*Showered with Love*

All I can say is wow. I'm so amazed and grateful for the little shindig that my closest friends and family put on for Grace and I. We had the Baby Shower! It was so amazing and fantastic, that I want to do it all over again! Of course, without 8 million presents! Just getting to spend time with all of the closest ladies in my life was enough. The theme for the shower was just colorful! I think that's the what we can name the theme. They all know how much I love flowers, so there were fresh flowers everywhere and the food spread was incredible! I have so much unpacking and organizing to do, that I don't have too much time to sit here--but I just want to thank you ladies SO SO SO much. And also, how lucky am I?...I'm gonna guestimate and say that about 75% of the guests there, traveled to come to the shower. You all really know how to make a girl feel loved, and thank you everyone for coming, chatting, and showering Grace and I with love and presents to complete her room!

When I called Dan after the shower, I told him..."No really, I don't think you understand how crazy women go over baby showers!" I could BARELY fit it all in to the car to bring it all back to Austin!

Gorgeous flowers, no party of mine will ever be complete without them! Those girls know me too well!

We had to move the party inside, thanks to the 109 degree Texas heat--but even after being inside...opening presents is exhausting!! I had to take several water breaks! :)

The gorgeous spread. They did such a fantastic job.

This was the adorable cake topper. So cute, and perfect! Even though I saw the girls making some of the decorations the night before...I was still completely shocked by all of the attention to detail. Perfect!

So, once again...thank you ladies SO much. You really know how to make a girl feel loved!

XOXO,

Crys & Grace

Of course this is about Father's Day!

Hello! Oohh...it's Monday. Monday's are always so bittersweet to me. I'm sure most people are thinking, "how in the heck is it sweet?", but I always think of Monday's as a new start. A day to begin new things. To begin working out (which of course never sticks), to begin a new diet (once again, never sticks), or in my case today--to begin a new relationship with our new OBGYN! Woohoo! This is going to be the man to deliver our sweet baby girl! Dan and I have already visited with him once, but that was just a consultation to tell me the do's and the dont's of pregnancy, history, etc. This time...we get to do a glucose test, and I get to see her! I know she's going to look so different than when we saw her at 20 weeks, I'm so excited. Unfortunately, Mr. Mills can't make it. New job + Baby Appts = Probably won't make many of em from here on out! It's okay, he'll just have a million text messages to come home to when he gets off of work!

So enough about me, how was Father's Day for everyone? I'm sure it's mostly Momma's that read this blog--but I couldn't help but think about all those Mom's out there that play the role of Mom and Dad. And visa versa for the Daddy's that play the role of Mommy too! For Father's Day, I got Dan this little bible for him to read to Grace. It's a Father-Daughter one, and I thought it was so cute. Of course, the look on his face when he saw something pink in his gift bag was priceless. Kind of like, "Um...what in the heck am I supposed to do with this thing?" face. Us women are always so funny. We think of these thoughtful gifts, and in return--we get a "where's my Red Sox shirt?" comment. Joking! Sorta... ;) I love you babe! Also, on Saturday Dan and I ventured to Whole Paycheck... I mean Whole Foods and got some ingredients for a homemade pizza. Only there, and probably in Austin, would you find them selling Toms at a grocery store. Besides the point! We ended up walking out of there with 5 different kinds of cheeses. 5! Oh my goodness, and our take on a deepdish pizza was incredible. I had some dough left over, and made this for Dan.

Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to hang out with my Dad this Father's Day. Sad day...and I know he missed us! But, we (and by we, I mean Grace and I!) will be in Abilene this coming up weekend for my baby shower. Yayyyyyyyyyy! I can't wait to see all of my lovelies and family! Just wish that Boston wasn't so far away, so everyone can participate. In my make-believe happy world, all of my family and friends are together with all of Dan's family and friends. Might be kinda scary, but I think it'd be perfect. Maybe one day! :)

So, our weekend was pretty fun. Austin is such an incredible place. I love how it can be so much fun at night time, but then also just as fun and family oriented during the day! It's really such a unique place, and I feel so blessed to live here! I think the highlight of the weekend would be our trip to the Austin Farmer's Market, downtown. It was a blast. Very hot, even at 10 in the morning, but a blast none the less. We came out of there with all kinds of stuff, and honestly could have bought more--if we had more cash on us! Farmer's Markets are always so inspiring to me! We found some incredible San Marzano tomatoes that I had to get. San Marzano's are the best, and yummiest sauce tomatoes! We also found the world's largest eggplant. We were instantly inspired to try Dan's Aunt's recipe for eggplant parmesan that she made for Christmas. Yum! Isn't food just beautiful?

Wow, okay enough chit chat from me. I have lots to do today--and one of them includes making and assembling my hostess thank you gifts. Here's a hint ladies...you get 4 gifts in one! Dan is amazed at how nice us women are!

