Beau's 30th Birthday

Planning a surprise party is never easy. Any one who has ever planned and executed one probably knows that. I believe I encountered every possible obstacle when it came to seeing that this party went well. Two or three times I thought I'd never get it pulled off.


Despite potential problems, we some how made it all come together. The day of beau was supposed to go out with a friend in the morning, so I could decorate and prep. Everyone would come down and be here for when they got back. At the last minute he changed his mind and I panicked. Thankfully I have some good partners in crime. They decided to head down here and Zack kept J upstairs til we were ready. Somehow he didn't have any clue as to what was going on.

J's gift from CW, Connor picked it out

We had an 80's rock theme, complete with karaoke. It was quite fun and I think ended up being more of a sing-a-long though. Everyone seemed to know the choruses, but not the verses to the 80's songs we picked.

Zack and J singing to Tainted Love 

Jessica rocks out

All in all I think it was a great party and J had a lot of fun.

Bean Update - 14 weeks

Here we are, at week 14. We've made it successfully through the first trimester with very little problems. Yesterday was my monthly check up to see that all is progressing well. Sorry to say that I have no pictures to show of bean's growth. I will say that it's quite significant. While still no larger than a coke can, I was able to see a head, arms and hands on the sonogram. It was quite shocking! Still can't hear the heart beat, but I could see it on the monitor.


The next appointment is at the end of July. That's our anatomy check, make sure bean's developing well and to find out if our little bean is a boy or girl. I have several friends wanting us to do a gender reveal party. Still haven't made any decisions about that yet. Will let everyone know how we'll share the news.

Update: here's a pic of me at the end of week 14, with my tiny bump

Our big news!

It's been hard keeping this a secret this long. During the trip to Vegas, I started to get a little suspicious. So when I came home, I decided that it would be wise to take a pregnancy test.

Wouldn't you know, it came up positive! Boy were we shocked. Not because we didn't think it would happen, just not this quickly. Especially 2 weeks away from our move. It certainly made things interesting.


Our first appointment was at 7 weeks. My doctor was a little surprised to be seeing me again so soon. Found out about our bean a week after seeing her. Along with the myriad of testing they did that day, we also got to see our little bean for the first time.

Little bean (on the very right of the picture) measured 7 weeks and 3 days in size. The next appointment was at 10 weeks. Got great reports back about all the tests. We were able to see the bean with the belly sonogram (which wasn't the greatest resolution). The next appointment is later this month, and at the end of July we'll find out what we're having. We'll keep you posted on all the latest bean news.

Moving to the new house

Well, I've slacked. There's not much been going on though. Moving day came and went, but not without it's troubles. The movers got most of the big stuff: furniture, boxes, etc. However, we realized a bit too late that we wouldn't have enough boxes for all our stuff. So we had to do some unpacking before we could go finish packing up the other little things.


Cleaning also proved to be quite a challenge. Who knew that a 1,900 square foot apartment would take so much work to clean. Next time we move, I want more than a weekend to do it in. More like a month.


Since we moved, we are now settling in to our new place. To account for all our lost storage space, we had to get a storage unit. We've moved several things over there to declutter the house. Our living room is actually mostly functional now, hopefully the dining room will follow (and soon).


There's not much going on otherwise going on. Work is keeping both us busy. I'm getting ready to do some Sea Camp programs. Hopefully life will pick up here and we'll have more to post on.

Matt & Alex's Wedding

Saturday evening was Matt & Alex's wedding just south of Austin, the reason for our trip. It was a lovely service, very intimate and lovely. The weather was perfect for early April. Not too warm, not too humid.

Playing with our new camera's lenses & settings

Alex reading her vows, with a little friend

Enjoying the grounds

We had a fantastic time, but unfortunately had to leave early. The wedding being on Easter weekend made it difficult since I had to be back to work on Sunday. It was a long, but fun, weekend. Congrats to the happy couple!!

A Weekend in San Antonio

This past weekend we had a chance to get away for a few days. Part of our trip we spent some time in San Antonio. Beau had never been to The Alamo so we included that as part of our trip.

Six flags over Texas

On Friday night we stayed at Mosheim Mansion in Seguin. It was a lovely bed & breakfast and we had the most delicious breakfast on Saturday morning. We had a German pancake (amazing) and a mix of duck and chicken eggs (surprisingly good). Then on Saturday morning we headed back into San Antonio to see the Darwin exhibit at the Witte Museum.

Reading about the Galapagos part of the exhibit

There were a lot of cool artifacts on display, including diary entries and actual samples Darwin collected. I was super excited that we were able to see it, since this is the only museum in Texas that the exhibit is coming to. Definitely appeased the biologist in me :)

New House

At the beginning of March we began to serious start house hunting, with a target move date at the end of April. We decided to use our Realtor who helped us last time. It wasn't looking to promising after our first round; however, the second round produced what turned out to be our winner.

Shot from the living room, through the dining room to the kitchen

The master bath, with gorgeous tub

Master bed, with balcony

Master "sitting room", most likely our office

Outside of the house

We are very excited that we found this place and are excited to move in in less than 3 weeks. Now to get everything packed up between now and then!