Matthew's Blessing

We blessed Matthew when he was about 3 weeks old. It was a wonderful day and we had lots of my family come and support us and Matthew. Chris gave him his blessing and that evening we had a family dinner. It was especially nice because we got to see most of the family and enjoy some time together before the big move back across the state. Here are some pictures of the day!

Jeffrey Wright

My cousin was killed in a single car accident last week, and as I reflect on his life and some of the unknowns surrounding his death I am sad that he never gets the chance to grow up and experience some of the great joys of life. He was 21 years old and still trying to figure things out. He had many wonderful qualities, and was a thoughtful kind person, he had lots of friends and family. I remember spending many days swimming in Mason Lake with him, camping trips, Easter egg hunts, Christmas dinners, he brought a wonderful energy to this world and to his friends and family.

As I read the following article from the Kitsap Sun, along with many of the comments people left below, it made me sad. The article infers that drinking was involved in the accident, I don't know if that is true, I don't think it was ever confirmed.
As I was thinking about the possibility that alcohol was involved it made me very upset that he would be risking his life and others lives by making such a stupid choice. I am strongly and firmly against drunk driving and I hope that is not the case, however if it was, if he did make that mistake he also paid the ultimate price, and unfortunately his family also has to pay and say good bye to him way too soon. Chris and I spent a lot of time talking last night about Jeff and the accident and the possible connection of alcohol and came to the conclusion that young people make stupid choices, I don't think too many people make it to 25 without making a dumb choice that endangers themselves or others. However, most people do get the chance to correct their choices and turn their lives around if needed, this is something Jeff doesn't get the chance to do, at least not in this life.

So then the question is... Should we hold or remember him as any less of a person because he may have made a big mistake. Absolutely not, I think that we need to remember him as a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin, and friend. we all need to remember him for who he was and not a choice or two that he may have made. Heavenly Father would want us to look past all the things that are negative because it is not our place to judge him on those factors and remember him as a wonderful child of God. All of us are children of God and all of us are here on Earth to learn and grow and sometimes we learn lessons the hard way.

Enough about the article and comments that followed it. I just needed to express to whoever reads this connected to Jeff or the article, that everyone makes mistakes and those mistakes should not be held against us forever, we are on this earth to love and help each other, not to judge and condemn each other. He will never have the chance to learn from this mistake, it doesn't make his choice right, but we must remember his potential, and all the wonderful contributions he did make.

Bremerton Man Dies in Central Kitsap Crash

• By Josh Farley
• Kitsap Sun
• Posted September 3, 2010 at 2:12 p.m.

CENTRAL KITSAP — A Bremerton man was killed late Tuesday in a one-car crash on Provost Road near NW Shelley Drive, according to the Kitsap County Sheriff's Office.

The sheriff's office identified the man as Jeffrey Wright, 21.

Wright was driving a 1988 Chevy Cavalier south on Provost Road just before 9:30 p.m. when the car left the road to the right and rolled, coming to rest on its top. Wright was pinned underneath the vehicle, deputies said, and pronounced dead at the scene.

A 36-year-old Bremerton man was riding in the car with Wright, but he was not hurt, deputies said.

Kitsap County Sheriff's Sgt. Mike Merrill said neither man was wearing a seatbelt. Merrill said it appears Wright lost control of the car going through some curves just before Shelley Drive.

Alcohol and speed appear to be factors in the crash, deputies said.

Wright is the ninth person to die in a car crash on a Kitsap County road this year.

Anyone with information about the crash is asked to call Kitsap County Sheriff's Deputy Andy Aman at (360) 337-4634.

© 2010 Kitsap Sun. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Read more: http://www.kitsapsun.com/news/2010/sep/03/bremerton-man-dies-central-kitsap-crash/#ixzz0yrQUOopx

Matthew's Birth Story

Matthew was due on July 6th and we were anxiously awaiting his arrival, but he was stubborn and we ended up having to force the little guy to come. I went into the hospital to be induced on Wednesday July 14 at 6:00pm. We got all checked in and they started the inducing process. I was suppose to get two doses of a ripening agent to get me ready to deliver before they started the pitocin at 4:00am on the 15th. They came and put my IV in, only at first they put the IV on the top of my hand- not comfortable at all, I had them move it shortly after. Then they gave me the first dose of the ripening agent, I was having to many little contractions to do a second dose like they were planning, so the Doctor said that we would start the pitocin at midnight. This was not the original plan but I was okay with it, I was not sure what to expect. They told me it would start slow and I would be able to sleep for most of the night. HA HA that was a really funny joke, okay not really funny but I definitely didn't get any sleep. 

