things ive noticed

these are just some things ive noticed throughout the pregnancy so far:

*i am not a big fan of chocolate. it gives me a tummy ache.
*my feet hurt, all the time. more recently than in the beginning.
*i think my feet are getting bigger, my flats are now a tight squeeze.
*its getting harder to hug jeremy.
*xavier loves it when i eat, anything.
*i am super emotional.
*i love love LOVE clementines! i cant eat enough.
*i am slowly losing my belly button.
*i cant remember a lot of things sometimes.
*i get really annoyed when i have to get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom.
*i miss american food.
*i have been wanting sushi a lot!
*i have a lot of dreams and i remember them vividly. a lot of them are super weird and sometimes it wakes me up and i have to realize it was just a dream.

some exciting stuff!!!

yesterday was a really exciting day for me and jeremy! we were watching "band of brothers" and xavier was being a little busy body and so i had jeremy put his hand where i felt him and jeremy felt him too!!!! it was so awesome. the look on jeremy's face was totally priceless and he was really happy. i almost cried! hehee ive been trying to get jeremy to feel him but he can never feel him, so i was just ecstatic that jeremy actually felt him!

today we went in for our 20 week ultrasound. it went really well! she took a lot of measurements of his bones, brain, heart, abdomen, and the heartbeat! which we finally got to hear! it was amazing! we got to see him moving a lot and he was in the breech position so that is why i always feel the kicks low. we saw him moving his mouth, taking a drink. we got to see a profile and a front shot of his face. he looks adorable! the doctor said everything looked good and he was progressing normally! i was really relieved, not that i was worrying or anything, but i was just relieved everything was going good! we did not get any pictures though, which really bummed me out. we are just happy he is doing great! =) oh and ive gained about 9 lbs since our last appointment but im still under my original weight. but im glad im gaining now.

next tuesday i am going in for my glucose tolerance test. that should be fun! hahaa when i go in for that i am going to talk to them about getting a 3d/4d ultrasound done. im not sure if they charge for those but if they do and its not too expensive we will most likely have it done.

let your hearts be light....

so christmas day has come and gone already! wow. it is so weird to even think about next week being 2010 already!

our christmas was really nice. jeremy and i woke up and we opened up our presents for each other. i got him a sweater, assassin's creed II for the xbox 360, zelda: spirit tracks for the ds, where's waldo for the ds, and the complete farside collection books. i have two more presents coming for him and those are his BIG presents. =) he got me a bunch of dvds("the alfred hitchcock collection", "the greatest show on earth", "scaramouche", "the pirate", "meet me in st. louis", and "arsenic and old lace") that i wanted and an owl ornament from the german christmas store and an ornament that was the snowman and rudolph from the classic rudolph movie. my BIG presents from him didnt make it in time either so i still have those coming. before christmas my mom sent us a package of goodies and included was a pair of baby booties for xavier, they are so cute! jenna also sent me a package of things i wanted from the states and got xavier a little onesie! after we opened presents and our stockings jeremy made me waffles and we had that and clementines for breakfast. delicious! then we started watching "meet me in st. louis" but i was falling asleep so we stopped it and i took a nap while jeremy played his new assassin's creed game. i woke up around 1pm and i baked a cake to take to our friends house. i then hopped in the shower and got ready. before we left i called my family to wish them a merry christmas and talked with them for a bit. we got to chris and sandi's house at around 4:30pm and chatted, snacked and played "taboo" for a while. then dinner was done so we ate and watched "elf". after we were done eating we talked for a while and opened up the presents we got for each other. they bought us a cute teddy bear, a blue photo album, another little photo holder, and some blue baby scrapbooking stickers! it was all so awesome!! then we played the new super mario bros wii! it was a lot of fun! i like how you can play with 4 people on that game. i was starting to get tired and so we decided to head home. when we got home from our 2 min walk, i saw that it was 12:30am!! i had no idea it was that late! jeremy called his family and talked with them and then i called some more of mine that i didnt get to talk to earlier. i was so tired that i layed on the couch while jeremy played his game. i think i fell asleep around 2am. jeremy woke me up at around 4 to go to bed. we had a wonderful christmas! =)

today i am 20 weeks pregnant! i am super happy that we are halfway there! xavier is a busy little man! i feel him moving every day and a lot during the day. it is so awesome. jeremy should be able to start feeling him move soon too. maybe in the next couple of weeks. on tuesday we have our BIG ultrasound, which i am super excited about! i am hoping to finally hear xavier's little heartbeat! and im excited to see him moving about for an hour!

next week we are finally buying a car! the woman that is selling it in jeremy's building is finally transferring, which we knew about when we picked the car, but it just seemed like it took forever! anyway, so i am really excited about that! we will finally be able to start traveling and such!

