KEEPING UP WITH THE JONESES.........

2011-12-18T18:58:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T16:08:00.000-08:00

We did the Turkey Trot this year for Thanksgiving. We walked the 10K and did surprisingly well. Mallory stayed awake the entire time and loved watching all the people and being out celebrating Thanksgiving.

Kyle and Amy came over to enjoy dinner with us and we had so much fun with them. My mom and Bets were there as well but did not get a photo of them.

here are old pics that I did not get around to loading on here last month.......

10 and 11 month (because I am behind)

2011-09-28T17:22:00.001-07:00

I know I am so behind and I am so sorry!! This is MJ's 10 month pic from last month! She is finally saying ma-ma! It was all about Da-Da for months but now she says Ma-Ma! Melts my heart everytime!

And then we are current with our 11 month pics from just a couple days ago. She is crawling all over the place. She is pulling herself up on everything and taking the side steps. Today she experimented with letting go while standing and stood on her own for a couple seconds! MJ loves crawling up the slides at the park and tot spot, I let her be the bad influence on the other kids because she loves it so much. Once she reaches the top she is so very proud of herself I try to teach her the appropriate usage of the equipment but finding other uses is so much more entertaining. She is getting a couple more top front teeth which is causing her to get more interested in actual food versus baby food. Oh and she loves music. Even a tv commercial with music she will stop in her tracks and start dancing. She has a little bounce move and claps at the end to show her appreciation for the tunes! She also blows kisses, she puts her fist up to her mouth and says muah! so cute!!!!

I thank God every day for blessing us with MJ! I can not believe it has almost been a year since we became a family of 3! She teaches me so much each and every day! She is our whole heart and we fall more and more in love with her with each second. She will never know how much she has helped me throughout my whole fight with cancer, I appreciate her teaching me not to sweat the small stuff life is way to short! I appreciate every second I have with her even when she pushes my patience with trying to establish her independence! I hope all is well with everyone and we appreciate you checking in on us! xo~G, J and MJ

happenings lately

2011-08-15T16:27:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Justin had to work down in San Antonio so MJ and I tagged along. We had a wonderful time for our first family vacation. Mallory and I did all the touristy stuff during the week while Justin was working. This is us on the riverwalk at dinner one night.

We went to a park Hemisfair Park found a swing for her and they had a big wooden play structure that was pretty neat.
Mallory and I walked the Botanical Garden one morning before it got too hot and it was beautiful. She made it about half way through before passing out!

The Children's Museum has a tot center designated for 0-36 month olds. She loved it and finally got brave enough to climb on the equipment towards the end, but in the beginning she just likes to sit and people watch like her momma! We have been going to Gymboree play and learn classes, they have these balls (in the picture below) there that she absolutely loves. We even bought some for her thinking then they might not be that big of a deal then once class rolls around but oh no! She gets a death grip on the ball and carries it around with her the entire time. Oh and yes they had them at the Children's museum so of course we had to tote that around the entire time! Too funny!

Finally posting her 9 month pics and we will be taking the 10 month ones next week! Wow time flies like crazy! It is getting harder and harder to take her pics each month as she gets more and more mobile. As you can see she got bored with me in no time and moved on checking out the books on the table!

If you can see she has 2 teeth on the bottom! She has been chewing her fingers like crazy so I think more are moving and on there way! She is getting better each day with finger foods. It is amazing how she has grown into this little person and out of being a baby (even though she will always be our baby)!! Hope all is well with everyone and thank you for checking in on us! I am continuing to get better each day, the hardest part for me is the obvious appearance difference and the chemo brain. The chemo brain is residual from the chemo and means I have a foggy feeling memory and it is hard to concentrate on things. I hope things will just continue to get better with each day. All our love~G, J and MJ

enjoying a normal life!

2011-07-14T18:28:00.000-07:00

It seems like it has been a lot longer than a couple of weeks since I got cleared from my doctor. We have been busy enjoying time being out of the house! My mom and I celebrated me having a good report from my doctor at the end of June by taking MJ to the aquarium downtown for lunch. She loved looking at the huge tank watching all the fish, we also went on the shark train after lunch which was pretty cool. I have taken MJ to a play and music class that is with other babies her age which was so fun seeing her play! She loved all the songs and games they do and I look forward to each class for her. We have been enjoying our pool at the apartment we float in the big part together and they have a 6 inch area that she crawls around in and splashes.
This last weekend we went to the circus. MJ loved it and clapped for all the performers.

Here is MJ's 8 months pics, it is getting harder and harder to take good pics of her now that she is constantly on the move! She has mastered crawling and is now pulling up on everything to stand. She loves all fruits and is skeptical of veggies and other dinner meals. It is amazing how much she is changing and becoming a little girl and growing out of our little baby!!! Happens way too fast!
But I have been feeling good. I still have a bit of a foggy head "chemo brain" is what they call it and I get tired but pretend like I am not! I hope that we can spend time with you all soon! All our love!!!!

Hooray!

2011-06-19T17:16:00.000-07:00

Hooray, I made it through all 6 cycles of chemo! In the beginning June seemed so far away and here it is we made it! The end of this journey is just a little over a week away- deep breath!! I am so excited to continue to feel better and not have to struggle to find the energy to do every day tasks like brushing my teeth without becoming winded. Mallory started crawling today, she waited until I am feeling better and am able to chase her! I want everyone to know we could not have made it through this without everyone of you. Your love, support, prayers, encouraging cards and words, care giving to myself and Mallory either planned in advance or last minute, countless rides, and loving company at the big MD Anderson during chemo has made this journey possible. My heart melts thinking about all of our friends and family that stepped up to help us, we are forever grateful for you!!!!

This week

2011-04-20T17:45:00.000-07:00

The Ritz's sent us an Easter basket this week that had these Easter bunny ears in there! Too cute! We are very excited for MJ's first Easter!:)

My numbers are on the rise and that always makes me feel so much better as the chance for transfusions and ER visits decreases. I am so happy when this third week comes up. Thank you all so much for your continued thoughts and prayers, I could not be this strong without your support and prayers. I appreciate each of you so very much! Mallory has been so much fun this week! She has been a rollie pollie all over the place- you set her down on her back and she is off before you can even snap a good pic of the the action! Our tummy time has turned into roll sessions, she will be crawling in no time! She also got her first taste of rice cereal this past weekend- she was not a big fan at first, but today she ate the whole serving! She is so stinking cute eating- she grabs the spoon and slurps it off the spoon! On Saturday we went driving looking for bluebonnets but there were none to be found! It is so dry here I guess they did not survive the drought. We did the drive up 290 to Brenham and then over to the I10 back down to Houston and saw none the entire trip. I was looking forward to getting cute pics of MJ with the flowers but maybe next year! On Sunday we drove down to Galveston to check out the beach. Aunt Janelle was here this past week and wanted to see it so we took her down there. We were not prepared to hang out on the beach we just found a secluded spot to park and walk around a little bit. It was super windy but super nice! Now I am super excited to take MJ there when chemo is all done and enjoy a weekend down there!:)

day by day

2011-04-15T17:03:00.000-07:00

I hate day 1-16, each day is so unexpected on how I will feel and what I will be able to do. I hate being so debilitated and worthless. It is either the chemo itself that makes me sick or the numbers taking a dive to nothing that makes me exhausted and scared of every germ. I long for the third week day 17-20 where I feel "normal". I hate day 21 where I spend the day up at the hospital doing tests and meeting with the doctor preparing for the next cycle again scared out of my mind. I cry just because I feel so helpless to this disease and hate that I have absolutely no control on what this disease does to me. I long to be able to take a shower- a real shower with no shrink wrap on my body and water being able to run down without being hand held stream. I plan on taking so many when this is over and being in there until there is no more hot water left! I am still bitter about being forced to quit breast feeding and resent the fact that it might not ever happen again. I hate wearing a hat all of the time but my bald head is a bit alarming and I do not want to make others feel uncomfortable. I hate that I re-loose my hair with each cycle and long for the end where I can just watch it grow. I long for a glass of wine to take the edge off and just relax already!

weekend happenings

2011-04-04T10:10:00.000-07:00

Mallory is now taking a binky! yes we are way late at this but she finally likes the binky. She used to act like we were gagging her anytime we tried to give it to her and she was not the least bit interested in that thing. Now she loves that thing. Justin is not very stoked about this because he does not want to deal with taking it away from her but I love that she can soothe herself with it for now.

She takes it out and is able to get it back in sometimes but most of the time it gets thrown around when she plays that game.

We got to go to the zoo Saturday morning, the first Saturday of every month they open early for zoo members. It was nice to walk around before too many people got there. We sported MJ in the baby bjorn, she fell asleep in it an hour into our morning but did not take too long of a nap to miss anything! I was worried about her getting too much sun so I lathered her in sunscreen but it ended up being a foggy morning so worried for nothing! We stayed at the zoo for a few hours seeing all the animals waking up and being released from there sleeping dens. We then went to a Mexican food restaurant by my mom's house for lunch that we have been saying we wanted to check out for years now and finally did that! It was ok ,but I do not think I want to go back there I prefer other ones over that one! It was such a nice day getting out and about its funny I will even "forget" I am sick on these good days. But I get the reminder with the CVC in place and taking temp and doing mouth rinses four times a day. Justin and I even got to go out on a hot date Saturday night to the theater! What a treat! Sunday we all went to church together and then went out to lunch. It was a great weekend and I love that I got to get out and enjoy it with my family!

I am getting anxious as I approach the third cycle in just a couple of days. I think my anxious energy comes from me just being ready to be done already. Just about on the downward slope though- almost half way there. I hate that the actual treatment days are so debilitating! But I am so thankful for our family and friends that fill in for me taking care of MJ without missing a beat while I am worthless during treatment. I have to do a CT scan and chest xray this time before the third cycle to check the areas in my lungs for any changes so I sure hope that goes alright. Thank you for checking in on us and your continued prayers throughout this. I keep giving all my worries to God, I know he is taking care of all this but I can not help being scared! Deep breaths, just one day at a time! xoxo~G

so many blessings

2011-04-01T09:22:00.000-07:00

It is pretty easy to think of all the negative scary stuff that is going on right now but, when my head goes to this place I instead focus on all the wonderful blessings I have right in front of me. I trust in God and know he has a big plan in place that is so much greater than just me with cancer. God is good and works in wonderful amazing ways. I am blessed with getting to be at home with MJ. When Justin and I talked of starting a family we really wanted me to be able to stay at home. Then we had MJ and realized we could not financially only have one of us working, but now we are forced into this situation and I love that I get to be home with MJ right now. I treasure this time with her so very much. She is my daily support group that gives me the strength to make it each day with the right attitude! I love that Justin likes his new job and the people there that he is working with. I love getting to spend time with family and friends. We have been so blessed with having family and friends getting to stay with us to help out during this time. I love that MJ gets to know our family and friends while they stay with us. Cancer has definitely brought our family closer. I love that I have more good than bad days right now. I know I can only take each day as it comes but I am thankful it has so far just been the chemo days which have been debilitating. I love going to the hospital and seeing other people fighting the fight as I am with smiles on their faces too. There is so many people with all different types of cancer it is so encouraging just to see everyone there wanting to live. I love that I have a family to fight to live for and be with for many years to come. xoxo~G

5 months

2011-03-26T09:01:00.000-07:00

Mallory is 5 months! Wow what has happened in 5 months, huh?!! Just thinking about how overwhelming it was having a newborn coming home from the hospital seems like just yesterday. Now I am needing to soon start researching feeding her her first foods! She is staring to push off things to roll herself from back to front and has found her feet at the changing table. Will not be too long and she will be moving all over. Today is also day 10 of cycle 2 so we are in the neutropenic stage of things. I am trying like crazy to wash hands after touching anything and wiping everything down to try to prevent getting sick like last time. It is a little overwhelming thinking of foods to avoid and just trying not to mess up as my WBC count is so low. I am excited to be almost half way done. I am so proud at how well MJ has been through out this process, she is so easy going and has taken so well to every person that has come to stay with her as I am away at treatment. This whole experience has been very humbling to me and I am forever grateful for all of the help we have received. We could not make it through this without the love and support from all of you. We appreciate everything more than I will ever be able to express. I smile because of all of you!!! xoxo~G, J and MJ

day 12

2011-03-07T09:57:00.000-08:00

Took pictures for one of the last days I will have hair, today is day 12 of first chemo round so my hair will be falling out any day now. I will hope I will be feeling good and proud throughout that I will still take photos but who knows really.

