(this isn’t my photo but I thought i best represents my experiences)

This morning brings a turning point to my life and all I can ask is why wasn’t I doing this all along! The last 2 days I have been going to the beach early in the morning after I drop Grady off for school. Yesterday was yoga morning and this morning I just felt like coffee, as I am not sure how much Yoga I got done yesterday. I was so enriched by in the moment of watching crabs run around and play, more birds than I have seen on the beach, joggers passing by and dolphins in the distance. I only wish I brought my sun glasses as the sun rose with me over of the horizon. This morning while sitting, watching and thanking God for a beautiful place that he made and that my crazy, turned upside down life has brought me here - I saw one fin.. then another. They were so close I didn’t think they could be dolphins but they were! They were less than 20 feet away from me. They were close enough I could have waded out and swam with them! They were so amazing to watch. I got to watch them for about 20 minutes before they swam off.

When we first moved here I was so afraid to walk on the beach as I thought the crabs would get me, I was afraid to swim in the ocean with the sharks and who knows what else! After this last weekend of being stung by a jelly fish (and survived!) as well as Grady getting pinched by crabs (and he survived!) I am realizing that the ocean is not so bad, it just bring adventure to those who venture to it! We got to see a whale this weekend as well. We watched the fisherman catch little hammerhead sharks where we are swimming and it doesn’t even bother me anymore. Have I gotten stupid or have I fell in love???

I finally got around to going through all the great pics that my girlfriends took and am now posting them! Gina dolled me up like she usually does, she suffered through putting on my make up and frustrating her taking photos and the end result was perfect! Thanks Gina! Thank you also Jen and Amanda for some great shots! Below is a collage of photos - however I have them on our albums as well if you click here.

My B-day present = A week with my girlfriends before Zoie comes… just what the doctor ordered!

The flight in on Sunday was pretty basic, nothing too exciting. Gina and Sully picked me up (wow he is growing!); when we got home we walked in and me and my over-sensitive nose smelled gas. We checked the pilot on the stove, etc but didn’t really know what to do so we opened the windows and doors and called the gas company. Meanwhile John calls and tells us we are under tornado warnings - we turn on the news and sure enough a few miles away a tornado just touched down. The gas company said the worst thing was for us to be in the house so we were to stay outside and wait for the technician to come. Mind you it is raining outside and we have tornado warnings! Cant expect anything less than adventure with Gineese. The tech came, fixed a small leak - turned off the gas next door in the empty side of the duplex and the tornado warnings went away… just another day in Iowa.

A great week of relaxation, planning, playing and just good company! I cant get enough time with Mr. Sully and cant wait for him to meet Zoie. We went on lots of walks…some a little long for me but I made it! We played in the park in a fun pool - loved it!

Saturday Jen got to come down and witness Gina making me all pretty and painting on Zoie - then photo shoot time (thanks Amanda!) Between Jen, Amanda and Gina we got some fabulous photos that I will cherish forever. Girlfriends are really the best! Here is one of the photos - I have not had time to go through them all but will this week and will be posting a lot more.

Spending the day with Jen and getting to meet Jim and check out her world was rejuvenating. I love the town she is in and love her favorite… and really like her guy. Jen gave me a private concert as I was really bummed I get to miss out on her first on this summer which is next week. That was as great as always and really enjoyed hearing some of her songs I haven’t heard in a while plus the new ones! They taught me to play cribbage (interesting game).

Sunday before my flight Gina and I took Sully to the Gay Pride Parade where Sully got to meet his first Drag Queens - a great experience

All in all it was truly what the doctor ordered and I couldn’t be more thankful for the great friends that I have. I am going through a huge transition in life with so many things and great friends bring a smile to my face, a warming to my heart, a tear to my eye (might be my hormones!), and just great advice from the heart! Love you Gina and Jen - your truly angels sent to watch over me.

To get this to work I had to upload different sections.

Section 1:
Spread eagle screaming “Stop calling me a boy cuz Im a girl!”
The first frame you see on the top right are 3 white lines… that is girl. You see her right leg bent over her body in the front (like she is bent in half) and you dont really see the left leg or her body.. You get the spread eagle shot a little further in.

Section 2:
Lots of healthy movement

Yup… we are having a girl! A little me - can you even imagine? We are in for some trouble! We are sooo excited. The ultrasound was so neat - I wish Grady could have been there with me, but 2nd best I got him a video of it (going to try and post it up here)

Now that we know we will be working on our baby registry as we have a lot of items on our ‘to get’ list still to go! I am excited to start shopping for her

This was the best Birthday Present! Im a lucky gal with a precious little Zoie Addison Meeks with me!

She and I are very healthy with nothing to worry about. I have to watch my hive breakouts to find out what I am allergic too but that is nothing that will hurt the baby. We are healthy healthy and everything is good!

She doesn’t have enough fat to see her real features yet.	happy Zoie
Is it appropriate to show this??	She is looking right at us.. looks like an alien

So as you know the news on his last class… he finally brought home the proof! He is hoping to achieve these for every class so look for further postings about every 6 weeks!

Last week Travis got to feel him/her. Grady was bummed that he hadn’t got to but last night he had a huge smile on his face and was bummed when he stopped kicking and ran away from him pushing on my belly. He is a pretty excited daddy and I want to mark this as a great night for him!

So… My videos are kind of boring -I wish I was better at capturing the moment!

This first one is actually from a week or so ago when we had a huge thunderstorm (which Im beginning to think is normal around here). They were really scary at first but now they are just fun. This one was not as bad as the first one we were in when Travis and Rachel were here… and I took the video at night so watch for the lighting - it lights up the screen for a second, other than that its just sound. I also once again decided to video pretty much at the end of the storm missing all the good and exciting ones!

This one is of the ocean today in front of our house. This afternoon right at the end of the rain that has been going for 3 days strait the waves were so big and out of control - the ocean actually looked really scary. I again waited until later after it had calmed before taking a video but they are still a lot larger and more active than any given day here. It just started pouring rain again - coming down hard so maybe I will try another video later… maybe even get the guts to go out in the rain!

Today was Grady’s last day of his first class. Tomorrow he starts a new class on Diesel engines. He had his final today and got 100% and ended his first class with the highest GPA in his class with a 99.9%. Me, Bambino and the Puppies are all so proud of him!

Way to Go Hun!

Almost every night we go for a walk on the beach with the dogs. Since we started, when we moved here, all Daisie does is hunt for crabs. She digs, burrows and chases… but never gets one.

  
Until Tonight! She finally caught her a crab and was so proud. She carried it all around showing it off and was so excited…

Then Chicago stole it (but what else do you expect, that is what brothers are for).

 We are so proud of our little one catching her first crab!