33 Weeks and Counting!

Here are some more belly bump photos. The 'Now and Then' photo on the left really puts things into perspective. On the left is a most recent photo of me at 33 weeks. The one on the right is a photo of me at 13 weeks (and I thought I had a little bump back then!). No wonder I feel so large and clumsy these days! Did I really used to be that little ?!?

Happy One Year!

For our one year anniversary Alan and I took a trip up to Victoria BC. The trip was awesome and we had a great time! Can't wait to return when I am not pregnant, and able to walk around a bit more.

Baby Bump Pics

I have been getting requests to update pictures of my baby bump. I have been taking these photos each Tuesday morning to get a consistent reference point. Note that I said 'morning', so most of the time it's right after I am out of the shower and I haven't done my hair or make-up :)

If you hover on the image, the week will show up.

From Collages

Picking Cherries

So we don't have grape vines for vino, and we don't have olive trees for olive oil, but we do have a huge cherry tree in our back yard. I made a great cherry and raspberry crisp with the fresh cherries we picked!!

The nesting has begun...

In less than 48 hours our "baby" room went from a cluttered mess with a closet used as a catch all to this. We are not finished, but Corina has definitely gotten a good start on things. At 9:30 pm last Thursday she decided it was necessary to repaint the closet!!

 

 

 

It's a GIRL !

Ashlee Diane
Last Thursday we had our 20 week doctor's appointment and found out we are having a little girl! It was a thorough ultrasound to take measurements and everything looks good!

I'm Pregnant!

Hi it's me, back from my blogging haiatus. For those who didn't yet know I am 20 weeks pregnant! This Thursday we have our doctor's appointment that should determine if we are having a boy or a girl. At this point I have no idea. I think I am carrying pretty low (so I am told, I have no reference point), so there are bets out it's a boy. Alan and I will be extremely happy with either, but we do want to have girl.



Here is a photo of my belly at 20 weeks

To give you some insight into my pregnancy so far, it been pretty good. For the first trimester I was extremely tired and did not like food very much. At that point I had no interest in writing about my pregnancy. Now that I am in my second trimester I have my energy back and eating food is no longer an issue. With all this extra energy I have I thought I should start blogging my pregnancy to share with you all!

First Weekend At The Cabin!!!

We closed on the cabin last week, and this was our first weekend at the cabin. We went up there with Rich and Diedre for a nice long weekend of rest and relaxation.

Saturday morning we had deer outside the window munching on the leaves around the cabin.

Along with unpacking and decorating, Saturday morning we went and got ourselves a nice canoe! The truck was perfect for hauling the canoe back from Vancouver where we bought it.

It was all inclusive, so we had paddles, life jackets, and a cool thing so I could take it to the lake without Corina needing to carry it. Corina didn't mind just watching me pull it down to the lake!

Even though it was drizzly, Corina still climbed in the canoe with me so I could get a little fishing in.

Let is snow, let it snow, let it snow!!

If you have missed the weather report, Portland has been hit with the most snow it's ever gotten in 40 years. Here are some pictures of our house and the snow!

Here is our front yard before the snow came, notice the snow man is sitting on the lawn with almost no snow, and also notice the candy cane lights on the lawn!







Here is how it looked after the snow, notice the snow man is almost gone, and the candy cane lights are completely gone! The snow does look cool when we turn on our lights now. In case you were wondering, the truck runs really well in the snow, and it does doughnuts without any issue.



Here are the before and after pictures of our outside awning. We were cleaning it off everyday, but that last night of snow did it in. Once it started collapsing we knocked it over so it wouldn't fall on top of everything under it. I think I saw tears in Corina's eyes.

Happy Birthday Corina!

She's getting older, but I don't know about wiser. For Corina's 30th we all went out to dinner at Marrakesh. As you can see, after a few glasses of wine she jumped right in with the belly dancer at our table.

The Cake Debacle:
So the Friday morning of Corina's birthday dinner party I rolled in to work chipper and anxious to enjoy my Friday. Matt had said he'd pick up Corina's cake for me if I told him what time to pick it up, so I started scanning through my emails to figure out when the baker said the cake would be ready. To my shock and awe I realized I had sent the baker(Karren's Cakes the wrong date. This immediately sent me in to PANIC mode on a Friday morning! With lots of phone call and some serious begging I was able to get her a carrot cake like she wanted. We ended up getting the cake from Papa Haydn's.

The DANCE:

Poor Miles

Our cat, Miles, had to go to the vet yesterday to have something on his ear looked at. They thinks it just a bug bite that is irritated, however there is a small chance it could be cancer. For the next week he has to wear a cone so we can see if the wound is healing or not. Poor guy, he is really taking it well though...

Happy Birthday Matt!

We love Matt so much that we made him a peanut butter layer cake with peanut butter frosting for his 22nd birthday!

Wanna be my Cowgirl?

Alan and I for Halloween dressed up at a Cowgirl/Cowboy pair. And if you are curious, none of my desserts won a prize :( A kitty litter/terd box beat me out. However, these were no tootsie roll terds, they looked serious. So I'm ok with it.

Happy Halloween!

Alan and I went crazy last night and made a bunch of Halloween desserts! Maybe one of them will win us a prize ?!?

The process is messy, but the outcome was worth it! Here is a slide show illustrating our evening.

We're Married!

We were married September 5 at Elk Cove Vineyard. Thanks to Grace we have these photos of our wedding day. In a few weeks we should have the photos from the photographer. I am anxiously waiting to see them!

Honeymoon in France - Part I

For our honeymoon we went to France. In two weeks we stayed in Paris, traveled through the French countryside and ended up at the Spanish/French border on the Mediterranean. At each stop we enjoyed fine food and of course great wine!

The idea to go to France came about when Alan found a website which offered wine tours in Europe and South America. Wanting our honeymoon to be as stress free as possible, the idea of a pre-planned tour was ideal. Not to mention it was not just any tour, it was a wine tour! Needless to say we think it was a great decision!

Our trip started out in Paris, where Alan had booked a hotel which was my 'surprise' hotel. Turns out our hotel room had a view of the Eiffel Tower from the balcony (yes, very romantic).

One of our favorite meals was at Ambassador d'Auvergne. The restaurant is named after a region in France that is known to have hearty food and larger portions sizes. To illustrate, see the dessert I ordered. It's a dark chocolate mousse, which was delicious, however no one person could finish it all!

The Eiffel Tower
It’s as beautiful as they say

Weekend of Cooking

For some reason this weekend we all had an urge to cook. By all I mean Corina, Matthew, and I. Matthew started it off by making Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies that were almost vegan. After our honeymoon in France, I had been wanting to make homemade cheese, so that's what is in the white dish. I also made Wheat French Baguettes to eat for lunch this week. Corina followed up the cooking by making homemade yogurt freezer pops which are not pictured here.

My Cousin's Wedding

Here is a picture of Corina and I at my cousin Bobby's wedding in Maine in July of 2007. This was Corina's first trip to Maine and the first time I had been back in several years. Anyway...I'm still playing with Picaso.

Engagement Photo

I got to marry this woman, how lucky am I? Anyway this is my first attempt at adding a blog directly from the Picaso program.

Alan

Here is another engagement photo I was playing with some effects.

Travels in Italy!

Here are some photos of my trip to Italy...finally

This slideshow has pictures from when we were in Rome. We flew into Rome and spent several days there before busing to Pescara/Carrufo.

These are pictures of Carrufo. I stayed in Carrufo with the family for 4 days. I spent time walking around the small town and learning where my grandfather was born and raised.