Butterfly Pavilion

The Butterfly Pavilion is this great interactive bug museum in Colorado. We figured Reagan loves bugs, and she's probably old enough to enjoy it. Turns out, we were right. She had a blast.

 She was too little to hold the tarantula, but she watch her daddy and grandpa do it! Ugh...just looking at these pictures freaks me out a little.

 She did get to touch the starfish!

 But her favorite part by far was the big butterfly room. She was enchanted!

 Grandpa was great at showing her the good ones.

 And he was the only one that got a butterfly to land on him!

 It took her a minute, but she got it.

Silly girl being silly.

 I don't know where she gets it from...

 The play area was another big hit.

 And Reagan fine-tuned her Wheel of Fortune skills. Soon, little one, soon.

 Trying to catch fake butterflies. Harder than you would think...

 Reagy was so excited at the end at the gift shop, when she picked out some rocks in a bag, which is what she is looking at in both these pictures. She LOVES them, and play with them every day. Whatever makes her happy, I guess!

Colorado

We had the best weekend with my parents in Colorado! It was so relaxing and I barely had to take care of Reagan at all- she just wanted Grandma to read to her! 

 

Friday we had a quiet day at the house and played outside and visited with some friends.

  Friday night we left Reagan with my parents and Lance and I went out to celebrate a belated Valentine's Day with dinner and a hotel. We were worried about how Reagan would, but apparently she was an angel. Or so my mom said... It was a great break for us and we had a wonderful time. And of course, didn't take a single picture, even of the kangaroo meat we had for dinner (among other things). Oh well. Saturday morning we went back to the house and picked up Reagan and my parents to head over to the Butterfly Pavilion! More on that later- I definitely had enough pictures that it gets its own post. After that, we went to the park with Uncle Eric, although apparently I have no photographic proof that he was there or even that we saw him the entire weekend.

 

 This weird thing, whatever it is, doesn't move or do anything at all, so at first Lance and I were making fun of the park designers, but then Reagan climbed on it and sat and loved it, so maybe they knew what they were doing after all?

 Saturday night we had a yummy family dinner with some relatives that were in town, and Sunday we were off to church! It's always good to see the people you grew up with. Even though she was exhausted, Reagan still played nice in nursery. What a sweetheart.

 After some more play time, we had to head home on Monday afternoon. I had lots to do waiting at home, and it's a good thing I was very productive Tuesday, because Wed morning I woke up sick as a dog. Apparently my dad and I both caught some horrible virus, with the most pleasant side effect being terrible chest pain from inflammation. It was awful. My dad went to the ER on Monday night, which is how I knew what the problem was, and we were almost on our way there Wed night. It was terrifying. Luckily the chest pain calmed down to just aches and chills and I think it's all on its way out the door now. Yuck.

Valentines Day

Since we left for Colorado on the afternoon of the 14th, we had to pack a whole day's worth of celebrating into one morning! Luckily, we were up to the task. The day started of with a balloon for Reagan and flowers and chocolates for me, courtesy of Lance.

  Lance got a manly treat of various nuts and beef jerky from me and Reagy. And there were pink chocolate chip pancakes all around!

 This girl was pleased as punch with her balloon. It went all the way to Colorado and back with her and kept her entertained in the car. Let's hope she stays so easy to please.

 After Dad left for work, it was time for our weekly gymnastics! We've been going every Thursday for a couple months and we love it!

The trampoline is definitely her favorite part.

 

 Then it was time for lunch and a little Mickey Mouse babysitter so I could finish packing and cleaning. What a little tv junkie. Yikes. (On a side note, Reagan had a hard time with church in Colorado because it was from 1-4 and she didn't get a nap. At one point during Sacrament Meeting, she had to be carried out while screaming "Mickey Mouse!!" very clearly....Don't judge.)

 It was the perfect Valentine's morning and to top it all off, Reagan did great in the car. She was all ready for a weekend with Grandma, Grandpa, and Erk, as she calls Uncle Eric!

Pictures

20 weeks!

