Baby Charlie's Birthday

For those of you who don't yet know we will be having baby Charlie via C-Section. His birthday will be July 28th 2011 (39 weeks). Through out this pregnancy we've beeen battling an ovarian cyst that's been growing on my left (and only) ovary since our very first "you're pregnant" ultrasound. Our prayer was that the cyst would shrink or burst on it's own however that hasn't happened. We're so very thankful for modern medicine & have been advised by our doctors that removing Charlie & the cyst in the same procedure will increase our chances to grow our family in the future. Thanks so much for all your prayers...we're counting down 6.5 weeks to go & so looking forward to meeting our little guy!

Welcome Audrey Lee Bass!!!

The Bass Family continues to be blessed with children...Daniel & Mikel (Jon's middle brother & sister-in-law) Welcomed their third daughter Audrey Lee into the world this past week. We were so grateful that her birth & our trip home from Atlanta coincided so perfectly. It was a real treat to meet her at just 4 days old! Big Sisters Madison & Ashlyn were excited to show off their new family addition. As always it was so fun to see & spend time with the Dan Bass Clan.

a weekend of weddings...

We had a bit of a whirlwind memorial day weekend filled with two weddings, a visit from our sister-in-law Tiffany Bass and a 20 hours car ride to and from Atlanta. Needless to say it was well worth it & we couldn't be more thankful for the opportunity we have to DRIVE (not FLY) for special events like these!

Haybat (a dear friend of Dave & Tiffany...Jon's brother & sister-in-law) married Matthew on Thursday evening in McLean, Virginia. It was a treat to be there and celebrate their happiness. We love going to weddings & the simple reminders that come with listening to two people exchange vows & pledge their lives to one another...After Haybat & Matthew's wedding we were able to bring Tiffany back to our house for a short but very sweet visit. It was a treat for us to have her in our home and visit with her (all alone). Something that's never happened before & will probably never happen again...although we do greatly look forward to a visit from Dave, Tiffany & their 5 kiddos sometime next summer!After getting Tiffany on a plane to see her parents, Jon & I made our way to Atlanta, GA. For the wedding of Captain DZ to Miss Erica Foglia. DZ & Jon served for 3 years together with 3/7 to include both deployments to Iraq & Afghanistan. Above: you can see all the guys who made an effort to be at the wedding...Jon described the wedding weekend as "special". He was very touched to see all these guys again after all their shared experiences in combat. 30 weeks pregnant (good thing my calf/ankles...cankles are discretely hidden in this photo)

Captain & Mrs. were welcomed to the Marine Corps with a traditional sword arch. You can see Jon, second in on the right. Erica received a swat on the bottom after kissing her Marine under the arch of swords...

The Kayak

We recently made a great Craigslist purchase: one two seater ocean kayak, three paddles & a bunch of fishing equipment- all for a killer deal! After moving back to Virginia we'd been on the hunt for a Kayak, but weren't willing to pay full price at REI. So when this one came available we jumped at the opportunity to buy it.

We literally drove straight from buying the Kayak to Gander Mountain to buy fishing gear and then on to Lake Lunga (a nice family friendly lake on base in Quantico) let's just say Jon was anxious to try out his new purchase. We met up with friends Packy & Stephanie for a great afternoon of fishing and boating...we already feel the Kayak was worth every penny!