Marine Corps Ball

Who knew that Motherhood Maternity would be my store of choice for a ball gown this year? This weekend was the Marine Corps Ball for Danny's Batallion (1st Batallion 7th Marines) in Las Vegas. It was fantastic!

We saw the show La Reve (The Dream. That's a bed in the middle of the stage) at the Wynn Hotel. This is the stage-completely underwater! The stage rose in and out of the water depending on the scenes. The show combined acrobatics, diving, latin dancing, synchronized swimming, Capoeira, and even some slapstick comedic relief all into one-very artistic and amazing.

Did you know that it's the year of the Ox? I don't know what the oranges underneath the ox mean, but I'm sure it's very cultural and ancient. So, Happy Year of the Ox. May you have plentiful oranges to tread on.

The Las Vegas Temple is beautiful! It was nice to get out of Sin City for a few hours and enjoy some peace and quiet.

Somewhere in the middle of nowhere between Las Vegas and 29 Palms (which is also in the middle of nowhere) you'll find a tree covered in shoes. The story goes that all these shoes belong to people who've been killed in the desert by bad guys. I think it's just the desert sun getting to people to the point that they have to find creative ways to entertain themselves out in this wasteland. But that story's not nearly as exciting.

Bringing in the Big Guns

Here's another weapon to add to Danny's repertoire-a grenade launcher that holds 6 grenades at a time (I'm sure that's not the technical terminology, but you get the point). He's all trained up and ready to deploy in a few weeks. Crazy!

See me Grow

About 12 weeks along

About 21 weeks along

About 23 weeks along

Mystery #1 of pregnancy: When I felt the most sick, I looked the most normal (1st trimester). Now that I feel (almost) like a real person, I'm starting to look like a blimp.

I guess the 3rd trimester is when the two catch up to each other-you feel miserable AND look huge. Can't wait!

p.s. We've narrowed it down to these names (Cast your votes!):

Bridget

Madelyn

Kate/Katy

Haley

Desert Snow Storm

Out of the blue, Twentynine Palms had a snowstorm that would make any Coloradan shiver. For the first time in over 30 years, it snowed almost a foot in 12 hours. Danny was out in the field which was both good and bad. Good because it caused the early termination of the 30 day training exercise, and bad because everyone still got cold and wet from the storm. Turns out that Oscar loves the snow. Who would have thought.

Vacation

Amy refuses to write this with me, so I will just sum-up the last few weeks. Went to Colorado, spent Christmas with the family. Went to the Melting Pot, hung out with Ben and Brea, went bowling, shot guns. Typical Christmas. Went to Utah, stayed at Aunt Kerri's, Oscar took a big chunk out of their wall, door and doorjam. Outstayed our welcome, so we went to Grandma Roundy's, ate a lot of food, played cards, made a snowman. Hung out with Courtney, went dress shopping, drove up to Salt Lake, stayed at nice hotel (dog friendly), went to Cousin Chris' wedding, drove back to California.