A Fab Fourth!

With all the other exciting news we posted recently (big smiles), we realized that we totally skipped over the 4th of July!!

It was a fabulous day that began like any other day that we have off - we slept in and then enjoyed a late breakfast at our favorite spot in Woodland Park, The Donut Mill. After pigging out, we headed down to Green Mountain Falls for a little bit of a hike to walk off all that sugar and carbs. We’d never really explored that city a whole lot before, and let us tell you, it’s NOT very big. =) Nonetheless, it was still a fun adventure. On our way back home, we stopped off at the “America the Beautiful Park” in Colorado Springs. We had seen on our way OUT of town that there was some sort of an art festival/farmer’s market type thing going on, so we came back to see what all the excitement was about. We had fun walking in and out of the booths, but it was SO hot out that we decided to cut the “shopping” short and go wade in the fountain instead. We’d never done that before, but it was a lot of fun!! Quite cool and refreshing on such a warm day. =) (We figure we’ll bring the baby back next year to play in the water!) After we got a bit of a tan and cooled ourselves off, we headed back home to shower and get ready for an early dinner. Mom and Dad Kelly treated us to dinner at Saltgrass Steakhouse (of course Brian was our server!) to celebrate the fact that we’ll be parents and they’ll be grandparents. Then we headed home and went for a ride in “The Benz.” Dad just recently got Mom a new car - when he does something, he does it right! =) For those of you who are car people, it’s a Mercedes Benz, E55 AMG. It’s a sweet car, and she’ll be a stylin’ Grandma! =) So anyways, after the ride that almost took our life, going 0-60 in 4.5 seconds, we came back home and watched fireworks from Mom and Dad Kelly’s deck while eating homemade Butterfinger ice cream. It’s great to watch fireworks at their house because you can see all the fireworks that everyone along the whole Front Range puts on – all the way from Fountain/Security, up to Monument. We watched quite a show! Plus you don’t have to get out and fight all that traffic. ;)

Job update: Jen got hired by Penrad Imaging last week!! So now she is proud to say that she finally has her dream position and her dream job – a “per-diem mammography tech.” She is having a blast and loves every minute of it – especially when she’s the one who gets to give the patients good news about their exam. She’ll work her tail off right now as much as she can, and then after the baby comes, she’ll only work 1 or 2 days a week. Yes, this is by choice and not because she has to. =)

Wedding update: Brian’s wedding will be here before we know it! Official days left: 8. WOW! We were in charge of making their slideshow, and if we do say so ourselves, it looks fantastic! Now, if there was only a way to get Jen NOT to cry when Brian’s set of pictures come up..... Greg had to eventually take over making the slideshow since Jen was a blubbering mess every time the pieces were put together. She’ll probably be a mess at the wedding too. ;)

Baby update: Things are going much smoother these days! Thank you everyone for your prayers, emails, and excitement! We are now 4 months along as of yesterday, which means next month we’ll get to find out the sex of the baby! We’d like to know NOW since this is just WAY too exciting!

Greg’s cinnamon roll that was bigger than his head!

You can’t tell, but we ARE in the fountain.

America the Beautiful Park.

Let Us Tell You a Story......

Once upon a time there was this boy and this girl. Eventually they were destined to be together, but it was only God who knew when and where that would take place. Finally, after 20 long years for the girl and 22 for the boy, their paths crossed in the college group at a tiny little church in Black Forest, Colorado. Shortly thereafter, they began dating and fell blissfully in love. Eventually, the boy proposed to the girl high atop a ski run in Vail, Colorado called “Cloud 9” and they were married 4.5 months later. A little over 2 years into their marriage, something very strange happened to the girl. Something she never thought would happen..... something she never even really wanted to happen. It was called “baby fever.” So after many, many months of thought and prayer, they decided to be free from “the pill” and see what God had in store for them in regards to expanding their family. Then one day, they got the signal…… a “positive” signal.....

That’s right folks, WE’RE HAVING A BABY!!! We took a pregnancy test on April 27th, and confirmed it’s “positiveness” with blood work and an ultrasound on May 11th. At this point, it looks like Jen is about 14 ½ weeks along with the due date being around December 31st/January 1st. We couldn’t be more thrilled and we can’t stop talking about how much more fun our lives and our future is going to be. We are so thankful to be blessed with this awesome little gift from the Lord and to be trusted enough to raise one of God’s children. The miracle of life is so amazing and we can’t wait to share our pictures and stories along the way. Continue to pray for us as we embark on a new adventure that is so totally new (and a little intimidating!) to us and that God would faithfully prepare our hearts and minds during the next 6 months!

Proud parents!! =)

Baby's first good picture.

Keeping a secret..... =)

The proud GrandMum

14.5 weeks along and not much to show for it. ;)

Ephesians 3:20& 21 – Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory…… for ever and ever!

