First Ultrasound :)

We had an ultrasound on Monday to confirm my due date, and we found out that I am not quite as far along as once thought. Baby looked nice and healthy (according to the ultrasound tech... it just looked like a blob to me). The heart beat was a strong and healthy 153 beats per minute! I am about 8 weeks and due July 6th. We are very excited and hoping for a healthy 9 months, and a very healthy baby. I will keep updating this to let everyone know of developments. I cannot wait until we are through the first trimester and the risk of miscarriage is much much lower. It is going to be an eventful new year.

Looking Forward

It is crazy to think that it is already November! We are looking forward to Christmas and Thanksgiving and for the year 2010. It is hard to believe that it is only about 6 weeks till Christmas...
Chris has had a VERY busy quarter at school, but he is still doing great. I am still chugging away at Kindercare as a Preschool teacher (for another 7 and 1/2 months or so). Then we are going to head over to Pullman so Chris can attend Washington State University.
We are looking forward to ALL the BIG changes that are coming in 2010! We are praying for health, safety, and strength for us and our future little one.

Choose This Day

August 25th 2009 was our 2 year anniversary! We have had a great two years and time has just flown by, it is hard to believe it had been 2 years. For our anniversary we went and had some portraits taken at Sears, it was fun but more expensive than I had planned. Oh well that is life, it is generally more expensive than you plan. Anyways after we had our pictures taken we drove down to Portland, Oregon and met with an adviser from a pharmacy program in Portland. Then we headed over to Lake Oswego, Oregon and went to the Temple. It was our first time back inside since we were married. Then we had dinner and went home. It was a wonderful day with my wonderful husband. Below are some of the portraits we had taken at Sears.

Tuesday!

This Tuesday is our TWO year wedding anniversary!! We are very excited about this and have some cool plans that I just surprised Chris with, and he is very exited also. We will have pictures to document the occasion soon. The gift that we purchased for each other was a Blu-ray player because our DVD player broke and so Chris found a blu-ray player for a very good price and we have one blu-ray movie. It is very nice and even up scales our normal DVD's to a higher quality.
We are very excited for our trip to California in TWO weeks! We are planning to visit family and also visit the following places:
1. Calavaras Big Tree's
2. Santa Cruz
3. Lake Shasta
4. Sacramento Temple
5. Mt. Lassen Volcanic National Park
6. Bernie Falls
7. Lake Almanor (we will be camping here)
8. Lake Shasta Caverns
9. Visiting Friends and going Rock Crawling

And anywhere else that the wind blows, we are not trying to make our plans too structured. It is going to be a great trip and a great week off of work!!

Summer Time!

Well it has been a long time since my last post. We have been VERY busy. Chris is almost done with Summer quarter at TCC, 2 weeks left. It was a very busy quarter. I have been working 2 jobs and that has kept me very busy.

Some highlights from our 2009 summer:

In June we took a trip to Pullman and went with my friend Melissa through the Spokane Temple.

Melissa and her family came and stayed with us for a few days while they were exploring the area. It was great to have them here!

We spent the 3rd of July at Mason Lake and on the 4th we went up to Port Townsend.

We went on a killer hike near a very beautiful river and up onto a ridge. This was just beyond Lake Cushman in Washington.

We have spent time with some good friends who were back home for the summer.

We recently celebrated my 24th birthday.. I can't believe I am already 24! Chris surprised me with the night off from my 2nd job and a birthday dinner with my family. It was a wonderful surprise and I feel so blessed to have a wonderful husband like him :)

Yesterday was the Coy-Wright family reunion and it was great to visit with the long lost family :)

There you have it. A list of the main events so far this summer. I have to go eat some yummy dinner. I will post again soon!

2 down 1 to go...

We have added two new cousins to our family this week. We are still waiting on the 3rd who is due anytime now. Above is pictured Stella Nichole Brooks born on 4/23/2009. Below is pictured Benjamin Field born on 4/20/2009. All the parents and babies are doing well from what I have heard. I will put up pictures of Mandy's little man when he arrives.

Our New Car

The picture above is not our car, however it is the type of car we purchased. On Saturday Chris and I found and purchased a red 2006 Toyota Corolla with 31,000 miles. We got a great price, at just about $10,400! It is in great shape and retails for between $12 and $14,000. We even got it below Blue Book!
To top off our great deal we got a great interest rate of 5.25%!!
I'm not sure if all of that information is something that I should share but I am very proud of us for getting such a good deal on a great car.

