A Dead Giveaway–Murder Mystery Dinner

We hosted our annual murder mystery dinner last weekend. It was nice to have something to keep my mind occupied with this incubation thing going on. This year we did our dinner with three other couples. It was a 1920’s themed dinner/dress and all the characters were colors.

Oh my goodness, we were laughing from the moment the guests arrived. I don’t know if it was my pregnant brain, but I couldn’t stay in character at all! Everyone else did a great job. I felt so unfocused but it was welcomed because I just kept laughing. These two were hilarious!!! A couple acting as mother and son was amazing!

 

Then we had our diva and french lawyer – the Shepards. This was the first time they had done something with any of us but they pulled it off wonderfully! They won best character and costume.

Then there were the Wrights… Oh how I love them. The whole night Allie would comment to her husband something like “be careful what you say because they won’t invite us next year.” It kept cracking us up!

Overall, this was a much needed night. Between good friends, good conversation, and good food, we were set up for success. Everyone (besides me) was committed to their character and it made all the difference.

Can you tell my girls were SO tired!!!

Let’s Update

I figured I needed to update the memories before the big one comes pouring in soon! Then I know I will get behind. Especially with the holidays also coming up.

First was this gorgeous bouquet that I know I have shown, but didn’t show the great model that I had helping me-

Let’s see me just growing now! 36 weeks last week. Thanks to my mom who bought me two maternity tops to help me float this last month. Either the growth or the dropping of the baby has caused a lot of my staple clothes to suddenly not fit right. I am just hoping I can make it the last couple of weeks and into post partum!!!

 

We did what Dan told us one afternoon and made ourselves into “solar panels.” It was really nice to be able to sit out in the middle of October-

The girls set up the bouncer last Sunday. That really made this whole baby thing official. The girls have tested it out for the past two days with all their dolls. I am SO please at how excited they are for little E to come! They are constantly talking about her. Everything to Brookie is “when I get bigger this will be baby E’s.” It is so much fun!

School photos came home… I am so grateful I have a nice camera since I take the girls’ photos on their birthdays. I think it has already paid for my camera.

This was today – almost 37 weeks. I went to the Dr yesterday. He was surprised to find me at a 3 and 80 effaced after just a week. Any amount of progress this week and we will for sure have an October baby. I am feeling SO done that this is good news however I still have a lot to do in the next two weeks! So I am feeling panicked a bit. I am doing the flowers for Sarah Stone's wedding next weekend (on the 7th). Either with baby in hand or not :). And I have ballroom classes still which I would really like to be able to teach this week and next. I am also teaching RS this Sunday. As much as I would like to be able to do these things... the Lord knows when E will join our family and I am subject to his timetable.

 

October Begins

I began October with some fun floral orders-

This bouquet was for a friend’s daughter. She was getting her baptism photos taken – the photos turned out GORGEOUS as well as the flowers! I will have to get a couple of pictures to post of them.

The girls and I were home for conference weekend. I was SO SO SO sick and miserable. The girls had already gotten over their colds, but not me. It was tough but Conference was SO good for me spiritually. I usually take a lot of time to prepare for it, but with a busy schedule, I couldn’t get there. So I just made sure to pray that I would hear what I needed to hear. After about three sessions, I realized that I kept hearing about three words repeated over and over and I knew that those were the words I needed to focus on. It was really neat to have my prayers answered that way.

Brookie and her best friend Zoey. We sure love these two together-

I had to do some alterations for halloween costumes. I SO wanted to make these dresses this year. I know that every other little girl is going to be the same thing but the costumes that you purchase are SO cheap. So I started looking back in July and found some really cute ones that were made well. However, I needed to alter them because I have such TALL girls that I have to buy sizes big and alter skinny.

More flower orders-

And at 35 weeks I am not sleeping at all. I swear little E hangs on my ribs by her feet. I am bruised a ton in my ribs.

The day after I took this photo I was in the hospital. I woke up with a really tight belly. Almost like a constant contraction. But by noon, I had started contracting on top of that. Contractions were about 9 minutes apart. I tried taking it easy, bathing, and resting more. It didn’t work. So at 5:30pm I finally drove myself to the hospital and Dan drove down from work to meet me there. Driving was tough but I think it was preparation for the future.

Little E was doing fine. She was kicking and her heartbeat was strong the whole time. After three hours, I hadn’t progressed at all and the blood and urine samples were clean and healthy. They finally decided to give me some shots to relax my uterus. After the second dose, my belly finally relaxed. I can’t tell you how heavenly that was. As I was talking with my Dr today about what happened, he thinks that either my uterus was bruised or strained from the coughing that I had from my previous cold that I was still getting over and the uterus, being a muscle, was contracting due to being tired from the coughing… who knows. Thankfully the past week has been fine for me on that end.

Brookie has been into wanting to draw girls. This was her first attempt and I think it is so cute! Abi’s was her model which I think is so cute! She wants to be just like her sister.

Normally for Fall Break we go to Colorado, but this year we weren’t going anywhere far. So I asked my mom to come up and play with us and help me prepare for the baby. We sure had a good time with my mom. We had some good adventures and small outings-

A candy shop-

Oz days at Thanksgiving Point-

Our pool- do you know how much I LOVE swimming in October? It is so nice!

I just had to put this photo in here. On Sunday morning, I came down stairs to make breakfast and found this wonderful sight. Abi had been playing with her Beanie Babies and had gotten hungry. So she got out her breakfast and I happened to come down while she was saying her prayers. It melted my heart. She strengthens my testimony so much! I am so grateful that I have children because they tend to keep me at my best spiritually because I know I can’t slack or they will suffer the consequences of my choices to slack. But at the same time, they keep me from slacking. It is a great spiritual relationship.

Don’t you love this stroller? It made my heart sing.

We played Slap Jack on Sunday after church. It is so much fun to play with the girls. Abi is such a good big sister letting B get some slaps and B is more worried about how perfect her hand is piled than anything. So fun!

Overall, it was one of the most memorable and best visits with my mom. We laughed and cried and tried new things and went new places, but also stayed close to home and it was just what we needed. It was rejuvenating and strengthening. Isn’t that what family is for? My parents are such a benefit in my life. I am so thankful for them.

PS – We got asked at least four times if we were sisters. I am sure my mom liked it – but I did too. She truly is the sister I never had. We are such good friends so it doesn’t bother me one bit.