It's a......

The one day we were in town between trips to Colorado and St. Louis (next post) we were able to find out the gender of our baby. We are happy to announce that in March we will be welcoming into our family a baby 

GIRL!!!

We are thrilled. Owen was not surprised when I confirmed what he's been saying for months. We are excited for the frills and glitter to flow, but we are trying to control ourselves at this point. My dear friend from St. Louis gave us these darling little socks to wet our appetite for the little girl that will be gracing us with her presence soon. 

Crazy October!

It has been a CRAZY month for our family. We have been all over the map this month and have some great news to share. We started the month with a job interview in Denver with Kaiser Permanente. The interview went great, we were able to see some dear friends from St. Louis, I got to visit Colorado Springs where I served my mission 5 years ago, and we fell in love with Denver. Not even a week later Ryan got a call from the chairman of the department who said "we will cancel all other interviews if you will accept the job!" What a blessing. So, next August we will be putting down roots in Denver, Colorado. This is very exciting for our family, but definitely came with PLENTY of tears and heartache for me. I was so looking forward to going back to the East Coast and being close to my family again. But ultimately, we feel like this is where God is leading us and wants us to be. You can't go wrong with that, huh?!?! Ryan will be working 40 hours a week/4 days a week. This is the least amount he's worked in 12 years. We are so ecstatic to have Ryan around so much and to have a "normal" family life together. All the pain will eventually be worth it!

Here are some pictures of our trip out west.

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs

Littleton Historic Museum

Texas State Fair

Today Owen and I went on a special adventure to the Texas State Fair. It was wonderfully predictable and enjoyable. It had everything one could expect from a fair...just a LOT more than I've ever seen in one place before. There were rides, cheesey carnival games with overstuffed prizes that are impossible to win, all the fried food one could gorge themselves with, livestock, a fancy car show, and plenty of people watching (including a young pregnant girl who was wearing one of those bandana shirts that tie in the back from the early 2000's that hardly covered her bulging belly). It was a wonderful day!!!

 Big Tex (the Icon of the Texas State Fair)

 Fried Frito Pie Bites 

If you're from the West you'll know what Frito Pie is, basically chili served on top of Frito chips. This tastey treats are balls of chili rolled in crushed Fritos then breaded and deep fried. My friend said they were wonderful, so I had to try them. They were tastey with a little sour cream and salsa on them, but after 5 fritters I was done. I'm glad I ate them, but don't feel like I need to do so again. 

Owen enjoying a Frito Pie bite.

Fried Oreos, my favorite fair food!

And in addition to these two yummy delights I also had two corn dogs, one at the beginning of the day and one on our way out of the gates! The second one was to honor my mother who ate her very first corn dog at the Texas State Fair when she went to SMU. I'm hoping that eating this much fried food at once will cure my pregnancy cravings for fried food. My heart can't take too much more. 

The fair is largely sponsored or associated with the 4-H and FFA clubs of Texas and they has several displays and activities set up to educate kids on how food is produced, what products we enjoy from different animals like chickens, sheep, cows, goats, pigs, etc. And the youth in these clubs were also there with barns and barns full of these animals that they are showing this week. It was such a good experience for Owen, who has lived his whole life in the middle of a city! I felt like I was truly providing good educational experiences for him by taking him to these different demonstrations and activities. 

How Food is Grown

Picking apples

Watering the apple trees

 Owen and Ford (friend from school)

 Planting seeds

The fruit of his labor.

Gathering eggs from the chicken house

Owen shows off his treasure. 

Learning how to milk a cow.

 Owen discovers what his lunch money will buy someday.

Farmer Owen

Petting Zoo

 Camel

 Bison

 Owen LOVES Zebras

 The craziest 4 horned sheep I've ever seen. 

 Sweet sleeping little piggies. 

 The MOST aggressive feeding I've ever seen. Owen said with concern, "Mom, they're eating their mommy!" I then explained that is how they eat and that Mommy will feed the baby the same way, but not quite so fiercely. Just watching it made my boobs ache as I remembered those first few weeks of nursing Owen. Yikes! Not sure I'll ever be ready to go back to that again. 

Playing on the Farm

 Putting the cows in their house.

Giving the cows some "loves and kisses" before bed.

Dog Trick Show with Dobermans 

Rare albino Doberman

 Receiving sweet doggy kisses.

Cow Milking Demo

Phew....that's it. This is how our day ended.