Ta Da!

So, I'm getting grief from everyone because I haven't updated my blog lately. Blogging and I have had a complicated relationship...off again, on again. Well, I will do better again especially because I have something to actually blog about. Introducing my adorable baby:
Isabella Dawn Groat

Life in the Third Dimension!!!

We went on a double date to go see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. We loved it! I think the new 3D movies have been AWESOME!! Of course I can't pass up a chance to take photos in sweet 3D glasses; especially when they're as stylin as these ones are!!

Hey everyone, come and see how good I look!

We don't even need to be in the third dimension to look this good!

Whoa, John it's like I could reach out and touch you...

Stacy's hand is coming right at you...WATCH OUT!!

Well, Hello...

Holy crap, with these 3D glasses on it looks like I have a large bulge in my belly...

Don't act like you're not impressed!

Did I Mention...

Did I mention that I'm super thrilled to be having a baby girl??
On cloud nine, stoked, jazzed, excited, delighted, psyched,
elated, blissed out, ecstatic...just to
throw out a few synonyms : )

I imagine I may have been feeling the exact same way right now if I were having a boy but I'm not sure. The reason I doubt is because little boys are much less fun to dress. Honestly, who of you girls out there can say you ever had a male baby doll (I don't think Ken really counts either)?? Okay, so I did...but he's (I say is cause my mom still has him) a cabbage patch doll so he's ridiculously ugly to begin with and he really only had one outfit and absolutely no
cute dresses!
Now, don't get me wrong, I've seen my sister dress a baby boy so I know that the idea of a lack of cute boy clothes out there is absolutely false. I've never seen a more well dressed boy than Aiden, and I've come to find out he hardly even wore some of the cutest stuff she found--infant cowboy boots for example. But I have to say that the girl clothes are
really, really, ridiculously adorable!!
I came to this conclusion when I was at the mall yesterday and saw that they had a
sale in the baby section of JCPenny's (just thought I'd bold that for anyone looking for baby sales). Of course, I wandered over there and proceeded to waste at least an hour looking at everything they had out. I was alone and had no one to say, "Ew, look at this one" or "that's adorable!" to/with so I took pictures (ah, the joys of a cell phone camera). The little dresses I found there are what made me decide that this is definitely gonna be way more fun than baby dolls ever were!! If I had my way and a lot more money...my baby would probably be in a cute little dress every single dang day!
And so, since no one was there yesterday the obvious solution to my total lack of estrogen swapping and girlie feedback is to post the photos on the internet and wait for the comments to roll in. Hence, the cell phone photos of the adorable clothes I found yesterday:

I like the little ones with the cap sleeves.

I love green & blue!!

Cute little sun dress!

I'm obsessed with polka dots right now.

Pretty in Pink for sure!

So adorable! A girl can't got wrong with pink & black.

Living on the wild side...Grrr!

These were fancier little silky dresses that were so fun!

Of course you can't pass up the adorable red pea coat!

The Big Five-O Again!!!

Dad turned 50 about a month after mom did and he decided that since it's his birthday he can wear whatever the heck he wants to to his birthday party. So, here are the lovely photos of him in his kilt...and the rest of the party. : )
Enjoy!

GQ Stance...He looks pretty good for an old guy!

Helping to get the food ready (I was actually in this photo for once)

The party has officially started apparently...

A candle per decade!

Happy Birthday DAD!

Jana & Audrey--So Precious!

The Party People

The Super Cool Party People

Obama made an appearance in his kilt : )

We persuaded dad to do a little pipe performance--especially because he needed to practice his solos for the Highlander Games competition the next weekend.

The best part about dad's performance was watching Collette listen to his music--she loved it!!!

Sweet sporin and kilt belt buckle!

Everyone else "enjoying" dad's music : )

A sweet shot of the kilt. The official Hall tartan and all.

And now you know the answer to the age old question of what a man wears under his kilt...
Under Armour Shorts!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DADDY-O!! LOVE YOU FOREVER!

Another Baby Ticker...

Okay I found another cute countdown until delivery. It was on my friend's page who is only a couple weeks behind me so I wanted to add another one to mine. Besides it has two versions one has some funny little phrases on the bottom.



And here's the other version with facts along the bottom:

Hmmm...

This is when I decided that I was OFFICIALLY entering totally new and
unfamiliar territory in life...

This is a photo that I took in the bathroom at our childbirth prep class. It is a picture of the handicapped stall in the women's restroom at the Anderson Center. I was frightened really...look how ominous that machinery looks. I was afraid to get any closer honestly but I had to take the photo so John could see what I was talking about. Okay, so I get that it's a restroom in the hospital and I'm sure it's very convenient for a lot of women but still! A public restroom honestly!! I try not to think about what this entails and that there's a good chance I'll be trying to figure out how to work a pump like this in a month or so but I can't stop myself. I swear, this is the stuff of nightmares! If males had to do something like this I think the world would turn upside down; just think about it boys...
"BREAST PUMPING STATION" UGH!!

I CAN DO THIS & I WILL BE GOOD AT IT...BUT IS IT OKAY TO BE TERRIFIED??

The Big Five-O!!

Yesterday was mom's 50th birthday and I'm pretty sure we made it a good one. My dad was really sweet and tried very hard to surprise her with a nice gift this year. So, since her spare fridge in the garage had broken a few months ago he decided to surprise her with a new one. That's what she really wanted I think but we did a pretty good job of surprising her. I did all the dirty work so mom would have no idea. I made some phone calls, did some research, and went to the store to buy it. Then, I made my mom some sugar cookies and put wrapping paper and a huge bow on the fridge.

Looks like a huge present huh?

This is when she first came home and saw it in the garage.

She's enjoying one of the cookies I put inside the fridge.

Those are the cookies I made her. Clever, eh?

She's happily showing my dad the cookies and the wrapping paper since he was gone when they delivered the fridge and I got it all prepped. She was excited. It was fun!
That night my husband, Anna, my dad, and a bunch of my mom's friends all drove down to Glenns Ferry for a dinner theater show. There was a delicious steak dinner after which we saw a comedic show called "Let Him Sleep Til it's Time for His Funeral." Yeah, sounded weird but it ended up being all about this guy who was turning 50 and felt so old--the irony!! It was hilarious! All of my mom's friends were wondering if my dad had planned that out so well but we had no idea it was about turning 50. The theater is actually a really old opera theater and the actors are all volunteers so it has a really nice small town, down-home feel. They made us get up and sing "I've Been Workin on the Railroad" if ever the train went by because it was a tradition(if you don't know it's a tiny, tiny town and there is one train track in Glenns Ferry that cuts across the main road so if you're out driving when a train comes you're STUCK!!). I'm assuming it became a tradition because the tracks are right there so the train is so noisy the actors can't continue with the scene anyway. Also, during the preshow after dinner, the actors made sure to sing Happy Birthday to the audience members. So, my mom had to go up to the front and it was pretty funny. Karen ended up in the front also cause they asked for random birthdates throughout the year.

Mom & Karen being serenaded by the actors from the show.

The actor singing to her in this shot was making a big deal about mom and kept joking about taking her home with him. He was probably close to my age but his character in the play was in his 60's so he was making a big deal about "this young lady." Funny Stuff!

I love Karen's face when the main actor singled her out to sing just to her! Hilarious!
It was very fun and the show was very entertaining. I think my mom enjoyed it a lot so we were all happy.

Happy Birthday Mom You'll
Always be Young to Me!