Maternity Photos

My talented cousin Andee Tate took some photos of me and Stu to capture the maternity phase on film. Here are a few of the shots. I think they turned out so cute. I am totally impressed with her work and think she has an incredible talent and perspective. If anyone is looking for a photographer - for any occasion - I would highly recommend her. Check out more of her work on her blog at cravemyphotography.blogspot.com. Thanks again Andee!

Burke Makes a Second Ultrasound video

So here's a tiny clip of Burke's face. We had an ultrasound on Thursday last week and wanted to share.

Happy Thanksgiving

We celebrated Thanksgiving this year at my Mom's house and it was wonderful. Stu and I were in charge of cooking the turkey. It was the first time either of us had cooked one and Stu pretty much did it all. I did baste it one time while it was cooking so I guess I helped a little. :) Well...the turkey was one of the best turkeys I've ever had, so moist and delicious! Great job Stu! I'm looking forward to left-overs.

Stu making the brine and cutting up veggies to stuff the turkey with the night before.

Check out this gorgeous turkey! Hot out of the oven.

We had an interesting menu as well. With my brother Alec's recent diagnosis of Type 1 Diabetes we wanted to have a low carb, low sugar meal that everyone could enjoy together and it turned out to be in the top 3 all-time best Thanksgiving dinners ever. Plus for the first time in my life I didn't over eat. I'm pretty sure it's because I have a baby in my belly so there isn't much room in there for too much turkey or goodies. I'm pretty sure I'll be back to the great tradition of stuffing my self next year. :)

Stu and I are so thankful for such wonderful family and friends. Especially with our little Sweet Potater Grater on the way. The thought of Burke being surrounded by people we love so much and who will be such strong influences and examples in his life is overwhelming sometimes. We are grateful for the love that we share with each other. And I am grateful for my Dad. I rose a toast yesterday to him and we sat around for a while afterward and told stories and shared memories of him. I sure do miss him and wish he was around to meet Burke.

Vanessa's had enough and decides to take a nap.

Momma Sant and Dallin.

Abe, me, (Burke) and Stu.

Stu, Calvin and Megan.

3 wiener dogs begging for more turkey. From left to right: Simon, Sadie and Heidi. Check out Heidi's ears. Every time someone would hold out a piece of turkey, she would start bouncing up and down on her front legs, like a truck with hydraulics, and her ears would flop out like this. It was pretty cute.

Making My Own Baby Quilt

So....I have been shopping around for a few months now and found the baby quilt I love and want for baby Burke. I found it at PotteryBarnKids.com, Kasey Striped Nursery Bedding, but they wanted $215 for the quilt, bumper and a pillow. I was just about to purchase them, when I thought...Hey, maybe you could make it from scratch. So I jotted down the different patterns in the quilt material and the next day I went to the fabric store and priced it all out. It ended up costing me $78 total, AND, I got to make it on my own. It took me about 4 or 5 hours total to do, so it really wasn't that bad. I would just sew for a bit each night after work while I watched TV with Stu. I am going to make a quilt for all of our kids now that I see how easy it was. I found the patterns and instructions online to make the quilt and bumper, and I just winged the pillow.

Me sewing Burke's quilt, and loving every minute of it.

Our Beautiful New Tile

We did it and we LOVE it! We have saved for 3 years for new tile in our upstairs (entry way, dining room, kitchen, hallway and bathroom) and we finally did it. With a baby on the way, I put the kibosh down and told Stu I didn't want Burke crawling around on plywood so he made it happen. :) I'm really proud of us for waiting until we had the cash to pay for it, and I can't say enough about how much we LOVE it. It has given the whole house a face lift. Here is some snapshots of the process.

DEMOLITION:

Stu with his construction glasses. Or 'terrorist glasses' as we like to call them.

Stu ripping out the old tile, sub-flooring and toilet in the bathroom. The folks that lived here before us had left the wood and linoleum and just put the sub-floor and tile right on top of it, so there were actually 4 layers to rip out. Yippee!!

Stu disassembling the dining room table.

Loading everything into Burke's room.

Stu is super happy to be tearing down the kitchen.

Our dining room floor after everything is ripped out and ready for the new tile. We have had our wedding dance floor (a big piece of linoleum) laid on top of this plywood for 3 years. We are SO excited to see what the new tile will look like!

INSTALL:

Day 1: the wire-crete is done and it already looks better than it did before. They start laying the tile tomorrow.

Days 2-4: The new tile is down and how beautiful it is!! Some final cuts and the grout go in tomorrow.

Jason, the guy that laid our tile. He was really cool and did an excellent job on the tile!

