Bump? What bump?
Ohhhh THAT bump! 🙂
26 weeks and feeling great!
Category: fun
babies | baby | family | fun | husband | pregnancy | Travel | Uncategorized | vacation
Babymoon in Pictures
By sunshineandholly on June 6, 2012Our babymoon was wonderful! 

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| I kissed a dolphin! |

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| It’s always been on my bucket list to play with dolphins – I finally got to do it! And as you can tell from my face in this picture – It. Was. Awesome!!!! |

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| Baby D. and I spent lots of time soaking up the sun. |

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| We said hi to all of the fish in the aquariums. |

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| The hotel was beautiful! We did lots of walking and exploring around the resort. |
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| Baby D. kissed a dolphin too! |
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| This pirate wanted to feel Baby D. kicking. 🙂 |
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| We ate dinner at some |
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| Josh tried all the water rides. |
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| Shark! |
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| My goofy hubby. 🙂 |
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| Watch out for Jaws! |

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| So pretty! |
 We really had an AWESOME time. (However, I will say that the food prices at Atlantis are ridiculous…) The resort was beautiful and we spent lots of time relaxing and soaking up the sun. I didn’t think I’d be able to do the dolphin experience pregnant (I googled before I left and people online said that it wasn’t safe – the dolphins can sense the second heartbeat and it freaks them out..) but I decided to ask anyway when we got there. We got a BOGO deal on the dolphin experience with our hotel room, so I figured, why not just ask? I understand if the resort doesn’t let you because of liability reasons, but it can’t hurt to ask. Turns out – you can totally do it pregnant!! I was crazy excited and it was the highlight of the trip!
I’m so glad we were able to do a babymoon before the baby arrives. Every day I’m amazed at how blessed I am. I have a wonderful husband, a loving family, great friends, a sweet baby boy on the way, a house over my head, money in the bank…God is so great!!
babies | baby | family | friends | fun | husband | pregnancy | Uncategorized
Baby D.’s Gender Reveal Party!
By sunshineandholly on May 4, 2012 |
| Homemade gender reveal cupcakes. They’re actually much easier to make than you’d think! |
Last Sunday, we had one of those popular “gender reveal” parties. And if you know me, I’m all about announcing things in a fun and creative way! If you couldn’t tell from this post and this post. 🙂
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| Lots of blue and pink decorations! |

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| More decorations! |


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| The cupcakes. Everyone was dying to know what color filling was on the inside! |

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| Voting! |
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| The old wives tales make it seem like it’d be a girl. |
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| Team Boy! And I’m still not sure how everyone knew! |
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| Team Girl! |
And here are the reactions. First up, Josh’s mom and dad:
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| “Are we ready?” |
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| “Bite!” |
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| “What color is it?” |
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| “Blue!! I knew it!” |
And my parent’s reactions:
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| My dad is totally trying to sneak a peek here. 🙂 |

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| “Ready?” |


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| My mom sees blue and is looking at me totally surprised. I think my dad is either in shock, or still trying to figure out what color is inside. 🙂 |

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| Then my dad starts smiling! “It’s a boy!” |
And a few more candids from the party:
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| Josh with my good friend Kara’s sweet baby girl. |
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| My cute niece! |
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| Lauren and my niece. 🙂 |
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| Josh and my older niece dancing! |

