Predictions: Boy or Girl?

2 days until the big reveal! (That is....if baby cooperates!) I thought it might be fun to record what everyone THINKS we're having!

My Intuition...another BOY
Nate's Prediction.....GIRL

 Family Matters:

Landon says its a GIRL
Parker says its a BOY but he wishes it was a GIRL
Dallin doesn't care as long as the baby is NOT sharing a room with him

The Chinese Birth Chart says it is a GIRL. (Although the birth chart said Parker was a girl too..hmmmm)

Old wives tales:
BOY: carrying more like a basketball then a watermelon, Starnes family=BOYS.

GIRL: fast heart beat (160), morning sickness galore, crave oranges and orange juice, craving sweets not salts, facial acne

SO, the question is......what do YOU think we're having??? I'd love to see!

Family time in Jackson Hole

We started out our little vacation with sunshine and some to die for views. The roads were just a bit scary on the way there....there are a couple of pretty steep passes you have to get over to get over to Jackson. Of course on the way over we had to stop and get some famous SQUARE ice cream cones! YUM!

Once we got there we checked in to our family suite cabin. It was so nice and comfortable. The boys were LOVING it. Dallin said, "Mom, I think this is the nicest apartment I have ever lived in."

The next morning Nate got all ready for a day of depositions so the boys and I got ready for a DAY of FUN! We obviously couldn't get any skiing in with this expectant mom so we were geared up to find us some other things to keep us busy in Jackson Hole.

We lounged around until it got a little warmer out.   

Then we went to our first AWESOME destination. Can you guess by the picture where we are???

Bet you didn't guess BIG O TIRES!!! Yep....we walked out to the car to find a LOVELY flat tire. Luckily the little maintenance guy at our cabin filled my tire up enough to get us over to the tire store. An hour later we were back on the road. Apparently one of the sensors in my tires had gone bad.

Next stop....Teton Village for an afternoon of sledding and playing in the snow castle.

Now THAT.....was fun!

Mrs. Preggo couldn't participate in much of the snow festivities but it was really great to watch the boys laugh and run and enjoy the snow since we haven't had much over in IF this winter.

On the way back to the cabin we saw 3 MOOSE! They were so beautiful! We were pretty excited about it since we haven't ever seen one after all these years of going to Yellowstone.

After Daddy got finished up with his meetings we went out for a delicious BBQ dinner and followed up with a good long SWIM! The water felt so good and we had the pool all to ourselves!

The next morning while Nate headed off for more lawyer stuff the boys and I went over to Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. Dallin and Parker were especially fascinated by all of the weird and crazy things. 2 headed sheep, birds, and cows. Albino porcupines, buffalo, and trains made out of match sticks. There was tons of cowboy and vampire stuff too. SO random.  

After Ripley's we went over to the candy store for some treats. It was hard to find Dallin a candy he could enjoy now that he has the BRACES on!

Then we met Dad for lunch and made the SNOWY trek home. Serious WHITE KNUCKLE moments here. It was SO incredibly windy that it was almost impossible to see the roads. We were so happy to get back to the highway where the roads were just wet.

A GREAT trip together. LOVE memories made with my family. Totally worth skipping school. ☺

Cookies, parties, getting fat and playing hooky.

First things first, the MOST important bit of information as if late.....I have found the perfect chocolate chip recipe! I'm ALWAYS trying new chocolate chip recipes in search of the very best of the best. This last one was pretty darn good. I'm keeping this one on file for sure.

Here is the link:
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/best-big-fat-chewy-chocolate-chip-cookie/

And here are the cookies! YUM!

And speaking of eating cookies........I'm getting fatter!!! 16 weeks! Yippee!

And speaking of getting fatter, I had a boy at the dollar store come up to me and say, "Hey, you're fat!"
Yeah, that made me feel awesome. Little sh*%.

And in other news, I hosted a very last minute 30th birthday party today for my sweet friend Tawnya. When I heard she didn't really have any plans for the big 3-0 I jumped into action. A few friends, a fun game and a delicious lunch later, I think she felt celebrated and very loved. I adore any excuse for a party, even if we only have a few hours to pull it off! I forgot to take pictures during the actual party, but here is the aftermath.

I am SO looking forward to playing with my family for a couple of days in Jackson Hole. Nate has to work up there for the next few days and I insisted that the boys and I come along. They are only little once and even if they miss a few of days of school it will be great to get some quality family time in. I can't wait to take the boys sledding and swimming. We're staying in this really cute family cabin. It really is a beautiful place to visit. We're lucky to live so close.

