White Christmas

We were very fortunate to be able to borrow an SUV from some friends who are in Utah during the holidays. Otherwise, we would have never made it to our families homes in the snow. It just about buried us. Thank you Loftus's!

Matt woke us up early with excitement, and we sat under our own tree opening gifts from each other. I gave Matt some slippers, a book on Fatherhood, a remote control helicopter and a Joe's gift card so that he could go buy the shotgun that he has been wanting all year. (Its tied onto the silly plastic gun that I put in his stocking.)

Matty got me a new camera bag, a micro lens for my camera, the Once soundtrack (that I asked for for my Birthday!) and a couple movies that we have enjoyed watching together. That's when I thought we were done. All the gifts under the tree were opened when Matt asked me to go upstairs and get something for him that he had left in the nursery. When I walked in, he had set up a glider and ottoman to use when the baby comes. He had set it up the night before without me knowing. So sneaky! We spent the rest of the morning with my family, eating breakfast and opening gifts. Matt and I got my parents a DVD player that allows you to edit out what you dislike out of movies (such as violence, sex and language) and we got Cory some new wheels for his long board. My parents were gracious enough to give all of us kids some $cash$. What could be more useful right now? We also got some things for the dogs, who were very happy to get their own gifts.

After hanging out a while, we headed out to join Matt's family. Shauna got Matt a really nice green sweater, and she got me some cute owl stuff for the nursery. We got Ben and Jan some games for their Wii and some new books. Matt's parents bought us baby stuff from our registry, a new lens for me and a new Gi for Matt, and then gave us an XBOX 360. The next picture really gets the emotions across. Matt is THRILLED to finally have his console, and I am realizing that I may never see him again....hence the fake and cheesy smile.The best gift was for Matt's dad. He opened one box and inside was Kleenex. He was confused. The second box was a paper bag. At this point he had realized what was happening and started to freak out. (Have you seen that comercial?) The next box had a set of keys to a Cadillac, his favorite car. It was so much fun to see his reaction. He was in shock!We were very spoiled this year, and we are so thankful to be close to both of our families so that we can celebrate the holidays with them. We hope that everyone had a safe and Merry Christmas!

Gingerbread House

On Saturday, I was just barely able to get to work in Seattle to make Gingerbread Houses with Courtney. There was a really bad accident on the Trestle (a bridge from hwy 2 to I5) and I was stuck sitting there for about 30 minutes while they cleared the mess. While I was waiting, I noticed that the overpass next to me had frozen spider webs hanging from it. I have never seen this before. Its so rare for it to be so cold here. (I think it was 19 degrees) It took me double the time to get into Seattle, but I made it safely without any problem.Courtney had been snowed in for 4 days, and no other interpreters were able to get up Queen Anne hill. So, I rescued Joy (Courtney's roommate) by allowing her out of the house for a while while I kept Courtney entertained.

We had a lot of fun decorating the house with candy, even though the frosting took forever to harden and we had to keep repairing it. Here is the finished product. Yes, its outside in the cold. We were hoping it would help the frosting set. Good work Courtney!

Snowed in on my Birthday

Matt had planned to take me out to dinner for my 25th birthday, but considering it had snowed for 5 days in a row, we had to stay home and off the roads.

Instead he made me a great curry dinner, and then we had a yummy raspberry cake.

For my birthday I had asked for 2 things. Mama Mia on DVD and the Once soundtrack on CD. Matt had me fooled when I opened 2 gifts that were obviously a DVD and CD, but instead of getting me Mama Mia (which he swore he would NEVER do) and Once, he got me Indiana Jones and Nickel Creek. Equally good, and a big surprise. And poor Matt had to hear ABBA anyway when Sarah Cox showed up with Mama Mia in hand for me :)

He also bought me slippers that have not come off of my feet since I opened them! They are so warm. They came in a bag, and I think we must have a little bit of cabin fever because we found it way too funny to put the bag on Brimley. Since my birthday, we have had inches and inches more of snow. It sure is pretty, but I am pretty much done with the slippery stuff. We have ventured out, but only to get the necessities. I am pretty happy staying inside my warm home getting ready for Christmas.

The dogs have been begging to go out and play in the snow, meanwhile Princess only goes out to go potty, and then runs back into the house, finds a blanket and falls asleep.

Holiday Party

This weekend we attended a party held by some friends of ours in the ward. There was tons of yummy treats to eat, and we started the night by playing the "Name Game" where a famous person's name was placed on your back, and you had to ask others yes or no questions to figure out who you were. I figured mine out about 20 minutes into it (I was Annette from the Micky Mouse Club) and Matt, who had the hardest one, was Porter Rockwell. It took a while because half the people around had no idea who that even was.

Then we did a White Elephant Gift Exchange. Matt started off with a vibrating back massager, but ended up with a $25 Gift card to Olive Garden. I took home the heart, star and puzzle shaped ice cube trays that I actually brought to the party. So what, I really liked them! There was this silly fish pillow that was fought over. There were seriously wars over this stupid thing, and I have no idea what the winner is going to even do with it! Its huge!Then we all tried our skills at guessing how many Christmas Corns were in a jar. I was second closest with 180. (120 being the correct answer)

Before we all headed out into the snow, we played a game called "Origins." If you have ever played Balderdash, it is a lot like that only you make up the origin of a saying to trick the other team. The boys won :( They were all very good liars....

