Surprise!!!

We have had a busy but fun couple of weeks. A few weekends ago Andy, Autumn and Briley were in town for a wedding. We got to spend Friday night relaxing on the deck eatting Mexican, sipping margaritas, chatting and of course, playing with the babies. It was nice because they come to town often but typically it is for Card's games and we are rushed or it is with the rest of the family and it is a full house.

The next weekend was the 4th and we celebrated by going to the Cards-Cubs game with most of the family. Everyone was in town except Amanda, Todd and Carson. The most fun part was taking Bella to her first Cardinals game. She did so well and loved looking around. I carried her in the Baby Bjorn part of the time and she did very well. Ryan thinks I look rediculous using it but she loved looking out and I loved having two hands! The game was a great time. My parents tickets are in the Casino Queen Party porch which worked out perfect. They have a great covered area with lots of space to sit and tables, a bar, food and best of all, clean and unoccupied restrooms. Since some of us had standing room only tickets, we just hung out back there and took turns going up to my parents seats. Mark and Cheryl were also there and that was great! Jackson is quickly becoming a baseball fan (which we all know makes Papa very happy) and he really seems to enjoy the games and going to the stadium. Ellie, Briley and Bella all looked sooooo cute in their red, white and blue attire. Briley had the sweetest dress and Ellie and Bella matched (sort of). Ellie also had firecracker piggy tails. You'll have to check them out.

That Saturday my family all took off in their black suv's for Florida. They really looked like the presidents motorcade. Well a motorcade with a hitchhauls full of beach bikes, luggage carriers and a kayak strapped to the top. I was sad to see them go but Ryan, Bella and I weren't able to go this year. Since Bella was born on a Sunday, Ryan used a lot of his vacation time to stay home her first week which was wonderful. Florida is great but Bella is just a little bit better!:) When Ryan found out that he might have a few vacation days to use, we tried to come up with a plan to go but he had a pretty important meeting which fell on Thursday, right in the middle of the trip. So after all of that we decided to wait till next year.

Since we were going to be in town Ryan and I had some friends over for a BBQ on Saturday. It was great having people over instead of having to meet everyone out. I feel like you can relax and actually hear one another at home. Ryan did a great job with his chicken kabobs, party potatoes and buffalo chicken dip. I made some pasta salad and margaritas. The only alcohol I really missed when I was pregnant was margaritas. Priyal, Bhavik, Justin, Shanika, Ryan, Megan, Brett, Scott, Emily, Tim, Kelly and Olivia all came over. It was pretty fun and I even got a little sun. I was the palest I have ever been during the summer this year. Bella and I don't get to lay out much! That Monday as I was folding laundry Bella decided to put a show on for me. Check out her silly faces and precious smiles!

On Monday I was feeling a little lazy but I got myself going and in between feeding, playing and putting Bella to sleep, I cleaned the house, did dishes and did all of our laundry. When Ryan came home at 5pm he said "You're not going to believe this but, my Thursday meeting got cancelled." I was thinking are you kidding me. We dropped a vacation with my whole family (we hardly ever get the whole family together at once) because of that meeting. Just as I was starting to get upset, Ryan said "so, I looked into flying and we could leave tomorrow and it will be quite a bit or we can wait till she wakes up to eat in the middle of the night and head out." I think I started packing immediately. Bella started fussing a little so I threw her in the Baby Bjorn and we went on packing. We told Ryan's family we were going and they were great enough to get our mail and even water my flowers. (THANK YOU!) I cancelled all of my plans for the next week and by 2:30am, we were on the road. Ryan was a champ and drove the whole way there and back. Bella was such a good little traveler. We got a little confused on our directions as we got there but we found the house pretty quickly.

It was so much fun getting to surprise everyone. We really threw Todd off when we walked through the door. We walked right past Molly and Kaitlin before they noticed. Next we found Mom upstairs. She was getting ready to go down to the beach. My Dad heard my voice and came out of the bedroom. My Mom and Dad were so excited. After we surprised them, we headed down to the beach to see everyone else. Most everyone ran and gave Bella smooches and then they told us hi! We all know who is the most important between the three of us! Just as we thought we were done surprising people, Andrew came out of the bedroom after taking a nap and was a little confused. It was pretty funny.

The rest of the trip was wonderful. How could it not be. My whole family was together and we were at the beach. Bella instantly relaxed with the breeze and the sound of the waves. She got to dip her toes in the ocean for the first time ever. She also had a bottle in the pool. It was the baby version of the "swim-up bar". She was on vacation too! The rest of the grandkids were so much fun to watch. They really know how to enjoy the beach. We also learned that not all jellyfish are poisonous. Caroline found one that was though. Ouch! There were too many things to write about but you can see some of the events in the pictures!