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| Happy parents-to-be! |

babies | blogging | church | family | friends | fun | God | job | Uncategorized | work
Update
By sunshineandholly on February 8, 2012So other than the Italy posts, I’ve been really slacking on the blogging. Work’s been super busy, church has been keeping us busy, and life in general has been crazy!
Here’s a quick update:
1. I started taking violin lessons. 🙂 I played in the orchestra in middle school and high school and I was pretty good by the time I graduated. Since then, I’ve played a little here and there just for fun. And I’ve really missed it. So I did some Google-ing and found a place near my work that offers lessons to people of all ages. And I signed up! I’ve had 2 lessons so far (they’re once a week on Thursdays) and I’m loving it! I’ve been pretty good about practicing on my own too. Yay me! Hope I keep it up!!
2. Josh’s brother, Jordan, found out he’s going to be deployed to Afghanistan on Feb 16th. We went up this past weekend to spend time with him and the rest of Josh’s family before he leaves. We’ll all miss him while he’s gone. I know God will keep him safe while he’s there. But if anyone out in blogger world is reading this, please keep Jordan in your prayers. I’m also praying for Josh, his mom, dad, sister and brother. I know they’ll be having a hard time while Jordan’s gone.
3. Work has been SO BUSY. I know I haven’t really blogged about work recently. That’s because it’s been going really well. In fact…and it is so weird for me to be saying this…I actually LOVE my job now. And if you’ve read my early blog posts, you know that I’ve got a lot of…”baggage” that goes along with my career. But I’ve been in this position for over 2 years now, and I really like it. The people in my department are great – they respect me and support me. And I just feel so much more confident in myself and in my work. I’ve been debating going back and deleting some of my old posts about work. But part of me wants to keep them to show what I’ve been through and how I got to where I am now. I can’t decide…
4. My friend Kara is pregnant and due at the end of the month! We had a shower for her – it was a blast! I need to post some pics soon. Can’t wait to hold that little baby!
5. My niece had her 7th birthday. Can’t believe she’s already 7!!
6. My friend Erin is back home. This one’s a long story that I want to devote more time to with another blog post. So I won’t go into it here. But I’m glad she’s home! We’ve been spending lots of time together!
So yeah, I’ve been pretty busy. And I know it’s not going to slow down any time soon. But I’m loving life!!
fun | Italy | Travel | Uncategorized | vacation
Viva Italia – Day 5 Continued – Sorrento
By sunshineandholly on January 17, 2012
10/25/2011
Y’all…Sorrento is probably one of the most beautiful places we’ve ever been! The view from our hotel room is breathtaking. Getting to the hotel, however, was a little difficult. The local train that I was worried about really wasn’t that big of a deal. Pretty similar to Marta. However, it was PACKED. We were barely able to get our bag onto the train and had to stand for most of the trip. It was a long ride – over an hour. Josh and I weren’t able to stand together either, which made it a little scary.
This one older man got my attention, pointed at his eyes, and then at me – telling me to watch my purse for pick pockets. There was also a woman, well – girl really, on the train begging while holding a baby. Josh told me that he read that pick-pockets in Italy will carry around a baby doll and pretend it’s real. Then, they’ll pretend to trip and throw the doll at you and pick your pocket or steal your purse while you’re freaking out about them dropping the baby. But this was a real baby. And the girl didn’t drop him or throw him. Thank goodness!
When we arrived in Sorrento, we had no idea where our hotel was or how far it was from the metro stop. Luckily, there was an info desk. I went up to it and did my usual, “English?” to see if the girl working there spoke English. Turns out she’s from Florida! I asked her how far the hotel was – it was far. BUT – there was a shuttle and it was arriving in 10 minutes. How perfect! Josh and I have this international traveling thing DOWN!
We got to the hotel (beautiful, beautiful, beautiful hotel and views!!) checked in, took some pics and then took the shuttle back to town to get some lunch. We had a hard time finding a place that was serving food (since it was like, 3pm by this time) but we found a little mom-and-pop place and had some awesome pizza!
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| Hotel in Sorrento – not really much to look at…but the door behind the curtains – that led to a balcony with the most amazing views ever!! |
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| The floor in the hotel room. |
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| The bathroom…with the bidet! |
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| The VIEW!! And thanks again to my boss at work for letting us borrow the company camera for Italy so we could get these awesome pics! |
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| The hotel |
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| Olive tree at the hotel. |
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| A sign in the elevator. We decided it said you couldn’t wear pants in the restaurant. Lol! |
 
After lunch, we strolled around Sorrento. Right in the middle of the city, in an area that wasn’t touristy at all, we saw these two murals and a sign that said “Free Entry” in English. We couldn’t figure out what it was, but we decided to venture in. It was a lemon grove!! Right in the middle of the city!! It was soooo pretty and so quiet.
We walked around for a while, hand in hand, just taking in the sights and enjoying the smell of the lemons. We were the only people there – it was very romantic. At the end of the grove was a little stand with a woman selling limoncello made from the lemons from that grove. We got to try a sample – mmmmmmmmm!! And of course we bought a couple of bottles! The grove was such an awesome unplanned surprise. One of my fav memories from our trip.
After walking around for a while, we caught the shuttle back up to the hotel and took a much needed nap. When we woke up, we didn’t feel like taking the shuttle again, so we decided to eat dinner at the hotel…bad idea. It was the worst meal yet. It was 25 euros per person too. Our 1st course was pasta – which was pretty good. Then Josh had seafood (fish with too many bones) and I had lamb – which was SO tough and overcooked. And they only gave me a butter knife to eat it with! So that was disappointing…
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| Chug! |
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| Just kidding – see, it’s not even opened! |
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| One of my most fav pics from the entire trip!!! |
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| Shrimp heads…gross… |
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| Cute gatto at the hotel. |
Tomorrow is our full-day Amalfi Drive Tour! So excited!
