When we arrived Saturday afternoon, we became college students. The whole family had a dorm suite to ourselves...we all adjusted well to college life, though, including sharing a bathroom :)

I know you don't see my handsome hubby in any of these shots. He wasn't able to join us...he was in Charlotte with some friends for the NASCAR race hehe I will post pictures of his weekend soon.
Stephen and Michael took us on a tour of the grounds. Here we are on the steps of the Rotunda. We had to rest here for a while...Baby Fernandez won't let me get too much exercise in these last few weeks!

After the ceremonies, we ate lunch at Stephen's house.

We are all so proud of you, Stephen! Love you :)

On Thursday night the Flores family took us out to celebrate my birthday. We went to Trio in downtown Roanoke for dinner. Thanks for the encouragement and good food, family! I got some new perfume, a diaper bag, and a gift card for post-maternity clothes :)

I'm a little late to post about Mother's Day, but that doesn't mean we didn't have a great one! We were thankful to spend time with both of our mothers for the holiday. On Saturday after the baby shower in Raleigh, we went to eat in Brier Creek at Moe's with Mike, Peggy, and Brooke. We gave our moms this fruit basket from Edible Arrangements. We tried some ourselves...the chocolate covered strawberries were awesome!
On Sunday after church we had a cookout at the Flores house. Stephen and Dad made all the preparations for us. :)
Joey and Sierra gave mom this frog to put beside her water fountain outside.Michael, the creative one, gave mom these matching sunglasses (did he say he got them from a gas station? hehe)
But it gets better. He also gave her a funny card. Check out the progression of when she opened and read it:


And then, to top it off, he gave her Hillary the Nutcracker. We had lots of laughs about it. You can see from the video:

Last Thursday Aaron and I left around lunchtime to drive to Asheville, NC. It was our last little getaway for just the two of us before Baby Fernandez arrives. It was perfect! We were so thankful to be able to go...we stayed at the gorgeous Grove Park Inn. Quality time with your best friend...nothing like it.

On Thursday evening when we got there, I took a quick nap while Aaron read up on the resort. We went to dinner on the Sunset Terrace at the resort. Here is what you can imagine it was like: Yes, it really was this romantic! The view was unbelievable. The food was even better than that. And the company was the best part of all. We had a lengthy conversation about how God has grown our marriage.
And we had this for dessert! We had lots of dessert on our vacation. :) After dinner we were so full and tired from the week, we crashed in the room.

This is an aerial view of The Grove Park Inn. It's huge...we explored a little, but didn't see everything. The big things to do there are golf and visit the spa, but we did neither. We were happy to just hang out. In the far left corner in this picture, you can see the Sports Complex. On Friday morning we went there to work out together.

This is the view of the resort when you first drive up. Needless to say we were very excited.

I didn't take these pictures! I got them off of their website! This one shows how the resort is tucked in the mountains of NC. It really was a beautiful place.So why do I look so blue? Well, we had started the day off well with a workout, and then we headed to downtown Asheville to eat lunch. When we sat down, my oversized belly brushed against the table and I got a couple of stains on my shirt. I was so sad, and for some reason Aaron thought it would be a good time to take a picture of me! My emotions are sort of out of whack, and it took me a little while to bounce back from the incident, unfortunately.So to cheer me up, Aaron took me to the Biltmore Estate! He had already been twice, so it was kind of him to take me. I'm glad we went...it was a fun way to spend the afternoon in Asheville. Here are some pictures of us on our tour:

We went to the winery after finishing in the gardens at the house, and Aaron participated in a wine tasting.
We were too hungry to go somewhere else for dinner, and it worked out perfectly that there was a casual outdoor grill restaurant at the winery. Aaron is listening to and watching the guy who was playing guitar and singing for us. It was a relaxing end to the Biltmore visit- after walking so much, we enjoyed sitting for a while.
And then Aaron played the hero again when he took me to Marble Slab in downtown Asheville before we went back to the resort :)

We ate breakfast at the resort on Saturday morning before we headed to Raleigh for the baby shower. We could have stayed more nights, but we loved the time we had to vacation there together!

Yesterday Aaron became Superman for a day. He had a lot to do at work to catch up from last week's vacation, but he made time to do all of this, too:

1. drive to Vinton to have lunch with me

2. send flowers to me at school

3. get a gift certificate for me for a prenatal massage

4. buy the groceries for dinner

5. pick up some more flowers to bring home (roses!)

6. cook dinner

7. work on the baby's room (install closet door, work on beadboard, put together the stroller, drill some things on the wall)

8. make me a chocolate milkshake

What a day! What a man!
If you are wondering about all of this, it was my birthday yesterday. He made it so awesome. I loved being loved :)

He wasn't the only one to treat me yesterday. I got lots of calls and cards, and Stephen and Michael took me to get ice cream after work. Erin Carroll also came by to hang out and give me Noel Piper's Treasuring God in our Traditions (a book I have really been wanting to read!). Thanks to everyone for being so thoughtful!

Aaron took this picture of the baby belly on the "back porch" of the Biltmore Estate on Friday. More info and pictures of our Asheville trip to come... 6 more weeks! We aren't quite ready...give us a couple more weeks and then we'll start getting anxious :)

Yesterday my dear friend Kristen threw a baby book shower in Raleigh for Baby Fernandez! I had fun seeing friends that I haven't seen in a while, eating Kristen's chocolate cupcakes, and reading the fun baby/children's books that they gave. From left to right: Kristen, Acella (Nuri is on her lap), Emily, me, Allison, Rebecca, and Meghan. Missing from the photo are Shelly, my mom, and Peggy. They are sweet women and have already given me lots of good baby advice in addition to the books. I hadn't seen Emily since August! She and Travis are doing great in Fuquay. Her sister's due date is the same as ours, June 21, except she's having twins!
I was glad Acella and Nuri came. And Wansoo stopped in for a few minutes, too!

Kristen is so talented with hosting/hospitality. I am very thankful for her willingness to do this for us...it was a special treat.
Look at those strawberry shortcake desserts! Yummmm

We are finally ready to start inviting everyone over for dinner, to make use of our new kitchen! On Tuesday night Nathan and Erin came over. Aaron prepared most of the meal for us and I helped with the small details. We loved their company. Afterwards Erin helped me clean and Aaron got this shot, saying that we needed a picture of women "doing their work"! You have to understand his sense of humor...And on Wednesday night Aaron invited Robert from work over to eat with us. Robert has been washing batteries at the shop for 21 years. We enjoyed treating him (and ourselves) with steaks that Aaron grilled.
Thanks for joining us, too, dad! Except maybe next time you could pick a different shirt to wear to our house. ;)