Our Baby Shower!

On March 14th, we had the baby shower for our little girl! My sweet sister-in-law Cassie hosted it, and it was held at our aunt Terri's house here in Rexburg. We had such a wonderful time!

We started off the shower by playing some games. The first was a "name that nursury rhyme" game, and Grandma Larsen and my mom tied as the winners! Great job ladies! And then, for the second game, my guests had to guess how large my belly was with some yarn. Funny thing--my mom's and Travis' mom's strings were exactly the same length, and their's were the closest measurements, being just a 1/2 inch off of my actual size (at 7 1/2 months)! Maybe it was a grandma's intuition thing, or maybe it was because they had the best view of my belly, or maybe neither! Who knows? Either way, it was pretty funny.

Here's Travis' mom (Anita), me, and my mom (Susan) playing the first game (and thinking hard!):


My sister-in-law Chelsi and cousin Audrey both brought their little girls to the shower, and these two little ones had such a fun time playing together!


After the games, we all ate some savory ice cream sundaes. Here is the "diaper cake" that Cassie made me, next to the sundae fixins. Cute huh!?


And then after the sundaes I opened the baby gifts and we all hung around and chatted. Here I am looking at an adorable Winnie the Pooh outfit from our aunts Candace and Terri:

This was a precious little bracelet from Grandma and Grandpa Larsen:

(A special thanks to Chelsi for taking the above pictures. Below are some pictures I took later of all the gifts we recieved from the baby shower--well, I had to take SOME pictures myself, since I didn't get any on my own camera at the baby shower, and I guess it means that all of you who weren't there can now see everything we got!)

Here are all the baby clothes:

The baby bath stuff and other fun little things:

And our baby's binkies, blankets, and fun toys:

(And the gifts just keep coming from dear friends who weren't able to make it! Thank you all!)

So, MANY, many thanks to Cassie for hosting the baby shower--it was wonderful! Also, HUGE thanks to everyone who was able to come or have send gifts! You've really helped us get ready for the coming of our little girl, and we feel and greatly appreciate your love and support! And a super thanks to my mom, Kitty, and Trevor for coming from so far--it was so special to have you here! And to all of you who lived too far away to come, or didn't make it, we love you and wished you could have been here to celebrate with us!

Happy Birthday Travis!

On March 13th, Travis turned 24. Well, this was just too big of an event to fit into one day, so we spread the celebrations over two. On Friday (his actual birthday), we went to Red Robin with my mom, cousin Kitty, and her son Trevor (all of whom were in town for my baby shower the next day) to get his free Birthday Burger. The food was yummy (as always) and it was so nice to (1) be out on the town and (2) visit with my family. Another great part of the dinner was the end, when our waiter brought Travis a birthday sundae and balloons, announced loudly to the whole restaurant that Travis had had a birthday, and then with the other waiters and waitresses sang Trav a birthday song: "I don't know but I've been told, someone here is getting old! Sound off--Happy; Sound Off--Birthday; Happy Birthday--TO YOU!" Can't complain about a free sundae and balloons! We ended the evening playing games and having Travis open a present.
Then, on Saturday, we went to Blackfoot to celebrate with Travis' family! Daddy Dave made his famous pizza for Travis' birthday dinner (per Travis' request), and later topped that goodness off with a scrumptious "Better than Anything" cake I had made...yum!

Travis with his birthday cake (and, yes, I realize a piece of it is already gone--our nephew wanted a piece before he went to bed, and the rest of us had cake later in the evening after our stomachs had settled from tasty pizza):

Blowing out the candles:

After eating the cake, we finished off the birthday celebrations with Travis opening the rest of his presents.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY my sweet Travis. I am so happy and blessed to have you in my life, and love that we get to spend all of our birthdays together! I love you!

Pregnancy Report

We went in to the Dr. for my regular check-up this morning, and learned that everything is looking good. My tummy is measuring at 30 cm (so just 1 cm off--it's supposed to be 1 cm for each week of pregnancy), our baby's heartbeat is sounding great, and my weight gain is right on

track. The only disappointment was that the Dr. couldn't tell what position our baby was in yet, but he said that he'll be able to at the next appointment or so--so cross your fingers for "heads down"! We've also entered a new stage in terms of appointments, which means we will be going in every two weeks now (for a month) and then every week until D-Day! Delivery is starting to feel so close!

From "What to Expect" for Week 31: "Though your baby still has 3 to 5 pounds more to gain before delivery, he or she is weighing in at an impressive 3+ lbs this week. And at 18 inches long (give or take a couple because fetuses this age come in all sizes), your baby is quickly approaching his or her birth length. Also developing at an impressive clip these days: your baby's brain connections (baby has to make trillions of them)." I can't believe that she, and my stomach, have that much more to grow still! It feels like my tummy has already been stretched to the max! (But as she has recently moved up to my ribs and starting kicking around up there, I know that she'll make room for herself as she grows somehow!)

Another different thing about this stage of the pregnancy is that our baby's kicks aren't as strong as she doesn't have as much space to move around in. This has been kind of a fun change because now we get to feel lots of distinct little movements from her right underneath my skin. Just yesterday, I was sitting at the computer, and with my hand on my belly, was able to feel all of these little nudges and sliding movements from our baby just beneath my hand. It was such a precious moment--like she was trying to snuggle up close to me. And last night, as we were reading scriptures, she did the same thing for Travis. It's really cool because it's like you can almost tell what part of her is pushing out, be it her foot or her elbow, and it makes her feel more like a baby and less like an alien being in my tummy.

And finally, here is a picture of me from this morning--at 7 months, 1 week pregnant. Looking at this picture makes me think, "Wow, I AM getting big!"

My New 'Do

I have been thinking about getting my hair cut for a little while now, and today, I did the deed! (I had just realized that it has been WAY too long since I've had a haircut, and it's also one of those things that mothers-to-be just seem to do--go and get a new, more manageable 'do right before the baby comes.) I LOVE how it turned out! I just feel all chic momma now! =)

A New Nephew!

Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Travis' older brother Jason, and sister-in-law Mindi, just had their first baby boy! David Christopher Holloway was born yesterday afternoon, weighing in at exactly 8lbs, and is healthy and doing well, as is his sweet mommy. We, as well as his parents and 2 older sisters, are so excited to welcome this new little guy into the Holloway family! David is the second nephew that's been born since I married Travis, and is the 10th grandbaby to be born into the Holloway family. So, welcome, welcome David! We love you and can't wait to meet you!

Pictures and Puddles

Since the sun came out today and decided to turn our parking lot into a lake, I thought I'd take this opportunity to use "the lake" (and other puddles) to try out some reflection pictures (a little late for the Mission 24 blog, I realize).
So, here are some of the results (all unedited, though I think I will edit some of them when I get the chance):

Our apartment complex and the edges of "the lake":


(Ok, so I threw in a shadow picture too):

(These next two are my favorite):

Reflection pictures are trickier to take than I thought, so this was a good experience for me to try out different angles and focuses and see which ones I liked best. And in the end, I think I got some pretty good pictures. (Splashing in the puddles while doing it was pretty fun too). =)

A Unique Opportunity

I just wanted to let you all know of a unique opportunity Travis just recieved. BYU-Idaho had been asked to put together a men's choir for April's General Conference, and as such, had invited all of the men on campus who had ever been in a University Choir to apply. Well, Travis applied and was accepted! So, all of you guys out there can now look forward to seeing him sing as a part of the BYUI Men's Choir for the priesthood session of this upcoming General Conference! We think this is a great opportunity, and are so excited for Travis to be apart of it! Just think--he'll be on the stand behind the prophet, apostles, and other general authorities! So cool!