end of summer in a nutshell...

whoa! It has been a busy summer and has flown by! Went to Lance's 10 year in Royal--Started working Full Time at Good Samaritan Hospital in Puyallup--Lance and I moved to a duplex in UP--bonding with the fam-having all 4 of my sisters in town at the same time!!--Had the annual week at Merwin at my parent's cabin with extended family and friends--Enjoyed month of fun with Parkers and Uffen's in town--Have enjoyed multiple M's games with my family and the Bergeson's--YM/YW activities and lessons--weekends at the cabin--etc. etc. Posting pictures of all these fun times would be possible but would take too long so ill just post a few:)...

BEST FRIENDS

THEN '99 NOW '09

(Kjel, Dan, Lance) (Dan, Lance, Kjel)

Reunion Dinner

I am so glad I have a husband who can put things together and fix anything--even without any directions:) It was so fun to get the crib and changing table together--now we just need to paint and decide on fabric my wonderful mother can use to make the bedding:)

We have not set up the internet at our new place yet so we have yet to announce the exciting news we got on August 11. We are having a boy! We cant wait to meet our little man and it has become way more real now that he is a "he" vs. a shim/it.

Oh and I took Lance on his first Ferry ride last week--very fun but a bit windy!

anyways--that is all for now! but there is more to come because in T-10 hours I am surprising Lance with a BIG birthday surprise! and will post about it next week! Cant wait!! Happy early birthday baby!! I LOVE YOU!!

4 years--Happy Anniversary to us!

Just a public acknowledgment that I am the luckiest!

Then: June 25, 2005

Now: some recent pics from spring '09

I love you baby and can't imagine my life without you! you are my everything! I hope you know how much you are loved! Thanks for loving me and making me so happy!!

Happy 4th Anniversary!

Im bringing home a BABY bumblebee....

YAY! We are prego! I had my first ultrasound on Monday and it was so exciting! Lance and I decided that now that we have seen our little monster move and wave and heard the heartbeat that we could semi-safely announce it. I must admit, having worked in early intervention and with children with developmental delays, I was way nervous! But so far so good and our little guy is healthy thus far. 

We are due December 31st and cannot wait! 

Our little monster is seriously so cute already!!

a.k.a. Junior--as Lance/I affectionately call sh/im,

or iceBerg (according to my dad--weird i know--!?:) or baby bumbleB (my mom)

We found out about 6 weeks ago and it was super hard to keep such a fun secret!

Don't worry--pee stick in the picture is way further from our faces than it appears:) haha

WOW! Spring 09!

Wow-where have I been. There is usually two reasons why I don't post, either i am doing absolutely nothing or I am so busy have the time of my life with family and friends and this spring has definitely been the latter. In fact its been so long, slideshows are going to be my only option.

First slideshow will just be a general spring 09 slideshow--We have been to Royal a few different weekends for some fun bonding with the Bergeson's (Debra is especially fun to surprise--except we felt bad we caught her sick)--We have been loving our callings with the young men/young women and fun times living with my family. I finished my internship in March and started studying for my boards. I went to Utah for a review and to drive back with Boop after she finished her semester--we have super fun road trips together and I loved it! everyone knows i LOVE spending time with my nieces and nephews--especially when they are together in the same state. Rach and her girls spent a few weeks here this spring and we had SOO much fun! I love the bonding time with all my sisters in one place too! Even had a fun trip to the kangaroo farm north of Seattle--who would have thought?! Fun times at the cabin--also have gotten to watch some pretty intense Mariners, Rockstars (Cole's coach pitch), and Dino's (Dane's T-ball) games. Caity-cat also graduated from her community transition program--way to go CAIT!!! I thoroughly enjoyed my month "off".

At the end of April through the first week of May we had a wonderful trip to Hawaii with the whole Shaw family! It was so fun with all 15 of us. We got to see my dad's new condo he bought there last summer and are excited to visit it as often as possible. So many favorite spots at Hapuna, the volcano, malasadas at Tex Drive in, waterfalls at Kolekole, and Waikaloa but I think my all time favorite part of this trip was the dolphin swim. My parents were champs and chartered a boat for us with two professional divers--we went out into the ocean, found a pod of a couple hundred dolphins, and all got IN WITH them. It was so incredible!! The pictures don't do it justice but we were sooooo close to them all--especially lance who turned out to be like the dolphin whisperer--and they were everywhere! Anyways--no way to possibly include all the fun memories and all the fun pics and cant thank my parents enough for such a priceless adventure!

I couldn't narrow down the pictures so im going with the slideshow option again--enjoy!

Right after Hawaii we went to Utah for my graduation! I finally did it--graduated with my Masters in Occupational Therapy from the University of Utah (No worries-i still bleed blue:) Graduation and my Pinning Ceremony were wonderful cherries on top of a long 3 years (not that the school work was the equivalent to ice cream but the fun times and new life-long friends were super worth it:) we had a super yummy dinner at the ROOF (awesome!) afterwards. While in utah we also got to go the Annual Mother's Day Picnic with the Shaw family and got together with the whole Pitts crew as well! Such a fun, fast weekend.

