LOCHLAN EVERETT!

I am really behind on my posting, but there was no waiting with this one. Our little boy finally arrived Tuesday morning at 1:22 AM! It was a very long day, the excitement started at 8 AM Monday and didn't end until the next morning, but he finally decided to join us weighing in at 8 lbs, 14 ozs and measuring 21 inches. He is perfect in every way and I may be a bit on the biased side, but I would say he is one of the prettiest babies ever! Sorry for the delay on the post, we were a little exhausted yesterday after the previous day and night. But here is our little guy...
More pictures to come!!!

Going to the World Series!

Wow! The Rays did it! We stayed up late last night to watch Game 7 between the Red Sox (BLAH) and the Rays. Unfortunately, they let it come down to Game 7, one last chance. Greg couldn't keep still the entire game, pacing around the living room. We were all very nervous to watch, but sure enough they pulled it out with their very new pitcher, David Price (Greg's new hero). It was so late at night, I knew I was going to have to get out of bed super early to go to work, but I didn't care. I couldn't have slept if I wanted to. It was all worth it to see Greg that excited. Greg doesn't get excited about many things, he's pretty laid back and kinda like "whatever," but he was excited! His mom, even made a comment about how she had never seen him that excited. Greg has been a fan since day one of the Rays franchise, always cheering them on even when they were dreadful and in last place, which was every season leading up to this one. I became a fan when we were dating, not really too much into the sports thing growing up. My first Rays game was the day after Greg proposed. And I have been a fan ever since. It was so fantastic to see our team do so wonderful this season and win the ALCS and go onto the World Series! Go Rays!

We ate the cake that night!

Photos to come

Baby Shower #1

My sister and mom threw me a baby shower, with the help of some very wonderful friends, in Palm Bay where I grew up. My mother-in-law, Carol, and sister-in-law, Kim, also flew down for the shower. We left Greg bright and early to head to the shower, while he spent the day watching football (big surprise!). The shower was at the Berger's house (very close friends, practically family). We had a great time playing the fun little shower games and just laughing and hanging out. It was so great to see everyone. I do have to say that I LOVED playing the yarn game. You know, where everyone tries to guess how round you are. I usually hate playing this game and on most occasions refuse to participate, always afraid of being way off and offending someone. But it's not so bad on the other side of the game, having everyone guess. It was a pretty funny sight to see when Andrea Jarvis shoved a pillow up her shirt to try to get an accurate measure-Andrea is a very very tiny teenager, it was quite the sight to see.

I have to talk about the adorable cake my sister ordered for me. Since the Rays are in the playoffs ( as seen from my previous posts), she decided to have the cake shop make a Rays cake. In the middle of the cake was a little blond, blue eyed baby with a Rays shirt on! So cute. I took the middle of the cake home to show Greg. He got a kick out of it but said it didn't want to eat it until they beat the Red Sox, hopefully tonight.

I am so thankful to have such great friends and feel so loved. To know that even though I don't live there anymore, people are still excited for us. Thanks to everyone that came and all the beautiful gifts, and especially to sister Heather, my wonderful mom, and Kathy and Rebekah, and everyone else that helped, for throwing me an amazing shower. (I feel like I am giving a speech) Thanks ladies, I love you guys!

Photos to come!!

General Conference

I always look forward to Conference. This Conference was especially important to Greg and I, with some trials that we have had lately. I was so grateful to hear the words of our leaders. They were truly such a comfort to me during this time of uncertainty. I enjoyed all the talks. I especially loved the words of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, learn to laugh. Over the recent years I have learned more and more to put my trust in Heavenly Father. More so in the recent weeks. I love that I know that He is always there for us and we can go to Him with our worries and concerns and He can truly make them easier to bear. I don't know what I would do without this knowledge. Especially now. We just have to learn to be happy no matter what comes. I am so grateful for this wonderful Gospel in my life!

