Birthday Celebrations!

I'm still reeling in shock that another year has passed and I'm now a year older! This birthday was so different from last year's...last year, I was so sad about turning another year older and still not having a baby. It was so sweet to celebrate this year knowing that a baby is about to join our family!

On Friday (my actual birthday), my mom & I met for lunch at Red Robin where I got my free birthday burger (what's better than a Whiskey River burger?). To be honest, lunch wasn't the happiest event since we had just found out that my grandma's tumor was cancerous and that she'd be having surgery soon. At least my mom & I could cry together. After lunch, we headed to Carter's where we picked out the cutest going-home outfit for Baby Rinn! I absolutely can't wait to put our little guy in the adorable sweater and miniature khaki pants that we bought for him! If you know me at all, you know I absolutely LOVE to shop...but, if possible, shopping for baby clothes may now be even more fun than shopping for me! (Dave is also relieved about this since baby clothes generally cost less than clothes for me, too!)

Dave had told me that we were going to a restaurant that started with a "B" on Friday night. Since Brio is my favorite, I was sure it was there...though Dave thought it was very funny to tell me he had made reservations at Braums for my birthday. :) He said we needed to leave around 6:30, but as it got closer to the time, he started acting strange (or so I thought). I asked him to put my necklace on me, and he took forever doing it...and then he "couldn't find" his wallet...and then he "couldn't find" his shoes...until finally the doorbell rang! It was our sweet friends Kimi & Rob who were coming to dinner with us!

All 4 of us headed up to Brio where we had an awesome time! It really couldn't have been a more perfect night...we lingered over our food, laughed a ton, and didn't leave until nearly 3 hours had passed! Plus, I got 3 different flavors of creme brulee all to myself...don't worry, they were the sampler size! I couldn't have asked for a better birthday celebration! Thanks, Kimi & Dave, for planning such a fun surprise for me!

In my mind, birthdays don't just last one day, so we continued celebrating the next morning with one of our favorite traditions of going out for breakfast! Dave & I discovered a great bagel place that's not too far from our house. And, to make my day even better, they had pumpkin bagels with pumpkin spice cream cheese...definitely my new favorite! YUM! We opened all the rest of my cards and presents while out for breakfast. When I got home from Chicago, Dave had surprised me by installing an under-the-counter radio in our kitchen. Since I'm home so much now, I love being able to listen to the news and especially to Rush. My other gift from Dave (don't laugh) is...a clothesline in our backyard! I have been begging for a clothesline ever since we moved into this house, but my begging has become pleading lately since I really want to dry my cloth diapers in the sun. Dave finally caved and has promised to build one for me! I'm sure there's not many other wives who ask their husbands for a clothesline for their birthday, but I just keep reminding Dave that that's just another reason why he loves me so much. :)

On Saturday night, we went to Mom & Dad's for a birthday dinner with Grandpa & Grandma and Jon & Nate. A tradition in our family is that the birthday person gets to pick the meun...so, like I do every year, I requested my mom's strawberry poppyseed salad, tater tot hotdish, and her famous ice cream cake!

It was a lot of fun chatting with everyone and opening presents, including these babysitting coupons from my Uncle Jon Thanks, everyone, for your sweet birthday wishes, messages, and cards on my birthday! I'm sure this is going to be my best year yet!

Girls' Weekend in Chicago

Last Friday morning, my mom & I flew to Chicago to visit my sister. We had planned a "Girls' Weekend" as soon as Emily decided to move there....after all, Chicago's the perfect location for a Girls' Weekend--who can pass up the Magnificent Mile?

It was great to see the cute apartment where Emily is living with 2 other friends. I still can't believe that my little sister is old enough to live on her own! But, it was so fun to see what her life in Chicago is like! She's very close to the train & bus routes, so we spent most of the weekend using public transportation to get around. Let's just say that there were some VERY funny moments with my mom on the train...she wasn't exactly "comfortable" riding the train. In fact, she even told a guy whom she was sitting next to (and who was using quite "colorful" language) "You're scaring me!"--HA!

