July/August and the New Car

So the end of July and beginning of August has been a busy one for us. My wonderful friends from college threw a shower for my friend Lisa (who is also pregnant with a little girl and is due 4 days after me!) and I at our old golf teammate Tanner's house. Have I mentioned how much I love baby showers? If not, here you go...I really love baby showers! You get all of this super cute and useful stuff and everyone oohs and aahs at clothes and burp cloths and towels that will soon be used to clean spit-up. Everything I got was so adorable that I'm almost afraid to use it!

Us with the shower hostesses and Lisa's mom, sister, and mother-in-law. So sweet of them to let us sit down :)

Got my friend Kate to take a side shot of me (30 weeks) and Ive decided that I no longer need to wear this shirt as a result

So in August I woke up one Saturday morning and decided that I wanted to go baby furniture shopping so I could finally pick out something for Abby's room. Dustin decided that he wanted to come with me so that on the way back we could stop at this thing called Car Wars, which is basically like a big parking lot full of dealerships trying to liquidate their inventories as fast as possible. Somehow I get talked into going to Car Wars first before baby furniture stores. Go figure.

So my husband also likes to do this thing anytime we go shopping for big items where he acts all interested in buying something to the salesman when he really has no intention of buying at all, just to see what kind of deal he can get. We walked around for about 30 minutes and didn't see any cars that were to his or my liking, and were headed back to our car when a glint of sunlight fatefully caught a new Ford Explorer displayed nearby. Dustin wanted to go check it out really quick, so we did. Unfortunately, there was no info sheet on it that said mileage, list price, etc., so of course he had to go find a salesman to help him. And with the salesman came the fun little "I'm gonna see what the best deal I can get is" game. As the game went on, and we took the car for a test drive, and found out how much my car was worth in trade-in value, and talked about ideal monthly payments, I began to realize that somewhere along the way the game had gone and we were actually in the middle of real-live negotiations to buy this car. Very long story short, we never did make it to look at baby furniture, but did go home with something new.

Yes, I did make the salesman take a picture of us in front of my old car. It was actually a very emotional moment for me because I do get attached to things, and I had this car for 5 1/2 great years! I teared up a little bit when I watched the salesman switch the keys from my chain to a dealership chain:(

However, after about a week of driving the new car around, I've gotten over it

Last but not least, I got my fantastic coworker Mrs. Dawne Carroll to take my monthly side shot pic (34 weeks) and decided that this shirt is a keeper:)

Only 5 more weeks to go!

Vacation!!!!

So I've been a terrible blog updater, but I have a good excuse that will probably be better explained in future posts once all the projects are done and picture-worthy. We have been busy this summer making our house "baby-ready" and finally doing some other improvement jobs that we've been meaning to do for a long time. We also managed to squeeze in a Midwestern Tour Vacation to Chicago, Iowa, and Kansas City last month. Here are a few highlights:

Dustin and I about to take a boat tour of the Chicago River for my birthday...he continued to randomly say "I'm on a boat" the rest of the night. The tour was actually very cool and the guide was probably the smartest guy in Chicago. I swear he knew everything about every single building we passed! The only down side was that the tour was at night...which in Chicago in June is still pretty cold!



My favorite place in Chicago, where we got to see the Cubs beat the Minnesota Twins. I like to think they knew I was there and that's the reason they won, because they were not doing a lot of winning at the time! And yes, I have the best husband in the world...even though he is a die hard Cardinals fan, he still sported a Cubs shirt for me!

My family got together and threw us a small couples baby shower/BBQ while we were in Iowa. I loved it because I got to see all of my family and a couple of my good friends from high school were able to come too:

Just a couple of many too-cute outfits! I know babies get a ridiculous amount of clothes but I didn't realize just how much they get until we were packing it all in the car!




Me and my old Indianola friends...we go waaaaaaay back! Katie (on the far left) had her baby girl Haley about 5 days after this!





Our final stop on the Midwestern Tour was in Kansas City, where we went to 2 St. Louis Cardinals games (to make up for the 1 Cubs game that I dragged Dustin to). We definitely got our money's worth at these games- the Cardinals won both and his favorite player, Albert Pujols, hit a home run for him.

We had a great time on vacation and it could not have come at a more perfect time! Coming back, we were faced with the more harsh reality of work, baby-room painting, work, and bathroom remodeling. More pics to come...

Meet the Parents

Hello! Since this is my first blogging experience I have decided to start from the beginning. I know that most everyone who might read this probably knows who we all are, but Ive always thought it is rude to go without a proper introduction so here it goes...


On March 28, 2009, the Slay family was established (can't you just picture the hand-knit framed sign)? This is me, Kate, and my husband Dustin (who claims to be named after the actor Dustin Hoffman). He owns his own business, Central Arkansas Landscaping, Inc., where he basically plays in the dirt all day and comes home very tired and muddy. I am a speech-language pathologist for the Pulaski County Tri-District Early Childhood Program, where I basically play with preschool kids all day (but don't tell anyone I said that, it really is hard work:). We both love to golf, watch movies, and live a generally relaxed lifestyle.

This is our oldest dog Max. She (yes she) is a black lab mix who loves chewing on bones, chewing on wood, chewing on metal, chewing on paper, chewing on our hands, chewing on shoes, chewing on our other dog, and barking at everything she sees or hears or thinks she sees or hears. She can be seen here in her favorite position, trying to sniff or steal things off the kitchen counter. She really would get into a lot more trouble if she wasn't so darn cute (I mean come on, who can resist her goofy smile and spotted tongue?).

This is our other dog Tucker. He was a stray that I picked up from one of my schools where I work. I had been trying to catch him for weeks, then when I finally did get him I realized it was because he had been hit by a car and now had a broken leg. So one large vet bill later, he officially became ours. Tucker enjoys laying on the couch, laying on the bed, laying in the dirty clothes pile, laying in the sunlight, dragging shoes and clothes out of the closet, and sneaking out of the backyard. He can be seen here in his favorite position.

Last but certainly not least, and pretty much the reason I was told to start blogging in the first place...


...is our daughter, Abigail Kathryn Slay. Abby is due to become part of the family on October 1st, 2009. She can be seen here in her favorite position. Abby enjoys growing steadily and kicking her mama (especially after a nice cold bowl of chocolate ice cream), and is looking forward to being an incredibly spoiled little girl (even though we are going to do everything we can not to let that happen too much). She will be the first grandchild on my husband's side, and the 8th on my side (shout outs to Andrew, Bella, Carolyn, Olivia, Tyler, Joey, and Sami...I know she can't wait to meet you!).



This is me at 20 weeks along. Still fitting in the regular clothes, with a little help from Ms. Bella Band;) As of our last doctor's appointment, Abby was 11 inches long and weighed 13 oz. Everything has gone really well so far and I have been feeling much better the past few weeks compared to the first 3 months! Dustin has been a wonderful husband putting up with me through those times!

So now I'm hungry (go figure!) and will sign off for tonight. More to come later!

Kate