WHIRLIGIG with Parkers and Bergesons:)

Beck, in preparation for her boys' spring break, was on top of the fun and free stuff around in the area. When Marnie and her kids were in town Beck and her boys and I headed to Seattle for "Whirligig" (defn: millions of kids and inflatable toys and long lines and treats and screaming :>) It actually was really fun!  Once each of the boys had conquered the large, crowded inflatable toys--the lines were not too bad--we had some yummy treats (Marnie probably enjoyed hers the most!) Then we had an hour to kill before "donation" hour at the Children's Museum (aka: pay what you can or $5 for 9 people:) So the boys and Audrey all ran around outside in the fountain (not to be mistaken with a warm sunny day but fun nonetheless). Despite being cautioned to stay dry--there were some wet heads and sleeves:) but i think the adults were more cold looking at them then they were because they were running around. The museum was really fun and while an hour was not long enough--it made it seem even more full of fun things and there was no time for the kids to get bored:) 

the kidlets in "africa" in the children's museum--Marnie, Me and kids building our "house" in

 the construction station of the museum--Beck, boys, & I on Whirligig stage

The boys waiting "7 more minutes" till donation hour at museum--Luke P. holding his $$ for his museum donation

building our house--boys "not getting wet" in the fountain--Audrey was a trooper hanging out while boys played

playing on the snail--Luke & Derek coming down the slide

Cole and Derek--Me and the boys (minus Luke P.)--Cole, Luke B., Derek, & Dane

It was so fun! Thanks Marnie for hanging out with us and to Grandma Coons for sharing:) Can't wait till the Parkers' and Bergeson's can all get together again this summer for crabbing:) --we will need to get the Thomas's to come when Uffens' are here too for the girls to play:)!

Wow-Where have I been?

So I was out of the blogging mood for some time but I am making an attempt to come back in full effect. Last real post was Dec. 7th so Ill attempt a quick recap.

December 12th took my last final ever! It was an essay one and it took forever and I wrote too much but I think I did well. Rushed home and continued packing, spent one of my last solo nights with brooke in utah. I have loved having her close in provo and spent so much time together watching TV, cooking, floating the river:), driving, eating with her dining plus:), etc. etc.! Miss her tons!  Jo and Tabitha were both great to come help back and organize my things too. Lance came into town on Friday. We packed our whole house that day and were ready to move Saturday morning! While our house was small we sure had a LOT of crap! 

Weather was great saturday morning as we wrapped up our furniture in a roll of bubble wrap lance brought from costco and just as we left to pick up the"moving truck" (ps thanks so much to Queen for loaning us her sweet truck for the day) it started to snow! and it snowed so hard all day. Lance, Mike H., Ian, Steve (our home teacher), Mike P. and a few guys from our ward were so great to take multiple loads in the freaking snow storm over to our storage unit. As soon as we finished all the big stuff, we sent friends home for lance and I to finish the small stuff. Seriously, right when we started to drive the truck back to Queen, the snow slowed and stopped on our way back to our house. UNBELIEVABLE!

We left early Sunday morning after staying up super late to clean. Fortunately, last minute we found some great girls to rent our house and as far as we know--its still standing. Our drive left a lot to be desired. Once we hit the point of the mountain it started snowing and by Salt Lake it was a blizzard. Ugh! it was bound to be a long day--i took some pics to catalog our journey. 

 

yeah it was pretty at times but really snowy/rainy/icy and scary--considering the windshield fluid thing is broken in my car and we couldn't clean the window. That picture of my dash, though you cant read it, says that it is 6 degrees! a bit too cold for me! Good thing lance is a stellar driver--calm cool and collected in the snow (driving in traffic is another story:)haha). We decided to stop at the Bergeson's for the night to be safe and saved Snowqualmie Pass for the next day when we could drive through in daylight and sunshine plus wanted to see the Bergeson family for a few hours because we knew we wouldn't be there till after Christmas:).

We made it to UP and the Holidays were wonderful. It is great to be together for each other through hard times and through the holidays. We had a lot of snow, esp for WA, and it definatly felt a lot like Christmas. We are really getting old because Lance and I had to wake Cait and Brooke up at like 9  and then wake up my parents to go see what "Santa" had brought us:) Then we headed over to Parker's to check out all their fun new toys. We spent the rest of day playing the new Wii that "Santa" brought the Shaw fam. It was  a lot of fun! We missed the Uffens a ton though and don't really like this new tradition of theirs to stay in Vegas but understand--kinda:) I miss them tons! and miss seeing my girls! We were very blessed for Christmas! 

We headed over to Royal for a quick Christmas with the Bergeson's the 27th-28th. Because of Lance's new work schedule that is all he could have off so it was a good thing we are only a few hours away. We had a lot of fun and everyone was together. The kids all grow up so fast especially when we dont get to see them very often. I was TERRIBLE and didn't take any pics--which is really not characteristic of me! I will need to steal some from my mother in law or sisters in law:) we had fun nonetheless and are anxious to head back for another quick weekend soon!

