Playing inside the Box

Ella loves the new Easter Bunny Grandma and Grandpa Becker sent from Modern Display (a great decorators store in Salt Lake) for my birthday.

She likes to take the three eggs from the basket, put them somewhere else, and then return them.

Even more exciting for Ella, however, was the box and packing peanuts the bunny arrived in.

She got a kick out of swimming through the peanuts

I am sure we will get a lot of use out of the box before garbage day next Tuesday! Thanks Grandma and Grandpa Becker!

Girls Weekend Review

This picture of the 7 of us after dinner in Carmel basically sums up the weekend... lots of rain and lots of fun.

We stayed in a cute beach house right on Ocean Blvd (this is the view from the front door),

ate, played games, ate, went on walks, ate, talked and ate.

The next trip is on tap for fall of 2010, when Deb and Megan forge the way for the rest of us into the next decade:)

BYU Girls Weekend

There are several reasons why BYU is near and dear to my heart…
I am meeting up with 6 of them this weekend for a little reunion in Monterey.

Here are a few pictures of the 8 of us freshman year; we look so young!

Football games, dinner, showers and weddings...

Megan Gooch Hoybjerg was my room-roommate in David John Hall... and again when we lived in Chatham town. We had a great time.

I'm excited to see you all soon!

(thanks mom for finding these pictures for us)

As cheesy as it sounds, I truly feel blessed to have great girl friends. In reality, I always wanted a sister, but feel fortunate that since I ended up an only child, I’ve been surrounded (and still am) with great girl friends that are fun, dependable and uplifting. Thanks!

Ella's SISTER?!?!

“Would you like to know the gender?” the San Mateo Ultrasound technician asks.
“Yes,” Benj, Ella and I enthusiastically respond… though we already know it’s a BOY since we went to the 4D imagining shop down the street. It’s always nice to confirm these things though… especially when it means purchasing new PBK bedding or not.
“I’m 85 percent certain… it is a GIRL.”
Stunned excitement fills the room.
“Are you sure?”
“Yep, look at this. The Doctor will be here in a minute and she can confirm.”
I am shocked. Benj is excited, he always thought it was a girl and he was never fully convinced that the Romanian guy who just opened up the ultrasound imagining store knew what he was talking about, or looking at for that matter.
The Dr. comes in.
She confirms, with 95 percent certainty, that baby Reed/James Benjamin is indeed a GIRL… so certain, in fact, she says she will buy us boy clothes if she is wrong. I think I’ll hold her to her promise.
I am thrilled, and would love to have a family of girls. Hopefully she and Ella will be close friends, have princess tea parties and play dress up together.
Though, for the record, I was also very excited about the prospect of a boy. In fact, even though I am truly excited about another girl, a part of me is a little sad it’s not a boy.
And an even bigger part of me feels like we need to get a third opinion!
Here are a couple of profile pictures of HER.

Valentine's Day '08

Bonni hosted a great mother's group Valentine's party~ Ella loved eating all the treats, especially the sprinkles off the cookies.

This morning I woke up to delicious pink pancakes.

Then we met our friends on the Bay Shore walking trail...

Then Bonni tended Ella while Benj and I went to lunch... a great French restaurant in San Mateo. For a starter, we ordered a cheese platter (4 different types), and determined we do not have refined cheese taste buds... we prefer Tillamook chedar anyday. Benj gave me two new travel books on Paris for our trip next month; thus the French restuarant theme... pretty cute right?

Benj made dinner too, and gave me my final V-day surprise... tickets to the Broadway production of High School Musical when it comes to SF in April. I know, I'm a total nerd and I am not afraid to admit that I loved the movies and can't wait to go to the show.

We finished the night with some killer desserts from Draegers... yum!

Ps- if you want to write a great card to your husband, I have the solution:

Outside: "Our love/relationship/marriage (whatever) is pretty unique"

Inside: "I am pretty and you are unique."

Saturdays

Saturdays seem to fill up quickly... showers, birthday parties and church meetings; not to mention the regular house hold chores that inevitably get put off until Saturday.

Fortunately we were able to fit in some outdoor fun today~ how can you not when it is 75 degrees out?

We went to the Sutro Baths (great new walking trails added since the last time we were there), played frisbe with the DeFries on Baker beach, and did a few other touristy SF things.

Ella is a natural with the frisbe!

Legion of Honor

We attended the Marie-Antoinette and the Petit Trianon at Versailles exhibit today (thanks Ambyr for organizing this).

Great weather, great friends, a great city and great art... basically a great day.

I forgot Ella's stroller (one draw back to carpooling is you always forget something that you normally have in your own car) so she was at large and incharge wandering the museum.

A couple of my favorite parts of the exhibit were: the King's bed, Marie's broach with over 2,400 diamonds and a painting Marie had commissioned of her as a "care free" child dancing with her brother, who is also depicted as a child. You can't take pictures of the exhibit, but it was really neat:) I also really love the Rodins and Debbie showed Ella her favorite painting... Russian Wedding.

Today also is the 1/2 way mark of pregnancy #2 ... for some reason, in my mind this is a big day~ 20 weeks and down hill from here! As embarassing as it is to take a profile picture, I did it.

Last February, while we were in Arizona, Ella and I attended the Rembrant exhibit with my mom, grandma and great-aut Idee. Ella became fussy toward the end, so we didn't push it and look for a suvienier, though I sort of wish we had since it was her first art exhibit. Today we had a little more time to browse... and Ella got a new book.

I can't wait to read it with her when she wakes up from her nap.