Thanksgiving 2015

When I was growing up, we would go to the cabin my grandfather built by hand for every Thanksgiving.  We call it Camp.  Well, when my grandparents died and the family got so much bigger, we stopped going.  Until this year! It wasn't like the Thanksgivings back in the day, but just another generation of younger cousins. 

We left on Tuesday night and spent the night at D.J.'s parents house.  Wednesday morning we got up and left around 8 a.m. for Camp in Sigel, PA. We arrived around 2 p.m. or so and stayed until Saturday morning.  

There is no cell service at camp and just recently we got wi-fi.  We watch lots of football on Thanksgiving, play outside in the snow (when it's cold enough), and find ways to keep ourselves entertained!

My family is big into card games and we typically only play two games- Hand and Foot and a game we call "Oh Hell".  It's very similar to spades.

Thanksgiving morning we decided to try and get a family picture for my parents Christmas card.  Here's what we got...

And one with Nana! 

Then of course, I couldn't resist this wood stack and a picture with my baby daddy.  He was so proud of that heart he created with his hands! 

 And the rest of the crew that was at camp got their family photo as well. 

We ate lots of delicious food, played family football, celebrated D.J.'s birthday, Black Friday shopped from our computers and the smallest town ever, had lots of crazy stories told, and made lots of memories! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with the ones you love most.  Now, onto the best season of all! CHRISTMAS!!! 

Family Photos 2015

Over the weekend, we took family pictures for the Christmas card. We had some great photos of the two of us in Tahoe, but we obviously had to have our first born pup in the photo, so we took some more this weekend.  My in-laws have a great house on this awesome park, so we took full advantage of this great spot again.

Here are some of our runner ups for the Christmas card this year!

Of course we have to have some outtakes in here as well - Stryker isn't as good as he seems in pictures!

Sweet baby Myla and Bryce loving the leaves. 

How cute is this photo?! Amy wasn't even planning on getting in pictures and she looks great!!t

Christmas cards were ordered today, so be on the lookout for those in another post soon!

Baby Brown - Week 21

How far along: 21 weeks

Due date: March 27, 2016

Baby Size: a banana (or a bok choy? what the heck is that?!) 

Weight gain: +7 to 10 pounds give or take

Maternity Clothes: yuppppp and not looking back! 

Stretch Marks: nope, still lathering up.

Sleep: starting to wake up in the middle of the night to have to pee.  

Gender: BOY!!!

Name: we have narrowed the list down and have a name, but aren't 100% sure if we are going to share until little boy makes his arrival! stay tuned :)

Movement: yep and loving every minute of it.  I find myself wishing it was happening more!

Best moment this week: finding a rug for the nursery and getting more of a grasp on what I want his room to look like.

Looking forward to: registering, holidays, baby showers, and so much more!

Husband is: calling the baby by name and already coming up with nick names :)

Food cravings: bagels, pop tarts, fruit, water!! 

Anything making you queasy or sick: ugh, don't even like to think of pulled pork!

Labor Signs: .........

Missing Most: hot tubs, hot yoga, being able to sleep comfortably....

Symptoms: nothing you wouldn't expect at 21 weeks preggo

Nursery: starting to get an idea on where I want this room to go.  I'm thinking neutrals (browns, tans, white) with accent colors of navy and orange. 

Belly Button in or out? in but definitely getting flatter.

Wedding rings on or off? on

Mood: Feeling great! Can't complain about anything!

Workouts: with starting to coach cheering last week, workouts have been few and far between.  I am telling myself that although I'm not getting to the gym, I am still getting lots of exercise and movement in!

Questions for mamas: best registry items. GO.

Lake Tahoe

Last weekend, we day tripped to Lake Tahoe when we were in Reno for our friends wedding.  Since it was only about an hour drive, we decided we couldn't leave without heading over the mountains to see the beauty of the lake.

The drive there was stunning.  Lots of flat land and snowy mountains before the curvy roads over the mountains. 

When we got over the mountain, the view was stunning.  Being from Virginia, we are used to seeing the ocean where there is no end in sight, so it was crazy to see such a large body of water but mountains on the other side.  When we arrived, the first thing our friend Eric said was, "we have to drive all the way around!" So that's exactly what we did. 

First stop we made was in South Lake Tahoe, CA.  We parked and walked far out into the lake.  It really showed how much of a drought California is really going through.  In the picture above, you can see how much sand we were able to walk out on before the water actually started. We snapped some fun pictures and walked around a bit before getting in our car for the next stop.

We love the Haase family! 

Sonny is getting so big and we can't wait to give him another best friend to play with and teach him the baseball ways! 

Then mom wanted to try - HAHA! The Haase's really have the Dirty Dancing thing down!

Someone please caption this...

The baseball crew.  Can't wait to add another boy to this picture! We are going to be outnumbered, Maria!

My sweet son son!

Our next stop was on top of the mountain, driving west, right where we could see Emerald Bay.  What a beautiful sight.

Seriously could not imagine doing baseball, motherhood or life without this amazing woman right here.  She is so inspiring, kind, loving and an amazing mother I hope I can be half as good as she is.

