Thursday, May 22, 2008

Mattie's Announcement




After nearly a year of trying, a miscarriage and one cycle of clomid, Mattie is finally going to be a big sister! We are so excited about this new addition, who will be joining our family by the end of this year. We had our first ultrasound today to check for multiples and to make sure everything is good with the baby. There is only one baby in there! Mattie came along for the ultrasound, and she enjoyed looking at our little "smudge". Dr. McTammany even gave the big sister her own picture of the baby. I'm also very excited to be prego at the same time as my little sis! She is due just a couple of weeks before me. Mattie's reign as the only grandchild (on my side) will be coming to an end soon, but I know that she will be happy to have some new playmates. Miss. MoMo is going to be a wonderful Big Sister!

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Ama and Papa visit MoMo

It's time to play catch up some more.

A couple of weeks ago Matthew's mother, Teresa and her husband, Kelly came for a quick visit. They flew in on a Tuesday afternoon. Matt was away on a trip, so Mattie and I drove to the Melbourne Airport to pick up Ama and Papa. It was very nice that they were able to fly into Melbourne, since that is only about 15 minutes from our house! We got back to our house and Ama had a beautiful present for Mattie. She had made her a purple tutu. Mattie loves to wear that tutu and dance around.Ama and Papa were very tired from their trip from UT, so we went to bed a little early that night.

The next day was our play group day. Ama came along with Mattie and me to the playground, while Papa stayed home to rest a little bit more. Mattie had a great time running around and taking turns on the swings with Ama.
After the park we headed off to run errands and take lunch home to Kelly. I had mutual to go to that night, so Matt and I missed each other while I was out. He got home and was able to spend time with his mom while I was still at mutual.

On Thursday we all went to Mattie's swim lessons together. Mattie and I got in the pool for lessons, while Teresa, Kelly and Matt watched from the sidelines.After swim lessons, we all enjoyed lunch at Jason's Deli. We headed home so Teresa and I could get ready for our exciting night out, and for the main reason she flew here to FL that week!

Way back three years ago, when I was pregnant with Mattie, Teresa and I discussed how badly we wanted to see the musical Wicked. I even bought her the book for her birthday, and then bought it for myself to read too. For any of you wondering, the book is actually pretty dark, and I was hoping that the musical was much better. Teresa, my mother and I headed over to Orlando to meet up with my sister Stephanie to see Wicked.It was a so much fun. The play was awesome and the music was amazing. The actors were so great and it was much, much better than the book! I enjoyed it so much. It was a super fun girls' night out! I was very blessed to be able to experience this with three of my very favorite women.

On Friday, we got up and went to Disney World's Epcot. This was Kelly's first trip to FL, and we thought that it would be fun for him to get to experience one of the Disney parks. Epcot was having it's annual Flower and Garden Festival, so we enjoyed looking at the beautiful flowers and other decorations. There was even a butterfly garden that we could walk through. At Epcot, there are "countries" from around the world, and you get to go around and experience what they are like. At each country there is a station for kids to decorate a mask and get it stamped with that country's name on it. Mattie had lots of fun coloring her mask. The food at some of the countries is really great. I love the Moroccan food, and the pastry in Norway, and the chocolate in Italy. We weren't impressed with the bratwurst and sauerkraut in Germany. We had a fun day with beautiful weather.

Our short visit with Ama and Papa was super fun. It was so much fun, that they looked into staying a couple of days longer, but alas the flight loads weren't going to allow it. So, we had to say good bye to Teresa and Kelly on Saturday morning. We had a great time and miss them lots. Mattie adores her Ama and Papa. We can't wait to see them again in June, when we head out Utah. We love you both lots and lots.

Monday, May 12, 2008

Uncle Chris and Tia America

I am very far behind in my blog posting/ journaling. Its been a couple of fun and crazy weeks for us lately, but it's time to play catch up.

A couple of weeks ago, my brother Chris and his wife America came for a quick visit. They used a couple of buddy passes from Matt, and took a red-eye out of Utah on a Wednesday night. Because of load problems, they had to make a couple of stops. They were quite tired when they finally arrived on Thursday morning. Mattie was very excited to see them, even giving up her swimming lesson to tag along with Matt on the drive to the Orlando airport, to pick them up. We spent a little time with them before leaving them to go and do my nanny job. That evening I had a Girls' Camp meeting, and they headed over to visit America's sister Angela. Angela had just had a baby girl the week before, and she lives here in Palm Bay as well.

On Friday morning, we got up early to go to Disney's Animal Kingdom with Chris, America and my mom. I think that was Chris's first time there. It was hot, but we had a really good time. When we were there in February with Wayne and Becky's family, we had tried to get Mattie on the River Rapid ride. She was too short by like an inch and a half. Matt had even tried to stuff her shoes with napkins, but she still didn't make it. Well, she has had a little growth spurt since then, but still a little short for the ride. This time Matt packed along her platform flip flops. She barely cleared the height measurement, but they let her on. She loved the ride, (but not as much as her beloved Barnstormer)! We had a great time looking at the animals and spending the day with family.
Matt and I left the park a little sooner than the rest of my family, to head over to the Orlando Temple. We chaperoned the youth temple trip that night. We had a couple of new youth church members going to the temple for the first time that night. It was very fun to watch them experience doing temple ordinances for the first time. I love being a counselor in YW. I love being able to work with the youth of our ward. They are all amazing and such great examples to me. I know that Matthew always has a good time accompanying me to youth dances and other activities. It was a spiritual ending to a great day!

America or Tia, as Mattie refers to her, is a wonderful sister-in-law. I can't think of anyone better suited for my big brother. Mattie adores her. Matthew had Mattie start calling America, Tia, when her and Chris were engaged. Matt and America both speak Spanish, so they passed that little bit on to MoMo. We try to get Mattie to call Chris, Tio, but she won't do it. I guess Mattie knows Chris is a white boy through and through, where as America is half Mexicana and has some Latin blood in her! Anyway, America is an elementary school teacher, and she had Mattie practicing some facial emotions. It was quite funny, because it had never even occurred to me to see if Mattie knew how to express different emotions with her face!





Chris and America had to leave on Monday. They had a crazy time getting home to Utah. They traveled for about 24 hours, and experienced the downside to flying for cheap! It's nice to have benefits, but sometimes its a real downer to fly stand-by. We were glad they made it home safe and sound, but sad to see them leave.

We miss you guys and can't wait to see you again, when we come out to Utah for a visit in June!