Fun in Park City

I am a little late on posting this. Eric and I went to meet his family in Park City over the 24th of July. So I am a little late on posting. You can see in the pictures how fun it was. We met his family there and ate lunch and then went to the Alpine Slides. It was fun. We then went to the hotel and played Spoono and watched a concert that was held in the courtyard. Jacob, Eric's brother, made us laugh because he went all out and even joined the crowd. He met some good friends there too!

Excitement over Avery

As you all know, Eric and I are expecting our little girl December 30. I believe she will arrive in the first week of Jan. It is so nice now that I know what to prepare for and it is so much fun. We decided to name her Avery. We have started looking at all the fun baby clothes, cribs, and strollers. My sister Amber and my sister-in-law Jen have already given her CUTE outfits and I just got all excited. Eric has been so cute lately. He will send me texts asking how his girls are doing. He is just as excited. He is going to be smitten when he sees her and he will never want to let her go. I am more than half way through the pregnancy and so far it has been really good. I never had morning sickness. I do get tired here and there but that has been it so far. I just wish she was here already and my anticipation is going to get worse. I just thought I would let all of you know how we are doing. Oh, and I am very excited for fall. It is my favorite time of the year, Halloween, pretty leafs, my birthday, my anniversary, Thanksgiving, and then it starts to snow!

Daddy's Girl

Looks like I'm going to have to ask for that raise now.

As many of you already know, we are having a girl! For some reason Ashley said that I have to make this post. It has been very fun picturing how my life will be in the next couple of years being the only male in the house. I'm really looking forward to being with my girls. I really hope she looks like Ashley because I don't exactly have very many girlish features that I could pass on.

Everything looked great in the ultrasound. The baby was laying on her side so the tech couldn't take all the pictures and measurements that she needed to. We go back on Sept. 5th for a routine checkup and we'll keep you all updated.

The other night Ashley was watching the movie "Bring It On." I think it was the 17th one they've made and it was 17 times as bad as the first one. It then hit me that these types of movies are going to make a constant showing at my house in the next few years.

I know that this little girl will be a blessing for us. She's going to be mommy's little helper and daddy's little girl. We've had fun picking out some baby clothes and getting ready for her. It didn't take long for me to track down a Phoenix Suns outfit for my little girl. She'll be in my lap cheering with me for our Suns next season.

Can I have a drum roll please?

That drum roll will only last for about another 10 hours because that is when we are going to find out whether a certain body part on our baby has developed or not. We are excited. I'm too excited to even work on my homework. I've been distracted with how I will rub it in the faces of all those who voted "girl" in our poll. All 10 of you. I must clarify to all that I will be just as happy if we find out we are having a girl. I've had a few people threaten me (Ashley being one) that they would tell my daughter when she got older that I didn't want her. My response? I didn't want her to come just yet because I wanted to save up even more money so that I could give her everything she wanted. I guess regardless of when our girl comes, she'll be spoiled nonetheless.

Someone told me the other day that they thought there was a 60% chance that we'd have a girl. And the additional 10% comes from where? Whatever happened to my 50-50 chances? Although I do think he was a BYU grad which could explain his faulty reasoning. While on that subject I should also mention that any BYU/Jazz clothing given to my kid will be immediately donated to Deseret Industries. There is one right down the street from where we live so don't worry that I'd be going out of my way.

We are excited though. Ashley is starting to get a little pooch and I think she looks so cute. I'll have to get a picture of the prego up soon so you can all agree. We'll let you all know tomorrow the big news, through one form of communication or another. I will be accepting congratulations in the form of checks, gift cards and straight cash. Just so you know.

More pics of the 24th in Meadow

Mom with Houston
Meadow fire truck spraying the crowd
Jen, Houston, and Derek
Me, Tiff and her 4 week old son, and Jenny ( my friends from grade school)
Dad and Amber making a Houston sandwich

If you are looking at this and not having seen the post before you need to stop and look at the previous post.

24th of July

My mom and dad eating their tin foil dinners
Hailie and Houston on the couch at Grandma Beckstrand
Hailie on the float
Josh, Annette, and Hailie

Ok everyone! This post is going to be a long one so I might have to make it into two posts. For the 24th of July, Eric and I went to Meadow for a fun-filled few days. Our first night we all gathered outside to eat our tinfoil dinners that my dad made in the "Fiesta Fun" fire pit. Then Eric, Josh, and Derek sat outside and played some video games on the blow up screen. The next day arrived and we just hung around and helped my parents get ready for the town dinner. We wrapped about 500 potatoes in foil! The boys went golfing early that morning and had a lot of fun. We put my niece and nephew on the float my mom made for the town parade. It was so cute to see them on that. It reminds me of when I did that as a kid. Liz, my parents' neighbor, rode on it also with her grandson. The title of the float was" Grandkids are a Real Trip" and it took on a Hawaiin theme. The whole parade lasted about five minutes and then everyone went over to the park. This may seem really funny to most of you, but I love it. Amber had her friend Lindsey come home too. We had so much fun as a family and being there all together.

July 4th Madness

Eric and I went to Meadow for the small town festivities for the 4th of July. This was my first time back in over three years and this was Eric's first time to experience the small town fun. The night we got home, my mom's side of the family was over at the house and we had a fun dinner, snow cones, and an outdoor movie on my dad's blow up movie screen. It was a lot of fun. My mom loves having family over and being a great entertainer. The morning of July 4th rolled in and the boys ( Derek, Eric, Dad, and Grandpa) went golfing EARLY. While the men were gone, the women (me, Amb, and Mom) got ready for the day and headed to Fillmore for the Parade. We met up with the Tuttle fam there and watched the lamest parade Fillmore has had (at least the ones I remember). Joni, Ambi, and Me had a picture taken and Joni now has brown hair not blonde. She looks good either way. The one good part of it was my Uncle Steve on the Beckstrand's side danced with some friends from his ward. He is really good and should continue with dance!! Then we went back home to Meadow to meet up with the men and then headed back to Fillmore to the Iverson's house for the traditional Beckstrand family BBQ. Uncle Steve makes the BEST turkey steaks. It was so good to catch up with everyone. After that, we headed back to Meadow to relax and wait til dark to head back to Fillmore for the most amazing fireworks show ever! Eric and I posed for a quick picture. He loved how all the people just lay out blankets and chairs on the baseball fields and the fireworks are lit right above you. I told him that ash will fall down and hit people and one year it burned a hole in my blanket. He laughed when we watched as ash fell and hit the people around us. At the very end, the last firework just let everyone have it. Ash fell like rain and it hit us and everyone else. Eric loved it! He can't wait til next year. Now it is on to the 24th and we will have a post for that.