San Francisco

This is very delayed but in August Jeff and I went to San Francisco and met up with our friend's from BYU-I the Laszczyk's (which by the way if you're reading this Kara, I need your address for Christmas and to send you these pics) anyways we had a blast. Jeff's Grandma Barb gave us her time share to use so we went for a weekend. This is Ghirardelli square which is where they make the chocolate.

Logan and Kara have a son named Luke who is about 2 so we couldn't pass up going on a merry-go-round at the wharf, however we all decided that there is an age limit for these things and it's more for the motion sick factor than anything else, kids must be impervious to it. By the way I was in my first trimester of pregnancy here and did really great, so I'm glad that we were able to go.

This is the 5 of us at the Wharf, we walked several miles that day and at one point discovered that we had walked in the wrong direction to get to the wharf but we got there and the sun ended up coming out, so of course we all got burnt, but it was nice that it got warm that day cause it was quite chilly to begin with.

How cool was this, we ran into R2D2 on the pier, we also went to Japan town, China town, Lombard street, we passed through Haight Ashburry and also saw the beach.

You can see the cool rocket in the background, they had all kinds of neat statues along the pier, this was actually us walking in the opposite direction of fisherman's warf and not knowing it but at the end of this pier we saw some guys fishing and watched them pull in a shark among other things that they were taking home to eat. We didn't really get a great picture of it but it was fun to see and the guys were really nice.

It's a GIRL!

Ok so in case you haven't heard, we found out last week that we are having a girl. Both baby and I are doing great. Jeff and I are in the process of decorating the nursery, pictures will follow. So far we have painted, made curtains and a lamp shade and are in the process of refinishing a dresser. Woohoo. Among other fun things, last night we registered at Babies R Us, Jeff of course had fun scanning things. Now all we have to do is name her, good thing we have a few months cause if you ask me, that's the hardest part.

This is not a test

Well I know it has been a long wait for many of you, and many more just gave up, but Jeff and I are going to be having our first child in March. Our due date is March 21st but you know how that goes. I've had an ultra sound and things look great, just finishing up my first trimester and nothing really to complain about, I'm one of those lucky women who don't throw up or really get morning sickness (at least this time around) We'll keep you posted and let you know know what we're having which we should find out just before Halloween. We're very excited and I'm honestly completely terrified but people keep having them so they can't be that bad right?

Another Wedding Cake

So my mother in law like I said has done wedding cakes for years and I have started getting into doing them with her. We just did one yesterday and it turned out really well. We played a lot and changed it a little from what the bride originally wanted but I think she was happy with it.

Something Fishy

I ran across this pic today and realized that I never blogged about Jeff's supper sucessful salmon fishing trip and our not so successful smoking of the salmon. Jeff caught all of these fish as you can see but it's a certain kind of salmon that is better smoked. So he being who he is (which is why I love him) looked online and found a way to make a homemade smoker to smoke your salmon in. We got all of the supplies and made the smoker. It was only supposed to take a few hours to smoke the fish however I think we overloaded it and by about 3am the salmon still wasn't done. We brought it all in to finish it in the oven but it was stuck to the rack. So the night ended with us sneaking all of this half smoked salmon to the park dumpster across the street and crawling into bed smelling of smoky salmon because at that point we just didn't care. But it's a great picture and a funny story.

New Car

Well after almost 8 years of marriage we decided it was finally time to get another car. Jeff and I both work and we still carpool but Jeff works with the scouts and I work with the Young Women in my church and was just called as the Ward Young Women Camp Director. So we are both going in two different directions. Jeff is actually going on a 50 mile canoe trip this summer (the same week that I'm taking my girls to camp). He took his guys on a 50 mile hike last summer so the canoe trip should be pretty easy. Anyways this is a Toyota Land Cruiser and we love it. It can hold 8 people although the third row is really for short people and kids cause there's not a lot of leg room. But its perfect for hauling camping stuff and pretty much anything else. And now I finally have a vehicle when Jeff takes his kids camping which is generally once a month.

Tip Toe Through the Tulips

I know that you can only see the back of my head in this one but really how many pictures do you need of me smiling in front of a field of tulips. Plus I thought it was a pretty cool pic.





Ok so it took me a while to post this, not really sure why. Jeff and I went up to the Skagit Valley tulip fields in April, I had never been before and was really excited to go. I would recommend for anyone interested to not go on a Saturday, it was really busy. We got some great pictures though and I promise that Jeff was there, he just didn't want any pictures taken I guess standing in a field of tulips for a pic is more of a girl thing.

Northern Exposure

It's March 5th and spring has officially sprung here in the state of Washington. Everything is blooming and the temperature is nearing 60 today. So Jeff and I piled on the layers, jumped on the motorcycle and rode straight out of town. We drove over the pass and saw some of the last skiers taking advantage of the sun and snow. We headed out to Roslyn Washington, for no particular reason other than it's a nice drive. While we were there I got a picture in front of the famous Roslyn cafe. For those of you who don't know. There was a popular show in the 90's called Northern Exposure, the show was supposed to be set in Alaska but they filmed it in Roslyn Washington. After snapping a quick picture we stopped for lunch and headed back home. The drive home was a lot nicer. I actually didn't get numb on the way home just thoroughly chilled even with my many layers.

Droid Dog

Jeff's Aunt Kim got the new Droid phone and was showing us that it has a camera with a flash. She wanted to take a picture of Remmy and I, and this is how the photo turned out. We have no idea how it happened but I always knew there was something funny about this dog.

2009

It's been a very busy year full of new experiences and surprises. In February I fell victim like many did to the poor economy and lost my job, however it really was a blessing in disguise as a month later I got a job as a Dental Assistant, with a really amazing dentist in Bellevue, which is what I wanted to do in the first place. Jeff actually got a promotion to become a Financial Advisor which is what he's been working so hard for, for the past 3 years. He'll be going to New York in March for a week of training which is really exciting.
Jeff and I also got our motorcycle licenses this year and motorcycles. Although Jeff has ridden motorcycles before, this was my first time and it was really exciting to learn to ride a motorcycle. I also learned how to play the piano and played in my first recital during Christmas, I played a duet of Silent Night with my teacher.
We also went to Disneyland this year which was a first for me, and Jeff hadn't been since he was a little boy so I count it as a first for him because he didn't remember everything. We got a park hopper pass for both Disney and California Adventure and we rode every ride. We were there for 3 days and by the third I was pretty much lame and popping tylenol to make it through, but by golly we were going to have a good time. And we did, we had a blast.
Jeff and I continue to work with the youth in the church which keeps us both busy, he does a lot of hiking and camping with the guys. I do more cooking, sewing and socializing with the girls but we have a good time. I actually went as a chaperon to the camp they have every year for both boys and girls called Youth Conference. It was a little cold cause we went to the Washington Coast in June but we had a blast.
Jeff and I have also done some hiking, camping, and mountain biking on our own.
We hope that all of you have had a wonderful year this year, hope that this next year will bring many more surprises and adventures.