Celebrating 27 Years

Dan turned 27 on Sunday. I love blogging about Dan because, yes, I get to brag about him!!

Since his birthday was on a Sunday this year we decided to make a weekend out of it. The company that Dan works for only works half day on Friday's so he gets to be home by noon! So we decided to enjoy the city a little bit before his real birthday celebration began. We went shopping and got some adorable things for our little girl! I can't help but buy her things. She is an expensive little girl and she hasn't even arrived yet!! HA HA There are just to many cute girly things out there... We are in trouble. Sorry off topic back to Daniel!

I wouldn't tell Dan where we were going for the night, I tried to keep it a surprise as much as I could. We came back home and got ready for the evening then headed back out to the city.

The big surprise was Medieval Times. HA HA ya where they joust in front of you, cheer for a knight, and eat EVERYTHING with your hands. Dan had never been to one and has always wanted to go so I thought that this was the perfect opportunity.

It turned out to be a lot of fun. Stupid, but worth the adventure. We got to take our picture in some sweet medieval times clothes and Dan got to hold a real sword. Ya it made him feel more like a man!

Until the show started we just walked around talking to people dressed up like knights and looking at all the weird things that people actually buy... Not really our taste but it was still fun to walk around.

Funny story. So they had 3 raffles where people got prizes. The first two were for small prizes the third was the grand prize. We were sitting at a table waiting to go into the show when they announced they were going to do the final drawing of the evening. Dan turned to me and said "Wouldn't it be so funny if they called your name" literally right as he said that they announced "The Winner is Lesli......(Pause for effect)... Lancaster."

THAT'S RIGHT! I WON! I looked at Dan and we both just started laughing so hard. They called my name again and they just said keep running and put your hands in the air.. They saw me and said "Come on RUN" I got up there and they took one look at me and my huge belly and smiled at me and said, "Oh never mind...." Ha ha I just looked at him and laughed saying " Running and jumping up and down probably isn't the best thing to do when your 8 months pregnant.

But who cares I WON!

I won four tickets to their grand opening night in November. We don't know if we are going to make it or not because we will have barley a one month old, but we will see.

I AM SO PROUD I WON!

Our knight was the black and white knight and guess who saved the day? OUR KNIGHT! totally kicked the trash of everyone else and saved the day!!!

All in all it was really fun and we laughed a lot.

Saturday we had our baby CPR class and Hospital tour so that pretty much took our whole day. I was craving Olive Garden so we had dinner there and went to a movie.

Sunday we celebrated Dan's actual birthday by going to church and having dinner. Later than night our friends the Mott's came over to have some cake and ice cream. We had a great time just talking and hanging out.

It was a good birthday I think, and Dan seemed to have a good time all weekend so I feel successful!!

BRA'S

Do I share to much on my blog? Well I guess if you have a problem with it than don't read it! HA HA but yes this little blog post is about BRA'S.

Dan is out of town on business for a couple of days and so I thought it would be a good time to go looking for some nursing bra's. I went to Target because that's where I buy the majority of my bra's from and they have SUPER CUTE ones, so I was excited to see what they would have for nursing bra's. Well when I got to that part of the bra section I looked all over and all I saw were black and white bra's. Thats it! I own one white bra and I only wear it when going to the temple. Other than that I do not own a single solid color bra.

I sat on the sales floor holding a black bra and a white bra and I started getting teary eyed as I contemplated if I should get more of white or more of black. My heart sank as I thought that I can not already be losing who I am because I am becoming a mother. I really don't know where the tears were coming from... maybe it was because earlier I yelled at a Walmart associate and was feeling a little bad about it, or simply because this baby is coming in 4 weeks and I admit that I am scared. I mean I am buying bra's with a clip in the front so just a pop of a button and everyone gets a nice surprise! What is more motherly than that!

I picked myself up off the floor and kept looking around. I did find one blue polka dot bra that was a size to small but I bought it anyways just to say I can keep it exciting under there!

Please don't take this the wrong way. I am beyond excited to becoming a mother, it truly has been something I have wanted my whole life, I just get a little overwhelmed sometimes. I am sure there will be many more blog posts about overwhelming-ness but for right now my biggest problem is wearing a simple black or white bra!

