Les Miserables

Yesterday I got to see my absolute FAVORITE Musical of all time...

LES MISERABLES

As with most musicals, I've known their music long before I've seen the actual musical; thanks to choir throughout the years! So I always loved Les Miserables' music. I have sang "I Dreamed A Dream" and "On My Own" several times as solos throughout my days in choir. I love those songs probably more than any other song from any musicals!!

Last nights performance was my 2nd time to see it and it was AMAZING! I just love it soo much!

AND I'm super excited about the Les Miserables movie coming out at the end of the year! Here is a trailer for it!

Panama City Beach 2012

After Chase's graduation last week, Kevin and I loaded up and headed from Birmingham to Panama City Beach, Florida! Kevin's dad owns a beachfront condo there and crazy enough, I haven't ever been! Kevin hasn't been back there since he moved out to Austin. Last year Panama City Beach opened a new airport and Southwest flies there, making it much easier for us to get out there and back!

One of Kevin's friends, Phil, and his girlfriend Breanna came down and joined us for the weekend! We had such a great time! We really enjoyed relaxing and just getting away for a few days.

On Saturday and Sunday, Kevin & Phil went and played golf. Kevin ended up having the two best rounds of golf EVER! He shot a 90 both days (his previous low score was 105) and on Sunday he shot a 39 on the back 9 holes. I was sooo proud of him!! He had a blast!!

Pretty much our days consisted of getting up and laying down at the beach, coming up for lunch, going back and laying on the beach, and then getting ready to head out to dinner. It was glorious. Kevin really enjoyed getting to have some good seafood!

We were sad to leave and come back to reality. But we are thinking that it might be fun to come back next summer with Carter in tow!! He would be 7-8 months old by then and babies fly free and we have a free place to stay there. It could be fun to get away for a week and invite my parents down too. We shall see!!

Until next time...

Our view from the condo balcony...

My view from our beach chairs every day...

Before dinner one night...

Kevin on the balcony...

Me on the balcony...

Kevin having breakfast outside...

Me having breakfast outside...

Kevin getting his Golden Flake brand chips fix in! 

No Golden Flake in Texas!

Gorgeous...

Me soaking up last day at the beach...

One belly shot...

Chase's Graduation

We had a great time in Alabama celebrating Chase and his graduation!!

Big Week Ahead

A Few exciting things are happening this week!

First off, my sister's husband, Patrick is graduating from Dental School TODAY!

And he graduated 2nd in his class!! Way to go! Patrick is going into Pediatrics Dentistry and got matched with a 2  year residency in CHICAGO!!! So they are packing up in less than a month and moving away for 2 years! I know this will be an exciting time in there life to experience something new and different!

TOMORROW, Kevin and I are leaving to head to Birmingham to celebrate this guy...

Chase, Kevin's little brother, is graduating high school on Thursday!!! Can't believe he's growing up! When I first met Chase he was heading into 9th grade and now he's fixing to head off to college!! Chase will be attending Alabama (we'll forgive him that he isn't an Auburn Tiger, haha).  I'm excited for him and his new adventure into college! It is such a great time to venture off on your own for the first time and learn more about yourself. Soak it up as it ends way too fast!

THEN, on FRIDAY, Kevin and I are heading to the beach with some of his friends to Panama City Beach. Kevin's dad owns a condo there that their family grew up going to. And believe it or not, I haven't EVER been! Kevin I don't think has been since he moved out to Austin. Well last year Southwest starting flying out of there which makes for us getting in and out much easier! So we are driving down with some of this friends and then flying out to head back to Austin afterwards!

The last time Kevin and I were at a beach was here:

OUR HONEYMOON, almost 3 years ago! So I'm excited to get away for a little bit and hopefully relax and not worry about stuff. Although the thought of me wearing a bathing suit right now while I'm pregnant doesn't sound wonderful, but oh well! ;)

So excited for our fun filled week and all the exciting things going on!

Busy Weekend Preparing for Carter...

Well Kevin and I had a good productive weekend preparing for Carter!! On Saturday we slept in (which we are taking advantage of more and more as we know these will become non-existant soon. Then we headed out to pick out things we wanted for Carter!!

We have a busy month coming up with vacation and Kevin traveling for work, so we decided to go ahead and start our baby registers! We decided on Target and Buy Buy Baby (which I'm obsessed with!) I know Babies R Us is the most popular place to register at, but have you been to Buy Buy Baby? Its owned by Bed, Bath & Beyond and looks identical to it on the inside. There is just SO MUCH baby stuff! Such a great selection, much better than Babies R Us in my opinion! AND you can use Bed, Bath, and Beyond coupons there! Doesn't get much better than that! So future advise, look into Buy Buy Baby when registering!

