Vision and Parties

Graduation celebrations began early (six months almost to the day!) with Tyler going under the knife, or to be more accurate the laser, and getting Lasik. We have always talked about how much we both want to do this, but it was actually made possible by Tyler's amazing mother with a generous graduation gift. There was a good end of year deal going, so we figured this was the perfect time to say goodbye to glasses. I spent the weeks before being nauseatingly nervous for Tyler, while he had nothing but total excitement for the whole affair. That is, right up until the night before when the nerves kicked in.

On the way to the eye center.

The whole experience was really incredible. I was able to stand outside of the glass surgery room and watch the whole thing on a screen. The procedure only took a couple of minutes. I think it was more traumatizing to be standing on the outside watching a giant screen of his eyeball being worked on. It was pretty amazing, and he walked out of the room totally able to see. It really feels like a miracle. Tyler could not be more thrilled. A few days later and I still catch him with a huge grin on his face and when I ask him what he is smiling about he says something along the lines of "Oh, I can just read that street sign," or "I was just getting into bed and trying to pull my glasses off before I remembered that I don't have them anymore." Lucky guy.

Moments before the procedure. You can actually tell he is nervous here. And here is the after shot. My work holiday party was the same evening as his Lasik, so he played body guard and sported his fancy new Ray Bans indoors. I thought it was a good look.

I am really glad we were able to go to my work party this year. It is always fun to have an excuse to get dressed up and go to a party. The food, entertainment and people were all excellent and really got me in the Christmas spirit. Plus, I was loving Ty's new look. And just for posterity's sake, these are the super hot goggles Ty has to wear to bed for a week. We had a weekend full of parties. Saturday night we went to my bosses house for his annual holiday party. He has the most beautiful home, and we always feel special to be included in his personal party. Afterwards we met up with the Smiths at Cool Moon for some amazing ice cream to pay up on a lost bet. We stopped at the big Christmas tree on Jamison Square for a photo shoot on our way home. We are so lucky to have so many amazing friends. It is always a treat to spend time with Stevenson and Marissa. I have been thinking a lot about life after dental school lately and I am excited to be done with school in about every possible way. The only downside will be leaving this city that we have fallen madly in love with and having all of our friends go in different directions. It will be a very bittersweet time in our lives. Our friends have made this experience nothing but positive. We have grown and learned so much from all of them. And just another of me at 26 weeks and counting. I cannot wait to head home and spend a week with my family and friends. I love this time of year and have felt especially grateful this year for my blessings. Namely, my amazing husband that I love more every day. I didn't know it was possible, but somehow I truly do. Also, my fantastic family. I cannot wait to be home with them. My family goes above and beyond at this time of year and I can't imagine Christmas without them. And my wonderful friends, as mentioned above. And especially this little girl that is growing stronger every day. She has already blessed our lives and made us grow together. We cannot wait to meet her. I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, my heart is full and I am grateful for all I have.

A quote on love

I saw this on a blog today and it spoke to me.

"Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being "in love" which any of us can convince ourselves we are.

Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two."

Louis De Bernieres

Thanksgiving

We had the most amazing Thanksgiving break. This was the first time in our five plus years of marriage where we stayed home for the whole holiday and did pretty much nothing. It was fabulous. We spent the five days off relaxing with each other, setting up our Christmas decorations and spending time with friends. It was a much needed rest for both Ty and I. We had Thanksgiving dinner with our good friends the Jacksons. It was low key and the food was amazing. We loved it.

We got our black Friday shopping on for the first and probably last time this year. The mall was a nightmare at midnight, mostly because it was overrun with high school students just looking for something to do. The one item we were there for did not pan out so to keep it from being a total waste of time we did manage to get some candles from Bath and Body Works. Worth it? Not even close. We went home and crashed and then I got up again at 4:30 in the morning (WHAT!?!) to go buy a glider at Babies R Us. I hate that store at my best, so at 5:00 AM with a bunch of crazy shoppers I was not a happy camper. I thought for sure no one else

would be there besides me. I am clearly new to this Black Friday business - because it was packed with pregnant mothers, which is a scary thing. But I did manage to get one of the few gliders that were on super sale, so at least it was a success. I was back in bed by 5:30 and slept until almost 11:00. No more Black Friday for me.

