St. Patty's Day

Our St. Patrick's Day was a day of green food! Each item in Brandon's lunch that day was green and our dinner consisted of green chili enchiladas, salad, lime green Jello and green punch. :)

The sneaky little leprechaun made a visit to our house as well. Brandon found a pathway of little shamrock confetti that led him to his surprise of green candy, a few little green toys and some gold coins. It was a great day. Brandon wore these fun glasses to school. His teacher is SO wonderful and always allows festive attire like this her classroom on holidays. We love her!!

ORANGES=LOVE

So far this pregnancy has been fairly easy (minus being sick for the first 9 weeks). The strangest thing thus far is my insane craving for oranges! Everyday at about 10am I enjoy one, then at night in bed I have another. At least two a day. Now when John sees orange peels in the trash he just laughs.  

New Addition!

Yes it's true! We are expecting our little baby "bean" sometime mid-September and we could not possibly be more excited!

 This is how I told John and Brandon the news. I had been feeling kinda "weird" for a about a week and  suspected that I might be pregnant. So on January 21st  I took a test to confirm my suspicion. I was amazed even though I kind of already knew. I had planned a while before that I would tell John using food of some sort. My guy loves sweets so I thought that spelling it out with cookies would be fun. :) We went out to dinner with our friends that night, and the entire time I was on pins and needles! I could not wait to tell him later on when we were alone. After putting Brandon to bed I finally had my chance to deliver the BIGGEST news ever! I got the tray of cookies out and walked into our bedroom where John was lying on the bed. He had his back to me, laying on his side. I said "I have something to tell you." He responded, "What is it, I'm listening." I told him he had to turn over and sit up for this one. He did. As he read what the cookies said he just looked at me and kept saying "No you're not. No you're not," with a huge smile plastered on his face. He kept giggling and smiling in disbelief. It was so cute. 

When I thought that I might be pregnant I ordered a "Big Brother" shirt for Brandon just in case. Good thing I did! The day after I told John the news, we decided to tell Brandon. We told him we had a special present for him to open. He was super excited for this gift. He opened the present and read what the shirt said. He just smiled and said "really?"

Brandon is SO excited to FINALLY be a big brother! 

Here is our sweet baby at almost 13 weeks! At our appointment the doctor unofficially moved up our due date from September 19th to September 16th. I am very happy with that! 

Love the 3D shots, even if they are kinda freaky!

We cannot wait to meet our baby!

So Proud!

Today while sitting in church, Brandon turns to me and with big, wide eyes says, "Mom, I want to bear my testimony." I was shocked and extremely happy that he wanted to do something that I very rarely have the courage to do myself. A few minutes later he was up at the pulpit giving the sweetest testimony I've ever heard. He even said that he was thankful his parents are "nice." ;) Some people chuckled and some smiling faces turned in our direction. 

After he sat down, he told me that he was SO nervous up there in front of all those people. I told him that I couldn't tell and that he did such a great job. After a few other people got up, we saw his primary teacher walk forward with a big smile. She said that she was really proud of Brandon for being an example to her by bearing his testimony. After church was over, Brandon was given compliments on what he had done and boy did that make him HAPPY! I have never seen him beam with such sweet pride. It was a wonderful day. I am thankful for my guy...he truly is an example to me. 

Just thought I would throw this picture in! We went to this AMAZING ice cream place called Fentons with our friends last night. It was seriously so yummy! Can't wait to go back soon. :)

family hike!

 Saturday we decided to have some family fun and go on a hike together. We have this gorgeous  mountain about 2 miles from our home and it has a great trail for hiking. Penny was SO happy to go with us on this adventure! We packed up some Subway sandwiches and lots of yummy snacks, then headed out on the most beautiful (but chilly) day.

Brandon's eyes are closed in this shot but I LOVE the way Penny is looking at the camera! ;)

She seriously had the best time! She even decided to roll in "mud" and get completely filthy. Okay so what I thought was mud was actually poo. :( So gross Penny! We were cracking up.

We stopped at a picnic table and had our lunch. YUMMY!

The view from the top is amazing! If you look really hard you can see the Benicia bridge. What a great day for some outdoor fun. We had a blast! 

When we got home Penny was quickly put into the bathtub for a good scrubbing. 

She spent the rest of the day like this! SO tired. 

cousins

My wonderful mother and father-in-law came out for a visit and they brought this awesome guy! Donovan is one of Brandon's new cousins from John's side and Brandon LOVES him. They are only a month apart in age and get along really well. While they were here we took them to Sky High Jump 

(a fun trampoline place.) Donovan had SO much fun the first time that he requested to go a second time, which we did. :)

 Since it was raining we canceled our planned San Fran trip and went to Jelly Belly instead. We thought the boys would have a great time...they did. 

 Brandon was SO proud to take his cousin to primary. They looked adorable in their Sunday best so I had to snap a picture on the way home. 

Thank you for coming to see us Dennis, Judy and Donovan! We sure do love you. 

Come back again soon!

L.O.V.E.

I had the BEST time doing the "12 days of Valentine's" for my two favorite guys this year! Each day starting on February 3rd, I had something special to give them. Brandon LOVED looking forward to the surprises. I had fun getting creative with what to do! I think Brandon's favorite day was the first one...he got a pair of "Perry P.J.'s." 

Here he is after opening the Valentine that 

Nana and Papa John sent him...sporting the new pajamas. He was one happy boy.

The 1st day...

The 11th day...

I told him that we can read it together each night for 11 minutes! :)

I did not get many pictures of the past 12 days, 

but hopefully my guys remember how much I love them anyway. 

 I got to make cookies for the class Valentine's Day party. I love being a room mom!

 Some homemade Oreo cookies with pink icing for Brandon's primary teacher. 

 We decided to make candy IPOD's this year for his classmates. Thanks for the idea Wendy!

 Can't wait for the party tomorrow!