Have a great Monday!

Peonies on the brain...

Pregnancy. It's full of symptoms. I'm actually one of the few who is blessed to say that so far, pregnancy and God have dealt me a pretty good hand. Morning sickness...nope...swollen feet...sometimes...moodiness...just ask Dan, I'm SURE he'll give you a great answer!...nesting...OMG yes! All that I've wanted to do is to clean and organize. It started when we were living in Abilene. We were in the middle of figuring out if we were going to stay there and raise our family, or for Dan to search for jobs as a civilian. With life being in limbo, it was next to impossible for me to nest. It drove me absolutely nuts. Luckily, now we're in our new home...and the nesting has begun. I want this place to be perfect, and clean, and organized for when Miss Grace makes her debut.

This is so me. Baby brain is no joke, and being a klutz...well, anyone who knows me knows that I'm not exactly GRACEfull! So, I think I mentioned peonies earlier. Oh yeah, the patio. See, this is babybrain at it's best folks. My sentences are filled with a lot of "umms" and "Oh yeah, I remember nows!" For someone who has never really been a.d.d. it's pretty interesting. Okay, really. See. Now this is awful. Okay, peonies and patios. Right down the street is a super awesome H.E.B. that has a pretty nice flower department. I was able to pick up some peonies that were so tight and ball like, and they transformed right in front of my eyes this week. So beautiful! Thought I'd share. Just in case anyone wants to know what my new favorite flowers are....for no particular reason, of course!

Beautiful. Okay, so now to the patio part. So, we go from having a kick-ass backyard that was perfect for entertaining, to a little bity excuse for a patio. That doesn't allow grills, for the record. No, it's really not that awful, atleast we have one. We found a patio set that's perfect for small areas at World Market (love that store by the way!) So now, we have a little bench, a coffee table, and two chairs out there. But, even though we have a lovely view of all of the suburban neighborhoods that surround us, I need a little more green in my life! I'm thinking...hanging plants, tropical plants, succulents on the tables, little box planter thingys, and of course...peonies for when we have company. Now, who's coming over? I'm dying to use my stash of entertainment-ware.

I think this whole blogging thing is going to be just great for me. As most of you know, I used to write all the time. I think it sure does beat the heck out of talking to the dogs. Oh, and by the way--Dan is totally resisting me blogging. His words: "Oh God, why am I in this thing?" Uh, hello. It's OUR life. People really do care! And, plus, what Mommy says...goes. HA! :D


Crystal

Greetings from Austin, TX!

Hey, anyone who is interested in reading this! Today starts our new family blog, which I plan to keep up with so that all of our friends and family can be informed with more information than they'd like to know about what's going on with our lives.

First off, we moved to Austin! Hellllllo amazing, full of life, land of a million patios, and not to mention beautiful city! For those who don't know, Dan got a job working with Samsung. Austin is a major up-and-coming I.T. city, and he was able to use his skills that he's learned in the air force to land an incredible job with a company that just seems to keep growing! Working at Samsung is right in line with all of his future dreams, so I think that we made a great decision by living here. We've moved in to a cute little apartment that just perfect for us...for now! Who knows how quickly we'll grow out of it? After all, we do have 2 loveable...INSANE...labs, and a sweet little baby girl on the way!

As of today, I am 28 weeks and 3 days pregnant! Time is just flying, and it seems like just yesterday Dan and I looked at each other with the eyes of of a deer in headlights when we were glancing at the positive pregnancy test. Our little blessing, Grace Elizabeth, has brought us closer together than I ever thought one single thing could. God has blessed us with a sweet girl (thank goodness! I don't know if I could have lived without the adorable little girl clothes that have already filled up her closet!) who will have the most loving parents, family, and friends. Being pregnant in another city away from my friends and family is a little challenging, but the good thing is that y'all get to see me at my best. Not, when I'm curled up on the couch and crying watching A Baby Story. Actually, I hate that show. And it makes me wanna vomit. It's more like I'm crying to ridiculous shows like Dr. Phil, and The Real Housewives of NJ. :) Regardless of my fits, I still make it apart of my every day routine to show Dan a tremendous amount of love and appreciation for ALL that he's done for Grace and I so far. Enough about being pregnant, can I get a glass of wine a.s.a.p. please?

I hope to learn a little bit more on how to make this sweet little blog prettier, but I'm just not sure if I can do that or not! So, I will do what I know how to do...and that's post some pictures. Here is some of our life lately.

 That's me! 26 weeks pregnant at that time!

 Dan doing a little fishing at beautiful Lake Austin.

Francis and Gabby loving life at the dog park at our apartments.

Well, that's about it for now.

Xoxo,

Crystal