As promised...

I finally feel like I've had time to sit down and BREATHE!!! I figured ya'll thought I've fallen off the face of the earth as consistent as I've been on this thing. It's been a little nuts... not gonna lie, but it feels good to be back home, relaxing, back into a routine, etc.


I was in Orlando from the 17th to the 24th for our annual dealer Homecoming meeting. The meeting went VERY well - us girls rock at organizing :) Some of the highlights for me included surviving Orlando heat, people and humidity, surviving the physical exhaustion and coming home to my hubby! Overall, I did very well - no swelling, only a slight frizz fro AND I got a cool cart to zoom around in! At first I wasn't so sure I'd like it, but the FedEx-Kinko's guy was so nice in giving it to me, I couldn't refuse! By the end of the meeting... I was using it to take myself to the bathroom, make trips around the display, heck... Jeni was even using it! We were TIRED! Our days consisted of being in the product display, helping to make it look pretty and to answer any questions we could from the dealers! We did get to have fun... one night we went to Epcot for dinner & their evening show, we saw The Dark Knight (where I discovered I could have a 1-1/2 hour hot flash), visited Downtown Disney for some Cuban cuisine and had a special Jayco event at Universal Studios! Good times overall. Here are a couple photos from the week - I didn't take a ton.

Me & my scooter! This was the last day - I was EXHAUSTED!

Me, Lisa & Jeni at Universal at the end of Jayco's red carpet entrance!

Our dining and staging area - right before it was torn down!

Matt stayed really busy while I was away... his sister, Kelly, her husband, Tony & little nephew Drew came to visit for a few days! He has still been working on the deck, but it's been slow progress because family comes first! With everything going on, he still cleaned AND organized our pit of a basement - our utility room now has shelves, carpet and all our boxes are in there are not on the exercise machines!!! It's a wonderful feeling. My huband rocks!!! He's also finished our wine - it's all bottled and ready to drink! We normally keep it in the bottles a little while before we drink it, just to let it age. It should be perfect by Christmast time!!!



Matt's parents came to visit us last Saturday - unfortunately they have to leave tomorrow morning. It's been fun having them here, Carrie even got to experience the infamous Troyer family BBQ on Sunday while Matt & Ralph went fish hunting! (or bow fishing, however you look at it) - crazy boys!!!



In other news - I JUST chopped my hair off today... at least a GOOD 6 inches. I really wasn't wanting to do it, but with this heat, plus prego-ness (hotness plus THICK hair), I couldn't take it any more! I swear my body temperature has risen 10 degrees - my poor husband and in-laws have had to live under lots of blankets these last couple weeks :) I discovered in Orlando that I could have an hour and a half hot flash - not a fun way to be watching Batman in a packed house!



Our boys (the dogs) are doing well - Vince "The Destroyer" is doing good - I finally got a good picture of him, so I have to add it here! Charlie is his same little loving self. They're so spoiled, but we love them... let's see how they do with a little baby around... this should be interesting. Anyways, here are some pictures of the lazy pooches.

Charlie lounging on the back of the couch

Vince hogging the doggy bed... go figure.

Hope everyone is doing well! Let me know what you've been up to the last couple weeks!

I'm back!

For anyone wanting to know... I'm back!! I made it to and from Orlando without too much difficulty and I will have a full update coming soon!

Hope all is well with everyone!

Our baby boy... in 3D!!!

So... today Matt & I got to experience one of the COOLEST things EVER!!! We saw our little baby boy with a 3D ultrasound. We are both so incredibly excited to meet our little guy and today didn't help that at all :) Check out the shots below from the ultrasound... don't worry, I'll explain what they are! If you stop in, I'll show you the ultrasound! That's one awesome thing about Fairhaven - they always record the ultrasound for you!!! Ok, enough of my yacking, here are the pictures!!

This was in the 2D ultrasound before she switched it over... a side profile shot of his head!

A glimpse at the baby - you're looking at his face and his little arm is in the bottom right...

A front/side view of his face and arm

A side view of his face... don't worry, I wondered too if that dark stuff on his head was hair. She said probably not - and after she moved around after this shot, the dark kept changing... so I'm sticking with my theory that little "Peyton" is gonna be bald :)

His leg, heel and foot!

