16 weeks and finding out the sex

We didn't intend to find out the sex of Baby Welch today, but we couldn't help it!  We visited the Perinatologist because of some concern with blood clotting indicated by some blood work which we found that there is no reason to be concerned! 
During the sonogram the doctor mentioned that we shouldn't have another sonogram for 4 weeks since we had one today, so the thought of waiting 4 weeks until finding out the sex was too long, so we found out we are having a BOY!!!!  And a healthy (at least so far) boy!  We haven't decided 100% on a name, but Maddox is what we love the most as of now!

Christmas

A few highlights from Christmas this year!

My grandparents had this reaction...

When the received a NEW TV from my parents. 

Even more special my grandparents stayed 4 days with us over Christmas because Shawn and Jon were in town and they made the announcement that they are expecting in July!   

 

Madilyn catching up on some reading on her new potty chair that cheers for her when she pottys in it!

Nursery-Before

Bob had already started painting the trim white before I could snap a true before picture of the nursery. However, I wanted to remember how the room looked with the brown trim and how the room served as a place to iron and hold all of our junk!

14 Weeks

At 14 weeks the nausea has subsided and I hardly "feel" pregnant (other than a few headaches here and there). It feels good to be back working out and doing yoga. The weirdest part so far, is that sometimes I have a slight belly like the picture above and other times I don't have a belly at all! I am ready to have a belly all the time and feel the movement of the baby.

12 Weeks

Maybe a tiny baby bump? We are really looking forward to he/she getting bigger!

Oh Baby

I have been terrible about posting on our blog. Anyways, I vow to be better because we have a baby on the way and I want to document our journey through the pregnancy! Here is the email we sent to friends explaining that we are pregnant!

We have some good news to share with you
Bob and I won't be just a family of 2!

We are expecting a baby in early June
Needless to say we are over the moon!

Triathlon

Bob and mom participated in the Jackson County Triathlon!! Bob finished in 1 hour and 30 min. and my mom finished only 9 min. after he did (she is almost 60)! By the way, I am a terrible spectator because I want to participate, so next year I am doing it too!

Sun rising over Longview Lake the morning of the Triathlon-pretty spectacular!

The three of us before the start. In the background you can see how foggy it was, however the fog burned off before they began their swim.

Mom before the swim.


Bob is somewhere in the heat getting ready to swim! Ready...

Set!

Go!

Mom transitioning from the bike portion to the run (the last leg).

Bob crossing the finish line. He doesn't even look tired in this picture!!!

Mom crossing the finish line!

Summer 2010

A few memories from Summer 2010

Stuey McBrews is our new favorite bar/restaurant in downtown Lee's Summit! We celebrated the Welch/Bixler Extravaganza there:).

Madilyn's first birthday!

Boating days! Gilder caught not one, but two ducks with his bare hands(the ducks weren't harmed)!

Brian fished all day and caught a tiny blue gill :).

Madilyn Day

Now that summer school is over I am going to take Madilyn one day a week as a special day for her! On our first "Madilyn Day" we went to the open gym at GAGE and swinging at the park. She is so much fun!

Florida Wedding

Bob and I flew to Orlando Florida this past weekend for Shawn (stepsister) and John's destination wedding.

They were married on the shore of a lake..

We drove to Cocoa beach and played in the ocean and had a great lunch at restaurant on the beach.

6 year Anniversary

Bob and I celebrated our 6th anniversary today and I wanted to blog about our anniversary because we couldn't remember exactly how we spent our first 5 anniversaries and I knew if I blogged about it, we could look back at the previous anniversary posts.

Bob was sweet enough to take Friday AND Sunday as vacations days so that we would have the entire weekend together. We planned to scrape the popcorn off our ceilings so that we could have a knock down ceiling. We also planned to head up north and ride a new bike trail, however we didn't do either of those things due to lots of rain and laziness:). Instead we spent the morning at the City Market, then to see Ashley and Nathan's new house, a lazy afternoon and dinner at Brio (after deciding not to go to the Record Bar because the cover charge was $7.00-we are so cheap).

Bob and I talked a lot today about how we can't believe that the longer we are married the better our life together has become. I never imagined that a marriage got better over time, mostly because both of our parents are divorced and their marriages obviously didn't get better over time. We are fortunate to have found one another.

Belton BBQ Contet

Donkey Punch BBQ had their first contest of the season! The brisket placed 4th and altogether the team placed 19 out of 33 teams. The Friday night before they start cooking the meat it has become tradition for friends and family to come and taste the BBQ, have some drinks and relax. The pictures posted below are of the Friday night. I also included pictures of some of the meat they turned in.

We are also pretty certain that Donkey Punch BBQ Team won't be on TLC's realty TV show BBQ Pit Masters. After a few calls from the producers and lots of time spent making hilarious audition tapes it seems they haven't been chosen. Maybe next year?

My mom's side of the family!

The traditional shot of Southern Comfort before each meat goes on the grill for the first time.

Donkey Punch BBQ Team

Notice all of the different Donkey Punch attire they are wearing :).

All of the smokers and the camper in the background compliments of Bob's Dad.


Ribs...

Bob made the chicken using Caribbean Cowboy BBQ sauce this time...

4th place brisket

Opening Day at the K

Royals home opener. The weather was the best it has been in years (not rainy or cold)! Great food, drinks and friends. However, even with Greinke pitching the Royals still lost.

Bob and I:).



Jess, Ashley, Stacy and I (Chad in the background).



Yummy Bratwurst!


My sister and I!


Logue, Gilder and Bob! Fireman buddies.


The famous porta potty!!!


Twin brothers...matching clothes at least and not on purpose.

Breckenridge Colorado March 2010

Bob and I drove 10 hours to Breckenridge Colorado (actually I didn't do any of the driving, again!). We arrived late Saturday night to our little condo. It was small but it was new and had heated floors. The location of our condo was good, 5 minute walk to Peak 9 and a few minutes to most restaurants and shopping. And free underground parking. The pictures below of our condo on 506 Ridge street!





We spent our first full day in Colorado buying lift tickets, renting equipment and walking Main Street in Breckenridge (it was 50 degrees and sunny that day too!). We found that the further you were from the slopes, the cheaper the equipment and Wal-Mart in Frisco sells cheaper lift tickets!

Our first full day of skiing Bob and I took 1/2 day ski lessons in the morning, but in different groups. We spent the afternoon skiing together (sorta!). Bob mostly plowed and fell down the mountain..he was all about going FAST! The 2nd day of skiing I drug Bob to a blue run which was a bad idea. It was too tough for someone who had only skied a day and a half so we had to walk most of the blue...it was not our finest moment. We went home exhausted after that and decided to take the next day off.

That next day we went to Keystone and stopped at some scenic overlooks. We intended to ice skate in Keystone, but the Zamboni fell in 3 feet of uniced water!!! So ice skating was closed. Below are some of the pictures!! It was COLD and snowy that day!




Our 3rd day skiing was in Keystone, it was our favoritre day! The greens at Keystone are much longer and less crowded. On our 3rd day Bob decided he LOVED skiing and really got the hang of it. Below are pictures of us skiing in Keystone.




A few things we want to remember if we get to go on another ski trip
*Condo was great-but possibly stay in a lodge with that has a common area
*3 days of skiing is plenty, 4 days total in CO during the winter is plenty of time
*You cannot get from Breckenridge to Salina on 1 tank of gas (we almost found this out the hard way).
*Breckenridge is best for lodging becuase there is a lot more shopping, bars, restaurants, but Keystone has the best skiing and it's free to park at Keystone.
*The wheat beer at Breckenridge Brewery is the best