California, Here I Come!

Last week I flew home for a quick trip to visit my family before baby Grady comes. It was so much fun to hang out with my mom and sister, Stacie (the only one of my siblings that still lives at home) and to see some of my friends.

Dinner with the Family

My parent's home is a construction zone right now so we had plenty of chances to go out to eat! They are re-doing the kitchen, family room, breakfast nook, etc and so it was a little bit of a mess! To make matters worse, from 10AM to 9PM one day we had no power so it was kind of a tough day, but we all met up for dinner and had a fun night anyway!

Mitch (Stacie's boyfriend), Stacie, and Me

My brother Mark and his wife Shana

Yorba Linda Baby Shower

The fabulous ladies from my home ward threw a beautiful baby shower for me. A big thank you to Sunee Madsen, Leslee Grigoruk and Holli Brown for all you did to make it a lovely day!

Did we mention that we've named our unborn child?

(By the way, I don't want to hear about it if you don't like that name...seriously people, keep it to yourselves!)

Yummy brunch food :)

I wish this picture wasn't all "glare-y" but it was the only one we got with all the girls.

The Doty Girls

Kathy, Porscha (bridesmaid and high school buddy), and Liz

Shana, me, and my friend Ashli

Me and Stacie

Me and Shana

Leslee had the cutest baby matching game...so much fun!

Yes, she does!

My mom's gift (among other things, of course!) was to decorate the baby's room. In August she flew in to paint the baby's room and ever since then she has been working on the bedding. We picked out the fabric together, but I didn't get to see the finished product until my shower.

This is the bumper...I love it!

Here is the hand stitched quilt...how cute is that?

And the back is my favorite part - minky!

Thank you to everyone for coming to my shower! It was so wonderful :)

In-N-Out

A must for every trip to California!

Sunnyvale Baby Shower

I have the best friends! Jene, Jen, and Karen worked very hard to throw my shower and it was absolutely gorgeous! It is just too bad that the weather was so crummy! There was torrential rain, thunder and lightning, and even tornado warnings throughout the metroplex....kind of a crazy day, but I guess it was appropriate for a SHOWER (knee slapper, I know!)

They decorated using greens and black...even the food was color appropriate (and delicious!)

See the pictures behind me? Jen came over to my house and took lots of cute pictures of me and made the cutest sign-in book. Thanks, Jen! I love it!

Opening presents :)

Opening the much anticipated present from my mother-in-law...a box FILLED with adorable homemade blankets and burp cloths - thank you Artis!! I love them!

Me and my great neighbor, Betty

Me and Karen

A big thank you to Jen for hosting us at her beautiful home and to Jene and Karen for all their wonderful touches. Another big thank you to the girls who braved the weather to come! You're the best!

San Antonio part 3

Sea World

On Saturday, we woke up and had breakfast at the most amazing pancake house - Magnolia Pancake Haus - if you are looking for breakfast in San Antonio, we highly recommend it!

After a late breakfast, we headed on over to Sea World and rushed to get seats at the first show, Azul, featuring dolphins, beluga whales, and water acrobatics. It was a really great way to start out the day!

Next, we headed over to the Shamu show. We were a little disappointed when we found out that the trainers no longer get in the water with the orcas, for obvious reasons, but it was still a great show.

(Please don't make the logical comparison between me and the killer whales!)

Even though Sea World has several rides, Kevin only went on one (I think he felt bad that I couldn't go too)...can you find him in the picture?

Some of the shows were a little too hokey for us, but we still had fun.

Waiting for the "Cannery Row Caper Show" featuring sea lions and a walrus.

After several hours of rushing to and from shows, Kevin and I decided a nap was in order, so we went back to our hotel, crashed, and came back for the "Howl-o-Scream" festivities in the evening.

We waited in line for the Nightmare Forest for about an hour, but it was worth it!

Note that I am pointing to the warning for pregnant women...I am such a rule breaker!

Do you want to hear the saddest story? So, we waited in line for the haunted forest for about an hour and in front of us in line was a couple with a small little boy, probably about 4 or 5 years old. Well, we didn't really think anything of it until we started into the forest. The dad was carrying the little boy and as you enter the forest you have to go through a tunnel with black inflatable walls that push on you from either side, inducing a claustrophobic attack from most people. Well, the little boy was rightfully and obviously scared and he started pleading with his parents to go back.

