The project....

I decided to make Chase a quilt for Christmas. This is crazy for a couple reasons. I don't quilt. I still have a box full of fabric that my mom bought me back in high school to make my FIRST quilt. The fabric is still in the box with only a few pieces cut up. I also couldn't find a pattern for a motorcycle quilt. If you have spent any time around Chase, you know that "Cycles" are his thing. He loves them: riding them, hearing them, watching them on the T.V.

So.... I designed a pattern from a picture, watched a youtube video on how to applique, and I'm off. Hopefully it turns out like I have pictured in my head...


The good news is that I think Chase will like it no matter what. I made up a practice square to see how it would turn out and he has been carrying that around for 3 days saying that it's "Chase's cycle".

Fess you Mama!

I love the stage that Chase is at now. Minus the occasional tantrums and craziness, it's just fun! He gets more and more of a personality every day and learns at least one new word a day (if not ten!).

Chase and I were walking through Joanne fabrics yesterday and I sneezed. Chase immediately stated "Fess you Mama! (Bless you Mama!)" so I thanked him and continued walking when he repeated "Fess you mama!". "Thank you Chase", I again replied. This continued all the way to the checkout line and by the time we got there the checker was just laughing almost in tears. When we got up to her she went on about how cute he was.

It occurred to me that he might not always be so courteous and he won't always pronounce bless as fess, and won't always talk with such excitement in his voice. It made me appreciate the moment a little more.

I can't wait to show you the new project I've come up with that led me to Joannes in the first place. My moms going to laugh..... after she slowly shakes her head in disbelief.

Family pictures

We took advantage of an opportunity we had to get family pictures taken by a photography I admire. (yeah, the one that jipped me out of a spot in the workshop, but he still takes nice pictures.) After a month of anxiously waiting, we finally got to see the results. Daniel and I were both a little hesitant when he wanted to take pictures of us separately, but even those turned out kinda nice.

By the way, I am purposefully withholding my very favorites so our Christmas card isn't ruined, and these are only a handful out of the 60 we got back.

If you missed our big announcement- you may want to scroll down to the next post. For those who were wondering- my due date is April 29th.


I got tired of documenting our Boston trip and I'm sure you got tired of reading it so here are just the last few pictures from our trip.

After the second unsuccessful Whale watching tour (again 5 foot waves and a lady broke her knee), we had a couple spare hours before we had to be to the airport. Since we hadn't planned on this time we had already done all the things in downtown Boston that we wanted so we headed back to Boston Gardens to relax.




This was a neat little monument the had set up for the War on Iraq. These dog tags represent those fighting for us over there.
This is THE Old North Church- yes you heard me right. The Old North Church where the lanterns were hung to signal the route of the British troupes. Remember: One by land, two by sea. Pretty neat sight to see and actually go inside.
This building marks the area of the Boston Massacre.

This is the USS Constitution or "Old Iron Sides". The oldest war ship still afloat. It's not a revolutionary war ship, but comes from the time period shortly after that. If history interests you, look up the USS Constitution. It has some amazing stories with it.

Battle of Bunker hill monument- which is actually located on Breed's Hill. Refresh your history books if you care to know why.


I forced Daniel into one very important promise before we got married. It was pretty much: make the promise or take the ring back off my finger so he promised :). He promised to take me to every temple in the United States and as many outside the country as we can. That way I get my dream of traveling and get to see all the temples. We didn't get to go in the Boston temple and I didn't get a chance to see it in the daylight, but here it is all light up in the middle of the night.


I saved this picture because it is very indicative of how we felt at the end of this trip. It was a blast, we finally got a chance to be alone again after 2 years of taking Chase everywhere, and I would do it again in a heartbeat- but it was LONG, it was extremely tiring, and we were WORN OUT!! (Not to mention this was shortly after the failed whale watching).

Meet the newest addition to our family.

Our little blob. We couldn't be happier.

There were some concerns at the beginning of the pregnancy so this ultrasound was taken at 7 weeks, and we are now at about 12.5 weeks. We have seen and heard the heartbeat on two occasions and everything is going great so far. I feel about as good as early pregnancy allows. Phenegran and Zofran have been my greatest friends over the past couple months.

There's a tiger running through our woods...

but don't be alarmed. He's about as cute as they come in the way of tigers.



We went up into the mountains yesterday and took pictures of Chase's Halloween costume. I wasn't expecting much since last year he sat and screamed in his costume the whole time I made him wear it, but this year went better. If only he would look at my camera once in a while.

He certainly was in no mood to be posed, but gave me a good cheeser once in a while.



But mostly just roamed around while I tried to jump in front of him screaming to try and get his attention.

There is always time to stop and play with daddy.


oohh look a tiger sneeze!

And if your lucky enough there is time for some tiger cuddles,

and kisses.

Day 6

Friday-

From the time I started planning the trip and looking up what there was to do in Boston, I had been the most excited for this day. That's because we planned a whale watching tour. We were going to go out on the open ocean and find whales. I figured it's pretty much a guarantee to see one, because they give you a voucher for free tickets if you don't get to see one.

This is obviously not my picture, but here you can get an idea of how the boat looked.


We loaded on the boat and took our seats at the head of the boat where we could see the most and feel the waves the most. Much to our dismay, there were about 3 school groups taking a tour that day and so the kids flocked to the railing at the front of the boat right in front of where we were sitting. It took about 15 minutes after leaving the dock to realize how FREEZING we were going to be sitting there in the wind, so we moved inside until we got to where the whales were. It was nice inside because all kids had set their stuff down and gone back outside so we were pretty much alone.

Once we left the harbor we were hitting HUGE waves. They warned us before we got on the boat that we would hit 4-5 foot waves and if you get sick to take precautions. They weren't kidding. Our boat was literally going up 4-5 feet and coming back down and back up. I have had no experience out on the open ocean, but this was crazy. The kids on the front of the boat were flying into the air. Literally. In fact Daniel and I were flying into the air and we were seated. They decided that the waves were too bad to keep going so they made everyone take a seat and they turned the boat around.

We were now sitting next to 60 disappointed 12 year olds. I think our heads were hurting more than our stomachs at that point. Daniel and I realized why we don't teach elementary school. Kids are LOUD!! Unfortunately the wanted everyone seated so we were pretty much stuck for the hour ride back and worse, we faced the same disappointment as the kids.

That is until they stopped the boat and let us come outside for a minute. The captain had spotted a shark. A SHARK?!?!?
It was really eerie how it stayed right next to our boat watching us as we watched it. Slowly moving in closer.

And closer....


No wait. That's not a shark- it's a sunfish. A Mola Mola- whatever you want to call it. But we were so lucky to have seen one. The captain had NEVER seen a sunfish up so close so this was WAY cooler than seeing a whale. (Can you sense my sarcasm??) Well we took our turn looking at the sunfish and stepped away so others could have a turn. Daniel and I were standing on the other side of the boat when a Seal popped out of the water. For me, seeing the seal was WAY cooler than the sunfish, but the captain and tour guide hardly even acknowledged the seal, so we had the view of him to ourselves. He popped up and down playing peek-a-boo with us so fast that I couldn't even get a picture.

The good news was that we would receive vouchers for a free tour, and we could POSSIBLY figure out a way to work it in the next morning.


I can't say I was totally disappointed about turning around. After seeing people in all corners of the boat throwing up, and the 4-5 foot waves rocking us, I can't say my stomach felt all that great.