This is MJ and me on Valentines day, we went to our fertility doc appointment that day kind of ironic on the day of love and all. Which I know most everyone has heard but the fertility doctor told us if I was his daughter he would tell me to not mess around waiting for invetro fertilization process to harvest eggs and start chemo as soon as possible since I already have a baby I need to be around to be a mom for which I could not agree more- the thought of not being here for MJ devastates me to pieces!

SO basically chemo sucks- no pleasantries about it, it just sucks. But I am now on the rise with all my numbers so that is good that I have a good couple of weeks to look forward to before I go through it all over again from the beginning--ewww!!! It has been a luxury getting to have Angela be with us throughout this first round- she has been the shizit explaining what all the medical terminology means and telling me the truth of the good/bad/ugly side effects or what could happen, ect. She has of course not only been a huge help in the medical aspect but just to have family here is so reassuring and comforting in itself as well. Being home in Houston has been comforting in itself too. I feel so blessed getting to be in the same town as my mom again and having her being able to help with MJ has been a god send!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH Babs and Angela- we love you and cherish you for putting up with the toughest patient in the world and for not hesitating at all with taking care of MJ!!! Thank you everyone for all of your continued support and encouragement! I have found such strength in your support and love you all so much! I appreciate you all so much for everything and want you each to know how much everything means to me!! I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family! xoxo!!!!

3 months

2011-02-09T19:44:00.000-08:00

I am so behind on my posts! Here is MJ's 3 month pics. She is growing so much each day! Two weeks ago she caught a cold which then caused an ear infection. No fun! When we went to the doctor she weighs 14 pounds. She is getting so good at grabbing things and now getting to that curious stage where everything goes into the mouth. Her hair seems to be getting darker. She is a very happy baby and very social- she smiles at everyone and loves the interaction with people. She is getting very good at holding her head up and getting a little less bobble head like all the time.

Hope all is well with everyone!! All our love~G, J and MJ

2 months

2010-12-28T14:00:00.000-08:00

Our baby is 2 months old!! It seems like she has been a part of our family forever- I can not imagine my life any more with out her. But then it seems like it was just yesterday we brought her home from the hospital. We are loving each minute with her and enjoying her so much! We could not get any smiley pics- she was all serious for her 2 month photo shoot! :)

my birthday

2010-12-13T12:51:00.000-08:00

One of the church's here in town have a drive through live Nativity scene for Christmas. We went to see it this weekend and it was very beautiful! It is very cold here so I can only imagine how cold the people were out there! We caught it on the last night so it was not very crowded at all we just drove right through with no long lines or anything (- which I am getting a little spoiled when I get irritated with what a long line means here in our small town that is!)

I could not think of a better way to celebrate my birthday! That is the absolute sweetest smile and she has completely fulfilled my every wish! I love her!! She has found her hands and they go straight in her mouth! She is getting better self soothing her self at times with sucking on her hands but still not that into the whole binky thing. And as you can tell she is smiling more and more each day! We are enjoying every minute with her and can not get enough!! She has that cradle cap- we are trying the shampoo, a pr- shampoo treatment and baby oil so we will see if we can get that to go away soon! It looks to me like it would hurt but they say it just bothers parents! :) hope every one has a great week! sending all our love~G, J and MJ

Santa

2010-12-07T11:28:00.000-08:00

We took Mallory to see Santa the day after Thanksgiving. She was pretty cute with him she just stared at his big white beard! Too cute!! Mallory continues to keep me on my toes- just when I get comfortable in somewhat of a routine she completely flips it on me. I am trying to let go of my OCD behavior and just listen to her of what she needs and when she needs it. She now smiles real smiles not just at gas and it completely melts our hearts. We tried weighing her by just weighing ourselves with and then without her and unofficially we think she is around 10lbs. She changes each day! Justin has gotten to spend more days during the week at home with us girls due to work being pretty slow which is very nice family time. We got our Christmas tree up this past weekend, Mallory was super cute sniffing it the whole car ride home with the tree in the car. I got the sweetest, most thoughtful gift in the mail this week from MJ and all the Jones girls- they sent me a jar with daily inspirational notes to open one each day! Thank y'all so much I have loved that so much and it has helped me with any low feelings that creep up! I love y'all- thanks again for looking out for me like that! Hope everyone is having a great week! Sending all our love~G, J and MJ

one month already!!

2010-11-28T08:11:00.000-08:00

Our baby is already one month old!!! Goodbye new born diapers we are now in size one. Her newborn size clothes are too snug as well and she wearing size 0-3months now. Can not believe how fast time is going by and how fast she is growing, we measured her with ruler at home and she has grown 1 and 1/2 inches! She has been sleeping close to 4 hrs at night these past couple nights. It is amazing how much has changed in just a month. Everyone was totally right that it does get better and easier with each day. We went out to Justin's Aunt and Uncles house for Thanksgiving and enjoyed dinner with them and a lot of the cousin's. Mallory slept through her first Thanksgiving dinner but was up afterwards to enjoy time with the family watching the OSU basketball game. My mom got to come up and be with us for the long Thanksgiving weekend and we enjoyed every minute she was here with us -did not want her to leave! Thank you so much momma, we appreciate your help with everything so very much!!!

Mallory newborn pics

2010-11-23T11:27:00.001-08:00

A couple of weeks ago we had someone come over to the house to take Mallory's newborn pictures. I was aiming for a time of day that she would be deep in sleep so we could get those adorable sleeping baby shots where they are all curled up and placed strategically in cute positions but that was just silly wishful thinking! I have learned not to plan anything when it comes to a newborn! :) I want to thank yall so much for all of the encouragment and support these past couple of weeks- it means so much to me! I have officially gone a couple days now without crying and without doubting myself! So I am definately getting better! I am loving every second with Mallory she is such a miracle and has completed our family in ways we did not know were possible! She is the love of our lives and is our entire world! She is getting stronger with her neck control and does pretty good with tummy time in small intervals. She is still backwards for the most part with sleep scheduele but we are getting there with that too! We hope you enjoy her pics and we send all our love!!!~G, J and MJ

Justin's the big 3-0

2010-11-16T05:50:00.000-08:00

This weekend we celebrated Justin's 30th birthday on Saturday. His sister Janelle is here in town for a week and a half and her bday was a couple days before his so we celebrated her bday as well. (Mallory did her first road trip going down to Oklahoma City airport to pick up Aunt Janelle and she did pretty good for a whole afternoon/evening in the car.) It was pretty fun for them to be together to celebrate and I think they had a pretty good time together. Festivities are still stretched out even to this Friday for them as well, lucky dogs! This past weekend we had a couple of friends over to watch the OU vs Tech game to celebrate the big three-ohh. I dressed myself and Mallory in OU gear just because it was Justin's bday- we were both quietly rooting for Tech but our cheers went unheard as OU blew them out of the water- poor Tech.

This past weekend we also made a trip to Stillwater so Aunt Janelle could see the kids there since they could not come to Enid because Shana was studying for midterms. Mallory did very good on the trip there and even stayed asleep so I could eat lunch but the afternoon was not so good for her. After she ate she completely threw up which was a first for Justin and me as parents! These past few days have been pretty hard for me adjusting to motherhood. It is so hard when she is up for hours at night and nothing I do can soothe her, absolutely breaks my heart. I am loosing faith in myself of how good a mom I am these past few days. Everyone keeps reassuring me how much better it gets and I know it will it is just hard for me right now. I think Mallory got the short end of the stick in the mom department and needs a better one for sure!

sending all our love~G, J and MJ

2 weeks already!

2010-11-10T09:32:00.000-08:00

Our adorable little red raider!

I can not believe it has already been 2 weeks since Mallory has joined our family. It has been absolutely amazing. I am beginning to feel a lot better and am loving being a mom! It was a rough first week home with being sore from surgery and the complete lack of sleep delirium I was in but this week has been so much better. My emotions are balancing back out now and I am feeling human again instead of like a crazy lady. She is now getting up every 3 hours to nurse instead of hourly so that is a huge game changer being able to catch a few more zzz's. I love just being able to be with her, I can just sit and watch her forever and still feel like I can not get enough of her! It takes my breath away to think we created her and just how amazing she truly is, I did not know I could love someone so much and so deeply. We went to her first doctor appointment a couple of days ago and she is doing good, her weight was back up and is in the 50th percentile. She began to loose it towards end of appointment from a hunger melt down- I had to sweep her off to the car to nurse I do not feel comfortable yet with the whole nursing in public as I am continuing to learn, I am sure that will change. She has been taking it pretty easy on us- she is a pretty relaxed baby- she is only fussy and cries with a few gas/poop problems that she has to work out and when she is beyond hungry. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers for us and we appreciate yall so very much!! Sending all our love~G, J and MJ

Our family of 2 is now of 3!:)

2010-10-31T13:23:00.000-07:00

We went in to get induced this past Monday morning on Mallory's actual due date but things of course did not work out the way we planned but instead just the way they were supposed to. After over 24 hours on pitocin and then cervidil things were actually going in the opposite direction. Mallory's blood pressure dropped way low with each contraction that next morning so our doctor did C-section before too much distress happened for her. Turns out there would have been no way she would have come vaginal the way she was postitioned and with the placement of the cord so it all worked out for the best. I would have to say C-section was weird in the sense that I did not get to actually see Mallory and be with her for what seemed like forever which was pretty hard for me. Having to have a C-section was one of my biggest fears throughout the pregnancy but so thankful for such a great doctor and his team that made it such a good experience- as well as being cut open can be right? We had a long week in the hospital and finally got discharged late Thursday night. We have just been following Mallory's lead with everyting, she is such a good baby and has taken it pretty easy on us these first 5 days.

Where's Waldo and Wenda

2010-10-23T17:17:00.000-07:00

We had a Halloween party Saturday night through work and it was a lot of fun. We dressed up as the Where's Waldo couple Waldo and Wenda. I thought a large shirt would work good but I was hanging out a bit as she has gotten a lot lower, but it worked just fine- at least I was covered!:)

almost there

2010-10-21T19:08:00.000-07:00

We went to the doctor this week and still no changes with dilation I am still at a 2 and 75% effaced. But we did have changes with the cervix position, it is now at a -1 and she is still way down he again had to push her back up to check the cervix. Her heart beat was 144 beats per min this week. Luckily our doctor is on call this weekend so if anything happens he will get to be with us, but if nothing happens over the weekend we are set to induce! We have one set of grandparents here with us and the other grandma with an aunt and uncle in tow on their way soon. We are so thankful to have family with us for this special time as we wait for her big debut! It is amazing how one little girl is so loved and we have not even gotten to meet her yet. I am so excited and yet so nervous! It is all starting to feel so surreal that we will have our baby with us next week! wow!! I am scared on what to expect! Today was my last day at work so maternity leave has officially started which I can not believe I made it this far but could not go much longer for sure I am just way too big. My belly was totally getting in the way today- there was not a comfortable position at all. But I am so thankful I was healthy enough to work up until the end so I did not disappoint anyone at work and could help keep both hygiene schedules going smoothly for as long as I could. I know I will see everyone it is just sad officially leaving for awhile, and I am sure my hormones are contributing to me being so sensitive about everything! Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers and we will keep you posted with everything!!! Sending all our love~ G, J and MJ

still waiting

2010-10-16T06:58:00.000-07:00

Last night we went out on a hot date while it is still just the two of us. We went to a pub that has yummy bar foods and the catch is no one under 21 yrs old is allowed so we thought this would be a good time to get our fix while we can still smuggle our minor in with us. It was very good and just nice to be out with my husband enjoying each other! It is always weird though going out here because of course patients are everywhere- yep our waitress even! Just crazy to me that we can not ever get away from work while in town I think that is why we love and long for our trips to the city- just not to be recognized and have to talk anything dentistry!