Rexburg... PART FOUR & Final Post!

MONDAY:

The last few days we were home were quiet but still fun. It was left up to Megan and I to finish our projects without Michelle's help but we were bound and determined to finish. We did awesome... just a few fat quarter's wasted and some unstitching but for the most part we did great.

I will take some pics of the nursery once I get a chance!

We went with my mom to Porter's to pick out our fabric for our special "Grandma Blankets" that she makes for all the grandkids. They are going to be super cute but wont get it until my mom comes when the baby is born. Megs and I had Fongs for lunch. The last time for a while. I wish some of my readers could understand how Fongs is so good but yet so horribly cheap and disgusting. You just can't get enough of it and it makes you drink a lot of water. ha ha.

So Monday was a pretty low key day. Just sewing and finishing our stuff before we had to pack it all home.

TUESDAY:

It was our last full day in Rexburg. It was good tying up loose ends of everything and getting ready to go. Megs and I didn't realize how much stuff we had until we started packing. We had all the luggage we could have to fly with and still had a bunch of stuff so we ended up having to ship some stuff home. We were shoving everything we could into boxes and sending them home. IT was quite the adventure in the post office.

My mom came home from work and we decided that it would be fun to do maternity pictures. Where we live is the most beautiful place. We literally walked out my parents backyard and headed to the fields right behind their house.

It was so fun taking pictures with my mom and sister. Even though it was hard to get on the ground and climb over pipes it was still a good laugh and memories we won't forget.

I posted a few of my favorites here on the blog but if for some reason you want to see more of the fat version of Lesli you can click Here to see all the pictures. They are on my facebook page.

This is how it started. I don't think people realize how difficult it truly is to have a massive belly in front of you. I admit that I was one of those people who would be like stop complaining its not that hard, but let me tell you something.... being pregnant especially that big is hard, and difficult. I guess you can only understand when you go through it for yourself. Gosh men have it so easy!! :)

My beautiful mother with her pregnant daughters. We had so much fun with her and she was a great assistant to Megan. ha ha

Just a warning, you will be seeing a lot more of those ballet slippers when we do her new born pictures. They are just my favorite!! THANKS MEG!

Later that night we met up with my Dad and went and ate at the Pineapple Grill and had some delicious Sushi!! Don't worry it was cooked! I am so excited to eat real sushi when this little girl comes! We came home and played hand and foot and called it a night. It was a great night to end the vacation on!!!

WEDNESDAY:

Well the end has come. We woke up and headed to Utah. Again my amazing mother drove us down. We were able to meet up with my sister Michelle and her two little girls to Gardner's village and to have some lunch. Then it was time to head to the airport.

It was so sad leaving. It was time to go home but man it was hard to say goodbye to my sisters and my mom. I am so happy that I get to see my mom in just a few short weeks when the baby comes, but that didn't make me shed any less tears. We said our goodbyes and headed home.

Coming home felt well to be honest weird. We have been looking forward to this trip to Rexburg literally for months! And to have it over was just strange. I was so excited to see Dan and my little Ranger but it was hard too. I cried a lot that night. I don't know if its because I was just because of the pregnancy stuff or what, but I felt bad. I really was so excited to see Dan!

Don't worry life is back to normal now and I am glad to be back in Texas. Its even cooling down here. Instead of the heat being the 100's its now in the low 90's and 80's. It feels so nice! I am very proud of myself for surviving the summer months!

Thats it folks. Thats all I have from the Rexburg trip. So much happened that I missed a lot but I just can't but it all into words.

A HUGE thank you to my amazing family who simply make my life that much better. I am so happy that we live far away but still remain close!

Also to Daniel for letting me leave for that long. I was very happy to have him call me and to hear how much he missed me and was ready for me to come home. It feels good to be appreciated!!

On to the next Adventure....

Rexburg.... Part THREE

Wednesday:

So if you read the old post there were no pictures, but my sister Megan reminded me oh so nicely that there are a ton of pictures so here we go!

