Last Saturday hubby and I decided to spend the day doing fun things with our daughter. First, we went to a couple of yard sales and we got her some new books and a puppy dog leash thing. Now wait, let me explain before you go judging. It is this stuffed dog that you strap on to your kid and it has a removable leash. Yes, I have become the parent that puts a leash on their kid. It’s not as bad as it sounds though. We like to go to festivals and my daughter wants to run around and she does not want to hold your hand. There are always a ton of people and I spend the whole time worried that she is going to get hurt or something. With this leash thing, I know that she is attached to me, but she feels like she has freedom. I’m not crazy, I don’t use it to lead her around or anything. Plus, she loves the stuffed dog aspect and it gives her comfort. Anyway…

After we went to the yard sales, we wanted to go over to the Family Festival. First we stopped at a gas station and got my daughter a strawberry milkshake, string cheese and a Reese’s. (I love that I can give her stuff so simple and she get’s so excited! She finds the joy in the little things.) Then we went to the festival and we had a blast. It was oriented towards the kids* with booths and games sponsored by local businesses that are kid-related: pediatricians offices, pediatric dentists, etc. The whole thing is free, except the food. They were all giving out free samples and toys. My daughter got a balloon, candy, and a card for a free frozen yogurt, but she was the most excited about the free toothbrushes and toothpaste. Go figure right? She carried those around and showed them to everyone with the biggest grin on her face. I wish I could get that excited about dental hygiene.

My daughter’s favorite part though, was the area with the bounce houses and slides. She has never been in them before, but we figured that she was finally old enough to try the bounce house now that she’s 17 months. We put her in one with another little baby and she was afraid to jump. She basically just stood there while I jumped up and down on the outside trying to encourage her. I got all hot and sweaty while she just stared at me like I was a nut. When a few big kids got in and started jumping, we pulled her out so she wouldn’t get hurt and she was so mad! She wasn’t even jumping, but apparently she really wanted to stand in there and look lost. The other type of bounce house had slides. Hubby and I took turns taking her down them and she loved it! She kept saying, “Weeeeeeee….” It was so cute!

It ended up being a great day that was all about my daughter and I couldn’t ask for a better way to spend a Saturday. I love taking my daughter to new places and trying new things. Watching a child experience the world is so eye opening. They are amazed at all the small things and the joy is contagious. I love being a mom!

*There was one exception that absolutely made me see red. In the midst of all the happy, screaming children running around and booths that were handing out free candy and toys, there was one booth with a man selling knives. Yes, knives. What the hell? He had probably a hundred or so different knives laid out all over his booth and they weren’t in cases or anything. At any point, one of the children could have run over, grabbed one and hurt themselves before anyone had a chance to stop them. What an asinine thing to have at a festival for children and families!

Jason and I have worked so hard on this fence. It’s almost done now, we just have to get the fence pickets screwed on. We won’t be able to this week (oh, darn) because it’s supposed to rain for the next five days. We did get all the 2×4′s (why do they call them that when they aren’t actually 2 inches by 4 inches?) and brackets screwed on, so now it’s starting to actually look like a fence!

Doesn’t it look great!? I’m so excited to finally have some privacy! Ever since I found out that you can see well enough through our huge master bathroom windows to make out the entire shape of the person getting in and out of the tub… ahem… me… I have wondered if that’s why some of our neighbors have never introduced themselves…

Ok. It’s really been decorated for a month or so now, but I haven’t gotten around to taking photos of it until today. We hadn’t done anything whatsoever to it and it was so ugly, beige and bare. I couldn’t stand to look at it that way any longer. I LOVE the way it looks now. I did it all for about $100.

I forgot to take a before photo, but here’s what it looks like now:

Yesterday was our second wedding anniversary. I can’t believe we’ve only been married for two years! We have accomplished so much and I am happier than I have ever been. Jason is a wonderful husband and I am grateful that I get to be his wife. I know it sounds cliche, but I’m the luckiest woman in the world!

Jason and I decided that it would be fun to do something different and wintery to celebrate. We drove down to St. George and after having a delicious dinner at Olive Garden, we went ice skating! I have only been once before when I was little and Jason has never been. It was a blast!! We were both a bit hesitant at first, but after a few loops around the rink, we started to get the hang of it. To my utter surprise and delight, Jason was amazing! He looked like a pro! He zipped around that rink like he had been skating for years. He looked pretty cute doing it too.

I was the one who suggested ice skating and Jason was a little reserved about the idea. I’m so glad he enjoyed it. We made some great memories this year and I hope that we can go skating again soon. Oh, and I only biffed it once when I tried to impress Jason by doing a trick. LMAO

We went to the doctor today and found out that we are having a baby girl! Yeah! Little pink dresses and bows! We even had a name all picked out for a girl just in case, Mireya. Isn’t that beautiful? We wanted a name that was unique, so she wasn’t just one of three girls in her class with the same name.

When Jason heard that we were having a girl, he bought the domain name for her, www.mireyaruesch.com. He bought it from his iPhone, before we even left the doctor’s office. We are going to make a blog out of that website for Mireya to see when she’s older and for family and friends to stay updated on her progress. Check it out.

Holy cow! We are going to have a baby! We are pretty positive since Lane took two digital pregnancy tests. The due date is March 20, 2010. We couldn’t possibly be more excited at the prospect of being parents. This is something we both knew we wanted in our lives. What could be more amazing and rewarding than being a parent? We have no idea what trials and difficult decisions we will face, but we’re ready to find out.

We know this will be a difficult pregnancy because of Lane’s Factor V Leiden (a blood clotting disorder.) If her placenta or cord develops blood clots, we could lose the baby. Lane is going to be on Lovenox, a blood thinner, throughout the pregnancy to hopefully avoid any complications. She is not looking forward to the daily injection, but it’s better than having a miscarriage. Hopefully, the only outcome of this pregnancy will be a beautiful baby. Now we just can’t wait to find out if we’re having a boy or a girl!

We finally moved into our new house! We have been working so hard to get it built before our lease was up at our apartment. It took a million phone calls, several trips to Cedar City and a lot of patience, but we got there. We never imagined how hard it would be to build a house. Everyone told us it would test our marriage, but luckily we pretty much agreed on everything. The things we didn’t agree on, we compromised. In the end, all of the effort was completely worth it! We might be biased, but we think it ended up beautiful.

Thank you to all of our family that helped us with wiring the speakers and with the move itself.

We tied the knot yesterday! We decided to go ahead and just get married. We had a private ceremony at the Salt Lake County Court House. We are so happy and we can’t wait to spend the rest of our lives together!