It's official...We are pregnant!

I've been waiting for us to hit the 12 week mark before I posted. This is really an old ultra sound picture...so it shows nothing. Then again don't all ultra sound pictures show nothing. I can never figure them out.
We will be due May 14th, which is quite funny since it's so close to my birthday (10th) and Zac's birthday (29th). While growing up when my Mother and would get into arguements with me, she would say "I hope you have a child just like you" and my reply would be "so do I...at least I will understand them".
So it looks like we both got our wish. However, I have a feeling my Mom will be the one getting the good laugh out of this, as I will experience the joy of a child just like me (I wasn't easy).
Nonetheless, Daddy and Brother are very happy. I'm still fighting the evening sickness, but VERY happy!

Good Stuff...

I know I have not blogged in sometime and I have to play catch up but I had to download these video's of Alexander dancing at my sister's wedding. It turns out he was telling our cousins that he was a "Professional Dancer"...where does he get this stuff???? :) I think his Daddy would have these moves if he let himself dance. :)

Our boy is in 1st Grade

Here he is...our First Grader! He is so handsome and he has grown so much this summer. Thank you for ALL the family members that made it possible for our Alexander to have a great summer.
He was so excited to start school and we were excited for him. As Zac and I were leaving the house to take him to school I turned to Zac and said, "I feel so nervous" and Zac said "me too!". We had to laugh, as Alexander was just fine. I still can remember the little two year old that lived next door and waited outside for me to come home from work and then he would scream "JJ is that you?"...oh how I wish I knew then what I know now. Oh how my love continues to grow in leaps and bounds for the two boys in my life. How blessed I feel to be a part of this little boys life that has given me so much. All this because I fell in love with him...and then his Daddy.

Our Piano...home sweet home

We have been talking about getting a piano for a few months now, however, what sealed the deal was hearing Alexander play "Mary had a little Lamb" thanks to cousin Ben (age 5) who taught him. We found the piano on Craig's list and bought it within the hour because it was only $150 (a great deal). Of course, after much frustration and an arguement we paid another $150 to have it delivered, then again it did save our marriage. :) j/k

So here is our new found joy and we all love taking turns at it. Next up is piano lessons for Alexander and maybe a refresher course for Mommy too!




Zac loves to show off all the tricks of the piano. It's a Gulbransen, built about 1940's


Such a great photo

Soon our little one will be playing Mozart...he is very talented like his Father. They have already figured out how to play the sound that Mario does when he dies in the Wii game. Yes, I know...true talent. (It get's a little annoying)

We had to move the room around to make sure the piano fit, but I think it looks good and we love the music in the house.

Fun dinner...

I decided that we needed to have some fun dinners, were we make them together and enjoy the "fruits of our labor". The week before we did calzones, which were sadly not as good as my Mom makes them. Tonight we did pretzel dogs...but then I had left over pretzel dough and remember this yummy italian place in Santa Monica, where my sister Jill use to take us, and they had these amazing pretzel knots. So, I decided to try my own. Thank to "The Sister's Cafe" for a soft pretzel recipe, it was good.





My attempt at pretzel knots, which were pretty good. We put butter on them with sugar and cinnamon...next we will have to try garlic and herbs like at the resturant.


Our pretzel dogs...they were not bad. It was fun and different

Alexander made his pretzel man, and then got mad at Dad for eating it.

Summer Vacation to Montana

We worked hard and were ready for a vacation to Montana. We drove and it was a great road trip. We stopped in Utah to stay and visit with one of my best friends Cammie and Erich Seal. They have a son that is the same age as Alexander, they got along great. They gave us their bed and fed us a great breakfast. Thanks Seal Family, we love you!

Cammie and I were comps in the mission field, that made us friends for life

Me, Scotlyn, and Cammie

Their lovely home in Utah

We went to visit Uncle Bob Newell, who lives in Grandma's home

This was the first time Zac, Alexander, and Uncle Bob met

Great memories at this home.

lovely view from the house

We made it to Dillon Montana, we love this town

Breakfast in the morning is always out on the deck, where the sun warms you up for the day. It's lovely.