ohhhhh i also forgot to mention that on christmas eve jeremy and i finally got our couch and loveseat that we have been waiting for!! they called on tuesday to tell us something else was in so i called them on wednesday to see if the couch and loveseat were in and they said YES! so jeremy went up there to pay for them so we could definitely have them and on christmas eve he rented a van to bring them home! i was sooo happy! it is so nice to finally have a living room set and we even hung pictures! yay!

all in all we had a very wonderful christmas and i am looking forward to new years!

what a kick!

ever since i started my 16th week i wanted to feel xavier move. well, week 16 is now past and i am in the middle of my 17th week. i was getting a little anxious on feeling him and was trying to figure out if every little move my belly made was him. i was trying to feel for "flutters" or a sensation like goldfish swimming around. that is what i read and heard it would feel like, so that is what i was looking for.

well, yesterday i felt something a little different. it was like actual kicking. very light, more like popping popcorn! at first, i wasnt sure it was him, because it wasnt what was described to me but after thinking about it a bit, im pretty sure it had to be him! it was right after i ate breakfast so he was probably happy that i fed him! hahaha =) i didnt think it was real at first, so now, if i feel him again soon i am going to be super excited and not over analyzing if its him or not!

i am really happy that i felt him move! now it can only get better. i am getting excited for the day that jeremy will be able to feel him too! =)

this is when we found out we were having a.....

today i had my doctor appointment! it wasnt at all what i was told it was going to be. just a simple ultrasound. thats it. previously i mentioned that i would be taking a glucose tolerance test and having an hour long ultrasound. this was what was told to me at my last appointment. they said my appt was at 9:30am but to be there at 8am to drink the sugary drink. they also said not to eat anything and drink very little water if i needed to.

so i woke up bright and early this morning, and got to the hospital on an empty stomach at 8am. we waited for a bit and got called in by a nurse and after i gave urine then she called me into the room and tried to take my blood. well, since i hadnt eaten or drank anything my veins were really dry. it took them a while to finally get some blood. she then went to get the doctor. jeremy and i waited in the room for a little while and finally a doctor came in. this wasnt my regular doctor. after she talked with me for a bit i got into a gown and she started the ultrasound. the first thing she asked was if we wanted to know the gender, and we said "yes". she asked if knew what it was by her pointing at something and i said "a boy?" and she said "yes." he was sitting bottom down, with his legs open so we could see everything! it was pretty darn cool! and that was all she really showed us. i was kind of bummed that she didnt show us his face or anything. after that i got dressed and she talked with us a bit more and explained that our next appt was going to be the really long ultrasound and i mentioned to her that they told us this one was the glucose and big ultrasound and she said that its too early to take the glucose test and that we will have that around 26-28 weeks. so our next appointment on the 29th of december is for sure the really long ultrasound. they are going to make sure all the organs are working correctly and limbs and fingers are all there! i am hoping we get some good pictures this time! i am really looking forward to seeing him move about! =)

after the appointment we had to wait around a bit to get our picture, which isnt a very good one. and i weighed myself. my last weight was 81.5 kilograms and this time i was down to 77.5 kilograms! which means i lost almost 10 lbs!!!! crazy! i read its normal to lose weight, but by now i should start gaining. hopefully! we walk everywhere we go so maybe that contributed to some of the weight loss. who knows!?

all in all we are SUPER excited we are having a boy! his name is going to be xavier douglas. xavier after jeremy and douglas after my dad. due date is still may 15th as far as i know! oh oh!! and jenna is going to be out here on the 26th of may! if i go over long enough she might be able to be there for the birth!! yay!

thanksgiving weekend!!

this years thanksgiving was pretty awesome! jeremy had a four day weekend which was really nice. i like that this command gives 4 day weekends whenever there is a holiday. =)

i hosted thanksgiving again this year, which is one of my favorite things to do. we had our friends chris and sandi over! they came over around 3:00. i made hot apple cider and we enjoyed that before dinner was ready. dinner was a little late. i wanted it to be ready by 4, but that doesnt usually happen with me. hahaa it was ready at like 5. everything turned out really good. chris and sandi made mashed potatoes and the pumpkin pie. it was just a really nice dinner and im glad that we all shared that together!

after dinner the boys cleaned up (yeah!) and sandi and i talked until they were done. when everything was good to go, we played the new super mario bros wii! it was soooo much fun! i really like how they made it so 4 people can play at the same time. sometimes it got confusing, well for me anyway, but it was really cool. we played for a while and then chris and sandi went home around 9 so they could call their family and we also had to call ours!

on friday we headed out to the christmas markets that just opened up in the area with chris and sandi. our first stop was in ludwigsburg. it was pretty big. we walked around there for a while. we found this awesome present for roberta! she will love it. they had a bunch of nutcrackers and wooden figurines. we really wanted to buy some of those for our family and friends but they were so darn expensive it wouldnt have been possible. a small one was like 25€ which is about $37.50! crazy! there also was a lot of ornaments there but nothing seemed to scream to me "hey! im from germany!", ya know?! so, we went away empty handed with only buying one present. we then headed to the stuttgart christmas market and it was bigger than the ludwigsburg one but had a lot of the same stuff! it was really nice to get out and stuff, but it was super duper cold! at the end of the night we ate salmon dinners in this big teepee tent that had firepits inside. it was really cool!