On another not Chris got all A's winter quarter!! This past weekend was also great because my friend Julie from Utah was in Seattle and I got to see her for the first time in about three years. It was great to see her and to have her meet Chris for the first time. It went great and we had a good time catching up, even though we definitely didn't have enough time. A little time is better than nothing.

Oh and I got a new calling in church. I am no longer the valiant 12 teacher for primary, I am now the Beehive adviser. I have a whole new job to learn, but am very excited to serve these young women.

That's all for now I wish you all the best!

My Wonderful Husband

I had a very hard day today, I have caught yet another cold from my preschoolers, and then I spent the day fighting with Key Bank. I would advise no one to use Key Bank unless you like having your money stolen from you. Anyways, I was having a very hard and frustrating day and then I found out Chris was going to be home early today and was so excited that we could eat dinner together! Then he walked in the door with a dozen roses and a package of Double Stuff Oreo's. He is so sweet to me! He knew that I was having a hard day and wanted to surprise me with something special to help me feel better. After dinner he also gave me the Keith Urban CD that came out today! What a wonderful husband I have :)

It is the end....

We are going to retire the Hyundai, yes the 89 Hyundai has reached the end of it's time with the Appel family. We are going to get it put back together and drive it to the junk yard and sell it to them. We are hoping to get them to buy it from us for about $1,000 so that we can put that money towards it's replacement. We will see what happens. I wish I could say I was sad to see it go, but I can't. I am very excited to retire it. We now get to find a replacement car which I have figured out is not very much fun. Car dealers drive me crazy and I think I drive them crazy to. Hopefully we will figure it out soon, and be able to post pictures of our new car soon.

Memories...

I was looking through some pictures and found some that really make me smile. Don't get me wrong there are many other pictures in my collection that make me smile. These pictures are adventures and things that represent a time before I was married. I had great friends, all of which are not pictured here and a ton of fun. I still have great friends and a ton of fun. None the less it is fun to remember!

Melissa on her first Ferry Ride! We were on our way to Seattle to play.


This is a picture from graduation in May of 2007 a few months before Chris and I were married. In the picture is Tim and Liz Roe, Me, and Chris.



Good old Melissa up to no good as always. I love this picture!


That is Becky! She is awesome and has a style all her own, she was an amazing roommate and I miss being with her and Melissa all the time! I need to fix that...


This is Heather! We were in Utah and the car was breaking down, so we stopped at a rest stop (above) and were hoping that the car would magically fix itself... Didn't happen but we rode back to Provo with a nice German family.

I am so thankful for all of the experiences that I have had. They helped get me where I am today, and understanding that really helps me deal with life today. When I don't understand, or have a hard time I just remember that all things are working towards making me who God wants me to be. I know that Chris and I can get through anything, and that is a great blessing. I thank everyone who helped to make me who I am today!

Dan and Susie's Wedding Weekend!

Mr and Mrs Daniel Appel

Outside the Seattle Washington Temple

Cutting the cake (below)

At Dinner on Friday (below)

There is a new member of the Appel family, and her name is Susie. Their wedding was an adventure, there were many events that did not go as planned, however in the end everything turned out wonderful.

Just in case anyone was wondering, in Washington you need to have your marriage licence 3 full days before you plan on getting married, and you cannot be married without a valid marriage licence. You might be thinking "Oh No! What happened?" well they were a little late getting their marriage license and were not able to be married Saturday morning at the Temple. Not to worry because the Temple President was able to arrange for the Temple to be opened up just for them on Monday the 16th at 12:00am. That is right Dan and Susie were married just after midnight on Monday before they left for their Honeymoon at 6:00am.

Even with the slight time change, the day on Saturday was still very wonderful. Dan and Susie took the schedule changes very well and were very positive and the day was as special as it should have been. I guess I will start with dinner on Friday with the families and wedding party. We had the dinner in Seattle at a Mexican restaurant, it was a full room and was nice to spend time with everyone there and Chris enjoyed catching up with people that he had not seen in years. After dinner a few people went out and did karaoke and then went back to the hotel between two and three in the morning. We all woke up early and and were getting ready for pictures, unfortunately it was raining pretty steadily and they decided that taking pictures wouldn't work. So then we headed over to Wenatchee where they had pictures taken at a photography studio and then went to the reception and ring ceremony. Bishop Cammak was there and he did a wonderful job with their ring ceremony. It was very special and really cute. Dan had so many wonderful things to say about Susie. Susie of course had many wonderful things to say about Dan (hence why they were getting married - they kinda like each other...). I especially like how Susie ended her turn with "Go Cougs" that is school spirit right there. The reception was a lot of fun and people really enjoyed themselves. They had a beautiful cake and lots of great Mexican food.

