What's Arriving in March?.....

So before a great Thankgiving started, we had just one thing to do before....find out what we are having. Dan made the tech check 3 times with 3 different angles just to be sure.....and after all of that we found out that IT'S A...............................


GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!! Just look at the cute little nose.


Dan was just sure that it was a boy, Bella always said it was a girl, and I had no clue either way. Dan is excited to have another little girl....I told him that he is meant to be surrounded by beautiful women his whole life. He was just hoping that it was a boy so that we could be done. When we told Bella that it was a girl, she said "I told you all along Daddy!" We are excited for Bella to have a baby sister....now if we can only decide on a name. Any suggestions?


25 weeks.....15 more to go

Thanksgiving and Games

Games have always been the theme of my family. We get together with as much family as we can to have game night. This Thanksgiving, we went to my parents place and had my family, my Aunt, Uncle, and some cousins. Bella gets a chance to play with her cousins and we just had a great time. Lately, Bella loves to play Candyland and Chutes and Ladders. Well normally, my Dad would rather watch TV then play games, but he just can't resist Bella tilting her head and saying "Please Grandpa".

Bella beating Grandpa (I think he might have let her win)


Playing 5 crowns with the rest of the family left to play

Bella getting her bedtime story....SO CUTE!!!

Princess Bella

After Bella telling me that she wanted to be a different princess every week, then be a ladybug, then back to Tinkerbell, Snow White, and an animal, she finally decided that she wanted to be Cinderella for Halloween. We got her all dressed up to go to the ward party and see all of her other friends that would no doubt be princesses as well. She was so excited that she got to wear make-up. She has been asking to wear some every single day since then. She loves blush and lip gloss. So cute! We of course couldn't forget about her Prince Charming!

Bella and her Prince Charming

Pumpkins and Snow

I guess that it is time that I finally catch up on the life of the Lowe's, so here it goes.... Here is a picture of the first snow fall of the year(Oct - conference weekend) It was so funny because Bella couldn't wait to get her snow gear on and go outside. I talked Dan into getting his stuff on and help her build a snoman. She said she wanted one as tall as her. The funny thing was that all the snow melted the next day, but we had a snowman slowly melting for another week. I was telling Dan that growing up, there were very few Halloweens that I didn't have sweats, gloves, and boots that went under my costume.
After the snow melted and the house was decorated for Halloween, we went out to get pumpkins. Bella's job was helping to clean the pumpkins....she loved it, can't you tell.

ER visit...

Sicily...this post is for you. Now that I am finally able to get out of bed I will let you know all about my exciting last weekend. Last Wednesday, I was feeling nauseous but just thought pregnancy and nothing else. Then Thursday I woke up puking...still thinking pregnancy...then when everything started working, I knew that this was stomach flu and not pregnancy. I was sick all day and night and also Friday. I couldn't keep anything down. I called Craig and he said that if I was still losing lots of fluids on Saturday, that I needed to go into the hospital and get an IV. He talked about me going to Idaho Falls and he would check me into the hospital there overnight. After having only 5 saltines, 10 ounces of water in 3 days, and being 13 weeks pregnant, I went into the ER Saturday afternoon. We finally got called back after 2 hours, the doctor took one look and at me and said, "Let's get this girl an IV." They did blood work and all that stuff. They tried 3 times before they finally got an IV in (mom asked why I didn't just do it myself :) ) and got me started on some fluids. Then they gave me some zofran so I would stop throwing up and some potassium since it was so low in my blood. Then the potassium made me sick......MORE ZOFRAN PLEASE! The doctor wanted to be generous with my pregnancy so he gave me some more fluids. While they switched from the 2 bag to the 3rd, my IV blew and I needed another one. So 4 IVS later, 3 Liters of fluids, zofran(which makes you sleepy too) I was finally discharged to go at midnight. Luckily Dan had sun, mon, and tues off of work, so I was able to rest and recover. So today was my first good day. I actually got out of bed! Anyway, that is the story of the never ending stomach flu....I hope I never have to have this story again! :)

Made one past the goalie!

So for those of you that don't know...or having nothing to do with facebook, then you might have missed this information

WE'RE EXPECTING!!! March 24 is the magic date for this little one which is nice because I get to be pregnant during the winter, there is no one on my side of the family with a birthday in March...but March is a busy one for Dan's side. We are very excited and have been waiting to add a new little one to our family for a while. It is finally time.....which is great since Bella will be 4 this December!...Bella will be a great big sister and already talks to my belly and asks if the baby is happy. Looking forward to another adventure in our family!

John Deere for Life!