This week I wanted to measure the circumference of my belly, we measured it at work with a tape measure we found there. I measure 47 inches around- my sweet loving husband immediately does the conversions in his head and bursts out "wow that is almost 4 feet around!", aww doesn't that make you feel good?! :) Ha! We will continue to keep you posted with any changes but so far nothing has changed- the girls at work have noticed my belly getting lower and I have noticed it is low as well that now it is getting hard to keep my belly covered by even the longest of maternity shirts!

We wish everyone a great relaxing weekend and send all our love~ G, J and MJ xoxoxo

no changes

2010-10-12T17:23:00.000-07:00

We had a doctor appointment today, I was so excited and anxious to find out how far I had dilated from last week and to know if we were getting closer to having her here! But to my dismay no changes today- I am still at a 1-2 dilation! I could not help but be disappointed there was not any change. My doctor said most first time moms do not have the baby until after 39 weeks so he is not disappointed since we still have another week until that point. He still had to push her back up in to place in order to check the cervix today- he said that was really good that she is down like that we just need her to push more on the cervix to get the dilation continuing to progress. Her heart beat today was 13o beats per min- the doctor jokingly said we got a boy, like that is what I needed to hear to help my anxiety at this point funny guy he is!!! But I guess anything is possible and joke would be on us if it was a boy!

We sold the car on Friday, it is bitter sweet that it is gone. It is sweet that we do not have the high payment each month especially since I am about to be at home not working with our baby! But it is bitter because I know Justin loved that car and it was his big spurge upon graduation! (Thank you Justin for all your sacrifices and hard work in supporting our family! You are such an amazing husband and I can not wait to see as my baby daddy! :) I love you more and more each day!!!)

full term

2010-10-06T16:39:00.000-07:00

So we have officially hit full term with Miss Mallory and have 2 weeks and 5 days now until her actual due date. We went to the doctor this past week and he checked for any changes. He had to push her way back up as soon as he started the exam to even get to my cervix to check it. I am dilated 1-2 cm and 75% effaced. Which in all actuality does not mean anything specific besides we are progressing towards her big debut!! I have been still having a rough time with heartburn and have the morning sickness all over like first trimester, but I do not mean for that to come out as me complaining at all since it is just for a little bit longer until she is here! I am trying to enjoy and take in every second I still get to have her in my belly and loving the movements she does make. I can now feel her more at my hip bones. It has been over 37 weeks and it still just amazes me that I have a tiny person in my belly! I am beginning to get nervous that I will not do a good job at delivering her. I am nervous I will not know when to start timing things and I do not want to be the annoying first time mom that goes up to the hospital too early or under false labor. My doctor keeps reassuring me that these are things not to stress about at all but of course I can not help it. But most of all I am so excited and just anxious! I can not wait for her to join us and for us to have her in our arms finally getting to see her face! We will continue to keep you posted with the progress!!! All our love~ G, J and MJ

Belly pics

2010-09-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

Here are some of our belly photos I finally got uploaded on our computer to share with y'all! We had a doctor appointment this week, it is the beginning of having the doctor actually check me and the end of the ultrasounds! I had my strep B test done this week and the doctor checked for any dilation or progression of things. My cervix was only a fingertip so no dilation but he felt her head so she is still head down in position for her big debut! Our doctor did check her heart beat with the Doppler so we got to at least hear her- it was 144 beats per minute this past week. We are getting so excited and can not wait for her to be here!! Justin got the pack and play all together (that is what we are planning on using as her bassinet) and he got the car seat installed this past weekend as well. So now we are just waiting for her to join us! Nights are getting hard- tons of crazy uncontrollable heartburn that is like absolutely unreal!!! I am having a hard time getting comfortable and just ready to be snuggling up with her in my arms for sure!! I just can not believe how big I am and not just belly I mean everywhere- I never thought everything would get this swollen- I even have cankles! But it is all so worth it and I would not change a thing!

All our love~ G, J and MJ

weekend

2010-09-13T11:33:00.000-07:00

Justin had a fun weekend down in Norman at the OU game. He met one of his friends down there and they stayed at the Riverwind hotel for the weekend. They had such a good time down there and it helped that OU won! I had big plans of sleeping all weekend but of course that is just not happening no matter how exhausted I am. I can not get comfortable and have heartburn constantly that contributes to making it hard to get comfortable. But only 3 more weeks until full term and 6 weeks until her due date! Oh we are getting so excited!!! I have had some pretty crazy dreams lately about her arrival! My most recent I delivered her in one push and the nurse took her away before we could even see her so we did not know what she even looked like! We took Maternity photos yesterday and should be able to check them out this week. It was pretty fun having it all about Mallory in the belly. I am excited for us to have this memory in pictures for her! Sending all our love~ G, J and MJ

extra photo shoot

2010-09-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

Our friend is an ultrasound technician and did an extra ultrasound on Mallory for us today. (Thank you so much Amy, we loved getting to see her today and appreciate you doing that for us, that was so sweet of you!!!) We got to see Mallory practice her breathing. It was amazing getting to watch her little chest rising with each practice breath. The body measurements today show her currently weighing 5 lbs 3 oz. One of the times she was moving around she was flaunting her strands of hair! These radiopaque strands were sticking straight out, it resembled the way hair would look being pulled by static electricity sticking straight out. So cool!! We got to catch her yawing a few times too and she even stuck her tongue out. We got to look at her heart and see all 4 chambers at work- tonight her heart rate was 128 beats per min.

Sending all our love~ G, J and MJ

Mallory 33 weeks

2010-09-07T17:28:00.000-07:00

We had a doctor appointment today and got to see Mallory. This will be the last time he will do an ultrasound, the next times he will just use the Doppler to check her heart beat. He will only do an ultrasound if he is concerned about anything. Our doctor said he is still sure she is a girl and we told him that is good because we are ready for a girl!:) Her heartbeat today was 132 beats per min. Our doctor said everything is still looking good with her and her little temporary home in there. Our what to expect app said she is now the size of a pineapple! My placenta has areas of calcification which he said is normal but that was the only thing he noted. Measuring my uterus he said I have been measuring one week ahead the entire time, so we will see if that means we are further along than predicted. Our doctor said he wants me to just make it 3 more weeks for sure keeping things going like they have and then after that if she decides to start coming to be a part of our world we will let her and not try to stop any labor at that point. At our next appointment he will check for any dilation and do the strep B test. I am excited about her getting here, I am so excited to see her face and hold her in my arms. Justin thinks she will have red hair and I think she will have dark hair,either way will be beautiful to us and we really do not care either way. I can not wait for her to join our family. We pretty much have everything ready for her to come home. We have the car seat but still need to install it and get it inspected. Of course I can think of a ton of little things that I want to make perfect before she comes but that is just my nesting instinct going crazy! Hope everyone has a good short week ahead thanks to labor day giving us Monday off! Sending all our love~ G, J and MJ

2010-09-06T11:29:00.000-07:00

Isn't he the cutest little motorcross you have ever seen? We spent the weekend out at Stillwater with the Thundering Herd and Justin's parents. Saturday Shelby cooked ribs which he always does an awesome job and we all enjoyed a great dinner thanks to his hard work. McCamey suited up after dinner and showed us his moves on his motorcycle.
This is his motorcycle with the training wheels on it! He rode round and round their lot and did so good! It was so fun watching him ride and be so proud of himself!
Hermione is a tree climber now, she goes up and down the trees in their front yard. Her little legs have scratches on them from her adventures up in the trees but it does not slow her down one bit! We turned on the sprinkler for the kids to run around through it. They had a lot of fun and we always enjoy spending time with them! Sunday we got to meet with a couple that were interested in the car, hopefully they will want it?! We will see on Tues or Wed! The kids have had a blow up pool for awhile now so we got it out for them Sunday. They were going crazy having to wait for the pool to fill up but once it finally did about an hour or so later they were in heaven in that thing!! It was a fun weekend and we love every second we get to spend with family! Thank you for everything Janice and Larry! We loved getting to spend the past couple weeks with you and look forward to seeing you in October!! xoxo~G, J and Mallory

baby shower and Reid reunion

2010-08-30T06:00:00.000-07:00

This weekend our friends in Enid threw a shower for Mallory! It was such a good time and we are so touched by how thoughtful everyone was! We are so blessed to be surrounded by such great people!!!

Amy and Kara made this adorable diaper cake! They are so creative and did such a great job with the shower! Thank you again and again you guys! We appreciate all your hard work so much!!

Us with grandpa Larry!

Us with grandma Janice!!
We played a fun game that everyone had to guess how big around I was with toilet paper squares and there was a tie winner- both Aunt Cheryl and Aunt Marilyn won! We also played baby themed bingo. The girls arranged another game with everyone's name tags- they had made the name tags in the shape of diapers and at the end of the shower they had everyone open their diaper to see who had a dirty diaper and they got a prize! Too funny!!
The kids helped us open Mallory's presents, they are such great helpers!

Thank you so much Uncle Andy for the glider! It is so comfy and we appreciate you doing that for Mallory! Thank you!!!

We also had the Reid family reunion this weekend as well before the shower on Saturday. They had it catered through a local restaurant and we had a great lunch. It was fun seeing Janice with all her siblings together!

The Jones Family :)

31 weeks and 1 day

2010-08-24T15:34:00.000-07:00

Today we had our check up and got to see Mallory. When the doctor first put the ultrasound camera on my belly the only thing you could see was the proof she is a girl! The doctor got so nervous because he could not remember if we wanted to know or not and there was no hiding it at that time!:) Pretty fun stuff!!! Her heart beat today was 138 beats per min and he said everything is still looking good. Today she was head down still and sitting on one foot with the other foot over the head again. She is consistent with those yoga moves! We got to see a good image of her foot and it is long! We were trying to figure out who that was from, so we will see how long they are when she is here! :) Sending all our love~G, J and MJ

Mallory 3D/4D

2010-08-22T15:46:00.000-07:00

We went to the city this weekend and did the 3D/4D at Stork vision, it was amazing! They recommended I drink a fruit juice one hour prior to our session and that I come with full bladder which I did, but of course our little girl is not a fan of the photo-ops! Of course she was moving like crazy on the drive down and even while we sat and waited to get started, but as soon as I lay down for the ultrasound she is sleeping and taking a break. She was head down with all her limbs all down there with her. She even had the cord in front of her! I sat up to get her moving but no luck! The sonographer kept shaking my belly to get the fluid moving to make her mad to move but she did not care just covered herself up more and kept sleeping. We did get a couple of good looks at her face and even saw a smile! We got a DVD and CD with it which we already watched and loved! We got to hear her heart beat too! So amazing seeing her sweet little face and those gorgeous chubby cheeks! I am so excited to see her in person! Gets me all choked up thinking about it, amazing how much you can love someone you have not even met yet! We also got to pick up her furniture this weekend too! yay! It was pretty easy putting everything together and her room is coming right along! I am trying to figure out the best way to organize everything and I am sure I will change everything anyway!