They continued on through and then in the most pathetic and heartbreaking little voice he turned and asked us "Can somebody please help me! Please!!" I just melted. It was the saddest thing! He wasn't crying or screaming, just pleading in a scared little voice to the strangers behind him. He knew that his parents obviously didn't love him as they brought him in there in the first place, so he was asking us and there was really nothing we could do but utter encouragement like "You're going to be okay little guy!" "It's almost over" "Just close your eyes!"

It was just so sad! His parents get the bad parent award for sure!

After the forest and deciding not to call child protective services, we ran over to the "Jack is Back" Shamu show which was WAY cooler than the earlier show. The music was great and the whales did a lot more tricks. Even though we had to sit in the splash zone, it was totally worth it!

What a great weekend!

San Antonio part 2

The San Antonio Riverwalk

After eating the most amazing lunch ever, Kevin and I weren't exactly hungry, but we took a bus down to the Riverwalk and had a lot of fun walking around and checking out all the cool restaurants along the river.

We even took a boat cruise that reminded us a lot of the ones we used to take in St. Petersburg, Russia oh so long ago when we were facilitators for the BYU study abroad program. It was so much fun to putter along the river and float under the beautiful old bridges.

Summer of 2006...crazy, huh?

Unfortunately, the boat was extremely crowded and I started to have a minor panic attack and once we were off the boat I was more than a little dizzy, hot, and nauseous and all the "cool restaurants" turned into stinky yucky smelly places that sell foul looking food. We ended up eating far away from anything too malodorous at an extremely overpriced restaurant that didn't have very good food. Oh well...at least our lunch was amazing!

San Antonio part 1

The Salt Lick

If you are a long time follower of our blog, you know that Kevin and I are amateur foodies...we love going out to cool restaurants, finding local dives, and cooking together. You also know that Kevin and I will go to great and somewhat embarrassing lengths to procure yummy food.

Well, when we first moved to Dallas over a year ago, we saw this BBQ place featured on the Food Network called the Salt Lick and we knew at that moment that our life would never be complete if we did not go eat there. Fortunately, this BBQ heaven is just outside of Austin, making this an attainable goal. So, for over a year we have been planning on driving down and eating there (about 3.5 hour drive) but it just hadn't happened.

Yes, you guessed it - I can now die a happy woman because last weekend we did it! Kevin got some time off work last minute so we planned a quick little trip to San Antonio via The Salt Lick. We left home Friday morning in time to have lunch at the best BBQ place EVER, ate, drove the rest of the way to San Antonio, checked in to our hotel, wandered down to the Riverwalk, spent the next day at Sea World, and then drove home on Sunday in time to eat lunch at the Salt Lick again. Yes, it was that good that we wanted to make sure that we ate there twice!

There are now 3 locations of this awesome restaurant - the original location in Driftwood, TX (20 miles outside Austin in the sticks!), Round Rock, TX, and at the airport

We went, of course, to the original location in the boonies!

What makes their BBQ so tasty is the open, real wood fire pit they use to cook the meat right inside the restaurant. Yum!

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this...seriously, do you have a square to spare? (Seinfeld, anyone?) They REALLY don't want to run out of toilet paper!

Happy Halloween part 2

Witches Night Out

During our last year of law school, my friend Kelly threw the most adorable Halloween party called "Witches Night Out" complete with food, games, food, decorated witches hats, and more food! We had such a fun time, I decided to throw my own this year and it turned out great!

I made chili and had hot apple cider and everyone else brought sweets and other yummy dishes to share...everything was wonderful!

Not exactly the "sexy witch" that most women dress up as on Halloween, but hey! I am 8 months pregnant!

Michelle, Krista, and Meaghan

Lynn, Marsha, Joan, and Kate

Heather, Michelle, Jene, Jen, Samantha, Krista, and Shannon

Shannon, Heather, Jen, Samantha, Michelle, Kaitey, and Jene

The winners!

Heather won BOTH the "Which Witch is Which?" trivia game and the "Most Creative Hat" award while Samantha took away the "Most Glamorous Hat" award

All the fun tights!!