I thought wedding registering was overwhelming...but registering for a baby is ten times worse! I mean don't get me wrong, its exciting, but its more than just ohh this is cute, I want it. You feel like you need to look at reviews, make sure the product is safe, do people even need this, etc! But, for the most part, I think we got ours pretty finished!

Although I guess we have to start ordering our furniture for Carter's room soon as they told us that it sometimes takes up to 15-20 weeks to get some stuff in! YIKES! I have about 22 weeks before this baby is due, time is sneaking up on us!

Next up we continued on cleaning out our house of junk and moving stuff out of Carter's room. I don't know how the two of us have so much stuff, but MAN we do! We are boxing up things we want to keep but don't have a need for it and putting it up in storage in the garage. Other stuff we are donating or chunking! Anyone in need of a corner desk? We have one we need to get rid of!

We are getting closer and closer to getting his room all cleared out and then its time to rearrange the rest of the house to make it more functional for a baby and all his stuff! Exciting stuff!!

Glorious Day

One day when Heaven was filled with His praises

One day when sin was as black as could be
Jesus came forth to be born of a virgin
Dwelt among men, my example is He
Word became flesh and the light shined among us
His glory revealed

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

One day they led Him up Calvary's mountain
One day they nailed Him to die on a tree
Suffering anguish, despised and rejected
Bearing our sins, my Redeemer is He
Hands that healed nations, stretched out on a tree
And took the nails for me


One day the grave could conceal Him no longer
One day the stone rolled away from the door
Then He arose, over death He had conquered
Now He's ascended, my Lord evermore
Death could not hold Him, the grave could not keep Him
From rising again


One day the trumpet will sound for His coming
One day the skies with His glories will shine
Wonderful day, my Beloved One, bringing
My Savior, Jesus, is mine

Living, He loved me
Dying, He saved me
Buried, He carried my sins far away
Rising, He justified freely forever
One day He's coming
Oh glorious day, oh glorious day

Glorious day, Oh, Glorious day

By: Casting Crowns

What's in a Name...

Carter Anderson Harwood

How did we come up with this name?? Well let me just say coming up with a boy name was HARD! Even frustrating at times! See ever since I was in elementary school, I knew what my daughters name would be some day. But a boys name, I didn't have a clue. Add in that Kevin wouldn't even talk about baby names until we were pregnant. It was actually always a joke. I would be like ohhh what do you think of this boy name. And he would never have an opinion; said he wouldn't until he had a boy to name. Silly Kevin!

Well the day came and we found out we were pregnant, so of course I was ready for Kevin to come up with some boy names he liked. Finally over a few weeks he looked through some baby name books. BUT we could never agree on a name! There were some I liked that he thought were "ok" but not good enough in his mind. So at times, I was like man we better have a girl since we can't come up with a boy name!!

Finally there were a few we were throwing around and in the end we came up with Carter! I think we always both liked the name Carter, but I think Kevin started to like it more, once we realized that Carter was actually a family name too! It was Kevin's great-grandfather's name on his dad's side. His grandfather, who passed away last year, dad's name.

And then Anderson is my mom's maiden name. So obviously it has some significance to my mom, but when I think of the name Anderson I think of my mom's dad. He passed away when I was a junior in high school and I loved him dearly! Honestly I still miss him so much to this day! I wish Kevin could have gotten to know him, he was such a great man! I loved my granddaddy!! 

The two middle names I always contemplated were Anderson and Adams (my grandmother's maiden name (mom's mom)). But I just really wanted Anderson so I could honor my granddaddy as well as my mom and grandmother! We were always close with the Anderson family growing up too! We got together monthly for Saturday dinner or Sunday lunch to celebrate someone's birthday! Its a big family as my mom has 2 sisters and a brother! So we were always really close with all of them, so that name means a lot to me!

Also neat side note about Carter is that a couple of months ago unfortunately Kevin's grandmother passed away (his dad's mom). While we were in Alabama going through her place, Kevin's dad pointed out a chest and said that it was his grandfathers chest, Carter Harwood's. He asked Kevin if we wanted it. Kevin immediately said yes and told me, see if we name our son Carter, how neat will it be for him to have something of his great-great-grandfather's that he shares a name with! So after that, I was sold on Carter! It will be neat for our son to have that!

