The Blur That is 2015 / Happy Easter!

I kind of hate doing back to back posts AND such a ridiculously long post like this buttttt in an effort to get caught up with life...

January - March are kind of a blur at this point...it was a rough and scary first+ trimester around these parts. Hopefully the pictures will remind me of what we've been up to! 

The only January photos we have are of some Martinelli's and a Sarasota visit:

 

Strawberry Croissants...our trip isn't complete unless we've had these.

The only other thing I know for sure about January 2015 is that I had a SERIOUS craving for grapefruit (really citrus fruit/fruit in general) with chili powder: 

February started out with a Western Caribbean cruise! 

Gracie!

 

It was my in-laws' first cruise and we had such a blast! 

^ I'm obsessed with this picture.

 A couple of weeks after our cruise, Rick could wait NO LONGER, so we made a pretty huge announcement...

...we are pretty dang excited. 

After getting back home and a week back at work, we headed to Sarasota for another visit: 

I wasn't kidding about these things.

On this trip to C'est la vie, we discovered that they have the most delicious macaroons we've ever had. EVER.

We of course roamed around the farmer's market...

 

...and since we were all wearing hats, we needed a picture. Obviously. 

& then that thing happened where we were walking around Whole Foods and suddenly I was hot and dizzy, vomiting into a trash can, and then Rick pushed me around in the wheel chair the employees brought over. Pregnancy is so glamorous. 

 After Sarasota we got to have the Smith family visit us on their way to Disney! We love them!

I intended on taking cute belly pics once we announced...you'll see by the end of this post that while I have been diligent in taking a weekly picture, they are far from cute!!! 

18 weeks

CHIRLEYYYYY came to see us!!! It was quick but so sweet to see this special lady (& Joey)

Then I had a work trip to Atlanta and luckily the doc got to come with me! We visited the Dwarf House, Chick-fil-a Home Office Tour (HIGHLY recommended! Free, so fun, and we got a free sandwich coupon, ruler, cow, and cookie!), and the aquarium (nice and big...though we aren't in any rush to go back. It was so busy!). 

Before the aquarium, we ate some delicious sweet potato pancakes from highland bakery - & took a cheese&fruit pastry to enjoy later!

This penguin was funny. It kept standing there with its eyes shut and then would open one and take a peek every few seconds. 

Japanese Spider Crabs...or something..creepy.

Piranhas!

 

jellyfish scare me but they sure are neat!!!

March was a little less busy than February, at least socially. Work wise it was INSANE for both of us.

lunch break meet up!

 Ricky did find the time to build the garden we've been wanting ever since we moved in almost a year ago. I love it & it's growing beautifully!

We found out that our baby is a BOY! So surprised. Among other things, how sick I was and the fact that the baby was being so stubborn during the anatomy ultrasound, Rick and most people were convinced it was a girl. When we saw otherwise, Rick literally jumped out of his chair and said "it's a BOY!" and I can only describe pure joy on his face. Not that he wouldn't have been happy and excited with a baby girl but BOY oh BOY was he excited. I had brought cupcakes, frosting, and food coloring so that I could quickly assemble some reveal cupcakes for each of us to take to work. Tools and space were limited in the back seat of my car but we made it work! 

blue for boy! My boys!

That night we had dinner with Rick's parents as they passed through town and our good friends from Pensacola, the Eubanks, arrived! We ate good food & went alligator sight seeing. It was so good to see them before they leave Florida - we sure are going to miss them! 

19 weeks. Yes, this was seriously the best one we got.

Jet asked me to make Toy Story cookies for her 1 year old's birthday party. I decided I never want to make cookies again haha but I was glad she liked them :)

 Luckily my PITAs were coming to town so I didn't have to overnight the cookies. I hadn't seen them in YEARS and Jess just got back from living in Bahrain! We picked up right where we left off and got to bump out prego bellies. They are family!

Rick worked every stinkin weekend so I occupied my time with things like this little doodle I sent to one of my best friends, Kathy. Her boyfriend is in medical school and I wanted her to remember Match Day and all the excitement and newness that comes with it! We were in those shoes just a year ago!

21 weeks.

 Not to boast but I made probably the best banana bread EVER. The doc was obsessed.

We started off April with a much needed trip to the temple: 

an Orlando favorite

& we topped the excellent day off with a frosted lemonade from Chick-fil-a.
A most perfect day if I do say so myself.

Woo! Sorry for that overload and that it is not ending there...but on this special Easter day I just can't help but share... 

“Love was exhibited in every conscious, walking moment of His mortal life. Love flowed from every pore, every thought, every act. As naturally and regularly as we seek air, He sought to bless.” 

- the infinite atonement

"...I speak of the loneliest journey ever made and the unending blessings it brought to all in the human family. I speak of the Savior’s solitary task of shouldering alone the burden of our salvation...essentially His lonely journey back to His Father continued without comfort or companionship...It was required, indeed it was central to the significance of the Atonement, that this perfect Son who had never spoken ill nor done wrong nor touched an unclean thing had to know how the rest of humankind—us, all of us—would feel... finally and mercifully, it was 'finished.' Against all odds and with none to help or uphold Him, Jesus of Nazareth, the living Son of the living God, restored physical life where death had held sway and brought joyful, spiritual redemption out of sin, hellish darkness, and despair. 

One of the great consolations of this Easter season is that because Jesus walked such a long, lonely path utterly alone, we do not have to do so... —may we declare ourselves to be more fully disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, not in word only and not only in the flush of comfortable times but in deed and in courage and in faith, including when the path is lonely and when our cross is difficult to bear. This Easter week and always, may we stand by Jesus Christ “at all times and in all things, and in all places that [we] may be in, even until death,” for surely that is how He stood by us when it was unto death..." 

- Jeffrey R. Holland

I cannot adequately express how grateful I am for the Savior, for the Atonement, and for the INNUMERABLE blessings that come by and through His selfless act. Most notably for me the blessing that families can be together forever. "...family is the center of life. It is the key to eternal happiness." 

& a link to a song that just pulls on my heart strings: https://youtu.be/sqEA-nxcD9c

Happy Easter, friends!