Baby Brent Update

Hello Friends and Family!
I just wanted to take a minute to update you all on baby Brent. We found out last Wednesday that we are having a girl! Well, at least it looks that way from the most recent ultrasound. After a 1 hour long level 2 ultrasound (checking all anatomy and structures), the ultrasound tech looked between baby Brent's legs and said, "Well, I don't see anything." Gabe asked her if she would please check again because he swore he saw something. She suggested it was probably a foot, but said she would look again. She still didn't see anything, which led her to believe we are having a girl. I started giggling because Gabe and I, and most everyone we've talked to, have been pretty sure we were going to have a boy (for one reason or another). Ha, ha, so funny! I really didn't care what we had, as long as it's a healthy baby. Gabe, well, Gabe had his heart set on a boy so he is working on warming up to the idea of a girl.Wednesday night we got together with my parents, aunt and cousins for dinner and "the big reveal". I baked a cake with pink food coloring but covered it with chocolate frosting so nobody would be able to tell what color the cake was. I told everyone the secret was in the cake, so we all rushed through dinner and went straight on to dessert! They were so anxious to know if we were having a boy or a girl, it was kind of comical! Anyways, uncle Ryan's birthday was just two days away so we lit the candles on the cake, but totally forgot to sing Happy Birthday to him! Poor Ryan, maybe combining a gender-reveal cake with a birthday cake was a bad idea! Leave it to me and need to multi-task! Sorry Ryan! Anyways, Ryan cut into the cake with everybody's heads sandwiched in around him to get the first peek. They saw pink and got so excited (again, they all were thinking boy)! My dad was especially excited because he REALLY wanted a girl. It was a great evening and a fun way to celebrate the coming of the first child/grandchild! Anyways, here are some recent pictures from the last week in the lives of the growing Brent family.

This is the most recent "belly-pic" we've taken. 18 weeks, 5 days.



The gender-revealing birthday cake



Anxiously waiting for Ryan to cut into the cake and reveal the big surprise!
...notice the father-to-be in the background who can hardly contain his excitement...ha,ha!



Secret's out!


And a recent picture of our "not so little anymore" baby. She's about 10 inches long now!



And here's my favorite! I outlined this picture because it was a little hard to see, but I just love those little thighs and toes! She is sitting "Indian style" here, so what you're seeing is the left leg with the right foot crossed over.

Trip to Solvang over Easter Break

Gabe and I had the opportunity to get away for a quick trip to Solvang over Easter Break. It was a well needed change of scenery even though we only stayed one night! We left mid-morning, stopped at In N' Out for lunch in Ventura, then continued up the coast and inland to the little Danish town of Solvang. Gabe had never been before and kept asking, "Now, what do they have here again? What are we going to see?" Ha, ha, explaining Solvang to a boy as a cute little Danish town with cute little shops and cute little windmills didn't exactly go over so well, but oh well! We visited a lavender farm in Buellton and enjoyed just walking around town and sampling a couple of pastries when we got there, even though most of the shops were closed for the day. We stayed at the hotel part of Split Pea Andersen's and had dinner there as well. Yep, just as I thought...I still DO NOT like split pea soup!

The next day we went back into town to walk around and actually visit some shops. It was relaxing and fun and we were able to pick up a couple of gifts as well. After shopping and eating, we hopped over to the Santa Inez Mission on the edge of town. We walked the grounds, which were beautiful, but we didn't go in because it seemed a bit pricey to us, but we did enjoy the flowers and the view!

After the mission, we headed over to the Quicksilver Miniature Horse Farm. This was fun! Who doesn't love miniature horses? Especially when they are foaling and there are miniature, miniature horses all over the place! They were so cute and mostly friendly - rather like dogs, they loved being petted and scratched. We talked to the stable lady for some time and just watched the babies play. Relaxing and fun!

After the horse farm, we headed down the road in search of a winery where we could do a tasting. We ended up stopping at the Gainey Vineyard on our way out of town as we were told they had a tasting running for a decent price. I'm so glad we stopped! Not only were the grounds beautiful, but for ten bucks we got to taste six wines and take home a souvenir glass. Not bad! And Gabe and I just shared one tasting...basically, I took one small sip from each pour, just to taste them, and he finished them off. It was a great weekend!