Where to begin...

Our time at home in MN was much too wonderful! We felt blessed beyond belief with the showers for our new bambino and the fun times we got to spend with our family and friends! It was hard to leave, but exciting, knowing that coming back to WA meant we are that much closer to meeting our little sweetie.

I truly don't know how to describe how wonderful all of our showers were. I felt so lucky to have people that love us so much put all that work into just a few hours for us!

Here are (probably too many) pictures from our amazing trip home!


Shower at Melissa's house! Melissa and Annie did an awesome job! We had SO much fun! It was so great to be with my friends. Melissa added so many thoughtful touches, I am so fortunate to have such good friends.










Shower with the Wetzells. It ended up being quite the eventful night! A really strong storm came through and it put us in the basement for a little bit. It took out their power line and their big glass table by the pool. We seemed to have fun anyway!





Weekend at the Wetzell cabin!











Another highlight of our trip was seeing the Twins stadium for the first time!!!




Fun at the Pahl's!






Ben slapping those goofy mosquitos...story of our life while we were in MN! :)


We spent a morning watching the girls get their horses ready and Gabby showing us her skills on her new pony!










Here is Lauren being "Lauren"!!!

Shower at Emily's! Emily, Trisha and Mom did an unbelievable job! I love you guys so much! Everything was so extremely thoughtful and of course we couldn't make it through the shower without a few tears...probably because of Emily's sweet words and her love of crying:)









We already miss everyone like crazy! Thank you to everyone for making our time home so wonderful! We love you all!
“Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11

Fun Weekends

Two weekends ago we headed down to Portland to celebrate Haley's graduation. We had no idea the FUN we were getting ourselves into! We spent our days with the Scharn and Thul families...two "MN" families that made us feel right at home!
Here are a few pictures from the great trip!

Pam carving a watermelon into a volleyball. As Ben says, she has a gift for those sorts of things. I wish I would have taken a picture when it was done with all the fruit in it, bummer.






This weekend we headed down to Burlington, WA where Ben and his friend Justin ran a 1/2 marathon. We hadn't had a "WA" weather day in weeks. Meaning cold and rainy all day, but of course that is how Saturday was. They still did amazing! They ran great times!

Their legs were full of mud after racing out on some bluck roads! :)

Ben even got to take a ribbon home for placing 4th in his age group...hilarious, but awesome!

Ben was so glad he got to train with Justin and run the race with him because today was his last day in WA. Yesterday we had a "farewell" party for him, which was a blast but we are so sad to see him go.

We are coming home or I should say coming to MN in a little over a week and we CAN NOT wait! We pray you all are doing wonderful! We miss you and love you!

This verse has been on my heart all weekend, so I had to share it.
"Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." Colossians 3:12

Gracious

We had our first baby shower this past weekend. Ben even got to experience it with me since it was a couples shower. I wasn't sure if Ben would like being part of a shower but I think he LOVED it! He was really into the games we played! That may have been because he got to smell dirty diapers! :) We played the game where they melt candy bars into the diapers and you have to guess what kind it is. We came in 2nd...bummer!

The shower was so wonderful! We feel so blessed to have friends that took so much time making our first shower, for our first bambino, so special.

Abby and I!

Dustin and Kyah! Kyah is who I get to play with every day...isn't she the sweetest thing ever!

The Terpenings went above and beyond to make the day great! AMAZING food...seriously unbelievable! Can you spy Kyah in the background?! :)

We had so much fun with all our friends. They were all much too generous! We were, and are, so thankful!



One more picture...here I am at almost 29 weeks!

We hope you are all staying cool! Holy Toledo, we can't believe how hot it has been there. Just so you all know there was a 40 degree difference from our temperature to yours today! Usually I would love that warmth, but I have to say that being prego has made me appreciate the cooler temperatures here!:) We love you and miss you all! We CAN NOT wait to head to MN in just a few short weeks!

"Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

Ketchup

Did you think I was going to be writing about ketchup?

Nope, I am just being a dork! This post is not going to be about the tomato based yummy condiment, but about me playing catch up on our blog! Oh boy, will Ben give me a hard time when he reads that! :)

As usual, somehow Ben and I seem to keep busy, but with what I am never sure! I feel like this time of year just starts the busy season for everyone.

We have been working on getting the nursery ready, which has been so much fun to do together! We have all our big items now except for a dresser. We have been patient in finding all the perfect things, for of course exceptional deals. We are not cheap or frugal...I like to say that we just make wise choices in that area!:) When our little sweetie's room is complete I will post pictures AND all of our great deals!

Here is a picture of Ben (well, just his hands) sanding down our glider chair we found at an antique store here in Lynden.

As for my pregnancy I have been feeling amazing! I am so thankful! I have been able to continue running and my body feels great. I definitely get tired at night, and I know Ben would most certainly agree with that statement! Other than that I truly praise God that I have loved every second of my pregnancy! I don't want the time to go so fast, but I am so stinking excited to meet our little bambino...and Ben would agree with that too! :) So, here is me at almost 28 weeks.

As I sit here writing this, Ben has just finished his first cross country ski race! How weird that Ben raced cross country skis, right?! Well, for the second year in a row he is competing in the Ski to Sea race, which is a huge deal in this area! I wrote about it last year, but if you want to read real information about it you can go here. There are olympic athletes that race, but of course not ALL of the athletes are that great! There are 500 teams and many of them just do it for fun! I know Ben is going to do amazing since he always seems to be successful with those things!

I will leave you with our new favorite homemade treat. It is this amazingly yummy cinnamon swirl bread. I was thinking about/craving:) the cinnamon bread we used to eat as kids in my Grandma and Grandpa's church basement, so I found this recipe which ended up being a lot different but SO good!!!!

We love you and miss you all so much! We pray that you are all enjoying your Memorial Day weekend!

“But from everlasting to everlasting the LORD’s love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children’s children— with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.” Psalm 103:17-18

Benny's Birthday and a Few More Things!

We had so much fun celebrating Ben's birthday yesterday. Even though we both had to work, we still seemed to make it special! I LOVE birthdays, especially Benny's. One of my favorite things to do is make, and buy him many, many of his favorite foods and treats. I didn't take pictures, but Ben told me my meal was blog worthy, I guess that is a pretty nice compliment!

I haven't been doing a great job of staying up to date with belly pictures, but here are the most recent ones. "Almost" 24 and 25 weeks in these pictures!
24 weeks
25 weeks
Now, we KNOW that spring has definitely sprung in Minnesota...especially today! Geesh Louish, I can't believe how warm it is there today. To say I am a jealous is an understatement! It definitely isn't as warm here, but it is slowly getting nicer! The trees and flowers are definitely popping here, so I just had to dress up our table with some flowers from one of our bushes!

Not much else here. Since the weather has been getting nicer we have been trying to get outside more. Ben has been trying to teach me to be a golfer by having me go along with him to the course, which I love. I bogeyed my first (and only) hole I ever golfed, so I was pretty darn proud of myself! I hope I can pick up on some of his amazing skills. I will bring my camera next time we go because there are some beautiful views!

We hope you all enjoy your beautiful weather in the Midwest today! We love you and miss you all so much!

"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace." Acts 20:24