Weddings and Babies!

Tyler and I are so blessed! We have so many exciting life changes to look forward too, and we thank our God each day for the work he is doing not only in our own lives, but in the lives of our friends and family. Speaking of family!! Jacy and Brian are getting married on January 31, 2009. This is one wedding that we have been waiting for with much anticipation for a while, and one that we will never forget! Jacy has been very busy planning away. So far, the rehersal dinner, church, and reception site have been selected and put on the calendar! I have been so impressed by her ability to plan large events, considering that is what she does for a living, and I know this will be her best work yet!

Here are the future Mr. and Mrs. Brian Russell at the Coleman Rodeo. We all got together that late weekend in June in Coleman and went the annual Pro Rodeo there that they hold. We had a lot of fun, but we always do when we all get a chance to get together! I can't wait until their wedding day! Until then, I will be enjoying every second of the planning that is going on. Tyler and I will both be in the bridal party for this wedding too!

Trevor, Tyler's cousin and probably closest friend, will be marrying Grace Brazille on January 2nd of this year in Denton. They meet at UNT in Denton where they both went to school and participated in Young Life. I would post a picture of them, but I do not have one of the two of them. We are excited about their big day as well! Tyler will be the Best Man in this wedding!

Tyler and I have some very special friends that are getting married this upcoming weekend! Ryan Gibson and Libby Connel! They will be married on August 2nd in Clyde! They met at HSU and both are very dear to Tyler and I as we were all very close all through our college careers. We had a bachlorette party this past Sunday for Libby, and we all had such a good time. Here a couple of photos to give you some insight to how much fun we really had!

This is Libby asking a married couple a few tables down from us some wedding advice. She got some good advice from them, they had been married 32 years. They told her to have a sense of humor, trust your spouse, and to balance the checkbook! I think all married people would agree to those bits of advice she got! Every time Libby finished an assignment (like asking a married couple for marriage advice) she could "tie a knot" on the ribbons attached to her veil.

We ate dinner at the Texas Roadhouse for her party, and every now and again the waitors and waitresses will do a line dance. When they started dancing, we made Libby get up there and learn the dance and preform with them. This was her attempt at their line dance. Erin was a good friend and went with her. I just followed them around with my camera. I would say a good time was had by all. :)

Since I last blogged, Tyler and I found out that we are expecting a baby! The baby is due is (for now at least) on Valentines Day 2009! We are so excited to so very soon be adding a member to the family. We have names picked out that we are throwing around, but nothing has been set in stone just yet. Here are some of the pictures of the baby that the doctor was able to take. They were taken on July 9th, when I was 8 weeks and 4 days pregnant. Right now I am 11 weeks and 3 days pregnant!

The baby only measured 2.04 cm long at this time, but was growing perfectly. In this picture you can see the head and the two little legs! Its head is taking up most of the photograph becuase the brain is developing at wild rates, so the bigger the brain the better! This baby is so smart already. My next appointment is August 5th, and it will be so interesting to see the difference in size in those 4 weeks. We will be excited to find out the baby's gender on September 29th. Tyler will graduate on September 26th and the first thing we will do is find out if we are having a baby boy or a baby girl! I am so thrilled that Tyler will surely be able to be there. I would not have it any other way for sure! The heartbeat was so fast. It was moving around...dancing and playing already. The heartbeat was 183 beats per minute! So fast and so alive!

This is what the doctor called the "Teddy Bear" view. It is the side view and they use this view to measure from crown to the bottom exactly how long it, which gives you the gestational age of the baby. It was a good thing they could figure that out for me, because we did not have a clue how far along I was! I ended up being a lot less pregnant than I thought, which is a blessing because it gave me 2 more weeks to prepare mentally and emotionally for this child!! I think that Valentines Day would be a very special day for the baby to be born, but I guess we will take it on whichever day it decides to grace us with its presence.

Life really is coming fast at us all. We feel blessed because everything that we are experiencing in the next few months are things that will bring us all great joy. There does not seem to better things to look forward too in life than Weddings and Babies!