Baby Shower

Doreen (Matthew's mom) hosted a wonderful baby shower for me! It was such a fun, happy day. I couldn't stop smiling! We have received such an outpouring of love from so many friends and family members. I was amazed at the support shown by the sisters in our ward. I had given out lots of invitations, but they RSVP'd to Candy since she was catering all of the food. I had no idea who was coming.


Doreen and Joe put in a new deck, and the backyard was beautiful with all of the flowers and the lake. It was too hot to spend much time out there, unfortunately. The house was so festive, with all of the cute train-themed decorations. Doreen even made 2 bowls of punch, one green with sherbet and one blue with vanilla ice cream. The punch matched the decorations! The sister missionaries served the punch.

Kylie made an adorable chocolate cake decorated like a baby quilt. Candy and Kylie made a ton of yummy food-fresh fruit and veggies, crescent roll-ups, mini fruit pizzas, etc. Candy served as the Master of Ceremonies. She instructed the guests on what to do as far as the clothespin game, lining up for food, the toilet paper game, addressing the envelopes for the thank you notes, etc. She really kept things rolling, and is not afraid to give directions to adults. This allowed me to just relax and enjoy the party and do lots of smiling and giggling.

I was kind of relieved that during the gift opening, people stopped paying attention to me and just started having their own conversations. I could barely interrupt some of the ladies to thank them for their gifts. Emily and Leah started out by walking around and showing the gifts to the crowd, but they got tired of that about half way through, and went outside to play. One really cute gift was from Natalie, who had her baby 2 weeks ago. She decorated a little treasure chest and filled it with Rolos, and made 2 pirate onesies: one of them said Kiss my Booty, the other said Wipe my Booty! Her card was like a treasure map. Very cute and creative! All of the gifts were wonderful. Everyone was very generous! I got some really cute little outfits for the baby, diapers and wipes, gift cards, etc.


Matthew's co-workers gave us a gift card which we used for a glider chair! Matthew set that up and finished fixing the changing table, so we are pretty much set. Doreen came over and hung the curtain. We are just waiting for this little guy to arrive! I am due Tuesday-in 4 days! It's hard to believe! The baby doesn't seem to be in any hurry, though. I wonder if he is trying to finish a project, such as creating an instrument, before he arrives? Or maybe he is busy making lists of what he needs to do when he gets here? Maybe he's just waiting for us to figure out the right name for him! Everyone is having weird dreams about him-I am just hoping that he is healthy!

We'll keep you posted =)

Emily's Baptism

Emily and Leah were baptized on Leah's birthday, April 11. It was a very special day. The day before, we went to the Bead Shop and they each made a necklace to wear on their baptism day. They also made a necklace for Stephanie, Emily's American Girl doll. Everyone got to do something to contribute. Matthew and Emily helped me to prepare the fresh fruit. Matthew designed the program cover, and I typed the program. Doreen made yummy banana bread, and Sarah (Leah's mom) did the rest of the snacks and drinks. Sarah and I shared the planning of the baptismal service (making phone calls, planning the music and the video for people to watch after the baptisms, etc.).


We invited some of our neighbors, and there was a good turn-out of members of the ward and others, including Farides, Sister Morgan, Jeter and Gg, and the Bustos family. The Barrios' couldn't come, but they gave Emily a special card and necklace. It was really nice for Emily to have Grandma Doreen there. She really loves her grandma!

Emily and Leah sang a really sweet duet of "When Jesus Christ Was Baptized." The girls' Primary teacher, Sister Sloan, gave a wonderful talk on baptism and friendship. She talked about how Emily and Leah are such good friends and how lucky they are to have each other. But if you don't have that special friend, she said, you still have Jesus Christ. It was a really neat talk, and she tied it into baptism.

The baptisms and confirmations were wonderful! The Spirit was really strong during the whole service.

Emily happily left her shoes off the whole time. She seemed very comfortable, happy, and at peace.

Sarah (Leah's mom) gave a really good talk on the Holy Ghost.

Then we went to the kitchen and gym and everyone seemed to enjoy the fruit and banana bread and snacks. Emily, Leah, Gg, and the other kids ran around in the gym together.

After the baptism, we all went to the park by our house for an Easter egg hunt hosted by Candy. It was a wonderful but exhausting day, and Matthew and I relaxed over some hamburgers and milkshakes at Fuddruckers that night. I have a feeling this baby is going to be a serious meat eater!

We are so grateful for Emily's desire to be baptized. She was eager to learn the discussions that we taught during FHE before her baptism. She asked for her own set of scriptures for her birthday, and she doesn't let us miss a night of reading. We are very grateful for the gospel. It is such an important part of our lives.

Emily Turns 8!

It's hard to believe that Emily turned 8 this year! Instead of doing a big party, she invited her friend Leah to go with us to the Museum of Fine Arts. The girls were wild in the car, but they were so sophisticated in the museum. They were very well-behaved and discussing the art very seriously. I couldn't understand why all of the security guards at the museum kept looking at us. Finally, one of them came up and in a very shy, apologetic way, asked if we had checked in and gotten our stickers. It was free night at the museum, so we had just strolled in without getting our stickers, and apparently, this was causing a stir. I think the security guards were contacting each other about us on their walkie-talkies! Matthew went and got us our stickers, and then we were fine!

After the museum, we went to Goode Company BBQ for a delicious dinner. It's a good thing we're not vegetarians! After dinner, we brought out the M&M cake and ice cream and sang Happy Birthday. It was really fun! To top off the night, we let Emily and Leah roll down the hill at the Miller Outdoor Theater.

Our Anniversary

This is a little out of order, but we celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary on March 11! We got to go to the coolest restaurant called Fogo de Chao. I believe it's Brazilian. First, you get your plate and go to this amazing salad bar with vegetables carved like swans, etc. There's lots of yummy rice, beans, salads, cheeses, etc. at the salad bar. Then these men in costumes start bringing around all this delicious meat! When you turn your card to green, that signals them to keep bringing the meat. It's a bit deceiving, because you just get small pieces at a time, but there are so many types, and you want to try everything- all types of chicken, steak, lamb, ribs, etc., all perfectly cooked. By the time we were done, we could barely breathe, we were so stuffed! Everything was delicious! It is probably a once in a lifetime experience for us, but it is definitely worth trying once! We are grateful to Matthew's parents for treating us so well!