Ocean City

June 11th-14th.

We rented a condo in Ocean City, MD with our good friends Eric and Hilary, their little girl Sierra, and Ryan and Alyssa. We had a really good time and just love these guys! Late nights, laughing, blizzards, girl talk while the guys did some grocery shopping, relaxing on the beach, and senior week pretty much sums up our vacation! Although we could have done without all the high school senior grads walking around liked they owned the place. Victoria still talks about the beach, board walk, and playing with Sierra!

Victoria would either LOVE or hate the water and waves...depending on the day and if it was nap time. She took a few spills too.

The water was freezing cold by the way.

Victoria and Sierra playing with the sand toys.

 

All of us girls...Pregnant! Alyssa (pregnant with twins, due sept. 1), Hilary (12 weeks prego, due Christmas Eve), and myself (due Aug. 18).

Victoria and Sierra were SO cute playing together and causing trouble. They would hide in this pantry together. Behind the closed door we heard a lot of cute giggles!

Digging for sand crabs. When our whole group was out there in the water we dug for some sand crabs...or I dug for them. Even the husbands were a little nervous to touch them. Growing up close to a beach I would collect these little crabs all the time as a kid. A few times I would find them in my bathing suit when I got home.

Beach Bums. I could have stayed out on the beach all day. It felt so good to be out there with good friends and our little family. Brought back memories of spending long days on the beach at home eating sandy ding-dongs and homemade sandwiches. 

Daddy boy.

It was so cute to watch Victoria and her Daddy play in the water and build sand castles. Shawn asked me if he was doing it right because he said he had never built a sand castle before ha ha.

We bought the girls "Best Friends" necklaces to remember their OC trip.

Sierra's says "Best" and Victoria's says "Friends".
 

The whole gang... from left to right: The Stephensons (Sierra, Hilary, Eric), Us (Victoria, Shawn, Krystal), and the other Stephensons (Ryan and Alyssa).

The "silly" group shot.

Girls Just Want To Have Fun...And That's Just What We'll Do!

Thank Heaven for little girls! I love having one, and Shawn loves to spoil us! A week or two ago Shawn had a business class down in DC again...of course I hate it when he leaves...but I love having a car around to go out and play during the day. We were a one car family...until Monday. Anyway, to make the week without Shawn bearable, Victoria and I did lots of shopping, had little lunch dates, shared ice cream sundays, danced, sang, laughed, painted our nails, and covered our lips (and face) with lip balm! Whenever we passed a jewelry counter or stand Victoria had to spend 15 minutes trying on every bracelet and necklace pointing out how "cute" or "pretty" they were. When she tried on new sandals she definitely voiced her opinion by either saying "no way" or "oh, cute!" and told me she wanted red or pink sandals to match her freshly painted pink toes! She's too cute! We had way too much fun, but missed Daddy terribly!

As of last Monday (Memorial Day) we don't have to wait for Shawn to go on trips to have the car around! YES! Finally, we bought a second car....and it's freedom! Victoria calls it "Mommy's white car"! We love our brand spankin new 2011 Hyundai Sonata! I kind of feel like a "Barbie Mom" in it...and I kind of like it. Shawn spoiled his girls once again! ...but we really needed another car that was safer for the kids...and safety, to me, doesn't have a price (but of course car dealer ships put a price on it anyway).

Girlie Girl!

The new car!

Here are our two cars together...The "White Pearl" and "Black Current" (complete with hail dents from Texarkana and Shawn's "quick fix" black duct tape on the back window that keeps it from falling down inside the door.)

Just out for a little stroll...

I Love Mother's Day

Shawn and Victoria made my Mother's Day so special...

Shawn woke up early and made me a delicious scrambled egg, sausage, and hash brown breakfast (just what I was craving), served me a light lunch after church, grilled an impressive steak dinner and baked some yummy lemon bars for dessert! And he didn't forget the chocolates! Not to mention, I got spoiled again with a new lens for my camera. I think I need another Mother's Day! Victoria made me a card in Nursery at church....it melted my heart, and I got to load the dishwasher in peace...without little hands grabbing for knives and dirty dishes, and tiny feet standing on the door of the dishwasher! I love being a mom, it's such a blessing.

Here are Shawn and Victoria making lemon bars.

  

These two faces are my life. I love them so much and can't imagine my life without them.

And it's because of this sweet little girl, my baby (and the baby bump) that I've learned so much about how to live!

And even though Mother's Day was a week ago, I'm sending love and a "Happy mother's day" to all the mothers and women in my life, because it's never too early or too late to honor motherhood and womanhood!

24 Weeks

Here's the latest ultrasound of lil' munchkin #2 at 24 weeks :)

We Celebrate Tax Day...Because It's Our Anniversary!

We celebrated our 4 year anniversary on Thursday! 4 years...but it feels like we've been together forever. Maybe thats how it's supposed to feel with your eternal companion!

Shawn took the day off work and we spent some time together as a family, trying to find maternity clothes and something nice to wear for our date...oh, and letting Victoria pick out a cookie from "The Great Cookie"...it's kind of a sick feeling when you pay $5 for only 3 cookies!

Later that evening we hired a Babysitter and headed to Baltimore's Inner Harbor for dinner at Fogo De Chao, a Brazilian steakhouse. The meat and salad bar were incredibly tasty! We ate until we were about to throw up...and then we ordered dessert. I just had to taste their 7 layer chocolate moose cake. It hurt to breath after we were done eating, and walking to the car took some effort for sure! It was a lot of fun though! And Shawn outdid himself by surprising me with beautiful roses, a sweet card, a gift certificate for a pregnancy massage and a manicure/pedicure gift card!

  Here is the chocolate moose cake. They wrote 'Happy Anniversary" on the plate and lit a candle in it. Plus they didn't charge us for the $8 slice of cake.

Dear Shawn,

I still love you so much, it hurts. I know I've said it a thousand times, but just so you don't forget...marrying you was the best decision I ever made.