Memorial Day Weekend

This past weekend Jared and I spent the holiday in Bear Bear Lake, CA.  This was a much needed getaway to the great outdoors!  Big Bear is a quaint resort town east of Los Angeles about 7000 ft up in the mountains.  It is beautiful landscape with plenty of water sports, fishing, and hiking to keep you busy.

Scenic shot from the road.

Touring around the lake on our very expensive rental for an hour speedboat... now Jared wants his very own.

Fishing bright and early in the morning... you should see the size of those trout!

This was our hike up to "The Grand View".  You should also check out Jared's mad video skills at the following link:) 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4R4g1I76bQ8

It was a great weekend away from the city.  

It's a Boy!

Sorry to all you who voted for a girl... and that was the majority.  We found out yesterday that we are having healthy baby boy!

This was by far the most exciting visit. The technician was able to point out all his little body parts and put our minds at ease that everything was developing normally.  I loved going through the details of counting legs, arms, toes, and fingers and watching his little heart beat. 

Some have asked what our reaction was to a boy or what did we want.  Jared and I both agreed we were so caught up in going through the body parts that finding out the gender was just an afterthought and we were so grateful that we have a healthy baby.  Now the excitement begins, and I can't wait to hit the mall this weekend for some clothes and furnishings for the nursery:)

The technician printed some pictures for us to bring home.  Now that I'm home and I'm my own, I don't recognize anything anymore:)  

Baby Poll Now Open

The baby poll is open and will close shortly.  If you want to be part of the action you have to cast your vote for a boy or girl before Tuesday, April 28th--despite the poll saying it will be open for a week.  On Tuesday, April 28th, Jared and I will have our second ultrasound which will hopefully disclose the gender of our baby.

There hasn't been much to update on the blog lately. Jared and I have been spending our weekends finishing decorating our new home.  We really like our new neighborhood and new ward.  This past Sunday they asked me to be the Primary secretary.  Jared is still awaiting his calling... which I think will probably be Scouts.  

The pregnancy continues to be pretty smooth for me.  My belly keeps growing, and we are taking that as a great sign these days that all is well since I still haven't felt any movement yet.  

Life is a Marathon not a Sprint...

For some life may be a marathon and not a sprint, but not for Jared and me! It was just one short year ago that we met at an Angels game. Since then we have married, moved twice, and started our family:)

We celebrated our one year anniversary this past weekend at an Angels game. I guess the biggest evolution is my wearing pink to a baseball game instead of my traditional blue (go Mariners). Jared is pretty adamant that we will raise Angel fans and not little Mariners. I think I will give them a choice with the exception of no Yankees.

Actually I am not that much of a die hard fan. I definitely like to go to the games but for me the best part is the food--peanuts, hot dogs, popcorn, red vines, ice cream, coke... . We really do buy all that too!

So hopefully we will start our marathon soon and start pacing ourselves for many more life events. Every day we both are reminded that we are the luckiest people alive to have finally after so many years found each other. I guess good things really come to those who wait!



April 19, 2008 (Angels vs Mariners)

April 11, 2009 (Angels vs Red Sox)

Check up - 2

It's interesting how I can't remember anything lately except for how many weeks pregnant I am and what is developing in our little baby. Pregnancy consumes every thought of me.

This last week I was 16 weeks pregnant and that meant it was time for our second doctor's visit. The visit itself was pretty uneventful to others but for me was a great reassurance that everything is coming along fine. We saw Dr Jones for about 15 minutes and he asked us a few questions and then asked if we had any questions--which we didn't. I guess we need to read more! He then listened for the heart beat, which was loud and strong and very fast. That is such a relief to hear. Up until this week I felt so great and noticed little changes in my body that I of course began to worry just a little. So far everything is going well though, and we have a healthy little baby on the way.

After our doctor's appointment on Monday, I noticed that my pants were extremely tight... I couldn't even zip them without laying down on the bed. I was pretty puzzled by this since I had just worn the very same jeans earlier that week to my doctor's visit and hadn't gained any weight since the previous visit. I walked downstairs and asked Jared if he noticed I gained weight over the past few days. He laughed at my extremely tight jeans and made a confession, "I accidentally washed all your jeans in hot water and dried them". I guess we now know what house hold chores are off limits to Jared, which I am sure he doesn't mind.

But every mistake always has a silver lining... right? No jeans to wear forced us to go to the mall to buy some new clothes... which I never object to. So now I have clothes that show I am pregnant instead of clothes that I stuff myself into that make me look fat:)

Movin'

With the new little one coming, Jared and I decided we needed a bigger place than our two-bedroom apartment. It took us awhile to decide what to do... buy or keep renting. We made a decision to rent a place while here in California since the market is still so unstable and we know we will be leaving in 2-3 years. So we found a great townhome in Carlsbad that we were able to work out a great 3-year lease from a fellow Navy guy now stationed in Washington DC. It's a great neighborhood with a park across the street... and best of all we have an extra room for all who want to come visit!

Moving wasn't all too hard since we hired movers. Jared doesn't think I am very strong... and I play up to his thinking:) We also had another curve ball thrown at us on Wednesday night when I received an urgent email from my partnership that we needed to cut 10% of our workforce yet again, and it needed to be done within 48 hours. So the big D trumped our plans once again, and I spent most of Thursday and a good deal of Friday on conference calls.

But the house looks fabulous so far, and I am surprised at how quickly we were able to get settled in (thanks Jared). Now it's just a lot of shopping to finish decorating so much more space!

First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage ...

Rumors are true, and we are so excited. This week marks the 2nd trimester of our pregnancy. Jared and I were quite surprised to learn in January that we are expecting since we had just agreed to start our family in December!

Coming back from the holidays I had a bad ear infection and needed to go to the doctor. The day before my appointment I had a feeling I should take a home pregnancy test just in case. I had a home pregnancy test and thought what the heck... it's kind of fun taking those things. Not thinking twice about it, I continued preparing dinner. Much to my surprise when I went back into the bathroom a few minutes later I saw not one but two little pink lines! I immediately called my sister, Cathryn, to see what this I really meant. She confirmed two pink lines really does mean I'm pregnant and encouraged me to take another test... so I took two more and confirmed what the first one was telling me. The next day at my doctor's appointment I took a blood test and it came back positive again. This really is happening for us.

First reactions: Cathryn thought is was funny that Jared and I would be having a baby before our first wedding anniversary; Jared was stoked; all grandparents extremely happy; and me... well I was in denial for a couple of weeks!

The first few months have been pretty good with only a few weeks of sickness but all in all I'm feeling great and gaining weight.

We'll keep everyone posted.