smith family

Nothing sweeter...

2011-06-12T13:53:00.001-07:00

...than watching Daddy and Bug reading bed time stories to each other.

- Posted from my iPhone

Paige Elizabeth

2011-06-11T22:22:00.001-07:00

This little angel, my newest niece, was born on Monday (06-06-2011) afternoon. Cortney had this baby in her very own bedroom (on purpose haha) with the help of her husband and 2 midwives, proving once again that she is a rockstar! Zach's mom and I were also there to share this amazing experience and it is definitely something I will cherish for the rest of my life. Thanks again Cort for letting me be there and share your special memories! Love you!

- Posted from my iPhone

mama + bug

2011-06-08T20:33:00.001-07:00

View Full Album

Bug and I went on an last minute date to Qdoba tonight…it wasn’t fancy and I admit it had everything to do with Zach being out of town and me not wanting to cook, but I LOVED every second of it. My Bug taught me about colors (the walls in Qdoba are “back” and “lellow”), he said my nachos are “picey” (spicy), we laughed at all the trucks and cars driving past and I fell in love with this little boy over and over again. On the way home he sang me Wheels on the Bus and Itsy Bitsy Spider (which I wouldn’t have recognized at all if it weren’t for the hand motions) and then practiced his cow and horse sounds as we drove past the farms. After a long long long day at work, this was just what I needed.

On Music...

2011-05-19T13:30:00.000-07:00

Do you have a song that just speaks to you? A song that every time you hear it you can’t help but smile your biggest smile, dance in your car and sing your heart out? Caden does.

Here is a link

I hope you enjoy it as much as he does.

{Mumford & Sons – The Cave}

Typical Tuesday

2011-05-03T20:56:00.000-07:00

Have you been to my sister Rachel’s blog, Playing House? It’s my favorite blog ever and this week we are being featured on her Typical Tuesdays! Thanks for having us Rach!

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Let me just start by saying that when your husband is a commercial airline pilot with what I affectionately refer to as a “no-schedule schedule,” there really is no such thing as a “Typical” Tuesday (or a Typical any-other-day for that matter). But, with that disclaimer, this is what last Tuesday looked like!

Zach had a short layover in Seattle from Monday night through Tuesday early afternoon, so we were all home when our Baby Boy woke us up at 6:26 in the morning. I got Caden from his crib and we spent the next about 1/2 hour doing our favorite thing – SNUGGLING!

View Full Album

At 7:00 I decided it was about time to get out of bed and get ready for the day. Whenever Zach is home in the mornings I get in the shower and get ready while he takes Caden downstairs to get him fed and dressed. He also makes me an amazing latte and brings it up to in the bathroom to enjoy while I get ready…talk about SPOILED. :) And today I’m wearing my awesome hair thing that Rach made all the girls for our sister’s wedding a couple weeks ago.

View Full Album

After Caden and I are both ready to go I take him to his daycare where he goes 3 days a week (he’s home with Zach the other 2 weekdays) and then I head to my office a couple blocks from his school while Zach gets to enjoy a (rare) quiet morning at home, just him and Porter the dog, going for a long run and relaxing before he heads back to the airport. Once I get to work I turn on my computer and then get coffee #2 (and usually #3…but I swear at some point during the day I switch to green tea). I work at an engineering firm in Redmond, WA as an environmental geologist doing primarily soil and groundwater remediation.

View Full Album

Usually around 11:30 or 12:00 I go to lunch with co-workers (sorry, forgot to take pictures) and then occasionally stop by Caden’s school to peak in on him at nap time. The kids look so cute all laying on their individual cots around the play room snuggled into their blankets.

After work (usually around 4:30 or 5ish) I pick Caden up from school and we head home…Zach won’t get home until around midnight, so Caden and I are on our own. We play trains for what feels like hours and then we eat a super quick dinner (cause we’re too busy playing trains to cook) of breakfast food: pancakes, scrambled eggs, toast, tomatoes and bacon.

View Full Album

After dinner it’s time for a bath and by about 7:45 the baby is asleep in his bed!

View Full Album

Now is when I feed Porter the Puppy and walk through the house and assess the damage from the afternoon. I’m always amazed at how messy the house can get in a few short hours! I spend the next 20-30 minutes cleaning up after the tornado.

View Full Album

After that I head straight into my sewing/craft/office room where I spend the next couple hours working on my latest project…sorry, can’t share what I’m making, but I will say that it’s almost Mother’s Day!

I usually get into bed around 10 or 10:30 and tonight Zach crawled in sometime around 11:30 or midnight. Life is good!

December Snapshots

2011-01-02T20:54:00.000-08:00

I've lost steam on blogging lately. I'm finding that it's been pretty low on my priority list as things keep getting busier and busier. My mantra for 2011 is to "simplify and streamline." My goal is to cut back on our obligations and streamline things around the house in an effort to spend less time doing things we "have" to do and more time enjoying life doing the things we "want" to do. With that said, I haven't quite figured out which category ("have to do" or "want to do") the blog falls into for me.

Here are a few pictures from December...there would have been more, but blogger seems to have change the picture uploader from "NOT AWESOME AND PRETTY SLOW" to "PURE TORTURE" since I last upladed photos and I lost my patience. So, here are 2 pictures that are easily viewable and 2 pictures that the PURE TORTURE blogger photo uploader automatically rotated for me (from right-side-up to what you see here) so they're now the wrong direction.

(if you have any suggestions as to how to make this photo uploader not PURE TORTURE please let me know!)

Here are the cutest boys in the world.

After all this time...

2010-09-10T23:09:00.000-07:00

I'm finally reading again!

I love (love!) to read and since Caden was born I've had a really hard time with it and have really missed it. I don't have nearly as much spare time as I use to (surprise!) and when I do have some spare time I was always too tired to read and would usually end up just going to sleep. Well, I am very happy to say that I am finally reading again! That's right, it took almost a year, but I finally have the energy to get back to doing what I love. So, I have actually updated the book list on the bottom right hand side of this blog with books I've read recently and the book I'm reading now. Have you read any of them? Did you love them (or hate them)? I want to know what you think! And I'm always looking for suggestions, so if you've read something recently that you loved let me know!

Before I was a Mom...

2010-08-08T22:05:00.000-07:00

Before I was a Mom I made and ate hot meals.

I had unstained clothes.

I had quiet conversations on the phone.

Before I was a mom I slept as late as I wanted.

And never worried about how late I got into bed.

I brushed my hair and my teeth everyday.

Before I was a mom I cleaned my house each day.

I never tripped over toys or forgot the words to lullibies.

Before I was a mom I didn't worry about whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a mom I had never been puked on, pooped on, spit on, peed on, or pinched by tiny fingers.

Before I was a mom I had complete control of my mind, my thoughts, my body and all my feelings.

Before I was a mom I never held down a screaming child so a doctor could do tests or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got glouriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a mom I never held a sleeping baby because I didn't want to put him down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces because I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a mom.

Before I was a mom I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.

I didn't know that bond between a Mother and her child.

I didn't know something so small could make me feel so important.

Before I was a mom I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was OK.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much...
...before I was a Mom.

{author unknown}

We went to Maui...

2010-07-24T14:51:00.000-07:00

For 8 Days...

With Zach's parents, sister, her husband and her kids...

It was awesome!

I have tons of pictures...

This one is my favorite:

Or maybe this is my favorite one...

More to follow...someday...maybe.

Guess Who Learned a New Trick?

2010-07-05T20:40:00.000-07:00

Emotions of a Teething 10-Month Old

2010-06-27T12:39:00.000-07:00

{iPhone Pictures...sorry for the blur}

tooths

2010-06-26T09:54:00.001-07:00

This little bug has a fever...his very first one. It started late yesterday afternoon and was worse this morning. His top teeth are coming in (the top right one is totally poking through but I can't see the left one yet) and, unlike when his bottom teeth came in, he is definitely feeling it.

He looks miserabe, right? ;) Not even 3 seconds before I took this picture he was all out crying so I tried to take a picture of his sad-teething-crying face, but as soon as I pull out the camera all the tears disappear and he's happy as ever! Even teething and sick he's still my little angel baby.

2010-06-05T21:37:00.000-07:00

What could be sweeter than a little boy snuggling his Daddy?

MAYBE a little boy who is snuggling his Daddy when he notices that his Mommy is taking pictures of him so he gives her a sideways smile.

2010-05-26T20:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Caden developed an opinion. It seriously happened overnight. Monday he didn't care what he played with or where we went and Tuesday he definitely cared about all of that plus some. I never really realized how UN-opinionated he was until he all of a sudden knew EXACTLY what he wants and when he wants it. Yesterday he wanted everything and anything that ISN'T one of his toys including (but not limited to) the movies, the DVD player, anything in a couboard (is that how you spell it Janell? haha), anything plugged into an outlet, the outlet itself and my books (and if you know me then you know how I feel about people playing with - or touching haha - my books). When I wouldn't let him play with my laptop he cried, when I took away the vacuum cord he cried, when I wouldn't let him stick his fingers in the outlets he cried. Basically, yesterday there was a whole lot of me saying "no" and Caden doing a whole lot of crying.

Today was better. My little baby boy is just getting more opinionated by the moment, but now I'm ready for it. Yesterday I was surprised and unprepared and today I was patient and flexible. When he didn't want to take a nap at 2:00 like normal I said, "OK, no nap today. Let's go downstairs to play" and by 3:00 he was fast asleep in his Papa's arms. When he cried because he didn't want to be in the car we sang "Twinkle Twinkle" and "Wheels on the Bus" all the way home. And when he reached up to grab the toilet paper roll and turned around and looked at me with the HUGEST smile on his face I knew we were in trouble, but I wasn't upset, I was excited. Excited to watch this little boy grow up, excited to watch him explore the things around him, and excited to be a part of all of it.

An Assortment of May...

2010-05-24T18:22:00.000-07:00

If I had to pick a theme for May it would be either GROWING UP or CHANGE. Our little family has been doing lots of both of those things this past month. We started May by buying our first house! We moved in on May 5th (happy Cinco de Mayo!) and that very same day Caden started crawling! So as we unpacked we also baby proofed...we officially have locks on the coupards and baby gates at the stairs. Not even a week after he started crawling Caden figured out how to pull himself up to standing in his crib. A few days later Caden got his very first tooth and 5 days after that the second one popped up! Now Caden is crawling all over the place, pulling himself to standing on almost anything (including Porter) and is even starting to transition between objects while standing. He is so much more independent now than he's ever been before and loves to be on the ground and free to crawl around and explore his space. He loves anything electronic and one of his favorite things right now is the garage door! He pushes the button and stares at it going up and down with a HUGE smile and a look of awe on his face. He would do it over and over and over again if we let him.

Zach took the first two weeks off in May so we could move and get everything settled and it was so great to have him home for so long. I'm very happy to say that we CAN spend two weeks straight with each other and still want to hang out all the time. Being the wife of a pilot can be kind of tough sometimes when he's gone for 4 days at a time and I'm home by myself with the baby, so it was SO nice to have him around for 2 weeks straight!

Here is a random assortment of my favorite pictures from May in no particular order. I'll post some pictures of the house soon!

yummy flowers at Cottage Lake Park

The sweetest face ever

A family photo at Cottage Lake Park

My two favorite boys in the world

Shelby "helping" us paint the weekend before we moved in.

Grandpa reading Caden some bedtime books.

This boy LOVES the slide and the swings!

Taking his dog for a crawl through the park

awwww...my favorite boys again sitting on the deck in the backyard.

8 Months Old!

2010-04-28T20:46:00.000-07:00

Happy 8 month-day to my sweet Baby Caden!

Our House

2010-04-27T20:38:00.000-07:00

It's official...Zach and I are homeowners! Today we got the keys to our very own house! It has 3 bedrooms, an office, 2.5 bathrooms, a completely fenced backyard and we absolutely love it. We're planning on painting the downstairs this weekend, getting new carpet in the living room on Monday (the rest of the downstairs is hard wood and the carpet in the upstairs where the bedrooms are doesn't need replacing) then moving early next week. We can't wait!

2010-04-12T10:54:00.000-07:00

This morning I woke up, looked at the clock and saw that it was 5:58 am. I had been asleep for a full 8 hours straight. My Zachary was still asleep and there was no noise coming from the monitor so I crawled out of bed and snuck into Caden's room. I sat next to his crib and watched him sleep so peacefully for a few minutes. Sleeping babies are probably the sweetest things on the planet. I wanted so badly to take a picture of him, but didn't want to risk the flash waking him up in his dark room. I returned to my room and saw my husband still asleep and in that moment I was 100% completely content with my life. I absolutely love moments like that. Usually I'm too busy to stop and savor these little moments, but this morning I laid next to My Zach and just thought about how lucky I am to have this man and this baby for my family.

Zach and I have made and are making a lot of changes in our life right now and things have been kind of stressful. I think that during the happy and easy times it's so easy to be in love with your husband and coast through your relationship, but it's during the stressful times that we're really given the opportunity to learn new things about each other and grow as a couple. So without being too cheesy, I just want to say thanks. Thanks to My Zachary for being who you are, letting (and encouraging) me to be who I am and always making our family your first priority. I love you more now than ever before.

2010-04-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

For three nights in a row,

this boy (the human one, not the dog one)

has slept 12 hours straight

by himself, in his crib.

Things are good.

7 Months Old

2010-03-28T21:07:00.000-07:00

Today Caden is 7 months old. I can't believe how fast the past 7 months have gone! He is so much fun and I feel so lucky everyday that I get to be his mom.

