Les Miserables

My wonderful husband surprised me with a trip to Atlanta, GA on Saturday with 3 other couples. We had such a great time! When I found out we were going to Atlanta, I begged him to go to Ikea! I wanted to look for nursery things, but no such luck. They only have older kiddos stuff. But it was so much fun to look around! It is GINORMOUS!

We couldn't find a parking spot, and when we saw this sign on the front row, the car erupted in shouts of joy! :) I don't think a pregnant woman=family yet, but we parked here anyway.

We then had dinner at the Spaghetti Factory. Here are the girls: me, Claire, Bethany, and Sharon.

Stuffed from a delicious dinner!

We booked it back from dinner to The Fox Theatre to see Les Miserables. We got there right as the show started! It was so good. Ryan and I are going to rent the movie soon to hopefully understand it a little bit better. Lon downloaded all the songs so we listened to them going to and from Atlanta. Fantine was my favorite by far. That girl could sing!!

In front of the Fox Theatre. It was gorgeous!

From left to right: Lon & Sharon, Peter & Bethany, Ryan & me, Mike & Claire

To make the drive back, we all stopped at Starbucks to get a little caffeine boost (except for me--I had my coffee with dinner so I could stay awake for the show!). Peter took this picture just goofing around, but I really like it! What a romantic stop! :)

What a fun day! Thanks, Lon, for getting tickets to Les Mis, thanks Peter and Mike for driving, and thanks so much Ryan for surprising me with such a fun day! What a great memory!

It's a....

BOY!!!

Introducing: Gavin Robert Hughes
(We're about 90% sure on the name, but it's not set in stone yet.)
Look at his chubby cheeks like his Mom! :)

It's obvious he's a boy!

So here's some explanation on the name:
Gavin: Ryan came up with this in High School! I wasn't crazy about it then, but have fallen in love with it over these 10 years! :)
Robert: Ryan's Dad's name and my Mom's Dad's name (who passed away when Mom was 4 months pregnant with me). It is also my brother's middle name. It works out nicely that it's on both sides!
I think it flows so well together! We're still discussing, but that will probably be his name!

I ate a donut and drank 1/2 a Cherry Coke before the ultrasound to make sure he was moving around. I think I overdid it! :) He was doing flips in my belly!
Yay that we can call him a HE instead of it!! Thank you, Lord, for a healthy baby boy!

Boy or Girl?

Well folks, Monday is the big day!! I'd love to know what you think our little one is going to be! When you get a chance, vote on the right side of the blog and let us know your thoughts. I think a boy, Ryan thinks a girl. It was so bad, that tonight he made Rasberry lemonade (blue) and Watermelon lemonade (pink) and I drank the blue and he drank the pink--without even thinking about it! Ha! We can't wait to find out!!


By the way, we have NO girl names picked out. Any suggestions?

Top 2 boy names: Gavin and Grant. Ryan came up with Gavin in HIGH SCHOOL!! I really love it and now he's not so sure. We'll have to start agreeing soon!! :)

Fun at the Fair

Ryan and I LOVE going to the Tennessee Valley Fair each year! We started the tradition with our friends the Heaths 3 years ago and have gone every year since! My mom and dad were up for the UT game Saturday, so they came with us after the game was over. Thanks for staying in Knoxville a few hours extra to hang out with us, Mom and Dad! We always love being with you guys!

Petting the animals:


The turtle was trying to escape!
Baby chicks hatching

This is one of my favorite things to watch. They put food just out of reach of the baby ducks so it makes them slide down the slide into the water! So cruel, and so fun to watch. :)

Enjoying some BBQ!
A momma cleaning her baby calf born just hours before!
I'm not quite as far along as this gal, but I'm getting there!
Funnel cake at the rodeo. Life couldn't be better!
(By the way, although I'm holding it, the 4 of us split it. I promise!)

Happy Birthday to....Me!

My birthday was Sunday, but we had such a jam-packed day with church activities that my wonderful hubby decided to surprise me on Saturday instead. So, he woke me up at 5:45 (which if you know me well, Saturday is my favorite day so that I can sleep in!!) and took me up to the Smokies and we biked the 11 mile loop at Cade's Cove. Is that safe to do 4 months pregnant? :) I was careful and pushed the bike up the hills (even the small ones) and went slower than normal down the hills. It's probably the last time we're going to be able to do that for a few years! Here are some pictures from the trip:

It's obviously not mating season if bucks are hangin' out. This was a crazy sight to see.

My thoughtful hubby! We're still waking up here.
So the Science girl in me just HAD to have this picture. Writing spiders are my favorite spiders, I think. Ryan and I used to feed a spider just like this in his mom's garden on our dates in High School. Look at its web! Doesn't God create the most amazing creatures?!?

So this is going to be a new tradition. If you look at our blog on the right, you'll see the 1st picture we took here 4 years ago. Now we're pregnant with our first little one, and hopefully we'll come back when our baby is a little older and take another one. We'll get to watch our family grow!

Pooped and hungry (shocking, I know).

After the bike ride, we stopped at the Visitor's Center to get their famous soft serve ice cream...at 10:00 in the morning! :) It was a good treat after all that work. Then after lunch, Ryan had a spa pedicure scheduled for me at Aveda Spa and Salon! What a WONDERFUL husband I have! I wish I had a picture of me at the spa, but I was too relaxed to think about it. So here's a picture of my french pedicure on my tired little feet.
The next stop was going to be the Tennessee Valley Fair, but we came home and fell asleep until 7:00! So we'll do the fair next weekend and I'll post about it later.

Thank you, Ryan, for planning such a special day for me! I love you!

4 Months

So I have officially graduated out of all my old clothes (except for loose shirts) and am now wearing maternity clothes full time! I LOVE MATERNITY CLOTHES!!! They are so comfortable!! It's so much better than squeezing into my other clothes--which I had been doing for too long! Check out my growing baby bump...


I felt the first flutter last Sunday!! I had eaten a lot (thanks to Ryan's Mom's delicious cooking) and was sitting at the table stuffed, and felt something "on" my stomach (or so I thought) and I scratched it. Then it kept happening- it was Baby Hughes! It was very light like a little butterfly. I just love being pregnant!!! :)

Oh, I almost forgot! My good friend Liz is tired of all these pregnant women posing in a boring side photo every month. She requested I do a "ghetto" shot this time. Liz, I hope this makes you laugh at how non-ghetto I am...

Breaking the News

So we sat down with our first baby, our 2-year-old Boxer Dakota, and broke the news that she is not going to be an only child anymore. This is how she felt about it.