Pumpkin Carving:)

Hello All!  Well, Jason and I went over to a good couple friend's house, Amber and Jon, last night for dinner and a pumpkin carving party.  We are all very proud of how our pumkins turned out!  We had lots of fun and enjoyed an incredible, cool Abilene night on their back porch and carved away! 

This was the first time Jason and I carved pumkins together and we had a grand old time:)  We also carved a baby pumpkin for Miss Ava!  It is so cute!  We could not leave her out:)   

We saved the pumpkin seeds, rinsed them off and then baked them, YUMMY!  So much better than store bought pumpkin seeds in bulk!  

Anyhow, enjoy the pics below! 

Jason and I gutting our pumpkins!

Lindsey's finished project:)

Jason's fun little guy and finished project!

Mine and Jason's pumpkin, along with Miss Ava's!  Family pumpkins:)

Jon and Amber's pumpkins.  His is a cool Yoda:) 

Amber and I as the festivities are coming to an end!

Pic of J-dawg and myself.  I was tired, you can tell and see my allergy eyes!  I guess carving pumpkins is hard work:)

Last but not least, the Weems family portrait. (even their dog Millie stuck her head in the pic:))!!

 Beyond our pumpkin carving, a few random thoughts....

• we serve an INCREDIBLE GOD!
• my team has gone through some tough times lately, please cover them in prayer
• my FCCofC shower is this weekend!!!!! so excited to see everyone!!!!!!!!:)
• Josiah, my nephew is one years old, I am sure Jamie will post a party update soon
• Jason and I continue to grow closer and more in love every day, MARRIAGE IS AWESOME!
• my belly is continuing to grow and they say from here forward to expect 1/2 an inch a week, are you kidding me?
• Ava is expected to be here in 14 weeks, that seems like no time at all
• I miss my family a lot.  A special shout out to missing B and K today! 
• excited to see the Richardson's at thanksgiving
• I am tired and am now off to rest! 

Have a WONDERFUL EVENING!

P.S. When I was running earlier, I was listening to my I-POD to a Christian song with lyrics that state, " I beg for you to move, I beg for you to move, I beg for you to break through....."
There are many situations in my life right now indirectly with those surrounding me whom I love and care about where this is exactly what God needs to do and they need to allow to happen.  So if you don't mind generally lifting that up for those in my  life and around me, I would greatly appreciate it! 

Ava Updates and More.....

Well I know I am a horrible blog updater! I do apologize but such is life:)

Ava is doing wonderful:) She is moving all the time now! I am constantly feeling her. It is sooo much fun and such a neat gift! Jason, my parents, my sister, the team, and a few more have had the privilege of feeling her move as well.

Ava LOVES the sound of her daddy's voice! She kicks and moves when she hears it often! When I was at home for a short trip in Houston my dad had just felt Ava move for a minute, but then she began to slow down. So... I called Jason, put the phone to my belly on speaker and had him talk to her. Sure enough, sweet little girl, starting bouncing around! So precious!

I am currently 24 weeks and 5 days prego leaving 15 weeks and 2 days until we will hopefully be graced with Ava's presence! Ava is about the size of an eggplant, weighing approximately 1.7 pounds and 13 or so inches long! Her lungs are still in important development stages, capillaries are forming closer to the skin which is starting to shade it more pink, and so much more!!! Along with her development comes the growing of my belly and IT IS GROWING! Reference the pictures below:)

Belly Pic #1!

Belly Pic #2!

We have now registered for all her things and it was so much fun! The actual time I spent at the stores was almost surreal! However, since then it has become more of a reality!

It has been so FUN to watch Jason in this time! His excitement has been pretty uncontainable since day one but somehow still increases with each passing day! He can't wait to be a daddy and meet baby girl! He is going to be such a wonderful Father.

On another note....

Jamie, Jay, and Josiah came for a short but wonderful visit this past weekend, IT WAS AWESOME! We love them so much and have such a neat, easy relationship with them! So sad that we don't see them more, but it sure encourages us to soak up every opportunity we get to be with them!

We hung out at the house some of Thursday evening after they got here about 9:30, all of Friday morning (minus Jason) and Friday evening! Saturday I was fortunate to have a little time with them before I headed to the gym for our match, the reason Jamie and Jay came into town, to see me coach! It was short but Jason and I feel like we were really able to spend some quality time with them.

Now about little Jo-Man....

THE MOST PRECIOUS LITTLE GUY IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! We hadn't seen him for right at two months and he has changed and grown up a ton!

- Walking and running all over the place

- 6 teeth, cutest little grin

- Saying more words

- Cackling all the time

- Singing and Dancing

It was just amazing. He is precious and absolutely FULL OF ZEAL FOR LIFE! SO HAPPY!!

He also was completely partial to Jason, which was utterly adorable and maddening all at the same time! He was so sweet to me and loved on me, but nothing quite like he was with Uncle JJ! However, the minute he saw Jason come out of our room in the morning or get home from work he would sprint to him with his arms outstretched ready to be picked up. Then when Jason would need to leave for work or put him down without him asking, he would fuss and cry until Jason would pick him up again! He really wanted to be spending time with Uncle JJ!! Precious!

Cuddling with Dad while watching a video

Play time with Uncle JJ before work!

Thanks Blackburn Family for making the long driving but short trip to come make our DAY!! 

Last but not least, I miss my SIPPER!  Here are a few pics from Jamie and I's random photo shoots throughout the weekend! Team members and parents thought we had to be twins, weird!

I love you sista'! 

Seeing how long this post has already become, I will save more for hopefully a quick post later in the week.

I will request prayer though for myself. I am having a hard time with our season schedule to be as disciplined in my eating and workouts as I need to and would like to be! I desire to be healthier for Ava and myself, so please pray for my motivation and discipline and LACK OF EXCUSES!!

Thanks for the prayers and loving me enough to read this far in the post if you are still with me. I hope you enjoyed all the pics!