The Dangerous Book for Boys

At my baby shower, Mandy provided some fantastic entertainment through a book called The Dangerous Book for Boys by Hal Iggulden. She asked that everyone look through the book and select a chapter that they thought Baby Bessey should know about and then say why. It is so funny to see what the chapters are that people chose. It is just another genius idea by Mandy that I love! If you haven't seen this book, you should check into it, it provides great times!

A few of the chapters for Baby Bessey to learn about are...

- Star Maps: What You See When You Look Up
- The Golden Age of Piracy...all about pirates
- First Aid (this one is beyond important considering that if he is anything like his dad, he will get hurt playing sports, refuse to stop playing the game and just take care of the problem himself)
- Insects and Spiders
- Making a Go Cart
- Making crystals (to ensure he is a hit with the ladies of course!)
- The Greatest Paper Airplane in the World

The best chapter I have read so far is the one on girls. The advice is priceless! My favorites: "Be careful with humor. It is very common for boys to try to impress girls with a string of jokes, each one more desperate than the last. One joke, perhaps, and then a long silence while she talks about herself..." and "If you see a girl in need of help - unable to lift something, for example - do not taunt her. Approach the object and greet her with a cheerful smile, while surreptitiously testing the weight of the object. If you find you can lift it, go ahead. If you can't, try sitting on it and engaging her in conversation."

Thanks to Mandy, life is better for our little guy AND for us!

Baby Showers

We are so blessed to have wonderful people around us in Virginia and we are extra blessed as we have been preparing for our little guy to arrive soon. Several of my very fantastic and sweet friends offered to throw me baby showers and they were so fun!

First was a shower by the fantastic ladies, Katie & Britni. We had such a fun time! It was decorated so cute and the food was delicious. I love these two women and I am grateful for all they did! It was fun to see so many good friends at the shower and I am grateful for all that came. Here are a few photos...

 Cute decorations and yummy food!

 

 Britni & Katie - the two amazing hostesses!!

 Tana, Michelle, Chelsea

 Hollie & Lindsay

 Bethany & Danielle

Second was a shower by two more very dear and lovely friends, Mandy & Ali. I am always amazed at what these two ladies can do and I am so grateful for all of their work and I couldn't be more blessed with their friendship. I love them!! They had help from others (Kayleen and Laura particularly!) and it was a fantastic shower and time spent with dear friends! And a few photos of this fun shower are below.

 Fantastic co-workers - these ladies are so fun to work with!

 So many people I love in one place!

 Whitney and Kayleen. These two ladies are huge parts of my life!

 Cute onesies made by Mandy! With yummy food in the background.

The two wonderful hostesses Ali & Mandy. So amazing and I adore them!!!

Both my office and Ryan's office threw us baby showers too and they were very fun since Ryan got to be at both. My office did a joint shower for me and Missy and we went to lunch with our office and our two hubbies got to join. It is always fun to hang out with our office! Ryan's work threw a surprise baby shower for Ryan but let me in on the secret so that I would be there. I thought for sure that Ryan would figure it out but he didn't! It was fantastic to actually surprise him! He was so shocked and I loved it. His office was very sweet to do a shower for us as well! Unfortunately, I don't have photos of either of those showers. :(

All in all, we are so incredibly blessed by all the wonderful people we have in our lives. It is sometimes very difficult to be away from family but these amazing people have become like family. I can't say enough thanks to all those amazing people in our lives! We love you all!

Trip to Utah

Over Easter, we made a quick trip to Utah. We were able to be there for McKenlie's baptism, Easter, and my birthday and it was fabulous! It was also really weird to think that it was the last time that we would fly before the baby comes.. I took advantage of reading the entire time without interruption!

We had a blast playing with our families and we were sad to have to come home and go back to work. We are so grateful for fun families! 

Here are a few photos from the trip. I don't have any when I am with my family..how sad!

Ryan wrestling with the kids. Not sure who loved it more - Ryan or the kids...good thing

we are having a boy first so that he can wrestle! 

Ryan and Braylon at Jordan & Zach's soccer game

 

 Ryan, Jessica, Cami and Ryan's mom were the brave (and awake) ones who came up with

the brilliant idea to toilet paper Heather's house. Just like the good ol days!

 The culprits

Ryan has creepy facial expressions. Nothing else needs to be said.

Next trip to Utah will be in the summer to see Mom & Dad Peterson when they get home! Yay!!!

Maternity Photos

My talented, beautiful and amazing friend Katie took some maternity photos for me a few weeks ago (I was 32 weeks at the time). I. Love. Them. I am so happy that I did them so that I can remember this later on! Katie did a wonderful job! The only thing I am sad about is that Ryan wasn't there for some with him. There is always next time! :)

Here are a few favorites.