We still have the baseboards to install, but everything is done and beautiful. But don't take my word for it, come and visit us and see for yourself! :) I haven't taken pictures yet of the finished product, but I will shortly and post them.

Fall Leaves

Simon and I love picking up the leaves in the fall. I made a mental note the first year we moved in, that with all of our big trees we have 4 big leaf pickups. This is #3, and only the last of it. Each load produces about 10+ garbage bags full of leaves, no kidding.

Simon is such a good helper. I pile the leaves up and he jumps in them looking for his ball.

I LOVE the look of a raked lawn!!

Baby Shower!

My Mom and Aunt Maureen threw a really fun baby shower for me a week and a half ago. My Aunt had a 'belly' cake made which was adorable and delicious. Thanks Aunt Maureen! My Mom was in charge of activities and we played the 'motherly advice' game...My Mom brought the cutest, chubbiest blue piggy bank and gave everyone pennies and they would give some great advice about motherhood and throw their pennies in the bank for Burke. I was given some amazing advice that had us all in tears at one point and laughter at another. Thanks for such a great game Mom! Some of my favorites were:

Trust your intuition - Mel
Ask for help - Courtney
Follow through with discipline - Arryn
Go easy on yourself - Arryn
Go on adventures with your kids - Aunt Cathy
Learn new things as a mom all the time - Grandma
Learn & watch the stars, meteor showers, and astronomy - Grandma
Read to your kids - Aunt Cathy
Don't become emotional when a child becomes emotional, stay logical - Larisa
Hug Stu more than I used to - Ruthie
Have boundaries - Mom
Keep yourself happy and taken care of and the rest will fall where it should - Marie

I got the most wonderful and useful gifts from everyone and I can't wait for Burke to arrive and enjoy everything. Thank you to everyone for coming and celebrating with me. :)

The only thing that would have made things better is if my sister Marie was there. Marie, your name came up a few times and we all missed you, especially me. I love you.

Courtney, Mel, Ruthie, Me.

Me, opening presents.

Mom, Aunt Joan, Aunt Maureen. I love this picture because everyone was 'taken off guard' and the looks on their faces make me smile.

Larisa, Asher, me, Samantha - a few of my cousins

The 'belly' cake

Pregger Bellies

Rachel is really starting to show now and, of course, I wanted to show her and "The Belly" off. Here's a couple of shots I took of her out in our front yard this past weekend.

Oregon Coast Trip 2009

We just got back from a 2-week vacation on the Oregon Coast. It was truly amazing and very relaxing. Simon even came along this time! The weather was superb, only raining on us 1 night. And we were traveling in style with our new (for us anyway) motorhome, which was the best! I've always thought that traveling via motorhome wouldn't be that great, but boy was I wrong! Below are pictures of our travels.

First morning of vacation, just outside of Ontario, Oregon. There were a million little gnats flying around.


We met up with my good friend Casey Balzano (who is from Spokane, WA) and her adorable 3 year old son, Henry, in Silver Lake, Washington - near Mt. St. Helens. We stayed there for 2 nights and had a blast!


King Henry eating a Honey Crisp apple (which by the way are the best apples in the world I found out). So cute!

We met great camping neighbors at Silver Lake. We all rented a pontoon boat and spent the day on the lake together. I had never met random folks camping and felt so instantly close to them like that before. We hung out with them all weekend. It was really cool.
(From left to right: Riley, Henry, Stu, Janee, Sadie (the dog), Casey, Rachel, Avery, Brett)


We stopped at Portland, OR for 1 night to visit Jon and Paula LeBre and Kevin and Sherri Jennison (friends that Stu went to highschool with), but didn't take any pictures. We had a good time and the memories are burned into our minds. Jon and Paula thanks for your hospitality. This picture is of me on the Cathlamet - Westport ferry ride which we caught just north of Portland and took over into Cathlamet, WA.


On Papa and Sue Grater's lot in Ocean Park, WA. We spent the day on the beach and 1 night here. It was beautiful and Simon LOVES the ocean!


Simon's first experience on the Pacific Ocean at Surfside in Ocean Park, WA.


Me and and Simon at the Peter Airedale in Fort Stevens State Park just outside of Warrenton, OR. Check out that pregger belly!


Our feet and Simon watching the sunset at Gearheart Ocean State Park, just west of Gearheart, OR.

Gearheart Ocean State Park, OR.
Horse back riders walked right in front of us as we watched the sunset, it was very romantic.


Fish on! We rented a boat in Wheeler, OR and it was a lot of fun!


Check out that 26 inch native coho salmon beauty!!!


More fishing. The water was smooth as glass when we got into the Nahalem River and out of the Bay and there were huge fish jumping everywhere! It was beautiful!