30 weeks and 5 day pregnant belly! Getting bigger and bigger!
Sending all our love~G, J and MJ

29 weeks

2010-08-13T07:35:00.000-07:00

We are now going to the doctor every 2 weeks, we got to see her this past Tuesday. I got done with my patient early so we got to eat this time before we went. I was hoping me eating lunch before her ultrasound would stir her up a bit so we could get some good pics! But she was still content for her photo shoot just chillin' in a ball with her limbs all over her face. She had her leg over her head again and was holding her toes over her head with one of her hands- completely covering her face for any good pics to be taken!:) silly girl! But the doctor said everything is continuing to look good- the heart beat was 141 beats per minute and the placenta looked good he checked the coloring and said it was good. I tried to blame my weight gain on Mallory but no such luck just lying to myself on that one! But we have gotten back at the work out and walking the dogs regularly so hopefully that will get me back on track! It has just been ridiculously hot here these past few weeks so no motivation in the evenings but we have been doing everything early morning again while it is cooler- (using the word cooler loosely of course!) Our bedroom has been horrible at temperature control way hot in the summer and freezing in the winter. We had a guy come look at it last year and give us an estimate on how to fix it and we finally got it fixed today in preparation for Mallory to be in our bedroom those first few weeks. The guy just finished installing another air duct in the room and he had to order a new grate to cover the hole in the ceiling. So we are glad that is finally done and feel better about the room being able to be a constant temperature for her. I have so enjoyed washing and putting up all of Mallory's new baby clothes getting ready for her to be here. It is so fun seeing those tiny clothes and just picturing our tiny newborn will be here in just a little over 2 months! yay!! We are so excited to meet you Mallory! We have our child birthing preparation class tomorrow to get ready for her big debut. I am looking forward to it and excited to see the hospital and stuff! Let you know how it goes! Hope everyone has a great weekend and we send all our love to you!! xoxo~G, J and MJ

Mallory Houston shower

2010-08-06T14:52:00.000-07:00

My best friend Laura threw Mallory a shower this past weekend in Houston. The trip started off rough it was a long trip down there last Friday, I had to retake my glucose test that morning so there was a lot of sitting and waiting for the 3 hours and then we did the drive down south. All my numbers came back good though so no gestational diabetes- I was so nervous! But we had such a fun weekend to look forward to and were so excited for Mallory's shower on Saturday! I was so touched by Laura's thoughtfulness! She did such an amazing job which she always does with parties! The decorations were cute little baby girl clothes hanging on a clothes line. She made such a yummy spread of goodies to munch on from chicken salad, hummus, and the most amazing cake balls ever! Thank you again Laura!

I am so thankful for everyone that came to celebrate Mallory's arrival and shower her with love! She and I are the luckiest ladies ever to have such amazing friends and family! I really appreciate everyone coming by and sharing that day with us! I am so grateful for everyones support, love and encouragement as we prepare for Mallory's arrival. We are so excited to meet Mallory and it melts my heart to know we have such great family and friends that are just as excited to know her too!

xoxo~G, J and MJ

we're in the third trimester

2010-07-27T15:44:00.001-07:00

We had our doctor appointment today! I get so excited each time getting to see Mallory!!! The doctor said everything is looking great and we have a beautiful baby in there! Her heart beat today was 145 beats per min. It is amazing how big she has gotten the past 4 weeks. I keep getting this pain at the upper right of my belly- when I told him that he said it was probably her pushing against that spot. He looked in that area today and sure enough her hiney was up in the air- she had her legs tucked up by her head and arms over her face. So we did not get good pics of her again but that is ok as long as she is healthy pictures can wait!:) Our What to Expect phone app says she is the size of a head of cauliflower- 16in. I had to do the glucose test today. I drank the orange drink which at first I thought 'huh, this is not too bad' and which it was not that bad at all but it sure did upset my stomach for sure! So hopefully the results will come back all good tomorrow!

Nursery is painted

2010-07-25T08:03:00.001-07:00

Justin finished painting Mallory's nursery yesterday. It went so much better for him this weekend with us having AC!! It looks so good and he did such a great job! Now we just wait for her furniture to come in so we can start getting everything ready for her arrival in 13 weeks! Yay!! We have a doctors appointment on Tuesday so we get to see her then and will post the pics as soon as we can! I have to do the glucose testing that day too so hopefully that all goes good! Yesterday she was on the move in my belly- felt like she was jumping around in there and now she is getting stronger so you can actually see her moving! It is very fun having Justin being able to feel her more and more now!! This week she was very quiet and we did get scared that something was wrong. Now that her eyes are opened we read she would respond to light. So Justin shined a flash light on my belly and she immediately kicked at the light! Huge sigh a relief for us but I am sure she was thinking like what the heck guys!?! Sending all our love! xoxo~ G and J

And the fun begins...

2010-07-18T09:26:00.001-07:00

Justin started to paint Mallory's room this weekend. He has been researching how to paint so her room will turn out better than ours did! He found a nifty tool that dispensed the tape with paper for the edges of the room to avoid all the problems we had getting paint on the base boards no matter how good of a job we did with just the tape! He is done with 2 walls of the first coat and very frustrated with it all ready as you can see in the picture!! Hopefully the second coat will go smoother for him! Thank you Justin for all your hard work on her room this weekend!!! I love you so much and appreciate you taking care of that for us!! xoxo!!! Our air conditioner has quit working so it is pretty toasty in our house! The dogs just keep looking at me panting like I am choosing to make it this miserable in here. The air conditioner service ad said 24hrs so I got very excited but that is only to business emergencies it turns out- residential has to wait until Monday morning! They need to update their ad to be more specific! So hopefully we can get in tomorrow for someone to come out for a repair!We did go have some fun and see Dispicable Me yesterday in 3D which was such a cute movie, we both really enjoyed it. xoxo~G and J

Kynli's 2nd bday

2010-07-12T17:24:00.000-07:00

We went to Dallas this past weekend to celebrate Kynli's 2nd birthday with the Galindos! Summer did such a great job decorating a luau theme, super cute! We drove down Saturday morning for the party in the afternoon. It ended up raining that afternoon so the swimming luau was rain delayed for a bit but it stopped a couple hours later! The kiddos all hopped in the pool and had a great time, so cute watching them! We sat out only because it was still cloudy and windy so perfect weather to sit outside and socialize by the pool without having to be wet to survive the Texas heat! We ate pizza and Kynli had a very yummy cake with lots of icing- yum! The Galindos let us stay the night at their house so we did not have to head home until Sunday. Thank y'all again!! We ate yummy Pappasito's before we got on the road- Mallory was doing flips of happiness after the queso and fajitas! Is there anything better than mexican food- I think not!:) We had such a great weekend and wish that we were surrounded by friends and family like that all the time! But we are blessed that they are only a drive away and we can not wait until the next time! Sending all our love to everyone!!! xoxo~G and J

4th of July

2010-07-05T15:56:00.000-07:00

We headed up to Lake of the Ozarks to visit with the Erbs for the 4th of July weekend. I stink by not taking any photos but we had a really great time. We went up there on Friday and played cards and cooked out at their condo. On Saturday we hit the lake and I got completely burnt to a crisp! I sprayed sunscreen but obviously I did not do an even job the proof is in the exact lines on my body from red to white! Very patriotic of me but in a lot of pain for sure! I did not notice at the time of getting burnt as I floated in the lake and had a great time talking with everyone. Piled on the aloe as soon as we got home Sunday. Justin joked that I would not be in charge of spraying Mallory but in my defense I did a great job getting him covered just not myself! I think I am not used to be this white I usually have some sort of tan going on but I have done nothing at all so I am ghostly white! Saturday night we ate dinner at a restaurant on the lake called Horny Toads. We watched all the huge boats come in at dusk while we ate. After dinner there was a band playing at a different part of Horny Toads which was like the bar area. The band was a cover band and played 80's and 90's hip hop music it was a lot of fun jamming out to all the old favs! We headed back home Sunday so we would have Monday to relax before the work week. We got to watch fireworks on t.v. this year- pretty neat shows in New York by Macy's and the one at the Capitol in D.C! Hope everyone has a great week ahead and we send all our love to you! xoxo~G and J

Mallory visit #4

2010-07-01T16:21:00.000-07:00

Face picture of Mallory!

Today we went for our hospital ultrasound. I followed the test directions and came with a full bladder but it turned out I was too full and it was messing up the pictures! I had to go empty it before she could get started with all the measurements! ha! Our ultrasound technician measured everything and it was very interesting having her walk us through each measurement. Of course Mallory was in her pike position had hands up over her face and legs pulled up and over as well- so we did not get a good head picture of her today! It is funny how while we were waiting our turn she was moving like crazy but as soon as it was photo time she balled up and stayed put! The technician joked with us saying she was already being a drama queen acting like she had no room at all!:) Her measurements put her due date to be Oct 30th so we'll see if she'll be a Halloween baby!:) Today she measured weighing 1 lb and 4 oz. Her heart rate at the hospital was 147 beats per min. We also went to our OB apt today and her heart rate there was 139 beats per min! Our OB got the first picture posted this afternoon of her face- you can see her eyelids and the actual slits in them, and we even got to see her blink. And both visits today still confirming Mallory is a girl! So exciting and so amazing how she is growing inside my belly- such a miracle! Amazing how much she is already loved and we have not even gotten to meet her yet!

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend. Be safe and have fun! Hopefully everyone gets a nice long weekend to enjoy!! xoxo~ G and J

Shakespeare in the park

2010-06-27T10:14:00.000-07:00

For the past 10 years the community theater has put on a free show in the summer out of appreciation. We finally were in town the weekend they did it this year. We went out to the park on Friday night with friends and it was pretty neat! Before heading to the play we went to watch our friends son's t ball game but the other team had to forfeit since they only had one player show up. So we all went out to get ice cream instead. At the play we arrived and they were already doing an opening show so we grabbed first spot we saw on the hill. They were having technical difficulties with the speakers so where we were sitting could not hear very well so got lost in the people watching a bit. We left a bit early because of that but still neat experience and fun to be out! I guess I hurt my back sitting on the ground at the park Friday all day Saturday I had what felt like a pinched nerve! Saturday we had a car appointment in Oklahoma City at the dealership early in the morning so we did some shopping there getting some of the prep stuff to start painting the room. Those essentials of tape and paper for the borders. We made it back home in time to watch the USA pay and that was a disappointing game! Man! Today we have been finishing up the little things we needed to clean out of Mallory's nursery still like books and CD's going through what to keep or trash and putting the keeps in the attic. Justin was able to move the treadmill's out of there too- I pictured them being a lot skinner but moving them into our other rooms they are so wide and out of place! Of course my OCD is out of control trying to put everything in place it is just not working out right now! Have to learn to let some things go I guess!:) Hope everyone has a great week, sending all our love to you!! xoxo~G and J

Father to be day

2010-06-20T15:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Father to be day Justin!! He is the man behind the belly and one amazing man he is!:) I fall more in love with him each and every day! I am so excited to see him as a father! He is the most patient and selfless man I know which completely balances me out and will be an amazing role model for Miss Mallory. I took Justin to the movies today- he was wanting to see The Last of the Airbenders but it does not come out still for a few weeks so second choice was Toy Story 3 in 3D Imax. Which was super cute- tons of dads there today with the fam celebrating just as we were. He wanted to eat lunch at MiMi's Cafe but the wait there was over an hour so we had to pick a second choice for restaurant, too! We ate at BJ's and they were giving out free glasses this weekend for Father's Day weekend so that was a cool perk! We picked up some samples to put on the wall to narrow down the nursery room paint! Yay! Happy Father's Day to all the amazing dads out there! Hope everyone had a great day and has a great week ahead! Try to stay cool I know it is warming up fast here in Oklahoma! xoxo~G

So last night Justin felt Mallory move for the first time! She was moving like crazy while we were laying in bed reading our baby books. I had him put his hand on my belly just to see if he would be able to and he totally did- she straight up gave him a kick or something! Yay! What a wonderful Father's Day present Mallory!:) xoxo!!!