Another side profile of his face... BIG yawn!!! You can also see his hand on the left of his big mouth :) He yawned twice while we were watching. He should have been tired, he just got done kicking the living daylights out of me! Crazy kid :)

Last, but not least... his hand! He was making a fist so we didn't get fingers to show, but it's still WAY cool!

This is one of my favorites... a side view of his face, arm and hand... but on top of his left hand there's another row of fingers... he had both hands together up by his head like he was praying :) It was SO cute!!!

So that's it! The next time we see little "Peyton" it'll be hopefully no more than 9 weeks from tomorrow and he'll have a real name :)

Childbirth classes, wine and another project!

So… how random does that title sound? Probably about as random as our life has been this last week and beyond!

Matt & I started our childbirth classes on Monday, had another one tonight and have 2 more next week... then we’ll know everything there is to know about having a baby and raising it… right?! Ok, probably not, but we can always hope. :) It's definitely been eye-opening for the both of us, but we're excited! Especially seeing our new niece & nephew over the last month, we are REALLY pumped.

Another hobby Matt & I have picked up in the last couple years is making wine! We have our 3rd batch going right now… Pinot Noir – my favorite! Too bad it’ll be a while till I get to try it… this batch seems to be going smooth, we’re almost to the point of bottling. Matt has picked up a few little tricks since the last batch (Raspberry Zin) that failed miserably, so we’ll see how this one turns out! It’s always a gamble to know how good your finished result will be, but it’s a fun and relatively easy hobby that we both like making and enjoying afterwards! Here are some photos of us working on this batch…



According to the belly, these were obviously taken maybe 2 months ago...? I don't know.

Oh guess what… we have yet ANOTHER house project started! Shocker, I know. Since we moved into our house, I haven’t liked how the back of it looks. It’s so BLAH and straight – no dimension! That is something I cannot handle. So I asked Matt if one day he’d take on building a deck… so guess what he started this week??!!?! I’m so excited! He mapped it out on the lawn last week so I could see how the finished project will lay out and it looks AWESOME!!! Unfortunately the next day, our sweet little pooch Vince “the destroyer” (my new pet name for him since he CHEWED UP MY SHOES) had pulled half of the layout apart, so now I have to use my imagination until the project is finished! Punk. Matt is excited and ready to start! He’s been working hard to get everything in line for the project. I’m pumped. Here’s a picture of Matt starting the project yesterday! I am SO excited!!!!!!


Everything else in our life has been going pretty smooth… I am getting bigger every day and little “Peyton” seems to be learning more dance moves in my belly every day! This last week he’s been specializing in break dancing and the running man. Matt wants to teach him the sprinkler next! Last weekend for the 4th, Matt & I went up to the lake with our friends Jimmy & Jeni - Mom & Dad were also there with Kevin & Ethan... so that was a great time! Lots of fun in the sun, relaxing and being REALLY lazy. I loved every second of it... even when dad tried to blow everyone to smitherines with the fireworks!! :) Some other things going on... I am leaving for Orlando on the 17th for our annual Dealer Homecoming meeting and will be gone for a week! Kind of crazy, but I’m SO excited to go! Matt qualified to pitch horseshoes in the fair – he did awesome and it so excited to get back into it! The bad part about me going to Orlando is that I’m missing the fair – actually, I am sad to miss the Hootie concert, but I saw them a few years ago, so I’ll live. Oh and I know I’m going to miss the food, luckily I have it on our family calendar that the 2 nights after I get home, we will be eating there – Matt has been well-informed of that!

So that's an update on our lives. What did you do for the looooong weekend??!?

Emma Kate!

Emma Kate Bontrager has arrived!!! Aimee & Jason are both doing VERY well and they are both SO excited she's finally here! Emma came into the world around 9:50am this morning weighing in at 6 lb 7 oz and measuring at 20-1/2 inches! Both Mom & baby are doing extremely well and Emma seems SO content! She's such a little munchkin!!!

The Bontrager baby boom is well under way! I guess I'm next... crazy how fast time flies! Here are some pictures of the precious little girl... you can check more out here.

Beautiful little Emma!

The happy family

The proud papa

2 down.... me to go!