Baby!

We are having a baby!!  Richard and I are so excited and thankful for this amazing blessing.  Baby Doe is due on January 10th, 2012 so we are about 12 weeks along right now.  I've been constantly nauseous but other than that everything has been going pretty smoothly.  We've had 2 doctor's appointments so far and our baby seems to be very healthy.  During our last ultrasound, our baby even did a little flip for us :)  It's pretty amazing knowing that a little person is growing inside of me, with a little heartbeat and everything.  At our next appointment we should be able to hear the heartbeat and then in August we get to find out if our baby is a boy or a girl!  Here are our beautiful baby's first (of many) pictures.

At 6.5 weeks

At 8.5 weeks

Danny, Alexandra and Finley

While we were in Arizona, I was given the wonderful opportunity to take pictures of my cousin Alexandra and her husband Danny.  They are expecting a little girl in less than a month and we're so excited for them!  These pictures were extra special because we took them by a little lake in Scottsdale where our Grandma Annie's ashes were scattered.  Here are some of my favorites from the day.

Thank you guys for letting me document this special time for you, that meant a lot to me :)  Love you and we can't wait to meet Finley!

Arizona

Richard and I went to AZ two weeks ago for by brother Jonny's high school graduation.  It's still pretty weird that my little brother just graduated and is off to college next year and that my youngest brother, Jesse will be a junior in high school.  Time sure fly's by.  All three of my brothers have grown into such amazing young men and I'm so proud to be their big sister, I just wish we could live a little closer to them, all in time...

Anyways, or trip was filled with lots of family time; Jonny's graduation and graduation party, my cousin Alexandra's baby shower and a Memorial Day BBQ.  The weather was perfect and we really enjoyed spending time with those we love.

Here he is getting his diploma!

Balloon drop.

Me and my little, big brother.

Family picture, I'm pretty sure everyone was standing on their tippy toes.

All the extended family that came to support Jonny :)

Jonny's graduation party was a few days later and we had fun decorating and making picture boards.  It's always fun to look at old photographs of when we were all younger.

Ping pong was the game of the week.  Action shot.

Richard and our nephew Micah

I was so thankful that I could attend my cousin's baby shower while we were there.  She is due the beginning of July and she is so cute pregnant :)

me and Alexandra.

Me and my niece Sophia at Alex's shower.

She got so many cute girl clothes!

My mom bought a huge box of sparklers to use at Jonny's graduation party, but we forgot about them.  So one random night, we decided to have a sparkler party.  I got bored with them after a while and started taking pictures.

Jesse

Richard trying to make a heart, it kind of worked. 

Until next time, Arizona.

Easter

This Easter was, yet again, spent in the rainy northwest.  It was nice spending time with Richard's family at his Aunt Rena's house.  It was also fun skyping with my family back in Arizona.  We're hoping that next year we can spend Easter in the warm AZ since we haven't been back home for that holiday yet.  One fun tradition Richard and I do every year is get a new outfit!  So here we are in our new outfits :)

High School Spa Day

We had a "spa day" for the high school girls at our church.  The cool thing was that we actually had more new girls than ones that already go to our youth group!  It turned out to be a pretty great event and I'm happy it went so well.  Each girl got to pick 2 options out of manicure, pedicure, facial, massage and hair style, all of which would cost lots of money anywhere else, but here it was free!  We had some students from the beauty school at the skill center come in and they were awesome.  Here are some pictures from the event.

 

Master bath updates

We've been doing some updates in our bathroom recently.  There's still more we're wanting to do to make it beautiful!  but here's what we have done so far...

We installed a new toilet!!  And I am extremely proud of Richard and I for accomplishing this.  It was not as easy as the youtube video said it would be, but we did it and it looks (and works) great!

Before

After

We also just installed a new sink faucet.  This one was a little easier than the toilet and helps to make the bathroom look more updated .

This was the only before picture I had.

After

After

 And a few months ago we replaced the lighting in the bathroom.
 

Here's the only before picture I had, but you can see how ugly and gold they are.

And here are the beautiful new lighting fixtures.

Next on our list of house updates are... new doors, door knobs, painting the master bath cabinets, painting our backyard deck, and painting the exterior trim.  Our house is going to look even more awesome when all of this is done! :)

Lincoln City, OR

This past weekend, we went to Lincoln City, OR for Richard's staff retreat.  It was great spending time with and getting to know better the other pastors and their spouses.  Not to mention is was an absolutely beautiful home in a beautiful location, right on the coast.  You could look out the living room window and all you would see was ocean.

When we were driving there from Vancouver (about a 2.5 hour drive) we got a little lost and had to backtrack a couple times.  We were driving up and down the road along the coast and the sun was setting and I was getting so fidgety because I just wanted to get out and take pictures of the sunset on the ocean.  Thankfully, we found the house just in time for me to get some great shots.  The weather was great the 2 days we were there and I just couldn't stop taking pictures.

God's creation is so beautiful.