Here are some of Caden's 7 month accomplishments:

He rolls all the way over - front to back and back to front - and I think is starting to see this as a way to move around a room or get where he wants.

Caden is officially a sitter! After a couple of big bonks (the first of which was totally my fault because I wasn't holding him tight enough and it took us both a while to stop crying about it), he has finally figured out how to sit and he even sits all by himself (with supervision of course) in the bath tub, so now he gets tub toys which he absolutely loves.

He WANTS to crawl so bad! He gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth for a little bit then scooches both of his knees forward at the same time until he falls on his face because his knees and hands are too close together.

He still LOVES his dog. Caden saves all his biggest smiles and laughs for Porter.

Caden is probably the most social baby I have ever met and he absolutely loves to be around people. Today we were at Home Depot for about 5 minutes and I was carrying him facing out in the Ergo and at least 6 people told me that he is such a happy baby or made some comment to me about his huge smile. I think that he must just sit in the front pack and smile at every person we walk past.

It has taken me 7 full months to accept the fact that Caden is not a natural born sleeper. We are still having nights where he wakes up every 2-3 hours (but there are also nights where he sleeps 8 or 9 hours straight) and his average nap is about 30-45 minutes. His aunt Cortney says that he is just "strong willed" which I think is a perfect description of his sleep. He is determined to be awake and playing with us as much as possible. Although it's tough, we've decided to deal with his sleep habits right now and start "sleep training" again when we move into our house since any training we do right now will probably be undone by the transition.

Caden is starting to learn some constanents! He says BaBaBaBa and occasionally I think I hear an M and a D sound.

Caden loves the song "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." Zach and I were driving home from Cortney's about a week ago and Caden was so tired and sitting in his car seat screaming. After about 10 minutes of him crying I just started singing Twinkle Twinkle and he almost immediately stopped crying and just listened to me sing the rest of the way home. Now whenever he cries in the car I sing it to him and he stops crying and listens with a big smile on his face.

He loves eating "solid" foods. His first solid food was avacado and in addition to that he now eats sweet potatoes, bananas, asparagus, oatmeal, brown rice, pears, peaches, apples and potatoes (I'm sure I'm forgetting something...). We have a little grinder and we take a little bit of whatever we're eating and grind it up for him. He loves to sit at the dinner table with us and eat his big kid food!

Caden's favorite toy is his Sophie Giraffe. He takes it with him everywhere he goes and loves chewing on her long legs and face. If you have a baby and do not have a Sophie Giraffe, I promise it is worth every penny you spend on it!

Caden gives "kisses", but just to his mom. He grabs onto my hair or my face or my neck and pulls me toward him with his mouth WIDE open and then slobbers all over whatever part of my face he can get in his mouth - usually my chin. It's pretty adorable...and a little bit gross. ;)

I could go on and on forever about how sweet and special Caden is. I have loved getting to know him these past 7 months and I love watching him grow and learn!

Brothers...kinda

2010-03-28T20:22:00.001-07:00

Tonight was a pretty exciting night for Caden. This afternoon, Porter found the Easter candy and ate an entire box of Peeps and a Cadbury Creme Egg in less than 5 minutes (he was so happy...I was not), so he wasn't feeling very good. How does this make an exciting night for Caden you ask? Well, sick Porter will lay in one place long enough for Caden to roll as close to him as possible and grab at his face and feet! Caden LOVES Porter so much, but Porter is so busy (he's only 2 and still all puppy) that Caden rarely has a chance to grab at him like he wants to. Caden slowly put his hand next to Porter's paw and when Porter didn't move he grabbed it! Then, when Porter still didn't move he brought his other little hand closer and grabbed Porter's pay and eventually got to his face and his ears! Caden was laughing the whole time he was grabbing at Porter and, as you can see, Porter barely moved the entire time.

2010 Vacations...is it time for another one yet??

2010-03-27T13:34:00.000-07:00

I realized today that I never posted pictures of our trip to Hawaii (besides my cell phone pictures) or our trip to Utah! So...here they are!

In February we took a trip to Utah for a week to see Auntie Nelly. One of the days we were there we took Caden to see the snow at Sundance. The rest of the time we spent just hanging out with our friends and family that we don't get to see very often and playing with Piko and Janell and Burk's new dog Mya (a super sweet bull mastiff puppy).

This is Kael - our friend Nichole's son who recently turned one - giving Caden a kiss right after they met. It was so adorable.

Back in January we took a family trip to Oahu. We spent a few nights on the west shore on Makaha Beach and a few nights in Honolulu. Although vacationing in Hawaii with a baby is VERY different from our pre-baby Hawaii vacations, we still had a blast. We loved showing Caden the beach and the sun. He loved the sand and (eventually) loved the ocean. He also loved the sun (or, more accurately, he loved not having to be bundled up to go outside) and he even loved his little Baby Bandz sunglasses. Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip. The ones of Caden laughing on the boat are some of my favorite of him in general...we were on the boat on the way back from Pearl Harbor and Caden was laughing so hard. He either absolutely loved the boat or was really tired...probably a combination of both. He was laughing and laughing the entire boat ride back to shore and so all the people around us were also laughing because, really, how can you not laugh when a 4 month old baby is cracking himself up. It was adorable and a memory that I will cherish forever.

Little Fish!

2010-03-25T13:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Zach and I took Caden swimming at the Redmond Pool. He absolutely loved it! Even after almost 40 minutes in the pool when he was super cold and his chin was quivering the smile never left his face. He did a lot of splashing, some floating on his back and even some dunking! The video on the bottom is of his first ever dunk in the water...a little unsure at first, but after a second the smile comes back! Hopefully we'll be able to take Caden swimming a lot and get him totally use to the water before boating season comes around this year! :)

Quite possibly the cutest boy in the world.

2010-03-22T11:35:00.001-07:00

Breastfeeding Sucks.

2010-03-22T10:51:00.000-07:00

Warning: This post is all about boobs; specifically mine. If that makes you uncomfortable, then don't read it haha. :)

About 99% of the time I absolutely love breastfeeding...OK, that's not exactly true; let me start over.

About 99% of the time I absolutely love that Caden is exclusively breast-FED, but that doesn't mean that I love breast-FEEDING.

Friday night I was feeling sick, tired, freezing cold and my boob (that's right, just one of them) was really sore. Saturday I still wasn't feeling great, but my boob didn't hurt as bad and I had a baby shower to host for one of my favorite people in the world, so I ignored it and went on with my day. Last night my boob was really sore and was really hard in places - not all over, just in random spots. This morning I called the breastfeeding center at Evergreen Hospital and, lucky me, I have either clogged ducts or am in the early stages of a breast infection...I should know which for sure by Wednesday. They gave me some at home remedies to try for the next 48 hours (including soaking my boob in hot water, lots of pumping, lots of tylenol and then applying ice packs) and if it doesn't go away by Wednesday then I most likely have a breast infection (aka: mastitis) and will need to go see the doctor for treatment.

Besides being in pain, I'm also pretty bummed about the whole thing. Breastfeeding is very physically demanding, but I really do love to do it because it's so good for my little guy. So far we have survived one of the worst cold and flu seasons in a really long time with not one cold and I really think that him being breastfed has a lot to do with that. Also, I've read online that after a breast infection has healed babies will sometimes refuse to nurse from the previously-infected breast causing it to go dry and I would be so sad if that happened.

So if anyone reading this has a breast infection story that ended happily I would love to hear it right now! :)

And here's the disclaimer: I really am so thankful that I've been able to breastfeed Caden these last 6.5 months with little to no issues (besides an oversupply issue, which is really just a blessing in disguise since my freezer is now stocked full of frozen breastmilk). There are so many benefits of breastfeeding for both mom and baby that it really is worth it despite the occasional sore, cracked nipples and now the possible infection.

Does this mean we're ADULTS?

2010-03-11T20:14:00.000-08:00

Zach and I made an offer on a house this week

...and they accepted!

We're still waiting for them to sign the purchase and sale agreement, so I don't want to say too much before they do in case something falls through. But I am EXCITED!!! I'm thinking they'll sign the paperwork in the morning. My anticipation level tonight is like Christmas Eve when you're about 8 years old times at least 10.

Zach and I have been together since May of 2002 (that's almost 8 years!) and I think we have aged (or matured?) more in the past year than we have in the previous 7 of being together. First having a baby and now buying a house! Oh, and speaking of aging, I'm pretty sure I saw a gray hair in my bangs today while I was driving down the road. I glanced in my rear view mirror and the sun hit it perfectly just long enough for me to inspect it at a stop light. My mom thought she saw one on the back of my head the other day and of course I got super defensive and told her she was wrong and then today I'm almost sure I saw one in my bangs...maybe it was just really blonde...? That's what I'm going to keep telling myself...for now.

My Little Hawaiian Beach Baby!

2010-01-28T11:10:00.001-08:00

Zach, Caden and I got home last night from a 6 day trip to Oahu where we spent 3 days on the West Shore in Makaha and 3 days in Honolulu at Waikiki beach. It was a lot of firsts for Caden - first time to the beach, first time in a pool, first time in the ocean, first time wearing sunglasses, first time in a hotel, first time sleeping in the closet (hahah - long story) and first time on a 6 hour plane ride (he's been to Salt Lake and So Cal before though, so not his first plane ride) just to name a few. We had a blast...here are a few pictures from my iPhone cause I haven't uploaded the ones from our camera yet. More to come...

PS. Do you know my brother Ryan? Does this first picture of Caden look EXACTLY like him???

Caden's Newest Trick!

2010-01-12T19:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week for Caden. First he learned how to do raspberries, then he learned how to sleep without a pacifier, then he learned to roll over!! It's so exciting to watch our little guy grow up and learn new things. Caden rolled over from his stomach to his back once for the first time last Monday, but hasn't done it since then and tonight he did it 4 times! I manged to get it on video once (with my iphone, so it may not be the GREATEST quality ever). And don't mind that I sound like a total nerd in the video. :)

Breaking Habits

2010-01-09T08:15:00.001-08:00

Caden has loved his binky since he was about 5 days old. Zach and I also loved Caden's binky since he was about 5 days old because it helped him take naps, not scream in the car and to just hang out at restaurants or some other public place. Zach and I stopped loving Caden's binky about 2 weeks ago when Caden started crying for it every 1 to 2 hours in the middle of the night. We went from sleeping 5 to 7 consolidated hours to 2 at the very most. No one was sleeping good, so Caden was cranky, Zach was cranky and I was very cranky. Something had to be done.

We first tried the solution offered in the book "The No-Cry Sleep Solution," which up to this point we have really liked. That book suggests that when the baby cries for the binky to give it to him until he calms down (maybe 1-2 minutes) then take it away before he falls asleep so he's not sucking himself to sleep and won't expect it to be there next time he wakes up. We tried this the first night and I have never seen Caden SO MAD. He was furious that we kept giving him the bink and then taking it away right as he was settling down. So furious in fact that he got more and more riled up and sleep was no longer an option. It took us a while to get him calmed down and then Caden finally went to sleep, with his bink, and Zach and I took turns getting up every hour to put it back in his mouth.

The next day we read everything we could get our hands on...internet, books (including Baby Whisperer, Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child, and Sleeping Through the Night just to name a few), blogs, etc.. 2 of the 3 books and everything we read on line said that at his age (4 months) you basically have 2 options: 1) continue to get up every hour to give him the binky until he's about 6 months old and has the ability to get it for himself, or 2) take it away cold turkey. Option 1 was not an option for us...Zach and I both work so we need to sleep, Caden was tired and not napping well and I was so sleep deprived that I was cranky all the time and taking it out on Zach like crazy. Another 2 months of this and we might be researching marriage counselors instead of sleep solutions!

Last night was night 3 of taking the binky away cold turkey and letting Caden learn how to soothe himself at night without some kind of negative sleep prop.

Night 1 was terrible. The absolute hardest night of my life (besides night 2). We put Caden to sleep and at first he didn't cry. He fell asleep and slept for about 2 hours. Then he woke up and cried in his crib for about 35 minutes. I cried in my room for almost just as long. After that he fell asleep and slept 4.25 hours (the longest stretch of consolidated sleep Caden or I have had in weeks). He woke up at about 4am and cried for less than 5 minutes and again at 7:00 and cried for less than a minute.

Night 2 was worse than night 1. After putting Caden to bed he cried for about 45 minutes (off and on). It was absolutely miserable for all of us and Zach and I had to talk each other out of getting him more than once, but after he finally fell asleep he slept for 8.5 hours STRAIGHT! He also slept until 9:30 the next morning. It was wonderful!

Night 3 was last night. We put Caden to bed and there were no tears at all. About 2 hours later he woke up, cried for LESS THAN 5 MINUTES and slept the rest of the night! I fed him at about 5:45 and he didn't wake up for the day until 8:45! What a switch!

We realized after doing all this research and implementing the no-binky-soothe-himself plan that Caden wasn't getting nearly as much sleep as he needed. Before this Caden only slept about 9 hours a night and now he's sleeping at least 11. He also would typically only sleep about an hour or 2 total during the day, but now he's taking longer and better naps. We didn't realize it, but our poor little baby was totally sleep deprived because he didn't know HOW to sleep and we were just making his sleep problems worse by facilitating his bad habits!