T-ball fun

2010-06-13T08:56:00.000-07:00

We got to go to Stillwater Saturday for the kids's t-ball games. Hermionie's was first and then McCamey played. The video is McCamey sliding into home base- too cute! He is doing so good this year with hitting and his focus on the game is a big improvement from last year! So fun for him!! Hermionie did great too of course!! She is so cute out there! And Poor Brooklyn has to wait until next year to play, Shana said she is having a very hard time with this and feels left out with both the bigger kids getting to do it. But I think Justin and I were a good distraction for her Saturday! :) Thankfully it wasn't too hot Saturday morning here and we even were blessed with some cloud coverage! Heck of a deal! After the games we ate pizza at hide-away, so good! Thankfully we got a table this time instead of having all of us have to file into a booth!:) good times! Justin has been in heaven with the world cup starting and is enjoying watching all those games all the time. There is a tv app on his iphone that he got to catch a couple of the games while we were out on Saturday. The kids then went home for nap time and we went down to OKC to order our furniture for Mallory! We tried to take care of it all last weekend but the store was closed so we had to make a trip back. So her furniture is now officially on the way and we will have in about 10 weeks or so. We also picked up a ton of paint samples from Home Depot to match the fabric swatches so we can start painting next month. The dogs are doing good- yesterday Josephine was bothered by a lady on a magazine we had sticking out of the trash- she kept barking at her picture! Silly houndie! We have been trying not to have them up on the furniture so they will be ready for Mallory. The dogs have their own bed now and are getting used to it. Hope everyone has a great week and we send our love to you!! xoxo~G and J

Rangers Game

2010-06-08T17:08:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went down to Dallas to spend time with the Galindos and we all went to the Texas Rangers baseball game. We went to an afternoon game on Saturday when it was over 100 degrees! We scored some seats in the shade for the first half and by the end we were melting in the sun! We had great seats at right field second row- to the right of us was the pitchers bull pin which we did not even notice until the end of the game!:) Our tickets were part of a family pack so we all got hot dogs and drinks included! They were passing out free shirts and had batting games set up for all the kids to play. It was a perfect day (wish the Clements could have made it to join us make it even better!)! We went out to dinner at Uncle Julio's and enjoyed yummy fajitas. We then went back to the Galindo's house where the boys played washers and we had a lot of fun! Summer got Mallory the cutest hot pink sandals- I am so excited to dress her up in them! Friday we met with a person with child care finders to start trying to find a place that takes infants for Mallory. She gave us a great list that seems promising so we will be making our way through it to check availability these next few weeks. I felt Mallory's first really big kick/movement yesterday- it was so big it took my breath away and just brought a huge smile to my face! I could not believe it, I was so amazed! We are still trying to order all the different pieces of her nursery and working on getting her room together. We have a busy summer ahead and are trying to make the most of this time to get ready for her! So excited to meet Mallory! We are now at the exact half way mark until she is here! Yay! Hope everyone has a great week and we send our love to everyone! xoxo~ G and J

Baby Jonesie is a Girl!!!

2010-06-01T14:35:00.000-07:00

Baby Jonesie is a GIRL!:) We are super excited and now can talk to her using her name- Mallory Jean Jones! She was doing all kinds of acrobatics today during our ultrasound- her legs where in pike position and she would peek her head through! His nurse comes to our office to get her teeth cleaned, so she took some time out today after his exam so we could listen to her heart beat. She was able to find a good sound through the placenta so we heard it pumping through that. She said everything sounded really good. Our doctor said everything is looking good as well! One of the doctors we work with was told last year she was having a girl and ended up delivering a boy so we are not going to go crazy with the pink yet!:) I am feeling really good and can not believe we are at the half way mark! It is sad to think it is already half over and then exciting to think she is almost here as a part of our family! I have felt her move a few times but nothing very consistent yet. No crazy cravings at all- just am actually eating meat and liking it! I have put on 10lbs and feel pretty chunky- my belly is starting to get bigger and harder. I am ready for it to be a real big belly!! Our next appointment is in a month- we have the hospital one and then see our doctor as well at that time. Thanks for thinking of us and we will keep everyone posted with everything! All our love~G and J

Deftones

2010-05-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

Deftones posted a last minute concert in Oklahoma City this weekend. We love the lead singer Chino Marino- he is an awesome performer!! They were out at the Diamond Ballroom on Saturday night. The Ballroom is so small we were very surprised and it is just in the middle of nowhere- very random! We got a spot right by the sound control booth so we would not have anyone behind us and we had awesome view of the stage- but sure enough as soon as the concert started all the tall guys came to stand right in front of us! So there was a little weaving between the heads to see but Chino is always jumping around the stage so we could see him just fine! So Baby Jonesie had his or hers first concert! Ours ears were ringing all the next day as well! Guess that is what happens when the concert hall is so small! Hope everyone has a great week ahead! We have a baby doctor appointment tomorrow afternoon-so excited!! We will keep y'all posted! xoxo~G and J

Time with Larry

2010-05-26T16:57:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun weekend with Larry in town! The Thundering Herd in Stillwater had us all over all weekend. We ate dinner out on Friday night at the kids' favorite restaurant. They have so much fun with the bread dipping sauce it is very cute! Saturday Shelby smoked a turkey for lunch and it was so good! He is a pro! All the guys worked on the Jeep and got it working again! Hermione picked some flowers for her momma and me! They were beautiful! Shana was explaining to her that I have a baby in my belly- her response was utter shock she told me "Gina it is not nice to EAT BABIES!" Aww too cute!! Saturday night Shelby grilled us burgers! Thank you again Shelby for all your hard work at the grill this weekend! We had cool whip in the can on our dessert Grandpa showed McCamey the cool trick of squirting it in your mouth and of course everyone had to try it!:) Once all the kids were in bed the grownups watched Sherlock Homes. It was a really good movie- Sherlock was pretty good at what he did! We have so much fun with the Thundering Herd and the traveling Brothers, we are so thankful to have such an amazing family!

Cleaning out the clutter

2010-05-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

We had a busy weekend closest cleaning out all the clutter. Friday we made dinner and had friends over. We enjoyed time around the chiminea outside after dinner. Saturday we got started with going through boxes and putting things in trash/keep/salvation army groups. Trash is full and already made our run to salvation army this morning. We still have one more run we have to do but it is all big things we are needing to donate. Justin got the attic organized this morning. We are getting there and little by little looking better and better! It is amazing all the junk we have! Today we are waiting on Larry to get here! We are super excited to spend time with him and wish Janice was with him too! It has been way too long since we have gotten to be with them! We love having family with us and wish it happened more often. Hope everyone has a great week! All our love~G and J

Mother's Day Weekend

2010-05-11T16:36:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful weekend this past weekend in Houston for Mother's Day! It was so much fun!! Justin has been reading the Baby Bargain Book for us. He has been doing the research on everything so we can begin shopping for baby furniture. Over the weekend we did tons of shopping for baby Jonesie by hitting the consignment stores to all the big name baby brand stores. We found the crib and dresser set we are going to get and found very cute bedding as well! Shopping for baby Jonesie is so much fun and I am so thankful we got to share that time with my mom.
We got to meet up with my brother and his girlfriend Amy a couple of times over the weekend too! They live out in Tomball and there is a little restaurant we have all been wanting to try so we all met out there at Bootsies. The chef there buys all his herbs and vegetables from the plant nursery they work at! The food was delish and so fresh. My brother has been super busy lately working 7 days a week and the nursery has been packed. It makes me so happy to see my brother so happy. I am so proud of all of his accomplishments so far in his life.
We got to go to the Astros game, that was both Justin and my first time to go to the Minute Maid Stadium. It was very fun even though the Astros did not play too hot! My dearest friend Laura and her son Jack got to meet us all out at the game too! It was so fun catching up with them! After the game there was a firework show which was pretty cool. On actual mother's day we went out to the IMAX and saw the Huble movie. It was pretty interesting seeing how they got the telescope up in space and seeing what it sees. As we headed home we luckily missed all the horrible weather that hit Oklahoma. It was horrible here how fast the tornadoes hit and how many there were. Please pray for all the families that lost their homes.

Lazy weekend

2010-05-02T13:31:00.000-07:00

Lazy weekend at home. We caught up on much overdue Netflix movies that were pretty crazy- Inglorious Basterds, An Education, and The Hurt Locker. It was a bunch of pretty intense movies so we kept putting off actually sitting down to watch them but we took care of them all this weekend. I got to go to dinner with Hayley Friday night which was some much needed catch up time which I absolutely loved! Justin stayed home and watched Lakers. Lakers pulled off winning the first series against the Thunder but are on right now on the second playoff series against Utah Jazz. It is not sounding good based on the yelling towards the television at the officials! I have just been busy with all those domestic chores getting laundry and such done. My belly is getting bigger and I can feel things getting harder. Some of the blog posts on a pregnancy site they say they are already feeling movement- I have not been blessed with that yet but am looking forward to it. It is crazy how fast time is going- at our next OB apt it will be the half way point of our pregnancy! Man, just soak up each day and enjoy it because it is going by way too fast! Hope everyone has a great week ahead, sending all our love~ G and J

14 weeks and 1 day

2010-04-27T14:32:00.000-07:00

We had our second doctor appointment today. Our baby was not being very cooperative for the photo shoot though. Our doctor kept shaking my belly trying to get the baby to move around but the baby was not interested. As you can see in the first picture we got a beautiful picture of the spine and everything looks good there! Absolutely amazing to me how much has changed in the last 4 weeks. Our baby was just chillin' on it's head with it's hand up covering it's head. We did get a side of the face picture that confirmed the nose bone and eye socket formation is good. The heartbeat was 154 today. Our doctor got a good angle between the legs and nothing is protruding in formation yet so too early for us to know any details with the sex yet but that is just fine with us! We are just thankful that our baby is growing so big and healthy! Thank y'all for all your thoughts and prayers! We appreciate each one of your support so much and it means so much to us that we can share this experience with y'all! Sending all our love~G and J

Cute little butt picture with feet up in the air- how cute is that?!

This is the best angle he could get for the face.

Good times with Good Friends

2010-04-25T12:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend we had good quality time with good friends! Summer and Augie had a wedding to go to this weekend and they came up early to see us on Friday! It was so great getting to see them and we got to show them our house and the big city we live in! (We loved getting to catch up with y'all and are already looking forward to next time- we love y'all so much!) On Saturday we participated in March of Dimes. It was a beautiful morning for the walk and a great turn out. We did a small road trip for dinner Saturday with friends. There is a Bar-B-Q place that one of our friends said was so good so she took us to a small town north of us to check it out. The Smoke Shack is the only thing in the town and it is amazing! I had a BBQ Beef sandwhich and Justin had a combination plate with sausage and the brisket. The sausage had jalepenos inside and it was so yummy- made Justin break a sweat or two! It was delish and totally going back the next BBQ craving! Thanks Ritz's plus one for a great time Saturday it was a lot of fun! We hope everyone had a great weekend and is enjoying this beautiful weather as much as we are! Sending all our love~G and J

second trimester

2010-04-18T12:28:00.000-07:00

We are now entering the second trimester we are 13 weeks tomorrow! Right now our baby is the size of a peach! I just get this wave of sheer happiness just thinking about the miracle that is taking place! It is so amazing that I am growing our baby in my belly! This morning getting dressed for church I put on a skirt and it was pretty snug around the waist, I am starting to get a little pudgier in the belly. The message this morning in church was to appreciate the hard times as well as the good since God is there for all of it and it is all his plan for us. This message really hit home with me with all of my infertility this past year and the struggle to actually conceive. God is amazing and we are so thankful for this blessing! We hope everyone has a great week ahead! Sending all our love~G and J

Happy Easter

2010-04-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Easter! Hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Easter! We had such a fun weekend with my mom! She got to come up on Thursday and spend a long weekend with us having fun shopping, cooking, watching movies, walks with the dogs, and grilling enjoying the nice weather. I love getting to spend time with her and as soon as she has to leave I start counting down to the next time we get to see each other. She is not only my mom but my best friend. Her and Justin both were great to me this weekend putting up with my crazy uncontrollable pregnancy moodiness and extreme fatigue! We got to eat yummy Mexican food finally today to celebrate Easter- we gave up Mexican food for Lent this year since it is our favorite. We had our doubts about me making it the entire time since being newly pregnant with cravings but I made it!