29 Week Peek

Greg and I went to have our thrid ultrasound today. I guess at 20 weeks, our little guy was looking like he was going to have a short leg problem. His legs were measuring a little smaller than they should have been. This really didn't worry us too much, we figured it was either a bad angle OR that he would have his father's legs...Greg has short legs and an extremely long torso. So we weren't too worried, but my doctor still wanted to check. We didn't complain, another chance to see Lochlan, sure I'll do it. Plus being 29 weeks along, the ultrasound tech was able to flip on the 4D ultrasound to try to get a good pic. Unfortunately, we have a pretty active little guy and weren't able to get a perfect picture, but here's the one we got of his face.

Party

Heather, my lovely sister, threw a board party for me to sell some of the boards that I have been working on. Here are some pictures of them.

Cute Family Home Evening Boards!

These are my favorite! Adorable magnet boards for the home. These were my mom's favorite too!

Cute Fall Boards! I love the Halloween ones, but there are some beautful Fall/Thankgving sayings And here is the stacker I made for Heather for throwing the party for me. This is for Mattie's room with words from her very favorite Primary song!

Worst to First

The Rays have gone from the worst to the first! They have had an amazing season. On Sept 20 (the same day we went to the Tech game in Georgia) the Rays won their way into the playoffs. Their first postseason trip in franchise history! And then tonight, Sept 26th they clinched the division title, beating out the power houses of baseball, the Red Sox and the Yankees, in the hardest division. Now, we await the playoffs! Go Rays!

Afternoon Treat? Maybe not!

So, I love indulging in a little afternoon treat at work sometimes. I try to bring little chocolate snack packs (pudding) with me, a tasty treat. But sometimes I forget or don't have one. At that point, I make my way to the cafeteria/deli at work and see what I can find. A few months ago, I tried the pudding they had. Chocolate with whipped cream and crushed oreos on top. Sounds good right? Well, as I enjoyed my chocolate snack, I took a bite and found a pasta/noodle. Ewww, something must have happened in the kitchen and a piece of pasta fell into the pudding. The pudding I was eating! Well, needless to say, I stopped buying pudding downstairs and if I didn't bring my own snack, I went without. That was months ago. Today while at lunch with my work friends, Retta and Lawree, Retta decided to buy some pudding for us to all share. The chocolate pudding with whipped cream and oreos from the cafeteria. I was nervous as she handed me a spoon. We all laughed about the noodle and I decided that there was no way that could happen to me AGAIN. So I took a bite. The very first bite I took of that chocolate pudding I found something. No, not a noodle...this time it was a BLACK OLIVE! Yes, that's right! An olive in my pudding. Of all the people and the chances it happened to me. You can imagine the combination of pudding and olives, not very tasty. Lawree, Retta, and I laughed hysterically as I spit the olive out into my napkin. Seriously, what are the chances! Never again will I attempt to consume the chocolate pudding with the whipped cream and oreos. NEVER!

Ramblin' Wreck

This weekend Greg and I were able to take our annual trip to Georgia for a Georgia Tech game. Greg's dad graduated from Georgia Tech, so needless to say, Greg has been quite the fan for a long time. I was delighted to wake up on game day to beautiful weather in the 60s. It felt like Fall, so Greg got me a Pumpkin Spice frappuccino to sip down while enjoying the cool air. Yum! Then we headed to downtown Atlanta for the noon game, me praying it wouldn't get hot. Me, not so lucky. It heated up and by the fourth quarter, it no longer felt like Fall. Sad. But that's okay, because Tech controlled the game from the start. We had great seats, although my back didn't agree, and enjoyed watching our favorite college team dominate. I do love going to the games. Perhaps my favorite part of the day is before the game even starts. They play a video on the scoreboard, showing the history of the Tech football team to get everyone excited. I love watching about the history of the school. They hold the record for the highest score, the most lopsided score, in the history of college football. Very cool. Greg is already planning on sending our kids there...I guess we will have a bunch of little engineers running around!
Greg's dad's old hang out spot, his frat house at Georgia Tech

Cooling off in the shade before going into the stadium for the game. Yeah, not in the 60s anymore!Final score! Poor Mississippi. It was a great game, domination from the moment it started! Everytime they scored they played the Ramblin' Wreck fight song, which amazingly made Lochlan dance around in my tummy! Maybe he will go to Tech!

