So Happy Together

Jeff and I celebrated our 6 year anniversary on 7/20. I can't believe how long we have been together! Time has gone by so fast and we've had so much fun. I also can't believe I found such a good guy at a young age (and being LDS- everything happens so quickly, too). It seems like yesterday we were neighbors in Chatham Town saying hi to each other in the parking garage or waving at each other through our kitchen windows...

Now here we are with baby number 2 on the way and a past filled with a lot of playing and becoming even closer than we'd ever imagined. Jeff and I work so well together, that it is scary. I can't imagine having a closer friend or better husband. Once we had Mia, I feared that our whole world would revolve around her and the dynamics of our relationship would change. I am relieved to say that- after some adjusting- we've managed to find "the balance". Our alone time together only comfirms what a great team we already are and how that helps us be better parents.


We were able to spend the weekend on our own. We went out to eat and cruised the mall before our late night movie. The next day we rented a canoe down at UW campus and paddled across the lake to Washington Park Arboretum. There were lily pads and ducks everywhere- not to mention the lush green landscape that is synonymous with Seattle. It felt like we were on a Disneyland ride through a rain forest. It was very fun and romantic (if you ever get a chance to do it, I highly recommend it). After that we strolled Univeristy Village, we haven't enjoyed shopping like that since we first got married.

A Normal Life Appreciated

Last week our little family had a major health scare that really made us step back and evaluate the important things in our lives. The stresses I had earlier that day were normal (toddler stuff, tired from being pregnant, moving details, etc.). In just seconds all of that was obsolete. We waited 48 hours in agony, over "what if's", "now what's" and "how could this be", for test results to come back. I waited in the Dr.'s office watching other people and felt jealous of (what I assumed was) their normal lives/health. After (what felt like months of waiting) we found out everything was OK and I was a very small statistic that causes a test error.

It took a few hours for everything to settle in and to know that we were all going to be ok. I have never been more grateful for my health and mild little life. I've also never felt more empathy for people that find out life changing news about their health. I guess you get so comfortable in your own skin, that is is very easy to think "that won't happen to me" about a lot of things. I know my details are vague, but I just want to express my gratitude to friends and family and the love and support that they give us. This small trial renewed our faith in our relationship with one another, our family and prayer.

I don't get as easily frustrated by the little things and I hope I keep this feeling for a long time. Thank you for your friendship.

YAY!!

Today, we found out that we are having a
BABY BOY!!
We are sooo excited for Mia to have a little brother! After the appointment she kept saying, "brother". We all could have guessed it was gonna be a boy (since only a small percent of Jeff's family is girls), but since we had a girl first we didn't want to be too confident.
I'll post a pic of the ultrasound later tonight!!

Mia will be 21 months old (tomorrow)

Mia will be turning 21 months old tomorrow, but since we are having our ultrasound then (to find out the sex of the baby) I wanted to be sure to put some recent pictures of her up.

Mia is such a sweet and smart little girl! She knows soooo many words and can speak very clearly. She is very polite and always says, "please", "thank you", "bless you", "you're welcome" and when we ask her if she'd like something, she answers so sweetly, "Sure!" She does have a few words that make her sound like a sailor, but we are working on them ;) She is starting to sing a lot and has part of the ABC song down.

Like her parents, she is a little shy at first. The way she likes to break the ice is with a "high 5" and "knuckles". She used to slap a little (mostly Jeff- hehe) but we taught her to touch faces soft and nice and she calls that "soft face".

Mia can't help but dance if a hip-hop song comes on the radio and she love, love, loves Mickey Mouse (of course she didn't think he was all that great when we were AT Disneyland).

I couldn't choose just one picture, so I had to make a slideshow!

CHECK BACK TOMORROW TO FIND OUT WHAT WE ARE HAVING!!!

Father's Day Weekend

My sister and I took our hubbies to Traxx Racing in Mukilteo. The cars go pretty fast and it gets a little crazy during the race (including some mild road rage)! It was a little spendy for the few minutes it lasted, but something you gotta at least try. We then went to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. It was entertaining (as to be expected) but the ending did not live up to our expectations.

We had a lot of fun with the Fergs! It will be hard to move away from them :(



The next day I made "Pancake Puffs" for breakfast (from the info-mercials)! It is a pretty fun finger food and we made the different versions throughout the week.


After church we went to a great park in Everett that overlooks The Sound. The weather was awesome and Mia loved swinging on the swings and then walking through the little arboretum next door.

She is a sweet little Daddy's Girl!

Mia at SDCF

When we visited San Diego I went into my old work, San Diego Commercial Finance. Mia was very shy, but had a great time with the phone in the breakroom. My friend, Ninette, sent me these pictures and I thought they were cute!

In A Strange Turn of Events...

Everyone knows how difficult it is to move to a new place and start from scratch. When we moved from San Diego it was just starting to feel like home (that only took about 5 years). Well, here we go again...

We were very excited to move to Seattle and I have always wanted to make it back to the Northwest. The rain/gloom was tough on us, but the beautiful summers along the Sound are very rewarding. We've loved living near my sister, her husband and all of her kids. We also enjoy seeing my family in Spokane quite frequently.

Jeff has been working for Big D Construction (based out of SLC, UT) and his project Washington Square -in Bellevue- is wrapping up. We will be moving to the Salt Lake area this fall! It was hard for me to accept, and I lived in denial for as long as possible. We know this is where we are supposed to go and are looking forward to living near Jeff's family again. I can't say I thought I'd end up back in Utah (no offense to anyone who lives in or is from Utah) but I thought we'd be here for good. I am glad that many of our friends and family live in the area and know that will help us transition smoothly.

We are extremely excited for affordable living, too!! FINALLY!

We will be moving a couple of months before baby #2 is due- which means I will be useless to Jeff as a moving partner (yay- for me).

I guess we'll have to take up snowboarding and start hiking!