Our activities mostly consisted of lots of shopping, playing Scrabble, trying out some great restaurants, and staying up late every night talking! Of course, we had to take a picture by this dala in Andersonville, a neighborhood of Chicago that was originally a Swedish settlement. We also ate at a cute Swedish restaurant, Tre Kronor, on Sunday afternoon. And, what would a trip to Chicago be without Chicago-style pizza from Giordanos?












Our weekend was such a blast that we decided to make it an annual tradition. Even though I wish Em were closer, I'm excited that she'll be home soon to see her new nephew!

A Shower of Love

I am absolutely oozing with joy over the incredible shower I received on Saturday from my sweet friends! Amber, Corrie, Alicia, Jenny, Kimi, and Holly spent so much time planning such a special celebration to welcome Baby Rinn!

The cake was my absolute favorite kind (marble with raspberry filling and buttercream frosting) from Sweet Memories in Keller....so delicious! (There are still a few more pieces in our fridge that I am rationing out to enjoy as long as possible!) There was also delicious egg bake, fruit, punch, and these adorable cookies that Corrie made! All of the cookies had different words on them (such as baby, cute, sweet, mom) and were so cute! I think Kimi knew that I had been eyeing the wreaths that her boys have on their bedroom doors, so she ordered this wreath for Baby Rinn's hospital room & bedroom door! I love it! Since the girls know how much I love games, they planned some really fun ones! One was guess the celebrity adoptions....for example, did you know that Faith Hill, Bill Clinton, & John Lennon were adopted? And, did you know that Walt Disney, Julie Andrews, and Nancy Reagan were adoptive parents? We also played baby bingo while I opened all my gifts!

I was absolutely overwhelmed by all the amazing gifts that we received...it seemed as if the pile of gifts never got any smaller no matter how many I opened. Each person's invitation said a different "time" of the day for which to purchase a gift....bath time, bed time, reading time, etc. (There was even one that said mom time!) Because of this, we received a huge variety of presents...and it really seems that now we have everything we need to bring Baby Rinn home! We are truly grateful for the overflow of generous gifts we received.


Love all these sweet friends (and, of course, the ones who also aren't in the pictures)...they have prayed us through a lot of tough times, and it's so wonderful to be able to celebrate with them now!













And...Grandpa Kal & Daddy came back at the very end of the shower--just in time to get some cake and load a LOT of presents!

Labor Day Weekend in Estes Park

We had an awesome Labor Day weekend with the Overtons, Plattes, Sharifis, & Tops in Estes Park! Dave lived with Joel, Kenny, & Platte at Taylor, and then all of them also lived together after graduation in Colorado Springs. Sarah went to TU, too, and then moved to Colorado Springs....I stayed with her when I went to visit Dave out in Colorado Springs back when we were dating...needless to say, our roots with these friends run deep from Taylor to Colorado Springs! Kenny & his wife, Carla, are headed to Mozambique soon as missionaries with SIM, so this weekend was an official last hurrah for everyone to be together before they head out of the country!

Between the 5 families, we rented 3 cabins that were near each other at the YMCA of the Rockies. If you've never been there before, the YMCA is an awesome facility....great cabins, gorgeous views, and lots of activities to do! The guys spent time playing basketball & volleyball in the longhouse, & we also went for a great hike on Sunday morning...at least until it started raining! Our evenings were filled with huge meals and lots of board games...Yahtzee, Catan, & Last Word.


Best of all, though, was just spending time with all these sweet friends.... lots of good conversations. Since we're the only ones of the group who don't live in Colorado anymore, we especially enjoyed catching up with everyone.

After saying our good-byes to everybody on Monday afternoon, Dave & I were able to visit Grandpa Rinn in Loveland, where he spends his summers at an RV park owned by his sister & brother-in-law. Since we hadn't seen him since Jon & Kristy's wedding last March, we were so glad that we could visit him! We went to Perkin's for dinner, and then he & Dave spent several hours discussing woodworking projects...speaking of woodworking projects, have you seen our ticker at the top of the blog? Baby Boy Rinn was officially 33 weeks as of yesterday, & Dave's big woodworking project for his nursery is nearly finished!

