Monday, December 28, 2009

Christmas!!

Just to warn you...this is a long post!
We had a great Christmas this year. This was sort of our first "real" Christmas as a married couple. Last year we were on our honeymoon in Cancun over Christmas so we really didn't celebrate. It was so fun to be in our house for it this year. We decorated the whole house, cut down our own tree, and even hosted one of the Christmas dinners with Jay's family. Christmas eve, we went to our church service which was a great service. Then we spent the evening with my mom. We had dinner together and opened presents. She spoiled Carter! She got us the pack n play.





She also got him some super cute clothes.





Thanks Mom for all the great stuff for Carter. We love what you got us too!
Jay and I opened our presents to each other late Christmas eve at home by our tree. We new Christmas day would be a little busy so we decided to have our own little Christmas together that night. It was fun to really shop for each other this year. Last year we didn't do any presents. He even had some fun with wrapping some of mine. This was a lamp that he bought me but he wrapped it with six different papers.


Max wanted to get in on the present action. My mom did buy them some treats which they go crazy for every time I say..."want a treat?"


Christmas morning we went to my Dad's house for breakfast and presents. They also spoiled Carter. They got him tons of Giants clothing. It will be fun to go to a Giants game next summer with him all decked out in his Giants gear. I was in for a real surprise though, when my dad brought in the last gift. He brought me a little red gift bag that had a piece of paper in it. It was a picture of Carter's crib. There is a long story behind all of this though! I knew someone was getting it for us because I wanted to buy it so badly that Jay had to tell me to stop talking about it. I finally figured it out that he said that because someone was getting it for us. Anyway, I analyzed it for so long that I thought I had it all figured out even to the point that I thought Jay had gone to Portland, picked up the crib, brought it to Carter's room, and built it. Boy was I wrong! Jay did a great job of throwing me off the track though! It was in my dad's garage waiting for Christmas for them to surprise me with it. Thank you Dad and Lori for the beautiful crib! We appreciate it so much! I need to get better at letting people surprise me! We came right home and Jay put the crib together.



Christmas afternoon and early evening was with Jay's mom. We had a nice meal with her, opened some great presents, and played games. Two days later she surprised us with the mattress for Carter's crib from her, Grandma and Grandpa, and Jay's two uncles. Thanks guys!!! That was a huge surprise. Carter's crib is all set up and ready with all the bedding in it. We just need a baby in it now.

Two days after Christmas, Jay's grandparents, two uncles, and his mom came to our house for a Christmas dinner. We had a great time with them. We don't get to see them all that often so it was so fun to have them all over here for dinner.







We wish we could have seen Jay's other side of the family. We missed all of you tons! Thank you for the amazing gifts as well. It will be such a blessing to be able to have video of Carter! We love you all!

I also wanted to post some pictures of our house and our tree. These probably should have been put on here first but oh well. Here they are...
This is a horrible picture but you get the idea of what the outside of our house looked like.


This is the tree Jay really wanted. I didn't think it would fit in our living room very well.

This one is a little more our size.



Here is my 30 week picture. I am 32 weeks which I will post soon. Next year we will have a 10 month old for Christmas. That will so great!

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

Having a big baby...

Carter is still measuring big. Our last three appointments he has been measuring a little big. Today she seemed a little surprised at his measurements. His head is down really low and he is still measuring big. Because his head is low that told her he really is big and its not just because he is up higher in my tummy. So she is sending us in for an ultrasound on Tuesday at Salem Radiology just to get a better idea of his size. We are excited to be able to see him on that screen again. He should be right around 3 1/2 pounds now and moving all the time. Jay even got to feel his hiccups for the first time this week. Maybe we are going to have a baby a little sooner than February 20th. As long as he is healthy, we would love that! We can't wait to meet our little man.

Christmas break has been so nice! Jay has been home a lot and we are doing tons of NOTHING! We have slept in late, watched lots of friends in bed, worked around the house, stayed in our sweats lots, and lots of Jay and Jami time. Jay did get the half bath all painted in the laundry room. We sort of left that and forgot about it for quite a while. It is done now, thanks to Jay! Christmas break is such a blessing to me!

Merry Christmas!

