5 Years!

Jolly and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary yesterday! We've had an amazing start to our marriage. Usually, we go on a weekend trip or hike a tall mountain to celebrate, but being 32 weeks pregnant limited our choices of activities this year. We decided to celebrate close to home and had a wonderful day that we'll remember for a long time.

We started out with a breakfast picnic at the top of the hill in our neighborhood. You can see all the mountains to the west from there, the weather was clear and beautiful. We just lounged around and enjoyed the cool breeze for most of the morning.

I've been wanting to visit the Denver Aquarium for a while now, so we decided to check it out! It turned out to be a lot of fun. There are seven different aquatic habitats represented. Our favorite were the Archer Fish - they had a demonstration of how these guys hunt. The caretaker placed several crickets on a vine above their tank, and the archer fish shot water out of their mouths 5-10 feet to knock their prey into the water. We had never heard of those before. I love otters and sea turtles, and got to see both of those as well. Then we stopped by the huge REI in downtown Denver, we can't really pass up a chance to visit that store!

We ended our day with a great dinner at Hibachi Steakhouse here in Fort Collins. Its just like Benihana. It was yummy and we had a fun chef. He tossed shrimp at all the guys at the table for them to catch in their mouths - Jolly caught his no sweat. We had a great day - and are looking forward to many more fun memories to come.

I did it!

I made my favorite cake from Whole Foods - the Berry Chantilly cake. For the longest time I couldn't figure out the frosting - then Katie's mother in law Cindy discovered the missing ingredient, mascarpone cheese. So, here is a picture of my favorite creation so far!! Happy Birthday Ally :O)

Maternity Portraits

My amazingly talented sister-in-law, Katie, took maternity portraits yesterday. She's a genius! Here is a link to her blog so you can see a slideshow.

http://ryanandkatiejenkins.blogspot.com/

28 Weeks!

Here is a pic Jolly took after church today, as requested by my dear friend Annie! I'm just barely seven months . . . I think I'm going to be a planet by the end (in the words of Juno). The baby is always on the move lately, every time I'm still I feel him squirming all around. So much fun!

The Nesting Period

The nesting phase has definitely arrived! Today Jolly helped me put the baby bed together and situate it the way I like it in the nursery. Mojo helped me pick out fabric and make the crib sheets and bumper pads when she was here in May (mostly she made everything and I helped cut the pieces :O) and my mom and I painted last time she and my dad came for a visit. Its so sweet to look into that room and think of all the love that has already gone into it! There are still lots of things to do, but I feel like we're off to a great start.

Birds of our Neighborhood

We have a family of ducks at the pond in our neighborhood. Jolly and my mom first spotted the babies on a walk three weeks ago. We've had so much fun watching them grow! About two weeks ago, we noticed a pair of robins nesting in a tree by our back deck. Mom is definitely incubating her eggs now. We rarely see the nest without her on it. I'll post pictures of the babies as soon as we see them! I included a bonus picture of our talented dog, Keeva. Jolly and I still get tickled watching her catch the frisbee. She is a maniac for that game!

Ladybug Cake

My neighbor Melissa asked me to help her decorate her daughter Maya's birthday cake. We had so much fun together, and it turned out really cute! I'm getting more and more confident with the techniques, and I'm having a blast getting to take part in friends' celebrations!