Even Simon had fun fishing. He kept a watchful eye out of the side of the boat all day for fish and other creatures of the sea. We saw a wiener dog of the sea (a Seal) and he got pretty excited. :)


Barview Jetty County Park, OR. Our camper was literally a few feet from where this picture was taken. We stayed just below a Coast Guard look out tower and could hear the ocean roaring all night and hear the fog horns, it was awesome! We tried to light a fire the night before, but a thick fog had rolled in and it was nearly impossible. Stu had to douse the fire with gasoline and oil and it still wouldn't burn!


Dad and Simon. I love this picture.


Us at the Cape Mears Lighthouse. On the north end of the beautiful scenic Three Cape Scenic Loop just outside of Tillamook, OR.


We stayed the night at Netarts Bay State Park. Our camp spot was about 100 feet from the ocean, but was protected by a big sand bar so the wind didn't bother us. We grilled our freshly caught salmon with some great maple chipotle grill sauce we bought locally, along with some Tillamook cheese and crackers. Yum! We could hear the ocean all night and of course enjoyed another wonderful sunset.


We bought Simon a hoodie in case the weather was bad, but so far it's been perfect. So we just dressed him up cause he looked so cute. Wherever we went people wanted to pet and play ball with him.


We stopped and saw the Sea Lions at Newport, OR. Simon wasn't sure what to think about these huge, loud animals that were shaped like him.


Stu, me and Simon at the Newport Harbor in Newport, OR.


Our sweet camp spot at Tillicum Beach, just outside of Yachats, OR. Spot #49 is the best one in the park so if anyone visits here be sure and get that one. That is the ocean beyond the tree line. We were up on a cliff so when you walked out to that fence you were overlooking the ocean.


We set up our lawn chairs right on the edge.


We grilled fresh halibut.


And kicked up our feet and enjoyed the sunset together. Ah, this is the life!


We love Tillicum Beach and so does Simon!


Simon sleeping in the sun. He liked this perch when we were stopped cause he could see what was going on and get a little sun at the same time. He is the best traveling snasauge ever!


A tip from Papa and Sue Grater led us to our all time favorite camp spot of the entire trip. Garrison Beach State Wayside at the end of a lonely road just outside of Port Orford, OR. We parked at the edge of a cliff overlooking the beautiful ocean, we had the beach to ourselves and best of all it was FREE! Thanks Guy and Sue!


Enjoying some beach combing and walking at Garrison Beach State Wayside.


Simon smiling big because he's at the ocean with his ball.


Rachel and Burke at Garrison Beach State Wayside. Check out how big that belly is!


After Garrison Beach State Wayside we headed down the road a bit to Coast Guard Hill. We enjoyed some a great hike that led us to a lookout point. The waves were huge (the one in this picture was probably 20-25 feet) and the most brilliant aqua color I'd ever seen. We stayed here for a long time and just stared at the waves, rocks, birds and the never ending ocean beyond. From this point, you could see forever.


We pulled over for a pit stop at South Beach Park in Gold Beach, OR and I took Simon for a walk on the beach while Stu checked out the motorhome. Simon is loving the cool sand on his belly.


South Beach Park in Gold Beach, OR. The clouds rolled in for a few hours during the afternoon and looked so dramatic against the ocean.


We stayed at Papa and Sue Grater's lot in Brookings, OR for 2 nights. The lot is beautiful and overlooks the Chetco River. We pulled in after dark and this was our view when we woke up in the morning. Thanks for letting us use your lot Guy and Sue!


We spent the day at Harris Beach State Park. We saw star fish and collected drift wood.


Rachel and Stu at Harris Beach State Park, OR.


One last night on the coast in Crescent City, CA.


This beach was protected by a line of bigger rocks out about 100 ft. so we could wade out and Simon could swim out and play in the calf-deep surf. We saw anemones and collected like 100 agates.


One last shot of the pregger belly on the ocean. What a good trip it has been, we will never forget it.


One last look at the beautiful sunset to celebrate.....


Our 3 YEAR ANNIVERSARY! HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO US! :)


Our last camp spot before we headed home. Crescent City, CA. Another tip from Papa and Sue Grater; right on the ocean and free!


One last picture by the ocean. What an amazing vacation it has been. We hope to live near it someday.


Headed home and Simon is tuckered out. He slept in between us for a few hours just like this. What a cute dog!


Just chillin' up near Buzzard Pass, NV. It's remote and desolate, and we're thinking of buying some land up here to get away from it all. ;)


We pulled over for a pit stop somewhere in OR on the way home. This river was crystal clear and you could see all the way to the bottom no matter how deep it was. So pretty!

That's it. We hope you've enjoyed our extremely long post about our Oregon Coast 2009 vacation. Thanks for reading. We love you all!