Oh the Bliss!

Some pictures from our weekend. Please note: Ben had an adorable Elmo costume for each event, but it was tucked away nicely in my diaper bag, just where Ben wanted it. :)

My birthday dinner. (And new doo.) (Hallelujah! Pictures!) Here's dinner with the Caruana's... *There's a new list down below, too. :)

Today I am so thankful for... ~my sis-in-law Amy's parenting encouragement. I so love talking with her! ~ time with my parent's on Thursday. Good food and fun, and they helped me finish Ben's photo board. ~ my dad supporting my MOPS fundraiser. ~ plans to go to the harvest carnival with Carrie and the kids tonight. ~ Lolly and her kids coming over last night. I like that she's a friend I can can laugh hard with and also have some serious moments with. ~ all the really cute clothes Amanda is letting me borrow. ~ my birthday flowers that are still so pretty. ~ the fires being 40% contained. Still, it's so awful, but hopefully they're getting a handle on it. ~ our fun adventure last night with our neighbors cat, Frank, and a huge RACCOON! Lolly and I had a lot of laughs over us trying to save the cat, and the kids got a kick out of us getting all worked up. It was quite a silly sight. ~ Jason & Carrie letting Ben wear Gavin's last year's costume, he...

It's officially over, my birthday that is. For two days now I received no cards in the mail. So that's a sure sign it's done. I had another great one, can they be this good forever? :) Thanks everybody! Today I am thankful for... ~one of the best chicken and dumpling dinners my mom has ever made. ~ one of the best chocolate-cherry cake desserts my mom has ever made. ~ finally meeting the last neighbor on my block. I cornered her and made her talk to me. :) Well, not really, but she did admit to taking advantage of her corner house as easy access to avoid much contact . Hmm , maybe if I bake her a pie she'll warm up to me. She did say she'd come to the block party though. ~ Heather's realness in such a shady world. ~ spur of the moment play-date with Amanda & Sophia this morning. That Amanda, she's so great to be with. And she gave me a bunch of maternity clothes! ~ Jason enjoying his job and getting to be in interesting areas of LA. ~ Ali's phone cal...

I would just like to point out that for all the reasons people told me not to get my belly button pierced "because it'll cause a stretch mark when you're pregnant " wasn't one of them, and I think it should've been. I didn't listen to "it's trashy", "it's suggestive", "it's painful", "it'll look lame when you're older". Of course I didn't hear the "because I said so" or "what would Jesus do?" But maybe, just maybe, if I had known that the ONLY stretch mark I'd get on my entire body (they don't just happen on your belly, folks) would stem from the tiny incision where a tiny hole used to be, that may have stopped me. So for all you belly ring haters out there, one of which I have become, drop all the reasons you think are worthy and just stick to the stretch mark case. It's a good one. That's all from me, for now.

(I switched something on this site and now I can't post pictures. But if I can figure it out again I will post them asap.) Today I am thankful for... ~ a very wonderful birthday yesterday! It was such a great day ~ spending time with sweet friends, getting bombarded with cards and phone calls, I loved it! So many people did the sweetest things and made me feel so special. I'm not going to name off each person and thing, but I am very grateful for everything!! ~ the BEAUTIFUL bouquet of flowers Ben and Mark gave me yesterday. Mark said Ben really did pick them out, so they are very special. I love them. ~ visits from two friends today. ~ out time at the pumpkin patch at our church tonight. They shipped in over 1,000 pumpkins and sold them 2 for $5, that's such a steal! We met up with Jason and Carrie and Ben had a BLAST playing with Gavin. It's fun that they're at that age now where they can rough house a bit more. They were very fun to watch. Gavin was probably thin...

Then... and Now. Wow. Today I am thankful for... ~being able to post pictures again, it was giving me some trouble before. ~ very interesting MOPS this morning, and fun discussion afterwards. ~ all the sweet birthday cards! Sweet Lisa sent one to me and she had a baby a week ago! My dad sent me a special birthday card too since he and my mom will be away for my big day. :) ~ Carrie's understanding and nonjudgmental ways. She always listens so well to me and knows good things to say. I really appreciate and value her heart. ~ time with Jason, Carrie and the boys at the pumpkin patch yesterday. ~ the sweetest little story Darren put on his blog of something Jesse said. I'll have to ask if I can post it on here because it's worth even more people reading. ~ the friendship between Lolly's husband and Mark. It's an added bonus for me and Lolly, and they are quite funny together. ~ oh, this is so cute... today Mark was sitting with Ben just before Ben went down for a nap ...