We do want to thank y'all for all the congratulatory wishes when announcing our pregnancy! It really means a lot to us both to celebrate our excitement with y'all and we appreciate everyone being so supportive! We love y'all so much!! Happy Easter!! xoxo~G and J

Exciting news about new addition to our family

2010-03-30T12:20:00.000-07:00

We are 10 weeks pregnant!! We had our first doctor appointment today and saw the baby and made sure the heartbeat was good. We did not want to tell anyone until after we made sure the heart looked good and everything else was good too! We are so excited and can not believe how blessed we are. Right now our doctor says there is only one in there and the heart was 177 beats per minute. The measurement was 26.6mm. We even saw the baby wave his or her little hand at us! Absolutely amazing and so exciting!! It is crazy how a baby is growing and moving inside you and you can not feel a thing. I can not believe how tired I have been the past 8 weeks- I have slept it up big time but luckily the nausea was not too out of control- I just felt hungover all the time. Which is a weird feeling having to work and function everyday life being hungover feeling. These past two days I have been feeling better and seem to have more energy. Thank you all for all of your prayers and support throughout this past year of us trying to get pregnant. We love y'all so much and appreciate y'all!!! Sending all our love~G and J

Lakers Game in OKC

2010-03-27T16:23:00.001-07:00

We went down to watch the Lakers play the Oklahoma City Thunder on Friday. We got on the road early afternoon to park down in bricktown and grab dinner before the game. It was a beautiful day just crazy windy but we still enjoyed walking the river walk and enjoying the great day. We ate dinner at Mickey Mantel's which was very good ended up sharing some yummy appetizers and dessert perfect meal- we already are planning next trip back! The game was not so good though-my super fan was not very impressed with the Lake Show at all! It was my first Laker game and I thought it was really fun. The Thunder fans are out of control crazy cheerers!! The poor Lakers just could not make any shots and by any I mean ANY, everything they attempted just would not go in the basket. We ended up leaving early due to not wanting to continue with anymore of the torture of watching the Lakers suffer! Today we have been catching up on our Netflix. They are coming out with a Tron in 3D and I had never seen the original one from the 80's so I had to catch up to be ready for the new one! It is crazy watching the graphics from the old movies like that and comparing them to the new ones. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a great week ahead. We send all our love~G and J

weekend update

2010-03-14T13:33:00.000-07:00

We went to see Alice and Wonderland yesterday at the IMAX in 3D. It was very cool and we really liked it. I was surprised people had their young children there for the movie. I thought some parts might be kind of too scary for young kids but it was not that scary at all. I think it is amazing what they do now with 3D and make the movie just such an interactive experience! We totally love it and look forward to the next on the list! We also watched our Netflix movies one of them was Up in the Air which I was excited to see especially since it got recognition at the Oscars last week. But I was a little sad it did not end the way I was thinking it would, very surprised! We hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and has a great week ahead! Sending all our love~G and J

why did I choose this profession again....

2010-03-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

AHHH..horrible day at work yesterday and it is amazing how one patient can determine that! The dental field is a crazy profession because dental patients( at least in our rural area) have these expectations of what they want their smile to be transformed to but do not want to commit any time or cost to doing it only they will just do what insurance will cover. And no one ever takes accountability for their actions. It is the dental providers fault completely. No, I, the dental hygienist did not make you smoke cigarettes for 50+ yrs and still going or make you drink soda/juice all day instead of any water and it is not my fault you are too lazy to take care of your teeth by brushing and flossing every day---brush the ones you want to keep people!! AHHH! This patient mind you I have told her the entire time I have seen her( for 3 yrs now) that she has periodontal disease but refuses to go to the periodontist or do anything about it like committing to more frequent recalls and yesterday I am the liar she has never been told this information before and does not want to loose anymore teeth...WHAT the Heck?!? At that point I was done and passed it over to my dentist to handle and I refused to see her ever again! How can one person make you doubt yourself so much? I know I bear way too much and take way too much personal just one of those days! Thanks for letting me vent I appreciate it and hope I will get a better attitude real quick! All my love~G

Running

2010-03-07T10:37:00.000-08:00

We have been running and ultimately working towards a goal of a marathon someday. Justin has been doing an amazing job at the 5K's these past few weeks, his times just keep getting better and better. Today he did it with the camel back and thought it was pretty challenging with the extra weight but wants to continue to work with it. I am still on the run/walk regimen but am working hard at it too! We made interesting burgers this weekend- found a recipe that had blueberries in the patty and it turned out pretty good. We watched a few good movies as well and caught up on DVR shows- had a Lost marathon and that show is crazy but we love it, only 10 more episodes ever!
We had to share a picture of our precious Cassie sleeping. She rolls over on her back and puts her paw in her mouth like a baby would suck it's thumb! We think it is absolutely hilarious and get a kick out of her doing it every single night.

We hope everyone has a great week ahead and we send all of our love to you!! xoxo~G and J

Car for sale

2010-02-28T12:07:00.000-08:00

We posted our car on Auto Trader this morning so hopefully we will have good luck selling! Justin took the pics for the ad and we got it detailed for this particular photo shoot earlier this week. We took it to a lady who did it all herself and did such an amazing job cleaning it looks brand new! So if there are any takers out there just log on and check it out. Our friend Amy's birthday is Tuesday so we went to Oklahoma City with her and her family to celebrate an early birthday. We saw the movie Cop Out and had a yummy lunch down in Bricktown. The movie was pretty funny and lunch was very good! Here at home all the dogs have cabin fever like crazy! We are ready for nicer days to get back to walking regularly! Our little Josephine has been on antibiotics and steroids for 2 weeks now for a rash infection and I guess it is reacting with her bladder because it is like we have a puppy again or something?! Today big day of sports with Lakers day game, NASCAR in Vegas, and the USA hockey game so Justin is in heaven!! We hope everyone has a great week and we send all our love~G and J

One Year

2010-02-21T15:31:00.000-08:00

We have been married one year! Time has completely flown by and has been a dream come true! We celebrated by going down to a steak house called Mahogany and it was delish! We saw the Valentines Day movie which of course I cried I thought it was very cute! Today we had breakfast at Mimi's Cafe and headed back home. This afternoon it actually snowed here! If we had this crazy weather a year ago I would have been even more high strung then I already was trying to predict the weather for our wedding, oh poor Justin having to put up with my crazyness! But we sure were blessed last year with such an amazing day and a memorable ceremony. I fall more in love with Justin with each day and think it is amazing how God works! Sending all our love~G and J

early Fat Tuesday celebration

2010-02-15T10:59:00.000-08:00

We celebrated Mardi Gras this weekend at our house. Had an early Fat Tuesday celebration before Lent starts. We made a King Cake for the celebration. Neither of us had ever had King cake much less made one before. The tradition is to hide a baby or coin in the cake and whover finds it in their piece has a year good luck. We ended up hiding a coin in the cake which Kenzie found so she has the year of good luck and gets to host the next party. We ordered Pat O'Brien glasses for everyone and the famous Hurricane mix from Pat O'Brien's.

Our cake is the circle, we ended up buying one as well which is the one in the container. We wanted a back up just in case our homeade did not turn out very well but it turned out to be acutally the better one.

Kara made some delish gumbo and Amy made hushpuppies. We had a very festive dinner and lots of fun!

Mike made Amy a t-shirt to flash with for beads which was looked so real. He used air brushing to make the t-shirt. She said our faces went blank for a second when she initally showed us. Too funny!!

Erin brought the kereoke machine and everyone had fun singing!

Happy early Fat Tuesday everyone! We hope y'all have fun celebrating!!

All our love, G and J

San Diego

2010-01-24T11:57:00.000-08:00

Our dear friend and her son had a trip planned to San Diego and invited us to come along. She reserved a place right on the ocean in Coranado at one of the Navy Bases since she is Air Force. It was a great weekend getaway and much needed time with our dear friend!! We got into San Diego last Friday. We found a cute Mexican restaurant to have lunch and it was delish!!

Our first night there we went down to the main strip and toured all the boats at Maritime Museum. It was a total of 6 ships and 2 submarines. Pretty amazing the history behind each one and being aboard looking at all the exhibits.

Saturday was the prettiest day we were there so we took advantage of a day outside visiting Sea World! It was a lot of fun, I have been to the one in Texas as a child so only remember a few of the things and Justin had never been before.
We got there first thing in the morning and it was dolphin feeding time. Justin said they felt rubbery and very weird.
The main man Shamu!!!
We sat at the top of the splash zone thinking how bad can we really get wet up here? Oh wow, we got soaked...Shamu does not mess around! The crowd learned the 'splash' hand command and Shamu did just that, splashed us all!

That night we met up with Justin's friends from dental school. We met them in the La Jolla area for dinner and had a great time catching up. His best friend lives in the Los Angeles area and him and his wife drove down just for the night to meet up with us. (We love you Andy and Jessica and wish we could have spent more time with you both! We hope to see y'all soon!)
Sunday we went down the Coronado peninsula for a scenic drive. We walked along a pier and watched surfers catch some waves. There was a storm coming in and I guess the surf was up. We found a cute restaurant for brunch and then found a pub for Justin to watch the Vikings game.
We drove through the Balboa park area and it was beautiful.
We made reservations at a restaurant that is known for the sunset view but since the storm was coming in we did not get to see it. The view was beautiful though and the food was amazing.

Our flight home Monday was good and we made it out of California right before all the crazy weather hit. We had such a great time Chanie! Thanks again and we miss y'all already! Hope everyone is doing good and we love y'all!! xoxo~G and J

Happy 2010!!!!

2010-01-02T11:40:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! We had friends over to bring in the new year and had a great time. Of course these party animals had to be included as well....

We got a chimenea for Christams and used it for the first time on New Years eve. It was very cold outside but our friends humored us and stuck out the 15 degree temps cuddled up around a fire that let off barely any heat! I am sure the chimenea will be wonderful when it is just not as freezing outside. Our speakers outside recently got hooked up as well so we jammed out to the New Years special on sirius and had a lot of fun. We hope everyone had a wonderful New Years and we wish everyone a wonderful 2010 ahead!!

Sporting out beautiful 2010 glasses! Love them, too fun!

"Shots, Shots, Shots....everybody"...dang LMFAO song!:) Cheers to 2010!

"Shake it like a Polaroid picture.."

All our love, G and J!!! xoxo!!!

White First Christmas

2009-12-26T09:06:00.001-08:00

This year we had a white Christmas. The entire state of Oklahoma was in a state emergency because of the weather. Oklahoma City got record levels of snow reaching 14 inches, our area only got a couple of inches. The wind chill though was very brutal so we stayed indoors for the holiday. We entertained ourselves by watching movies and of course Christmas movies as well.

We cooked dinner on Christmas. We made prime rib roast and it turned out very good! It was our first time with this cut of meat. We did a reciepe we recieved from a wine club and served it with the wine as well. Had to take a picture! Very simple ingredients of just salt and pepper but it made a delicious crust and was yummy. Lakers played as well on Christmas but did not do very good. I guess it was big game against Shaq so Justin was bummed. We played new Wii games- Where's Waldo and Family Feud- very fun!! Where's Waldo brought back memories we both loved those books as kids and had fun paying it!
We got an early Christmas present on Wednesday when I got the dye radiograph done and we found out everything is open. The dye made it's way to the ovaries! I took medicine last week to help me with ovulation this month so we will see how that does. Thank you for all of your prayers and wishes for us. We appreciate it so much and appreciate all of your support. Love y'all so much! xoxo~G and J

First Christmas

2009-12-18T12:02:00.001-08:00

Our first Christmas! We bought a real tree this week to put up. This is the tree right after we put it up and lights on. We did not realize the ornaments do not come with hooks so those are still not up on the tree yet! We did rig up our own hooks for the ornaments that said "First Christmas" so we could put those up.

