Krista and Gregory's beautiful wedding

My dear, sweet friend from nursing school, Krista Barnhart tied the knot this Saturday with her best friend Gregory Peters. It was such a pretty ceremony, with wonderful music and singing. The best part? Krista SANG while walking down the aisle, to Greg! She started her song ("When You Say You Love Me" by my favorite Josh Groban) outside in the foyer, before the doors opened. He was totally surprised and was looking around for her... it was so cute! Then at a really powerful, passionate moment, the doors swung open and Krista walked through singing to her love, on her way to marry him. I get chills just thinking about it! I knew my friend could sing, but had never heard her! WOW! :)
Krista and Gregory are just adorable together and I'm so happy they're staying in Dallas! Krista actually works at Parkland, like me, but not in the NNICU. She's somewhere in the SICU.. I don't even know what floor it's on! haha, it's a big hospital! Here are some pictures from their beautiful day!

And the other girl in the pictures is Miss Leslie Pate! We were quite the trio in nursing school! She was a bridesmaid in Krista's wedding. She looked soo pretty!! Leslie and I work together in the NNICU! I was so happy at this wedding! The message was great (one to be remembered), the music was wonderful, the food was delicious (made by the church ladies, I think!) and the happy memories were being made!

Congrats Gregory and Krista!! I wish you a lifetime of happiness in marriage!

Granna and Pop

At our hotel, something really sweet happened. My Mom gave Hector and me two wrapped gifts and a card, with instructions to open the card first. (sound familiar?) ;) We opened the card and found this:

And the gifts were:

So :) they've decided on their nicknames, apparently! Dad joked that Mom really wanted to be called "Duchess" so it wouldn't sound "old" or "grandmotherly" but she settled on Granna. And Dad chose Pop, which I really like. I think it suits him! :)

Girl, girl, girl!!

Mom thinks it's a boy for some reason..

We're so happy they're happy!!! :) :) :) (and that IS Dad's camera smile, btw!)

Rangers with the family

We went to a Ranger game with my Mom, Dad and brother. Lots of fun, minus the constant drizzling rain.. But after the rain, it was great! Except that we lost.. :( The fireworks after the game, however, were SPECTACULAR!! The show was set to Michael Jackson songs.. pretty neat!

  

Drama!! :)

Mom and Dad (after the rain) :) They were on the Kiss Cam!

Me and Hector (times like this, I realize just how white I am..)

I'll just put one picture of fireworks.. because.. we've ALL seen fireworks :)

I really love baseball games... The way the vendors walk around selling snacks, the way the whole crowd (thousands of people) stand together and sing the National Anthem, the way fans (my Dad included) bring baseball gloves to catch foul balls (to save the women and children, my Dad claims), the way the entire stadium participates in "the wave" and many other reasons. I can't wait to take my child to see baseball (and other sports) games. It will be so fun to start that tradition with our little one!

Brinner!!

Mrs. Ray had the wonderful idea for us to have brinner (breakfast for dinner) in lieu of a real dinner on Wednesday night. So those of us that could make it (Me, Preston & Brittany, and PK & Jackie) got together at 7:30 at the Ray's apartment. PK was busy in the kitchen scramblin' up the eggs, fyin' up the bacon and sausage (my FAVORITE) and bakin' up the biscuits rolls, he called them. :) They drank mimosas and I had juice, milk and water. Milk is ALWAYS on my menu. And I brought bagels and cream cheeses!

Preston got creative and made McSandwiches

 

It was delicious :) All of it. I brought home the bagels and had two for breakfast today.. and honestly? I could've had three.

Goodbye again...

It's 6 a.m., Monday morning... I just sent Hector off on his first filming journey with Watermark Films. He'll be gone until Friday afternoon... :( So, yes, I am flying solo again this week. BUT, the rest of the filming is here in Dallas, after this week. They have all been working so hard for this film, Seasons of Gray, I can't wait to see how it turns out! Hector is the Key Set PA, and I can't really tell you what all that entails, he'd LOVE to tell you, though... It's what he talks about most.

Loading up the car...

A last picture... (5:30 a.m., mind you..)

And there he goes! I'll miss you, honey!

On a happier note, we had dinner with our sweet friends, Natalie and Ry Buxton last night! Natalie is the most amazing cook I've ever known, next to my Mom. She made roasted chicken with veggies, homemade rolls and salad!