Yeah, we're awesome parents like that who encourage their kids to play hooky. Shhh....don't tell on us. ☺

A very random post indeed......

Last time I was pregnant I was 25 years old. I swear there is a huge difference between 25 and 30. So, I'm 16 weeks pregnant and still throwing up at least 2 times a day. I SWEAR this went away at about 12 weeks when I was pregnant with Landon. I am still extremely tired too. I go to sleep early and take 2 naps every day. Yep....2 naps! Seriously, I feel like I'm 80 or something. Grateful to be pregnant, just wanting to feel a little bit more like myself...that's all.

The only place I have been DYING to eat at......Chuck A Rama! Sick I know. Something about having a small little sampling of all sorts of food AND desserts just makes me giddy. Nate took our family out for a night on the town the other day. He made my dreams come true by taking us to the Up-chuck. He's such a romantic. ♥

My Dallin just finished up another season of indoor soccer. He did a GREAT job as the goalie. He wasn't even afraid of the ball at all. Unfortunately his team lost ALL of their games.....they ended up tying their last game. Yahoo! That is right...I am cheering for a tie! The best part though, Dal still loved it and still wants to play again. Gotta love that positive attitude. You also HAVE to love the crazy striped socks that he borrowed from Dad's Argentina box. Hehe.

My two elementary boys received their report cards. Dallin straight A's once more and Parker got all A's and a B+! We took the boys out to celebrate with some Orange Leaf last night. Proud of my smart and hard working boys.

Taught preschool yesterday. We had so much fun heading over to the library for story time and then doing a few crafts at home before it was time to go. We were down to 4 kids because one was out of town and one moved recently! 4 kids = EASY!

I love my Landon. We've had so much fun being home together this past year while the boys are in school all day. He is so sweet as I've had a hard time these past few months. The other day I told him I needed to lay down for a few minutes because I was SO tired. He came in, tucked me in and said, "Ok Mom, you and your baby sleep good ok?" "Don't worry about me, I'll just be playing Nick Jr. for awhile." Love that sweet boy.

Doesn't Jack just look THRILLED in this picture? Hahahaha! I love it! He puts up with SO much crap in this house.

In other news, I am a total and utter BAWL BABY. I have pretty much forbidden myself from listening to ANY country music on the radio anymore. I start sobbing to every stinking song. I am a hormonal basket case. I probably shouldn't share this story for fear of total humiliation but hey, here it goes.
Yesterday I went to pick up the boys from school and the Chick Fil-et COW was out in front of the school reminding the kids to go to Chick Fil-et for dinner that night! It was a fundraiser for the school. The cow was standing out there waiting for the bell to ring and for the kids to come. When I saw the pure JOY on the kindergartners faces when they came out......yep, I totally lost it. I was crying over a dressed up cow holding a sign.

 Wow.

Less than 2 weeks until we have our gender ultrasound. I bought some cute BOY bedding online the other day. I think its another boy and it was a steal of a deal.

Alright, this rambling has gone on long enough. ☺

Making some fun out of nothing.....

No school today. And this girl needed to GET OUT of the house. Nate decided he needed to work today which is probably a good thing since MOST of the other attorneys were in the office too. I thought about taking the boys to another movie, or going somewhere fun for lunch. Really though, I just wanted to go outside and see some sunshine.

The weather people have been ranting for the past few days about this huge storms rolling this a' way so I wanted to get outside before the snow clouds hit.

Parker has been DYING to drive his remote controlled boat for some time so I thought, Hey....lets take it for a little spin a roo. We packed up the boat, some new batteries and headed over to the only little pond that I could think of over in Snake River Landing. Sure enough though........totally frozen over. Parker hysterical. I told him not to get his hopes up but obviously he didn't listen.

While heading back home I remembered we were near new little man made fishing lake and decided to swing by to see if it was frozen over as well. Most of it was but we got out of the car, walked along the paths and enjoyed throwing rocks on the ice/ sliding the rocks into the water towards the middle. The boys were laughing, running around and having a great time.

 They loved seeing the little frozen over waterfalls as well.

 Then some ice fishers came and we watched them dig through the ice and set up their tent. They boys were fascinated by the whole thing.

When our cheeks and fingers started hurting from the cold we piled in to the car to head home. I was thinking how we had made some fun little memories even if we didn't get to drive the little remote controlled boat. What a great afternoon!

Then Parker sighs and says, "Well, that day was a total WASTE!"