 Valentines Sunday Best

Madeline-style winter coat :)

Another Year, Another Birthday

Lance wasn't too excited about his 31st birthday last Thursday, but I tried my best to hype it up. Unfortunately, the whole week was one long series of hiccups. (Not literally, thank goodness. I hate having the hiccups.) It was just a very busy week for me, with lots going on, and I got more and more stressed as the week went on. I've actually blocked out a lot of what was bothering me now, so I'll just share as much as I can remember. First of all, the snow. The huge snowstorm that came in on Thursday afternoon put a dent in our plans. Luckily we were just planning on staying in Thursday night with a little party, but the roads were so bad that Lance took the train home rather than drive, and it was running very late, and I had to leave in the middle of making dinner to go pick him up from the station. Dinner to FOREVER to make (I was trying 3 new recipes requested by Lance. Never again. One at a time if I don't know what I'm doing). So we didn't end up eating till almost 8, and then Reagan had to go straight to bed. Luckily Lance had opened his presents at breakfast that morning, so Reagan got to help. He got a water filter from himself, the last Wheel of Time book from me (that just came out), a mug from Reagan with herself on it, and a shirt from his parents. 

Low key, but I think he appreciated it. After Reagan went to bed,  Lance went out to shovel snow, then we enjoyed some birthday carrot pudding. 

 

Unfortunately, Lance has this weird thing where he can only have so much dairy or he has a bad allergic reaction. Apparently the cheesy potatoes I made, combined with his sandwich at lunch, really put him over the edge and he got horrible hives on his legs, ankles, and even his eye started swelling shut. I was mentally preparing to take him to the ER, but after an hour or so they started going back down. Yikes...

Friday night we had plans to go out on a date. We had reservations at a nice restaurant and bought our IMAX movie tickets for the Hobbit in advance. Meagan was coming down from Park City with Grace to babysit. Because of the snow, she got a late start, and it took twice as long to make the drive. So by the time I got going to meet Lance in Salt Lake, it was 3 minutes from the time we were supposed to be at the restaurant. I was so sad, (I blame pregnancy hormones), but Lance went online to find another place we could eat at quickly, and lo and behold, La Jolla Groves (one of our favorite places to eat in Provo) just opened up right next to the theater! It was a post-Christmas miracle! The place was nearly deserted because apparently they haven't even had their grand opening yet, so we got great (and quick) service and the food hit the spot! We even finished earlier than necessary to make the movie! After sitting through (and enjoying) the long movie, we were both tired, but still had to make the drive home in the snow. Of course, we pulled onto the interstate right behind 3 snowplow going around 35 mph. Lance finally found a place to pass them about halfway home, and then we got pulled over because apparently that isn't allowed. But we finally made it home safe and sound, shortly after midnight.Whew. Luckily Meagan and Grace had planned on staying the night, so they didn't have to drive home. We ended up having a wonderful date, despite all the stress and last minute changes. And now Lance is 31. 1/3 of the way done, if all goes according to plan :)

New Year, New Baby

Now that everyone knows our exciting baby news, I can finally blog about it! Reagan is so excited to be a big sister, she wanted to be the one to announce it to our families (although she may or may not be under the impression that there is a baby in all of our tummies, including hers...)! So we made her this shirt.

She wore it with pride, even when doing naughty things like climbing on tables. 

 

I'm really excited about the baby too, especially now that I'm in the second trimester, and my appetite and energy are coming back! I didn't have morning sickness too badly, and actually haven't thrown up at all yet, but I ate hardly anything and was exhausted all the time (Thanksgiving almost killed me). I haven't gained any weight (lost about 5 lbs), but my tummy is definitely getting bigger. It only goes downhill from here.

 Here I am at almost 12 weeks,

And this was this past Sunday. I'm officially 15 weeks today.

 I have an awesome doctor who does frequent ultrasounds, so these are from my last appointment at 12 weeks. Isn't she (he) so cute! (In my mind it's a girl.) Look at that profile! And tiny hand!

We wanted our kids to be at least 2 years apart  and, ironically, our due date is June 25th, the exact same as Reagan's, but she was born on the 21st. Hopefully we can at least make it through Reagan's birthday. I'm pretty sure I can hold the baby in.

We had a quiet New Years Eve in last night, since Reagan has been cutting her first molars and not feeling well, but we did get her dressed up all fancy and set off some fireworks. She was suitably impressed. Since Lance didn't have to work today, we stayed up till midnight watching a redbox and  toasted with sparkling cider. 

I'd say we successfully rang in the new year for the last time as a family of 3.