Florida with the Family--Part 2

More Sea World Videos

This video is from a penguin house. Look how awkward they are on land but how graceful they swim in the water! When I pan over to the left, you can see my Mom, aunt Joanna, and cousin Madison. I was having so much fun that I took 0 pictures of us!

Here is the famous Shamu! This show was at 10:00 at night! We stayed until the park closed at 11 p.m.! In comparison to the dolphin show, it took 2 dolphins to do what it takes 1 killer whale to do. Only 1 Shamu lifts the trainers out of the water. Would you jump in the water with a killer whale??

Check out this GINORMOUS walrus. I had never seen one in real life before. Man, I had no clue they were this big!

Blue Springs

Another day we went to Blue Springs State Park. Through an underwater spring, 1,000s of gallons of water a day are pumped into the spring at a constant 72 degrees year-round. This makes it a perfect home for manatees! Hundreds of manatees come here in the winter for the warm water. They were spread out throughout the river when we were there, but we did see 2! But of course I have no picture to prove it because I was so excited when I saw them. :)

There were gators everywhere!!

And in the river there were crazy kids on jet skis jumping and diving into the gator-infested water!!!

Here is a baby armadillo we saw on the path.

Holy Land

Our last day in Florida, we visited The Holy Land. It's a Christian Theme Park. Sounds cheezy, but really cool. They do skits of stories from the Bible. I saw Jesus!

Here is a model of Jerusalem. The guy in the picture walked you through all the places from the Bible. It was really cool to have a visual of what we read!

The place I really wanted to take pictures and video was The Scriptorium, but I wasn't allowed. It showed how our Bible came to be, starting with actual pieces of Dead Sea Scrolls, going on to the first copies of the hand-copied Bible, then the first printed Bible. Did you know that kings used to be required to copy the entire Bible by hand to make sure they had read it!? Can we do that with our presidents today?? :) One Bible even had a blood stain where the owner had been killed for possessing it. Wow. Makes me thankful I can just pick mine up and read it. It clearly presented the gospel throughout the park!

Thank you Joanna and Madison (and John!) for letting us hang out with you for a week!

Florida with the Family

I got back last Tuesday from a week in Oviedo, Florida. My grandmother, mom, and I flew down to visit my aunt Joanna and cousin Madison. How we miss them since they no longer live in TN! Ryan spent a week playing golf every day while I was gone!!

First of all, check out this car we passed on the way to Sea World. Those are Disney characters (like Happy Meal toys). Woa. Click on it to make it bigger so you can truly appreciate it.


I was pretty terrible at taking pictures, but I did take a lot of videos at Sea World (my favorite day!). This video was a new dolphin show. Can I be a dolphin trainer instead of a teacher!?


Oh, and it would be much more fun on this one if you turned the sound off so you don't hear me. I promise to do better next time I take a video to not act like such a dork. :)


So you may not know this about me, but it is a dream of mine to swim with the dolphins someday. Although I didn't get to swim with them, I got to touch one! My cousin Madison and I stayed for a total of 1 1/2 hours until we finally touched one! It was a pool that you had to lean over the edge and they swam to you. I touched the tip of its fin (because I'm so short) and Madison with her long arms got to rub its belly!!! I'm a little jealous, can you tell?

I'll post more videos later this week. They take forever to upload!

"Textbook Perfect"

So my prayer throughout our pregnancy so far has been for everything to be "textbook perfect." With so many things that could go wrong and could cause me to be anxious, all I can do is pray for everything to go well and realize it is out of my hands! So we had our 2nd ultrasound today. And guess what the doctor said? Everything is "textbook perfect." How kind of the Lord to use the exact phrase that I've been praying to reassure me that all is well!! The doctor could have said "everything is great" or "no worries," but instead she used the exact phrase I've been praying for!!