Before we had Caden I always said I would NEVER let my kids cry themselves to sleep. Making the decision to let Caden soothe himself to sleep was VERY hard and implementing and following through was possibly the hardest thing I have EVER done in my life. There were a lot of tears (from everyone), a lot of stress (the first night it took Zach and I a full hour to get back to sleep after Caden stopped crying because we were both so stressed out we literally felt sick) and a lot of second guessing, but in the end we followed our instincts and now we're only 3 days in and it is already worth it. We are binky free (with the exception of restaurants...I would rather use a binky than let him scream at a restaurant) and all 3 of us are sleeping so much better. I am happy to say that Caden is happy (as you can see in the picture above taken yesterday after he woke up from a 2 hour nap - another first), mom and dad are well rested and there are no marriage counselors in our forseeable future. :)

Happy Anniversary!

2009-12-14T01:27:00.000-08:00

This weekend Zach and I celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary! We went to dinner (just the two of us), got hour long full body massages (just the two of us), picked out, cut down and decorated our Christmas tree while listening to Christmas music the whole time (all 4 of us) and bought iPhones (for just the two of us - although Caden loves them too). It was such a great weekend and was one that helps me remember how blessed I really am. I love my boys and I love my life.

Sweetest boy ever...

2009-12-14T01:22:00.000-08:00

Visiting the Cousins

2009-11-22T17:32:00.000-08:00

A couple weekends ago Caden and I hitched a ride with my mom, Mark and Scott to visit Rachel, Chad, Lily and Eden for Eden's baby blessing. Caden didn't love the car ride, but he had a blast visiting with family and it was so fun to finally meet Eden!

My beautiful baby boy. I know I've said it before, but I just cannot get enough of him and his little smile! He is so happy and loves to smile at people. His new favorite thing to do when I'm holding him is to smile at someone then bury his face into my chest like he's shy or something. It's so cute. I love this picture too because it's of his "good side"...the hair on the right side of his head is MUCH shorter than the left and he has a bald spot directly on the back of his head. Hopefully it evens out soon!

Eden, Lily and Caden...and it only took about 9,000 tries to get this picture. Thank goodness for digital cameras! =)

We set Caden and Eden on the floor next to each other and they immediately held hands!

Rach and me with the babies.

Pop-Pop and Eden. This girl sleeps SO MUCH! She sleeps anytime, anywhere, no matter who is around or what is going on. At one point Chad set her on the couch so she was propped up and sitting by herself and she sat there for about 2 minutes then just fell asleep sitting up. It was so funny. She is the baby that has slept through the night pretty much since birth and makes all the other moms jealous haha!

Caden's Learning to Laugh!

2009-11-15T21:06:00.000-08:00

Over the past week Caden has started to laugh. It's the cutest thing in the world, so naturally we have some video. Of course, once we got the camera out he became distracted and couldn't do his BIG laughs anymore, but it's still really cute.

Also to come: 1) Zach's 27th Birthday celebration and 2) We went clamming this weekend in Ocean Shores and have some cute pictures from that. I'll put them up here soon!

The Official Announcement (finally)

2009-10-31T10:25:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!!

2009-10-30T16:12:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween from Porter and Caden!

I Never Realized...

2009-10-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

the power of one little smile

Everytime this little baby boy smiles at me my heart melts and everything in my world seems exactly as it should be.

Caden William

2009-09-30T05:59:00.000-07:00

caden william smith

08.28.09

9:44 pm

7 lbs 14 oz

20.5 inches

He is absolutely perfect and Zach and I are having so much fun being parents! On September 3rd we had our family pictures taken. Caden was 5 days old. We have a bunch of pictures, but here are some of my favorites.

{photos by McKenzie Montague www.Mckenzie-Photography.com}

Catch Up Part 2 - Chelen 2009!

2009-08-16T08:37:00.000-07:00

In August we went on our 2nd annual Chelan trip (click here to see Chelan 2008) with our friends Erin and Eric. We drove the boat over to Chelan on Thursday and camped until Sunday at a beautiful boat-in only campsite. Zach and Erin did some wakeboarding, Zach went cliff jumping, we all swam, relaxed and spent hours on our floaties! Overall it was a great weekend and Zach and Eric even got to practice their MacGyver skills by fixing the boat when it broke down (over and over haha - and don't worry, it has since been taken to the shop and completely fixed). Porter of course came with us and he had a blast swimming and playing in the dirt. Overall, it was a great weekend!!

Catch Up Part 1 - 4th of July

2009-08-16T08:31:00.000-07:00

On the 4th of July Zach and I went with some great friends out on their boat on Lake Union to watch the fireworks. It was the most beautiful night to be on the water....totally clear and an amazing sunset!

33+

2009-07-13T15:02:00.001-07:00

We spent 4 amazing days this weekend boating and camping at Lake Chelan. That's right, I went camping at 33+ weeks and still had a great time - thanks in part to my queen sized blow up air mattress and my Snoogle - if you are pregnant and don't have a good maternity body pillow I totally recommend the Snoogle. It's worth every penny and can be bought at Babies R Us stores or just about anywhere online.

I'll post more about the trip later, but for right now, here is a picture of me and Baby at 33+ weeks.

July!

2009-07-01T13:44:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it's already July! As of July 1st I am officially 32 weeks along, which means in only 8 weeks (hopefully less haha) we'll have our little baby!

8 WEEKS = 2 MONTHS= 62 DAYS!!

No matter how I break it down it still seems like it will be here any day. We had our 32 week doctor appointment yesterday (we go every 2 weeks now). So far everything has gone so incredibly smooth that I'm just waiting for something to go wrong haha. I've never heard of a pregnancy being so painless, worry free, stress-less (I know it's not a word, but what's the opposite of stressful??) and relaxed as mine has been, so it seems like any day now something weird must happen to make up for it. ;)

Wednesday was our last Birth and Labor Preparation class at Evergreen Hospital. It was a 5 class series and Zach and I both learned so much about birth, labor, pregnancy and babies in general. I feel like I'm much more aware of the process and all of our options throughout the rest of the pregnancy and labor, which makes me feel much more prepared. And, let's face it, I'm kind of a planner and like to be as prepared as possible for every situation hahah. I'm definitely glad we decided to take the class!

Sorry no pictures...I'll get another belly picture up here soon.

Catch Up!

2009-06-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

It has been so long since I posted anything, so here are some pictures of what we've been up to...

Bellingham..........

We spent a Saturday in Bellingham to go to our friend (and old roomie) Casey's wedding at Semiahmoo. It was a perfect sunny day, so after having breakfast with Dad and Shelby, we took Porter to Blowdell to swim. Shelby saw the huge trees at the park and couldn't help but climb them. We then went over to Boulevard to hang out for a while. Casey's wedding was absolutely beautiful and we're so happy for them! And this last picture of Zach at the wedding is probably one of my favorite of all time...aren't I a lucky girl? =)

San Jose Del Cabo..........

Our last doctor approved international vacation with no kids. The beach was pretty much empty (between the bad economy and the swine flu, I don't think much people are traveling to Cabo these days), so it was absolutely perfect. Super quiet and peaceful...just the way we like the beach to be. We were in Cabo for 5 perfect days at our all-inclusive hotel where we didn't have to do one thing and not only did I NOT check my voicemail or email one time, I didn't even miss it...a sign of a really good vacation. =)

Friends and Family...............

Of course we have spent as much time with our friends and family as possible. We went to Benihana's and then saw Grease at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle with Erin and Eric. We celebrated my 26th birthday last week (wow, we're getting old! haha) with boating and bbq. We played with our super cute niece and nephew Audrey and Ian.

We Moved............

I am so excited to have moved into a bigger apartment and I feel like I can finally start getting ready for our new little baby to come! Since I wasn't too much help with the move, Erin and Eric came over on Friday to help us finish packing and load up the truck. Then Zach's parents and my mom and Mark came on Saturday to help us finish loading and move everything to the new place. The move went really smoothly and now we're just working on getting settled. THANKS SO MUCH TO OUR WONDERFUL FRIENDS AND FAMILY FOR HELPING US WITH THE MOVE!!!

Golden Gardens

2009-05-17T09:53:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Zach, Porter and I went to the Golden Gardens in Ballard. The sun was out and it was absolutely beautiful! We walked along the beach, and Porter got to swim in the ocean. And we ate at Paseo's for lunch and if you haven't been there you should definitely go. It's a Caribbean sandwich shop and is right down the street from the gardens (there's also one in Fremont). You'll recognize it because it looks like a hot pink firecracker stand with a huge line outside of it of people waiting to order (seriously, I think the firecracker stands you see in grocery parking lots may even be bigger...Paseo's has no inside seating, just a couple of picnic tables).

Aren't my boys cute??

Porter is one of the most expressive dogs I know...I love when we can catch some of his crazy expressions on camera!

Here's another one of Porter's many expressions. This is his fake smile. =)

Here's the baby bump at 25 weeks! Everything is still going so well with this baby boy. At our 24 week appointment on May 5th, they did the gestational diabetes tests and everything was totally normal except my iron levels, but it's apparantly pretty common to develop anemia at this stage of pregnancy. I'm now taking an iron supplement in addition to the prenatals and folic acid, so hopefully in 6-8 weeks when they test me again for anemia everything will be back to normal. And, if you ever have to take iron pills, I strongly recommend "Slow FE." They're definitely more expensive than the other options, but I have been taking them for over a week now and haven't experienced any of the negative side effects commonly associated with iron pills. We are starting to order furniture which is so fun (for me anyways...I don't think Zach thinks it's as much fun as I do haha) and are getting very close to the 3rd trimester!

Easter Weekend

2009-04-14T21:01:00.000-07:00

We spent Easter with my entire family! We had so much fun and I absolutely LOVE it when everyone gets together. We spent Saturday day in Seattle doing touristy things and then went up to Bellingham for Saturday night and Sunday day. I have a TON of pictures, but here are some of my favorites (in no particular order)...

Knutson, Satterthwaite, Smith, Meynders, Meeks and Probst Family Picture!

My pretty dog doing what he does best...looking adorable.

Even Lily fed the seagulls!

Lily LOVED riding around Pikes Place on her Pop-Pop's shoulders.

All the kids (minus Chad) outside of Pikes Place.

Lily loved her balloon...for about 3 whole minutes until she popped it.

Kung Fu Ninja

Lily being cute...as always!

Lily and Janell

The Satterthwaite and Smith Family

Janell and Burkley

Porter jumping into Lake Whatcom

Porter and Zachary at Ivars on the Pier

Feeling PREGNANT: Update to "Feeling FAT"

2009-04-13T16:01:00.001-07:00

Just a quick update to my earlier post called "Feeling Fat" (click there to see the earlier post). I'm at 20 weeks - officially half way through the pregnancy - and am definitely no longer feeling fat, but am definitely feeling pregnant. I've listed below the main reasons (although I'm sure I'm missing some of them) why I've started to feel more pregnant than fat.

I can feel the baby moving on a regular basis! It's hard to feel like I'm just getting fatter when I can feel our sweet little boy kicking and pushing on me all the time! It's the most incredible thing ever!
I listened to everyone's advice and went out and bought some maternity jeans (I even got 1 pair of Paige maternity jeans which I absolutely LOVE and are well worth every penny I spent on them!) and it is amazing the difference wearing a pair of jeans that actually button and zip all the way makes! I also banished all jeans that don't fit me anymore to the very bottom of the drawer so I won't be tempted to TRY to squeeze into them anymore.

I have a pretty obvious baby bump...so obvious in fact that when I was looking at bikes at REI for Zach last Saturday the sales guy said, "I see you've got one baby on the way, if you want to have anymore I would look at the next size down" (the bike I was looking at was apparantly just a TINY bit too tall). That was the first time a complete stranger has said anything about me being pregnant!
I have a super sweet and loving husband who tells me almost every day how beautiful he thinks I am! I am so lucky and couldn't imagine going through this without him.

And here I am at 20 weeks.....

It's a BOY!!

2009-04-13T15:48:00.000-07:00

Zach and I had our 20 week ultrasound on Friday, which means in 4.5 short months we’ll have a little baby!! The ultrasound was amazing! It was our third ultrasound, but the first one where the baby is actually big enough to see all of its organs and parts…including little boy parts! We’re definitely having a BOY!! The ultrasound technician was saying that our little baby is definitely not shy because he was more than willing to show off to make sure we were 100% aware that he is a boy. I’m pretty sure that even if Zach and I went into the ultrasound NOT wanting to find out the sex of the baby, we still would have left knowing that he is a boy!

Everything is going great! According to the doctor, the baby is very healthy and developing exactly like he should be. He’s a little over 6 inches long now (not including his legs) and has a heart beat of 140bpm. I’m feeling great and am extremely fortunate to be so healthy – I still have not experienced even 1 day of morning/afternoon/night sickness! Also, the doctor says my weight gain is right on target, our down-syndrome and cystic fibrosis screening all came back negative and, at this point, she’s not worried about anything.

Zach and I are both extremely excited about our little boy! He’s due September 1st, so we’ve got about 4.5 months to get ready, but I’m sure it will fly by. I still can’t believe we’re already half way there!!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Also, we had such a fun weekend with my entire family over Easter...pictures coming soon!!

Just so you Know....

2009-04-09T11:41:00.001-07:00

I am so excited I can't even contain it! Tomorrow we have our 20 week ultrasound, which means we'll (hopefully, assuming Baby is cooperating) be finding out if our little Baby is a boy or a girl!!! Also, right after our doctor appointment, Janell, her new boyfriend Burkley and Jenn fly home, then later that night Ryan, Rach and Lily come home and then Saturday Shelby and Sue come down and we'll have the ENTIRE family home for the weekend!!! It's going to be so much fun and I have been looking forward to this day for months!!!!!