Today I am so thankful for... ~my mom's homemade birthday cards. ~ my cousin Amy calling me. I couldn't talk long, but it was so nice to hear her sweet voice. It'll be fun to talk with her again soon. ~ the time I spent at my parent's house on Sunday with Ben. He had so much fun with them. Plus they both helped me work on a project I've been wanting to do for Ben's room. At one point I was talking on the phone with a friend while they worked on my project for me, brought back memories of high school. :) ~ all of Ben's words. His growing ability to communicate amazes me. Today he asked for a ball but I didn't know what ball was talking about. The he told me "green ball." Still no clue. Then he said, "green ball trees there." So I walked over to the nearby trees and sure enough there was a green ball laying there. He knew exactly what he was talking about. All day long this sort of thing happens. I love it! ~ time with Amanda and Sophia...

Gma was here! We had great time with Gma, Ben especially. It is one of my favorite parts of life; spending quality time with family. It builds into our heritage and is so meaningful. Whether our family visits for an hour or a week, I love being together. One true blessing. I am so thankful for... ~ our clean garage (thank you Mark and Tina) :) ~ Tina's organization skills and desires. ~ a chunk of quality time with mark yesterday. ~ time with friends last night. ~ a church that I truly believe uses it's many resources for Christ's intended purpose. ~ Lauren's dedication to our friendship in life's busyness. ~ today marking the first day of my birthday week. :)

We've always known Ben is special. Today I am thankful for... ~ baby Kian Gomez being born on Monday morning. So healthy and perfect, yea Nick and Lisa!! ~ one of the best speakers I've ever heard today at MOPS. She is a parenting coach, like Super Nanny, and she had such great insight and wisdom. ~ Tina being here and spending the night. I ran a bunch of hard-to-with-kid errands while Ben played and had a blast with her. It was so nice. ~ my new hair cut! Short, but not too short. Mark likes it too. I'll have to post a picture soon. ~ Mark's three days off. ~ our sweet friends coming over tonight just because. It's nice to have friends that live close enough to come over last minute like and feel comfortable just being here. ~ Barbara's thoughtful gift of banana bread, chocolate chip no less, left on my doorstep the other morning. It made my day! ~ Howie's Birthday!!! He's 84 today and I think he had a good week celebrating in Sacramento. ~ Pam's bi...

Papa Dan's turn... Nana's turn... Your turn!!!! Ben and I met my parents at Disneyland tonight and Ben had a sucker for the first time, he loved it! He ate the whole thing, which occupied him for over 30 minutes. We got to go on some of Ben's favorite rides and we caught a parade too, we had a very fun time. I love having passes! Today I am so thankful for... ~ Mark being able to go to the men's conference at church this weekend and that enjoyed his time. ~ memory making times with my parent's at Disneyland. ~ a great sermon last night at church. ~ time to read everyday. I feel like I say that a lot, but I really am thankful for it. ~ getting to talk with Lisa a little today and find out she's having contractions!! Hopefully her already-over-due baby will make an appearance very soon!! ~ time with Lolly and her kids yesterday while our men were at the conference. ~ this time of year. I am a huge fan a spring, but fall is really growing on me. ~ being able to gi...

Christmas came early here at the Fitz household. Ben found a present from last year, a VeggieTales nativity scene and carried it around the house - in the package - for a couple of days until I finally opened it up and he dove right in. So instead of Halloween decorations we have Jr. Asparagus as baby Jesus and a carrot dressed as an angel singing "O Little Town of Bethlehem" to put us in the holiday mood. Ben is discovering that he has a lot of choices everyday and that power has taken a hold of his sense of style. For three days, in very warm weather, he chose to wear his rain galoshes. This picture shows him in his beloved hat, pj tops, no pants and his "boots". If I wore this I'd probably be questioned by the police. Aww to be a toddler again. :) Today I am thankful for... ~ D-land with my mom, Carrie and the boys! The weather was so nice, and it was very fun to be there with them. ~ realizing that Ben hasn't had to spend time in his room while throwing...

The count-down has started... 17 days until my birthday. :) I have a lot to be thankful for this week, I'm giddy just thinking about it. Here are just a few... ~ getting to visit with Mark and Debbie Hawn for a little while on Sunday. It meant a lot that they drove WAY out of their way to come and see Mark, Ben and me. When I think of the long lasting friendship they have with my parents, even though they haven't lived in the same town in over 26 years, I am encouraged to keep up with the friendships Mark and I have made with sweet couples. Friendships I'm praying will travel the distance and last our lifetime. ~ Mark's new schedule. Getting to go to church on Saturday nights has been so great. ~ all of the clothes Heather brought to me to wear while I'm pregnant. Maternity clothes just don't do it for me, so Heather gave me a TON of regular clothes that are a couple sizes bigger than what I usually wear, so they are perfect. I'm also thankful for our time t...