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!

We caught a mouse!

We had been seeing signs of a mouse in the house for quite some time. Our first clue was when Matthew wanted to get into Emily's stash of Halloween candy, and all of the Starburst wrappers had been chewed through. Then we noticed that something was chewing through Thumper's bag of rabbit food under the sink. One day Matthew was killing a couple of cockroaches, and then I spotted a huge cockroach that almost looked like a mouse as it sped under the couch. About a week later, I spotted the same little fella running across the hallway...but he really was a mouse! Matthew made a special trap for him, but he was quite an escape artist. On the last night of Spring Break, we finally had him cornered! Matthew went into the laundry room and stuffed rags at the bottom of the door so that Scatty the Ratty wouldn't be able to escape. We heard quite a kerfuffle as I waited standing up on the couch and Emily begged to go in and help. Finally, he was caught! We took lots of pictures and debated about whether to keep Scatty to produce electricity by running on a hamster wheel. It was determined that he needed to go. We drove to the park by our old duplex and set Scatty free. He had almost become like a pet, so it was a sad night for some of us. Hopefully he is enjoying his new life in the park and bayou! Farewell, Scatty!

Toby

Meet Toby, one of Emily's newest stuffed animals. We found him at an antique store during Spring Break. Emily is quite fond of him, although he is a little different. Toby looks like he is traveling with a pack of straw on his back. His long ears reach the floor. He is made of burlap, and was either made to look very old, or he really is very old. He has a peculiar, very strong scent. There is something about Toby that makes you feel a little sorry for him. We can't say much about Toby, though, because his feelings get hurt rather easily.

Bluebonnets and the Barnyard

This is part of the famous Bluebonnet Trail in Texas. As you drive along the road, you can see fields and fields of bluebonnets. It was pretty amazing! We were actually lost and everyone was getting a little testy in the car, when we came upon this bluebonnet patch. Matthew set up the tripod, and we took lots of pictures. Matthew was kind enough not to post the pictures of me (Megan) sitting alone in the bluebonnets, looking like a very large, mentally challenged child. Emily has gotten hours of laughs from those pictures! Matthew kept telling me not to sit on any bluebonnets, but it was a bit difficult, since they were everywhere! I was also trying not to sit on any bumblebees. Of course, the actual moment was not as serene as it looks in the picture!!


After our bluebonnet expedition, we went to the Jersey barnyard to see the cows that are in the Blue Bell ice cream commercials. They are also the dairy cows used to make the ice cream, which really is delicious! The cows in the background were getting angry because they had run out of hay. Doesn't Emily look happy here? She loved getting to feed and pet all of the farm animals.


One of the coolest things was when Emily got to feed a calf a bottle of milk. The calf was really lapping it up! I think Emily would love to live on a farm one day. She loves animals and nature, being outside, running in big open fields... I guess most kids do, but she just seems to be in her element in the great outdoors! Plus, on a farm, she could have all the bunnies, cats, dogs, etc. that she wants!