Hot and Humid

(By Jen)

It's hot and humid here in Arkansas, but I am LOVING it! Call me crazy, but I love the heat and humidity. For a person who is cold 99% of the time, this kind of weather bodes well for me. ;) Like I've told Greg, the only time I get cold around here is when I go into the stores (yup, we've been shopping already!) around here and they feel the need to blast you with the A/C - it feels like I'm walking into a freezer! I can't stand it!

Anyways, I flew in early Saturday with my Mom, and we had a great flight. Greg and Brian will drive the 15+ hour trip to get here bright and early Thursday morning, the rest of the fam gets here on Thursday evening, and then our family reunion will be on Saturday. We will be here through the end of the month..... which is always so fun and relaxing for us (and I have definitely needed it lately).

We'll try to fill you in on events as the trip progresses, but we aren't promising anything. Our days are usually very "busy" with sleeping in, eating, napping, and trying to be lazy all day - and since Greg is bringing Guitar Hero with him, that will probably occupy 99% of his time (and Brian's) while I sit and play cards all day. =) Gotta love vacations! =)

Update - CFA: Today's Test

(By Greg)

After having a few days to cool down, think about it, and discuss the exam with fellow candidates on our CFA forum, I feel better about the exam. I'm still not 100% certain about whether or not I'll pass or fail, but only time will tell.

The results will be posted the week of August 17th, so check back for the results.

CFA: Today's Test

(By Greg)

It went! I'm glad everyone else has a lot of confidence in me, because I don't feel good about the test today, at all! I will have faith and hope that I really did pass the test, because I feel I was able to talk myself through (hopefully) the correct answer on most of the questions that I was unsure about.

It was very frustrating and demoralizing--6+ months of studying (hard studying) and it really felt like I was not prepared for the test.

I thought it was an unfair test and hopefully the committee will think the same thing when they begin grading them soon. All the important stuff they tell you to study and what's going to be on the test, NOTHING...

Another Jam-packed Weekend!

We had yet another fun-filled, jam-packed weekend!

Friday night, Greg had his first softball game of the season! He still plays on the co-ed league with our church, only this year, Dad Kelly is one of the co-coaches and together they decided that it would be better if games were on Friday nights instead of Monday nights. Anyways, Greg had a lot of good plays that night, and our team won! What a great way to start off the season!

Saturday was quite an exciting day for our family. Becca had her first bridal shower given to her by our church! A fun little group of people showed up and she went home with quite the loot! It was also fun because Jen and her friend Patti won cool prizes for both of the games that were played that afternoon. We were both sitting on the same bench, so we attributed our luckiness to the bench. ;)

Sunday was a nice relaxing day. We did the normal church thing, and dinner at Mom and Dad Kelly’s house. Greg took a break from studying and enjoyed his day of rest before buckling down the rest of the week.

Monday began Greg’s week off. He took this week off so he could intensely study for his big test on Saturday. He spent all morning studying, we ran around in the afternoon and went out to lunch, studied some more in the evening, and then we headed out to Brian’s graduation party. Brian graduated college on May 22nd, and Monday we celebrated with a party for him. We are so proud of him and all he has accomplished in such a short amount of time. (He graduated in 3 years instead of 4!) Maybe now that he’s not in school and studying all the time, we’ll get to see him a little more before the wedding. ;)

So that was basically our weekend in a nutshell - and it only plans on getting crazier for us!

Goin' to the "Q"

It was fun to be with our family this past weekend. It’s always such a wonderful thing when you find another family that you can meld so well together with and bond so tightly with, that you consider them just like a part of your own family. Seriously, everyone gets along with everyone and we’re all the bestest of friends. The Dad’s are like two peas in a pod, the Mom’s are practically like sisters, and all of us “kids” get along so well it’s like we’ve all grown up together! It feels great to have people like this in your life. If you have a relationship like this, you will know exactly what we’re talking about. They always say that blood runs thicker than water, but in this case, we know that is definitely not true.

So in case you are wondering, we (Mom and Dad Kelly, and us) headed out to Albuquerque this past Memorial Day weekend to spend time with the Mangum’s. The boys had a blast bonding and doing guy things - A baseball game, shooting guns at the gun club, playing hours of Guitar Hero, doing jam sessions on the drums and guitar, and doing all the other fun things that boys do. =) The girls had a blast shopping, doing lunch, hanging around snuggled under blankets talking about girl stuff, playing games, watching fun stuff on TV, making the BIG fun Mexican dinner, and just enjoying their time together. The only bummer the whole trip (other than the fact that Brian and Becca couldn’t go) was that we were supposed to have a “pool party” out in their pool in their backyard sometime while we were there, but every day wasn’t quite warm enough to get in. Well..... we take that back. It was sunny and quite hot the day we left. Of course, right? ;)

We’d post pictures from this weekend, but can you believe it? We didn’t take a single one! For the first time in a long time, we took our camera and didn’t even bother to use it. Luckily for us though, Erynn snapped a few pictures before we left, but we’ll show those another time. ;)

We couldn’t have asked for a more fulfilling, fantastic weekend. A weekend that passed just as quickly as we thought it would.