on saturday and sunday i was really sore from the previous day and so we took that time to rest and relax. jeremy and i played video games and watched movies and such. it was really nice. on saturday night we played rockband with afton and that was pretty awesome! we hadnt played rockband with her since the states so it was really nice to talk to her and play games! =)

so all in all our thanksgiving weekend was great! its now monday and we have a doctors appointment tomorrow!! we have to be there at 8 and i will drink my sugar drink for the glucose test. then we have our hour long ultrasound! im really excited about that! we will get to see the baby a lot! we might also find out the gender of the baby. i am a little over 16 weeks, so im hoping that it will be noticeable! if not, we will have to wait until after the new years! which is fine with me, i guess i cant wait! =)

what im thankful for - thanksgiving 2009

this year i am thankful for many great things, they are:

*God, first and foremost
*my family
-dad & mom
---missy & ryan
----mackenzie
---steven
---patrick & kelly
-----caleb
-----haley
---melanie & scott
---benjamin
---monica
---michelle
---megan
---martha
*jeremy's family
-roberta & jim
---josh & alyson
----eli
---jenna
---jacob
---jaci
*all of my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins
*my friends
*my wonderful husband, jeremy
*the little one that God gave us that is growing inside of me
*having the opportunity to live in germany
*all of our armed forces, especially the ones fighting
*the beautiful world
*every day that i live

i wish you all a very happy thanksgiving! =)

just a little update!

ok, so it totally stunk not being able to write about anything that has happened since i havent had internet for a while! so here is an update!!!

alrighty, well we had our first doctors appointment on the 20th of october. our appointment was at 4:15pm. we got there, filled out some paperwork, and had to wait a long time to be seen. they first took me into a room and took blood. then a while later the doctor called me in and we got started. thats the difference between german and american, when you go into the room, the doctor is already there. but you just have to wait a while to be called. anyway, so we go into the first part of the room and the doctor asks me questions and such and then after he is done, the nurse escorted me to the bathroom. which off of the "office" is the exam room, then off that is the bathroom. anyway, i went in there and realized i was supposed to get into a gown. well, the nurse didnt show me where any gowns were and i didnt see any so i got a little freaked out. but i finally found one!! =) so i got ready and went into exam room, he did some exams, and then started the ultrasound. it was so nice to finally see the baby! we got to see the heartbeat and the spine and everything! ahh, it was great. he gave us one picture:


he estimated that we were about 10/11 weeks along by the length of the baby. so he put the due date, may 10-15. after the ultrasound was done i got dressed, he talked with us for a bit, and then we scheduled another appointment in 2 weeks to go over the bloodwork and get a better idea of how far along we are. next one, november 3rd. after the appointment, we were so happy! it was just so nice to see our little one!! =D i took a picture of the ultrasound picture(thats the only way i could show them) and sent it to our family so they can finally see too! they were all so happy!

the day after the doctors appointment jeremy and i finally moved out of the hotel and into our new place! we were so excited to be out of the hotel! you have no idea! even though we didnt have any of our stuff, it just felt nice to live in our home!

that weekend jeremy, me, chris, and sandi all went to the pumpkin festival! it was super cool! there were like over 300 different types of pumpkins there! there were also figures of fairy tales made from pumpkins. here are some pictures from the fest:


after we walked around for a while we got something to eat. i had pumpkin soup, which wasnt anything i would ever order again, and jeremy got the same but also pumpkin quiche. we were not impressed. hahaha it was a good experience though. after we ate we browsed a bit more and headed back. it was really nice to get out and about!

the tuesday after, which was october 27th, we got our household goods delivered! it was amazing! of course the first room set up was our bedroom, but close after was the living room! jeremy could NOT wait to set up the tv and gaming systems. the kitchen took me a while to get situated and everything because i washed all of our dishes! and let me tell you, it took about 10 loads in the dishwasher for them to be done. maybe 11 or 12. because we would accumulate dishes on the side from using them. the house is coming together nicely, however, we are still missing couches. the set we really want has not been delivered at the furniture store yet so that is what we are waiting on. its lame. right now we are using a camping chair and disc chair. classy, i know.