So at about 12:15am they started the pitocin to induce labor. They were suppose to come back every 1/2 hour to increase the dose gradually, I didn't see anyone for the next hour and a half, then the Doctor came back to see how I was doing. He was not very happy when he found out they had not been increasing the medication levels. A few minutes later the nurse came in and bumped it up the 3 levels they were suppose to have. Only now it was all at once, not fun. The contractions intensified a ton and then I found out how much it hurts. Everytime they came to increase the meds I wanted to kick the nurse. I didn't of course but I sure thought about it :) At about 3 am they came and checked my progress and I was about 3cm, so we were not even close. 

The contractions were really strong and close together, at one point I didn't even have a break between them. They didn't check me again until about 6 am, at that point they were having a problem getting the monitors to track Matthews heartbeat, so the Doctor decided to put a monitor on his head. I had no idea what they were doing at this point, and Chris was so exhausted because I would not let him leave my side. All of a sudden they broke my water, oh boy did that intensify the contractions! They said I was about 6cm dilated at that point.They started my antibiotics a little while after that. At about 7:15am I told the nurse that I needed to push, she said that I probably wasn't close but she would check. When she checked she found I was 9cm almost 10 but told me I couldn't push yet. That was not the answer I wanted. About that time my Mom showed up, and was shocked because I was almost ready to start pushing. I was so happy to see her, and Chris was relieved also. It took forever to get to 10 cm, I was amazed because of how strong my body was because it was trying to push that baby out and I couldn't stop it. At about 7:40 am the Doctor came in and I started pushing. Matthew was born a little over 20 minutes later at 8:02 am! I was so happy to be done and to see that little baby, and hear him cry, it was a beautiful sound! Then the doctor started pushing on my tummy to deliver the umbilical cord and such. I told him that I was all done hurting the baby was out he needed to stop, he didn't stop. They gave me meds to slow the bleeding because I was loosing blood at a pretty good pace. I just remember watching them clean up my baby, and weigh him, take his footprints. i got to see my parents hold their first Grandchild, my husband hold his brand new baby for the first time. Chris even cut the umbilical cord. There was so much going on and I'm sure this is written very scattered, but I remember it being very scattered. 

In the end I was excited because I did it! I did it with no epidural, I felt like I had in some way proven to myself that I was strong and could do anything. I was also excited for the pain medications that they gave me after I had a few bites of breakfast. They gave me this huge breakfast at about 9am and expected me to be able to eat it which I thought was funny I was still shaking and weak, and exhausted. All I wanted to do was sleep, I kept trying to get them to let me take a nap but I didn't get my way. 

The best part was holding that little boy in my arms! Oh how beautiful he was. We had lots of visitors that day and it was fun to see all my family and show off my precious baby boy. He was 7 pounds 8 ounces and 21 inches long. Just perfect!     

 

I will finish this posting when I get the pictures ready....

New Plans...

As children tend to do, mine is taking his sweet time to come into the world. In order to help him on his way we have been scheduled to go into the hospital on Wednesday the 14th and will be induced very early Thursday July 15th. I am very excited to know that by the end of the week I will be able to hold this little boy in my arms. His daddy is pretty excited too, currently he has been rushing trying to get ahead on his schoolwork so that he doesn't miss any assignments during the first few days of this little guys life.
I have to be honest that even with this big belly of mine I'm still not sure I completely believe that there is a little person in there. It just seems surreal, I would have thought that it would seem the most real now... I don't think it will be real to me until they put that precious baby in my arms. I have been really happy through the whole pregnancy process, it has brought Chris and I closer together and I feel closer to my Heavenly Father also. I had to laugh at myself because during our birth class every video they showed of a baby being delivered I started crying. It was so silly, but it is beautiful to see, and what an honor to be able to bring a new life into the world!
I am very excited to be parents and to begin this new stage in life. I know there will be challenges that I cannot comprehend at this time, but life is an adventure and I know that we will be successful. We have a very supportive network of family and friends and I am very thankful to know that they are there to help us through this wonderful new adventure.
Anyways we will have pictures up of the little boy soon, and hopefully we will even be able to decide on a name!

Baby Shower!

We had a baby shower on May 15th thrown by my good friend Liz and my mom. It was a very nice day and we were very happy to have everyone there who was able to make it. Here are just a few pictures from the shower, they do not show everyone or all the fun, but it is better than nothing. We loved all of the gifts and we think our little guy will too! 6 weeks and counting :)

What a summer this will be...

Chris and I have been overwhelmed with everything that is coming this summer. We have a new baby, a move across the state, new jobs, and need to find housing... Housing is where we are stuck right now and it is driving us crazy.. I hope we can find something soon, it is really hard to find housing when you live six hours away and have such specific needs out of a home. We may have to give up on the home daycare plan because it looks like the only way to do that is to buy a house in Colfax... Not sure if we are ready to buy a house, so then we need to find a pet friendly house and a new way to make an income where Chris doesn't have to work much and I can bring the little guy...
We are excited for the move and really do like Pullman it is just a stressful time while we try to prepare, and have been trying to prepare for the last few months.

