Our Mexican Siesta (Part 1)

A few months ago Toren and I realized that our lives were soon going to change forever (in a good way, of course). With this realization came a strong desire to do something crazy and spontaneous. Since I wanted to spend our adventure doing not much more than relaxing and eating and Toren was itching to go Scuba Diving, we really had only one option: vacation to Mexico!

So I spent 75% of last week lounging in a beach chair and I couldn't have been happier.

On the first day we did get a little sunburned. I blame mine on my weird pregnant skin because it was so blotchy and almost more like a heat rash. Anyway, after the first day I spent a little bit more time in the shade.

Toren went diving right off of the beach our resort was on. Here he is prepped and ready.
Heading out to the deep.

After-Scuba feast. Thank you room service!

One afternoon we drove down to the Tulum Ruins.

The Ruins are right along the water and the view of the Caribbean was amazing.

After a couple hours of climbing and walking I was desperate to reclaim my beach chair...

We invited our good friends Jason and Kristin to come with us. It was nice to have someone for Toren to play with and someone for me to lay on the beach. But, as I'm sure you can imagine, the guys were up to their usual stunts...

50 Books in 2009

Last year I made a New Year's goal to read 50 books throughout the year. Normally I'm not one to make lofty, specific goals for myself, probably because I never quite achieve them. This time learned a couple things about myself that definitely helped:

• I need to plan ahead how to achieve my goal. This time I calculated out how many books I had to read each month to help myself stay on track. If I got behind (which did happen) I had to recalculate and get back on track. It was kind of like having mini goals to help me achieve the big goal.
• I need a way to keep myself accountable. I used my blog to list all the books I read. This helped me stay focused and see how far away from my goal I was an any time. It also made it much more exciting to see my progress.
  

And because I want to redo the sidebar on my blog, but I still want a record of the books I read, below is the list of the 50 books I read in 2009:

1. The Tales of Beedle the Bard (J.K. Rowling)
2. The Messenger (Markus Zusak)
3. The Time Traveler's Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
4. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
5. Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging (Louise Rennison)
6. Fahrenheit 451 (Ray Bradbury)
7. The Little Lady Agency and The Prince (Hester Browne)
8. Quidditch Through the Ages (Kennilworthy Whisp)
9. Midnight Sun (Stephenie Meyer)
10. The Emperor's New Clothes (Hans Christian Andersen)
11. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (J.K. Rowling)
12. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (J.K. Rowling)
13. The Host (Stephenie Meyer)
14. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (J.K. Rowling)
15. Good Grief (Lolly Winston)
16. Diary of a Mad Bride (Laura Wolf)
17. Knit Two (Kate Jacobs)
18. City of Bones (Cassandra Clare)
19. Girl With a Pearl Earring (Tracy Chevalier)
20. City of Ashes (Cassandra Clare)
21. Fashionably Late (Beth Kendrick)
22. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (J.K. Rowling)
23. Poison Study (Maria Snyder)
24. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (J.K. Rowling)
25. City of Glass (Cassandra Clare)
26. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (J.K. Rowling)
27. Peter and the Star Catchers (Dave Barry Ridley Pearson)
28. A Great and Terrible Beauty (Libba Bray)
29. Rebel Angels (Libba Bray)
30. The Sweet Far Thing (Libba Bray)
31. Opportunity Rings (Sheryl Steinberg)
32. The Wizard Behind Harry Potter (Marc Shapiro)
33. Magyk (Angie Sage)
34. The Tale of Despereaux (Kate DiCamillo)
35. Hatchet (Gary Paulsen)
36. The Shack (William P. Young)
37. The Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times (Jennifer Worth)
38. Blink (Malcom Gladwell)
39. Something Borrowed (Emily Giffin)
40. What to Expect When You're Expecting (Heidi Murkoff)
41. Diary of a Mad Mom-to-Be (Laura Wolf)
42. Something Blue (Emily Giffin)
43. Baby Proof (Emily Giffin)
44. Your Pregnancy: Week by Week (Glade Curtis and Judith Schuler)
45. Hot Stuff (Janet Evanovich)
46. Comfort Food (Kate Jacobs)
47. The Borrowers (Mary Norton)
48. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (J.K. Rowling)
49. The Alchemyst: The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel (Michael Scott)
50. Hunger Games (Suzanne Collins)

P.S.

Go me for blogging so much!!