Our tree topper the pug angel! Way too cute!! Only a mug a momma could love! :)
This is the houndies checking it out for the first time. The dogs do surprisingly well with the tree, (so far at least) I know I probably just jinked myself! They have a bit of short term memory, every time we reenter the living room they do a double take and have to go sniff it up. I tried to put the skirt up high enough to avoid them from realizing there is water in that stand.
New update on the fertility, this past week started BCP and then abruptly stopped taking them so I would start which it did work. Who knew I would be so excited about a period?! :)So I am scheduled for the HSG test next week and will know more at that time what to do next.

My 29th birthday weekend

2009-12-13T08:13:00.000-08:00

I can not believe I am 29 yrs old, thought I would wake up feeling so much older or something but I feel the same! We had an amazing weekend. Our celebration started off on Friday. We had wine and cheese at the house and then went out to the local community theater. The play of The Christmas Carol was being done and was very good! There were tons of kids in the production and they all did so good. On Saturday we headed down to Oklahoma City for some shopping with all the other people of Oklahoma. We continued on our journey south bound for dinner and Christmas lights.
We see billboards for a restaurant in Turner Falls area which is very beautiful. We finally took time out to make a special trip to check it out. It is called the Cliff at Cedarvale and it was pretty good. It was probably better as a beer joint to enjoy live music and night life but none the less we had a good time. We had Green Chile burger and Cheesecake. Yum!
After dinner we went to Ardmore Festival of Lights. Last trip back from Texas we saw it from the Interstate but we are never in that area at night we usually try to make it back earlier than that so we went back to check it out. It is 1 1/2 miles of lights through a park down there. I wanted to get out to take pics but new rule this year is you have to stay in your car at all times. But we got some pics from the car and it was pretty creative everything they did with those lights!

He is brushing his teeth! Yay oral hygiene...the little things that excite us in the profession! :)

This morning I got breakfast in bed with my favorite pancakes in the shape of 2-9!! My husband is so creative brought the biggest smile to my face!!! Thank you everyone for all the great birthday wishes! I appreciate it so much. I had a very hard week with fertility junk and this weekend really cheered me up! I love you all so much!! xoxo G and J

Ready for Christmas

2009-12-06T16:01:00.001-08:00

We are all ready for Christmas! We are all decorated and in the spirit. We absolutely love this time of year, makes me so happy! We got our Christmas cards all done to be mailed this week. It got cold here this weekend, so we made yummy chili to keep our bellys warm. It did not snow here though unlike Texas weather! Justin got a new Xbox game and he is really liking learning how to assassinate different characters. I got stuff to make some Christmas treats for edible gifts, so I will be baking away! We drew names for secret santa at the office so we got together some things for that. All the houndies are doing good, they are sporting their Christmas collars. Still no changes with our baby making. I have stopped any ovulating since the new doctor had me stop taking one of the meds. He tried another med to get me to start but no luck so far, I am to call Tuesday if still nothing. So we will see what that brings. We hope everyone is ready for Christmas! We send our love to each of you!! xoxo~G and J

Thanksgiving Weekend

2009-11-29T16:40:00.000-08:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We have loved doing new recipes each year while we continue to grow as cooks. This year Justin grilled the turkey outside which was a learning experience for us in it self! Our propane tank ran out sometime during the cooking of it so needless to say turkey was done around 10pm so it was a late dinner. We had all the side dishes cooked and ready hours before that so we just waited on the turkey. But we managed to keep ourselves entertained with Mario Brothers on the Wii and broke out the old school Battleship board game. My mom drove up from Houston the day before to be with us. I love when we get to spend long weekends together- I absolutely cherish that time! For Black Friday we went out in the afternoon but I totally do not have the patience for all the madness so it was a short lived excursion. That night our downtown had the Christmas lighting ceremony. Santa and Mrs. Claus were there taking pics. There were carolers and carriage rides. We waited for awhile for the fireworks but they did not do the show while we were there. Usually we can see them from our front yard but for some reason we could not this time. We woke up early on Saturday headed to Dallas to meet friends for the Tech vs Baylor game at the new Dallas Cowboy Stadium. The stadium is huge and unbelievable! Luckily Tech pulled off a win but it was very close game! We got to see my friends from college and really enjoyed catching up with them! Hopefully everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. We send all of our love and hope everyone has a good week coming up after such a great weekend! xoxo~G and J

Happy 29th Birthday Justin!!

2009-11-16T17:09:00.000-08:00

Happy 29th Birthday Justin!! Today is Justin's 29th birthday, we did most of our celebrating this past weekend. He shares a birthday with one of our close friend's son so they played XBox on Saturday. We all had a yummy dinner at their house and then went bowling. Justin got the new Super Mario brothers game for his birthday and we had an interesting time learning to play that game. Justin is very good at video games and I on the other hand am not! The girls at his work made him a yummy lunch today. We had pizza tonight and german chocolate cake. Happy Birthday Justin! I love you so much!!

Lakers

2009-11-15T07:15:00.001-08:00

Justin's best friend from dental school Andy sent him a Kobe Laker jersey. He is so excited and absolutely loves it! Wanted to post some pictures for Andy and tell him how much he rocks!! Thanks Andy you are the best!!!

Daze in a Maze

2009-11-08T15:45:00.000-08:00

Friday we headed to Guthrie for a CE course. Our office consultant did her first seminar. She did such an amazing job and is so inspirational! We went out to Daze in a Maze on Saturday. It was an absolutely beautiful weekend for November in Oklahoma! The family designs a maze through 7 acres of corn field luckily for the first one they give you a map to assist you but you are completely one your own on the second one. It was a hoot trying to figure out the second one- we could not help but feel like lab rats in a science experiment. They had a petting zoo out there and horses to ride. The kids dug up dinosaur bones and climbed on hay bail pyramids. We also went out to a local winery Indian Creek Vineyard. On Sunday they have live music so we sat out there with friends and had a lot of fun. They brought their kids out there and tossed the football and played volleyball. We wanted to grab lunch at a Bar-B-Q place right out of town on the way to the vineyard but they have very random hours and were not opened. Hopefully we'll get to eat out there a different time! Hopefully everyone had a great weekend and has a great week ahead!! all our love~G and J
Amy leading us with the map!!

New Doctor

2009-11-02T16:52:00.001-08:00

The doctor I have been seeing closed his practice and I had to find a new doctor for fertility treatment. I found a doctor that is known to be good with fertility issues. I met with the new doctor today and hopefully things will keep getting better. He wanted to do a few more tests so I got more blood drawn again today and we will see! The next step is testing fallopian tubes by a dye test so we will be setting that up for next month. This past weekend for Halloween the local theater had a scary play we went to watch on Friday. We grabbed dinner out before and watched the zombie parade on the scare on the square while we ate. On Saturday we stayed home and handed out candy to the trick-or-treaters- they were all so cute! We watched fun Halloween movies all day and of course couldn't miss the OU game! Hope everyone had so much fun celebrating Halloween. I love this time of year get so excited for all the holidays coming up! Hope everyone has a great week!! xoxo~G and J

Race for the Cure

2009-10-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

Race for the Cure was in Oklahoma City Bricktown on Saturday. We went down on Friday night and stayed at hotel within walking distance from the race. We stayed at the Colcord Hotel which was very cool. It was the first skyscraper Oklahoma City had and the first building with an elevator. Needless to say it has been redone and was super nice. The Race was early Saturday morning. We participated with a team this year. It is one formed by our trainer- called Team Finer. She did a great job with the shirts and it was a lot of fun. The turn out was amazing and they changed the course this year to keep us all on our toes! Once the Race was over we hurried home to make it to Justin's assistant from Ocean Dental's baby shower. Her friend did a Rock theme shower and it was super cute. After the shower we headed to The Ritz's for a yummy dinner Amy made and carved pumpkins with the boys. It was so much fun and we got into the spirit of Halloween! Hope everyone had a great weekend! It has already gotten cold in Oklahoma which is my favorite! We send our love to you!!xoxo~G and J

Octoberfest

2009-10-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Octoberfest this weekend. Everyone dressed up and it was so much fun!! We divided up a German themed menu with our friends and had a pot luck German meal. All of the food ended up being so yummy and turned out to be a great treat! We each brought different German beer to sample as well. I made a yummy Harvest sangria and of course the jager machine was fired up. We watched the Sooner game and were pulling for those Boomer Sooners but huge upset!
Thinking this is going to have to become a tradition......

Hayley and Erin dressed up for Octoberfest!

The Ritz family all decked out. The boys looked so cute! Such great sports!!! Amy is so talented and actually made her and the boys outfits, you rock Amy!

Cheers!

Vegas!!!

2009-09-30T04:49:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we went to Vegas with the Galindo family! We had such a great time and wish we were still there!:) Thank you Summer and Augie for an awesome weekend, we miss you guys!! We stayed at the Excalibur hotel.
This is at the Bellagio hotel they have their fall exhibit out and it is beautiful. They had pumpkins close to 1,000 pounds- pretty crazy! We had to touch it to see if they were real and failed to notice the 'Thank you for not touching the exhibit' sign...woops!

At the Golden Nugget they have a shark tank in the middle of their pool with a slide going through the tank! They had black jack tables out side too that we played at for awhile.
Justin with Grandma Eva! Eva lives in Vegas and avoids the strip at all costs, as would we if we lived there. But she braved it for breakfast with us. We loved seeing her and wish we could have enjoyed more time with her but it was such a short trip that flew by way too fast.
Downtown they have a light show over the canopy that was very cool. There is a ton of different talent from spray paint artists, bands, and solo instrumentalists.

Oklahoma State

2009-09-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

The Endodontist that Justin refer's patients to has season tickets to Okalhoma State football games was unable to go this weekend and offered our office his tickets. So a couple of us went to the game, We had so much fun! They played Rice University which was cool since they are from Houston!! We headed down there early to eat at Hideaway Pizza and check out all the pregame festivities. They had a block party at one end of the stadium and of course tailgating!
The stadium is newly renovated and this was our first time to go to an Oklahoma State game since Justin is a huge OU fan and of course I am a Red Raider!
Ritz family sporting their OSU gear!
Pistol Pete is their mascot.

Land Run

2009-09-15T16:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend we did the Great Land Run here in town, it was a 5K that benefits the public schools. I am very proud of us we were able to run most of it and had a lot of fun! We have been trying to read up on my newly diagnosed condition. We bought books online to help guide us through. Since it has been difficult for us to conceive I went to my doctor and have been diagnosed with PCOS. We are treating it with diet/exercise and meds. The kitchen pantry is stocked with everything to help lower the Glycemic Index to help my PCOS so we can hopefully get pregnant someday! As an office this week we went to some of the Head Start programs for oral hygiene instruction and exams. The kids are so adorable and get so excited telling you their dental stories! Too cute! Hope everyone is doing great and we miss you all so much! All our love~G and J

Thundering Herd treehouse

2009-08-30T06:18:00.000-07:00

Justin's brother started building a treehouse for the kids. Their dad is out from California and has gotten to work with him building it. The three of them got to work on it this past weekend. It is pretty much complete, just needs a few more screws for security and a roof. I think it is so special that all 3 generations got to work together on it and build it together! The kids are so lucky to have that!

This is the girls getting supplies for the boys. We went with our list to Lowes.

Our little cutie niece we're just checking on the boys seeing how it is going..

My sensitive skin red haired husband! Mosquitoes absolutely love him and he is so allergic they swell up like crazy! Oh the joys of the country and manual labor outside.

Larry's birthday in Napa

2009-08-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

We surprised Justin's dad Larry in Napa this past weekend for his 70th birthday! Larry is usually the one getting all of the family together but this time Justin's mom Janice surprised him! She arranged all of us to come out and stay for a long weekend. We had so much fun and Larry was so surprised!
We enjoyed a picnic and wine tasting at V.Sattui winery! They have a very yummy deli and fantastic wines!

Larry blowing out his birthday candle at birthday dinner. We had dinner at the restaurant in the hotel on his actual birthday. Happy 70th Larry!!!
There was a car show downtown Napa tons of very cool cars! We got to meet up with their friend from high school and her husband! It was so great seeing ya'll and we can't wait to catch up again soon!
We visited the winery from the movie Bottleshock, which is the story of the tasting of Paris in 1976, and did a wine tasting of the award winning Chardonnay!

