Maternity Pictures

This weekend Kori, my sister-in-law, took maternity pictures for Derek and I. Here are some of them. I have to say that she did a great job and if anyone needs or wants pictures taken, she and my brother are awesome!

Baby Shower

This weekend my mom threw Derek and I a coed baby shower. Although, a lot of the guys still weren't all that crazy about the idea of going to a baby shower. It was more like a baby-que though. And no, we didn't barbecue any babies!! We did play some fun games, had good food, and great company. Thanks mom for throwing such a great baby shower this weekend! You are truly the best! Also, thanks Janet for bringing such fun games!

I don't feel like writing a whole lot so I'll just leave you all with some pictures. Aren't pictures the best part of blogs anyway?

Thanks to everyone who came and for all the presents! Oh, and congratulations Tara and Don!!!

Catching Up #2 (Derek)

The last post was getting long so I decided to break it apart from this post. And this one is going to be more of a picture narrative (according to Megan pictures are what people really want in a blog).

A common question these days is "How is Lacie doing?" Nobody seems to ask me how I am doing anymore. For some reason people forget about me and focus on my wife. Before I get hit, yelled at, or strung up by my neck, I better get to my point. I have concluded that pregnancy is not that bad. You get to go shopping for a new wardrobe not once but twice, you get to eat more and say that you are eating for two, you have a built in shelf to rest your water bottle or food on, and you have a solid excuse for afternoon naps. Yeah I know that weight gain comes with all of this but that is no different than the experience after a nice Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner. Alright, I am done ranting about nothing in particular! Lacie is doing absolutely wonderful. Her pregnancy has been very easy as compared to all of my sisters and many of my friends. I am so happy that it has been so easy. Here is a picture of my cute wife carrying around Braedon:



Kongs are great toys for dogs. (A kong is an extremely durable toy for dogs that you can stuff treats in.) The best thing to stick in a kong is peanut butter, unfortunately Peyton's system doesn't handle the little bit of heaven quite as good as our system so she gets other treats. The other day I made a discovery. Peyton's gingerbread men can partially fit inside of the kong! Fast as fast can be...that gingerbread man is going no where except into a pile of poo!



Another realization that I had recently is that we love to have dogs as pets due to their keeping us company. What we don't think about is that once we have a dog we spend a great deal of time trying to wear them out which subsequently keeps them out of trouble...hopefully. This leads me to two things: 1) frisbees and 2) dog parks. It is tough to throw a ball over and over and wear your dog out before you wear your arm out. I decided to give a rubber dog frisbee a shot. After the first embarrassing trip to the dog park which involved me throwing and fetching my own frisbee I spent some time teaching Peyton that a frisbee is just like a ball but better. She now loves that thing and I am no longer embarrassed and my shoulder lasts longer than she does. We have a local dog park that is great. There are typically quite a few dogs there for Peyton to play with (although there are a surprising number of pit bulls, rottweilers, and other mean dogs). Between the frisbee and the dog park, we have been pretty successful at wearing Peyton out and not losing any more shoe laces.



Yesterday was my niece's first birthday. I would have loved to go but I have been pretty sick for about a week and really didn't want to spend 4 hours in a car driving to and from Olympia. I presented Lacie with a plan, I would do whatever honey-dos she wanted and she had to say "I love you and won't hold you not going over your head". She liked the plan and the honey-do list quickly took shape. Lucky for me, I don't have a demanding wife and she only asked that I get and install a curtain rod in the soon to be baby room and clean up a book shelf that has been outside for quite a while. I knocked both of those projects out of the park and also spent a fair bit of time working on her bike to get it in top notch shape (she has started to ride her bike on an indoor trainer for variety and because running for an hour is starting to get uncomfortable). Although I enjoyed my relaxing day, it did sound like there were some pretty funny moments at the birthday party.



My Nalgene bottle has been hanging tough for probably 5+ years (yes it has the little number 7 on the bottom but I am not going to pay $8 for a non-scientific study). Today marked the end of the little piece of plastic that holds the lid on. The bottle may be indestructible but the lid definitely is not. This is a matter that Chad can attest to given that I don't even remember how long ago he lost the same piece of plastic.



We broke down this weekend and bought Peyton two new toys. Both of the toys came highly acclaimed as nearly indestructible which made us feel better about spending the money for them. One of them was a really tough stuffed doughnut with a few squeakers in it. She loves squeaking things (including my mother-in-laws little dog) but her stuffed animals typically lasts a matter of hours. This toy seems like it will last for quite a bit longer than previous purchases. The second is a rubber object that appears to be as durable as a kong but but much more of a mental challenge to get the treats out...plus there is a weird noise making thing in the middle to add more excitement for her. The real reason for the purchases are that she had been a good dog for a few days but before that she was bored and started to chew on the walls! Yeah, I know...weird. Hopefully she stays preoccupied and forgets what plaster tastes like.

