Its A......

BOY!

Yes its true, we are having a baby boy come May. We had the ultrasound last week and but I didn't look. The technician put all the pictures in a sealed envelope and sent it home with me. I saved it until Christmas morning and today we opened it. I sure had a hard time sleeping this Christmas eve.

My brothers and Soren were thrilled! My Mom and I were still holding out hopes for a girl, but maybe next time. It is nice to finally know. Now onto the names.....

The Rest of Our Holiday

The rest of our weekend we did some really fun things. We set up Christmas decorations on Friday and had a lot of fun. Friday night we went to see the Nutcracker here in Seattle. Soren surprised me with tickets a few weeks ago. It was so sweet of him. I think he even enjoyed his first ballet. :) The designer of this years set and scenery was Maurice Sandek, the illustrator for 'Where the Wild Things Are'. That was really neat to see because he has a distinct style. We had a great time getting dressed up and seeing the ballet.

On Saturday we went on a bike ride out on one of the many trails around here. It drizzeled the whole time which really wasn't bad. We were so amazed at the end of the trip at how soaking wet a constant drizzle get get.

Apparently along this trail there are occational sightings of bears and bobcats and when there are they post up warning signs. These signs explained in great detail that bears had been seen recently and what to do if you come in contact with one. Needless to say I was looking over my shoulder for the rest of the trip.

Thanksgiving 2008

We spent Thanksgiving on our own this year, which was different from usual. Since we have been married we have always gone down to St. George to spend it with Soren's family, but it didn't seem worth the drive this year. So we spent all our time together and tried to start some new traditions.


Soren had the idea to find a place to volunteer on Thanksgiving rather than staying home and eating all day by ourselves. I found a Catholic church down in Seattle that fixes meals and takes them to the homeless or the invalids. On Thursday we went down to the church and spent a few hours packaging the meals and then were rounded into groups to drive the meals around. A few weeks before the holiday the church had sent around sign-up sheets at the low income and subsidized apartment for the free meals. Soren and I went with another lady and her daughter to an apartment building to deliver about 30 meals. It was sad, but the people were really pleased for the meal.


At the end of the outing we found we had 3 extra meals that we were supposed to give out. We thought it would be a peice of cake to give out these extra meals considering we were in downtown and there are lots of homeless. But we were wrong. It took another 45 minutes to an hour to find anyone who wanted the food. Either people had already eaten or there were too many grouped together. It was quite an adventure.

Here we are that morning at the church.Here we are in the car searching for those people to give our extra meals to.

New Hair Makes Pregnant Hips Feel Smaller

So I colored my hair this week. I have never gone darker than my natural color, but I am super pleased with how it turned out. I think it is my favorite change so far- at least I more immediately loved it than any other color before. The pics aren't the greatest, but you get the idea.

Soren's Birthday!

So I should start by saying that we really wish we could have celebrated Soren's birthday with many of you that are so far away. We really miss our family and friends, but are grateful for the new friends were were able to share it with.

Soren turned 27 on the 18th and had a great day/week. It started on Saturday when we went to REI's garage sale and found hiking boots for both Soren and I. He has wanted boots for me about as much as for him, so it was a fun morning for him. We went to see the new James Bond movie that night and really enjoyed it.

On Tuesday I made him waffles with whipped cream and fruit and sent him off to work. He came home to eat calzones (his FAVORITE) for dinner. We went to my ceramics class together and I daresay he had fun helping me glaze. I was impressed. After class all our neighbors came over to eat cookies and ice cream and hang out. It was really fun.

The last picture is of Soren with his new Pocket Rocket stove. Its not a great picture, but I took off the flash so you can see the flame. He boiled water in the living room just to try it out. I guess you are never too old to play with your toys. :)

Port Angeles Trip- part B

On the way home from Port Angeles we took a trip to the Olympic Game Park. It sounded like a great idea. You can feed the animals bread and there are tons of animals-lions, tigers, and bears, ect. So we drove out there and paid the ridiculously high entry fee and bought a loaf of bread to feed the animals. We were then given rules like- DONT GET OUT OF THE CAR!!!, KEEP YOUR CAR MOVING BECAUSE THE ANIMALS CAN DAMAGE IT, ECT.

I started to get nervous, but had no idea what I was in for. Holy cow, I don't remember the last time I was so scared in real life. The animals literally started to stampede our car when they saw us coming. They knew we had food and that they would have to fight for it. It started with the little peacocks chasing us, but seriously the llamas were INSANE! They chased our car for quarter of a mile, down a hill. One of them slid down a ravine to catch us. I was terrified! There are pictures of it chasing us down!

The zebras were also pretty bad. They blocked the road in front of us and as you can see got up in our faces. I just cracked the window and slid the bread out. I was so afraid they would ram our car. After the zebras were the water buffulo. They were beasts!!!! I just kept squealing at Soren to keep driving.

The bears were what we were looking forward to. We both love bears, but it was sooo soo sad to see them. They were very unhappy and just sat there looking fat and miserable. We finished our bread on them and I didn't want to stay and see them anymore.

There were lots of other animals whom I just felt bad for or was scared of. It was definitely not what I was expecting. Quite the experience, let me tell you.

This was my favorite friend at the park. Pretty much the craziest looking little beast I have ever seen.

