Philadelphia Zoo

We went to the Philadelphia Zoo yesterday! We just got a year pass (thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Duffin) and LOVED it! It was definitely not the most ideal day to go, just because it was snowing, but it was so nice to not have crowds.  Bennett could run and see all the animals without fighting for a spot to see.  It was awesome! It is nice to have this so close so we can go pretty frequently.  Bennett, Elise and I will definitely be coming here a lot! Oh and we can bring two guests with us, so when YOU come to visit, you can come too :D Here are some pictures from our day.  

I love that he is starting to smile again for the camera.  He went through this phase where he wouldn't ever smile when the camera came out.  Now he gives us his awesome "cheese" grin! Love it!

So handsome!

Bennett LOVED the reptile house...

This turtle was having a hay day and was swimming right up against the glass like he was trying to get out.  It was hilarious! B loved it...

Our friends, the McGhans, got year passes too, so they came with us.  Here are two of their three cute kiddos. Oh and Bryan and John :D

Hello!!! Bad dad moment... he was scolded right after I took this picture. haha That scared me so bad! (PS: Bryan is the BEST dad... it was just a moment of not thinking!)

What could be more fun than chasing the geese?

Looking at the Zebras

Bennett, Lottie, Chaplan

Cutest little thing

Stopping for a lunch break in the Monkey house.  He loved watching the orangutans and gorillas!

 It was so much fun.  We can't wait to go more when the weather gets warmer too! It was also good for this pregnant lady to get out of the house and walk around.  Whew! Just a few more weeks left! 

Speaking of that... Here is a picture of Bryan taping off Elise's room for painting.  I can't wait! Her room is coming together.  I'll definitely show some pictures when it's all done.  

We have been doing LOTS of projects around here lately.  We painted a dresser for Bennett's room and painted our kitchen chairs.  Yesterday we also found (with the help of the McGhans) and awesome buffet for our dining room area.  I have been looking for one, but this one is perfect! So our house did a little rearranging yesterday. HAHA! Anyways, once it's a little more organized, I'll post some pictures.  

PS: My mom flies out a month from today for the BABY! I hope she comes early... crazy!

Boston Trip

Bryan has had this whole week off for spring break, which is RARE  for him being in school and studying non stop.  So we took advantage of that time and went up to Boston for a few days to stay with my cousin Claire and her family! We left Friday morning and loved the drive up there.  It is so fun to live so close to so many states and big cities... it was such beautiful countryside too! 

Saturday morning Claire watched Bennett for us while we ran to the Boston Temple to attend a session.  The Philadelphia temple has had a few delays with the construction, and our temple district is DC, which is a 3 hour drive! Needless to say, it's hard to get there. So while we were staying just 30 minutes from one and had a baby sitter, we decided to go! It was SO nice and relaxing, a much needed time.  Claire was so kind to bring Bennett to the temple, so when we were done they were waiting there for us! 

Then we headed straight downtown and parked at the Boston Commons to start the Freedom Trail.  It was freezing cold outside and Bennett didn't have much of a nap, so he was kind of a grumpster. AND I'm a fat, waddling pregnant woman and my feet get sore after just a bit of walking. YAY! But we braved it for a bit and enjoyed walking through the city! 

We had to stop and watch these street performers dancing.  Bennett was entertained for quite a bit!

My two handsome boys.

This is what he really wanted to be doing the whole time! One busy boy...

On Sunday: Bennett in his sunday clothes! He got this cute little outfit from Grandma Mimi.  

After church on Sunday, we got to have dinner with some of my good friends from back home that also live in the Boston area: Lindsey (Newman) Rhodes and Karlie (Ady) Rhodes.  They used to be in Claire's home ward growing up, and then moved to Alpine and went to Lone Peak with me.  Then they were all in the same ward in Concord, MA before Claire and Michael recently moved into their new home.  Anyways, it's a small world, and it was so good to see them and their cute families!

On Monday, Claire took us to the Museum of Science in Boston.  This was SO much fun! She has passes for a year and can bring guests with her, so we are so grateful that we could go with her.

Bennett fell asleep on the way there... at first I couldn't tell because he was wearing his sunglasses, but he's definitely konked out!

Looking at the big T-rex

Poor little B had a bad cough that day... just one of those dry asthma coughs. Ahh! I hate that.

Looking at the Triceratops skeleton. He LOVED looking at all the dinosaurs.

Going in one of the Apollo replicas... I am so bad and can't even remember what the actual name is! It's the one that landed on the moon for the first time (I think...) :)

Claire and I with all the kiddos!

He was so apprehensive to touch this little stuffed bear! 

Love this face :D ("Is this ok, Mama?")

Cute Jay... He is such a happy baby!

So many things to touch and explore...

He loved pulling out all these drawers and looking at the animals inside. 

This was a cool little contraption where these balls would drop through all sorts of different things... you could watch this all day!

A fun little children's play place... 

