Carl & Ellie

Is this not the most precious, sad, heartwarming clip that Disney has ever created?  I realize I'm a bit more emotional right now than normal but the fact that I just cried watching it is not simply because I'm pregnant.  I bawled the first time I saw it 2 years ago as well!

I'm pregnant!

So most of you already know this, but John and I found in September that we are pregnant!  We're expecting our first baby on April 17th and are SO EXCITED!  We had hoped to start a family a little earlier, but God apparently had plans for us to wait a bit.  There were times where that waiting period was difficult... but the blessing of God's grace for us during trying times is so powerful.  I would not have wanted to exchange that blessing for my plan or my timing.  I am so thankful for His.  

Finding out we were pregnant was honestly a complete shock.  The weekend we found out, I had been feeling "weird".  Super fatigued, dizzy, nauseous and by Sunday morning I told John that I should probably make a doctor's appointment because I just didn't feel right.  He said that's fine, but suggested maybe we should get a pregnancy test.  I told him I was pretty sure I wasn't pregnant... and that honestly, I just didn't know if I wanted to have another negative test.  He said he understood... but at the least, another negative test would rule something out before I saw my doctor.  I agreed and said we'd get a test after church that morning.  (Side note - that morning at church I asked someone to pray for me.  That God would take care of whatever this sickness was in me... and also - like we had prayed many times before - that God would give us a baby soon. :)  )  We stopped and got a test, came home and immediately could see that it was positive!!!  I felt so excited/shocked but also hesitant... was the test correct??  Do we celebrate??  John interrupted my questions and encouraged me (and himself) to celebrate this moment.  We chose to believe that God had been with us through all of our prayers for a baby... that He was with us now for these test results... and that He'll be with us for whatever's next - regardless of what the future may hold.  So celebrate we did - with  praises, tears and laughing.  

When we found out the news!

That week, I made a doctor's appointment and we were able to have our first ultrasound.  What an incredible and emotional experience!  It's all such a miracle.  Much to our surprise, I was about 2 months pregnant already!  Which meant God had answered our prayers way before we even realized it.  :)  After our doctors appointment, we celebrated with Pinkberry frozen yogurt and some shopping at Pottery Barn Kids!

Our tiny little baby

More posts to come on Baby Shaida!

Random catch-up

Just came across some pics that I've been meaning to blog.  Whoops.   Excuse the random-ness, but regardless... these pics make me smile.


This is me the night before Thanksgiving last year.  This is me IN THE DARK, trying to cook with my sister, Christi.  It's tradition - we always stay up late, play Christmas music/movies and bake all kinds of goodies for the next day.  All was going just fine until the power went out at her house... making the baking part a bit tricky which resulted in lots of laughs and ridiculousness  :)

Christmas morning last year, at John's parents house.  We're watching White Christmas (and I'm drinking Pumpkin Spice Dunkin Donuts coffee... which by the way, is a lil bit of heaven in a cup) but please notice the cutie-patootie bunny slippers on my feet.  My adorable husband got me these for Christmas, and picked them out all by himself!  I just lovelovelove them.  As in, I seriously considered going to buy multiple, identical pairs because I know they won't last forever and I don't ever want to give them up.

Here's almost all of the pictures we took on our Bahamas Cruise (which was a gift I received from my boss!) in January... which means we barely took any.  :)  We were honestly just too "busy" relaxing.  And these 3 shots are a perfect representation of that: me sitting on the end of a pier in Key West, FL after walking around some of the shops downtown... John and I lounging on the cruiseline's private island with almost no one in sight... and finally us in Nassau, where we walked around the Atlantis Hotel and meandered around their resort's gorgeous outdoor beach/rainforest/aquarium.  No tour guide, no big group of tourists, just us... and it was perfect.  

Since we didn't travel to either of families for Easter this year, I decided to host a little dinner at our house.  We invited our friends, Cody and Christy over with their precious boys and also John's grandpa who lives in Colorado near us.  Even though we missed our families, it was a great day of opening our home for a holiday dinner.  (I made my first real ham!)  After lunch, we had a Easter egg hunt for the boys, which was crazy cute  :)     

This summer, after being in Dallas for a week-long work training, I flew back home on my birthday.  John met me at the airport with roses... took me out to an awesome Italian dinner (complete with my favorite dessert - Tiramasu!)... booked us a Denver hotel and then the next day - it was every girl's dream.  He took me shopping ALL day long, letting me peruse in any and every store I wanted.  He waited patiently with a smile, even when I spent an an hour and a half in just one store (Anthropologie... a favorite store of mine that isn't very guy-friendly).  My man.  He's incredible.