Wednesday was a blast... Us girls spent the day of course at Porter's and sewing to our little hearts desires. Well it was more of a "HAVE TO" get it done than a desire, but we pushed through.

Later that evening, My parents, us girls, and Mike and Shay all loaded in the car and headed to West Yellowstone for a trip to the PlayMill. Kylie my cousin, watched the kids for us, which was super sweet of her.

The PlayMill is a place that we have been going to ever since I can remember. Its a small little theater and they put on fun musicals. This year we say the musical "High School Musical". It was great! A big thanks to my mom for getting us all tickets and a big thanks to my dad for driving fast so we wouldn't be late. It was a close call! All of us had a lot of fun, and after we went and ate at a pizza joint called Gushers. SO GOOD!

THURSDAY:

It was a busy day getting everything ready for the shower. We sewed a little more, did a quick trip to Porter's and then headed home to get ready for the shower.

FAMILY SHOWER,

My dear sweet mother and sisters threw Megan and I a baby shower for our two little girls. It was such a fun, unique experience to be able to share with my older sister the joys and pains of pregnancy! I am so excited for her little one to come in January. So here are some snippets of our Joint Baby-Shower!

Starting to set up... Me, Michelle, and Megan.

Me, Dad, and Megs. My dad has a pink balloon in his shirt. first glance though doesn't it look like his actual stomach? He is such a funny man and I am so happy that he's my dad!

My mom has some pretty outstanding people in her life, who we have grown up with to know and love. They helped out tons with this shower to make it spectacular for our little girls. So much food and DELICIOUS cupcakes, who were created by Brinda Howard! She is so flippin talented its not even funny the things she comes up with.

Talking with friends and opening gifts. Our little girls got spoiled rotten. Thank you to everyone! You were all so generous, and thank you to all our family and friends that came over to support us. It was so great to see everyone!!

The Prego's! It has been so much fun being pregnant together. We are about 10 weeks apart but still it has been so much fun laughing over pregnancy things and being able to talk to each other about our fears! I hope one of my sister's is pregnant every time I am. IT'S GREAT!

My Beautiful sisters! I don't know what I would do without them in my life! They truly are all amazing in everything that they do! A HUGE thanks to them for planning this shower for us. It couldn't have worked out better!

FRIDAY:

It was a great day! All of us girls and my mom got to sneak away for the night and have a nice dinner, do some sweet shopping, and go to a movie. "The Help". I had read the book and cried pretty much the whole way through it. I loved the movie. Its not everyday I get to spend the evening like this with all my sisters and mom! It was such a fun night!!!

SATURDAY:

We had a lot of photos!! (My mistake Megan..) We spent the day at the Mendenhall traditional spot... WARM RIVER. We floated the river a few times and yes even being 32 weeks pregnant at the time I floated down too! Then we had a great BBQ and just hung out in the sun. It was so nice to be in temperatures that were less than 100 degrees. I loved putting on sweaters and jeans! It was so much fun.

My parents did so much to make sure that we had a great time in everything that we did!!

Ah... The white trash sister!

I think that I'm sleeping...

SUNDAY:

Sunday was a little bitter sweet. Everyone was heading home except for Meg and I. Michelle had been there the whole week with us and Brooke came up on Thursday (On a shuttle for six hours) so it was so sad to see them go! It meant that our vacation was coming to an end. My mom made a delicious dinner, and my dad had to head to church meetings, so we said goodbye and it went from 5 to 2. The house was so quite without grandkids screaming and playing. It was really sad!!!

Well that wraps up the week. I have one more blog post to do to finish up our Rexburg trip but I think this is enough blogging for now!!!

Thanks for reading!

Rexburg... PART TWO

This Post will cover just Monday & Tuesday.

MONDAY:

We started our day with a jog, well I walked and pushed a stroller, and Meg and Michelle ran. When we got home we got ready for the day and started our MANY sewing projects!

My Beautiful sister Megan and my niece Sage!

We headed to Porter's for the second time and also had Fongs for lunch for a second time, then it was off to work!