So Carter Anderson Harwood! We are so excited for you to come into this world and bless us! Naming you was such a huge responsibility as it will be with you for the rest of your life and beyond!

It's a BOY!!

We were told they thought it was a boy at our 12 week appointment, but today it was CONFIRMED!!!

We are having a BOY!!!

Carter Anderson Harwood is his name!! We are so excited! Of course Kevin is over the moon because he has his little sports buddy now! I don't have any brothers so I'm not quite sure what to do with a boy, but I'm really excited to learn!

Now its time to plan his nursery and all the other fun stuff! YAY!!!

Car Shopping

Well it looks like Kevin and I are both going to be purchasing cars for us in the coming months!

I'm going to need an SUV. I'm not a "BIG CAR" person as I've always had a car, but obviously having a kid I will need something bigger and something that will be good for traveling and hauling baby stuff mostly to and from Dallas! So I'm not looking for something HUGE. Anyone out there have suggestions on favorite SUVs? Right now I seem to like the Acura RDX and MDX the most, from solely looking online. I just don't know if the RDX is too small. I do like the option of a 3rd row in the MDX but obviously it costs more.

Kevin's looking at getting back into a car and getting something more fuel efficient for his travels to and from downtown. Any suggestions?? We are all over the place on him. We could keep the BMW and he could start driving it, but premium gas sucks with gas prices as they are right now. Otherwise I've been looking online at Volvos, Camrys, Audis, Lexus, and so many others.

Choices Choices! I think we might be going out and looking at some cars today just to get a feel. Although knowing Kevin, we may come home with a new car! We've bought 2 cars since I've known him, the two we have now...BMW and 4Runner. On both occasions, we are just going to go "LOOK." But both times we came home with a new car!

Any suggestions or advice would be great!

16 Weeks!

Today I am 16 weeks! It feels amazing to get to this point.

Kevin & I have been on a roller coaster ride of emotions for almost the last year. We had several ups and downs with getting pregnant that definitely took a toll on my emotions at times, but I will say it made me trust in God more than ever. This was completely in HIS hands. He is the creator of all things and God has a plan for everyone!

One Saturday morning in February I was dying to take a pregnancy test as we knew this would be the day we found out if it happened this time or not. I'm very impatient, but waited til that day, but honestly couldn't wait once I woke up and it was like 5AM. I took the test and waited and got back in bed with Kevin. We actually got to see the results together, which was a great experience to share! I cried, I was happy, I was so thankful to God for blessing us in this way after many many months.

I have been super nervous though throughout the past 16 weeks of something happening. I have been cautious with my emotions knowing that it could be taken away at any moment. Around 12 weeks I felt a bit of relief to get to that point and to see my baby actually moving around for the first time. It was more real to me than ever and I let my guard down a bit.

But now getting to 16 weeks, I feel more confident that this happening. Not that I didn't think it was before, but just I was cautiously aware that something could happen. I just think with all the ups and downs we've had previously, I was more guarded once it became a reality.

Monday we have a doctors appointment and I am really really hoping that they confidently confirm if we are having a boy or a girl. The sonogram technician told us she's 80% sure of what we're having at our last appointment, but this time our doctor will be looking. I hope he is confident in what he sees so we don't have to wait another 4 weeks to know for sure! I'm ready to start planning!!!! This is the time I've been waiting for since we found out we were pregnant.

Hopefully next week I can share what we are having!

Today our baby is 4-5 inches long and about the size of an Avocado!!!

Stronger

This made me cry today when I saw it! Seattle Children's Hospital Cancer Patients and Nurses made this video to Kelly Clarkson's "Stronger."



And then Kelly made this video for them:

Lately- April 2012

 These are like mini- ice creams...perfect size for one sitting!

 Saving grace during this pregnancy

 We saw Titanic 3D the night before its release!! 

 Saw him at the grocery store and had to buy for Easter!

 My love...TACO BUENO!! AND they have their frozen lemonade back! Made my DAY!

 A night home without the hubby= CiCi's pizza and ginger ale!

 Easter Sunday at the Erwin Center me and my closest 13,000 friends! Amazing time of worship Jesus!

 Kevin & I's first Easter without family! Our Easter dinner!

 I love Addison to pieces!

 We went to Auburn and Kevin had to take his picture with the not yet unveiled Cam statue!

 Sonic and Chilis...what can be better??

 Arbonne GTC in Vegas! 9k strong!

 Being in the Venetian made me miss Italy sooo much!

 View from our hotel room at MGM Signature

Our new custom made headboard! I love it!