On another note we are into our last 10 weeks of the pregnancy! I am still doing good, my 8 hour workday has been wearing on me, I am really ready to go home at about 7 hours. Oh well, money and insurance are provided by my job so I guess I have to stick it out as long as possible :) The doctor reports that my pregnancy is nice and boring just the way he likes it. No complications yet and very healthy, and that is the most important thing!

Chris was able to get some grants for next year and we are excited to have some money for school that is not loans, it will ease our financial situation a little bit. Having a baby makes us much more needy apparently because we didn't qualify for any last year. A definite blessing!

We were also able to make it down to California this month and see Robbie and CJ get married. These are two really great friends of ours and we were very excited to be there for them. Chris was a groomsman, and Robbie and CJ asked us to be there Godparents over their marriage. We were excited and honored to accept their request!



While we were in California we were also able to see some family. Chris's Dad and Diana (step mom) flew down on Friday morning and had lunch with us in Hollister at the Ding a ling Cafe, it was great to see them and spend some time with them while we were close. Then Jeremy (Chris's Brother) drove down to pick us up and we spent time with his family in Sacramento. We even got to see Mandy and Mom for a little while on Saturday! It was a quick visit but better than nothing.

Chris is halfway through his Spring quarter and then has two classes to take this summer. Then it is on to bigger and better things at WSU. I am very proud of him for doing so well in school and working as much as he does. It is hard to go to school and work, and I know he feels it sometimes but it will be worth it in the end!

Belly Pictures

It gets bigger everyday!
This was at 25 weeks

It's a BOY!!!!!

We found out that we are going to be having a baby boy and are very excited to be welcoming this little guy into our lives! We had our ultrasound and then went shopping! I have been waiting to buy anything until we knew whether it was a boy or girl and one of the parents (in my preschool class) had given me a gift card to babies-R-Us that was burning a hole in my pocket. It was so much fun to go and look for clothes that we will soon be putting our child in.
The pregnancy has been going really well, the doctor said it was nice and boring just the way he likes it. I am trying to figure out a good workout routine to prepare for the coming months. I feel the baby more and more, he even woke me up once which was interesting.
Good Times to Come!!

Boy or Girl???

Well I am very excited we have our 2nd ultrasound on the 9th! I can't believe it is already less than a week away at the same time it seems like I have been waiting forever. It will be nice to know so that we can start planning for him or her!!

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
*************************

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!

Snow Day on the Peninsula

Well this has been a very interesting week. Full of stormy weather and snow, not as much as Spokane ended up with, but enough to cause quite a mess. The roads became very slick with the snow pack and on Thursday it took me 5 hours to make my 25 minute drive home because of all the traffic, accidents, and ice. I thought I would put up a few pictures of our yard for everyone to see.

Our Thanksiving Trip 2008

We had a wonderful trip to see Chris' family for Thanksgiving. Unfortunately we forgot our camera and had to resort to disposable camera's for our trip. We have a few good pictures and are still waiting for more to be developed.

This is a picture of Chris and Riley (his niece) on Thanksgiving Day. This was after he returned from the fishing trip with the guys at Eagle Lake, CA. Where out of 9 men who went fishing the only person to catch a fish was the 6 year old with the Spiderman fishing pole. Below is a picture of Bryson with his catch.

Robbie and CJ came and visited us for the holiday since we were in town. Robbie was Chris's best man for our wedding and we had not seen him since the wedding. It was fun to have them in town and to get to know them better. They had some very big news because they are now engaged to be married! Yay for Robbie and CJ!

This is a picture of Linda's (mom) new home in Silver Springs, NV. We made it over to see her on Friday to have another Thanksgiving dinner. It was a very nice weekend.


This was taken after we finished eating dinner on Friday. On another exciting note from our trip, Dan and Suzy announced their engagement to the family on Thursday. I tried to get pictures of that announcement but I don't think they turned out... They are planning on getting married mid march of 2009. I will have pictures to follow from our trip to Virginia City, NV on Saturday. It was a great trip and we are excited to see the family again in March and then we hope to make it down to California again. Hopefully it will not take another 1 and 1/2 years to make it down there.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

T’was the night of Thanksgiving,
But I just couldn’t sleep.
I tried counting backwards,
I tried counting sheep.
The leftovers beckoned,
The dark meat and white.
But I fought the temptation,
With all of my might.
Tossing and turning,with anticipation.
The thought of a snackbecame infatuation.
So I raced to the kitchen,
Flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge,
Full of goodies galore.
I gobbled up turkey,
And buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots,
Beans and tomatoes.
I felt myself swelling,
So plump and so round.
‘til all of a sudden,
I rose off the ground.
I crashed through the ceiling,
Floating into the sky,
With a mouthful of pudding,
And a handful of pie.
But I managed to yell
As I soared past the trees
Happy eating to all,
Pass the cranberries, please!!
May your stuffing be tasty
May your turkey be plump.
May your potatoes and gravy
Have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious,
May your pies take the prize
And May your Thanksgiving dinner
Stay off of your thighs!
by Lauren

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - Promises To Keep Live

Starting the season off right!!

