Celebrating the arrival of Baby Ratelle...

I felt like the luckiest pregnant woman alive on Saturday to have such great friends and family celebrate the upcoming arrival with this beautiful shower. Thank you so much to Kelly (hostess/pregnant mama), Melanie (master graphic designer/photographer/pie baker and to my wonderful cousins Shalynna, Megan and Elisa who all came with full hands of delicious food! These photos are also courtesy of our new toy, our new Canon 7D camera that we are super psyched about it (don't even ask Mike about it unless you want to hear a sales pitch on its technical aspects worthy of a time-share villa!)...I am no expert photographer yet but it's a lot of fun to play around with -- let's hope we can get up on that learning curve fast with baby "blowing in"...

I loved how the invitations turned out -- all thanks to Melanie's Fifth and Hazel skills. 

 

Yummy Zupa's salad, mini quiches, raspberry lemonade and Provo bakery sweet rolls...

 Adorable handmade hot air balloons to match the invites -- thank you Courtney and Kelly!

Kelly - my favorite pregger cousin who will be right on my heels welcoming her own little one in a few weeks. 

My Aunt Cheryl, Megan, baby Sophie, and my Mom -- wonderful women and moms in their own right. It was a very special treat to have both my Mom and my aunt there to celebrate. 

Our "guessing' candy jar -- since we are all about guesses and surprises with this baby...and the bookmark favors Melanie designed for the guests. 

The best kind of "green" wrapping paper -- using linens from around the house!

 Mel - the ever-able photographer. 

My Mom -- who guessed my circumference (that does make me sound like a planet...huh...) exactly at 41.5 inches! She didn't cheat -- I swear!!

 Mom and Mallory. 

 Emily and Kelly. 

Onesies decorated during the shower. They turned out really cute. 

My law school buddies, Nate, Heather, Erica, Danae and Brittany -- a great group of girls who have been able to survive (so far) the highs and lows...we're almost done!

Vintage wall decor. 

Thank you again to all who made it such a special day! Love -- B

37 weeks

34 weeks

We got a little rained out on this shoot -- but Melanie has awesome skills and managed to get some great shots while navigating the irrigation ditches and the oncoming rainstorm. She's amazing.

Will one of you guys come out here and comment on the meat I'm grilling?

You can't fake a grin like that. This birthday boy finally got his smoker grill. You can fit a whole pig in there...apparently. So useful since our pork farm has really taken off.

Love you babe-- and Happy 26th!!

p.s...I was looking through our wedding slideshow to look at what a Brittany/Michael Baby combo might look like and stumbled upon this photo...couldn't resist throwing it in there since obviously some things don't change. 

Burgeoning Bump

My alien baby literally trying to bust out of my uterus -- it gets exciting around 1:00 -- and the rhythmic up and downs going constantly are just me trying to breathe...don't worry about it -- I can get more oxygen later. 

Mike being cute with Maggie at a Sunday dinner. Not going to lie...the hormones were loving this. 

Posing with my brother at his soccer game. While Utah State didn't win against the Cougars...I now have to say that ashamedly quiet since our own embarrassing loss to the Aggies... Don't know what the world has come to....

Deadly Every After Murder Mystery Dinner

We had the pleasure of attending a "literary" murder mystery dinner with my study group last weekend. Brittany Bayles and Erica Kiefer were our talented hostesses -- who did a fabulous job of pulling the event off.

I went as Snow White...courtesy of my Mom's costume which thankfully included enough stretchy fabric to accomodate my bump. Needless to say, my pleas to find true love were not taken as seriously with my burgeoning belly underfoot.

Michael went as the strong, silent Robin Hood. I made most of his costume and found the green sweats at DI.

This was Michael beating Erica at a highly-contested musical chairs match. I'll let you be the judge if it was a fair match...surface area-wise.

I'm your huckleberry...

If you need some inspiration for a different date-night activity, one filled with classic romanticism, windswept plains, and the pinging noises of bullets bouncing off of shattered refuse -- may I suggest a shooting double-date.



Please note that I did not actually shoot the gun from this position...I was having severe wind-tousled hair issues and was trying to get my locks out of my face before unloading on the unwary clay pigeon assailant.







As Tallahassee said in Zombieland, "Thank Goodness for rednecks!"

And thanks to our cousin David who went with us with his wife Shalynna and took these amazing pictures!!