Weekend in Austin

Last weekend, Dave & I headed to Austin for our last getaway before Baby Rinn is born in October. Our last weekend in Austin was wonderful, and so we were both looking forward to this a lot. We left as soon as Dave got home on Friday afternoon and headed down 35. Of course, our first stop out of town was Dairy Queen. I was so excited that their featured Blizzard was Girl Scout Thin Mint...but my excitement faded when they were all out of the Thin Mints. (Mint cookie dough sufficed, though.)

On Saturday morning, we rented a tandem bike near downtown Austin and spent nearly the rest of the day riding around Austin's beautiful hike & bike trail. The man at the bike shop told Dave to ring the bell "liberally" to warn other walkers/bikers/runners that we were coming...and Dave took this instruction very seriously. We truly had a blast riding around, & I don't remember the last time either of us laughed that hard! We were so impressed with how well the trails were maintained, and the cool breezes off the water felt so good. Not to say that we weren't hot, though....by the time we returned the bike around 3:30 that afternoon, we were both BEAT! We grabbed some food, headed back to the hotel, and crashed!

Dave had made reservations for us that evening at the Oasis on Lake Travis. We had heard rave reviews from many of our friends of how gorgeous the sunsets are at this restaurant...after all, it is the "Sunset Capital of Texas." We didn't get to see quite a picture-perfect sunset since it was partly cloudy, but the sky did still turn a gorgeous color of pink. We had a great time eating & talking on the decks above Lake Travis....we'd be lying if we didn't say that most of our conversation centered around how excited we are for Baby Rinn to be home with us soon!





The highlight of the weekend (for me, at least) occurred on Sunday when I beat Dave in Scrabble. We played on the decks of Mozart's Coffeehouse on Lake Austin....the coffee & and the view were both wonderful. (If you zoom in, you will see that I only won by 1 point...but a win's a win!)



Now we're on a downward slide until October...and we can't wait! Hope you're all enjoying the final days of summer, too!

Rinn Summer Fun

Wow! It's hard to believe that it's already the middle of August. In some ways, this summer has gone so quickly...but at other times, it seems like we are barely inching our way to October. We have had a lot of fun this summer, though. Here's a quick photo summary of what we've been up to!

We have spent a lot of weekends enjoying Mom & Dad's pool with family & friends.

My cousin Anna was here for a month from Minnesota! We had such a blast with her! In addition to lots of fun in the pool, she also helped my mom & me paint Baby Boy's nursery! After a lot of deliberation on color, we finally decided on "Dancing Green." There were a few moments of sheer panic when we thought it might end up being neon green; but, once it dried, we loved it!



We also went to our first Fort Worth Cat's game with Mom, Dad, Uncle Jon, and Anna. Though we had a lot of fun at the game, the best part of the night was the ice cream sundaes at Braum's after the game!


We spent an afternoon mini-golfing with Anna. Though it might not have been the nicest course we've ever seen (let's just say that their only "landscaping" consisted of overgrown weeds), we still had a lot of fun. The following day, the three of us, along with my cousin (and Anna's brother) Nate, went to Hurricane Harbor for most of the day! We had taken Anna there last year, but this was Nate's first experience, and we all had a blast! We definitely agreed that our favorite ride was the Tornado!




And, Emmy came home for a weeekend from camp! We spent most of the weekend doing what my family does best: eating Swedish pancakes, swimming, and going to Pappasitos. Hope you're all enjoying your summer days as much as we are!

Snore Extinguisher?!?

For about ten days now, Bethany has been running on an average of five hours of sleep per night. The reason, you ask? Me. Involuntarily, of course, because I am a snorer. It used to stop with a little nudge in the night, but we've progressed to all-out midnight warfare. Every night now I don my 'breathe right strips' (rather ineffective) and have a very specific sleeping 'position' in order to promote a peacefully quiet atmosphere (also ineffective).

Today, however, Bethany went on an all-out offensive against her insomnia-source and purchased 'SnoreStop': Throat Spray EXTINGUISHER... And it even looks like a mini extinguisher, though I'm still trying to figure out where the small plastic hose goes. For any of you frequent readers, no, this was not a part of the late night "drug run" to Wal-Mart. Bethany said the advertisement on the top of the package was what sold her on it: "You saved my marriage. Thank You!" (Carol O., a real customer)

Hopefully it saves OUR marriage! :)
(Or at least Bethany's sanity)