And I brought dessert! You see, Natalie recently got a big promotion at her job...like this week! So we just had to celebrate! I gifted her with some Italian Prosecco, which I abstained from ;) and this cake that I made:

Then we played Taboo! Natty and Ry won by about..... 300 points ;)

Ry and Natalie Buxton :)

They gave us our very first baby gift.. just something to make us really excited! It's completely gender neutral! In about 8 weeks we can start buying pink! :) Ok, Ok, Hector... maybe we'll be getting blue!

Wash cloths and pacifiers!

A recent photo of us!

OH YEA, and we had a doctor's appointment last Thursday. Everything seems to be going smoothly! I found out my blood type is A-, Mom says I can thank my Dad for that.. ;) This just means I'll have to get the Rhogam shot at 28 weeks and right after delivery. I believe it has something to do with the fact that my blood is Rh- and the baby's blood will most likely be Rh+ and in the unlikely event that the baby's blood leaked into my blood stream, my antibodies would react negatively to the Rh+ factor. SO, getting Rhogam is the safe thing to do. What's one more shot.. right? Our doctor tried earnestly to hear the heartbeat on her Doppler, but our little one must be burrowed near my back! We couldn't hear anything. She assured us that since we weren't 10 weeks yet, it was a 50/50 chance that we would hear the heartbeat. She said my uterus has, in deed, grown to the size of a 10-12 week uterus. We go back for our next check up and first trimester screening on Monday, July 12th. I'll be 13 weeks, 3 days. Today, I am 10 weeks, 3 days. I still get a little nauseous feeling, occasionally.. but have never yet to get sick. (If you know what I mean, I'll spare you the details.)

Lonely, Lonely Home

Hector left this past Saturday for camp at Crooked Creek Ranch in Fraser, CO. It has been so lonely here without him! I just stare at the spot on the couch where he should be. :( And, I have a really tough time falling asleep, though you'd think a break from the snoring would be a God-send... It's just disturbingly quiet now.

BUT, he's having a great time. He called me yesterday, after he hiked up a mountain to get a signal. He'll be back on Sunday, I keep telling myself. I'll be fine, I'm just bored and lonely.

Yesterday I sent him a care package with his favorite snacks, cards, water guns, silly string and allergy medicine. I hope it gets there before he leaves.. Hopefully tomorrow or Thursday. The lady at the post office swore 3 days!

I didn't really want to get out of bed today. #1, I didn't sleep well last night.. #2, I felt a headache coming.. #3, I felt a little weak and queasy. I read somewhere that in the 9th week of pregnancy your hCG levels are at their peak, so, likewise, is nausea. I guess since I haven't really been nauseous too much, this is a lot for me. Nowadays, when I feel my lower abdomen with my hands, I can feel that it is a little firmer... I like to think I can actually feel the enlarging uterus that, once a bit smaller than my fist, is now larger than a tennis ball! It is so amazing!

Tonight, Miss Brittany is picking me up and taking me to the airport where I will pick up the Brannen's car that they are so kindly allowing Hector to use for a month or so. The Brannen's left today for Hawaii for, ahem, an entire month.. What an amazing vacation! We hope they have a ton of fun and really relax on the beach! And I'm so thankful for Brittany! I had NO clue how to get that car from there to here without leaving another car stranded somewhere.. Thank you so much Brittany!

And................ It's a BABY!!!!!

Hector and I went for our very first sonogram this morning! I was really, truly excited about this because, I really haven't been feeling all that pregnant.. I needed some reassurance that I am, in fact, carrying a life inside of me. We got that today. :) I wanted to cry. Of course, he/she doesn't look a whole lot like a baby yet, but... soon.

Here's Baby Miranda

His or her heart was beating at a rapid 153 beats per minute-we actually saw the heart flickering on the screen. And yes, there is only one baby. The white blob at the bottom left is the yolk sac (which supplies the baby nutrients while the placenta is developing). We are 7 weeks, 6 days here and the baby measures 1.2 cm!!

So, for now, we are content. I can't stop smiling, actually. :) :) There really is a baby growing inside me! This is the greatest feeling in the world!

B-B-Q!!

Our foundation group came over to our place last night for some good ol' Bar-B-Q! Oh, I didn't make it... Red, Hot and Blue did. It was so good!

Hector was supposed to be waking Maggie up to eat...

Tyler, Cory, Hector and Preston

Callie, Brittany, Sallie and Baby Mags

Jackie, Me and Ashley

All that was missing was David. :( But he's on the determined mission to bring his and Callie's furniture back to Texas, at last!!

I LOVE Wednesdays!! Have I ever mentioned that? :)