2 posts in 1 day!

Wow, 2008 was a great year. We accomplished a lot of our goals: paid off the credit card (and we are one month away from paying off my student loans!), got pregnant (wahoo!), and focused on our relationship growing and thriving. Brian was transferred to a different center which is unfortunate due to the increased commute, but he still has a job and loves learning new things. My job and work environment became so much more pleasant and I am incredibly grateful for that, otherwise I'm not sure I would have survived.
Obviously, the most exciting event in 2008 was getting pregnant and finding out we're having a healthy baby girl. We are thrilled beyond words and can't wait to meet our little one, only 8 weeks until my due date! 2009 represents the year our little family grows by 2 feet.

Here is 2008 is review:

1. What did you do in 2008 that you’d never done before?

Got pregnant

2. Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?

I'm not really into making new year's resolutions so I didn't have any. Unless you consider paying off the credit card a new year's resolution. Next year: be a good mom.

3. Did anyone close to you give birth?

My friend Brandi-to her adorable son, Austin.

My friend Tiff-to her precious little girl, Maggie.

My friend Shauna-to her angel baby girl, Aria.

4. Did anyone close to you die?

My grandmother-she passed away in April and although I miss her terribly, I am happy she is with my grandpa again. I also like to think she helped send little Bria to Brian and I.

5. What countries did you visit?

None.

6. What would you like to have in 2009 that you lacked in 2008?

A baby, lol. Patience (I think Bria will probably help me with that).

7. What dates from 2008 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?

June 20th-Found out we were pregnant!

October 2nd-Found out we were having a healthy baby girl!

8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Getting pregnant, that was hard work :) Also, surviving my job and Brian's crazy peak season.

9. What was your biggest failure?

Not staying active during my pregnancy.

10. Did you suffer illness or injury?

Does the food poisoning episode count?

11. What was the best thing you bought?

We love our Murano-although we hate the car payment.

12. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Brian's, he works so hard and never complains (I complain though!).

Lance's, he joined the Navy Reserves and I'm so proud of him.

Sara's, she joined the Army and is so brave.

13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

The mean co-worker of mine.

14. Where did most of your money go?

Towards debt and our mortgage.

15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Getting pregnant! Also the election, so happy Obama won.

16. What song will always remind you of 2008?

"I want a Hippopotamus For Christmas" for some reason I absolutely love that song.

17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier
b) thinner or fatter? Fatter, no question
c) richer or poorer? Richer (that is soon to change though!)

18. What do you wish you’d done more of?

Exercise

19. What do you wish you’d done less of?

Worry

20. How did you spend Christmas?

With our families.

21. Did you fall in love in 2008?

Yes, with my little one growing inside me :)

22. What was your favorite TV program?

The Office, Amazing Race, and Survivor

23. Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?

Nah

24. What was the best book you read?

The whole Twilight series, duh!

25. What was your greatest musical discovery?

I don't have one.

26. What did you want and get?

Impregnated.

27. What did you want and not get?

A good tan this summer.

28. What was your favorite film of this year?

Twilight

29. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?

I woke up to a beautifully wrapped box and inside were adorable shoes from my sweet husband. I believe we went out for ice cream that night. We had just gotten back from Shasta so we laid low-plus I was pregnant so no boozing ;)

30. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

Paying off ALL our debt, that is my favorite day dream.

31. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2008?

Simple.

32. What kept you sane?

Brian-he's definitely my rock. Also getting pregnant and knowing there is a light at the end of the tunnel (SAHM).

33. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Robert Pattinson

34. What political issue stirred you the most?

Just the election in general, those who spout off facts they hear on the internet but don't bother to research the actual truth. All the judgment was hard to listen to, can't we all just get along?

35. Who did you miss?

Brandi, I would've loved to have her here through the pregnancy and just in general. Plus I miss little Austin.

36. Who was the best new person you met?

All my fellow TTC girls, who says you can't have great friends on the internet?

37. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2008.

It helps to sing your argument when you are fighting with your spouse, this alleviates your anger, makes you laugh, and you can talk rationally. This was Brian's idea by the way, he's a genius.

38. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year.

Life's a dance you learn as you go
Sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow
Don't worry about what you don't know
Life's a dance you learn as you go

Happy New Year everyone!