Work Christmas Party... and SURPRISE!

I work for an amazing organization... and with some incredible people.  I'm so blessed to love my job and the people I work with.  Every year, we have a great Christmas party.  Pete -the owner- takes us up to Denver and we go to an incredible restaurant for dinner and then out to a show.  Last year we went to see the Blue Man Group after dinner.  (This coming year is The Lion King!!)

John & I during dinner

So it's always a great night - but last year held quite the surprise for me.  As dinner was wrapping up, Pete announced that he was starting a new tradition.  He was going to award an Employee of the Year - someone who showed faithfulness, excellence and loyalty.  He went on to describe the person he had chosen to award for the year and then announced that it was me!  He showed a plaque that we'd display at the office and I remember thinking that it was so very thoughtful and awesome to be recognized like that.  Then he said that he and his wife, Kim would like to award me with a gift.  They gave me a cute, little scrapbook and asked me to read it out loud.  

Me reading the storybook

As I read the book out loud, I realized they were sending John and I on a all-expense paid cruise to the Bahamas!!  Of course I couldn't believe it, and got all emotional... shocked at such a generous gift.  As John sat there with a huge smile on his face, I could tell he had been in on all of this.  :)  

Me with Kim & Pete - the company owners

Snooze

My husband.  He's the greatest.  Amidst a rough Friday at work, he emails me the below "invitation".  The background on this - Snooze (a breakfast spot up in Denver) has been on my list of to-dos for awhile.  I had heard it's a very cool, trendy, fun spot... with amazing breakfast food.  Additional note - breakfast is my favorite meal.  Doesn't really matter what time of the day it is, I'm ready for breakfast.  John?  Not so much.  In fact there's very little breakfast food he likes.  But that doesn't matter... he loves me, loves to make me happy... and a date to Snooze = Kelly very happy.   (And some shopping afterward?  Yeah that just seals the deal.  Gets no better.)  

First off, the restaurant looks awesome.  I walked in, just giddy.  :)  (The amazing complimentary coffee while you wait for a table, definitely added to the euphoria.  This coffee is amazing.  It's their house blend and it's unique to Snooze and from Guatemala.)  I didn't get any pics of the restaurant decor, so here are some just off their website.  So fun.  

Now onto the important stuff.  The food.  After much deliberation -and help from John- I decided to get 2 things so I could try more options.  :)  Had to take most of my sandwich/hash browns home - but that pancake, gobbled that bad boy all up.  They have incredibly delicious, creative pancake combinations.  You can get any of their pancakes as a side (just 1) or a entree (a plate of 3).  Which is genius because I'm gonna need to try all of the flavors at some point.

The "Sam I Am" Sandwich - soft pretzel roll w/ eggs, sausage, cheese & comes with a smoked cheddar hollandaise sauce for dipping.  Delectable.  Oh and toss in a side of their perfectly crusty hashbrowns.

I opted for the Red Velvet Pancake this time... which was a perfect choice.  It was topped with cream cheese frosting (cutely drizzled as the Snooze logo) and praline pecan syrup.  Are you kidding me?

Sigh... such a great experience.  I love Snooze.  And I love my husband for driving me up to Denver on a cold, snowy morning so I could go there.  It's prolly a good thing there's not one closer.

Didn't realize I was in the shot, but here I am outside the Snooze entrance - stuffed and happy.

More Old Posts!

We're always gone for Thanksgiving, so I've never cooked a Thanksgiving meal.  I decided I was going to try it this year - just do it a week early, before we headed to IN for the holiday.  I invited our friends Adam and Kristi over for the pre-Thanksgiving festivities... which basically meant helping us eat!  It was my first attempt, so I'm not sure if the turkey was super moist, or if the potatoes were perfectly smooth... but it didn't matter.  It was lots of fun to prepare and then share with great friends.  

Cooking away

Table's all set!

I did a turkey breast that was rolled with cranberry sausage stuffing (from the Barefoot Contessa) which was a great option for a smaller Thanksgiving meal!