Us girls had lots to sew before our two weeks were up. Both Megan and I planned on making our bedding and other things for our little girls room, so we got to work. We set up a little workshop downstairs, and my dad got us poster boards and easel so that we could keep track of our projects.

I do have to share that if it weren't for Michelle and my mom, Megan and I would have ended up with really horrible looking projects!!! No JOKE they saved us!

Our sewing table....

Our Cutting Table. We watched old "Oprah" episodes and "Keeping up the Kardashians" pretty much all week long. Our table looks like nothing compared to what it looked like at the end of the week.

We seriously sewed and sewed and sewed all day long! A few broken needles and struggles with bobbins we were ready to call it a night. Sewing and frustration are not a good combination!

TUESDAY:

We sewed a little Tuesday morning, but we than headed to Idaho falls to the party store to help my mom with baby shower decorations and extra things. We had a great time shopping, and eating lunch.

The little girls were troopers! So we spent the evening playing with them and we fed the ducks at the nature park. We had a ton of photos at the nature park, but I don't know where they are. I am sure my sister Megan will post them on her blog so if you are interested check them out there!

It was a very enjoyable relaxing evening, playing on the swing set and eating raspberries right out of my parents garden! NOTHING BETTER!

Another Beautiful sister of mine and her little girl Reese! Not to brag but I have a beautiful family!!

when Michelle got the girls to bed we figured we better get back to sewing and finish our quilts. My mom helped us withe seems and making sure everything measured perfectly. I was actually very impressed with our sewing skills. Seriously if it weren't for Mich and my mom they would not have turned out so nicely.

These are the colors of our nursery's. Megan's is the pink/gray one and mine is the Yellow/green one. I will show all the great things we did once I get the nursery all put together!

Well Part two had come and gone. I have a few more posts to put on here, so keep on checking!

LOVES TO YOU ALL!!

REXBURG PART ONE!

There was so much that happened while in Rexburg that I decided it would be better to break it up into parts. So there will be posts throughout the weekend and week. I just can't blog it all at once! IT'S TO MUCH!!!!!

HERE WE GO!

We were in Rexburg for 2 FULL WEEKS!

This first blog post will cover Wednesday-Sunday

WEDNESDAY:

Meg and I flew into Salt Lake City at 11:50p.m. Megan chose the flight times... We still don't know why it was so late at night but its all good!

Brooke and Michelle were there to greet us with big smilies! We were so excited to all see each other and knowing that we get to hang out for so long helped add to that excitement. We literally laughed the whole way to Michelle's house about who knows what. 25 cent tolls, and random comments that made no sense. It was great! We got settled in and didn't fall asleep until about 2:00a.m.

THURSDAY:

Thursday was a very eventful day! Michelle went to work for the morning before we headed to Rexburg, so me and Meg were in charge of taking care of Sage and Reese. Well Megan gets this really bad stress knot in her shoulder and ends up kinking her neck to the point where she can't move. We called Michelle like 8 times a work looking for heating pads, icyhot, anything to help Meg with the pain. We couldn't find anything so I am running around the house keeping track of two kids and trying to not laugh at Megan hunched over in a chair. It was so much, I was laughing so hard tears were running down my face. I eventually made my own heating pad. I got one of Cam's baseball socks and filled it with rice and heated it up! Meg put it on her shoulder and it looked like a little squirrel sitting on her shoulder! AGAIN HILARIOUS !

We had lunch with Mich and Brooke and then Mich, Me, and Meg headed up to Idaho. But don't forget about Megan's kinked neck.....

(Megan, Please don't kill me for putting this picture on my blog)

She had to wear this towel around her neck the whole day!

We did feel bad because once we got home, it got worse we almost went to the emergency room! We still laughed though... It was really funny!

Being home was amazing! My mom and dad were so excited to see us! We talked and talked and talked and finally got to bed realizing we have 2 weeks to catch up on everything!

FRIDAY:

The day was spent running errands and getting things ready for the triathlon the next day. We were able to stop by my mom's office and do ultrasound pictures on Megan and Me! It was super fun! I admit I got a little emotional, it was just so fun to have my mom being able to do an ultrasound on me. I loved it!