On the 29th we got to go to the Great Wolf Lodge  (see above pics) an indoor water park/resort to celebrate Caits early 21st birthday! It was so fun and kinda crazy to donn our swim suits when there was snow outside! For new years we made tons of yummy food and had chocolate and cheese fondue. We played Wii and then cards while we watched the ball drop:) we all headed to bed shortly after (such party animals!)

In January was Dane's fun 4th birthday with a football camp party. It was really fun and I made his super cute invites if I do say so myself (with some help from Rach and Amber and their photoshop expertise:) Beck is brave for inviting like 12 little 4 years olds and it was crazy but super fun! Glad I could make it to almost all nieces and nephews birthdays this year Cole's in Aug, Annie's in Sept, and Dane's in Jan  (except paige and luke--but i saw them asap!)

I am currently finishing my 5th week at fieldwork ALREADY! and only have 7 more! Things are going good in WA. I will try to post more frequently:)

Im alive!

Sorry to excite anyone with a new post--not going to be exciting:) I have had a wonderful time since my last post--time with family, a CRAZY move to WA, tons of snow and fun, etc. etc but I just cant get the urge to post. I even have some fun pictures but i am not in the mood--ugh--I know..I even changed my layout in hopes that it would put me in the blogging mood...but it didnt. So just an update--we are well, happy, and enjoying life. I WILL get it together, upload some pics and post soon--promise! Happy New Year! (Sorry for the overuse of ---and ... haha:)

Oh, how blessed I am!

My Thanksgiving post is a bit delayed I know. As this week approaches, it seems I have done everything this weekend but what was on my "to do" list :) just delaying the inevitable--3 presentations, 2 papers, an advertising brochure, a final, and packing up and moving my whole house in the next 5 days!! Its gonna be a crazy one, but the reward at the end is great because I get to see my babe on friday--Its been 2 weeks without him already and I miss him like crazy! so I have designed like 10 christmas card options for my older sisters to choose from for their cute families and now I will post--before i do laundry and homework :)

I awarded myself with almost a whole week off for Thanksgiving as opposed to the 4 day weekend that school gave me:) and took off to Vegas with Brooke on Monday instead of school Mon-Weds. (shh...getting a little lazy as I near the end:)) Beck and her family got in Monday night too and Mom, Dad, and Cait arrived on Wednesday night. We had a week full of fun and I love to all be together. I was sad that because Lance had just transferred to the Fife store he could not get Thanksgiving weekend off to meet us--but at least he was close enough to drive over to Royal and spend Thanksgiving with his Family.

While in Vegas we saw Madagascar 2, went to the Tournament of the Kings at Excalibur, the cactus gardens, Ethel M's Chocolate Factory, a little bit of the strip, had some professional photo shoots of the kiddos courtesy of Rach's expertise, swimming at the resort pool, ate yummy food at Lucille's, PF Change, & In and Out and just had fun bonding around the house and condo. For my birthday my sisters (minus Caitlin) and I even got to go see Twilight--it was so fun (thanks for humoring us beck!) and while it was not the best made movie, with stellar acting or cute actors for that matter--i loved it nonetheless! It was so much fun and I cant wait till we are all together again in Hawaii in April! 

I am so grateful for the Gospel and my testimony. For my wonderful husband and for our families! I am lucky enough to call my family my friends and they are the best friends anyone could ask for. I am grateful for good friends. I am grateful for our house and for our education. I am grateful to live in this country and for the freedoms that we enjoy (yes, even the freedom to vote for socialist presidents whether I like him or not :)). i am grateful for health, a car that runs--most of the time, and for yummy food, and for DVR and cozy blankets, and for a laptop and wireless internet, and so much more! I have so much to be grateful for and will continue to be grateful all year long! Heres to another year of blessing and health and happiness! 

Weekend in St. George

This weekend was a busy one. Saturday am we woke up (late) and flew up to SLC to join some really nice friends of mine in line to get BYU vs. Utah tickets! Go Cougs! Then we hurried back to Springville to load up the car and head to St George. My mom, Rach, and her two girls were all going to be there for the weekend and we could not stand being only 3 1/2 hours away--so we made a quick road trip. It was so fun to meet Paige at only a little over 1 week old--she is absolutely beautiful and annie is as darling as ever as well! 

 

Anyone who knows me knows that I love my nieces and nephews like they were my own and even though I am so anxious to have babies of my own--I am so grateful for such incredible moms in my life for examples and role models. Rach, Beck, & my own mom are some of my greatest examples! 

YAY! I AM DONE!---with this:)

I presented my grad project/thesis today at our Research Symposium and it was so stressful and I am so happy that it is over! It went really well and we got a lot of positive feedback--so for that I am grateful! We had some videos in our presentation and every day we had to re-format that so I am glad they worked today with no problems! I have a lot to be grateful for. 

Here are some fun pics from today-- 

Now back to classes & assignments--but I can check one huge thing of the list so that makes me super happy! I will be done with classwork and busy work in December --yay!

Meet Paige! She is here!

Just learned how to upload pics from phone to computer without internet so I was able to post these first pics of Paige and the ones in last post of Luke & Bros.  Class was a little slow so I made this cute announcement for funs...it is about the 30th that I have made for Luke and Paige in the last month! I am an adoring aunt ... and a bit baby hungry myself!