The Beginning of the Baby's Room

We've finally started getting the baby's room ready. We recently moved into a bigger apartment (thank goodness...and pics to come later) and it's taken weeks to get everything organized. So far the baby's room has just been a depot for "stuff" that we don't know what else to do with. Over the weekend, however, Toren's parents bought a crib for the baby, which sent me into full baby-prep mode. Luckily, Toren was also inspired and agreed to assemble the crib.

I decided on doing a jungle them for the room, and I think it's adorable. So far all we've done is the crib, but I do plan to paint a dresser and a couple bookcases and hang some pictures. I might even paint a wall. I'm sure I'll take a picture of the finished product, but for now, enjoy the adorable crib.

Since I haven't washed the bedding yet (I will, but I was to excited to see what it looked like and had to put it together), we decided to let Baxter try out the crib. He was thoroughly confused, though I'm confident that if we'd given him a few minutes in there he would have snuggled right down for a relaxing nap.

Seattle Baby Shower

My mom was in town last weekend, so my family in Seattle threw me a baby shower. We had so much fun. Besides getting tons of baby loot (thanks everyone!), it was so good to see family that I don't see nearly enough...and my mom. We played a few of the traditional baby shower games, the worst of which was guessing the measurement around the biggest part of my belly. I nearly died when I found out it was just over 42 inches!! And I still have time to grow!! All in all, though, it was a fun night enjoyed with some of my closest family and friends.

I spent the rest of the weekend just hanging out with my mom. It was a real treat for me (literally). She spoils me like crazy! I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful mom. Thanks mom!!

The Most Wonderful Day of the Year

I've put it off long enough. It's time to blog about CHRISTMAS!!

This was the first year Toren and I had a REAL Christmas tree. Our first Christmas we enjoyed a fake 3-foot tree from Walgreens before we went to Washington and Seattle for two weeks. Last year we were living with Toren's parents. They left for Arizona on Christmas day, so they didn't put themselves through the hassle of decorating.

But this year, we had a beautiful 7-foot Noble Fir.

We decorated it mostly with inherited (hand painted by Toren's grandma) ornaments and a few scraggly ones from Toren's childhood (I strategically put these ornaments in the back). Having our apartment decorated really filled us with the Christmas spirit. It was wonderful.



The weekend before Christmas, we met up with my family in Seattle (Mom, Dad and John flew home from Hong Kong. Laura drove back from school. And David had already been living there). First they surprised us with all sorts of knock-off goodies...like my amazing Jimmy Choo purse, and then we just spent lots of time laughing and catching up. It was great. Toren went back home on Sunday night, but I spent a few more days (mostly shopping and eating) with my family.

Most of the ladies of the family enjoying a Chipotle lunch and our new purses from Hong Kong.

My mom drove me back down to Portland on the morning of Christmas Eve, where she accompanied me on an ultrasound appointment.

That night we spent with Toren's family (minus Blake, Maren, Braden, Brent and Mallory). We enjoyed a Christmas Eve feast and watched a Nativity movie.

And then Christmas morning came....

Our stocking loot.

Baxter was SO excited about his new bone he wouldn't even let me get close enough to take the stocking off.

Toren got a pre-Christmas gift this year: a Playstation 3. So all he wanted when Christmas actually rolled around were games.

And all I wanted was a Sonicare (and HP 6 of course!)

Toren's mom gave him this perfect 6-month BYU football jersey. Toren is already daydreaming about the first game he'll get to take his little son to.
(P.S. I don't think I even announced it yet, but we're having a BOY! We are ecstatic!!)

Baxter probably got the best gift of all. (It's a Pez dispense for pets. The dispenser freaks him out but he'll endure it just long enough to get the Pez!)

After opening presents and trying out all our new gear, we went to watch Avatar (of course in 3D) and spend more time with the family.

All in all, it truly was the most wonderful day of the year! And though I've only really mentioned the worldly aspects of Christmas, it also wonderful in spiritual aspects as well. It was a humbling time to reflect on our many blessings and give thanks.

Our Little Sweet Potato

My cousin (who is also pregnant right now) showed me this site called thebump.com. Among other things, you can see what size your baby is in relation to fruits and vegetables. When I saw her adorable little lemon I just had to know what ours was. And I found....a hairy, bumpy sweet potato! It may not be the cutest vegetable in the world, but I sure love our little sweet potato. I mean, who couldn't? Just look at it!