So here's our little "shrimp" as the ultrasound tech called it:
Top picture: Side profile to the left. Head at the top, then you can see the little left arm and leg buds. You can see the umbilical cord on the left next to the head. It doesn't look like a tadpole anymore!
Bottom picture: Head on the left, then the little arm buds, then the body on the right. Our little guy was dancing for us today! I watched Evan Almighty with my family this weekend. If you've ever seen it, he does a little dance throughout the movie to celebrate. That's what it reminded me of! :) Moving left, right, left, right, bouncing. I can't wait 'til I can feel the little guy/girl moving!!

2 Months

If you notice any sort of a pooch here, I can assure you it is not caused from a baby that is only the size of a kidney bean!! It's more likely because I have to eat about every 2 hours or I feel a little blah. So as long as I have food in me, I'm good to go. Overall, I'm still feeling pretty good! Just having to sleep extra these days. I am so thankful I have the summer off so that I can take a nap when I need to! My favorite thing this week is that we don't have to keep it a secret anymore!! HOORAY!!! :)

Very First Ultrasound

Today was the big day! Ryan was able to take his lunch break at the doctor with me, so he was able to go, too! I am so glad he got to be there for such an exciting memory. Dr. Roberts said everything looks perfect and healthy! Praise the Lord!

The top picture is the easiest to see it. The bottom left is the yolk sac and the baby is the tadpole attached to it. :) Elizabeth Blanton said it looks like a big comma. That's so true! We got to hear the heartbeat!!! And see the heart pumping. That was unbelievable. It was a really confirming day because all I had before this was a positive stick, so there really is a living thing growing inside me!!! This is such a miracle, I'm just trying to soak it all in.

I'm still feeling pretty good! No throwing up (thank you, Lord!), just feeling blah on and off. I have to keep eating about every hour and a half! Whew, I'm tired of food already. :) But it's so worth it!!

Grandma Nanie's Reaction

Sorry to post about my Mom's reaction a week late. I wanted to post her video so bad and we couldn't figure out how to do it! I think we've got it now! So let me preface it. Soon after Ryan and I got married, Mom gave us a book called I Loved You Before You Were Born (it's a grandmother talking to her grandchild) and told us to give it to her to tell her we were pregnant. I thought for sure just wrapping it up in the shape of the book that she would get it, but she had NO clue. Her reaction is awesome. Dad looks shocked, too. I can't wait to show this video to our little one someday!

If you notice, she ran off right after I told her to get a present she had for me! She said she's been putting it in her car when she comes up to Knoxville in case we tell her up here. You can tell how bad she has wanted a grandbaby! My gift from her was also a book, a lullaby CD (that my brother and I used to listen to), and Vols booties and hat that she knitted. She already has a grandma name! She wants to be called "Nanie" which sounds like "Nonnie" which her little sister called her when she was little because she couldn't say "Melanie." She's so excited!


We told Ryan's family, last weekend, too. Our families are very different! While my family screamed their heads off, the Hughes' reaction was very calm. Julie (Ryan's Mom) cried which was really sweet. We all can't wait! I'm still feeling great! Thanks so much for your prayers!

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!!

That's right. And in my usual saying, HOLY COW! We found out yesterday on Ryan's birthday and our 4th anniversary! What a perfect day to find out such amazing news. We're really praying right now for the health of the baby and for no morning sickness. If it's hereditary, I'm in for a doozy in the upcoming weeks. Thanks, Mom! :) So as of today, I'm 5 weeks! But since we found out yesterday, we took the 1 month picture a week late. I know it's goofy, but yes, I'm going to copy everybody else and do a picture each month to see my belly grow! Here's the picture from yesterday, just a couple of hours after a + test:
This was wrapped up for Ryan's birthday present when he got home from work (and how he found out he was going to be a Dad!):
I go to the doctor July 7, so it's pretty hush hush until then. We'd love your prayers for our little one growing in my belly! We tell our parents this weekend, so I'll post about that soon! WOOHOO!!!! :)