Seth and Candace in Dallas

Benton's brother, Seth, and his girlfriend, Candace, flew in from NM for the weekend and we had a great time! Benton and I met Candace very briefly in Amarillo in November, so it was great to get to know her and spend time with both of them.


We started out the night at Margarita Ranch in uptown for a quick drink before dinner. Obviously, I can't drink, so instead of trying to hide our 'news' from them all weekend, we decided to tell them but threaten their lives with the secret. Benton wrote this cute poem to share the news:

There is some news for us to tell

And we hope you can keep a secret well

What information we have, we hope you'll enjoy

We just don't know if it's a girl or boy

Nobody knows, so please don't share

Because we will not speak to you for a long time and not even care

The first sonogram right before Old Timers will make it apparent

So the night we get into New Mexico, we will tell the parents

It is still so early and hard to think

That it will be eight months before Carli can drink

So help us keep this surprise for us to give

And if you don't...you may be lucky enough to live

They were both really excited for us! We had dinner reservations across the street at Bella, which was great, and our good friends Troy and Eliza came out and met us. We always have a wild time with them! I told Eliza that I had some "news" and she immediately said "You're pregnant?" I think everyone's initial response has been shock (including ours), but then turns to excitement. The boys "cheers'ed" the night away. After dinner, we headed over to Quarter Bar where the guys drank the night away and Eliza and Candace gave me lots of pregnancy insight.


Saturday night, we had my bible study group over for dinner while Seth and Candace went down the street to J. Pepe's and then to Gilly's. The bible study group left about 10pm but by the time Benton and I finished cleaning up we were exhausted and not fired up to go out, so we just went to bed. Gilly's has historically been super smokey too, so we didn't want to subject our little tadpole to that. Sounds like it wasn't as bad this time, but it should be even better after April 10th when there is a smoking ban in Dallas - which will be awesome!


After Benton and I went to church on Sunday morning, we all went to lunch and a movie. We went to see Slumdog Millionaire, which I was not fired up to go to, but I ended up liking it. Most of the storyline was really sad, but it was a good movie. It kept my attention, which isn't always easy to do.


We had a lot of fun with Seth and Candace - we always enjoy having family in town. (Of course we didn't take any pictures the whole weekend.) Hopefully they can keep our secret for the next two weeks until we see them again!

Santa Fe

This weekend Benton and I went to Santa Fe for our good friends Taylor and Lacey's wedding. Taylor and Benton lived together for a year in college and he is a total nut! Taylor and Lacey were in Destin with us this summer when they got engaged and I really can't imagine two people more perfect for eachother. They are a lot of fun and their wedding was beautiful!

The rehearsal dinner was a lot of fun and great food! We were able to catch up with our friends Dave and Jessica who we do not get to see often enough. I drank lemonade as my psuedo margarita at the restaurant in hopes of no one noticing that I wasn't drinking, which was good because Lacey was checking to see if any of her married friends weren't drinking.


By the end of the night, I was dragging and ready to go to bed. BUT in an effort to prevent spilling the news due to too many drinks, Benton and I decided to tell Dave and Jessica that we are expecting. They were so sweet and super excited for us. It was fun to tell someone and we spent the rest of the night talking about it.


Benton and I got up on Saturday and wandered around Santa Fe for the morning until we met Bianca for lunch. It was great to catch up with her as well; it sounds like Santa Fe suits her! The wedding on Saturday night was beautiful and a lot of fun. Congrats to the Jobes! We are excited to hear where you will be living and we will be visiting for the next few years.


We packed up and headed out pretty uneventfully on Sunday. Unfortunately, we took like 3 pictures all weekend and they are all terrible. Typical! Now it is back to the grind...

First Post and Big News!

Well, I decided to jump on the bandwagon with the blogging world. Benton and I have thoroughly enjoyed our first two plus years of marriage - filled with fun trips, nights out with friends, great dates, and lots of time with our families - but I didn't think it was fascinating enough to blog about. Now, something has changed...we are expecting our first baby in November! I think this will be a great way to journal about all the happenings in our future. Bear with me as I figure this blogging-thing out!

The news that we are expecting definitely came as a surprise to us. I took the first pregnancy test after getting ready for bed on Sunday, March 8th at about 10:30 p.m. (We had a "scare" last fall, so I had one test left at home.) Benton was already in bed and watching as I paced around the bathroom in confusion as the test showed a plus sign. He asked "what is wrong with you?" and I said, "I'm confused, but I it kind of looks positive - will you come look." So he did and he agreed that it "kind of did," so I immediately sent him to buy more tests of different brands. Dutch and Benton were gone for what seemed like the longest trip to Walgreen's ever while I picked up around the house trying to distract myself. They came home with the dumby-proof test that says "Pregnant" or "Not Pregnant" and it definitely said "Pregnant." Our immediate reaction was total disbelief and neither one of us slept at all that night.

I took a third brand of pregnancy test on Monday morning and was officially three for three, so I called my doctor. I did a phone consultation on Tuesday and a lot of research on the internet. We are officially excited and anxious to tell everyone!