April 29th

We anticipated this day since our last visit to the doctor. One, because it was Marc's 35th Birthday and we were having all of our friends over to celebrate, Two it was the start of a very fun filled weekend at Stagecoach (a country music festival, that just down the street and all weekend long). Three, we had our very first ultrasound and we'd hope to find out the sex of our little baby! We made a promise to keep our ultrasound a secret from our friends. We really wanted to surprise them at the party.

I got off at 12noon and our appointment was at 1:00pm...I had to go in the room by myself at first, which seemed like a life time of her moving the doppler back and forth on my belly...but I talked her ear off, so it made up for the anticipation she was putting me through. As she was moving the doppler back and forth, she finally let me take a look at what was going on. My sweet little baby was just moving all over the place!! It was an incredible sight...it's mouth was totally opening and closing, like it was talking or it may have been hungry?!? I couldn't wait for Marc to join and see how amazing it was. Finally, she called in Marc and our mothers to join in on the action. Right before she left, she said she was having difficulty seeing what it was...and by the time she got back the baby was butt up and we got a perfect view - of what I wasn't sure, so I yelled out, "Are those balls or a vagina!!??" hahahaha and then she announced that is was GIRL!!!! Tears came a rollin', Marc got a huge smile on his face, and our mom's rejoiced! It was a fun moment for sure...we got a ton of pictures, here are a few...for some reason when I upload they turn sideways...gah!

I think the second best part of this day was letting our friends know...we actually surprised them (and I am really bad a keeping a surprise secret)...so we told everyone that we were going to play a little Family Feud on the PS3, and we were going to draw numbers to find out who was on each team....the rule to picking a number was they couldn't peek at the number until everyone got a number. Little did they know all their little pieces of paper said, "IT'S A GIRL!!"...they were completely surprised and excited! Our friend Jennifer opened it and said, "It's a girl??' as in, what the hell kinda number is that??!! Then I said with a big smile, "Yes, it's a girl' pointing to my stomach and then all I remember is jumping up and down while hugging Jessica...it was so much fun and I was so excited our little secret was out, I really don't know how much longer I could have kept it in!! So, there you have it folks, we're having a little baby girl. I CAN'T wait to start decorating her nursery and buying cute little girl things...she will for sure, be the most stylish little girl, thanks to her Daddy!! ;) 

Today, I'm 19 weeks, but in my ultrasound I measured 17 weeks, 1 day...and our due date as of today is October 6th. I have a feeling our baby will always measure a little smaller...let's face it, we aren't the tallest people! ;) I'll post a "lovely lady bump" picture soon! 

Blessed with Besties

Mostly everyone is blessed with a best friend. Sometimes, your best friend changes with the different chapters of life...however in my life, there are 4 consistent, beautiful women who I've been extremely blessed to call my best friends - Desie, Kel, Jess and Sissylala. We may not be able to talk every day or hang out every week...but no matter what, they mean the world to me! The other day we finally had the opportunity to have a lunch date together (minus the Sissylala...she's being a career woman in SD!), and it inspired me to do this post...to let them know how important they are to me and how I would do anything for them (Brooke and Cousin Wousin Bear, you are in there too!). They are all different and I think that's what I love most about them. Each one teaches me how to be a better person and I hope I do the same for them. :) Marc has told me as I grow older I might loose some of my close friends...which in the past years, I have, but I look it as weeding out the bad ones to keep the roses! I pray that my "roses" and I always have our friendship, I mean we've made it through high school drama, college fun, marriage and babies, 10+ years of a whole lotta stuff... I am pretty sure we can stick together through everything else life hands us in years to come!

One more thing I learned while reflecting on the blessing of having the bestest besties EVER, is that my husband is right up there with them. He is an incredible man, and I really can't imagine my life without him by my side. He seriously completes me and I am so thankful God has blessed me ten-fold with such an amazing life partner and best friend.

I AM ONE BLESSED LITTLE LADY!! :)

Newport Beach or Bust!

I know it seems as if Marc and I go on vacations a lot, but the truth is, since Marc is off during the summer it's our only time to get out of town together and "vacation". We both work in industries that are seasonal...October through May are months where we work long hours and Marc, being in the grueling golf business, barely gets two days off during the season, hence why we do our "traveling" in the summer. :) Our latest vacation you ask? Was a long weekend in Newport Beach with our good friends, Jenn and Tyler. We stayed at the Best Western right off of PCH in Newport, which was absolutely perfect. We all brought our beach cruisers, as that was the main inspiration for the vacation...well, it was two things...beach and crusin' our bikes on the beach. Marc and I had an amazing time, and it was so nice to share the memories with Jenn and Ty (Thanks Guys!!). Here's a day by day breakdown of all the fun things we did.