Warning: Keep This Away from Dogs

2009-04-02T07:15:00.000-07:00

Just a note before you read this story: Please don't judge my sweet Porter dog by his terrible behavior yesterday. I promise that he is one of the most well behaved dogs I've ever known and this was completely out of character for him. =) Also, please remember that I am 4.5 months pregnant and extremely hormonal.

Yesterday I came home from work early because I was really tired and wanted to take a nap before having dinner with some girlfriends only to walk into my house and see a literal disaster area. I walked in the front door to find 2 pairs of my shoes completely ripped to shreds (1 a pair of cheap black flip flops - not a huge loss, the other ones my super cute brown shoes with a kitten heel and a silver buckle that I got in Vegas and loved) and Porter sitting in the middle of it completely oblivious and so happy to have me home. I was pretty mad, so I grabbed Porter to put him in his crate so I could clean up the mess without him trying to play with me and making it worse, but when I got upstairs where his crate is the situation got even worse. I have a shoe box with ziploc bags full of sand that I've collected from every trip we've gone on where we've encountered sand that I keep under the bed. Well, the box was torn to shreds and there was sand all over the carpet. By this time I was furious, so I stuck Porter in his crate and proceeded to save as much sand as possible (I was able to save quite a bit cause he did a pretty good job of keeping it all separated and piled up). After cleaning up all the sand (sidenote: I LOVE MY DYSON VACUUM!! There is not 1 grain of sand left in the carpet now and there was A LOT of sand to begin with! It just sucked it all up, no problem whatsoever) I went back downstairs to clean up the shoe pieces and vacuum down there too. As I was cleaning up bits of shoe, I found a completely empty bottle of Johnson's Baby Oil with the lid chewed off. If it was possible for me to get even more mad at that moment then I did, because now I had an empty bottle of baby oil and no idea where the contents had gone. After I vacuumed the carpet downstairs I began crawling around on my hands and knees looking for oil spots...I found a couple and cleaned them up, but did not clean up even close to enough to account for the entire empty bottle when I realized that Porter must have drank the rest of it. So first I was mad and I sat down to try to relax, but then started to panic because I had no clue if baby oil is poisonous. I dug the bottle out of the garbage and called the vet. The vet said he wasn't sure and I should call the Seattle Emergency Pet Hospital, so I got really nervous and called the pet hospital. They said they couldn't be 100% sure and I should call the Washington State Poison Control Center. So by this time, I was scared to death, felt terrible that I yelled at Porter and stuck him in his crate to be poisoned to death and was totally crying. I called poison control and they said that since Porter isn't a tiny little dog that it will most likely act as a laxative, but that I should watch him close for signs of respiratory problems that may indicate pneumonia (apparantly if you inhale baby oil into your lungs you can develop pneumonia). Relieved, I ran upstairs to let Porter out of his crate and tell him how sorry I was for yelling at him and when I let him out I realized that his tail, back legs and butt were COVERED in baby oil (and nope, his hind quarters weren't covered in oil when I got home...I'll let you figure out how it got there hahah)! So crying even more now, I threw him in the bathtub to wash him off (which is where I was when my friend Erin came to pick me up for dinner haha). Porter and I then spent the rest of the night trying to get some sleep between our trips outside (and between cleaning up doggy puke - TMI? haha). So after a very restless night, I'm staying home from work to 1) try to get some more sleep and 2) make sure Porter doesn't have any accidents in the house.

After all this, I can't help but think that Porter is just doing his part to help me prepare for what is coming in 4.5 short months... =)

Did I Mention We Went to Hawaii?

2009-03-28T12:22:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago Zach and I packed up and went to the Big Island for 5 days. My friend from college got married in Kona, so we figured that was the perfect excuse for a Hawaiian Vacation! We of course had a blast and enjoyed the sunshine and heat for a few days. We did some snorkling and Zach even went surfing! We spent most of the time in Kona and then spent a couple days in Hilo. Unfortunately, we didn't really get to spend much time at the volcano since the sulfer dioxide emissions were about 4 times the normal levels and there were signs all over the park that basically said "if you're pregnant you shouldn't be here." I was a tiny tiny bit disappointed about that since I was pretty excited to see some lava, but I guess we'll just have to go back soon!! And it wouldn't be a REAL trip to Hawaii if one of us didn't come back sunburned...this trip I was the lucky one. =)

Isn't Zach cute? We found this coral on the black sand beach and he took this picture. Inspired by our photographer friend McKenzie Montague (www.mckenzie-photography.com)

Akaka Falls in Hilo- 442 feet long!

Me standgin on the basalt at a black sand beach in Hilo. The prettiest bright green vines were growing out of them!

Mr. and Mrs. Carl and Janielle Linder

The Green Sand Beach in South Point. It looks way more green in person.

Beach, basalt, palm trees, ocean and sunshine...pretty much perfect!

Me and Zach at the rehearsal dinner

Kona, Hawaii Temple

Hapuna Beach

Feeling FAT

2009-03-26T19:37:00.000-07:00

I promise I'm not complaing, just seeking some helpful advice :). I'm about 4 months along and am in this weird in-between size place and don't know what to do about it! I'm stuck in a constant battle between my favorite jeans and my bulging belly and even though I definitely LOOK pregnant, I'm just FEELING fat. Maternity clothes are WAY too big for me still, but my regular clothes are so tight and uncomfortable! My sweet mama took me shopping on Saturday and bought me some super cute loose fitting and empire waist shirts (not maternity - all bought from stores I typically shop at haha) that I'll be able to wear for the next few months at least, but I'm struggling with my pants. I can button my jeans still - but after a few hours it's very uncomfortable, maternity pants are definitely not an option as I'm not even close to being big enough yet and the rubberband option around the button is definitely the best one so far but even that gets pretty uncomfortable (and not to mention that I'm paranoid all day at work that my shirt will come up and someone will see a rubberband holding my jeans together!). My sweet sister-in-law gave me a bella band, which i also like, but after a few hours of wearing it starts to hurt and be uncomfortable too. My favorite time of day lately is when I get home from work and can change into my sweat pants! What do I do? Buy some regular jeans a couple sizes too big and hope they last me for a little while? Does anyone know if True Religion, Citizens or Hudson makes maternity jeans ;)?

I know most of you ladies who read my blog have had babies...what did you do during the awkward in-between stage?

New Camera!

2009-03-09T19:32:00.000-07:00

Zach and I finally broke down and got a new camera (a Nikon digital SLR)! We ordered it about a week ago, and it finally came today!! I was so excited to test it out, so I spent forever figuring out how to use it (it's not nearly as simple as the regular point and shoot cameras!) and then took Porter to the park to test it out!! It is REALLY hard to get good pictures of Porter because he is so dark that he usually just turns out to be a black blob, so he is the perfect guinea pig! Besides my not-so-great picture taking skills, every picture turned out great!! His eyes aren't bright white and he looks adorable (it helps that he's pretty freaking cute anyways). Hopefully my picture taking skills will get better with time. =)

Happy Valentines Day!

2009-02-14T17:42:00.000-08:00

Zach and I went to the doctor on Friday and had our first ultrasound! We got to see our little Baby moving around like crazy! He (or she, we'll find out in April) was kicking his legs and flailing his arms around throughout the entire ultrasound. The technician commented that the "Baby is definitely awake and super active!" It was one of the most amazing things we've ever seen and both of us left saying we could have watched the Baby for hours! It was hard for me to watch the baby on the screen and compleltely comprehend that what I was watching in the screen was actually happening inside me that exact second! It all seems so surreal still and I keep thinking that once I start to get more of a belly it will really sink in...although I'm sure I won't realize the full magnitude of what's going on won't sink in until we actually get to hold our little baby in our arms!

The Baby is currently about 2 inches long and his heart rate is 179 beats per minute. He has officially developed all major organs and body parts (we saw 2 legs and 2 arms in the ultrasound) and he's just working now on getting bigger and forming things like teeth buds and hair folicles.

Zach and I are super super excited!!! Here's one of the pictures from the ultrasound.

This makes me smile...

2009-02-11T09:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29123220/

I'm sure you've heard of the wild fires in Austrailia that are killing a lot of people and destroying a huge area...I read this yesterday and it is so cute! I may have had 1 or 2 tears (disclaimer: ever since I've been pregnant I pretty much cry at EVERYTHING).

I hope it makes you smile too!

2009-02-05T18:10:00.000-08:00

So it's been a long time since I blogged because all I've wanted to blog about was some super exciting news, but I had to wait until we went to the doctor, told our families and told my boss before I started posting any news of it on the internet......So incase you didn't guess it by the huge introduction,

ZACH AND I ARE GOING TO HAVE A BABY!!!!

We found out that I'm pregnant on December 27th and it has been the hardest secret to keep of my entire life! We went to the doctor on January 20th and they did some blood work and a sonogram. It was mostly just to check the size of the baby, determine our due date and make sure that the heart was beating like it's supposed to be. It was SO ExCITING! The baby is developing exacly like it's supposed to, his heart is strong and beating like crazy!

After the doctor appointment I took the sonogram picture (below) and made a picture frame for all of our parents. The picture frames had 3 5x7 openings so in the left one I put a picture of me, Zach and Porter from this summer on the boat, in the right opening I put the the Baby's sonogram picture and in the middle opening we put this poem:

I do not have a face to see,

Or put inside a frame.

I do not have soft cheeks to kiss,

I don't yet have a name.

You can't yet hold my tiny hands,

Nor whisper in my ear.

It's still too soon to sing a song,

Or cuddle me so near.

But all will change come September 1,

That's when they say I'm due.

I'm your new grandbaby,

and I can't wait till I meet you!

All I ask between now and then,

Is your patience while I grow.

I promise I'll be worth the wait,

Because of all the love we'll know.

We wrapped up the frames like presents and gave them to each of out parents and I think they really liked them! Everyone was very surprised (espeically since Zach and I didn't tell anyone that we were even thikning of starting a family). It has been such an exciting few weeks and I could go on and on forever about it! Zach and I are both very very very excited and I'll definitely keep you all updated over the next 7 months! Our next doctor appointment is next Friday (February 13th)!!!

Snow!

2008-12-19T09:29:00.000-08:00

Here's a little bit of what Zach and I have been up to the past week or so....

1. Bought and decorated our perfect Christmas tree!

We love going to the you-cut farms and walking through the rows and rows of Christmas trees until we find the perfect one to cut down and take home with us. This year was even more fun, because we went to a farm out in Duvall (where people apparantly are a little more dog friendly than Redmond) and Porter got to come and run around the Christmas tree farm with us while we picked it out. We came home with a beautiful 9-foot tall (I'm not sure if it's actually 9 feet tall - could be like 8ish, but it is HUGE) Grand Fir (or maybe Noble? haha).

2. Played in the snow...a lot!

Here in Redmond, we have about 6-10 inches of snow and Porter LOVES it. I am so glad we have a 4-wheel drive vehicle because yesterday we were able to make it down our hill, past all the stranded buses, jack-knifed trucks, abandoned cars and the closed 520-West Lake Sammamish freeway entrance to Marymoor Dog Park - Porter's favorite place on Earth (even though the roads were too bad and I couldn't make it into work hehe). We had so much fun running around the park and were surprised to see many other dogs there (with their people) who made it to the park in the storm.

Zach loves to embaress Porter at the park by picking him up like a little baby. All the other big dogs point and laugh at him.

3. Went to Cort and Phil's house to decorate cookies and build a gingerbread house with the kids.

Audrey got all dressed up to play in the snow, and this year I think she actually liked it! As always, she looked adorable and even had pink kitty snow boots to top off the outfit. She loved decorating the gingerbread house with Uncle Zach - maybe almost as much as she loved eating the M&Ms!

Happy Anniversary!

2008-12-13T12:55:00.001-08:00

Dear Zach,

When we first met, almost 7 years ago, I immediately fell in love with your perfect smile, your bright blue eyes and your ability to constantly keep me laughing. I quickly went from loving those little individual things about you to loving you as a whole and I wouldn't want to imagine what my life would be like without you in it! Thanks for being you and loving me the way you do.

Can you believe we've been married for 5 years already?? Thank you for the most amazing five years of marriage a girl could ever ask for! I can't wait for what is yet to come...I love you!

Love,

Jess

Thanksgiving

2008-12-06T12:48:00.000-08:00

Since Zach was out of town this Thansgiving, I spent the weekend up in Bellingham with my Dad. Shelby came down from Canada and Janell flew up from Utah (yes, she is the other brunette in the pictures! I know she's barley recognizable now that she's not blonde anymore haha). We had so much fun and I am so glad that the 5 of us (Ryan, Janell, Shelby, Dad and I) were able to spend some much needed time together! I am so thankful to have such an amazing family!!

Saturday.

2008-11-24T11:20:00.000-08:00

http://www.kirotv.com/news/18041505/detail.html

Saturday afternoon two people were shot at the Southcenter mall in Tukwila, where me and 2 of my friends just happen to be shopping. We were on the ground floor in Forever 21 and the shooting happened about 20 feet from us. The three of us were wondering around the store when the first gun shot went off. It was probably one of the loudest noises I've ever heard and I couldn't even move. I looked toward the sound and saw people in the main hallway (where the shooter was) diving to the ground when the second shot was fired. At the second shot I dropped my stuff and ran toward the back of the store where I hid, along with the other shoppers, behind a display table as the manager of the store yelled to the employees to shut and lock the door. I was running when I heard the third, and final, shot. We hid behind the display table for probably 3-5 minutes (although it felt like forever) when the Forever 21 employees moved us all (single-file, stay low to the ground) into the dressing room, where we stayed for probably 10 minutes until we were told to move to the top floor of the store and hide in the far back corner. We were in Forever 21 for probably close to an hour before they let us leave. As we walked out we were surrounded by Police and SWAT...they had positioned themselves the entire way - out the doors of Forever 21, down the hallway to the escalator, down the escalator and out the mall exit - so that we either had police on one side and wall on the other, or police on both sides.