we had a pretty good halloween this year. i was pretty bummed because the commissary ran out of pumpkins pretty early on so i thought that maybe we wouldnt be able to get pumpkins this year to carve, but the day before halloween the commissary got a shipment in and we got pumpkins!! here are a few pictures of that:


we handed out candy with our neighbors in the building. it was nice to get to know them! there were actually a lot of kids that came to our building. we thought we wouldnt get a lot since we are way down at the bottom of the hill, but we were wrong! there were even a few local kids that came and kept coming! they would just switch masks and get more candy! hahhaa we thought that was funny! i guess germans dont celebrate it as much as we do in america so they just come to score free candy! haha trick or treating on base was from 5-8 and we ran out of candy before 7 so it was nice to go inside after freezing outside for a bit! we came in and watched "the exorcism of emily rose". that movie always freaks me out, and mostly because i believe it can totally happen to anyone! scary!

on the 3rd of november we had another doctors appointment! it went very well. he did another ultrasound and the baby grew 2 centimeters in 2 weeks! wow! i could see the heart beating and we saw the brain. he said we were a little over 12 weeks and he gave us the due date of may 15th. we scheduled our next appointment which is on the 1st of december and we do my glucose test that day as well as the hour long ultrasound. i think then we will be able to tell the gender of the baby as well! i will be 16ish weeks! oh and i also found out from a lady that called me from the wellness center on base that my doctor doesnt actually deliver the baby. that a midwife does! i was super happy about that! i initially wanted a midwife but being overseas i didnt get the option, and so i am happy that they deliver the baby. i am not even sure if the doctor is present at the time of birth. weird, huh? i wonder if the midwife comes into the appointments at all before birth. like in the late 2nd or 3rd trimester. i want them to know what i want.

now it is the 6th of november. we finally got internet and phone setup yesterday and it has been so nice to call people back home and talk to them for a bit. oh, and its super nice to actually have a computer to type on rather than a bitty phone with a touchscreen keypad! tomorrow we are going onto another base and getting some groceries and then maybe going to ikea. since we dont have anything to sit on and are getting a futon set for the guest room anyway, we might just buy that from ikea and use it in the living room until our furniture is available. at least that way we will be more comfortable watching movies and such. on the 16th or 17th of november i start pregnancy classes on one of the bases. which i am not sure if i want to do since its for the 1st trimester and i am already past that point, it might be a waste. i will get more information before going. there is also a new expecting moms class that is every other wednesday that i might start going to. i need more information on that one as well.

there is so much going on here, its crazy! thanksgiving is coming up, then the ultrasound, christmas, and then the new year! crazy! i cant wait for it all to happen though!

living in a hotel is a bust

so i totally remembered recently and figured out how to write a blog
through email! i am super happy! =)

well, we have been in germany for 3 weeks now! it is totally weird
that we have already been here this long! we are currently living in a
hotel and boy does it stink. i cant cook decent meals because we only
have a microwave, the cleaning people come everyday to change our
towels and stuff(which is nice but when they come at like 9 in the
morning, come on), and i am bored by myself all day. the only websites
i can get on in the hotel are secured ones or i would have to pay like
300 dollars extra(that the navy wont pay) to get total internet. its
lame. tv is getting really boring here since there is only 3 channels
that are in english. anyway, next week we should be getting our stuff
and moving into our new place. i am super excited to have our stuff!!
plus we can wash our clothes anytime we want since we will have a
washer and dryer! =) plus, our new found friends live only like a
building away from us so maybe her and i can do something during the
day!

speaking of next week, we have our first doctor's appointment on the
20th! i am super excited for it but also really nervous because it is
a german doctor. i am really hoping he speaks good english. =) jeremy
and i went on the hospital tour last week and the lady informed us
that whenever we are seen by anyone it is always the head of the
department. that makes me feel better! german doctors are also more
compassionate than american ones as well. we are really hoping that
they do an ultrasound because we really dont know how far along we
are. they put my due date down as march 21st, but i do not think its
that early. i guess we will see next week!

we didnt make it to oktoberfest this year, which is alright because we
have a couple more years for that. i would have liked to go but with
me getting sick, it really puts a damper on things. we have made it to
downtown stuttgart and it was nice. they have this huge indoor market
full of fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, fish, bread, cheese,
everything! and up top they have this store that goes all the way
around it full of furniture, kitchen stuff, bath stuff, decor, it is
just awesome! i want to go again when i start feeling better. the
train kind of makes me sick to ride it so i wasnt feeling the greatest
when we went. where we are going to be living is super close to
downtown as well. only like 5 stops on the train, so thats cool. we
really want to make some trips to places soon but since we dont have a
car its pretty hard. there is a lot on base called "the lemon lot",
where people can just put their cars they want to sell, and when we
went to check it out people are trying to sell them for crazy prices.
they had one for $16,000! if i wanted to pay that much for a car i
would put it towards a new one! we did find a german car on there for
$4,000 and it included snow tires which was pretty cool. we have to
wait to actually purchase a car anyway because we need our
international drivers licenses. we are still looking and hoping to
find a good deal.