It only took Tyler and I about 2 1/2 hours to set this bad boy up. The directions had no words. Pictures only.

I wanted to throw the thing into the fire by the end, but luckily no one was injured and we now have a gigantic rocker. Maybe not my favorite color, but the price highly recommended it.

I also go my craft on with Danielle and Katie. We made ornament wreaths which turned out surprisingly cute in my opinion. I am always proud when I can pull off crafting on any level.

And for the few family members that care, a picture of my ever growing stomach.

This is at 23 weeks.

And just to make this the longest and most random post here are some pictures from the weekend before Thanksgiving. We finally had our much anticipated girls weekend. We had talked about doing this forever and since there will be too many new babies in the spring we had our little "graduation" party early. It was a fabulous night out. I feel so lucky to have such amazing friends. They have made these dental school years so much fun. I don't know what I will do without every single one of them. I try not to think about that yet.

Tyler also played in about 8 hours of Turkey Bowls. He loved every second of it. His class has been playing flag football every weekend in the fall since school began. It was a bitter sweet moment when they completed their final Turkey Bowl. With no real surprise, they won first place.

Tyler's class:

And that sums up the last few weeks. I cannot believe November is already over. I feel like Halloween was yesterday, which means that Christmas will be here in no time. I cannot wait.

Expanding

So the time has come to announce our big news to the world. After years of just Tyler and I we were finally ready to try out this whole baby thing. We will be having a little girl this coming March! Surprised? Most everyone that we have told has been shocked - which has made the telling lots of fun. We could not be more excited. This pregnancy has been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs but the ups have far outweighed the downs and I plan to continue on that path. We are beyond thrilled that we are going to be getting a beautiful little girl (with lots and lots of hair...right?). We are ready and excited to be parents and to figure this new adventure out together.

Me at 18ish weeks

The first 20 weeks of this pregnancy flew by in a blur. Now that we have begun planning and prepping and getting really excited time has already slowed dramatically down. I have a feeling we will not be so lucky with the speed thing on the last 20 weeks. But we are trying to enjoy every moment of this whole experience. It has already been an amazing, strengthening, bonding and empowering experience and I am sure it will only get better.

Me at 20 weeks and getting bigger by the day!

We have a long way to go still, but half way is feeling pretty good at this point.

The Best Monday

Last Monday I woke up not feeling well. The alarm when off, I sat up, decided work was not going to make it onto the docket, rolled over and went right back to sleep. Luckily Tyler had no patients scheduled and agreed that there is no better day to blow off than a Monday. We slept until 11:00. I have not done that since high school. I felt much better after my 13 hours of sleep, so we decided to make the most of our day avoiding responsibility. We loaded up our hiking gear, stopped for an awesome lunch at Skyline Drive In for some highly healthy burgers and onion rings and then took at 2 plus hour drive in search of fall colors. We ended up at a beautiful hike near Mt. Hood on the Hood River side. There was not one other human being. We did not pass one person on the road or on the entire hike. It was amazing. We got so lucky and had one of those fall days that are total perfection. Crisp weather, crystal clear blue sky and gorgeous fall leaves.The hike was awesome and mellow and perfect for our lazy day. That is right until the end where it was straight up. But it was worth it since the view was amazing and we could see all 5 volcanoes in the area super well. We are super hard core. Obviously.It is hard to tell but this is Mts. Rainier, St. Helens and Adams all in a row. Very awesome to get a day when you can see them all.We took our time driving home enjoying the fall colors. I wish that fall lasted longer because it just does my soul good. We had an amazing day. I wish all Mondays could be so perfect. To finish off all 8 hour trek we stopped at the same place we had lunch and got a big peanut butter chocolate shake - which was pretty much heaven. We wouldn't want to get fit with all of our hiking, so we figured a thick shake should do the trick. Happy Fall!