Seriously?

Who's little PUNK kid is this?

A great day.

Today has just been.......really good. I feel blessed becuase of it and wanted to write it down so I could remember that not all January days are totally blah.

The weather over here has been AMAZING this winter. Sunny days, warmer temps and hardly any snow. I know the farmers are worried but I can't complain. I've LOVED it. It's like a Boise winter.....I can handle this! It is clear and sunny again today. I love opening up the windows and soaking up the vitamin D!

I am finally feeling better. I've only puked 2 times in the past 4 days. Yee Haw!

Nate was featured in the newspaper today. They interviewed him yesterday and did a write up on the newly formed Eagle Rock bike racing club. Nate is the official race director of the new team. I love how he has taken his passion for biking over here and how he continues to help the sport grow on this side of the state. He is getting so invovled in our little community and I love it.

I took my Dallin to the orthodontist today. I swear, everywhere I go in this town I see someone I know.....of course I just so happend to know the woman at the front desk (she is in my ward and in the scouts with Dallin). The Dr. is good friends with our dentist friend back in Boise. The nurse's old basketball coach moved to Boise and ended up being my sister's basketball coach back in the day. The ortho lives right by one of the partners that Nate works with. EVERYONE knows EVERYONE here. I absolutely ♥ it! Oh, and my Dallin gets braces in 2 weeks! I'm SOOO happy for him. I'm grateful for GOOD insurance that will help cover a lot of the cost.

I got a letter in the mail from a great high school friend. Made me smile.

I got a phone call from my best college friend (Marcy). It was great to catch up. I love that girl.

I took a gift to a friend who just had a baby girl. She was the cutest little thing ever. Oh how I want a girl.

I had a friend stop by for a visit this afternoon. It was fun to show her my new and improved house....espiecially since it is still clean. We'll see how long that lasts! ☺

I'm going to lunch with a bunch of girlfriends tomorrow. I love lunch with friends on a Friday.

I watched my sweet husband and my cute son trot off to basketball practice. I love that Nate coaches Parker's team. It really just makes my heart happy.


A good day.......a really good day. ☺

Be our guest!

I did it! I finished the guest room today. I primed, painted, put the bed back together and hung some things on the wall.

FAREWELL nasty green wall and room o' crap!

Hello guest room!

I'm so tired now....I think I'll just climb on in and take a little nap!

Extreme Makeover....Starnes Edition

Haven't blogged in awhile. How come? I have been one BUSY BEE!

I'm not sure what exactly got me started. Maybe this new baby coming, but it seems a little early for "nesting" already. Whatever the case....I have been in major musical chairs mode with the house the past few days.

This isn't our house. We only plan on living here one more year but for the time being, I have decided to try my darnedest to make this house a little bit more FUNCTIONAL for our family. When we go to buy again......I can assure you I am going to be ONE extremely PICKY gal!!!

First off, the kitchen eating area has been WAY too small for our family. We haven't been able to have a sit down dinner as a family for so long. I decided to make a drastic change. We moved the family room downstairs and turned the family room into a dining area. Now my big table can be out all the time and we can all SEE EACH OTHER when we eat. And surprisingly enough....I have quite enjoyed having no TV upstairs. It is so much more peaceful when I am in the kitchen. We moved the computer upstairs also so I can monitor what is going on a little bit easier. The front room is still upstairs so we do still have a place to sit and hang out upstairs.

We're really like the family room being downstairs....it's so much more comfortable and it's nice having all 3 couches together.

Next we moved Landon into Dallin and Parker's old "sports" room:

(He LOVES it!)

 Then we moved Dallin and Parker downstairs into the basement. We got them some new bunkbeds and they are absolutely in heaven. Boys and bunkbeds....they just go together! We still need to find some things to hang on the wall.

 So now Landon's old room will sit and wait a few more weeks until we see if we leave the wall BLUE or paint it PINK!

Nate moved his bike room into my old craft room. I really didn't need all that room for craft projects anyway.

So, now to the old bike room. This is the current project in action. It is a total and complete DISASTER area! Tomorrow I am painting that nasty green wall and getting everything all set up. New guest room coming soon! See, we still have room for visitors! AKA.....come and visit us!

Pictures to come in the next day or so!

And yes....that is a large scary shark hovering in the corner. It's pretty much a $100 balloon. It was my mom's Christmas present to Dallin. It swims around using a remote control and absolutely

 TERRIFIES our cat.

(Which I secretly find VERY amusing)