it has gotten pretty chilly here in the past week which i am really
happy about! i love love LOVE this time of year and cant wait until it
gets even colder! hopefully in the beginning of november is when we
are going to start seeing the snow! its going to be really cool!
especially since they have a good snow removal system here! ahh!!
winter! yay! christmas is my favorite holiday and i cant wait to
celebrate it here! its going to be awesome!

things that have happened

so we are now in colorado springs, colorado visiting with jeremys family! we landed yesterday at around 10:45. we left a little late because they were short a flight attendant. but we also landed late because when we were about to land and got pretty close to touching down they took off again. the tailwind was too strong for them to land. it was kind of weird and freaked me out but when the captain said why they did that it made me feel better.

last week was super super crazy. every single day we were busy doing something for the wedding. it went by so fast and was so exhausting. staying up late, waking up early. it stunk. the wedding was beautiful though! i am really happy for melanie and scott! they make an awesome couple and they deserve each other! we got to see my grandparents one of the days and my grandma showed me the quilt she is going to send me when i get to germany! it is super awesome! i freaking LOVE quilts. the only bad part about being there was that we didnt get a lot of quality time with anyone. especially my dad. =(

everyone i saw from my family was super happy for us that we are going to have a baby(babies, yep, still hoping for twins)!! it was really nice to hear positive things from everyone! a couple of my cousins are pregnant as well and it amazes me how irresponsible they are with their unborn child! they smoke and drink while pregnant!!! that makes me so disgusted!! it also makes me feel really sad for their baby. anyway, i am still super hungry all the time. i have gained weight, im not sure how much but its noticeable! my dress for the wedding almost didnt fit! a lot of people are telling me that with your second pregnancy you get bigger, faster. well, even though i didnt have a pregnancy full term i guess it still applies to me. i havent been sick yet which is a really good thing. i hated being sick last time. one other thing i have noticed is that i have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. i NEVER did that before, but lately i have been!! its weird and i hate it. jeremy and i are still set with our names from when we talked about it a long time ago. we are really excited about it. we just love the names and they are named after really important people in our lives!

right now roberta is helping jaci and 3 of the neighbor girls(which are all sisters) with their homework. i talked to grandpa today and he was super excited about the pregnancy! we are going to see him sometime this week which will be very exciting because we havent seen him in like 3 years!

we are going to have a baby!!

we finally told all of our family so its now time to write about it! jeremy and i are going to have a baby!! yay! we are super duper excited! its taken us 2 years to get to this point and we couldnt be more excited! we found out on friday, sept 4th, at about 7 in the morning! i wanted to take a test that day and woke up especially early to do so! the test came out positive super fast, i was shaking and woke jeremy up to show him! he was happy!! we initially wanted to wait until we were in the 2nd trimester to tell people but jeremy was too excited to hold it in! he called his mom first, she is super happy, then adam and he is happy too! we then called afton! she is super super happy for us too!! i was really excited to tell emily too and of course, she took forever to text me back! haha she is really happy for us! so our babies are going to be about 2 months apart! that is pretty awesome! we told some others throughout the day and i even took a second test just to make sure. we decided to wait until we were home with my family to tell them in person! we told most of them yesterday and they are really excited for us! my brother steven was the last to find out today and he gave me a huge hug! =)

lately i have been super hungry. i have been trying to eat really healthy, real sugar pop (if i want pop), fruit, veggies, no fast food. i have been taking prenatals for over a month now so i am really glad i started when i did. i wanted to get healthy for when we did finally get pregnant! anyway, i have only gagged on a few things. i gagged on a no bake cookie, and my mom makes pickled green tomatoes and she puts whole cloves of garlic in there and i tried eating one and almost threw up and i couldnt even eat the tomatoes!! i wasnt happy about that! the other thing i cant eat is eggs. eggs make me grossed out! i probably could eat egg whites, but i haven tried yet. i want to!

we are just so happy and excited we are going to have a baby!! hopefully we are having babies! we really are hoping for twins again. you never know! we are going to see a doctor when we get settled in germany. we really dont know how far along we are yet because my body hasnt been regular lately. im guessing just about 5 weeks or so. we will know in a couple of weeks! yay!

and we went over the mountains...

last weekend jeremy and i decided to take a trip over to eastern washington. we both have never been but have wanted to for a while so we thought that we might as well do it while we still live here. crystal (my boss's daughter) had told me about winthrop a couple of days prior and that is basically what sparked our last minute trip!

when we decided to go we were just going to go for the day on sunday. i had plans on saturday morning to go to target with nikki and by the time we would have gotten back it would have been too late to just spend the day over there because its a 4 hr drive. then we thought maybe still going on saturday but then just spending the night. i looked online for a while and couldnt find a hotel in winthrop that wasnt completely booked. after a while of searching i finally found a room in a town about 8 miles away called twisp. only 50 bucks for the night. of course though, it was a motel. haha so all the plans were set and i started packing. by this time it was about 10:30 at night.

