Week 36

I found one 'fairly good' belly picture that was taken this past weekend... so this is just about 36 weeks! It's kind of dark- but i think you can still see it... i mean how could you not?! :)

4 weeks from today!

Shower #4

Yup you guessed it... one more shower :) two of my really close friends threw Matt and I a 'couples shower' this past weekend! It was soooo nice! Homemade lasagna (I mean homemade noodles and everything), china, gorgeous flowers, desserts, presents, poker and more!
Check out this table....
The table cloths, the ornate table settings, the decorations, all of it just beautiful!

You know it had to be a good time if Matt was up for it, as well as the other men that came to a baby shower!

While the ladies were busy opening gifts... precious outfits, cozy soft blankets, brightly colored toys, mirrors, diaper bag, necessities, and so much more!.... The men were busy starting up a poker game...


I think Matt may have picked up some more guys to play poker with!

anyways.... a huge hug and big 'ole THANK YOU to CY and LF! The party was such a blessing to us! Everything was beautiful and we had such a good time with everyone!

If you'd like to see some more pictures... click the link on the right side that says Shower 4 and you can see some more photos...
Love you guys!

Shower #3

I know what you're thinking... 'how many showers is this girl going to have?'
Well, all i can say is it is a direct reflection of the Father's Love for me :) You may be familiar with the scripture..."above and beyond what you could ever ask for or imagine.." well that's pretty much how i've been feeling throughout this pregnancy!
The Lord has blessed me with good friends and a wonderful church family, and this past weekend they gathered together for a baby shower for Baby Landis. The word overwhelmed comes to mind as i sit and reflect back on the abundance that was simply poured out! There were 25-30 ladies who gathered to share stories (which i will refrain from posting for all the world to read....) to pray for me, matt, and our baby, to eat- of course, and to shower the baby with yet more gifts!
I was truly surprised and amazed at how so many went together to help purchase several of our larger items that we needed! We got our jogging stroller, our high chair, our swing, and the most needed car seat! And then all the other individual gifts we received as well! I think our registry is about cleaned out by now!
Anyways, i wanted to post a big, big thank you to Dawn, Jolanthe, and Kristy for putting it all together, and to all the other ladies that came out to enjoy and share in the afternoon! I, once again, felt so loved and blessed by the fact that each of you would come and bless me in such a way!
Here are a couple of pictures, thanks Brittany for taking so many! There is also a link on the right "Shower 3" if you want to see more.

Gone Shopping

So last weekend my sister, her two daughters, and myself went out shopping for a little bit. The girls were in desperate need of some school clothes and my sister and i were just looking around! So we shop for Emma, the youngest one first, and we move onto Hannah, and by this time Emma is already bored because we're not in her size anymore... and then we're looking at housewares, etc.. and now both girls are losing interest. My sister explains to them when we all shop together we have to take turns looking at what each is interested in; well Emma thinks about that for a minute and then she says

"Can we shop for accessories now?"

My sister had to turn her head as to not laugh in front of her daughter... it was pretty funny, but sweet! So i asked Emma what type of accessories she was wanting to shop for... I just thought it was a 'funny moment' to hear my 5 year old niece asking if she could shop for accessories! I guess we can't start too early?! Here is a 'somewhat' recent picture of the girls! :)

Never a Dull Moment

So, it starts out as a normal day at work today.... until... K.S. comes over and says "there's a fire in my basement"... say a prayer for these girls as they will be displaced for at least 2 weeks and have lots of clean up to get through and things taken care of. The fire and water damage were contained to the basement area; but smoke did encase the entire house...

and here's a link to some more photos, if you'd like to see more pix...

Mexico -1994

So in my last post i mentioned that i had travelled around Mexico for 3 months and that there were many stories that went along with that trip! A couple of people have asked for more detail on that... so i dug out my photo album (you do remember those don't you?) and scanned in some pictures from that trip.

We left in January 1994, I had just graduated from James Madison in December of 1993 and was ready for a break from school and work! So when my sister asked if i wanted to tag along on a surfing, hang gliding, camping trip for about 3 months around Mexico- it sounded like just the perfect thing! I mean it would be warm and sunny there, and cold and snowy here, right? :)

So the 5 of us headed out from Nags Head on a cold January day, our first stop was Lookout Mountain in TN- a famous hang gliding place, in case you weren't aware; and then we headed to New Orleans and camped there one night, then to South Padre Island, TX and camped there before heading to the border the next day. We travelled in a packed out Toyota Land Cruiser and pulled an old beat-up pop-up camper in tow behind us! I'm sure we were quite the site!

Here is a picture of the camper, inside and out- as you can see- it really isn't all that!

