But Baby It's Cold Outside!

Or rather, inside! Last week we ventured over to the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine to visit their ICE exhibit and it was freaking AWESOME! The Gaylord Hotel is a massive resort and ever year they deck it out in holiday lights, decorations, garlands, and exhibits, one of them being the amazing ICE exhibit of sculpted and colored ice crafted by artisans flown in from China. The theme this year? A Charlie Brown Christmas...one of the best Christmas specials ever! Of course, as you would imagine, ice is COLD and to keep it that way they keep the exhibit at just above 0 degrees. Thankfully, they provide every patron with a warm winter parka to stay toasty warm (or realistically, just warm enough that you can make it through the exhibit without freezing to death!!).

Steve and Cody getting their parkas on...Cody is not a fan!

Waiting to go inside

Mike and baby Dylan (isn't he just so adorable in his little parka?)

Just the girls...

Cody has still not "warmed" up to this whole ice thing...

But he really liked the ice slide

As did Kevin!

At the end of the exhibit was a beautiful Nativity scene

Kevin getting in some last minute baby-holding practice with our nephew Dylan

Inside the exhibit they had a cute mini train town...this picture is just for my father-in-law, Lionel

Us Texans love our star!

In front of their little River Walk

In the Atrium was another "Tiny Town" (how I miss Arrested Development!)

Cody was not so thrilled at first to take this picture...

But he quickly got over it!

If you are going to be in the DFW area around Christmas, I would HIGHLY recommend the exhibit!

Another Reason to be Thankful

It's been five years since I was married to this guy:

And I love him more and more every day!

Happy 5 years!

11-25-2005 - FOREVER!!

Turkey Day 2010

We had the best Thanksgiving this year! Not only were Karen, Mike, Kate and Dylan with us, but my brother Steve and his wife Tracy and their son Cody drove all the way from the Florida panhandle to celebrate one of my favorite holidays with us. Of course I forgot to take lots of pictures, so here's what I got!

Cody helping Dad carve the turkey and Tracy stirring the gravy.

Steve is a much better cook than I am so I turned the turkey duties over to him...plus, I've never mastered the art of gravy making, so I left that to his care as well. They turned out great!

Cody and Kate didn't really get along that well...I think Cody had a crush on the much older and wiser Kate and she was none too thrilled with the attention of a younger man (or maybe just THIS younger man)! It was really cute to watch him chase after her (literally!)

Cody and his favorite pregnant aunt!

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!