Emily's going to be a big sister! :)

Michael and I decided that we didn't want to wait very long to have another child. It has definitely been hard going back to one. Since he's leaving next week for an entire year, we couldn't wait long to try. I am happy to announce that I am 10 weeks pregnant and so far everything looks good. I can't believe that we are having our 3rd child! I really wish that we could have seen all 3 of them together. :( We are really excited about this one and just really hope and pray that we can have a healthy one. The baby is due Dec. 27th so Christmas will be a little busy this year! I think the distraction is going to be much needed during the holiday season. Michael will still be in the UAE, no he can't come home for the birth. :( Anna and mom are going to have to coach me through it all so I know I won't be alone. If anything, I'll have more family present at this one's birth than at the other two! Everyone just please pray that everything continues to go well with the baby.

Rachel's Tree in the Park

Rachel loved to ride the train and play in Landa Park. In honor of her, my mother's bunco group, "the bunco babes", dedicated a tree in the park to her. It was such a sweet and thoughtful gift- we absolutely love it! :) the train goes right by it and it's touching to see it when we ride on the train. Cathy Petrie showed the tree to us and she even decorated the fence around the tree so that everyone would know whom the tree belonged to. It means so much to see the signs posted around the tree with Rachel's smiling face. She really loved the park and I am so grateful that something could be done in her name there.

We Moved!

I have been missing from the blog for the last few weeks because we've been moving! We moved to New Braunfels to be closer to family. Michael is leaving on June 9th for a year long deployment to the UAE. He'll be living about an hour from Dubai. It will be a hard year for all of us but we have lots of support and help from family. Emily likes her new place because all of her toys are on the same floor now. No more stairs!

Emily tried to help me unpack things that I was packing. The stairs became her dumping ground!

Michael's Birthday

We celebrated Michael's birthday on the 14th. We went to dinner with his family and then had a cookie cake. It was a low key evening but he had a great time! He's going to celebrate his 30th in the desert so it will probably be pretty uneventful. I know, he's missing from the pics!

Mother's Day

For Mother's Day we went to Six Flags with our friends Amber, Robbie, & their son Ashton. I wanted to try and enjoy the day so we decided to do something that didn't make us miss Rachel so much that we couldn't. Rachel didn't like six flags when we went so we thought Emily might enjoy it and we needed that. Emily loved the rides and gave me a very good mother's day. I missed Rachel all day and I realized that no matter how many kids I have I will never get to celebrate another mother's day with the child who made me a mother or with all of my children. I miss Rach so much and I really felt her missing that day.

Relay for Life

This year's relay was a different experience for us. My mom and her youth group did a lot of the fundraising- they did an amazing job! We made silver again which means that we raised over $2500! My family attended the event at various times and Michael and I were there for part of it. We chose not to attend the beginning of the event because it is very emotional. They always have a survivor lap that was hard for me when Rachel was alive but I didn't think I could watch it this year. Michael and I showed up to the event after they lit the luminarias and Rachel's name was on the screen listing people who had passed from cancer. We walked around the track after and the luminarias were glowing. Some children came around to blow them out and for whatever reason they forgot Rachel's. When we walked back by after the luminarias were blown out Rachel's was the only one lit. It brought tears to our eyes and it really made me feel like she was there! I am so thankful that we got to be there for that. Cancer research is still very important to us and by participating in relay we were able to honor her memory in a constructive way.

Thanks Jenny & Amber for coming to walk with me

Playing in the sprinkler

It's been getting warmer so we thought we'd try out the new sprinkler. Emily was playing with Cade & Callie. Cade ran through quickly and Callie was afraid of it. Emily cried when the water hit her because I think it was a little cold! Hopefully they all warm up to the idea of playing in the water because we're going to the beach next week!

Finally Easter Pics

It's taken a while to post these pics. Easter went well for us. We got to see lots of family. Emily got lots of goodies, she's still working on eating all of them! We missed Rachel a lot. :( My family took a visit to the cemetery and we let the kids run and play there. I think we did well honoring Rachel this year by trying to enjoy the holiday as much as we could.

Cousin egg hunt at Grandma & Grandpa's house
Emily did an awesome job hunting eggs this year! She figured out what to do and she was an egg hunting machine.

playing with Bryson

Another basket from the Easter bunny

Easter bunny came :)

Thanks Becky & Sony for the egg!

Easter egg hunt with Craig