The quick run down of hot spots we 'hit' - New Orleans to Corpus Christi to South Padre Island to Brownsville to Tuxpan to San Martin (and the pyramids) to Mt. Santiago to Mexico City to Valle de Bravo to Zihautenjo to Nexpa to Boca de Apiza to Colima (volcano) to Puerto Vallarta to Sayulita to Puenta de Mita to Melanque to Ticla to Tecoman and La Placita to Guadalajara to Laredo, TX and back to Lookout Mountain! shew.....

if you were to look at a map basically we came in on the east coast went south and straight west thru Mexico City to the west cost, south to Guadalajara and then back north and easterly towards Laredo Texas.... quite the trip!

Here are a couple pictures of the guys hang gliding in Valle de Bravo over the lake there... the story from this location is that the last guy to launch actually landed in the water, this is NOT a good thing! you're strapped into the glider and have a harness and all on, luckily he had his pocket knife on him and was able to cut himself out and resurface... by the time he landed my sister and i were already at the bottom to pick them up- and the other guys were able to assit as well as some friendly mexican fellows- in dragging him and his gear out of the water to safety! and YES, of course he flew again the very next day!

I think i'll stop there for now, but i have a couple other 'interesting' stories i'll post later!

Tagged x2- Randomness

Ok- it's been several days since i've been tagged, and i can currently remember being tagged 2x so far, thanks Julie and Lindsay! And there may have been a 3rd- i can't remember... so here are some random notes about me, this was a little trying- strain on the brain here :)

1. I've been bungee jumping and hang-gliding- both when i was living in Nags Head for the summers throughout college- where i waited tables and did a college internship at Kitty Hawk Kites as well!
2. I waited tables for 8 years, at least! And i ENJOYED it! Tip well people :)
3. I travelled around Mexico for 3 months in a pop-up trailer with my sister, her husband, and 2 others. We camped every night but 2! (boy there are way more stories to go along w/ this random comment.)
4. I lived in Honolulu for 3 months- and waited tables there at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Wakiki Beach!
5. I was born in the elevator- that could explain my need to always be early or on-time for things :)
6. I'm the youngest of 3 with a brother that lives on the Outer Banks and a sister that lives in Staunton, next to my parents.
7. I really do love my in-laws! Really.. I DO! They're an awesome bunch of fun, loving, kind, do anything for you peeps! (careful what you pray for, you just may get it! right carla?)

Well, hope that was at least somewhat entertaining for at least one person that read this! :)

Have a lovely day!!!

The Mans Party

So, my husband had a poker tournament at our home this past Saturday night! It was his "pre-natal" tournament, as he called it. There were 26 people here, 22 men and 4 ladies came to stake their claim to the first place prize of $400! I'm sure you're wondering if I was one of those 4 ladies, well... no- actually i packed my bag and headed to Staunton to stay overnight at my parent's house. I figured since my dad had come to the poker tournament, that I'd go hang out with my mom for a while.

I wanted to share some pictures of what a Man Party sort of looks like...

So, here are the snacks that were available...

Can you see the Cheese Puffs, Mt.Dew, Pretzels, Nuts, Rice Krispy Treats, Granola Bars...

A little random selection of treats...

Here are the 3 poker tables that were set up and ready for the tournament....

The one long oval table, is hand-made by a friend of Matt's; it really is a very, very nice table!

If you'd like to buy one; We can hook you up with the furniture maker! I'm telling you, it is really something!

All in all i think it was a great success... Matt came in 2nd place- which made it even more worth it for him! A nice little bonus!!! I guess he needed to get some more poker playing out of his system before his baby comes and he's a little more tied down!

Week 32

Today marks the beginning of week 32; week 32 is the official end of the 8th month! WOW, when i thought about that, it sort of freaked me out a bit that we are so close to the end, well and the beginning, of this new stage of life!

I've been pretty tired the last couple of weeks, i guess that might have something to do with all the brain cells i've been developing! I think it's gonna be a pretty smart baby! :) In week 32 the baby grows plumper, as do I, and the baby's wrinkles in his skin fill out and he appears smoother, as I, on the contrary-appear lumpier and more wrinkly...and by the end of the eighth month the baby weighs about 4 pounds and is about 16 inches in length; typically that is...

Things continue to go well; but if anyone has a secret that i have not yet heard or read about regarding fighting heartburn, especially at about 3:30am, please do share your wisdom!!! Our La-Z-Boy and I are getting quite comfortable with one another these days! My husband has to reach over and check to see if i'm in bed every now and then, because he never knows if i'm there or in the recliner....

So we're 8 weeks away from the due date... we'll wait with great expectation for the birth date to be revealed!