our little peanut!

If you didn't notice already, our little baby monitor picture has finally matured! This week our little Embryo has finally graduated into an actual Fetus! Now that all of his/her major organs have formed, (brain, lungs, kidneys, heart, ect.) it's officially called a fetus instead of an embryo! Now it has actual arms and legs and measures approx. 1 1/2 inches long! Crazy huh? Well, I just wanted to share the exciting news! haha! I think it is just so fascinating to follow such a miracle! I will continue to keep you all updated (whether you like it or not) on the growth of our new little addition to the Rice family!! My next Dr. appt is Nov. 10th! That will be an exciting one because we will get to see the ultrasound and hear the little heartbeat!! I can't wait!

Another Fun Trip to the Zoo!

Last Wednesday and Thursday our friends, The Welly's came to stay with us! So Chris took off work a little early on Thursday to take a trip to the zoo with us! It was a great time! I love doing little family outings like this! It is my favorite thing to do! Ava is finally to that age where it's just so fun taking her places like this because she is just in heaven! We packed a picnic lunch and ate while watching the monkey's and feeding the birds! (In fact there was even a brave squirrel that came and ate out of our hands!) Then the kids played at the new little water park area and then of course we walked around to look at all the animals! Thanks for coming to visit Welly family! We sure enjoyed the company!

Ava is such a little model these days! When you tell her to smile for the camera she always has to strike a pose! haha!

Family pic in front of the parrots!

This was just a cute one I'd throw in here! Ava was posing again with our dog, Blue, and she asked me to take a picture of her... We call her our little drama queen!

Rocky Point Vacation

Dang... Snap back to reality! I can't really say that it feels good to be home... Chris, Ava and I just got home from spending most of the week in Rocky Point with my family for a few days. We left Wednesday night and got home yesterday, (Saturday), afternoon.

Seems like I had been looking forward to it for so long that when it finally got here it went by way too fast! Oh well, guess that's just how it goes! But it was wonderful while it lasted! The weather was PERFECT and the water was nice! The sun was shining and the breeze was blowing while the waves were rolling! What more could you ask for?! We spent most of our time down on the beach while the kids played in the sand, caught hermit crabs, and splashed in the water. While we got to lay out and soak up the sun while sippin' on our margaritas! (Virgin of course! haha) We stayed at the Las Palomas Resort so there was lots of places to go so it never got old even for a second! And I love the fact that you can sit on the beach under your umbrella and they come and take your drink orders!! So you don't ever need to leave the beach! haha! Needless to say we had a great time! Here are just some of the pics we took...
Thanks Mom and Dad for a much needed beach vacation!

They had lots of differnt pools you can go to, along with some good little play areas for the kids!

Ava and her cousin Tyler had a blast picking up the little hermit crabs all along the beach!

Looking at the crabs crawl along the sand...What a cheesy smile Ava!

My sister Wendi and cute niece Jill!

You can't see it very well but Chris found these little Octopus in the tide pools! They were pretty cool! Ava was fascinated by them! She even was brave enough to hold 'em!

Daddy and Daughter dancing to the Mariachi Singer!
At dinner our first night this Mariachi singer came around and sang a song to Ava!

My nephew, Tyler, and sisters, Kati and Lesli. I've got such a beautiful family!

Exciting News!

Well, I do apologize, I know that it has been a LONG time since I've posted anything new. But I just haven't been feeling like myself lately and we finally figured out why! Yep, the rumors are true... Ava is finally going to be a big sister! We figured the due date should be May 25th, but it might change when we go see the doctor next week. So that cats outta the bag! We are SO excited! Our prayers have finally been answered! Chris already thinks it is going to be a boy and has been bugging me with the weirdest boy names I've ever heard... haha. But who knows! we'd be happy with whatever of course! Maybe it'll even be twins!! haha, we can only hope!