of the day. Who looks more excited? Love it when you can get double the use out of presents! I'm guessing our boy-to-come will just want the chuck the furniture around...

Abby wanted her hair curled for her party that night so we spent some time glamouring up.

...And did more of it at the PJ party that night!

And here's the cake. So I realized a half hour before the party that I bought gel food coloring, not decorative gel icing... so the flower pattern on the bed quilt wasn't quite what I wanted, but still tasted good :)

Luckily all the girls at the party were just as girly as Abby, so everything was a hit and they played great together (not to mention her loving all their gifts).

I'm so grateful for my sweet girl, and am proud of who she is becoming! I just can't believe I have to start the whole early morning school thing already (Kindergarten 7:30 to 2:30--WHAT?!)... but I know she'll do great!
Love ya, Abby!

Abby's Birthday Wish

Abby has really wanted to get her ears pierced for a while, but I was able to put it off until her 5th birthday (which is this week). We went to Walmart, picked out some "crystal flower" earrings, and it happened before she even knew it. No tears (close though), but huge smiles the rest of our 2+ hour Walmart trip-- why does everything take so much longer... oh wait. I know. I'm 35 weeks pregnant, Olivia hates staying in the cart and isn't exactly quick to follow my lead, potty stops...
ANYWAY, Abby was giddy about her ears the rest of the day and can't wait for everyone to see them. Right after she was done, Olivia sat in her seat, holding the "earring gun", and said "my turn!". Give us a few years, Livi.

Cleaning


Poking (the lady didn't tell us that she was doing it so that's why Abby's still smiling)


All done, and looking in the mirror
*Side note: Notice the wrench around Abby's neck? She found some of my old keychain collection and decided to make some new necklaces. She really likes her jewelry!


Ta-da!