Explorer Sold!

We sold our Explorer Sport! Ben listed it on AutoTrader and we sold it within 2 weeks. We felt good about the deal we made and it was our 1st experience with a "private party" car sale so we were thankful everything went smoothly. We are currently looking at 4Runners. We've been to several dealerships and we're still in the "negotiating" phase. We need to get something a little larger since baby #2 is on the way ;-).

Zoo Trip

The Harris family invited us to go to the Greenville Zoo with them several weekends ago, and Tyler had a great time checking out all the animals with his buddy Austin!

Baby Ethan is Here!

Trent's sister, Jenna, delivered her baby boy, Ethan Thomas, on March 2nd @ 9:19pm. Ethan weighed 7 lbs. 13 ozs. and was 21.5" long. We got to meet baby Ethan over the weekend while we were in Greenwood. He is such a cutie pie! I even got to hold him for a little while. Mom and baby are doing well.

Valentine's Weekend

I know that you really just want to see pictures....so here's our Valentine's weekend in pictures!

Valentine's dinner that Ben made for me

Tyler's pants seem to be a little loose in the waist ;-)

after Clemson's b-ball win over Miami

Ben & Tyler building the snowman

fun in the snow

our house in the snow

Tyler loving his Valentine's teddy bear from Papa

watching the snow fall

my 2 guys sporting their new hairstyles ;-)

Tyler is Getting a Sister!

We went in for our 20 week ultrasound today and found out that we are having a baby girl!! The ultrasound tech said that everything looked great and that Baby J. was growing and developing very well. Baby J. measured to be 12 ounces which puts her in about the 60th percentile for growth compared to other babies at this same stage in pregnancy. Just for comparison…..Tyler measured 11 ounces at his 20 week ultrasound. The baby’s heart rate held steady at 144 bpm. My stomach measured 2 weeks ahead, but that’s nothing new since I always measured ahead with Tyler too. My blood pressure was good at 108/68 and all my Quad Screen results came back negative!! The Quad Screen tested for risks of birth defects.

I was secretly leaning towards a girl but wouldn’t admit it because I didn’t want to give Ben any further “girl hopes” since he was already so “gung ho” about the idea of having a daughter. Last night Tyler asked to watch b-ball on TV during The Bachelor and in that moment I knew we needed a girl to balance out the family…lol. When the ultrasound tech told us it was a girl both Ben and I were smiling from ear to ear :). We asked her how confident she was that it was indeed a girl and she said that she was 95% sure it was a girl. We think that Tyler will be such a great, protective, big brother for his little sister. So, it looks like we’ll get to keep the dresses that Daddy bought Baby J. for Christmas after all ;-).

Ben brought us out to lunch after our appointment to celebrate. We are excited, thrilled, and thankful for all the great news and that Baby J. is thriving!

baby's profile


facial profile

It's a girl (shot between the legs)

arm & hand on bottom....foot on top

Weekend Fun...

We had a fun and busy weekend! Nana and Papa came up on Saturday to spend the day with us. When we told Tyler they were coming he kept saying "Bop-pa, Nana" over and over. He still pronounces Papa as "Bop-pa" but it's so cute that we don't correct him. He had such a good time playing with them and showing off all his tricks! Later that evening Nana & Papa took us out to dinner at Calhoun Corners, one of our favorite restaurants. Tyler was such a good boy in the restaurant!!

On Sunday evening we went to Brian & Anna's for a Super Bowl Party. There were 7 kids there so we had plenty of entertainment (besides the football game). Of course Tyler spent much of the evening playing basketball on Bennett's hoop. The kids played well together and we all had fun.

**We go in for our big 20 week ultrasound tomorrow and will find out if Tyler is getting a brother or sister!! Be on the lookout for the next blog post to hear Tyler's big announcement!

Tyler and Nana were cooking in the Elmo microwave

showing Papa some of his b-ball skills....check out that form!

Snowy Mountain Weekend

We went on our annual NC ski trip this past weekend. Ben took Friday and Monday off work so we had a nice, long weekend. We arrived at our cabin in Seven Devils (near Boone) just before it started to snow on Friday. We probably got about 8-10" of snow that day and Tyler and his buddy, Austin, had a blast playing in it the next morning. Tyler absolutely LOVED the snow! He cried and cried when it was time to go inside. Hopefully, that's a good sign that he'll like snow skiing when we start teaching him in a few years. There were 2 other families on the trip with us this year - Ryan, Jennifer, & their 15 month old son Austin and Gerald & Megan. All the guys and Megan went skiing while Jennifer and I stayed in the cabin with the boys since we are both expecting. Tyler and Austin played well together and seemed to have a fun time. As always, we enjoyed our mountain weekend and spending time with good friends!

*Sorry there are no photos of the skiers. They never brought a camera to the slopes.

our cabin

side of our cabin

Tyler liked running around so he could hear the snow "crunch"

trying out the sled

most of the group

I love this one!

the boys weren't up for sledding together

Tyler and his bff, Austin

taking a dip in the hot tub...don't worry Nana we turned it down!

sitting in the tree chair by Mr. Bear

hugging Mr. Bear