We went to Porter's and had Fong's for lunch!

My parents went to Burley for the night to celebrate my Dad's 40 year high school Reunion. Can you believe that... 40 YEARS!!! Holy smokes! ha ha

Brooke and her family came up to Rexburg and we started getting ready for the triathlon by practicing transitions! I missed not being a part of it! I am really planning on doing it next summer! I have missed working out to the fullest and training for something. I am ready to get to doing that again.

So Michelle, Cam, Mikey, and Brooke all did the triathlon this year. Meg and I were the pregnant people in charge of little kids and taking pictures. Thank goodness Jeff and Shay were there to help!

SATURDAY:

The triathlon team woke up at 5:00a.m and I joined them for some reason, but it was good to make sure they all got off ok. Meg and I fell back asleep so we didn't make it to the swimming but we were there for everything else. Running around trying to find everyone, throwing kids in the car and trying to dodge runners and bikers in the car. All I can say is Megan is definitely a New York driver. She did awesome though!

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Everyone did amazing! Mikey did the Full and the rest did the sprint. It was great to watch them all cross the finish line! I love my family and I am so proud of them!

The rest of the day was spent taking naps, eating Millhollow Sandwhiches, and sno-shacks! The Rexburg goodness! My Parents got home super late that night.

SUNDAY:

My dad headed off to church meetings, and we went to church at my parents home ward. Its crazy how time changes wards.. I hardly recognized anyone there. It was good to see those who I did recognize though!

We then all came home and got ready for a backyard bbq! I love my parents backyard. Its so beautiful and my mom and dad work so hard on the landscaping to make it look the way it does. You definitely can't find a place like where they live anymore!

Brooke and our newest addition to the Mendenhall Family... Tray.

Enjoying the kids and the weather. I may be bias but Rexburg has the most perfect weather in the summer.

Me and Mich. I just love how gigantic I look in every picture. The joys of being pregnant!

The Mendenhall grand-kids! 2 more girls to add that!!

After we ate Brooke and the fam packed up and had to head back to Utah. School started for them the next day. We wish they could have stayed!! Cam also took off leaving Me, Meg, Mich, The girls, and my parents. Mich stayed the whole week with us!!

Well thats it for the weekend! There is MUCH MORE TO COME.... so stay tuned!

Enjoy for now!

Dan Graduates!

I am back from Idaho and have so much to blog about, but before I get into that I have to blog about a big event that happened right before I left for two weeks. DAN GRADUATED!!!!

No more school!! We are both very happy about that!

Dan actually finished school back in May when we moved up to Dallas for his internship with Pioneer. (A natural gas company) It was a little scary knowing that it was just an internship and not an actual job, but it could lead to an actual job so we packed up and headed to Dallas for 3 months.

Dan finished his internship last week and they offered him a full time position as a Geologist in the company. We are so happy and feel so blessed. Dan was pretty stoked too! Things are falling into place so well and we are so grateful for our prayers being answered!

So we drove to Waco to celebrate Dan graduating. Our families weren't able to make it since they will be coming down in such a short time for the baby, but we are so lucky to have our friends who are pretty much like family that helped me celebrate Dan graduating.

Pictures of the auditorium, Some random guy speaking, and Dan on the BIG SCREEN!

The after pictures with me and Stephen. Stephen was a classmate who obviously graduated with Dan. ha ha

Dan being all graduationesqe! Don't mind his short robe, ha ha Master students and bachelor students get different robes and they gave him a Bachelor robe, so when we got to graduation he had to get a new robe and they only had smalls! ha ha he looks good still though, its just cute!

Afterword our friends gathered together at George's to celebrate with us!

Lauren, Robert, Lindsay, Brett, Jeff, Krista, Dan and myself. (I'm taking the picture)

We then headed to Robert and Lauren's house for some cake and ice-cream. They were so nice and got Dan his very own graduation cake! It was super good!!

It was so much fun watching Dan graduate and finish something that he has worked so hard for. His Thesis is finished and published. It's amazing to look at even though I have no clue at what its talking about! ha ha

I love you Daniel Scott Lancaster and I am so proud of you!!