Drumroll please.....

Team Girl                                            Team Boy

It's a..........GIRL!!!

It's a Girl! It's a Girl! It's a Girl!!

I was shocked. Floored. Flabbergasted.

Good thing I'm not a betting woman, cause I would

have put all my chips on 'boy'.

Wow.

I mean, how great is that?

Rachael and Matt will be awesome parents to

ALL the children they have, but I'm especially thrilled

for my friend because in her heart of hearts she

really wanted a girl first. 

And I'm SO thrilled for them!!

The party was great...

such a fun way to celebrate exciting news with

your closest friends and family.

I loved it.

Here's some pictures from the night!!

Party decorated in pink and blue with

Rachael's signature pom poms...

Baby Clark!!

Yummy snackies...

Guests arriving!!

Everyone was buzzing around with anticipation!

I ALMOST was too excited to eat anything...

almost...

Bah-looons!!

Everything looked so cute!! Now you see why the

pressure is on for me to throw one helluva

baby shower for this girl!!

Mommys gettin' a lil belly!

We couldn't stand to wait another second...

so, it was time for the big reveal...

courtesy of Matt and some pyrotechnics..

 

{Ok...so...I had really great intentions of uploading my

not-so-great video I took of the big reveal-however after

4 days of attempting to figure out how to upload a video

I have given up and decided to continue one sans video...

Feel free to pretend like you saw an awesome clip just now...}

Ok...I might be the worst videographer ever. EVER.

Sorry bout that one Rach :(

maybe somebody other than your 

unable-to-multitask-overly-excited-and-emotional

friend should have taken up video recording?? Oh, well.

And my voice. wow. it's terrible...

BUT atleast you can get a glimpse of the eruption

of excitement that occurred!

Rachael's rendition of when she realized

it was a girl at her ultrasound appointment..

love that face!! 

Grandpa Springer is so excited!!

We all are!!

YaY!!

I can't wait to meet this sweet little girl..

June can't get here soon enough!!!

What's new around here....

Well...there's really not all that much going on, but

I got my hair cut & colored...finally. 

This was honestly about 6 months overdue...

I'm one of those people who will go a ridiculous 

amount of time without having my hair cut.

It grows soooo slow 

and since I don't use any flat irons or blowdryers I don't really get split ends...

this leads to me being negligent and putting off hair cuts for many many months...

Lindsey, my good friend from high school, 

does my hair for me and I'm always super happy with how it turns out.  

She styles it for me and makes it do things I never thought possible.  

When I got home, Roy took one look at me and 

I got one of those wide-eyed 'wow my wife looks hot' faces...

Gotta love that

He was so impressed that he thought I should take some pictures of it...

(I chose to take that as a compliment and not as a sign that my hair may never 

look this good again so we better capture it on film...)

So I did...

Pardon my crappy self portraits using my iPhone..

In other news...

I booked a vacation this week!!

YaY!

And although I'm not quite fulfilling my new years 

resolution of leaving the country,

I might as well be-because I'm freakin' excited!

Hellloooo San Diego!!!

Initially I had wanted to try and plan something

in Charleston, SC, but the airfare was

Ri-Dic-U-LoUs

So I started looking at other options and found some

amazing package deals to San Diego...score!

I haven't been to San Diego in over 10 years and Roy

has never been, so I think it will awesome.

Ok, now let's get to what REALLY has

me excited this week...

My best friend Rachael and her husband Matt are finding out

what they're having today!!

AHHHHHHH!!!

How is it possible to be this excited about someone else's pregnancy?

I'm pretty sure it isn't healthy, and she probably wants

to put a restraining order on me at this point...but

she's being a good sport about it and indulging crazy old

Auntie Beth....

I just can't stop thinking about what a life changing

day this is for them...

Boy or Girl.

A life filled with trucks and planes and soccer practice

or dolls and barbies and ballet classes.

Wow. 

I honestly don't know two people who will be better

parents or who are more deserving of a

healthy sweet baby than Rach and Matt...

I'm so excited!!!!

They're telling close friends and family tomorrow, but

 the tough part will be working with Rachael

tonight without trying to get the scoop!!

That's about all I've got for now!!

2012

I just sat her for about 5 minutes with

my head in my hands trying to figure out

what the heck I had to say about 2011...

I guess the answer is clear...

Nothing.

So long.

Good Riddance.

C'est La Vie.

Peace Out.

I'm sure it was a fine year for plenty of folks

out there. And although throwing a pity

party sometimes feels nice...

I realize whole-heartedly that things

could always be worse...I didn't get cancer or

the bubonic plague yet, so I've got

that going for me... ;)

And yes, I'm definitely cheesy enough

to make some new years resolutions too...

I feel like they're really just goals though.

I keep thinking of more things to

add to my list, but I'm really trying

to make sure the list is comprised

of tangible goals that won't overwhelm me...

Me being overwhelmed= Me shutting down.

Ok, so in no particular order...

1) Get my passport. If I don't leave the country

at some point this year..I might lose it.

2) Learn to sew. I'm not saying I'll be making 

my own clothes by the end of the year, but 

I'm hoping to master atleast simple tasks..

pillows, curtains etc...

3) Start attending church more regularly.

Not much to elaborate there...it just

really needs to happen.

4) Plan more family gatherings.

I'm always complaining about how our 

family never gets together anymore, so I'm 

taking over as family matriarch (yikes...

does that make me like 80 years old??)

5) Be healthier, exercise more & hopefully...lose weight.

I know, I know...cliche, right?

But I really do want to accomplish this. 

I can't throw the towel in on myself yet...

I'm not promising to go vegan or lose 30 pounds,

but I am going to try to make a more

consistent effort.

5 resolutions.

I like it.

But, I'm just so impatient...

 I can't help but to jump ahead & start 

wondering where I'll be this time next year.

So much can change in 365 days. 

What will my life look like?

What will my family look like?

How will my friends' lives have changed?

How will my marriage have changed?

How will my job have changed?

I guess that's part of why I have this blog.

To look back and compare where I am and

where I've been. 

And hopefully learn something from it

in the process.

So, Happy New Year.

I'm praying for big things in 2012.