Margaritaville

2009-08-11T04:24:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun at Margaritaville! Good times with good friends! Just wanted to share some of the pictures with ya'll!

Thanks ya'll for a great night! We love ya'll so much and are so grateful to have such great friends!! xoxo~G and J

2009-08-06T17:52:00.000-07:00

Just had to share with you the biggest blueberry I have ever seen!! Pretty crazy! Still do not think this picture gives it justice to how big it was but tried to compare it to a normal size one. I could not believe it so had to snap a picture of it! WOW!! It is the little things in life that amaze me!:)

we won't quit our day jobs..

2009-08-06T17:21:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was devoted to removing wallpaper and painting! It was our first time to do either for the both of us. I began removing wallpaper on Friday morning. It took 8 hours to remove a fraction of the border! I used hot water, chemicals, and finally we got a steamer to remove it all on Friday night. There were sections that the glue would not budge..grr so frustrating! It took us forever to remove it all! So needless to say we got our fix for painting for awhile!

This is our kitchen before.

This is us taping and priming...

First coat....

Our finished products...
When we revealed the painted edges by removing the tape we discovered that we should not ever quit our day jobs to become painters! What we thought were good protected edges are so not! And with pulling the tape off some of the paint pulled off with it! But it was fun and some good quality bonding time!

Mister Jack

2009-07-27T18:22:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I went down to Houston for my best and longest friend's baby shower. It was a very quick trip but am so glad I could make it down! Laura looks absolutely adorable and she is just a gorgeous momma to be!!! She recently found out she is 6 months pregnant and is having a baby boy in October! (She jokes that she is the typical after school special- use all the protection but it just takes one time and wola Jack is here!) Laura is full of surprises! I arrived Sat afternoon and we went to dinner at yummy restaurant downtown that evening. The restaurant had an outdoor patio with live music that was very fun!

Sunday morning I went to Bab's church with her and spent quality time with her! I wish I could have more of those moments with my mom and am so thankful for the ones we do get together! We headed over to Laura's mom's house for Jack's shower Sunday afternoon. It was a very cute shower and Jack received a lot of great things! Those Landry girls know how to through the funnest parties!!! Then headed back home on the jet plane! Justin had a fun weekend of golf and casino with the guys! We send our love to all of you and hope this finds everyone continuing to have a great summer! xoxo~G and J

weekend at home

2009-07-19T17:23:00.000-07:00

Friday we had date night at home, made a delicious dinner paired with great wine! I spent all day marinading, cooking, and it was worth it! It was such a nice night we ate outside and had a lot of fun. It was perfect weather here- felt so good and no mosquitoes to eat us up! Our houndies never come up short with entertainment! They found a pair of doves in the tree, Cassie is our little bird hound. We think she actually thought she had a chance of getting them. Notice the other 2 are her back up though they don't really care at all about what is going on! They play hard and once they finally stop moving crash where ever! I promise they are like children, try to keep moving just so they do not fall asleep! The rest of our weekend was very unproductive! We just enjoyed being home and relaxing watching movies. Caught up on the Netflix! I hope everyone had a great weekend! xoxo~G and J

4th of July

2009-07-07T16:58:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! Hope everyone had a great weekend celebrating our freedom with friends and family! We went up to Lake of the Ozarks to be with our good friends that have a place up there! We had such a great time! Lake of the Ozarks is definitely the biggest lake I have ever been to filled with the biggest boats I have ever seen! The shoreline is filled with condos, hotels and fabulous restaurants.

Happy Birthday Kynli!

2009-06-28T11:44:00.000-07:00

We went down to Dallas for Kynli's first birthday celebration! (I went to college and am sorority sister's with Kynli's mom, Summer) Her parents Summer and Augie had a birthday party for her at Summer's parent's house. It was a cupcake theme party- so cute! Summer did such a great job with the decorations and the cakes! Kynli even had a cupcake dress and monogrammed bloomers she looked so adorable!!!
Kynli got a wagon for her birthday and absolutley loved it! She cried every time anyone tried to take her out of it. Her dad got a work out pulling her all around!
Momma and the birthday girl!

We had so much fun! Happy first Birthday Kynli!!

Cari and Pat's wedding

2009-06-22T11:49:00.000-07:00

"Walking on Sunshine..I feel the love, that KD love is really real....Walking on Sunshine"

KD Ladies!!!
Pat is a huge University of Flordia Gator! The red raiders were definately out numbered!!!

We went down to Cari and Pat's wedding this weekend in New Braunfels, TX! Cari is a friend of mine from college and we are sorority sisters! We got there on Friday night and joined in the pre-wedding festivities with the Bride and Groom out at the Schneider ranch. It was lots of fun and yummy food! Saturday we originally wanted to float the river but time got away from us so we hit the pool instead! And then we headed to the ceremony at 5pm and reception immediately following! It was so much fun! The ceremony was absolutely beautiful in the church and the reception was very fun! They headed to Hawaii today for their honeymoon!! We wish ya'll a lifetime of happiness together and are so happy for you!!

Another fun weekend

2009-06-14T16:58:00.000-07:00

Crazy houndies! Playing hard all the time! This weekend we headed to Stillwater on Saturday to see the Thundering Herd and had a blast with them! Justin and I have been looking everywhere for the 3D chalk for the kids and finally found a package! But of course we only found one! We were a little nervous how it would go over just bringing one for the 3 kids but they did a fabulous job sharing! Very proud of them! We love getting to spend time with them! We went with all the kids and Shana and Shelby to a Yamaha event they had out at the dirt bike track Saturday night. The kids loved it and were so excited seeing all the motorcycles! And yes they most definitely want one!

Sunday is the Laker game! We are sporting our gear in support of the Lakers! I hope they pull off this last win for the Championship so there will be nothing but happiness at our house! :) They just need this one more! We hope everyone had a fabulous weekend and have a great week to come! All our love and best wishes always!!!!

Weekend in Portland

2009-06-08T16:22:00.000-07:00

We traveled to Portland on Wednesday night to be there for graduation ceremony Thursday morning. On Thursday Angela (Justin's older sister) graduated Medical school from OHSU and is now Dr.Angela Jones! We are so proud of you Angela! She is an absolute super woman, not only did she graduate medical school (which in it's own is HUGE) but she also had 2 amazing baby girls while in her last 3 yrs of medical school! Now that is dedication!!! Congratulations again Angela! We are so happy for you and are so excited you got the residency you wanted as well!http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=vu8jkb1.8empjoax&x=0&y=-4btusk&localeid=en_US&cm_mmc=site_email-_-site_share-_-core-_-view_photos_button

As if graduating medical was not exciting enough this weekend Angela and Adrian also got married! It was a beautiful ceremony that has been anticipated for years now! The two of them grew up together in California and have been dating for years. Their wedding brought the entire family together! All three of their children were apart of the ceremony and all the festivities!
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ViewSlideshow.action?UAUTOLOGIN_ID=69308587405&collidparam=69308587405.649163429705.1244507664975. They even had their first dance with their kids! You guys are such an amazing couple! I hope you know you are not only an inspiration to the two of us but to everyone you meet! We love you more than we could ever begin to tell you! We are so thankful we could travel to be with them on their day to celebrate their wedding!

Sending Shawn Off

2009-05-24T08:34:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to our boss and good friend's house to send her husband off for Iraq! It was his day filled with friends and family. Erin did an amazing spread of BBQ and it was absolutely delicious! We began the day fishing at one of their ponds. Way to go Kara for catching the biggest fish!! Thank you again Duke (one of their dogs) for saving me from the snake! :) Headed back to the house and all the kids had a blast riding the tractors and running around. Then all the guys went out to shoot their guns. Girls played Blockus and Kenzie pulled off the first victory! We had so much fun out there! We are going to miss you so much Shawn! Thank you for protecting us and serving our country! We appreciate you very much and are already looking forward to your safe arrival home!!

2009-05-11T06:39:00.000-07:00

Justin and I with Kyle! We are so proud of him and so in awe of how far he has come! He is such an inspiration!!! We love you so much brother!!!
My mom and brother on Mother's Day. My mother is my hero! I admire her so much! Hopefully one day I will be as amazing mother as she is! She has such courage and strength! We look up to you momma and you truly are our hero!!!
We had such a great weekend! Justin had a CE course in Dallas so we got to get together with the Galindo family! We had so much fun! We could not believe how well Kynli is walking! So exciting! She is so beautiful-just like her momma! Thank you again Galindo family we appreciate you guys and had so much fun with you!
Once Justin got done with his course we headed down to H-town for the day for Mother's Day to see Babs! It was so good to be with my mom on mother's day we were trying to think of the last time we were together on that day and it had bee quite some time!! We went to the church her and Kyle attend and it was a great service! There was the baby dedicating and a tribute to mother's so of course we all cried!! Very emotional!
The pastor challenged the church to "be the message" this week and raise awareness for the billions who experience hunger and thirst. It is a 5 day challenge to eat only beans and rice! You can go to bethemessage.com to find out more about it if you are interested.

Wedding Photos

2009-04-27T10:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.kathyweigand.com/index2.php?v=v1
Above is the link to our wedding photos. Click on the 'client previews' and then enter the password gina.

You Tube March of Dimes

2009-04-27T08:55:00.000-07:00

March of Dimes was on Saturday and it was a great turn out! One of the committee members put together a you tube slide show from the event and below is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdR0JwjHZ_Q
The weather held off for all of us on Saturday morning and the cloud coverage was actually nice! We are very proud of Mister Gage! He walked the entire walk with us! His poor dad had to carry him some of the way on his shoulders but we are so proud he did it with us! It was such a good time and we want to thank you guys so much for participating and contributing! We hope one day all babies will be born healthy!!!

Stormy weekend

2009-04-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

http://www.koco.com/video/19293588/
Last night we had late night with tornado warnings and watches in our area. A tornado hit north Enid around 10pm. Above is a link to the new report about it they did this morning. We heard the sirens and took cover with the houndies. Two separate storms came through. The sirens went off again after 1 a.m. and we went back to shelter. Luckily electricity just flickered and never went off at our house. Now we are in the middle of another tornado watch with storm coming through this afternoon. April showers brings May flowers!!

weekend update

2009-04-19T13:35:00.000-07:00

This weekend we were busy with giving the yard some TLC! We took out all the dusty millers in the front and cleaned up the beds so we can plant next weekend! Weather is supposed to be nice all this week. Justin hung up the Texas star Mom gave us up front and it looks good! Cassie got to go get a hair cut finally, her groomer was on vacation and she was in need of a grooming! We could not get all three in at the same time so had to split up the appointments. It is funny to see the threesome apart since now our family is merged they are used to all being together all of the time! We are having our first grilling experience with the new grill tonight for dinner so wish us luck! :) We have been talking about getting one for forever and finally got one last weekend. We're pretty excited and are looking forward to grilling everything! Justin's favorite basketball team is the Lakers so we are watching the game and hopefully they win....Go Lakers!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T15:41:00.001-07:00

We just wanted to wish everyone a very happy Easter! We hope everyone had a very blessed day today! Sending Easter wishes to everyone and hope to be with you all soon! All of our love to you!!!!

Ready for Easter

2009-04-06T17:50:00.001-07:00

This past weekend was pretty busy getting ready for Babs! She is coming to spend this weekend with us for Easter! We are very excited! We got a ham for Easter dinner and picked out recipes to go with it. We really enjoy cooking and love any excuse to try new things! I finally took time out to organize all our recipes while we were going through them and clean out all the random clippings I tear out of magazines. Very surprised how time consuming that was--guess that is why I kept putting it off in the first place! All the houndies are excited to see their grandma Babs! They love getting to go on long walks with her and getting all those extra treats! Justin was pretty excited his favorite Jeff Gordon won yesterday at the Texas Speedway, and he is looking forward to watching the Master's this weekend.