i woke up around 7 or so, took a shower, got ready and finished packing. we were pretty much ready to go at like 9. nikki and i talked and she said that we could go another day to target since it was such a long drive over east. i hesitated and said it was fine but she insisted on going another day. jeremy and i headed out about 9:45 and went to the exchange to pick up some snacks and stuff for the drive. we got gas and was on the road by 10:30.

i started the drive and for the first hour or so it was just my regular drive to work. after we got past burlington we were heading closer to the mountains. i had only been on that part of the hwy once and jeremy has never been on it so the scenery was new to us. it didnt take us long to get into the mountains and it was so pretty.

the first stop we made was along the skagit river. down in burlington the skagit river is brown and looks pretty gross, but where we stopped it was blue and gorgeous! it was pretty warm and so jeremy and i stuck our feet in!! the water was very cold though, but it still felt nice! we stayed there for a little bit before heading back on the road.
the roads were starting to get twisty when we started getting deeper into the valleys and mountains. the scenery was just gorgeous! our next stop was at a lookout to a dam on the skagit river. it was pretty cool. all the power that the water creates there supplies electricity to 25 % of seattle. i thought that was neat. there are actually 3 dams on the skagit river that are hydroelectric dams. when we were there we took a little walk to the different viewpoints and saw a waterfall from pretty high up. it was beautiful.

jeremy took over driving after we left the lookout. we would stop at some little places here and there so i could take pictures. my favorite pictures are of diablo lake. the water was a really pretty greenish blue! it was super windy there so we didnt stay long, but i got some really good shots.
it took about 4 hrs for us to finally reach winthrop, and i think that was pretty good time! winthrop is this old western gold mining town. all of the shops look old and rustic and the sidewalks are the wooden type so it feels very authentic. we ate at this little pizza place and we both had a buffalo burger. it was really tasty!! that was the first time we've had buffalo. after we got done eating we wandered around the town for a bit. it was pretty small so we got done fairly quick. there was an ice cream shop there that looked really good but we both were too full to even attempt to eat any ice cream so we decided after we got back from the waterfall we would get some ice cream.

the waterfall wasnt too far away. maybe a 15 minute drive. well, actually the 15 minute drive turned into about a 25. we kept thinking we were going the wrong way and turned around a couple of times. we finally got there and walked up this short path to falls creek falls. it was a pretty big waterfall and we could get super close to it. if i would have brought my bathing suit (i had it hanging to dry and forgot it) i would have totally went in the pool at the bottom of the falls. we still waded around though and had fun. it was pretty cool and there wasnt a lot of people there which was nice. we could have some privacy. we took a bunch of pictures, however, jeremy didnt notice or just didnt tell me that i had something in the middle of my two front teeth(from the buffalo burger) and all of the pictures of him and me show that!! i was so mad when we got home and looked through the pictures and saw that! so i am going to have to edit those ones. bummer, huh?

when we left the waterfalls we stopped and had some ice cream and then headed out to the motel. it was this little rinky dink motel on the outside of town. for 50 bucks though, we had a pretty nice room. an air conditioner, lcd tv, queen bed, and it was pretty spacious. we rested for a bit and watched "cars". after a little while we headed out to the grocery store and got some dinner. we came back to the room ate dinner and just relaxed for the rest of the night...

we got up around 9 in the morning and got ready for the day, packed up and headed out. we took a drive east out of town before heading back to drive home. the drive back was nice again. we stopped as some places and got pictures of the different views heading back. we made it back home in the same amount of time it took us to get there. our last stop was almost the same place we stopped at first. we took a little break from driving and dipped our feet in the skagit river.

i am so glad that we took that trip. jeremy and i really needed to get away from whidbey island. i love going on little adventures and taking in the gorgeous scenery God gave us! if only i could do it everyday.

summer heat

lately it has been so hot here. up in the 90's, which is really rare! since our home doesnt have air conditioning, it gets in the 80's inside! jeremy and i have been sleeping downstairs on the couch since its much cooler than our bedroom, even though there are 2 fans in there, it just blows warm air around. i really dont like sleeping downstairs because i dont get as comfortable and the cats get on me and like to get right in my face. its very bothersome and i dont get good sleep that way. dang cats. haha

yesterday was a busy day for us! i got up pretty early(for my day off) and made some more of my homemade bread! i had to get up early before it started getting too hot in the house! when i was done with that, jeremy and jim came home for lunch and nikki and the kids came over so we all could eat together. that was nice. i love being home on wednesdays because i get to see jeremy during the day! when they left i took a shower and got ready to go to jeremy's re-enlistment!