On Sunday we had a nice day, we had lunch with the family and then headed back to Seattle. It had snowed a lot over the previous 24 hours and so traveling over Blewitt and Snoqualmie took a very long time. Chris and I hung out in Dan and Susie's hotel room until they arrived to Bellevue and then we all got ready to go take some pictures in front of the Temple before their sealing. It was dark and cold, but it wasn't raining. I am very sad because not all the pictures turned out, I think the camera might have been too cold because there are many of them where we look like ghosts. It was neat being on Temple grounds at 10:00pm. While we were taking pictures one of the security guards came over and was very excited to meet Dan and Susie because being married at midnight on Monday in the Seattle temple has never happened before that anyone there could recall. However the wonderful people there did everything that they could to make sure they could get married and that it would be special. It was a wonderful event to be a part of. I don't know if there is anything more beautiful than a Temple marriage, it was wonderful. I learned a lot and was touched by the spirit of the Lord. Eternal Marriage is such a wonderful gift and I am just so happy for Dan and Susie! I wish them all the best, and I hope they do not mind that I told their story, it was a very memorable weekend for me, but I am sure that they have much more to add and many different parts that were their favorite times.

The Appel's are in town!

Some pictures from Christmas! I know it is almost the middle of March but here are some pictures from Christmas! Soon I will have pictures from the Appel's visit and the upcoming wedding!

He was really excited to have some notebooks :)

Joy to the World!

The digital picture frame from Chris's Dad and Diana
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Well I have been really slacking on this blogging stuff. I have been busy doing other activities. Chris and I had fun visiting with his Dad and Diana, and his sister Mandy and her kids. They are up in Washington visiting us before Dan and Susie's wedding. Sunday we had them all over to our house for dinner, it was the first time any of them have seen where we lived and the first time I have cooked dinner for any of them. It was fun and I am glad that we were able to spend some time together. Luckily we will see more of them throughout the week and then of course at the wedding.

If you would like an update.. here it is

Well life has been busy the last few months. We got a very bad virus on my computer and then Chris's computer broke so I have not had free roam of the internet for awhile. We have both computers back, thanks to my brother Jason! Chris has been super busy with school and work, but he is doing awesome in his classes and is registering for next quarter today or tomorrow. I am still kicking around or rather being kicked around at Kindercare. Hopefully I will be able to make a change soon. My parents and younger brother are on a nice trip in Washington DC this week and I have been dog sitting Polar and visiting with the kitty's this week. It has been lots of fun and my family is having a great time on their trip. Other than that we are looking forward to Dan and Susie's wedding and all the family that will be visiting in a few weeks. Seems like time is flying by so fast now days, it is crazy that it is almost March. Anyways I will try to get some current pictures up soon.

A New Year

Well, I am a little behind and do not have any pictures to post for Christmas yet. We did have a very good Christmas. There was a Lot of snow in Gig Harbor for Christmas this year and the whole week before! Everything slows or even stops when we get snow in this area. I ended up with half days at work if I was lucky from the first day of Snow until the this past Monday. It was a nice break, unfourtunatly loosing more than half my income for 3 and 1/2 weeks is a little stressful and we have been holding our breath and hoping to make all our bills this month. We had fun in the snow, I think it is very beautiful. This was my 2nd white Christmas in a row, which is really cool because last year was my first white Christmas.

Anyways enough about the snow for now. Christmas Eve we spent at my parents house and had a nice family dinner. It was a very nice evening and my mom made some really yummy ham with raisin sauce. On Christmas Eve Chris and I each opened one gift, I got him the Christmas movie set that has Rudolf, Frosty and all the other classics. I got a pair of really warm socks (I like to get new socks... it may seem silly but it is true). We watched a Christmas movie (I fell asleep) and then went to bed. Christmas we got up and opened presents from Chris' side of the family and greatly enjoyed everything which was so thoughtfully given to us. Thank you to everyone! I finally got to give chris his present which was a nice new Hiking Pack, so that we can go hiking this summer. Chris got me a wonderful gift and what I REALLY wanted, A Membership to the YMCA so that I (we) can go swim and work out.

The holidays were great we had a lot of fun and were able to spend time with eachother. I had a lot of time off of work between the snow and the holidays so I got a nice little vacation. Now it is on with the new year to see where it leads us. Our schedule so far has been full of weddings and baby showers. With many more coming up in the near future. Chris is doing well in school, but is very busy between school and work. I now have to find ways to keep myself busy when he is doing homework. Hope all is well with everyone!