After Tech won the game, we headed to the Varsity, also a tradition of ours. Greg LOVES the Varsity-which is the largest drive-in fast food restaurant in the world! Greg's dad used to go there while in college. When you walk up to the long counter, all you here the workers yelling out is "what'll ya have!" It is quite the experience! Greg loves the chili dogs and I love their onion rings (I usually don't eat them anywhere else, that's how tasty they are) and the yummy Frosted Orange Shake! And then, after a great day of football and food, we got in the car and headed back home. It was such a great weekend. I love the trips we get to go on!

September Birthdays

My wonderful brother, Chris, celebrated his birthday on the 4th. He is out in Utah with his wife, finishing up at BYU and hopefully, we pray, moving back to sunny Florida. My brother has to be one of the greatest guys ever, and I am not just saying that because we are related. I love my brother and hope he had the best birthday!

Another birthday to celebrate this month was my too adorable niece, Mattie "MoMo" Menzie. She had her 3 yr old birthday party on Saturday and I was able to drive over and catch the last part of the Dora the Explorer extravaganza! There were many 3 year old running around, hyped up on candy and cupcakes. It was quite the sight! I was impressed with the lengths my sister and her husband had gone to creating a Dora themed party. Complete with a "map" leading to the cake and each child left with a purple "backpack" goody bag. Very cute. I got to spend the rest of the afternoon with my family. It was such a great day, and then I headed back home to my husband.I did miss the groundbreaking for our new church building, deciding to spend the day with Mattie and family, giving all the focus on her until she is joined by a new brother and cousin at the end of the year. But Greg was able to attend the groundbreaking and he filled me in on all the details. Greg stayed behind for the groundbreaking and of course to watch college football for the rest of the afternoon. He was in heaven-just him and our dog watching football from 12 until I got home around 8. Nice day.

Katrina, Gustav, and Beignets

Three years ago Greg and I were planning a trip to visit my Grandmother in Biloxi, Mississippi-Greg had never met my wonderful Grandmother and I was going to take him to New Orleans, which he had never been to-when we heard news that our trip would have to be postponed, or rather officially cancelled. There was a monster storm heading for the gulf coast. We spoke with my Grandma on the phone and convinced her to head to her church for shelter. My Grandmother lived by herself, my Grandfather and my Uncle having passed a few years before. Thankfully some ward members picked her up and took her to church where they would all spend the next week. The last minute that horrible storm turned toward Biloxi and reeked havoc on the Mississippi coast. My Grandmother's home, where she and her family had lived for years and we had spent many Christmas', was destroyed from the 20 foot surge. She lost everything but the few things she had taken with her. As horrible as this storm was, it was truly a great blessing for our family. With no home to go back to, my "stubborn limey" grandmother was forced to make the move to Florida. A move my mother has been asking her to make since my uncle, who helped take care of her, had died. Shortly after her move down here she was diagnosed with cancer and we were able to spend the last year of her life with her. I guess I will always be thankful for that terrible storm that devastated so many other lives, because I got that last year with her.

Today another storm is slamming into the Gulf Coast-Gustav- which had me reflecting back a few years, although not directly hitting Biloxi this time. Nobody heard too much about Biloxi last time, even though landfall and the worst of the storm happened there. I did get the chance to revisit the area when we went to my Grandmother's funeral over a year after Katrina had hit. It was not the same Mississippi Coast I remembered spending so many holidays at. I pray for everyone along the Gulf Coast in the path of Gustav. For my grandmother's old ward and great friends who took care of her when no family lived close by, for the people in Louisiana. I have many fond memories of days spent in Mississippi with my family, learning to cook seafood like my Grandfather and of New Orleans-of the French Quarter and the Cafe' Du Monde and of course, the fabulous Cajun food we Tarpeins love so much.

