Spring is nature's way of saying, "Let's party!" ~ Robin Williams

This weekend was busy! Friday night, my sister and I went up to Bottoms Up Bar to visit with a friend of ours that was in town from Texas. I am still getting used to the "going to a bar and not drinking" thing. I still have fun, don't get me wrong, but its just not quite the same. The band was really good and they played alot of songs I really liked. And ofcourse the friends and conversation were really good as well.

Saturday, Joe and I helped a friend move during the first part of the day. Well mostly Joe, I was pretty much rendered useless over the weekend. Aside from being pregnant, I tried out a new prenatal workout dvd last Thursday night, and well, lets just say I could barely walk for 2 days. I am no stranger to working out, by any means, but this video had me doing moves I had never seen before. They were obviously catered to a pregnant person and it was the "labor squats" that really got me. I knew instantly, as soon as I finished them, that I was going to be paying for that in the days to come. Never have I been that sore from working out before. And ofcourse, I am not supposed to be using anything like biofreeze or icy hot to help me out. Boo.

After helping them move, we rushed home, freshened up, then went over to my parents house for an early dinner. Amy and her husband joined us as well and it was a really nice time. My dad made his famous ribs in the Green Egg smoker that he has. If you don't know what a Green Egg is, google it, its pretty cool. Then we all layed around the living room and took a nap for about an hour. I wish someone could have gotten a picture of this. Joe fell asleep in the recliner with my parents' little boston terrier, my dad was asleep on the loveseat with his legs hanging over the side, Amy was curled up on the floor with my parents' extremely overweight bulldog, and Amy's husband and I both fell asleep on the big couch. And no, we were not cuddled up together at all, we were not touching each other anywhere. Just to clear that up.... It was a pretty funny sight though, I'm sure, all of us sprawled around the family room. Oh and ofcourse there were the not-so-harmonious sounds of three men snoring.

After our nap, Amy and her hubby headed home, while the rest of us headed downtown to see Steve Harvey at St. Louis University. The show was fantastic. We were all laughing our asses off the entire time. We were 3 rows back from the stage, really close to the center. I also couldn't help but notice we were just about the only white people there. I only saw 2 other white couples the entire time. It didn't bother me ofcourse, but it was definitely different being the ones in the extreme minority. And remember those sore legs I had? We had to walk down about 50 steps to get to our seats, then back up those steps to leave. It was a little embarrassing holding up the line with my elderly shuffle. I had to hold on to the rail and help pull myself up each step. I tried to just grin and bare it, to go as fast as I could, but there was only so much I could do. Yes, I really was that sore. Obviously my 2 month hiatus from working out during my first trimester has really set me back! Maybe I should start with the beginner moves, instead of jumping right into the advanced. Lesson learned.

So after such a long and busy day on Saturday, I decided to relax and be lazy on Sunday. I watched Changeling, which was a really good movie, but I didn't do much else. In the evening I headed over to Amy's for pizza and our Sunday night ritual of Big Love. That show is getting really wierd. Next week is the season finale, and by the looks of the previews, its going to get pretty crazy.

My belly is starting to get bigger! I still look like I could be getting chubbier, but I definitely started to show alot more in the last week. Here is a picture Joe took of my belly last night. I am 15 weeks and 2 days.

I have been feeling alot more energetic. Yay! I am so ready to get out of that period of exhaustion I just went through. Even though I was warned I would be tired, wow, I had no idea it would be that bad. And now that I am feeling better, I realize just how bad it really was.

So now, hopefully, I can get enough energy to clean my house this week before our Spring Fling BBQ this friday. This was such a long, cold, dreary winter and I have been getting so excited for spring I decided to celebrate the ending of winter with a party on March 20th, the first "official" day of spring. This week is supposed to be beautiful with temperatures in the upper 70's, and then getting much colder by Friday (ofcourse). We'll see, hopefully it will end up being warmer. Either way we'll have a good time.

I absolutely love throwing parties and getting together with our friends. We are trying to save our money lately though with the baby coming, and I have been so tired recently, that we decided to make this party easy on ourselves and our pocketbook. Everyone is bringing their own pork steaks and a side dish to share with everyone. So we'll end up with lots of food and no one has to spend very much money. Once everyone gets there, we throw the pork steaks on the grill and then about an hour later, we all eat. It works out pretty good. The main thing is getting everyone together and hanging out. It just doesn't happen as much during the winter. We'll have lots of good food and good friends. And later, we'll have a bonfire and smores. Its also fun getting to see everyone's kids and letting them all run wild together. I can't wait! I'll also be sipping on my non-alcoholic wine, while I am no doubt somewhat envious of the other cocktails floating around.

But before we get to another weekend, I am really looking forward to enjoying the weather this week. I hope to spend lots of time outdoors and taking a few walks. Maybe even a hike at Quail Ridge Park. And am so happy to see winter on its way out!