on the way over jeremy told me that i am going to have to get up in front of everyone because they were going to give me something too. immediatly i could feel my face turning red and i was starting to get really nervous. i was even suggesting i just wait in the car! i absolutely HATE getting up in front of anyone or being put on the spot, so i was totally dreading this. when we got to his office, everyone was pretty much there except for the x/o and the re-enlistment officer. so we had to wait around for them. while we were waiting i was getting even more nervous and since it was super hot there i was sweating. i guess to make a long story short they finally showed up. jeremy got honorably discharged from the navy, then re-enlisted! after he swore in, the x/o started talking about military spouses and i immediatly felt the sweat build up even more and it suddenly got even hotter in the office. after that they gave me an award! hahaha, a certificate of appreciation!! i thought that was pretty nice of them! they gave jeremy 8 days special liberty and a coupon book for free stuff! they bought him a cake, and let him and the rest of the office off early! i am so proud of him. it was really cool to be a part of that, even if it was the hottest day of the year!

when we got home we got ready and went with the paino's to whistle lake in anacortes. that was an adventure! we turn onto a road to get there and there were cars lined on the sides and we were directed to park behind the last one. so we were kind of shocked it was so busy but was like, whatever. we started walking and it was a while before we got to the park entrance. we thought that we didnt have much further to go, until someone said that it was still a mile! we were all like "whhaaaatt??" because we werent anticipating a 2 mile hike to go swimming. but we kept on walking and finally made it to this little spot to swim. it was really cool. we werent bothered by a lot of people like we thought we would be. instead, people were spread around the entire lake. a lot of people were cliff jumping which scares the crap out of me! it was cool to watch from far away. the water was really nice . my favorite part of swimming is hitting the warm spots and then hitting the cold spots. it feels really cool! we swam for a while and then headed back to the car. funny thing is when you expect a walk it doesnt seem as long as when you didnt expect it. we sent the boys to go get the car for us and headed home!

when we got home we took a quick shower and then went to nikki and jims and had pizza and watched a movie. it was a very long day, but so much fun! =) i am looking forward to more days of swimming for the remaining month we are here!

so much for a good morning!

i always want monday mornings to be good mornings. i know the whole killer is going to work after having 2 days off, but when i have a day off in the middle of the week, it doesnt bother me so much. usually i have pretty good monday mornings. not this monday though. this monday morning turned out to be a crappy one.

i was on my 40 minute drive to work, just listening to music and enjoying how sunny it was, passing people, not going over 60 when the speed limit is 55 and i notice this motorcycle doing the same thing a couple cars back. i would pass, then he would pass. well, there was an intersection coming up and i noticed it turned red and there was a a car stopped in my lane so i put my blinker on and went over to the fast lane. by the time i got to the light i stopped for maybe 5 seconds and then it turned green. i started puttin' away again and by that time the motorcycle was behind me. i didnt know if he wanted to pass, so i put my blinker on, and got over into the slow lane. well, he stayed next to me and it always creeps me out when people do that so i didnt look over. until he put his sirens on. it was a freakin' cop! so i started getting over right before going over this huge bridge and he motioned me to wait until after the bridge, which didnt make any sense, but whatever, i kept driving. after i pulled over the cop came over and asked me if i knew why he pulled me over. i said "no" and he said that i cut someone off, changed lanes too close to an intersection, and was speeding. i told him that i didnt think i cut anyone off and he jumped down my throat like a snake to its hole! he said that if i was going to argue with him he was going to write me tickets for thousands of dollars! he then went on to ask if i was in the navy and i told him jeremy was and he said the he used to be in the navy and that the navy doesnt pay you well enough to pay these tickets for thousands of dollars. he said that he had been following me for a long time and told me the speed limit is 55 and i said i wasnt even going 60 and he said that he drives those roads every morning, that he is a cop and knows these situations. he told me the court isnt going to listen or care if i go and fight these thousands of dollars in tickets. he kept telling me he was going to write me tickets for thousands of dollars. it was sort of annoying. he told me to just sit there calm , and think about what i did, instead of arguing. and i wasnt even arguing. i dont think i said more than 2 sentences. i sat there, quiet, and let him just blow up. he finally let me go. i think he just wanted to be an jerk to someone because he didnt even ask me for my license, insurance, or registration. this was the weirdest stop ive ever had and i did not like it one bit. it put me in a crappy mood for a while this morning.

anyway, so that was my monday morning. hopefully THAT never happens again!

just some things!!

i have been browsing pretty much my favorite site, for birthday presents and baby gifts! esty.com! i love this website and have made many purchases on there. our nephew eli is going to be a little over three months when we get to meet him and so i am getting together a bunch of goodies for him! i love babies and love to spoil them! so naturally im getting him some super cool stuff! i havent purchased much for him, but here are my first two finds; cute little applique onesies from verykiki.etsy.com

i thought the guitar one was perfect since josh plays guitar! the whale one is just too cute! kristen was very nice and she actually didnt have a 3-6 month guitar onesie posted but immediatly posted one for me to buy!

