Spain!!!!

I should have posted these months ago---better late than never, I suppose.  It was actually fun to look back and relive the trip.  I am already itching to go back and I know Jared is too.  We just LOVE Spain!

See how happy we are here!  We rented a car to drive all over Andalucia.  I actually bawled my eyes out when we came out of the airport's parking garage in Malaga and I saw, or should I say felt Spain again.  It was so many emotions.  It was amazing!

Our first stop was to get a bocadilla de tortilla.  Delicious. 

On our second day in Spain, we went to our favorite place Cadiz.  We walked barefoot along the beach for a while.



Then we went to Casco Antiguo (sp) and visited all the old places we had been.  This is where Jared used to live.

Jared's street.  We had another tortilla sandwich from that store right there.

Cute Jared!  Bet he never thought he'd be walking the streets of his old area with Hna. Astle, his wife!!! ha ha

Ahh, we love each other.

Nepolitana and Biofruta on the beach in Cadiz.

Marias!!!

We stayed a couple nights with our good amigos, the Juncals, in Jerez!  That sure helped the Spanish to come back.

Eating crawdads.  I forget what they even call them in Spanish.  They are sick.  I didn't eat a single one.  Bleck!

Fran and Ruth are the coolest ever!

Later in the week, we met up with my mom, dad, and sister in Malaga.  Look where we stayed.  Beautiful.

We traveled to Sevilla with my family.  I love Sevilla.  I spent 3 months or so with Hna. Densley there and we had a great time!

 I think this is a way cool picture of my sister with me, my dad, and Jared in the background. 

Jared and I being in love

I wanna go back!

I left out the pics of us going to Morocco and Gibraltar because those need to be a separate post.  Here's Jared and I traveling by train from Malaga to Madrid.

When we got to Madrid, we hopped on the metro and went to the temple grounds.  Temple was closed, but we just walked around and loved it.

That night, we did some shopping in Sol and went to Plaza Mayor for some churros and chocolate.  And a sandwich for Jared.

This pic is out of order, but I love it.  It's actually the pic that comes up on my phone when Jared calls.  IT also cracks me up that part of my dad's head is in the background.  He was trying to get in the pic, but he missed it. ha ha

Jared and I in Madrid (Plaza Mayor)

Jared and I are already talking about when we can go back.  We had the best time! 

Pregnancy Pics

Hi!

So, I have just been thinking about how I haven't really documented this pregnancy and unless you are on instagram, I haven't posted any pictures really of myself pregnant this time around.

I am frighteningly (word?) huge.
Like I can't believe how big I am this time.  I swear to you all that after this baby I am getting a six pack because apparently I didn't strengthen my abs well enough after Suzy was born and so now I really just have no abs.  Dang.

Before I post new pics, click here to take a trip down memory lane.
I still have a long ways to go.  *deep breath*

Huge Courtney, 38 weeks preg with Suzy

Here's the 3 I have this time.  Taking preg pictures of myself isn't really my favorite thing to do, but it is fun to compare myself to earlier pregnancies.

 23 weeks

 26 weeks





28 weeks

I'm a day or so away from 29 weeks, so only 10 weeks to go.  My c-section is scheduled for October 10th.  I seriously CAN'T wait!

In the meantime, I am excited for our Gorden family reunion in August, piano to start at the end of the month, a ROUTINE again, Noah to start preschool, and some cooler weather (I'll take 80's, ok even low 90's). 

Check back soon because I am going to post about:

• our new house
• the rest of our European vacation from back in January! (oops!) Still gotta post about Spain!
• Noah's 4th Birthday
• My Kids!
• Music I'm way into at the moment (why not?)

Picture Post!

I have been enjoying this summer so much with my kidlets.  I took the summer off of teaching piano so we could have more time to play and it has been nice having so much free time.  Here are some of my favorite pics.  I've been working hard to take more pictures- even though they are all with my phone.  Jared and I made a deal that if I can take lots of pictures and blog about them &/or store them (basically do SOMETHING with them) then I can get a nice camera in a year!  So I have some proving to do that I can do it.  But I'm going to try.  For my family's sake.

Noah teaching Suzy words.  Suzy is starting to talk a lot.  It's awesome!  She's started putting two words together and always surprises us with what phrases she has picked up. Like "Go away." ha ha, I did not teach her that!

Kids both decided they wanted to wear hats.  In the 100 degree weather.

Ahh, what a beautiful picture that rarely happens.

***This is my favorite picture ever.  Drawn by little Noah!***

Road Trip!

Pit Stop!

Hotel in St. Louis

Cute Kids

Cute Daddy

Same Size, 2 years apart

Suzy's Cartoon Look Alike

I think Suzy found her new role model, besides the little orphan Annie.  I saw previews for the new Pixar movie, "Brave," and I am thrilled that the main character/heroine/princess looks (to me) like a grown up version of my daughter!  Yay for curly, crazy red hair, greenish eyes, and a cute round face!

Our New Home (as of next week!)

Next Friday, I am proud to say, we will be owners of this brand new house!

I have never owned a home before and I am very excited.  I took some pictures yesterday during our walk through.  The builder still needs to go through and do touch up paint and a few minor things, but it's pretty much done.  Before we move in, we are hiring someone to paint a few accent walls to give the house a bit of color.  It especially needs it (I think) in the kitchen and living room.  Our couches are tan, the walls are tan, the carpet is tan--- but not for long.

Here's a shot of the backyard of the house.  Nothing too fancy.  We plan to build a deck maybe next summer.