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Our 1 year anniversary







For some reason I cannot figure out how to blog at the top of the pictures. I am still figuring out this blogging thing. December 19th was our one year anniversary. We celebrated the night before because Jay had to work on our anniversary. He tried to do a trade for Friday but it just didn't work out. We still got to celebrate and that is all that matters. I had school until 11. It was our last day of school for Christmas break. After I got home, Jay took me to lunch at Sassy Onion. We ate breakfast at Sassy Onion the morning of our wedding. That could be a really nice tradition every year to go back there. I have a very thoughtful husband! Then we actually took a nap together. This may sound funny to do as we celebrate our anniversary but it was so nice to be able to do that together. After we got up, we dressed warm and drove to Portland to go to the Zoo lights. It was really cool to see the whole zoo all decked out with Christmas lights. And it was super warm out. I was actually hot most of the time. Then we drove back to Salem and went to dinner at Olive Garden. Another tradition we want to do is always watch our wedding video on our anniversary. So we watched that in bed and reminisced about that. We had such a special wedding and I love talking about it even now. Our anniversary was very special.

I really did marry the man of my dreams. I am so thankful for him and who he is as a man and as my husband. I am proud of him every day! I still ask myself many times how I got so lucky. Dear Jay...thank you for working so hard to provide for us and Carter. Thank you for finding little ways everyday to make me feel special and show me how much you love me. Thank you for making me laugh and protecting me. I love you with all my heart and can't wait for the next year and many more after that.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

To Carter...

I just wanted to tell you that you have the best daddy in the world! First of all, he loves you so much and can't wait to meet you. He loves feeling you move inside me and dream of all he gets to do with you. Yesterday he picked out some jungle animals for your wall to decorate with. He loves talking about the things he gets to do with you. Like...take you to sports stores and walk around showing you stuff. Last week, he talked about buying you baseball stuff for Christmas and then playing with you in the backyard. He wants to play trains with you and take naps with you. You are one lucky little boy!

Yesterday, he shopped with me for hours without complaining at all! Then he started painting our half bath. Then to top it off, he had the idea to take me to look at Christmas lights! I just wanted to brag to you for a minute and tell you how cool your dad is. You are going to love him!

We love you!

Monday, December 7, 2009

We tried to get a picture of the "family" but they were not having it at all!






































Chistmas Time

This is my favorite time of the year. I love the cold weather, vanilla steamers, decorating the house, cutting down our Christmas tree, the smell of cinnamon and pine cones, driving around town looking at Christmas lights, Christmas movies, and even the shopping! I know I am crazy but I even love the hecticness of the shopping malls and trying to get the perfect gift for everyone. This year since we are in our house, we put up Christmas lights. I shouldn't say we, because I actually didn't do anything accept snap a couple of pictures. Jay and my Dad did all the work and it turned out amazing. We did clear lights on the house and red lights in some bushes. I love driving home in the evening and seeing our house all lit up. This week we also went to the Brawley's farm and cut down our Christmas tree. I always love this part of the season! We walked around forever looking for the perfect tree and we definitely found it this year. It fits in the corner of the living room just perfectly. Our house looks beautiful!

Even my classroom gets all decked out for Christmas. We actually have two trees this year (long story) and lights all over the place. We listen to Christmas music every chance we get and I think the kids are just as into as I am. At least that is what I tell myself.

This weekend, we had a "Christmas" date night. I know this is not Jay's dream date night but it definitely is mine! We shopped for hours, had lunch/dinner at The Pita Pit, got vanilla steamers, drove through the Keizer lights, and ended the evening by watching a Christmas movie. I am so thankful for an amazing husband that cares enough about me to do all those things with me.

Yesterday, we had our "maternity" and Christmas pictures taken by Hollie. We went down town and to Mission Mill. It was beyond freezing but we survived. I will post pictures tonight or tomorrow of that adventure. I am still loving being pregnant! I feel so great and love feeling Carter move all over in my belly. I especially love it when he moves so much that my stomach looks like an alien is inside of it and rolls all around. The only thing I am not loving right now is that my back is really bothering me. It is so worth it though! This little man inside of me is the love of our lives and we can't wait to meet him. We are so in love with him already! Last night Jay read a story to him. It was such a sweet moment to me, to be able to watch my husband read a story to my belly. He loves Carter so much and can't wait to be a dad. People keep asking us if we are ready for what is ahead or nervous at all. We are ready!!!! This is what God put us here to do. We want to be a family!








Since we finally started a blog, I wanted to put some wedding pictures on here. I have heard that you can take your blog and make it into some sort of scrapbook. If that is true than I want some of our beautiful wedding to be a part of it.