I hope that you all enjoyed this installment of Derek's updates!

Catching Up (Derek)

It's been about a month since Lacie's last post so I decided to fill in some of the cracks although I will leave out some details as I am sure that she will be blogging about them with detail.

Gunther Update
Many of you (okay, we probably only have two friends that read our blog but I like to stretch the popularity a bit) are likely wondering why I am giving a Gunther update since we did find him a new home. As it turns out, the family that adopted Gunther are crazy.

Adoptive Family #1: We got a call a week after the sad day that found Gunther in a new home saying that they didn't think it was going to work out. What really happened is that the girl couldn't sleep because Gunther kept her up at night (he is a nocturnal animal and the cage was next to her bed...duh), she felt that there wasn't harmony in her room between Gunther and their dog (they only had the rabbit for a week...how long do they think it takes for prey to become friends with a predator), and finally Gunther was too aggressive (he would charge them - which is actually his way of playing and he bit their finger - which was actually them holding food in a way that he had a hard time just biting food). Since we were already heading out of town, we told them that we were going to be gone for the week but that we would take him back at the end of the week.

Adoptive Family #2: In order to "restore the harmony" in the girl's room, they had Gunther stay at the grandmother's house. When we were ready to take Gunther back, three days shy of the week, we called them but they informed us that the Grandmother fell in love with Gunther and wanted to keep him as he was great company. This was quite a relief because we didn't want to have to find him yet another home (poor rabbit) and we thought that the lady would keep him good company. The love didn't last and we got a call the next day saying that whenever the grandmother let Gunther out he would dart for the door and she had a tough time getting him back into his cage and that he was just "not what she expected". So they asked if we would take him back. I told them that I was okay with it but had to talk to Lacie. Needless to say, Lacie was not at all impressed with this crazy family and said "no he is their problem" and they need to be more responsible. I felt really bad for the little guy as it wasn't his fault that he was he being passed around but I didn't see it as any better for him if we were to take him back or if the family were to find him a new home. Ultimately we told them that they needed to take care of him.

Bottom line... I feel really bad for him as he was a part of our family for a year and half. If he didn't destroy carpet I would have definitely kept him...but the carpet destruction in every place that we live was just too much.

Peyton has a crush...

...on that very good looking dog in the mirror! Every morning, and I mean every morning, while I am getting ready for the day, Peyton plants herself in front of my mirror and will stare, bark, whine, and try to play with her reflexion. It really is pretty entertaining. Do you notice all the nose prints on my mirror? I think she has been getting in a few kisses as well! Usually crushes only last for a short time, but I think she might have this one for awhile. I wonder if it frustrates her that she always has to make the first move!

I love these girls!

Back row L-R: Shelley, Jenny
Front row L-R: Me, Brooke, Tasha

This past weekend Derek and I went to Spokane so I could have one last chance to hang with my girlfriends without any other extra responsibilities (a baby). I have known these girls since high school and we have still managed to stay close even though we graduated almost 7 years ago! These girls are true friends and I am so happy that we have been able to stay so close despite the fact that we have all gone somewhat different ways and have had some big changes in our lives. Brooke got married this last August, Malia (not pictured because she couldn't make the trip, but we wish she could have been there) got married a couple of years ago and just had a baby in September, Shelley and Tasha are working and going to school, and Jenny graduated from Eastern a couple of years ago and has been using her business degree working for a company at the Spokane Airport. We all have so many funny stories and memories from the last 10 years together and every time we all get together it feels like nothing has changed. I am going to miss them when we move to New York.

1 Year Anniversary

This sign was on the hotel grounds and I thought it was picture worthy!

Today is our one year anniversary and this last weekend Derek surprised me with a massage and a two night stay at a beautiful resort in Union, WA. He took Friday off of work and in the morning we dropped off Peyton at my parent's house and then we went and got very relaxing 60 minute massages. After that we headed down and over to Union, WA which is a very little town near Bremerton. We had such a great time relaxing and enjoying each others company. This little weekend get away was a combination celebration of our wedding anniversary, Valentines Day, going to Grad school, and a baby on the way. The weather was perfect for late January/early February on the coast. We lucked out with sun the whole time!

This picture was taken by my mom when we dropped off Peyton. Yes, I know you can see my bra, but my mom wanted me to take my vest off so everyone can see how big I'm getting!

There was an outdoor fireplace that overlooked the water and we spend quite a bit of time sitting in front of it.

Enjoying a very nice dinner in the hotel restaruant.