wessler baby #3 is a...

baby!!

just kidding ;) well, not about the baby part. that part is true.

but the ultrasound below shows that it's a baby boy! 

yes, the arrows are pointing to what you think ;)

so here's the rundown of how the whole gender revel happened. we had our 20 week ultrasound yesterday morning. the kids thought it was pretty cool to see the baby (even though i'm sure it wasn't quite what they were expecting. it was too cute when emma waved to the screen and said "hi baby!" she loves talking to my belly and is constantly trying to pull up my shirt so she can talk to the baby). we decided to do something a little different this time and not find out the gender at that moment. we had kicked around the idea of not finding out at all, but that didn't happen. maybe next time ;) they sealed the results in an envelope for us, along with the ultrasound above. and they took the envelope sealing job really seriously and not only taped it, but stapled it shut! 

neither of these pictures are very good, but what can you do?! 

earlier today i dropped off the envelope to my wonderful friend mindy (who opened it in front of me and thoroughly enjoyed knowing before we did what we were having). i asked her to make us a cake and dye it either pink or blue depending on what we were having. tonight we had our families over and found out together. it was really fun!

when people came in i had them choose their side...boy or girl and take the appropriately colored ribbon.

team boy (and logan)

team girl

the moment of truth

we could see blue when i pulled the knife out from the initial cut

not everyone was happy about the news. logan had really wanted a girl. i had talked to him about how we don't get to choose if it's a boy or girl, that heavenly father chooses who to send to our family. but in the moment that did not console him. he instantly burst into tears and had a bit of a meltdown (which was kind of hilarious. he is so cute). 

until daddy saved the day and convinced him that having a brother would be great! logan's already informed me that the BOYS are going camping and emma and i are not allowed :)

so now we get to start thinking about a new little boy joining our family...and figuring out a boy name (and re-painting emma's bright pink wall)! i have to admit i have to adjust a little to this news. i was really hoping for a girl. although if i reflect over the last few days, i think somehow i knew deep down that it was going to be a boy (even though i remained team girl as my pick tonight. i was still hoping for a girl). i think i even subconsciously picked a blue necklace to wear tonight (the other option i was considering was pink :).  but no matter what i initially wanted, i am so excited for for this little guy to come join our family. he is going to be so loved!

girls weekend - 2013

the other night i fell asleep thinking about my friends. besides my faith and family, my friendships are the most important thing to me. as i think back over my life so far, i feel so blessed with the friends who have come into my life along the way. i have incredible friends from all different "parts" of my life: the ones i have known my whole life, friends from school growing up, friends from church, from soccer, from cheerleading, friends from the dorms in college, pre-mission college friends, mission friends (i had been blessed before my mission to serve with "eternal friends" and boy did that blessing prove to be true), post-mission college friends, friends from my time in washington dc, singles ward friends, work friends and now church and "mom" friends. all of these different friends have been such blessings to me and some of the greatest have been these 6 girls. 

we now are living our different lives coast to coast (and in between) and only get together every 3 years, but these girls continue to bless my life and influence the person i am, just like they did when we lived together in college. this is our third reunion, the first was in utah and the second was in seattle. this time we met up in arizona. my friend amy, who lives in tucson and was pregnant with her fifth child suggested we head south before the little bambino arrived. arizona in january sounded great to the rest of us (although sunny arizona let us down and got hit with a cold snap while we were there. it was the only thing about the weekend that wasn't perfect). thanks to wonderful husbands who held down the fort (we left a combined total of 23 kids between the 7 of us...with 2 on the way), we were all able to be together (and the more i talk with people, the more i realize how amazing it is that we do this and that all 3 times everyone has been able to come). 

we managed to do a few of our regular reunion activities:

pedicures, attending a session at the temple and shopping. and of course eating at lots of yummy places: in 'n out, crackers & co. cafe, cafe rio and rosa's (AMAZING mexican food. the shrimp and fish tacos were so good)! we were also able to meet up with another old roommate, corinne, who lives in gilbert for part of the reunion. 

by far the best part of this trip was talking! and if you know me, that's not surprising ;) we didn't do as many "touristy" things this reunion, but just spent a majority of our time talking. and i don't think any of us minded one bit. we even rented a couple of movies from redbox, but didn't get close to putting them in. we talked late, late into the night every night until we just couldn't keep our eyes open any longer...and then we'd manage to talk just a little longer (christine even snuck in a power nap one night in order to make it through to the end of the chat fest - 2 pictures up). these girls are so fun (and funny) and so wise. i love how in spite of our time apart, there is no pretending or holding back. we get together and it's as if no time has passed. i love how we can talk honestly about anything and everything (and trust me, we covered a broad spectrum of topics), without any fear of judgement. instead you are validated and encouraged. they are such special friends! i left them feeling so rejuvenated, wanting to be a better wife and mother and disciple of christ and just ready to face "real life" again. i already can't wait for 2016! 

snow!

it only seems right to blog about our fun in the snow, while more snow is falling outside as i type. we've barely had any snow this winter and when we finally got some, the kids could not wait to get outside and play in it.