We had SUCH a blast! Every night, Claire, Michael, Bryan and I had a big game tournament.  On the last night we tallied all our scores from all the previous nights and found the overall rankings.  Bryan pretty much CREAMED us all for some reason... haha he does not usually have that great of luck, but he just kept winning everything! 

Anyways, it was an awesome trip, and we had so much fun seeing family.  So close, yet so far! Thanks again Owen family for the fun vacation.  

Baby Projects

WARNING: I am terrible at taking cute pictures of my projects... so just deal with the mediocre ones!!!

 I am happy to say that I have gotten most of my baby projects completed! It's getting to the point where it is uncomfortable to sew because I can't bend over too well to cut and piece fabric... so I'm glad that my big projects are done! 

Now I just have a few odd and ends projects, like dresses, bows and skirts. I have a ton of fabric left from this bedding, so I think I'm going to be like The Sound of Music and make her some cute dresses from this left over fabric!!

I saw this fabric collection online by Riley Blake and I knew that I wanted to use the fabric for Elise's bedding... but I guess a lot of other people loved it too, because it was pretty much SOLD OUT everywhere I looked online! I used this pattern for my quilt, and it calls for a charm pack, but I couldn't find a charm pack in this collection, so I just got a layer cake and then cut it down to my 5" squares.  After I made the quilt and had the fabric in hand, I was able to make a better decision about what I wanted for the bumper pads and bed skirt.  So then I had to order yardage for it... which was another challenge, but I got everything I wanted! 

I quilted my quilt on my machine, and found that this product is my new best friend! It was seriously awesome and made quilting it a cinch, because I didn't have to worry about the underneath layers puckering. 

If I could change one thing about it, I would probably use cream sashing/lattice instead of the yellow, because it turned out a little more yellow than I would've liked, but I ended up loving it still! 

I had originally order that red polka dot fabric for the binding, but when I got the fabric and saw how YELLOW the other fabric was, I couldn't do the full binding in that because it looked too much like McDonalds. HA! But luckily, because I used a layer cake instead of a charm pack, I had extra 5" squares that I cut in half and pieced together for the binding, and I actually LOVE it. 

This was before I washed it... now it's all cute and wrinkly! Oh and ignore the fact that one of my rows got flipped so I have some fabrics that are the same RIGHT next to each other... argh! Oh well. 

I waited until we had the gender confirmed a second time to put her name on it. I know, I know... how can we choose a name without seeing her? Well let's just say that with Bennett and Elise, we KNEW when it was the right name.  As long as it's a girl, this will be her name!

I cut out her name with my new Silhouette (thanks Mimi!!) and then ironed it on with that Wonder Under stuff... Because of how it was quilting and where I was placing the name, I couldn't machine stitch around her name, so I did it by hand after it was all completed.  

This is a close up of the lattice quilting... I quilted it from the other side and just went a 1/4" in on all my blocks.  

I took Bennett's bedding off today so I could take some pictures of the girls bedding, but it isn't quite the same, because the walls are green (we'll be painting them, most likely!!) and the crib is on it's lowest setting for Bennett, so the skirt is dragging. BUT you get the general idea!

I used this tutorial from Elle Apparel for the bumper pads and skirt, but I will have to say, it was VERY vague.  I had to figure most of it out myself... For one, I used different sized foam, so my measurements were different, and for two, she didn't go into detail very much about how to do anything haha.  So if you are going to attempt this, either use a different tutorial, or CALL ME and I'll help you! But overall, I love how it turned out... I also used her piping tutorial on her blog to cover my piping.  

I LOVE the bumpers! I really just think they are adorable... the pictures do NOT do them justice.  And the skirt, of course, is so cute too, but it will look better when it's not dragging.  Soon enough! 

I used the same fabric for the outside that I used for the backing on the quilt...

 This is the carseat canopy I made... it was just fabric that I had in my stash, but I love how it turned out! I have made them before, and just generally follow Bennett's for the pattern, but used this tutorial for the bows... and it adds a TON of cuteness! I love it.  The underside is just the same green.

I found this flannel in my fabric stash, and I'm so glad I had it, because I LOVE it! I ordered this forever ago from fabric.com when it was on clearance, and it's just been sitting there for a few years.  But it's perfect for a nice soft receiving blanket.  

Ditto with the bluish one... I know it's blue, but it's got flowers and cute birdies and things so it's good for a girl!!

I also got some awesome gauze fabric that my mother-in-law ordered for me from fabric.com.  I wanted to make some of those Aden and Anais swaddle blankets, cause I had one for Bennett and loved it.  We found the fabric for about $2-3 a yard. WAY cheaper than those blankets cost! And I just folded the sides under twice and stitched around the outside.  So easy and so cute.  No pictures, but I made a white, pink and purplish one... go order yourself some fabric and make some blankets! 

Well there you go. That's what I've been up to lately.  We can't wait for this little girl to get here! OH and here's an updated Belly picture from Sunday (30 weeks):