Winter Storm

The news has been warning us all to prepare for "Winter Storm 2008" and its always funny to me to see how people freak out when it snows here in Washington. The roads are icy, the snow is 6 inches and the wind is cold, but cant we all live with it without the panic? If my little Jetta can make it up and down the frozen hills, I am sure that we will all be fine.

The exciting thing about this snowfall, was that it was Brimleys first experience with it! He just prances and romps all around the yard and comes in covered with little snow balls. He is so funny to watch. Then he chases Brisbane around until they are both exhausted.

We love the area that we live in, and Lake Stevens is even more beautiful when it snows. Here are some pictures I captured on my way to church.

This is our house with some snow, and the view from our back yard. That is Mount Pilchuck in the distance.

I am getting pretty excited for the holidays now that the winter has officially hit!

Getting pregnant-er

I am now half way through my pregnancy! I cant wait for him to be here, but I am also loving being pregnant...for now.

At my doctors appointment today:

I am measuring 20 cm

Baby's heart rate is now at 135

I have gained 3 pounds so far in my pregnancy (but I know there are plenty more pounds to come!)

The Dr mentioned that the ultrasound showed some calcification in one of ventricles of his heart. This is a common sign of Down Syndrome, so he checked other things such as head circumference, neck size and heart function for other signs of DS, and assured me that we don't have anything to worry about. Everything else looks normal. He sees this "calcification" quite often, and 90% of the time it turns out to be nothing. To be honest, I am not very concerned. Nothing could change how I already feel about this little life form.

Matt and I started a registry! We figured we should do it before the holidays, and we had time today to head into "Babies R Us" and pick out all the fun little things we will need for a newborn. It was very exciting, but also very overwhelming. There is a lot to having a baby!

Right now we are calling him "Sam"(short for Samuel). We will not officially give him this title until we see his little face but its hard not to call him by a name now. Sam has been our top boy name since before I was pregnant, and it has just kind of stuck. We also really like Kai, which is a Hawaiian name (Matt is from Hawaii, and we were engaged there) meaning "the sea."

We have both felt him move now, and nothing makes it more real than to feel something moving around inside of you! Matt was really excited to feel him kick (on Thanksgiving) and then I felt him push my hand away the next night. I have been feeling him from the inside for about a week or so now, but it was cool to feel him from the outside. We also borrowed a Stethoscope and we can hear his little heart when ever he is in the right position. It is so weird to realize there is a person growing inside of me, but I love it at the same time.

Thanksgiving 2008

This year, Matt volunteered us to host Thanksgiving dinner. I was fine with it considering he does most of the cooking anyway, and I knew that he would take over the turkey responsibility.


We had 11 people total for dinner, so I was mostly in charge of place settings and making sure that we had room for everyone. It was my family, and Matts family all at one table.


Before dinner, we had a little time to watch some football and play games.
Then we all chipped in helping out in the kitchen preparing the food as Matt carved his very first turkey. Everything turned out great, and I think everyone had a great time as well. Chris and TiffanyCory and AlexMy Mom and DadMatt did such a good job preparing for the feast, and we were all very impressed how well his bird came out. Good job Matty!

Our Baby Boy

What a shock it was, after being convinced I was carrying a little girl, to see clear and vivid proof that my instincts were wrong. We were are having a boy! Both of us are so excited, and we have to keep reminding ourselves that there is a little man growing inside of me. We were both set and ready to have a girl, and we both expected that news yesterday when I had my ultrasound.

The very first thing we saw when she put the sonogram on my stomach was two little legs, spread eagle, showing of his "gender". I about jumped off the bed when I saw this, and its so funny to us that he was practically saying, "Mom, you were wrong. Now stop calling me a she!"

We are so in love with him already!

Before the ultrasound, I drank a full glass of OJ to give him some energy for his pictures, and it worked REALLY WELL! He would not sit still for an instant, and its so weird that I am barely feeling him considering he was stretching out, kicking, punching and practicing what looked like jiu-jitsu moves :)

Here are some pictures of him, and although most babies look like this in their first pictures, I can already tell he is going to be one handsome guy!

And even though he seemed quite proud of his manhood, we are going to keep that picture to ourselves so that he'll have a little modestly left.

He's already signing!

We are so thankful to be a part of this, and we cant wait to meet him come April. Thank you to everyone who offered prayers when we were having trouble achieving this little miracle. He's here because of all of the faith that was involved.

Turkey Bowl

This year, Matt got signed up to play in the annual Turkey Bowl at UW. He and Brett were on the same team, along with a few other guys that Matt knew from the singles ward. Shauna also played, but she was on a different team. I didnt get to play this year since I am with child, but I did get to look cool on the field anyway :) I was excited to be there since I have never seen the stadium from the inside before.I was happy to watch, until I found out that I would be there for 5 hours in the cold sitting on wooden bleachers. Really, not my idea of fun. Luckily, I had a few friends there that I was able to pass the time with, and watching Matt score touchdowns is always entertaining. His team did really well, and Matt had a lot of fun.

Day Date

Matt and I took advantage of our Saturday off, and headed down to the Market. It was packed full of people, but we had a great time shopping and people watching anyway. We were lucky enough to eat lunch at a pub that had the Apple Cup on a big screen, because we love watching the Huskies lose :( We're used to it, since that is what they have been doing all year.

It was the perfect day to be in Seattle. Although November has brought with it the cold air, the sun was out and the market was just as colorful as always!

Baby Eli is here!

To check out more pictures of this handsome guy, click HERE.