D.J. got his first taste of fatherhood when Sonny decided to lay a big ole fart on D.J. right at the perfect time for me to snap a picture!

We kept driving after Emerald Bay and saw a perfect spot for our gender reveal #2. 

Eric hopped out and snapped a few awesome photos of us before we kept on driving.

The dads.

Yes - that is a 10 mph turn and I wouldn't want to test any faster than that considering there were no guard rails! 

We tried to stop at some places once we drove down the mountain, but everything was closed for the season. We made our last stop in Tahoe City.  The weather was calling for snow the next day and we saw some clouds rolling in from the west, so we got the stop in just in time. 

We grabbed some lunch at Tahoe Mountain Brewing Company and shopped around for some souvenirs.  We snapped a few photos and Sonny played on the playground right as it started to flurry. 

And of course, the most memorable part of this trip was announcing our baby boy! 

What an amazing trip to Tahoe and I could not have been more excited that we got up and actually did it- and with none other than some of our best friends! 

Baby Brown - Week 20

How far along: 20 weeks!!! HALFWAY POINT!

Due date: March 27, 2016

Baby Size: a mango- 10oz!

Weight gain: +7 to 10 pounds after this weekend in Reno!

Maternity Clothes: pretty much everything is maternity now-a-days.  Loving maternity shirts and pants, but dresses I can still manage to pull off. 

Stretch Marks: nope. 

Sleep: has been great lately.  Going to bed anytime between 9 and 10 p.m. and waking up normally around 7:30.

Gender: sweet baby girl! See the gender reveal post here! JUST KIDDING!!! WE ARE HAVING A BOY!!!

Name: Brynlee Rose Brown back to square one - narrowing names down but deciding if we want to announce that yet.

Movement: yesssss lots of movement in there. I'm sure it's only going to get bigger, but it's so fun to see D.J. feel the baby kick! He's so funny - the kicks kind of freak him out!

Best moment this week: well, lots of exciting things happened from 19 to 20 weeks.  We found out Brynlee is a boy, we took a trip to Reno, NV and saw Lake Tahoe, and now I am starting all over with the nursery and everything!

Looking forward to: embracing everything baby boy - bowties, blue and baseballs! 

Husband is: definitely feeling him move now! and so excited that it's a boy!

Food cravings: bagels, pop tarts, fruit, water!! 

Anything making you queasy or sick: ugh, don't even like to think of pulled pork!

Labor Signs: .........

Missing Most: hot tubs!!!

Symptoms: other than riding on a plane and sitting pretty much all day Friday and Monday, I feel OK.  The wedding was pretty crazy and I had to make sure people wouldn't run into me and the bump, but I think it was the first time I actually felt and looked 100% preggo! 

Nursery: welll.... back to square one.  Trying to get an idea on the direction I want to go.  A boy nursery isso much harder than girls!

Belly Button in or out? in

Wedding rings on or off? on

Mood: Feeling great! Can't complain about anything!

Workouts: morning workouts are over now, so I will be trying to make sure I get my walking in and gym time at Planet Fitness.

Questions for mamas: Oh gosh, I feel like I have so many with the news of baby boy, but for now I think I am still processing the change.  Returning all the girl stuff and looking for new paint ideas for the room tomorrow! 

Dylan and Mikaela's Wedding - Reno, NV

Over the weekend, D.J. and I made the cross country trip to Reno, Nevada to see some of friends get married! Dylan plays baseball with D.J. and his new beautiful wife, Mikaela was one of my first friends in the baseball world! 

We arrived on Friday later than expected because leaving DC we were delayed an missed our connecting flight in Salt Lake City.  We barely made the 3:30 flight to Reno! Luckily we made the flight, got the rental car and check into the hotel before we passed out to take a nap.

D.J. went to the airport around 9 to get the Haase's.  How cute is this little ring bearer?!

We are so thankful for this amazing family and with the news our our baby boy, it was great to see a boy mama for the weekend.  Not to mention how much I love Maria.  The three of us ladies were together so much a few seasons ago and I could not be more thankful for their friendship.  Having those friends that you "do life with" are such special people to have in your life. 

The venue for the wedding was absolutely stunning.  The wedding started at 3 p.m. and thank goodness because as the sun went down it got chilly! 

Mikaela was such a beautiful bride! Her dress had a key hole back and her flowers were perfectly simple.  I absolutely loved them.  They had 10 bridesmaids and groomsmen and it was so special to see how many people they have that were able to share their special day. 

Sonny was the most perfect ring bearer ever.  When they were saying their vows, he stood right in front of the audience and photographer and his expression was priceless. 

The newlyweds! 

This cake was so simple but I loved it. And the cake was actually pretty AWESOME!

Before it got to chilly, we took some more photos and hopefully can use them for the Christmas card!

The baby bump is growing bigger and bigger every day! I can feel him move in there all the time! How handsome is my baby daddy?!

Baseball besties.

The  boys! We are so lucky to have such great friends with the Indians.  Who knows what the future will bring, but we know that these boys will be friends no matter what.

The three amigos!

And on the blog next is our trip to Lake Tahoe!