I am so thankful that the three of us were lucky enough to be far enough away that we only heard the shots, but did not see the shooter or his victims. When I looked toward the hallway where they were laying, there were manaquins and clothes racks blocking my view of the ground, so I could only see the people grabbing their kids and diving to the floor, which is an image I don't think I will ever be able to get out of my head. It was, by far, the scariest thing I have ever experienced.

The only reason I'm writing about this is because it made me realize how vulnerable we all are in our every day lives. After all the chaos and the bad that that kid with a gun caused on Saturday, he forced me to realize that it can all end in a second and at a time when we are absolutely not expecting it. And if it does, do the people I love KNOW that I love them? Do my family and friends know how much I appreciate and depend on them? I hope so. And from now on I am going to do whatever I can to make sure of it.

Ocean Shores Clamming!

2008-11-17T18:35:00.001-08:00

This weekend Zach, Porter and I went clamming at Ocean Shores with some of our greatest friends ever. Dan pretty much planned the whole trip and it was perfect! We had 9 people go and stayed in a cute little hotel (2 bdrm, full kitchen, slept 8 on beds and 1 on couch). We caught TONS of clams and had an absolute blast!! I have a lot of pictures from this weekend, so here are just a few of my favorites...

Sunday morning.

Eric getting SUPER excited for the clamming. And the sunset Saturday night was AMAZING!

Eric and Zach with their haul...almost better than Halloween! Except it's clams and not candy...not quite as cool.

One of the many clams Zach caught. He said he hasn't been that dirty in years! He had about an eighth of an inch of dirt COATING his arms...He said it acted like insulation and kept him warm. =)

Me, Erin and Heather pre-clamming.

Maybe one of my favorite pictures of me and Erin. My net made a perfect hat (before we put the clams in it...I would not put it on my head after that haha).

Group Photo!

Me and Zach standing on a HUGE log!

Such a CUTE little puppy!

My clamming outfit...I know, pretty hot.

Safety First!

2008-11-10T18:53:00.000-08:00

I just want to start by saying that Porter's new vest is not breaking

Zach's Cardinal "No-Clothes-On-Dogs" rule

and does not fall into the category of

Rach's biggest pet peeve, "Dressing Animals Like Humans"

because his new vest is

Strictly for Safety and Not At All for Fashion

(even though it is so freakin cute on him!).

Incase you haven't noticed, Porter is ALL black - not one spot of white on him (except for one tiny gray hair on his back), so it's almost impossible to see him at night unless you shine a flashlight directly into his eyes. And since it's been getting dark so early lately I haven't wanted to take him for walks at night because I'm afraid he'll get hit by a car or something since he's so hard to see, so I ordered Porter this awesome high visibility safety vest online and we just got it today!

This is offically Porter's new camping and walking-at-night outfit! Sorry the pics are kinda hard to see his cute little face...it's really hard to take good pics of a black dog wearing a reflective vest!

Friends Thanksgiving

2008-11-09T11:56:00.001-08:00

Last night we got together with some great friends and had Thanksgiving dinner. I made a turkey for the first time in my life - I even brined it and cooked it without using an oven bag - and I think it turned out really well! Everyone made something for the dinner and everything turned out so good!! Kerstin and I even decorated some chocolate cupcakes to look like turkeys (which was no small task!).

I am so thankful to have such amazing, fun and supportive friends!

San Jose Del Cabo

2008-11-09T11:22:00.000-08:00

Zach, Milo and I went to San Jose del Cabo a couple weeks ago. Milo had to go down there for work (he's a pilot for Haggen and had a 4-day layover in Cabo), so Zach and I just tagged along. We had a great time on the beach! Among other things, we swam A LOT, laid in the sun and set up Milo's slackline on the beach...it was a blast! We stayed in a beautiful condo in San Jose del Cabo, which is about 15 minutes outside of Cabo San Lucas. I really liked San Jose...the town was clean and the people were very friendly. It's also less "American-ized" than Cabo and I like when I go to Mexico to actually FEEL like I'm in Mexico and not just in California. Here are some of my favorite pictures (in absolutely no order)!

My New Favorite Website

2008-11-05T21:46:00.000-08:00

http://cdn1.ustream.tv/swf/4/viewer.45.swf?cid=317016

These are the cutest puppies ever! It's a live feed and, as far as I can tell, is on all the time. I seriously have the puppies on my computer all day while I'm at work, so whenever I feel stressed out or overwhelmed I look at the cute little puppies sleeping or playing and I automatically feel totally better!! (Thanks Kerstin!!!)

Just so you know, there are 3 girl puppies and 3 boy puppies and they just turned 4 weeks old on November 4th.

The girls are: Autumn (Purple collar), Ayumi (Yellow collar) and Amaya (Red collar)

The boys: Aki (Green collar), Akoni (Black collar) and Ando (Blue collar)

Yes, we can!

2008-11-05T10:10:00.001-08:00

I typically don't like to blog about politics, but last night we were able to witness a monumental event in US history and I am so excited! I expected Obama to win last night, but I was shocked and amazed at the amount of support he recieved. I know that probably most of you who read my blog are not excited about Obama's victory, but I have very high hopes for him. I hope he will begin to unify our nation that is currently so divided by race, social classes and politics (among other things).

I am so excited to finally have an honest, charismatic, well educated man in the White House. Someone who we can be proud to call our President and someone who people in foreign countries respect and belive in.

Update: I had his speech here, but the blog was really long, so I deleted it...it's great, so definitely read it!

Porter at the Pumpkin Patch

2008-10-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

We took Porter to the Pumpkin Patch the other day and took some of the cutest pictures ever! I think he should start a new career as a dog model!!

I know that all of you with "human kids" (as I like to call them) and no "dog kids" who read my blog probably think I'm crazy with the amount of attention Porter gets. I've had more than a couple people tell me that "he's JUST a dog." Well, if you are one of those people who try to tell me he's "just a dog," then the following quote (sent to me from Zach's Dad, who loves his dog kids just as much than his human kids) is for you...

From time to time, people tell me, "lighten up, it's just a dog," or, "that's a lot of money for just a dog."

They don't understand the distance traveled, the time spent, or the costs involved for "just a dog."

Some of my proudest moments have come about with "just a dog."

Many hours have passed and my only company was "just a dog," but I did not once feel slighted.
Some of my saddest moments have been brought about by "just a dog," and in those days of darkness, the gentle touch of "just a dog" gave me comfort and reason to overcome the day.

If you, too, think it's "just a dog," then you will probably understand phrases like "just a friend," "just a sunrise," or "just a promise."

"Just a dog" brings into my life the very essence of friendship, trust, and pure unbridled joy.

"Just a dog" brings out the compassion and patience that makes me a better person. Because of "just a dog", I will rise early, take long walks and look longingly to the future.

So for me and folks like me, it's not "just a dog" but an embodiment of all the hopes and dreams of the future, the fond memories of the past, and the pure joy of the moment.

"Just a dog" brings out what's good in me and diverts my thoughts away from myself and the worries of the day.

I hope that someday they can understand that it's not "just a dog", but the thing that gives me humanity and keeps me from being "just a man or woman."

So the next time you hear the phrase "just a dog" just smile... because they "just don't understand."

New York (super late)

2008-10-29T08:23:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago (I've been such a slacker with the blog lately!) Zach, Ryan, Janell, Dad and I went to New York City! It was a super quick trip (there on Saturday morning and gone on Tuesday night), but it was jam packed with sight seeing! We spent the first night at a hotel in Queens and if I had Ryan's pictures I would post some pics of the AMAZING graffitti that was ALL OVER every single stationary object in Queens (including delivery trucks). It was definitely more like art than graffitti. Sunday we moved into Manhatten and stayed at the Dream hotel on 55th and Broadway and that's where we stayed the rest of the trip. We were 4 blocks from Central Park and about 10 blocks from Time Square, so it was the PERFECT location. We did a ton of stuff in our short time that we were there including:

Saw Chicago (the Broadway play) and I would suggest you save your money. Janell and I went to the matinee, which is still pretty expensive and it felt like we were at a high school play...pretty disappointing.
Walked all around Time Square
Went shopping on 5th Avenue...mostly just window shopping but H&M is definitely my new favorite store!
Went to Ground Zero and saw the construction site. Apparantly there is a memorial in a nearby building, which we didn't know at the time, so all we saw was a big construction site where they're starting to build new buildings.
Rode the New York City Subway EVERYWHERE. I LOVE the subway...so much fun and so many people to watch!
Went to Grand Central Station
Walked around Central Park
Went to Columbus Circle (by accident...we ran into it on our way to Central Park)
Walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and ate pizza at an amazing little pizza place Grimilids under the bridge
Took a little boat tour to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Next time I go I think I'll take a ferry TO Ellis Island and walk around.
Went to the Empire State Building (and didn't ride to the top because it costs $20/person to ride the stupid elevator...LAME!)
Went to Rockefeller Center
Walked all over looking at the amazing architecture
Didn't get mugged, punched, pushed or even yelled at 1 time by ANY New Yorkers!!

Here are some of my favorite pictures from the trip!

An amazing building on 5th Avenue. It's surrounded by sky-scrapers and is ancient!

Me and Zach at Columbus Circle. Manhatten in the background.

The pizza place under the bridge. Cash only, wait in line outside to get in, order pizza and antipasto (the only 2 things on the menu). SO GOOD!!! Well worth the trek to Brooklyn!

Manhatten from the boat.

Zach, me, Janell and Lady Liberty. It was windy on the boat!

Statue of Liberty

Ellis Island

Zach, me and Janell with our boat tickets

Me and Zach in Time Square

The Naked Cowboy in Time Square.

Me, Ryan and Janell right after we got off the Subway in Time Square for the very first time. I think we stood there for about 2 minutes with no clue what to do because we were so overwhelmed by how HUGE everything is!

The subway tracks in Queens. You can barley see the Chrysler building in the background.

My Little Graduate...

2008-10-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

Last night, Porter graduated at the very top of his class at puppy school! We've been going to puppy school for 9 weeks now and last night Porter had his final exam and graduation! And of course, I was there practically in tears with the hugest smile on my face ever, taking pictures. For his final exam Porter had to heel around the barn on leash, heel in figure 8s, sit and stay for 1 minute, lay down and stay for 3 minutes, stand and stay while Zach walked circles around him, sit and stay and come when called. Of course he passed all those with just a couple points taken off for lagging while heeling (did I mention the final exam was in a barn - there's A LOT of stuff in a barn that a little puppy wants to smell). Then, Porter got extra credit for heeling around the barn off of his leash and he did it almost perfectly! His final score was 188/165! Zach and I were joking around that Porter is our little valedictorian!! Now Porter gets to move on to advanced puppy school!!

Here's Zach and Porter right after he finished his test.

Me, Zach, Porter and Porter's teacher Robin. And there's his little diploma!! I can pretty much promise you that by the end of the day today that will be framed and hanging on our wall haha!

Porter's friend Tigger from puppy school. Tigger is so sweet and has such a sweet face! They loved to play together after class every week, so hopefully we'll get to see them at the park.

Also, Zach and I just got back from New York on Tuesday...so stay tuned for many pictures and blogging about our trip!!

Zach & Porter

2008-10-02T21:24:00.000-07:00

Ivars at the Pier watching the Seagulls...aren't my boys the cutest? =)

My New Nephew!

2008-09-28T19:58:00.000-07:00

My brand new perfect nephew made his way into the world on Friday, September 19 at about 3:15 pm! He was barely under 9 pounds and 22.5 inches long. Cortney had been having terrible contractions for about 2 full days and finally went to the birthing center at about noon on Friday. When they got there the midwife told her to go get some lunch and when she got back they would break her water. They got back at about 1:00 and broke her water and after about 2 hours Ian was here! Cortney was amazing! She had Ian at a birthing center in Totem Lake 100% naturally. Since she didn't have an epidural or anything, about 4 hours after Ian was born they got to go home! Ian was perfect from the very beginning and immediately had Audrey's same pouty bottom lip!

Cortney asked me a while ago if I would be there in the room with them when the baby was born and although I was a little bit excited, I was mostly terrified. Besides the video in junior high (which doesn't count), I've never seen a baby being born and I've (obviously) never had kids, so I really had no idea what to expect. The experience was very overwhelming, super intense, kinda scary, a little bit gross, and more than anything else, absolutely amazing. I finally understand why they call child birth a miracle.

Everyday I am so thankful to have such an amazing family and although I love little tiny newborn babies, I am so excited to watch Ian grow up and be such an important part of it!

Thanks, Cort and Phil, for sharing such an intimate moment with me. I love you guys!

Fun Labor Day Weekend!

2008-09-01T15:03:00.001-07:00

This weekend was full of parties (and of course I only have pictures from 1 of them!). Friday night we went to Erin's housewarming party to celebrate her and Eric's very first house! Erin's parents flew in from Arizona and we hung out at their new house, ate some amazing food and played rock band! Saturday afternoon was Janielle's engagement party! The party was at her dad's house here in Redmond. She is getting married in Mexico in March so we are definitely excited for that trip!! Sunday I went to Cortney's baby shower at Madam Fifi's tea house in Bothell. All of Zach's aunts and most of his cousins were there and we had so much fun celebrating our new nephew who we can't wait to meet! He is due on September 22, but we're hoping that he'll be here any day now! So it was a very exciting weekend full of friends and family! We are so fortunate to have such amazing friends and to have our family so close!!!