Port Angeles Trip- part A

I know, I know I have a lot of catching up to do. I appreciate my fans patience in waiting for a new post.

On Halloween Soren took the 2nd section of the CPA exam. He just found out that he more than passed with an 87. Yay!!!!

So unfortunately pretty much the day after Halloween Soren had to go out of town for a work trip. I wasn't real excited to give him up so soon after he finally finished studying. So since I don't have a job I went with. We went to Port Angeles which is more north and west of where we are. Also it may sound familiar to you Twilight fans. Yes it is the neighboring town to Forks. We didn't make it out to Forks or La Push, but we plan to at some point because it is BEAUTIFUL up there.

We had to take a ferry across and then drive for a few hours to get there. Soren loves being out on the deck, so I get to endure the wind. He loves these pics.

We made it to Port Angeles and stayed for 2 1/2 days. I explored while Soren worked and then we got to hang out at night. I walked around the downtown of Port Angeles and found out that there are real places in the town that correspond with places in the book. So below is supposedly the store where Bella shopped for dresses, the bookstore, and the Italian place where her and Edward ate. They aren't the same shops as in the movie, but they do exist.

We also went hiking while we were out there in the Olympic National Forest. It was incredible!!! I have never seen such amazing and beautiful scenery. It is so green, so mossy, and so mystical. Wow, I could become a hiker if this was my backyard.

Halloween!

We had a fun halloween here in wa. The weather was amazing, just warm enough and no rain. We didn't spend much time on costumes this year so it was a mad scramble the hour before the festivities to find something. I wore my ballet leotard and tights from high school and Soren dressed up in his hiking gear. I told him it wasn't a costume since its his everyday wear so he put a twist on it. He dressed as a hiker (who's pants blew away while he was going to the bathroom.) Hence the sleeping pad wrapped around the waist and the toilet paper. We went to the church for Trunk or Treat and passed out candy. Afterwards we went to our neighbors and watched The Boogey Man and ate spooky treats.

Tagged

Tagged by Courtney Mangum
8 Tag

8 TV shows I like to watch:
1. House
2. What Not to Wear
3. Gilmore Girls
4. Ellen
5. Extreme Make0ver: Home Edition
6. Oprah
7. The Office
8. Planet Earth

8 things that happened yesterday:
1. Went shopping for majorly discounted Halloween decorations
2. Watched BMX biking and skateboarding at the LG Action World Championships
3. Went to the loudest concert I have ever been to- MXPX is much better on CD
4. Visited the first and largest REI in exsistance
5. Ate Subway at a Dia de los Muertos celebration
6. Ate a delicious cookiedough and Reeses Blizzard
7. Drove up to Queen Anne Hill to overlook Seattle
8. Enjoyed classic 'Selena' movie night with my neighbor Eve.

8 Favorite places to eat:
1. Bucca di Beppo
2. Subway
3. Zupas
4. Coldstone
5. Happy Sumo
6. Wendy's
7. California Burger Company
8. Pizza Hut---I know I am classy :)

8 things I’m looking forward to:
1. Christmas- I can't wait to go home
2. Finding out what we are having- we'll find out on Christmas
3. My ceramics class I started last week
4. Fresh pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving
5. Looking pregnant
6. Going to the Nutcracker with Soren later this month!
7. Seeing my friends in Utah again
8. Getting in really good shape before this little baby comes

8 people I tag:
Kelli Duthrie, Kris Draper, Bethany Adair, Seidi Bennett, Helena Zenk, Mandy Abbott, MaryIrene Allen, Janisa Tharp

Baby Things

So we still don't know what we are having so I have been resisting buying any baby things. But the other day when I was at Marshall's I found something I just couldn't resist. I found this tiny newborn girl's shirt that is so adorable. The picture doesn't do it justice, but its a tiny smock with buttons up the back. I need to find some tiny pants to go with it. I love how small it is; its like a doll's shirt. It will fit a newborn for a week or two. I know I'll have a girl eventually so I'm sure this won't go to waste, but hopefully I'll get to use it sooner than later.

We'd Love Some Visitors....

So we have had some request of pic of our new residence and here they are! I'll take you on a tour of our house. The first pics are of our apartement parking lot. There are 20 units in our complex of townhouses and this is what we see when we walk out our door. The trees here are definitely the biggest change in scenery for me. I have never seen so many and they are so tall! You really can never see very far in any direction because there are so many trees.

Next you'll see our front door and my lovely pumpkin that I painted. The apartments aren't much to look at on the outside, but they will be painted next year and should look a lot better.

When you walk in the front door there are stairs straight ahead and the living room to the left. It took forever to get this room together because we waited for almost a month for new carpet. Thankfully it finally came and looks sooo much better.

Throught the living room is the kitchen, laundry closet and a half bath. I am so pleased with all of the cabinet space and 2 bathrooms is sooo nice. There are sliding doors to a tiny back deck which desperatly needs some love. We are hoping to build a deck next spring on the back.

That is the downstairs so onto the upstairs. There is a master bedroom, one bathroom, and a spare bedroom. I took a picture of our room, the bathroom and the closet in the spare bedroom which Soren has converted to his office. I haven't done much on the upstairs yet, especially the extra bedroom so no pics of it. Once we find out what the baby is I will start decorating the nursery. So we love all the space and the freedom to decorate here. We really have a great set-up, decent rent considering the area and super nice neighbors.