Back to Blogging

I just spent several minutes re-reading these old post, and oh my heck these are hilarious to me, I was such a weirdo, haha!


I started writing this blog a little after moving to Washington State in 2007, before facebook and twitter and other social media website/apps were popular, and back then it was the cool thing to do! Most of my friends kept personal blogs and updated them often. I remember reading personal blogs daily. So funny! Just for fun, I just clicked on several of my friends blogs, and most of them have been set to private now, or haven't been updated in years.

But I'm so glad I wrote these weird posts - the little that I wrote - because I had already forgotten a lot of it!

Ian just turned 11 this year and it seems like it was only yesterday that he was a little preschooler going on his first day of preschool. Time flies! So much has happened since I last updated this blog...I plan on updating it more often!


We moved back to Utah in 2009, a little after Caleb, or KK, how we like to call him, was born. I think he was 4-5 months when we moved back and he just turned 7! Preston, our youngest, is 5 years old already, and was born the following year in 2010. KK and Preston are close in age, only a year and a half apart.  Our boys are the sweetest boys and the best of friends. We feel very fortunately to have them in our lives! 

"And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord." Luke 2:10-11

Merry Christmas!

Lucky Seven

Introducing Baby Caleb Anders

April 27th

7lbs 7oz

19 3/4 inches

Sweet Baby

being a big brother can be very tiring ...

Our Top Picks

The baby is almost here and we're making progress in choosing a name. We're now down to a small list of possible names for him. You can see - and vote on - our top picks on the new poll to the right.

I've been getting a lot of Braxton Hicks lately. It can be pretty uncomfortable at times. I don't remember getting much of those with Ian. I'm hoping that the old wives' tale about second babies being born earlier than firsts is true - time goes by so slowly for those who wait ... (you got that right Madonna!)

35 Weeks

Notice how it's a little fuzzy on one side of these pictures? Our camera's been doing that lately and we haven't been able to figure out what's wrong. Maybe it's been dropped one too many times and we might need a new one :(

Preggo Club at Malu's baby shower. Malu is due a week after me. Her shower was today ... I must've eaten most of those brigadeiros there :)

And since I haven't posted any pregnancy pictures, here's (a crappy) one of me at 35 Weeks - Could my belly be any bigger?

Actually, as big as I look here, I was even bigger with Ian - I'm 15 pounds lighter this time around to be exact! Thanks to my doctor (aka the Weight Nazi) who's encouraged me to exercise - walk - and keep active during this pregnancy. She high fived me last time when it showed I had only gained 1 pound, and says if I gain too much she'll have "yell at me" (her words, not mine). Yeah, she's nuts :)

The baby is doing good. He likes to move a lot and keep poking me in the same spot on my left 'till it hurts. He also has hiccups all the time ... just like Ian did. I love the little "nudger", but those hiccups are so annoying when I'm trying to sleep :)

Anyway, less than 5 weeks left for us! I'm so excited to finally be done and be able to hold our baby. These last weeks have gone by quick - baby #2 will be here in no time!

We keep calling him "baby" because we haven't pinned down a name for him yet. We have a little list with a few names on it ... we'll see ...

Oh Happy Day!

So weird how it's almost always sunny every time we have guests over. So far this year we had some friends come stay with us last month from Utah and my parents just left this morning after a couple days - Both times we enjoyed beautiful sunny days the whole time they were here!

Same thing happened last year with a couple of exceptions.

This is so surprising to me since that days like those are hard to come by. Seattle only averages 55 sunny days a year - mostly during summer.

{Today is back to cloudy - oh Mother nature, why do you tease me so?}

As for the rest of the days, we average 226 cloudy days (4th most in the U.S.)

This is what a typical day looks like:

Or this:

Floating Bridge - Cloudy Day

And then there are these glorious-perfect-temperature-beautiful-green-trees-contrasting-with-equally-beautiful-blue-skies SUNNY DAYS. There's nothing like it.

Floating Bridge - Sunny Day

Redmond

Lake Washington

So I guess the message here is come on over ... and don't forget to bring the sun with you :)

Candy is Dandy

Happy Valentine's Everyone. We've sort of been boycotting Valentine's day for years now. At least in the commercial sense. It started out innocently enough. We tried to go out and have a good ol' time on Valentine's day only to be met with crowded restaurants, traffic and sold out signs at the theaters, concerts, and games. Plus they jack up the price for roses and candy {I'm talking chocolate truffles here}. We must've had fun 'cause afterwards we were broke ... you would think. In the end, the best {and cheapest} way to say "I love you" is saying it ...

Tonight we'll avoid the crowds and celebrate a quiet Valentine's day at home with pizza and a movie. Come March we'll splurge on something fun for our anniversary.

Ian was asked to bring one Valentine for each of his preschool classmates. Weird to me that this romantic holiday is for kids, too, but according to Dusty, kids really get a kick out of it. Poor Ian, his mom is the least crafty person in the world. I already feel bad that his preschool bag is not decorated like the other kids' in his class (unless you consider a muddy footprint at the bottom decoration). So I wanted to get this right.

"Dumb question, what's a valentine?" I asked Dusty

"For kids, it's a valentine's card with some candy in it ... that's what we used to do when we were little." He told me.

Wednesday morning, the day of Ian's preschool party, Dustin is all:

"So you know what to look for right? A pack of valentine cards for kids with candy in it" Trying to make sure I don't screw this up for Ian.

"Got it" I said.

I get to Freddy (Fred Meyer) and 30 minutes later, I still can't find this thing. I did find some valentine cards with a monkey on the front and thought it'd be appropriate - but it came with no candy.

Later I call Dusty at work:

"They were all out of the cards with candy, so I bought some without, do you think that's enough?"

"Oohh, I guess we would buy the candy separate and then put them in the envelope" He says.

Duh. {rolling my eyes} I guess I could've thought of that. It was too early to think straight {10 am} ...

At this point, we're already running a little late. I find a Rite Aid on the way to the preschool, run in, buy some candy, run outside only to find out Ian had swiped a shiny yellow car from the store when I wasn't looking {he showed me the car with a big grin on his face - lol} run back in to return the toy car. Back to our CRV ... we made it. Phew.

That day, Ian came home with a bag full of valentine cards and candy - one from each of his little friends. I helped him open and read each one. It gives me an idea of what to do for him next year.