So in honor of the Gulf Coast-Mississippi and Louisiana- I made Greg some Beignets this morning for breakfast. Beignets are served everyday, all day at the Cafe du' Monde in New Orleans. Anyone that visits has to stop by there and get these amazing french doughnuts with chocolate milk. Greg still hasn't had the chance to visit New Orleans, so I thought I would bring the breakfast to him. They were absolutely delicious!

Sting'em is in the Band

Ah, Rock Band. I was first introduced to this game on the Road Trip with the YW. Now Daniel Nunes has brought it into our home and Greg and he have been playing it in the evenings. Daniel is on the guitar while Greg is on drums. Greg was really getting into the whole band thing and pounding furiously on the drums. Sting'em, I'm sure enjoying the racket, I mean sweet music as much as I was, starting barking and howling. I guess he had become the lead singer for their little band, as Greg called out, "Sting'em's part of the band now!" This cracked Daniel up to the point where he couldn't continue playing. After that they even named their band "Sting' em". The sight of Sting'em on his hind legs, dancing and barking trying to join in the fun was too funny. I wish I had taken a picture of it. I am sure that I will be subject to this again, I'll take a picture next time.

College Football Season

It has officially begun! Yes, that's right, the start of college football season. What does this mean to me? Well, it means that I know what I am doing everyday Saturday from now until December. I know this because Greg plans our Saturdays around when the games begin. And I can expect an upcoming trip to Atlanta for a Georgia Tech game. So last night Greg watched the first Georgia Tech football via internet-it wasn't showing on TV. And on Saturday, he will attend the first UCF game with Randy White. I do enjoy a good Georgia Tech-our team of choice-game every now and then, but not every single game they show on Saturday! Too much. I am just grateful that I have so many wonderful friends whose husbands obsess over football season too. We will get through the season together as our husbands tune out everything around them but the football!

Here comes the sun

Fay has to be one of the storms we will never forget. No one would've ever thought this storm would have created the damage that it did, as it spun across Florida, affecting, I think, every county in the state making it's mark in history as being the storm that made landfall a record 4 times in Florida-with all the exiting and re-entering the state. All the time refusing to weaken. In fact, it strengthened over land. Very unlike anything I have ever seen. Days and days of nonstop rain, as it halted over central Florida. My mother, sister and her family were in the middle of it. We didn't get nearly as much as they did. In Brevard it rained from Tuesday until Friday, nonstop. I called my mom often to check on her and the family. We joked about how miserable Noah must have been, because it was hard to for us to even handle a few days on torrential downpour with not seeing the sun. Floridians need sun. After days of being drenched by Tropical Storm Fay, we were able to make it over to our condo in Cocoa Beach to check out the damage. We had heard all week about Brevard being pounded by the underestimated storm and reports were that Cocoa Beach had received 24 inches of rain. Needless to say, we were pretty worried about how much water would be in our condo that sits on the first floor. As we made our drive to the coast, the worst possible scenario in my mind, the sun began to finally peek out from the clouds. Yeah, sun! Finally! We final reached our condo and to our amazement, there was not one puddle of water in our place! Incredible! I am so grateful and feel like the luckiest person in the state of Florida. I know many, many others did not fare nearly as well as we did. After we left our condo, we drove just a little ways down A1A to where Greg lived when he first moved to Florida. Sure enough, there was about 1 ft of standing water in the road and around the homes there. Again, I felt amazingly blessed. Here are the pics from the road we were on. My heart goes out to all those with damage from this storm. I know people are still suffering from rising waters from rivers and lakes.

