It's a...

Girl!
We had our big ultrasound this morning and learned that we will be the parents of a little lady!

Here is a shot of her cute profile:

Upon hearing the exciting news, I made a date with my friend Nora to go to the mall and buy my daughters' first little outfit. (It turned into 2 outfits, but oh well.) Also, the outfits are a little big and she most likely won't be able to wear them until next summer, but there aren't exactly a lot of late fall/early winter clothes for sale right now. I love the little floral dress and the feminine white top. I know white isn't the most practical color for a baby, but I think it's so sweet.

And here is a shot of me at 19 weeks. I have grown significantly in the last three weeks and I'm guessing that will be the standard pace from here on out.

2 Years Ago Today

I married this wonderful man

in the beautiful San Diego Temple

and walked into my very own happily ever after.

What a wonderful 2 years it has been.
Happy Anniversary to my sweet husband and best friend.
I love you Russel!

The Baby Bump

I have been pretty bad about taking pictures of my pregnant self, but here are two to show my growth so far. Neither photo is especially great, and I'm in pajamas/gym clothes in both of them, but I think the gym clothes do the best job of showing off the bump. I know I should be grateful I'm not really big already, but I just feel like I'm looking really chunky. A girlfriend of mine said that for her next pregnancy she is going to make shirts that say "I'm not fat, I'm just pregnant". If she ends up making them, I may just have to order one.

6 weeks

16 weeks

Special Delivery

We are so excited to announce that soon we will be a little family of three! I am 14 weeks (tomorrow) and Baby Marsh is scheduled to arrive sometime around October 27th. I am thrilled to officially be past the first trimester and be able to share this wonderful news with everyone! We will have an ultrasound in about 5 weeks to check in on our little one and hopefully we'll be able to find out if we are having a boy or a girl!

Grandma Waddell

Joann Barbara Schaeffer Waddell
June 27, 1929 - April 8, 2010

Grandma Waddell passed away this evening after being hospitalized a few days ago for a serious stroke. Though this is a difficult time for me, I know she is safe in the arms of our Father-in-Heaven. I love to think of the huge welcome she must have received, surrounded by countless family members for whom she searched and then performed work for in the temple. I am so grateful for a knowledge of the Plan of Salvation, which assures that our families are eternal and bound together forever.

There are so many things I love about Grandma, but here are just a few of my favorite things about her.

• First of all, how gorgeous is that photo above? It was taken in the early 1960s and I simply love it. Oh and by the way, by the early 1960s she had already given birth to three of her four children. Stunning.
  
• She dressed every day as if for a special event. Even at home in jeans and a sweater, you can be certain she had her make-up done, pink lipstick on and was wearing one of her beautiful pieces of jewelry to set it all off. I particularly loved a large turquoise necklace I think she and my Grandpa bought on an eastern European cruise.
  
• You can be certain her fingernails and toenails were always perfectly painted. Her fingernails were usually something subtle and classy, a light pink more often than not. The color on her toes was a different story. She always told my sister and me that your toenails should be painted as brightly as possible so you could see the color even through the sand when you were at the beach.
  
• She loved the beach and so do I. I remember going to watch her play beach volleyball in Manhattan Beach, CA with a group of ladies from her church congregation when I was a little girl. Before one particular match with the girls some 20 years ago, she found a kitchen spatula buried in the sand. They used it that day to hold the rope in place that set off their court and it became a staple item in Grandma’s kitchen from then on. She said it was the best spatula she ever owned.
• When my sister and I went to visit her for weekends during the summer, we always went for early morning swims in her pool and then had homemade oatmeal. Oh how we loved that oatmeal. Grandma put loads of butter on everything she ate, including the oatmeal, and in addition to the butter, our oatmeal always had plenty of cream and lots of brown sugar.

I love you, Grandma!

Beautiful

My wonderful mother-in-law brought these perfect yellow tulips over this morning - aren't they gorgeous?! They are the perfect dose of beauty and sunshine after four long days of nothing but rain. I am so ready for spring!

Birthday Boy

This past Saturday was Russ' birthday! Luckily, this was the first Saturday in almost a month that Russ didn't have school, so we kept the day fairly low-key because we could. We were able to meet Russ' sister Tiffany for lunch which was really fun. Of course, Russ got to choose the place and it was no surprise that he picked getting sandwiches at Wegmans. For those of you outside of Virginia/Pennsylvania/New York, Wegmans is a grocery store. It's certainly the nicest grocery store I've ever been in, but a grocery store none-the-less, though I will admit their sandwiches are top-notch. Thanks for a fun lunch, Tiffany!

We spent the afternoon lounging around before heading downtown for dinner at Johnny's Half Shell. We both enjoyed the crab cakes (again, no surprise there) and had a great meal overall.


The restaurant is right across the street from the Capitol, so of course we had to snap a few pictures out front.




Monday night we finished off the birthday celebrations by going to a Capitals hockey game. Russ has been a Caps fan since he was a little boy and he has made a fan out of me as well. We regularly watch the Caps on TV and thought it would be fun to see a game in person. It had been a while since he had been to one and it was my first ever NHL game! The Caps are currently the #1 ranked team in the NHL and we were looking forward to experiencing a win in-person. Unfortunately, after a tie, then over-time and a shoot-out, we lost 4-3 to the Dallas Stars. Honestly, it was a little disappointing. It felt a little like going to your first baseball game at Yankee stadium and then watching the Yankees lose to the Nationals. Even with the loss, Russ and I had a great time and hopefully we'll be able to make it to another Caps game sometime soon!




So thanks, Russ, for having a birthday so we could have so much fun this past weekend. And thanks for being such a wonderful husband. You are my constant date, my food taster, my stress reliever, my live and very personalized GPS support. You are my easy-going, sandwich-loving, soccer playing, hockey watching, handsome, funny, loving husband. Basically, you're the best friend I could have ever wished for. I love you!