For those of you who don't know, I was born and raised on a farm and we saw "green" no matter where we were at. We had a little John Deere tractor that we would even ride around. I actually think it was ran over a couple of times. :) So my Dad had it restored for the next generation. Since Bella was really little, my Dad, (Grandpa Ellsworth) has bought Bella pink John Deere things...hats, shirts....but this time he took it to the next level. As Bella gets older, now 3 1/2, she was ready for a real bike. Dan and I had been looking at a few and then a couple of weeks ago, my Dad calls after leaving the JD plant and says, "Hey, don't get Bella a bike. I was just at John Deere and they had a pink and white JD bike that I got for her while I was there." I think that it got thrown into the mix or given the " G. Ellsworth discount". So when we went to go and visit the family over the 4th, there was her pretty JD bike ready for her to ride. She LOVES it! and was really excited to ride it.....Can you tell?

"For me?"

Grandpa and Bella....THANK YOU PAPA! XOXO


It even has a little John Deere purse

"NOTHING RUNS LIKE A DEERE.....OR A BELLA"

BellA the WAter BabY

At the beginning of the summer, we asked Bella what she would like to do...dance classes, swim classes, whatever sounded fun. She of course chose swimming because she can't get enough of it. First time swimming at 5 months

She just finished her first session and is starting her second. She went from being a Pike to an Eel. She is doing so great. At the end of the first session she even went off the diving board. Some encouragement was needed though. :)
Kickin it poolside

"Monkey, Airplane, Soldier, Monkey, Airplane, Soldier"

"MOM, watch me!"

Her favorite...the slide

Not quite jumping off the diving board XOXO

OUr GarDen

I really wanted to do a garden this year because I actually miss having one. Dan and I both had gardens growing up...although I don't miss picking 4 long rows of beans, picking raspberries at 8 am, and weeding to earn money. So we went with the square foot gardening. Dan and I built 2 4x4 boxes, got the compost mixtures and started planting. There is no weeding, little maitenance, and easy to do. Bella loves to go out and water the garden and flowers every day. So far so good....I plan on canning some pickles, and doing a lot of food saver stuff. Summer veggies year round!
Week 1

Week 2

Week 4

Week 4 - Bella is so proud

Washington Trip

Dan had to go to Tri-Cities Washington for some work meeting and it just so happened that we were able to go along. The company rented us an SUV, paid for our expenses, so all we had to do was drive. Bella did awesome in the 7 hour car ride. We got to stay at a hotel on the river, had some italian dinner in an old trolley car, and lounged and swam at the hotel. It was a short trip, but it was fun to get away.

Easter Traditions

One of the greatest things about having your own family is being able to start your own traditions and to carry on other family traditions. Ever since I was little, I remember my Mom sewing our easter dresses. One year she even did sunflower dresses for my sister and I. We had the same pattern, just different colors. Sometimes we even had an easter hat to go with it. As we got older, we could pick out our easter outfit. This is one tradition that I have carried on with Bella.
Dan was so funny and played along great. I woke up and put the basket in Bella's room...then I asked Dan if he saw something white and fluffy just run outside. Bella got all excited started running around the house to find her easter basket. She LOVES the Easter Bunny for all of the stuff that she got.

EAster Egg Hunting




AFter church...


The other tradition that we have was started by my Grandma Kohntopp. We would come and stay Easter Weekend...the easter bunny would follow...plastic eggs filled with change and candy...and our favorite part.....the KITES! She always got us a kite and true to Idaho weather, it was always windy enough to fly them. Usually we got them stuck in the tree about 10 minutes in, but we still looked forward to it.
Here is Bella trying to get her kite up in the air. She finally just started chasing the dog Harley...

Easter Eggs

So I had been promising Bella that when Dan's parents came into town, that we would finally dye easter eggs. She had the best time. I got the easiest kit ever! It is a tie dye kit that comes with little pouches of dye and little plastic bags. You put a few drops of the colors you want into the bag, add the egg, swirl it around, and put it on the rack to dry. All of the mess was so easy to clean up and best of all....the dye got only on the eggs and not on our clothes or hands. Good Job Bella!

I couldn't resist taking this picture of her model pose...GAP...here we come.

Sweet Bella

Mommy always there to help

Pretty good...don't you think?

Finally...the end of Disneyland

Bella is STILL talking about Disneyland. I think I am going to have to make her a book that has everything from California. Here were just a few pictures that we had left to take in the park on our last day. BElla had to do a few more rides....carousel, Dumbo, tea cups...you know the favorites. Aunt Jackie got to join in on a few of them. WE also couldn't leave without get her face painted to go and see Tinkerbell. It then started to rain a few hours afterward, so that didn't last very long! And also the token pictures....Mickey MOuse, Goofy, and Donald. We couldn't have asked for a better trip! Thank you Gma and Gpa Lowe for the amazing stay and thank you to Mama and Papa Ellsworth for helping to make this trip the memory that is still being talked about today. We love you! XOXO