My baby shower at American Girl

Today Elizabeth, Stephanie and Lindsay from my Watermark Church community group threw me a baby shower at the American Girl store in Dallas. This store is an AMAZING place for little girls - and it comes complete with a doll hair salon and a bistro (which is where we had the shower).

Sara, my sorority sister who lives in Austin, drove up for the event and Sondra, a high school friend came as well (which was quite a treat because I hadn't seen her in years). We had a great group because Cayce and Lauren (from our original community group) were able to join us as well. It was really the cutest place to host a shower for a baby girl. What a treat!

Co-workers & Cupcake Balls: my work baby shower

2 of my dearest friends (really they're more like family), Nicole and Janelle, threw me a baby shower with 50 of my co-workers. It was so much fun! Nicole made the most amazing cake balls, Janelle decorated her home with beautiful flowers, and I finally got to catch up with many of my closest friends at work that I don't often get to see.

Our Baby Moon weekend

Even though we had a wonderful time in the Caribbean a couple weeks ago, that was technically for Kristie's wedding, so we decided to take one last weekend trip together for our official pre-baby, "Baby Moon". Since long plane rides are getting uncomfortable for me in my last trimester, we roadtripped down to San Antonio for 2 nights and then spent 1 night in Fredericksburg, TX. It was such a great weekend!

In San Antonio we stayed at the Westin La Cantera resort, which we loved. It's huge and there is a ton to do. We definitely plan to be back, as it was very family friendly (but still had the mandatory adult pool!).

Friday night we ate at Acenar, a trendy restaurant overlooking San Antonio's famous Riverwalk. Saturday we just relaxed by one of the Westin's 5 gorgeous pools and read parenting books - trying to soak it all in! I also finished this awesome book (The Hunger Games) for my book club - couldn't put the thing down!

Saturday night we went out for a belated anniversary dinner/early Father's Day celebration and splurged on a romantic 8-course tasting menu at the Lodge at Castle Hills. It was very picturesque.



Sunday we spent the day at Sea World, where we saw 3 great shows (sealions, killer whales and beluga whales) and Dana rode some roller coasters.


Sunday evening we drove to small Texas town called Fredericksburg that is popular for weekend getaways and full of B&Bs and quaint shops. We checked into the cutest log cabin at Baron's Creekside. The place was so adorable! I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a great place in Fredericksburg.











We played some board games, relaxed with some wine and cheese at Lincoln Street (a MUST visit if you go to Fredericksburg) and then had a yummy dinner at the Navajo Grill with Sara and James, who drove in from Austin to meet us.

Monday we had a great breakfast the Sunset Grill and then explored the cute boutiques on Main Street. We ate grass-fed TX bison burgers at the Rather Sweet Bakery and Cafe for lunch and then headed back to Dallas. It was a really memorable weekend! So glad we got away before Baby Allen arrives in about 65 days.

Congratulations to Dana

Dana's not only an awesome husband all around, but he also just earned a big promotion at work. It's a tough one to get, and I'm so proud of him!

It is bitter sweet for him as this means he'll be leaving the Doritos team (which he loves). In his new role, he'll be the Senior Director of our Food Service team, managing both foods and beverages with customers such as Taco Bell, Subway, the airlines, etc.

Time to celebrate!

Best Girls Weekend Ever

This past weekend I met up with the Wash U Kappa Kappa Gammas for a wonderful girls weekend in Scottsdale, AZ. We stayed at the Westin Kierland and did absolutely nothing except eat great food, lay out by the pool, and lounge on inner tubes in their awesome lazy river. It was incredibly relaxing.


I had a wonderful time just catching up with these fabulous girls (we counted that we'd been on at least 32 of these trips together!).

They also gave me some amazing baby gifts, including an audio storybook for our little girl (where each of the KKGs recorded their voice reading a page) and an awesome diaper bag that I never thought I'd really be able to get!

We had so much fun that we're already planning our next trip - probably to the beach next Spring. I'm so blessed to have had these women in my life for the past 17 years!

Baby Bump - 27 1/2 weeks

This little girl has been kicking up a storm!

Turks & Caicos

We just got back from one of the most amazing trips we've ever taken. It was one of my best friend's weddings, our 7th wedding anniversary, a baby moon and a family reunion of sorts all wrapped in one! Top top it off, we were on the nicest beach I've ever seen in my life (I'm a beach fanatic so this says a lot!).

We read a lot, swam a lot, ate a lot, enjoyed quite a few virgin pina coladas, cried at the wedding, snorkeled, and toasted s'mores at a beach bonfire. It was incredibly fun, romantic and relaxing.

Ahhh... how I love vacation : )

Creating a home for Baby Allen

We still have some work to do, but our nursery is coming along nicely for our baby girl. It will be fun to see it all come together when we have bedding, curtains, our glider chair, etc. But I already love it!











If anyone in Dallas needs a muralist, you have to call Linde. She's incredible!