Day One - Thursday, July 29th
8:00am - Road Trip to Newport Beach...I have to say we didn't leave until about 9:00, we were waiting for Tyler to get pretty. ;P

11:00am - Arrive in NB and met up with Marc...headed to Mutt Lynch's for some fresh cold beers and some grub!

1:00pm - Beach Time!!

6:00pm - BBQ at Zac and Chad's new house....we also got to meet Dodger, he was one big doggie and slobbered a lot!

Day Two - Friday, July 30th
8:00am - Drove to Zac's and Chad's to pick up the bikes, which is in Corona Del Mar and rode them to PCH to meet Jenn at Starbucks for bagels and coffee...the bike ride totally kicked my butt! haha

10:00-4:00pm- Beach cruised to Huntington Beach....had a sneak peak of the US Open headquarters...shopped....ate lunch and had more beers, people watched and beach cruised back to the hotel.

6:00pm- Dinner Date Night at The Crow Bar in Corona Del Mar...We didn't have the best experience at The Crow Bar...it had a menu that was hard to understand and Ty ended up ordering a $20 burger that hardly looked like it should even be a burger. Let's just say the atmosphere of the restaurant was nice, but the food, not so much. Good thing we had good company!

10:00pm - Nightcap at La Cave....Newport being Tyler, Jenn and Marc's old stomping grounds they wanted to take me to La Cave, a restaurant that is literally in the basement and feels like you're in a pirate cave. We saw a lot of different people there, pirate looking people...it was good times for sure.

Day Three - Saturday, July 31st
10:00am - Breakfast at Starbucks again...Marc took some down time to study and write the rest of his term paper. Can you tell he is very dedicated (I don't know how he does it)?

1:00-4:30pm - BEACH BUMS! We took a bike ride to NB Penninsula to meet up with Chad and Zac, yes, you guessed it for more beers! We actually didn't find them, but we did find Rockin' Baja and grubbed on some delicious food and micheladas (Tyler ordered a burger again, it was a sucessful, beefy burger!) I think we all rolled out of there and tried to work off the food by bike riding back to the hotel.

6:00-10:00pm - OC Fair for the Sumblime Concert!! Sublime is back on tour, with their new lead singer, Rome, who did an awesome job! We got the $25 lawn tickets and took in the music and atmosphere. If you know me, I LOVE concerts of any kind....it was a great venue and great show!

10:00pm-Closing Time - Chad took all of us to Villa Nova Restaurant, where the cougars were out and on the prawl! We hung out at the piano bar and I slowly went down hill, but my trusty counterparts kept the night alive...we even counted down to the new month!

Day Four - Sunday, August 1st
10:00am - Breakfast at Cappy Cafe...just walking distance from the hotel, we scored an outside table and had a yummy breakfast!

12:00-4:30pm - BRONZED BEACH BUMS! We took in every ounce of beachiness we could...ordered these amazing sandwiches from Big Belly Deli and vegged out in the sand...we honestly didn't want to leave!

We can't wait for our next adventure with the Murdoch's!!

Fun for a good Cause!

Marc and I always jump at the opportunity to join a good cause, especially when the cause hits close to home. A couple years ago, we joined our friends The Jordan's & The Martinez's for the American Cancer Society Relay for Life. This is a 24-hour event, where you walk or run around a track for 24 hours, at your own pace and your team raises money to go to the AMC and cancer research you support the most. Our team happened to be supporting Pancreatic Cancer, which our friend Emily lost her best friend, Bridget to. My family has also lost someone very close to this very common cancer. I believe Marc and I walked 19 miles combined...it was a very rewarding 24 hours. Since then we have tried to be involved with as much as we can with the PanCan fundraisers, and as most things there isn't always enough time to participate in all of them. However, we finally had a weekend we could! A couple weekends ago we came together with friends and went to an Angel's Game we had an absolute blast! It inspired me to write this post and take the time to make others aware that are are many things you can do to help raise money for the American Cancer Society and the research to find a cure for cancer. For Pancreatic Cancer alone, over 42,000 Americans will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer this year. There is so much information to post, so if you are interested in learning more and getting involved, here are a couple websites to get you started, http://www.cancer.org/ or http://www.relayforlife.org/. Our friends got us involved and we wouldn't be doing our job if we didn't spread the word! :) I know we've all met someone who has lost someone to this horrible disease, for Marc and I the grandfathers and close family members we lost to Cancer is our motivation to continue to be engaged in fun events for a good cause!

Here are some pictures from our day at the Angel's Game...we all wore purple to support PANCAN.

They gray ribbon represents - Brain Cancer, we wore them in honor of our Grandpas

Always loved and never forgotten

Grandpa Burt Ritter

Grandpa Glenn Brown

Cousin Lou Pollak

Mr. David Carmel