Here's a shot from the back porch looking out.  It's a pretty big backyard.  We are excited to put in a garden next year and other fun things for the kids.

It was hard to get the kitchen all in one shot, so here are a couple.  I'm loving the granite and the tile backsplash.  The walls are going to be painted a vibrant red-orange.  I'll have to post pics after the paint, I think it will make a huge difference.

Through that arch, is the entry room, which will be my piano room!

Suzy's room.  It is off the main entry room.  There is a little hall- Suzy's room is on one end and Noah's on the other and there's a bathroom in the middle.  Perfect.

Kids/Guest Bathroom

Noah's Room

 The front entry room or in my case, piano room.  I'm so excited to get creative in this room.  But first, I gotta save up some money to get everything how I want it.

Living Room off of the kitchen.  I didn't get a great shot of the room- I was too focused on the fireplace.  Love fireplaces!  So glad I have one!

Hall off the front entry room down to the master bedroom.
(That door Noah is trying to open is the most massive, awesome closet ever.  It could practically be a room.  I love storage!  Thank you house for having some!)
I also really like the color that our wood floors turned out to be.  This is a good shot of the floors.

Master bedroom.  Soon to be home to our NEW KING BED, YAY!!! (We have had a double bed since we got married so this is a major upgrade).

Master Bath.  That's a jacuzzi tub on the right.  And then a separate shower--but you can't really see it.  And I'm obsessed with our closet.  It's bigger than the picture shows and we have had a kid closet for the past, ummm..forever, so YAY!

Laundry Room.  Exciting!  Not.

View from the top of the stairs going down to the front entry room.

Our home office/adults only/no kids allowed room!

We want a place for Jared to study while he is working on his MBA- and also a room where the kids don't bring their clutter to.  This room is upstairs and it will be perfect.

This room will eventually have a couch on the left, a desk, a tv mounted on a swivel on the wall (so it can double for a computer monitor and movie screen if you are sitting on the couch), and an extremely large world travel map, likely to take up a good chunk of the pictured wall.

Can't wait til next Friday! Yippee!

Baby #3

I have been up for the last hour and a half this lovely, Saturday morning while my family is still all sleeping.  I thought about folding laundry for about two seconds and then headed right over to the computer to play on Pinterest.  Now I am really being productive by blogging.

Well, blog world, if you don't know already, I am pregnant with Baby #3!
I am finally out of my first trimester.  It was the worst first tri yet.  With Noah, I never threw up.  With Suzy, I only did twice.  With this baby, I threw up all the time.  I convinced myself I must be having twins because I was so sick.  But I'm not.  During the last 14 weeks, my husband has learned to reappreciate me for the work I do as a stay at home mom.  (Read that to mean, my house completely fell apart and meals were either cereal or eating out.)  I've been feeling good now for the last two weeks and feel mostly back to normal.

I'm already showing.  I can't believe it, honestly.  Didn't show til 19 weeks with Noah.  16 weeks with Suzy.  And here I am 14 weeks busting out the maternity box.  Oh well, I guess it is the price you have to pay for these little cuties:

Baby due October 17th. C-section will be the 10th or 11th.  My 30th bday is the 13th. (!!!)  Party at the hospital!

London

I know that one day I will finish blogging about my trip to Europe.  Until then, I get to relive the trip every few weeks! :)

London (part 2) was an amazing part of our trip.  We both really fell in love with the area and would definitely go back. 

When we first got in from Paris, we checked into our awesome hotel and then walked downtown for about an hour (we love walking) to see our friends- Ryan and Gabby!  They both lived in DC with me when we were all doing internships.  It was great seeing them again!

Afterwards, we had a few hours before going to watch the fireworks (we were here on New Year's Eve).  So we got hot chocolates and walked around the city.  It was amazing.

They had a "Winter Wonderland" set up in Hyde Park that was AWESOME to walk through.  It's like a giant fair with a Christmas theme.  Lots of people were out and the environment was the best.  We kept talking about how fun it would be if our kids were there with us.

After spending an hour or so at the fair, we walked and took the obligatory picture in front of Buckingham Palace.

And near Big Ben...

And other than seeing the fireworks by the river, that is all the sightseeing we did.
Would you believe that I didn't get a single picture of us and the fireworks?
I did get a video though and maybe if I can figure it out, I will post it later.
It was way cool.
The fireworks were AMAZING.  However, I will say I felt a little old for the crowd that we were near.  Most people were drunk, smoking pot, swearing, getting into fights, and/or blasting music- I honestly would prefer playing Scrabble and eating Rotel dip with my parents. :)  But it was still a once in a lifetime experience and I'm glad we got to check it off the list.

Here is a cute, random picture that I took from our hotel lobby.

Our favorite part of the London trip was spending time with our friends, the Mateers, who live a little bit outside of London in Chelmsford.  You can see my friend, Liane in the background of this picture walking towards us. ( ha ha, love you Liane :) )  That's the only pic we got.  Liane and I worked together at BYU International Services.  Good times.  We ate at "The Carvery" for a traditional English roast and potatoes.  YUM!

Here's Jared and Steve.  They became quick friends over a late night game of RISK, which they teamed up for against a bunch of Steve's family and friends. And dominated.

We are smiling, but we are really sad to leave Chelmsford. Wish Liane and Steve lived close to us!

But we had to get back to London to see LES MIS!!!

And I loved every second of it!

Up Next:  Espana!!!