Before Valentine's Day

These picture are not from Valentine's  Day. They are from the days preceding it. It is always fun to anticipate a fun Holiday. Here are some of my favorite pictures leading up to the big day.

Here is Caleb after being picked up from preschool and going through his bag of Valentines and Candy.

He even shared a sucker with me. Then he took my picture with great skill.

Here is Justin and Jo Jo at my aunt Joanie's house for a big feast with lots of family.

Here is the decorated table at the feast.

On Valentine's Eve Justin and I went to my parents house for dinner, babysitting and cookie baking. Here is my dad and Jo Jo.

Justin taking a big bite of a heart sugar cookie we made.

Look at all those crazy cookies

I have no pictures of actual Valentine's Day, but here is how the day went...

Justin and I slept in 

Pancake breakfast at home

Watched old tv shows

Lunch at Islands

Browsed at Borders

Watched more old tv shows

Dinner and icecream

Bedtime

Justin barfing all night long

Yes, Justin finished the day off barfing and being sick. It was so sad.

How We Found Out

Here's the little story about how I found out I was pregnant and how I told Justin.

The background information is that this is our second pregnancy. We lost the first pregnancy at 7 weeks and had been waiting 3 months to try again. We, apparently, didn't try hard enough to wait because we got pregnant again about 2.5 months into our waiting period. So, that made our new pregnancy a little surprise... a very happy and welcome surprise.

Justin had no idea what was coming, but I suspected just a little. The day my period was supposed to come, I felt like my period was not on it's way. I nervously got out the 99 cent store preggo test I bought and tried it out. The results confused me even more. Below is a pic of the test that confused me (It's a typical i phone blurry close up pic). The line was so light, I was sure that it was a mistake. I honestly thought it was a water mark where the results normally show up. I called Blythe, my pro pregnancy friend, to help me clear up the matter. I emailed it to her and she was sure it was positive. 

I didn't want to get my hopes up until I tried a test that was expensive. I got out my brand name EPT and tried it when I got home from work. Waiting for preggo results kills me. It is so nerve wracking. So, the expensive test gave me the same result... a faint line. I immediately started thinking of cool ways I could tell Justin since he had no idea. He would be home from work soon so I ran around the house trying to figure out how to present him with the news. I got out our little piglet from D-land that I got right after my miscarriage and tied the preggo test in his arms. I stuffed it in a bag. When justin got home, I told him I got him a gift and he willingly accepted it. He opened it up and looked at me with a confused face and said "Really?". He was excited and shocked at the same time.

So, that's the story. I love hearing people's stories of how they found out and all the cool ways you can tell a dad. Right now I am 14 weeks and counting. I am so happy that it has gone well so far. Currently Justin calls our baby 'Lemon' since thats just about our baby's size.

How To Eat an Orange

This is how justin eats an orange. 

He said he was going to have an orange. I was proud that he made a healthy choice. I walked past later and this is what I saw... Oranges on a plate covered in powdered sugar. 

I am not really sure how to convince Justin that this is a bad idea other than putting my hands on my hips, shaking my head and maybe explaining how the glycemic index works. Some day he will get it.

Baby's First Pillow

My sweet friend Blythe gave our baby this pillow for Christmas. Not only is it the cutest pillow ever, but she hand made it herself. She sewed and embroidered it with our little baby in mind. It is so beautiful and special. Blythe said that the image on the pillow came from some believing that they can see a crouched bunny shape on the surface of the moon. 

I can't wait for our baby to sleep with this pillow.

Becca's Cookie Decorating Birthday

My friend Becca had a birthday party the other night. Her party included a cookie decorating contest. This brought out the competitive artist in everyone.

Justin and Andrew, Becca's Husband, were the judges. They came up with creative awards for everyone.

Here were all of the incredible cookie participants. The entries ranged from mini professional b-day cake, Dharma initiative hatch, turtle beach scene, and Sandals church building.

I made the bird. My award was "Best use of a plate". Hmmm, I think that award could have been used for any contestant since they all used plates...

This volcano entry got "Best use of time". This was appropriate because he put this together in 5 minutes while the rest of us worked on ours for more than an hour.

This is Becca and her "Best in Show" cookie creation. I am very impressed with her creative caterpillar.

CBU Art Show: The People

Here are some more pictures from the art show. I had many wonderful family members attend to check out my art. 

Below is a picture of my dad, uncle and grandma as they deeply contemplate this piece.

Grace and Ian are pictured here discussing the configuration of the photo frames.

Here is Jo Jo giving me a thumbs up for a successful show (thumbs up not in frame)

Caleb got his nerd glasses out so he could fit in with the rest of the art nerds at the show.

Grace was so excited to be at the show that she forgot there was a cup of water in her hand and she splashed some water on these pieces of ceramic art. 

She tried wiping it with her hand, but brought out some napkins to finish the job right.

These are some of the people that made the art show special.

CBU Alumni Art Show

I had the opportunity to be a part of the Alumni Art Show for CBU. I knew about it about 3 months ago. I intended to make the most of this opportunity and paint new paintings for this show and make it special. That would have been nice, but I have been busy and I practically forgot about it over the Christmas season. I forgot about it until about 2 weeks ago and I decided I would just submit some of the art I already had that I have painted since my graduation. It turned out to be fine. I submitted 5 paintings and it was nice to see them displayed in a gallery (It's different than seeing them hanging on the wall of my garage).

The opening was last wednesday and it was a pretty good turn out (mostly thanks to my loving family).

"The Lily". This is a detail painting of a lily I painted on the larger Jesus painting I did at Sandals Church. (Sorry if that explanation is confusing).

"Love Without Love". This painting is about God loving all of us, but only some respond to him with love.

"Unveiled". I used my friend Amy Chapman as a model. This exemplifies everyone having a veil over their eyes that only God can remove. 

"Fall Of Man". At the art show I was asked to speak impromptu about this painting to some of the current art students and other people attending the show. Speaking is not my talent so I was hoping to avoid it, but it ended up being fun and working out well. I explained the symbolism, which I have a whole blog dedicated to... you can check it out here. The basic explanation of this painting is showing the broken relationship between God and man because man decided to worship created things instead of the creator.

I submitted one more painting, but I forgot to take a picture of it. The show was quaint and fun. I am glad I was part of it and am thankful to my family for hanging out with me and supporting me. 

If you would like to see the show, it will be open until February 21st in the Metcalf Gallery which is upstairs in the Wallace Theater on CBU campus.