We also had garlic mashed potatoes & gravy, Kristi's famous cranberry sauce & sweet potatoes, rolls, the Pioneer Woman's green bean casserole and dessert was a pumpkin semifreddo

Time to eat!

Continuing to catch up on posts...

Had some great a family time in the October.  We did a long weekend in Wisconsin with the Shaidas and then a couple weeks later my sister had her baby and I was off to Nashville to see her.  It was a full month, but the perfect kind of full.

Our trip to Wisconsin with John's family was timed perfect to see some beautiful Fall foliage.  The colors were just amazing.  While the guys spent the trip golfing, Mom and I kept busy by doing some shopping :)  and then actually took a cooking class together.  It was so fun!

Beautiful views

Out on the course

Time to cook!

Learning how to fill the ravioli with butternut squash puree - YUMMM

Making gnocchi (which just happens to be a favorite of John's) 

Later in the month, John sent me to Nashville to meet my second niece who was just born.  I spent the weekend taking care of big brother Padrick, while Mommy and Daddy were at the hospital.  I had such a great time - this kid is cracks me up!

I got Padrick dressed and we decided to wear his Braves hat.  Had no idea that would be a bad call...
Driving on the HIGHWAY to the hospital, Padrick decides to see what would happen if he stuck his hat out the window! 

 So Aunt Kelly tries to find it (amazingly I did!)  So I pull off on a exit, run down the HIGHWAY to retrieve it and give it back to Padrick - promptly turning on the child window lock for the rest of the drive. 

Here she is!!  Sydney Bennett Feller.  (I love her sweet name...  reminds me of Pride & Prejudice) 

Playing games to stay occupied while we wait to get released

Yeaaa!  Time to go home... Daddy, Mommy and baby Sydney

Buh-bye Idol

I'm loving The Voice on NBC. Idol was boring me enough that I quit a couple seasons ago... so I was anxious to try The Voice. It's such a great show with some really good talent. (The opening performance of the judges singing "Crazy" on the first episode got me hooked.)  Although I did tell John that I was going to stop watching when Elenowen got voted off in the battle round. But we both knew I was bluffing... I can't pull myself away.)


Besides Elenowen singing Falling Slowly for their blind audition, another favorite was Vicci Martinez singing ROLLING IN THE DEEP (who doesn't love that song?). This girl is ca-razy good...

Mr & Mrs Rae

Here's some pics from Adam & Kristi's beautiful, romantic wedding.  It was an honor to be a part of this special day for such an amazing couple...

Paper birdies compliments of our "Crafting Party"  :)

Kristi's Party

Meet Kristi.  This past summer, she was getting married to Adam and planning a beautiful, creative, artistic wedding (very fitting since those are 3 words I would use to describe Kristi herself).  


I had a group of girls over for a "Crafting Party" to help Kristi out with decorations for the wedding.  We talked, laughed, ate and talked some more.  We had a great time being productive and just being together...

Cupcakes, milkshakes & You've Got Mail (why would you watch anything else with your girlfriends?) 

Getting crafty

SURPRISE!

For my birthday in June, I got a fabulous surprise!  I had to go up to Denver for work that morning.  Since it was my birthday, John said he would come and take me to Grand Lux for lunch.  (Lux is a FAV of mine. Their Chicken Lettuce Wraps w/ fresh mint and peanut sauce? oh.dear.  And get an order of their Chocolate Chip Pecan cookies to take home - it's a must.)  John picked me up and we head into the restaurant.  He's acting a little goofy as we talk to the hostess, and I actually thot - maybe my co-workers are meeting us?  We head back to a table and my oldest sister, Christi (who lives in Indiana!) stands up from a booth... and I lose it!  I'm standing in the middle of the restaurant hugging her, crying, laughing, yelling at John, etc.  It was the best.  

Annie (our family's nickname for Christi) spent several days with us - which means several days of laughing.  I lived with Christi while John and I were dating (and well before) so the 3 of us have lots of fun memories together.  John & Christi were good friends and apparently used to talk about us as a couple, before he actually asked me out.  Thanks for being there for those talks, Annie.  :)

Taking pics in our backyard

Trying to introduce Annie to Lucy, the bunny who lives in our backyard

Lucy doesn't stay put very well

And more laughing...

Trying to stretch my cheeks out

We love you Annie!