Mt. Rainier

We managed to squeeze in one final camping trip in at the end of September before the weather got too rainy again and Tyler had to be back at school. We have wanted to visit Mt. Rainier since we got to Portland, so we are happy we finally got there. It vastly exceeded our expectations, and we were just sad we only had one night there. The National Park was immaculate. We forgot how awesome National Parks are. We plan to head back with our snowshoes ASAP.
This was one of my favorite hikes we have done in a very long time. While it was pretty steep for my liking, it was absolutely gorgeous with so many scenery changes in only a few miles. We had snow, green fields, wild flowers galore, and rocky volcanic areas.Getting ready to go UP. Fast.We made it to the top where the view was amazing, but it was FREEZING cold.We went crazy over the wild flowers. We took about 10,000 pictures of them. It was by far the most beautiful hike with wild flowers I have ever seen. They were everywhere and made the whole hike smell incredible. We were in awe the whole time.
We love camping and the time it allows us to just sit and talk late into the night. It is so relaxing and revitalizing. It thought about raining on us, but luckily waited until the middle of the night to really get going. Sadly, the rain cut our trip a bit short so instead of hiking on our second day we just visited some cool little pull offs before heading home.
We walked down to one of the washes surrounding the mountain. While very different than the greenery from our hike the day before, it was beautiful in its own way as well. We saw some beautiful waterfalls just off the road.We walked around a few of the many lakes at the base of Rainier. The mosquitoes were awful, so we didn't spend as much time near the water as we wanted to.
We took a little 1/2 mile hike through the Grove of the Patriarchs (or something along those lines) where we saw some pretty serious cedar trees. The smell of the forest during the rain is about the best thing ever. Especially when the trees are cedar. We had a fabulous weekend. Our break could not have gone better. If you ever have a chance to get to Mt. Rainier, we highly recommend you go. It was fantastic.

It was hot in the Caribbean

It is crazy how fast this summer flew by and how much we did. I have pretty much given up on blogging these days, so I am really putting forth some effort to get these posts up. Because really, our summer was fabulous.

We went on an amazing cruise to Mexico, Belize and Honduras. It was so much fun and I loved spending time with my family more than anything. I have more fun with them than anyone else, so really it could not have been a better week. Even my seasickness cooperated with me and I held it together better than ever. Woot!

Our ship was decently large...err...ridiculously large.

We definitely ate more than 3 meals a day, but truthfully the food was meh. I am grateful I discovered the Indian food bar where I was able to eat all the naan and masala I could get my hands on.

Sadly I still don't have many photos from this trip. A took all of them and I have not gotten them from her yet. So this is just a small sampling of what we did. Tyler went zip-lining with my family in Belize through the rain forest. I stayed with A and helped her watch over C.

We also dressed up for the very fancy-smancy Captain Gala. It is a VERY classy event. Where grown ups pull out their old and undersized prom dresses. People watching at its finest.

There were also some very nice vignettes available at every turn to get your family photo taken by an amateur waiter/photographer. We opted to head out to the deck for our own little photo shoot. Please note Tyler's super hot turquoise Miami Dolphins tie. He took dressing "classy" to a whole new level. He was also wearing white tennis shoes and a brown belt with that black shirt. HOT. I know. My man has STYLE.

I do not get to spend enough time with my siblings. They are my favorite people and my best friends. One solid week with them was much needed.

Our final stop was in Costa Maya, Mexico. We visited some Mayan Ruins. They were incredible.

C baby was such a good little traveler. A might disagree, but I loved having C there to play with all week.

I don't have any pictures yet from Honduras. And had it not been so disgustingly humid I might have wanted to stay there forever. So if you are not bored yet, for a more detailed look at the cruise you can click one of the links below.

Click here to learn about the Honduras Photoshoot of Death or here for more details and better pictures from the whole trip.