my next two etsy finds are all organic cotton crocheted rings(which i love) from locomomomma.etsy.com for his car seat. the picture below shows what they look like hanging, the ones i purchased are various shades of green and brown. i was looking for a rattle but ended up purchasing these. i know how much my little sisters loved having things hang from the carseat to play with, and thought he would enjoy these! along with the rings i purchased the clutchie to attached it to the carseat. i thought that was pretty clever and easy! that way they can take it anywhere and attach it to anything they want. =)

so those are my baby finds! i have a little less than a month until he gets here so i am going to continue to browse and find cute little things here and there.

now, my next find is a birthday present. emily's birthday is on the 20th of august and her and adam are going to be here on the 21st so i have to get a move on on her present. i cant post what it is on here because she could possibly look and see what it is, but it is really beautiful. once i get it and give it to her i will post a picture of it. =) i am really excited for them to come up! we havent seem them in like 5 months so it will be awesome!!

afton texted me today and might be coming up next weekend!! so that means that i am going to see her 2 times before we move, which would be amazing! i am so excited and hopefully she does come up then, if not, she will probably come up the weekend before we leave! yay!

anyway, i am about to head out to nikki and jims to have dinner and watch "coraline"!! im excited to see this movie. i wanted to see it in theaters but never made it. it came out yesterday and i bought it today to watch it.

homemade bread recipe!

i have been wanting to make homemade bread for the longest time, the process, the smell of it baking, the taste afterwards, ahh, its just a great experience, but couldnt find the right recipe i wanted. yesterday, after searching for a while i found a very simple recipe online, it was actually a womans grandmothers that wouldnt share her recipe for the longest time, and before she passed away gave it to her granddaughter. =) i thought that was kind of neat. after i got off work i went and bought the ingredients i didnt have or that i was out of. most of them are either all natural or organic. i wanted to try and make it the best bread!
i was all ready to go this morning when starting to make the dough. the first part was pretty simple, mix all the ingredients (3 c. warm water, 3 Tblspn active dry yeast, 3 tspsn salt, 4 Tblspn veg oil, 1/2 c. white sugar, and 8 c. flour), except, only half the flour. then let it sit to rise to double its size. here are a few pictures after it had risen, and when it started getting out of control(haha):
after it doubled in size, then you slowly knead in the rest of the flour (4 cups). that was kind of hard because your hands get tired. jeremy helped me with that part. =) when the kneading is done, put it in a large greased bowl, turning it a couple of times to get it coated, cover it with a damp cloth and then let it sit to double its size. that didnt take very long, maybe a half hour:
ok, so when it is done rising you are supposed to punch it down and let it rest for a couple of minutes. i didnt take a picture of what it looked like before because i was too anxious to punch it, that i forgot, but you can totally tell it grew bigger. hahaha:
after you let it rest for a couple of minutes, you then split it into 3 equal parts and mold them into loaf shapes and put them in greased bread pans. i made one of them smaller than the other, but it still turned out fine. the pictures are before and after letting it rise to almost double its size in the pans:

now, they are ready to bake. put them in the oven on 350 degrees for 35 minutes and you are good to go! when they are done make sure you let them rest for a bit before trying to handle them. =) here is the end result:

arent they just gorgeous? they are really delicious and im very pleased with this recipe!! i hope, if you try this one out, you will be pleased too!!

here goes nuttin'

soooo ok, ive tried to do this many times and i cant seem to keep up on it! this is a new site for me but seems very promising. =) i must keep up on it, for this is my last attempt. i think for starters i will write every week. every week is a good start. annyywaayyyyy....
right now i am working. my days here at coach corral are winding down and i am getting kind of antsy. you know like seniors do their last month of school, yeah i have that. we are finally starting to coordinate our move. you know what? it is going to take 51 days for our stuff to arrive in germany!? that is crazy! i am not liking that. and, we dont even know if we are going to be able to take our car. the california dmv messed things up for us and so if we dont get our title in time then im not sure what we are going to do with our car. its lame. we still have a lot to do. we need to find a home for lyra and figure out how winrey is going to get over there and once we do get over there we need to find a place to live!!! i am getting pretty nervous about how things are going to pan out, but im sure it will all work out fine.
today nikki booked our hotel for 'whaling days' next weekend. i am pretty excited about that. nikki said when she used to live there she would always look forward to this festival! im sure its going to be fun!
next month is going to be busy. we are going to visit afton in california for 4 days, then the day after we get back josh, alyson, and baby eli are going to visit us for 3 days, then 2 days after they leave adam and emily are going to come visit us. it is going to be exhausting, but well worth it. it will be the last time for a long time that we will get to visit with them. for most of them it will be about 3 or 4 years until we see them again!!! sad. im getting really excited for all of the visiting! plus, this will be the first time we get to meet baby eli! =)
i only have an hour left of work right now so i am going to start packing up and getting things done so im not swamped for thursday! =)