Fun in Chelan!

2008-08-25T14:43:00.000-07:00

Zach and I went camping at Lake Chelan this weekend with a few friends and had a BLAST! We drove the boat down on Friday and stayed in a boat-in-only campsite (a site only accessible by boat) and I am so sore today from wakeboarding and tubing! We had beautiful weather on Friday and Saturday, and OK weather on Sunday. We had over 170 pictures from the weekend, so here are a few of my favorites!

Our 3 little tents all side by side on top of the hill over-looking the lake. The view was amazing and the weather was nice enough that we slept without the rain fly on and could see ZILLIONS of stars! It was beautiful!

Porter on the boat. He LOVES camping, although the combination of eating excessive amounts of grass and wood and all day being on the boat was not great. I think he got a little bit boat sick twice and I ended up cleaning up doggy puke.

Erin (aka Mom hahah) making us spaghetti for dinner!

Me and Erin on the tube. We held on for SO long and when we finally fell off it HURT! :)

Family Photo...don't be surprised if you see this one on our Christmas cards this year!

Here I am wakeboarding! I got up on my first try and even crossed over the wake MULTIPLE times! I can feel this wakeboarding in every muscle in my arms and back today though...so sore!

Kerstin and Ollie pants! Ollie looked so cute (and a little big gay ;) ) in his little life jacket!

Erin and her husband Eric. I wish you could see Eric's sweet neon shirt that features a neon chimp holding a boom box and playing a guitar...priceless (or about $0.50...one of the two haha).

Me and two of my favorite girls ever. I always have so much fun whenever we're together!

No explanation necessary hahah

Zach is an amazing wake boarder!!!!

My Babies...

2008-08-15T10:39:00.000-07:00

This has NEVER happened. Kirk and Porter BOTH crawled up on the love sack with me and the three of us took a little nap. Proof that Kirky is finally comfortable enough with Porter that she would jump into the same chair (kind of a chair I guess) and sleep! We had to document this amazing moment, and unfortunately all we had nearby was a cell phone...sorry for the low quality, but you get the idea.

just a quick post to say...

2008-08-01T14:47:00.000-07:00

"having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of. you know whatever you do, they'll still be there."

{amy li}

and i am very lucky because i have 4 of them.

i love my sisters.

Backpacking!

2008-08-01T10:12:00.000-07:00

Zach, Porter and I went backpacking last weekend to Tuck Lake located in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness about an hour Northwest of Cle Elum (Eastern WA). The hike was about 7 miles each way. The first 5 miles were relatively flat, but the last 2 miles were straight up and down. I'm not even talking about switchbacks - just straight up. So we got on the trail at about 12:30 on Saturday, camped for the night and came home Sunday. I have NEVER seen Porter so tired as when we finally got to Tuck Lake! He slept so hard and didn't even wake up until after 8:30 in the morning on Sunday! We had a blast (despite it raining all night and a little bit in ght morning) and Tuck is BEAUTIFUL!

I don't really love the act of backpacking - the long walking carrying 30-40 pounds and being sore and tired, but I must say that the most beautiful places on Earth are only accessible by foot, so if you don't backpack you are truly missing out. Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the trip.

Zach and Porter checking out the view from above the lake.

Our campsite at Tuck. And there's me doing what I do best - reading my book (and yes, I do pack a book everytime we go backpacking...it's worth the extra weight)

Me and Zach and Lake at Lake Hyass (I don't think that's how you spell it) on the way up to Tuck.

Porter saw the snow for the very first time and he loved it! He was going crazy playing in the snowing, running and sliding and digging and eating it and kicking it! Everytime we passed snow we had to stop and take off his backpack so he could roll around and play. It was pretty cute.

Porter at Tuck Lake. I think he loves to have his picture taken.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On a sad note...When I leave the house I typically leave Porter upstairs, so he can run around a little bit but doesn't have full run of the entire house. Well, he's started chewing.

I came home from work on Wednesday for lunch and there was an ENTIRE box of kleenex in about a million pieces all over our room, a thermarest neck support pillow thing for the airplane in about 1,000 pieces and Zach's now band-less watch sitting on the floor.

Then last night I went out with a couple of girlfriends and came home to see my 2 books that had been sitting on my nightstand shredded into about 100 pieces. If you have known me for more than like a minute you probably know that not only do I love to read, I am totally OCD about my books. I don't like people to borrow them because when I get them back the pages may be bent or crinkled or I may not get them back at all. I love the smell of books and I have spent countless hours organizing my books on my bookshelves. I don't like to borrow books from the library because I want to keep them all forever...so needless to say, I'm a little crazy about my books.

Maybe I'm giving Porter too much credit when I say this, but I think he knows how OCD I am about my books and purposely destroyed these books because I have been reading them non-stop. I seriously almost cried while I was picking up the torn pages pieces of the covers off of my floor.

The good news is that we've finally been inspired to take Porter to puppy school and his first day is Wednesday (August 6th)!

My Favorite Kind of Weekend!

2008-07-24T11:23:00.000-07:00

Our last weekend was filled with fun, family and sun!! Here are a few pictures from last weekend...Janell flew in Friday night, we had the Satterthwaite family reuinion on Saturday and on Sunday Zach, Porter and I went boating. It was a perfect weekend!

All the little girls LOVE Zach. This is him holding my sister Shelby and my cousin's daughter (my second cousin?) Emily. This is also the only picture we took at the family reunion...I know...we suck. :) Oh and there's Janell in the background playing Guitar Hero.

Porter's first time on the boat! He was a little nervous at first, but by the end of the day he loved it!

He was nervous about swimming in the water and jumping off the boat where there is nowhere for him to swim to that he could stand on, so Zach put my life jacket on him and then all hesitation went away! After he had the life jacket we could barley keep him in the boat (and it was a lot easier to get him back on the boat since we had something to grab onto)! He'll be getting his own doggy life jacket soon!

My handsome husband :)

Porter was so tired after a whole day of boating and swimming!

Porter Must Have Known...

2008-07-17T14:39:00.001-07:00

that I ranted about him not sleeping on my blog yesterday because he slept through the ENTIRE night last night, so I got to sleep through the entire night also. I don't think we've slept an entire night since we moved to the new apartment at the end of June and I almost forgot how wonderful it feels! So I just wanted to post something happy saying that I love my dog and my cat and they both let me sleep all night long...once. =)

This is me at work today...

2008-07-16T09:51:00.000-07:00

Porter not being able to run, swim or walk is catching up to me. He hardley slept at all last night because he's just not tired...So if Porter doesn't sleep at night, then I also don't sleep at night. He has to spend the day while I'm at work in his crate so that he stays off his foot, so I think he pretty much sleeps all day out of boredom. So at night when I'm home he just wants to hang out with me the entire time. I have scratches on my forehead and my arm where he was pawing at me in the middle of the night trying to get me to wake up and play. I put him in his crate and he slept for a couple hours and then woke up whining like crazy, so I had to get up and hang out with him for a little bit to try to get him to go back to sleep. Also, him being up and whining gets our cat Kirk all riled up also so she wandered around the house meowing ALL night long also! Between the 2 of them I got VERY LITTLE sleep last night and then had to get up at the normal time and come to work.

SO TIRED!!!!!

Finally Summer in Seattle!

2008-07-15T14:43:00.000-07:00

We are finally seeing the sun in Seattle! This weekend was BEAUTIFUL so we went boating. It was Audrey's first time on the boat! She didn't seem to really care about boating all that much until Zach started chasing the geese in the boat and after that all we heard from Audrey was "Uncle Zach get the geese! Chase geese!" It was very cute and she looked adorable in her hat, sunglasses and life jacket.

We're on day 5 of 10 of Porter not being allowed to walk, run or swim. I am so surprised at how good he's been up to this point! He never barks, hardley ever wines and mostly just lays around and sleeps. He got to sit out in the sun on the back deck and was so happy to just be outside and lay there. He is getting better and has graduated from his cast to a little booty that he wears all the time. It took him about a day of wearing the booty to figure out how to chew the rubberish feeling booty to pieces in less than 30 minutes. We got some chew deterrant to spray that we spray on the booties and even though it makes him sick, he licks it off and then chews away. I can't wait until Saturday when we can take him to the dog park and he can run and swim for hours!! He will be the happiest dog in the world!!

Porter and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2008-07-09T19:28:00.001-07:00

Porter has had a very terrible, horrible, no good, very bad couple of days! It started on Monday night when I got out of the shower and heard water dripping into my dining room which is located directly below my bathroom (that is a whole different super frustrating story that I won't even go into right now!). I called the landlord and they scheduled to have the contractor who just remodeled our apartment come back to fix the leak. The contractor (2 guys about 25 years old or so) came to the house yesterday while I was at work to start on the bathroom. I came home on my lunch break to take Porter to the park and they were still here, so I told them I would just grab Porter and we would be on our way...but that didn't exactly happen. Porter was so excited to see people and be out of his crate that he was running and jumping all over the room (yea, that's how well behaved he is right when I take him out of his crate). Well, he jumped up on one of the contractors who was holding a really sharp bath-tub related tool in his hand that looked kinda like this one

Porter let out the worst yelping sound I've ever heard and immediately ran over to me where I was standing at the top of the stairs. The contractor guy who was holding the tool (I think his name was Daniel) freaked out and was yelling that he thought he cut Porter's face, so I grabbed Porter's head and was searching all over his face for a cut and right when I told him that Porter looks fine and I don't think he got him is when I saw the blood...all over my arms where Porter was pawing at me to let go of his face, all over the carpet where he was standing and all over the wall right next to us. At that point I pretty much freaked out (not a very constructive response for the moment to say the least), saw Porter's foot was gushing out blood and grabbed it with both hands to try to contain it. The other contractor Jason grabbed a towel out of the linen closet and pretty much took over. He told Daniel to run to the office and grab some blue tape that they use for painting (because he said that kind of tape wouldn't stick to his hair and pull it out), some gauze, absorbent pads and some hydrogen peroxide. Then he told me to keep Porter laying down and relaxed while he looked at the cut. It didn't look that deep and we decided that we could just wrap it up and he would be fine. When Daniel got back we wrapped up the cut and then Jason used the hydrogen peroxide to get all the blood out of the carpet and off the walls (that is seriously amazing! There is not 1 spot of blood on the carpet or walls and there was A LOT of blood both places!). As soon as Porter walked away we saw a new trail of blood where Jason had just cleaned and realized that it took about 5 seconds for Porter's foot to bleed through the wrap, so Jason sent me to the store to buy more gauze, pads and co-flex which is a type of sticky ace bandage that is commonly used on horses (this guy just knew all this stuff off the top of his head...he apparantly has crazy boxers that are constantly getting hurt and grew up w/ a lot of animals, so knows a lot about taking care of hurt animals) and he re-wrapped Porter's foot in the towel and carried him into his crate. So we got Porter all bandaged up and I stayed home from work for the rest of the day to make sure he was ok and he seemed to be pretty good and the bleeding was under control, so I decided he was fine and didn't take him to the vet.

This morning Porter seemed fine until I took him outside to go potty. He pretty much fell down the stairs and then just laid on the ground and wouldn't move because he couldn't walk on his foot. I got super nervous (also not a very constructive emotional response) and took him straight to the vet. The vet had to sedate Porter in order to look at the cut because Porter was in so much pain he wouldn't let the vet touch his foot. After he was sedated and they shaved the hair they found a second much deeper cut in the webbed part between his little toes and had to give him some stitches. Now Porter is doing much better, but, as per doctor's orders, is not allowed ANY activity for 10 days! I asked them if I could have some sedatives or something because Porter is going to be SO CRAZY after 10 days of no exercise (they of course said no, unless he tears his foot open again because he has too much energy and is too rough)!! I think this is going to be the longest and most challenging 10 days we've had him so far! Porter goes to the park at least once a day and gets walked all the time, so this is going to be quite a shock for him.

Here's some pictures of my sad sad puppy. The first two are from yesterday and the last one is from today after the vet. He's supposed to wear that cute little cast for a couple of days and I had to get some chew deterrant spray to hopefully keep him from trying to eat it...we'll see how long it really lasts!

2008-07-08T12:50:00.000-07:00

Saturday was Janell's 23rd birthday!

It seems like I've been blogging about a lot of birthdays lately - Shelby, Jenn, Scott and Mine - and everytime I say it seems so weird to think how old we are all getting, but Janell turned 23 on Saturday and instead of thinking, "Wow, 23! We're getting so old!" what I really thought was,

"I can't believe you're only 23!"

hahah. Even though Janell is my little sister by 24.5 months, ever since I can remember I've looked up to her in so many ways - from basic things like how to do my hair and what not to wear (haha) to bigger things like her seemingly unquestionable faith, her constant dependability and her never ending strength. Although there have been plenty of times in the past 23 years that I've wanted to rip all her hair out (after she finally grew some haha), there's never been one second when I wasn't extremely thankful to have Janell as my sister.