Alexander loves this place and he runs free like all the wild animals out there.

The dog Pepper is beloved

Here is the amazing home that Mom and Dad have created for themselves. We love it.

Here I am, first official fly fishing trip....and I look good!

real good

We took Alexander to his first fishing pond, thanks to friends of Mom and Dad's Alexander was able to catch his first fish with help from Daddy

Daddy was lucky too and caught his own fish

This is a great view, however, I was no so lucky

Here he is bringing the fish in...

Here is Alexander's first fish, a big old rainbow trout. He was scared to hold it and so was Mommy but I had to do what I had to do if I was going to get a picture of this moment.

The mountains above the Madison river on our camping trip.

Gary it telling me something here, but I have no idea what it is.

Early morning fishing on the Madison river.

The level of focus required is...obviously enormous.

Here we are all dingy from camping.

The opening to the Madison River Valley...looking west.

Inside the cramped compartment of the Suzuki Samurai...it's like a small jeep.

Apparently the cows here do not care about breast feeding in public.

Beautiful view of a lake by the Madison river. We drove down to the lake, and walked in bare foot. It was...FREEZING...but wonderful.

Speaking of FREEZING, we both fell in a river together. This is Zac posting this so you're gonna get my side of the story. We had been fishing for about 2 hrs, and I asked JJ to walk with me through some swampy brush to get to a good spot on the river. It was a difficult hike, and JJ had heavy boots on, so we were both getting tired. We got to a spot where we needed to cross the river. I found a shallow shot, 2ft, and jumped in first. I stood at the bank and told JJ to use my shoulders to lean on and to step down into the river. She misjudged the distance... ...and we both went in. Here we are dumping water out of pockets and making soaked clothes faces.

Family Photos here and below. Note, the 4 Generations photo with the boys above.

JJ Fighting her first fish caught, ALL ON HER OWN, with a fly rod. She is a natural, which is a bummer because she only kind of likes fishing. I'll keep working on her though. At least she looks really good out there on the water. It was funny though, she got the fish on the hook, and was screaming for about 2 minutes. All the boaters coming down the river were staring at her, as if she had ruined their nice, peaceful, pristine trip down the river. The fish was a big Brook Trout, kind of a cool fish to catch, rare in these waters. Google it.

We got some cool photos of Alex downing this weird green soda we got from the Mexican Bus resturaunt. He loved this drink.

This is the Taco Bus. It is the most authentic mexican resturaunt we've ever been to, and it's located in Montana. Go figure. It's run by a mexican family, and the food is great. I have a theory, that they were comming up from Mexico, on their way to Canada (for reasons unknown SB1070) and this is just where they happened to break down. Either way, I'll bet this little town is grateful to have this wonderful local resturaunt.

This was the camp site, along the Madison River in the Madison River Valley of Montana. Population...ZERO.

So far, my favorite of JJ's fishing outfits. At this point she was like, "who the heck cares what I'm supposed to wear, this is what I am going to wear." Sooooo...here we have JJ sporting the wonder blanca de bustos dress from the spring line accompanied by a lovely pink top garunteed to scare away any fish, our beautify visor to keep the harmful rays off the high cheek bones, and the wonderfully sheek rubber boots that seems to shout, "hey, I'll step where ever I want." Any of the lovely ladies this summer would be hard pressed to miss out on this ensemble, so act fast, product is moving quickly. Note: Pole and tackle bag sold seperately.

The master, with fish on...

JJ and I at our favorite little river in southern Montana. This is the same little river we fell in. We left for AZ the next day.

The last catch of the trip, a nice rainbow caught under the bridge.

On our way home, we came across this sign near Orderville Utah. JJ, being the ever enthusiastic dessert person, we had to go in and get one. The sign says, "Home of the Ho-Made pies." The best pies in the world!!!... ... ...NOT!