 

 

kisses for our little snowman from emma

i realized i don't have any gloves for the kids, so they wore the stretch gloves dave and i wear running. they were just a bit big on them!

my snowman making skills were pretty pathetic, but the kids didn't seem to mind (and the mini carrot was the perfect nose for such a small little snowman).

a few days later we got some more snow and the kids "helped" dave shovel. he was lucky to have such good helpers :)

we desperately need the moisture from the snow, so it's a good thing we're finally getting some. but i am so over winter (like i am every year) and ready for springtime! 

day of love

by the time valentine's day arrives, we've had a steady stream of christmas, dave's birthday and my birthday. which means the budget for doing anything big is pretty much shot. so we keep things simple. but i still wanted to show my love for the loves in my life, so i heart attacked everyone's bedrooms and told them some of the things i loved about them.  

pete and kathy brought these darling super hero shirts for the kids (complete with capes) and the kids love them (and so do we, they look so cute). not the best picture of them (especially emma who only has one pigtail in), but i wanted to remember them in these cute shirts! 

dave and i had a nice candle-lit dinner after the kids went to bed (and played games and ate ben and jerry's ice cream), so i made them quesadillas for dinner. i thought i'd be cute and clever and cut a little heart in them, but logan was not pleased (he actually cried). cute dave always arranges the pieces of quesadilla in the shape of an "L" and an "E" for the kids and logan wanted his "L." i just had to laugh. here i was trying to do something fun and it just made logan cry. oh well!  

(that piece of paper behind the quesadillas is a sweet love letter from dave! he is so thoughtful...and often surprises me with love letters even when it's not valentine's day)

i'm so grateful for these sweet people who i love and who love me!

thirty-two!

i've now been 32 for a month now and decided it was time to blog about my birthday weekend. ironically i don't have a single picture of myself or any of the fun festivities, i must have been having too much fun! but i have pictures of my 2 cute peanuts from my actual birthday and that is definitely better (way better) than nothing! so many of the things i did to celebrate this year were fairly ordinary and revolved around my little family, which seems appropriate since they are my greatest joy. as i get older my birthday has less to do with presents and more to do with the people i get to spend it with (although don't get me wrong, i definitely don't mind being spoiled with a few presents either :) and dave did great getting me a new straightening iron and this awesome book i've been wanting). i was able to spend time with great family and friends throughout the weekend including:

meeting dave after work on friday at the mall for a quick dinner and playing at the play place for the kids. saturday started with kickboxing and then a yummy early dinner date with dave (sans kiddos thanks to my in-laws). at the last minute i decided i wanted to try and get together with some friends for dessert. so after a great date with dave, i got to spend the night with some wonderful friends talking and eating yummy cheesecake (talking, treats and friends = 3 of my favorite things)! 

monday (my actual birthday) started out with a run outside. the weather was gorgeous and i remember thinking, "thanks colorado for such beautiful weather on my special day!" what made the day the absolute best was that dave had the day off! it made the day seem even more special. after my run we went out for breakfast! going out to breakfast is one of my favorite things (i would choose going out to breakfast over going out to dinner most days. i really love breakfast foods). there was a longer wait than we expected (it was a random monday morning. why weren't people at work?!) and so dave took the kids on a little walk while we waited to be seated. little did i know they were up to something and i found a bouquet of gerber daisies waiting for me in the car after breakfast! i wanted to go swimming and so after breakfast we headed to a fun rec center. our kids are little water babies and we had so much fun! we headed home for naps and i was lucky enough to get back to back visits from dave's grandparents, dave's parents and my parents. it was a day filled with family! logan was also willing to finally try out his strider bike outside and emma wanted to ride too. i can't get over how cute she looks in that helmet!

and logan insisted on riding up and down our neighbor's stairs 

 

we finished up the night with a pizza picnic and a movie with the kids

i even got one more day of celebrating in and went to breakfast (again!) the day after with some friends! such a great birthday weekend spent with wonderful people, good food and no cooking :) bring on 32!