Over the past 23 years I've known her we've gone from

sisters

{two girls with the same parents who are forced to dress alike and hang out daily}

to
friends

{two people who genuinely care about and respect each other}

to
Sisters

{soulmates for life}

Happy Birthday Janell! I love you so much and am so glad to have you for my Sister!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This last weekend Zach and I met Janell in Vegas to celebrate her birthday! And of course we had a blast! We flew into Salt Lake on Thursday night and were planning on driving to Vegas with Janell on Friday morning, but decided when we landed to drive to Vegas Thursday night instead. So we were in Vegas from about 2:00am on Friday morning until about 6:00 Sunday morning. It was probably about 110 degrees the ENTIRE weekend, so we spent the majority of the days either at the pool or shopping in the air conditioned hotels. A bunch of Janell's friends were in Vegas that weekend also, so we hung out with them and then Meghan met us there on Saturday. Friday night we went to a reggae concert at the Hard Rock, which was fun but seemed to drag on forever for those of us who are not a huge fan of raggae. We were pretty tired after the concert (lots of standing in 100+ degree weather plus a second-hand high from the weed-infused oxygen we were trying to breathe will do that to a person I guess), so we just went to the hotel after the concert and slept a full night! Saturday night we went to Blush at the Wynn and had so much fun dancing the night away! We got back to the hotel in time to pack up our stuff and sleep for about 45 minutes before we had to head to the airport. Needless to say, we were TIRED on Sunday!! But Janell had a fabulous birthday and Zach and I had a great weekend!! Sadly, I lost my camera during the move so the only pictures I have are from the Spy on Vegas people at Blush...

Porter at Work

2008-06-22T20:49:00.000-07:00

Whenever Zach is out of town Porter gets to come to work with me. Most days he just hangs out in the SUV and we go for a walk or 2 during the day and to the dog park at lunch, but Friday got so unexpectedly warm that I didn't feel comfortable leaving him in the car, so I brought him into my office (actually my office is on the top floor, so I brought all the stuff I would need into an office in the basement and we hid in there so I wouldn't have to walk him through the entire office...I'm not sure how people feel about dogs in the work place hehe). Turns out, Porter LOVES going to work. He spent the first part of the afternoon napping underneath my desk. Then, I left the office for a minute and when I came back in he was perched up on this chair and just sat there and watched everything I did until I was ready to leave. I must say, it was pretty cute. I absolutely love this first picture. If you click on it to make it bigger you will see that he has a huge smile on his face. Porter is the happiest and friendliest dog I know and I thought this was hilarious that I just happened to snap a picture right when he smiled!

The last picture is Porter at the dog park a couple weeks ago...It has nothing to do with Porter at work...I just think it's cute!

For my Birthday...

2008-06-19T15:55:00.000-07:00

Zach and I went to Utah to visit Janell and sit in the sun. All I wanted for my birthday was the opportunity to get a sunburn and I definitely got that (the opportunity AND a sunburn)! It was 90 degrees in Utah and we spent the entire weekend sitting by the pool. It was GREAT and I am now offically 25 years old! We got to meet Janell's puppy Piko and he is the cutest little dog ever (except Porter, of course - but I guess I'm a little biased)! He came to the pool with us everyday and even swam a little bit (but only because he had no choice). You can really tell how small he is in the second picture of him sleeping in Janell's purse while driving in the car.

Jenn Graduated!!

2008-06-09T10:36:00.000-07:00

~Jenn Graduated from High School~

Saturday Zach, Porter and I drove to Bellingham to go to Jenn's high school graduation. It is so exciting to see Jenn growing up and accomplishing such great things! We had a blast in Bellingham with the family and I was extremely happy that the entire graduation ceremony only lasted about 1.5 hours! Congratulations Jenn!!

Here's Jenn all dressed in her gown before graduation. She looked so great, even in that rediculous outfit they make you wear!

Zach, Me, Ryan and Lily Belle waiting for the ceremony to start. Lily did great at graduation and sat so quietly the entire time!

Jenn and Jenn...so cute.

Jenn and the twins (Lauren and Amanda). They graduated from Bellingham High School the night before.

I know this is a little blurry, but I still think it's super cute. Look at how tall Scottie is!! I am standing up totally straight and he's taller than I am!! When did that happen??

We missed you Janell!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And did you really think I would have a post without mentioning my little puppy?? Porter loves when we go to Bellingham because he gets to play with my dad's 2 golden retrievers, he gets to swim in Lake Whatcom, and my mom spoils him to death...it's the only time he gets to eat any kind of people food. Here's Porter practicing his dock jumping...I think in a couple more years he might be good enough to compete!

Catching Up...

2008-05-29T10:22:00.000-07:00

So I know it's been a long time since my last post, so here's a bunch of random pictures of what I've been up to...

I practiced being domestic
by cutting flowers from my yard and arranging them in a vase. If you know me at all, you know that I am not exactly the greatest housewife or domestic lady, so this felt like quite an accomplishment for me! And I don't even think it looks that bad! I do want to clarify that all I did was CUT the flowers...I had absolutely no part in growing them. If I did, there would be no flowers to arrange. :)

I've spent almost all my time with Porter.

He comes to work with me whenever Zach is out of town and we spend my lunch breaks (plus some) at the dog park in Marymoor where he loves to swim. I can barely get him out of the water to go back to work!

I visited family.
This is my niece Audrey a couple weeks ago at Zach's parents house. She got to pick out her outfit and I thought she looked so cute with her little dog boots on!! She is the sweetest little girl and it is so fun to watch her grow up and learn more and more all the time! She's actually starting to look and act like a little girl instead of a baby. I also went to Bellingham a couple of times to see my family and go to Ski to Sea, but unfortunately didn't take 1 picture while I was there!

I went out with the girls.
It was Angie's birthday a couple weekends ago, so a few of us went to The Parlor in Bellevue to celebrate. We had a blast and I must say that I absolutely love my girlfriends! They definitely get me through when Zach is out of town and I'm bored and/or lonley! :)

I hung out with my Zachary.
Zach has had to work a lot of weekends this month and is home on the weekdays, so we hang out at night when I'm home from work. We mostly have dinner and play with our little puppy, but no matter what we do or how un-exciting it may seem I always love it when he comes home!! (Sorry about the cell phone pics...I know they're not the greatest quality!)

Just a Dog...

2008-05-14T09:00:00.000-07:00

So I knew that when we got a dog I would like him a lot and that I would really enjoy the company and the excuse to go for walks in the middle of the day and all of that, but I really didn't expect to actually LOVE him as much as I do. After all, he's not a child - he's just a dog.

But what I didn't mention about our trip to Mexico is how I cried in my car for at least 5 whole minutes after I dropped him off at Zach's parents house to be babysat for the week, how I wrote a 2 page (typed) summary of how to take care of him even though they have had big dogs for years and are plenty capable, or how I asked Zach if we could come home earlier than planned so we wouldn't have to leave him for so long. And last night I realized once again how smitten I am by this little dog when he tore apart his favorite toy Hedgie trying to figure out why it squeaks and all I did was laugh and make him pose for pictures. But really, how could you be mad at that cute little face??

This is Porter on our car ride up to Bellingham last week (it's a cell phone picture, so the quality isn't the greatest). He's so good in the car and even though we have this big SUV with a doggy gate in the back so he can't get into the front, I usually put all the luggage in the back and let him ride up front with me.

I can see it now...I think I'm going to end up being the kind of mom that drives me crazy beceause she lets her kids get away with everything!

Happy Birthday Sister!

2008-05-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Shelby turned 9 on Saturday! Remember when I said Jenn turning 18 made me feel old? Well, Shelbu turning 9 makes me feel even older. I went to Bellingham to go to the birthday party and Shelby had 6 of her friends over for dinner, games and a sleepover. It was a crazy day with seven 8 & 9 year old girls in the house, but we had a blast and Shelby loved every minute of it!

Here's Shelby the morning of her birthday. Of course the first thing we did right when everyone woke up was open presents and Shelby couldn't wait to play with them.

Porter had an exciting weekend also! Sunday Zach, Milo and I took him to Boulevard Park in Bellingham and he got to go swimming in the ocean! He didn't swim a whole lot since he's never been swimming before, but he did jump in a lot to fetch sticks and rocks and wasn't shy about dunking his entire head in the water. He wasn't so into posing for pictures after, but he still looks pretty cute!

Me and Ryan

Here's Shelby opening some presents at her party. Such a spaz...but a cute one!

Watch Out Parents...She's Officially Legal!!

2008-05-08T11:30:00.000-07:00

Here's Jenn and her friends getting ready for their Squalicum HS senior prom. I went to Bellingham on Saturday because not only was Jenn going to prom, but it was also her 18th birthday!! There are some things in life that make me feel so old and Jenn turning 18 is definitely one of them! I can't believe how fast she has grown up into this beautiful, smart young woman. It seems like just yesterday when the 3-foot tall Jenny was running through the house, changing her clothes 100 times a day and qualifying every comment with "No offense, but...". Jenn of course looked gorgeous for prom (wearing my favorite dress ever that we bought for her in Bellevue at least a month ago) and I can't say I'm surprised that she'll be going to her 4th prom of the year next Saturday.

I love you sister and Happy Birthday!!

Vacation! (yes, again)

2008-05-01T19:54:00.000-07:00

If you're searching for the most relaxing and low-key vacation ever then keep reading this post!

Last week Zach and I spent an amazing week in Mexico. We flew into Puerto Vallarta and then took a water taxi about an hour south to a little town

YELAPA

Yelapa is a super cute, charming little beach town. There's no cars in the town (or internet or cell phone coverage, which I think makes it a wonderful place to visit) and the streets are either dirt paths or cobble stone. All the food is either grown in the town or shipped in from Puerto Vallarta by boat in the mornings and since it's the off season everything was "dos para uno." We spent three nights in a tiny little casita called with almost no walls and a surplus of donkeys, horses, wild mangey dogs, chickens and roosters..and I must say that surprisingly I loved every minute of it.

The weather was perfect and the beach was even better! Our first day in Yelapa we hiked for about twenty minutes up a tiny cobble path and then for about an hour through about two inches of dust to a beautiful little waterfall with a couple of people we met (the only other people who were staying at our hotel) and then spent the entire rest of the day in the sun at the beach.

We met a guy the first night who told us about a tiny little fishing village called

PISOTA

about a 30 minute boat ride south with perfect practically un-used beach. The next morning we hopped on a boat to Pisoda and had one of the most amazing day ever. We were the only non-locals in the town and 2 of 4 in the entire town that spoke English. We ate breakfast at a "cafe" right when we got off the boat. The cafe was a house with dirt floor with chickens, roosters and baby chicks running all over the place and our "waiter" was the old man who lived at the house and didn't speak one word of English. We ate amazing yuevos rancheros and then he took us on a tour of the town to see a beautiful tree. He kept talking to us in Spanish the entire time like any second we were going to just understnad everything he was saying.

After breakfast we sat at

PLAYA MANZANIA and PLAYA MEDIA

and they definitely lived up to our expectations. The sand was super white and ultra soft. We met a guy named Brian (number 3 of 4 who spoke English) who lives on Lummi Island (in Bellingham) but started going to Pisoda about 7 years ago and now owns a little casita in the town. He invited us to dinner at his landlord's house so we spent a couple hours spending time with a local family...three generations living in one house. The family was truly amazing and inspiring. They are genuinely so sweet and so willing to share and give us everything they had, even though they didn't have much at all. They fed us the most incredible food - fresh pico de gayo made from veggies they grew in the fields, homemade corn tortillas made from corn they also grow themselves, fresh fish one of the sons just caught that morning and cerviche. We couldn't communicate with anyone too much, but they showed us how they make the corn tortillas every day and it is exactly how I imagine they have been made for hundreds of years. Two of the women in the family spend about 1/2 of their day making them...it's a pretty intense process.

After our third night in Yelapa we got back on the water taxi to head back to Puerto Vallarta. We went to Nueva Vallarta which is just north of Puerto Vallarta and is the newer part of town, but spent about 20 minutes in resort town where the "authentic culture" was so fake and Americanized compared to where we just were that we left and went farther north to a town called

BUCARIOUS
(pronounced Boos-a-ree-ous)

We stayed at a really nice hotel (especially compared to where we had just come from - this hotel had actual walls and I didn't see one chicken or donkey!) that had 2 rooms, 3 bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen...total overkill for us, but that's what you get when you just show up to a place and ask if they have any rooms available. The beach was pretty rocky in Bucarious, so we spent a lot of time relaxing at the pool and also spent some time walking around the town. It was a nice place and the weather was great, but I feel like anywhere we would have gone immediately after staying in Yelapa and Pisoda would have been a little bit of a disappointment because of how much we loved it there. It's funny that the place with the super nice hotel, pool and all the modern luxories turned out to be kind of disappointing over our tiny little casita where Zach barely slept at night because of all the animals running around.

Our beach in Yelapa. This was at about 9:30 in the morning, but since the only hotels in the town are the one that we stayed at and one other one that was also practically empty, the beach was pretty much like this all day long.

This is the outside of our casita. Notice the "wall" of just orange curtain...it was like that on 2 sides and the wall only went to about 5 feet. Above that there was nothing...no walls or curtains or anything. Pretty funny.

The inside of our casita in Yelapa. I'm not sure if the mosquito net is totally necessary this time of year, but it defintely made me feel a lot better to have it there! And, despite the no walls, there was electricity and running water in the casita. We had a fan a lamp and rope lights above our bed. The toilet and shower are on the other side of that wall and both of those rooms also only have wall to about 5 feet...while you're showering you get to look around and see what all the chickens, burros and dogs are up to.

This seemed to be pretty typical for the area. Beautiful pink trees and little structures made entirely of brick and rock. It's all handmade and pretty amazing.