Move your hand

I have been feeling our little guy move around quite a bit and now it was Greg's turn. Last night, our little baby was on move, due to the juice I had consumed earlier that evening, so I told Greg to put his hand in the spot with the most activity. Of course as soon as Greg placed his hand on my tummy, the movement ceased. Greg removed his hand and sure enough the somersaults started again. So Greg put his hand there again, and again movement stopped. This time Greg decided to rub my tummy, slightly pushing on the area. Well, this got a big THWACK right back where Greg's hand was. Greg kinda jumped. It was pretty funny. Either our little boy was giving his dad a high five or saying don't touch me! I am glad that Greg was able to feel the nudge and experience a little of what I have been able to feel!

Half Way Through and It's a Boy!!!

I hit my 2o week mark this week (I can't believe I am half way there already) and it was time for our ultrasound. We did have one four weeks before, but our tiny baby was a little on the modest side and wasn't giving too much away, although the tech thought we might be having a boy, we still weren't 100% sure. We were very excited to see our baby again and I just hoped that our he/she was healthy and growing. Greg's parents were in town and my mom drove over for the appointment, so they could meet their new grandchild. We all packed into the tiny room waiting in anticipation. The first shot we got was the money shot, there is no doubt we are having a boy! There was our baby, in all his glory, showing his stuff off for the audience that had gathered around the little monitor. No longer the shy baby we saw just 4 weeks ago. I blame it on the apple juice I downed right before my appointment to get him dancing-he was a little sugared up! Or maybe he knew he had an audience and wanted to shake it for everyone! He was squirming during the entire ultrasound. But we got lots of good shots and our wonderful tech was nice enough to print them all off for us. So here he is...little Lochlan Paxton (for those who don't know, Greg served his mission in Scotland and we picked out a very Scottish name for our first son a few years back...we are still negotiating on the middle name).

Mini Lobster Season 2008

It was time for our annual Mini Lobster Season trip to the Keys. Having camped every year due to a college student's budget, we were especially looking forward to this year staying at the Coral Lagoon Resort in Marathon, which we had booked about 11 months ago. Greg's parents came down from Ohio, along with his friend since 6th grade, Adam. The McGraths also were able to join us for our adventure. The resort was gorgeous and the weather was perfect for our two day excursion. We rented a boat and the guys were put to the task of capturing our 6 lobster per person per day limit. The whole process can be tricky if you don't find a good spot. You have to tickle the lobster out from underneath their hiding places (rocks) with a tickle stick and then catch them in your net before they escape. They are pretty fast if they get past you too. We didn't catch nearly as many spiny lobster as we would've like to have caught, but we still had a blast. Greg even captured the monster lobster of the trip and a crab. We had a great time and what made it even better was returning to a resort with showers and a nice bed as opposed to a tent and campsite showers...constantly sweating. Ewww. I don't think we will ever go back to camping after our perfect resort stay. I am looking forward to next year and hopefully catching more lobster. I only hope our little baby will be half as good as Macie McGrath. She was quite the trooper and possibly the best baby ever. We had such an amazing time. Thanks Bob, Carol, and Adam for coming down from Ohio for the week. And thanks Katelyn, Michael and Macie for joining us on our trip. Can't wait until next Mini Lobster Season!

4 Year Anniversary

Four years ago today, Greg and I were married in the Orlando Temple. The time has flown by. I am so grateful for my husband and look forward to my next big adventure with him in the coming year...parenthood. I am grateful for the time we had to grow together in these past years and can't wait for the future with him.

Cumberland Island

Greg and the YM took their annual camping trip to Cumberland Island this year-which is an underdeveloped barrier island off the coast of Georgia. Besides the rain, I think they had a good time. Here are the pictures Greg took.

Greg said the island was beautiful, complete with wild horses and ruins of historic mansions. I would love to go there sometime with him...but no camping please, I can do without the ticks! (Thanks goodness Greg didn't come home with any.)