Too early for Christmas music? Some may think so, I once refused to listen to any Christmas music until Thanksgiving. Things have changed, and we are very excited for Christmas and Thanksgiving. Only a few weeks left until we go down and see Chris' family for Thanksgiving. We had a special treat to start off the Christmas music this year. We went with my parents to see the Trans-Siberian Orchestra. They really didn't know what they were getting into when we invited them to come with us, I think that they had fun though. It was an amazing show. I have never been to a show with so many lights and fire. It was very neat and they sound great live. I was sad that we were not able to take any pictures of the show, they do not allow it. However I posted a sample of their music below. They have many great songs that I enjoy. One of my favorite song is Promises to Keep, and part of that is for the following phrase that is in the song:

If our kindness this day is just pretending
If we pretend long enough
Never giving up
It just might be who we are

I will have to post that song also. We had a great time and highly recommend the show to anyone who has the chance to see it.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra - This Christmas Day

BYOP Party- The Big Night

Well, on Saturday we finally had our big party. We spent Friday night in the Emergency room waiting to hear about my grandpa. It turned out to be a minor stroke, he seems fine, but we are waiting on some more tests. We were sad that him and my grandma could not make it to our party, however we were very happy that he is doing very well. Saturday was a very busy day, we went to the Seattle Temple in the morning and then we came home and cleaned and got everything ready for the party. My parents were a very big help, and everything came together well. Many people showed up, carved/painted pumpkins, decorated sugar cookies and cupcakes, and visited. Below are some pictures from the party. We are thinking of making this an annual party.

This is the pumpkin I carved, it took a really long time. I think it turned out very well though.

Here is Chris watching "It's a Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown"

The decorating table

Ammon and Heather with their pumpkin masterpieces

It is a party

Richard and Becky with their pumpkin

Kayla and her painted pumpkin

I like this picture... pumpkin heads!

It was such a fun night. Thanks to everyone who came and had fun with us. To those who missed it hopefully you will have another chance next year.

BYOP Party!

You may wonder, "What is a BYOP party?" Well, I will tell you it is a Bring Your Own Pumpkin party. Chris and I are excited to be throwing a pre-Halloween party for friends and family. We will be doing pumpkin carving, or painting. Eating pumpkin bread and yummy treats. We are going make sugar cookies and maybe even award prizes to those who deserve them. We went to Wal-Mart yesterday before our dinner with Father Jim and got some fun decorations and supplies for the party. We will take lots of pictures and I'm sure we will have some fun stories to tell!

The dinner went well last night. I am sorry to report that he is feeling like he is a nuisance at our ward because he cannot get his questions answered. It makes me sad that we as church member can make others feel badly like that. He knows a lot about the bible which makes sense since he was a Catholic Minister for many years and went through Eight Years of schooling to do so. One of the problems that he is having is that we as members are not always the best speakers. To which my response is that it is just members who get up and talk, most are not trained public speakers. His next question was "well then why doesn't your church offer a class to help the members improve their speaking skills?" What a good idea! We talked a lot about the differences in beliefs between Mormon Doctrine and Catholic Doctrine. It was good conversation, no arguments, no bashing or unkind picking apart of doctrine. I learned a lot and was able to share some of what I believe, it was a wonderful opportunity. I am very thankful for it.

October Update

So it is October 1st 2008... We are still having lots of fun, waiting to see what life will bring. In the near future we have the following items to look forward to:
1. Making a trip to the dump
2. Laundry/dishes ect..
3. General Conference on Saturday and Sunday!
4. We are going to dinner at Father Jim's house on Saturday. He is an investigator at our church and was a catholic preacher for a very long time. It should be an interesting dinner, I hope it goes well.
5. Finishing/Starting Christmas presents.
6. Finishing my Halloween projects
7. Teaching the Valient 12 class at church
8. Cleaning the house (it is never-ending)
9. Fixing and selling the Jetta
10. Trying to get out of our cell phone contract
11. Waiting for some new babies.. (Baby Maverick due to come soon! Congrats to Tim and Liz)
12. Work, Work, Work...
13. Getting pictures taken for Christmas cards

That is a little list of how we keep busy. We also are watching the Band of Brothers series (Chris got it for his birthday), and Back to the Future (Chris bought the box set for his birthday). Cooper has a few new toys that my mom bought for him, he is a spoiled grandpuppy. We hope all is well with everyone else.