This is Lee, Amy, Me and Zach at the waterfall after a little bit of swimming. Lee is from Vancouver, BC and Amy is from New York and we met the day we got to Yelapa. The 4 of us were the only tenants in our hotel, so we hung out while we were there. Amy had just quit her job in New York, put all her stuff that she didn't sell in storage and bought a one-way ticket to Puerto Vallarta. She went straight to Yelapa and is hoping to stay for a while...almost inspiring. :)

This is the beautiful tree that we walked to in Pisoda. The tree is so big that I couldn't even get 1/4 of it in one picture. The limbs have grown down to the ground and made new roots and it stretches out for probably a couple hundred feet. The old man who showed us this tree was so sweet. He kept telling us that this tree is older than anything else we've ever seen - that it's older than television and radio and all of that...and no matter how many blank stares he got from us because we couldn't understand him (since he didn't speak 1 word of English except, "President Bush") he kept talking and talking like any second we would catch on. He walked us past the school and showed us the entire town (which pretty much took about 15 minutes to walk around). It was such an amazing experience and I can't wait to learn Spanish and go back so I can understand absolutely everything he was trying to tell us instead of just bits and pieces!

This is Playa Media (yup, that means Middle Beach - it's inbetween Playa Manzania and the main beach in Pisoda where all the boats dock into...I can't remember the name of that one). You can barley see the beginning of Playa Manzania in this picture also. The beaches in Pisoda are pretty small, but they're probably the most perfect beaches I've ever been to.

Our hotel in Bucarious.

Zachary, Audrey & Porter

2008-04-21T12:34:00.000-07:00

This weekend Zach and I got to babysit our adorable little niece Audrey. Porter got to come with us to Audrey's house and we had a blast! Audrey is at the cutest age (1 1/2) where she's learning to talk and is a bundle of energy. She can say both of our names now (well she just calls Zach "Uncle" - which I think is even cuter) and it is the sweetest thing ever to hear her calling your name. I love it! We spent the whole time running, spinning, playing hide-and-go-seek, building with her blocks, and running some more. We were supposed to have her in bed by 8:00, but we were having so much fun that we completely lost track of time and when Cortney and Phil got home it was past 8:00 and we hadn't even given her a bath or anything...oops! Poor Phil had to do all the bedtime stuff. Cort, I promise next time we'll do better! :-)

Audrey, where's your tongue?

Porter and Zach - best friends already

Our New Baby Boy!!

2008-04-10T09:27:00.000-07:00

Introducing our brand new baby boy

PORTER!

Yesterday Zach and I finally found the perfect addition to our little family (consisting of me, Zach and our kitty Kirk)!! We adopted this perfect little English Black Lab. So far, Porter has been the absolute perfect puppy! He is 4 months old and came to us from a great breeder in Lynwood who has already crate-trained him, taught him how to walk on a leash perfectly and how to sit. He's got huge paws, but the breeder thinks he'll only grow to be about 65 pounds...we'll see! Last night was our first night with the puppy and he slept so good in his crate! He woke up twice to go potty, but went right when he got outside and then went right back to sleep in his crate with a very minimal amount of wining or barking. This little boy is so friendly, such a pleaser, so smart and loves all people. Kirk (our cat) is not so sure what to think of her little (or should I say big?) brother yet, but she has watched him a lot, sniffed around him and taken a couple of good swipes at his nose. Porter's mom was a service dog and his dad is a champoin hunter (which I have no clue what that means except that he is very smart), so we're hoping that Porter inherited at least some of his parents brains! So far we haven't seen anything to indicate that he hasn't. Here's a couple of pictures...I'm sure I'll be posting more!

It's ALMOST Summer!

2008-04-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend Zach got to come home on Saturday, so we decided to take advantage of the almost warm and not rainy weather to go kayaking on Lake Washington. Zach's dad actually built these kayaks! They're aboslutely perfect and one of our favorite things to do when it's warm is take them out for the day. We spent probably close to 4 hours on the lake on Saturday and it was absolutely beautiful! The sun came out every once in a while and we didn't get rained on once. It was pretty chilly in the morning, but closer to noon the wind died down and we were almost too warm in all our layers of sweaters, coats and gloves!

Finally our new car is actually being put to good use! These kayaks are 1 of the 3 big reasons we bought the Infiniti in December...the other 2 are to tow the ski boat and 4-wheel drive! It took a little bit of trial and error to get the kayaks on top of the car, but they ended up fitting perfectly! Here's a few of my favorite pictures from the day...

A Little Late...Lake Williams 2007

2008-04-01T21:01:00.000-07:00

So these pictures are from last August, but Dan just sent them to me a few weeks ago and I love them so much that I thought they deserve to be posted! This is from our 2007 Lake Williams trip to the Luttermoser's and the Jobe's lake houses. McKenzie Montague, one of my favorite people who also happens to be an incredible photographer, took all these pictures. If you ever need a photographer on the Eastside call McKenzie (that's a link to her website)!

A group of Zach's friends from high school go to Lake Williams every year and Zach and I hadn't been to the annual trip since 2003 because of school. We finally got to go in August and we had so much fun! What can be better than spending a few days on the lake in the perfect Eastern Washington weather with some great friends?

Me and Casey...aren't we so cute??

My absolute favorite things...Zach, Boat, Lake and Sun. This is when I am the most happy.

Awwww...I love these 2!!

Dan and Zach on the Boat.

Yup, that's Zach! Now do you see why I love to watch him wakeboard in the summer time?

I love him a lot.

I know I've said it before, but I'm a pretty lucky girl.

Since I'm Really Busy at Work Today...

2008-04-01T16:05:00.001-07:00

I would like to thank MSN Instant Messenger (and prior to that AIM) and my friends who I've spent many many hours over the past 10-15 years typing to on the computer. Without my friends and instant messenger I'm sure I never would have bothered to learn to type.

80 words

Speedtest

Weekend with Family!

2008-03-31T09:12:00.000-07:00

I drove up to Bellingham on Saturday to spend some time with my family. The picture is mom and Mark's house covered in snow on Saturday...isn't it supposed to be spring now?? I went straight to mom and Mark's house and after visiting with Mark and Scottie (who is almost as tall as me now and has the most awesome curly fro I've ever seen!!) for a little bit Mom, Jenn and I went shopping. We had a wonderful time and with all the cute clothes we got for mom, she is going to look so great at her new job today! After shopping I went over to my dad's and Dad, Sue and I went to a dinner/auction benefit for the Meredian school district that was held at the Silver Reef Casino. That was the first live auction I've ever been to and I had a blast! I was shocked at the amount of money people throw around at those things!! One guy bid on almost every single item and I don't think anything went for less than $300...the hot item of the night was a touch screen video game console thing that has 100 games in it and sits on a bar. After a long bidding process it went for $1500 (bought by the guy who bid on everything - I'm pretty sure he spent at least $3000 during the live auction and who knows how much he spent at the silent auction). During the live auction I was sitting at the table with Dad and Sue and a few of their friends and accidently bid $725 for a 2-day stay at a hotel or something like that and almost had a panic attack when I almost won...it went for $750...oops! I didn't even touch my sign for the rest of the night. After the auction and dinner we hit the tables and Dad and Sue taught me how to play black jack. I'm pretty much an expert now (and by expert I mean I won some and eventually broke even) and next time I go to Vegas I will be ready! Sunday I hung out with Ryan for a little while and then came back home. It was a wonderful weekend and I have the greatest family ever! I really am a very lucky girl to have 6 very cool (and rediculously good-looking) brothers and sisters who I love very much and 4 wonderful, loving, amazing parents...most people only get 2 parents and may or may not like them...I have 4 and I love them all!!

My Trip to the Eye Doctor...

2008-03-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

The past few months I've been noticing that it's getting harder and harder to see the text on my computer screen, I have to strain my eyes to read my books and at the end of a long day at work I either have a headache or my eyes are so tired I just want to sleep. Then about 2 weeks ago I had to change all the font on my computer from "Normal" to "Large" and that's when I decided that it's probably time to go to the eye doctor.

I went to the eye doctor yesterday and turns out I'm far-sighted and have "chronic dry eyes." The doctor said that it's not uncommon for women to be farsighted their entire life, but as we approach 30 the farsightedness becomes more obvious and we end up getting glasses. I felt like screaming "I am NOT approaching 30!!" The dry eyes are caused by me not producing "quality tears" and having "incomplete blinks." I guess since the tears I produce aren't the greatest quality (I guess that means there's a high concentration of salt in them) and then when I blink I don't close my eyes all the way, the tears don't wash out of my eyes completely and I get a build up of salt in my eyes which causes them to be very dry. She gave me 2 different eyedrops to take twice a day for the next 6 months (seriously - half of an entire year!) to treat my dry eyes and one other eye drops that I should use at least 4 times a day whenever they feel dry. Also adding to my dry right eye is the "asymmetry of my face" (seriously those were her words - followed by her asking if I have had any "severe face trauma" like a car accident where I smashed my face into a steering wheel and had to have major facial reconstructive surgery - I almost cried at this point). I guess the asymmetry of my nose is blocking my right tear duct, so it doesn't drain properly which causes a huge build-up of poor-quality-high-in-salt tears in my right eye, which makes it severely dry. She suggested that I look into seeing if my insurance would cover rhinoplasty surgery to fix the blockage to my right eye and what looks to be "an obviously deviated septum." I now have to wear glasses when I read and when I'm at my computer.

I would say overall it was a pretty successful trip to the eye doctor. I learned so much about myself, including:

I am bad at producing tears
The tears I do produce are pretty much worthless
My eyes don't blink all the way
My face is asymmetrical to the point where one might wonder if it's been completely smashed and I've had "major facial reconstructive surgery"
My nose is totally jacked up
My eyes think they're almost 30 and are going bad

From now on you can all call me Quasimodo...HAHAHAHAH...I think I need a referral for a new eye doctor and a nose-job plastic surgeon. Does anyone have any suggestions?

I love Birthday Parties!!

2008-03-11T09:40:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KERSTIN AND LINDSAY!!
This weekend we had a birthday party for 2 of my favorite girls - Kerstin and Lindsay! All of the girls and most of their significant others came over to our house where we ate tons of food (including wonderful lasagna, garlic bread and more birthday cake than you could imagine), played games, sang karaoke (without a karaoke machine haha), danced and had so much fun! Here are a few of my favorite pictures from the night...

All of my favorite girls. Aren't we all so cute?!
From left to right, top to bottom: Heather, Rebecca, Lindsay, Kerstin, Claire, Sol, Sarah, Casey, Me, Sara, Angie and Erin

Me and my brother Ryan

Me and Erin

The birthday girls with their pretty pink birthday cupcakes wearing their pretty pink birthday hats!Me and Erin are so good at floating!

Me and Casey...some of the birthday cake ended up all over us and the kitchen floor (and the walls, and the door and the furniture hahaha). I do want to point out that she TOTALLY started it. I was trying to clean the kitchen.

Post-cake fight. I had more cake down my shirt, in my ears and in my nose than I ate the entire night. But I must say that I'm pretty sure I won...Casey's hair was FULL of cake.

Our Visit to Idaho

2008-03-03T11:39:00.000-08:00

This weekend Janell, Zach and I went to FREEZING COLD Rexburg, Idaho to meet our new neice Lily Belle. She is just as cute in real life as she is in the pictures! Although Rexburg isn't the most exciting town I've ever been to (hahah), we had such a great time visiting with Rachel and Chad who we don't get to see very often, meeting the baby and trying out a couple of their favorite restaurants. On Saturday afternoon we escaped the snow by eating amazing cupcakes and super rich roasted cocoa bean hot chocolate at a cute little cafe type place downtown. We ate dinner on Saturday night at Big Judd's where Rach, Zach, Janell and I split the hugest hamburger I have ever seen in my life! The 4 of us couldn't even finish the entire thing and we watched 2 college students next to us racing to see who could finish theirs first...it was pretty gross. Janell and I got to pick out Lily's outfit on Sunday and get her ready for church. After all that hard work of dressing the baby (she does NOT like when you try to get her little arms through sleeves) we had to take a few pictures to show how cute she it in the outfit Grandma Dolly sent her.

More Pictures of Lily

2008-02-24T21:35:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pictures of my new niece Lily Belle. Janell, Zach and I are planning to go to Idaho on Friday to meet her! I can't wait!

These pictures were taken by my cousin Jessica Kettle. If you're ever in Utah and looking for an amazing photographer then look her up! Here's a link to her blog.

Good News!

2008-02-24T09:20:00.001-08:00

Remember last month sometime when I wrote that Zach had been assigned San Louis Obispo, CA as his base and we were really bummed out because that meant his schedule would be really crappy and he wouldn't be able to come home on his days off? Well, he put in a request for a transfer immediately after he was assigned the base and HE GOT IT!!! Zach's new base is Fresno, CA! That means that his schedule will work out so that he has more consecutive days off in a row and will be able to come home whenever he has a day off. There's direct flights between here and Fresno multiple times a day, so we'll actually be able to see each other!! We were hoping that Zach's transfer would come through before he even had to go to SLO so we wouldn't have to even worry about having to spend months totally apart. This is definitely a best case scenario for us right now and we're so happy and thankful that everything is working out so well!!

Zach is currently in Fresno, CA finishing up his simulator training and will be coming home on Wednesday. Once he gets home he has 2 training flights to complete sometime in March and then he'll be onto a regular (or probably more accurately an irregular) flying schedule.

I'm pretty sure this is the plane he's flying.

The Funniest Comic EVER...Thanks Doug!

2008-02-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

Keep in mind that I work with a bunch of engineers...

(Helpful Hint: Click on the picture to make it bigger and easier to read)