Christmas 2008

Our last Christmas just the two of us (3 including little MJ), next year is going to be so different and so fun with little Bria here.
We had a good Christmas this year, although Brian working up north all week was a bit of a drag. He didn't get home until around 9 pm Christmas Eve and that was a big bummer. While he was up working hard to deliver people their Christmas presents, I was enjoying a church service with his family. Usually we go to the 11 pm service but this year we went to the 5 pm service and we all really enjoyed it, partly because we were more awake ;) Afterwards I spent some time chatting with them as they prepared dinner, before I left I opened some presents and oh boy did little Bria get spoiled, her Aunt Heather is filling her closet and I couldn't be more excited! She is good about getting a variety of sizes which is awesome. Aunt Sara got her an adorable Beaver onesie and we definitely can't get too much Beaver gear for her!
I headed to my mom's house to spend time with the kiddos before they went home to bed to wait anxiously for Santa to visit. Brian joined me there and I was thrilled to death to see him, you'd think it had been weeks the way I hugged him. I was just happy to have him there, it had been an emotional week to say the least. It was of course so much fun spending time with the family and going over our highlights/lowlights and goals for the new year. That's always my favorite part-it's fun to see what we put the previous year and to hear everyone else give their updates. We opened gifts and chatted until we were all yawning and decided it was time to call it a night.
Thursday morning we headed to my Dad's for presents, breakfast, and games. The girls had a blast opening up all their presents and did not protest to us taking pictures of them with each of their presents, so funny. We enjoyed a delicious breakfast and then played some Wii games. We got my Dad and Anna a new Wii game-tennis, which proved to be frustrating for me who had only ever played Wii sports. But after I gained a little more patience I realized I actually may like this game better as it's more realistic than the Wii sports. Either way we had a blast and in the end it came down to Lance and Brian-Brian put up a fight but Lance was victorious in the end.
Then we headed up north to Brian's Dad's house for yet another delicious meal and family time.
Once we arrived home that evening I realized the Holidays were over and couldn't believe how fast they went by.
I do have pictures but I've been too lazy to upload them, I seriously have not gotten on my computer at home in over a week! Spending all day on the computer at work makes me despise them so I don't like to sit in front of one when I get home. I'll try and muster up some motivation tonight-we'll see.

Brian has been up north this week again as they are still behind from the storm. Usually today is not a full operating day but this year it is since they want to get caught up. So it's just been MJ and I in the house, very quiet. I have taken her for walks which I know she enjoys and it's helped me feel a little better.

Tomorrow marks the first day in the year 2009, the year of Bria! Well, that's what Brian and I are calling it anyway :)

Pretty Snow

Look how pretty it is at my work:


Someone took a picture of our building last night, I love how snow makes everything gorgeous.

Today's Plan:
Try and accomplish something at work even though my mind is already on vacation.

Christmas Eve Eve Eve

Christmas is just 3 days away and I am looking forward to spending time with family. This peak season (as it is referred to in the UPS world) started out pretty darn good, I should have known it was the calm before the storm.

With the weather in the Portland area worsening, they fell quite far behind and required the help of other supervisors-Brian being one of them. Friday he drove the 2 hours up there in the horrible conditions, delivered up in the hills until he broke down. The tow truck that came to get him was sliding down the hill and had a heck of a time getting out. Needless to say he didn't get home until 12:30 am that night after he had left at 5 am that morning. Over the weekend conditions up in Portland worsened and they are requiring chains-they still wanted Brian to come up this week. Can they do that? I cannot tell you how mad I was yesterday, it just feels like they are not concerned with the safety of their employees. But I tried really hard to turn the whole crappy situation around and be thankful that he has a job, especially in this economy. So as much as I would like to complain and continue crying, I need to stop and be grateful that Brian has a job, UPS is a good company, and it allows me to be able to stay at home once Bria arrives. I am incredibly thankful for his job and UPS is a good company, I'm just a little frustrated right now, I'm sad I can't spend time with him and more importantly I'm scared to death of Brian being in the horrible Portland conditions-driving. So he's up there today and again tomorrow-staying the night of course. I'm praying he'll be able to come home tomorrow night, otherwise it won't be until late Christmas Eve- and with my pregnancy hormones that may just send me over the edge.

Anyway, on to a more positive note, we finished our Christmas shopping yesterday before Brian had to leave. It feels good to get it all done. The snow stopped this weekend (for our city) and it rained all weekend long, there is now no trace that snow was ever here. Crazy how fast that happened, and how different it is in Portland. Actually, the city I work in is covered in snow, but not us. I wouldn't mind a little snow for Christmas, but definitely don't want what Portland is getting.

Saturday I went to my mom's for our annual baking day :) I absolutely love these days. We made muddy buddies, rice krispy treats, and lots of sugar cookies. The kids had a blast decorating the cookies. Ok, I did too. Jaime and I went crazy with the frosting this year, we made a lime green, a purple, a turquoise, and a red (pink). The cookies were pretty fun (wouldn't you know I took my camera but didn't take any pictures?) and full of color. Jenny was with Kyle's family so she wasn't able to come, hopefully next year we can plan a day that we can all be there.
Later that night we went to our 2 Christmas parties and both were a lot of fun and had lots of good food.

Alright, I better go, I need to work on getting in the Christmas spirit :)

We've got snow people

I am very excited that we have snow-it arrived yesterday evening and kept coming down all night. Brian and I went for a little walk with MJ last night to take advantage of the pretty white dust, holy cow was it cold outside. Brian is rarely cold, in fact, I can probably count the number of times he's been cold on one hand. So last night when he started speed walking home-leaving his 7 month pregnant wife trailing, I knew he was freezing. When he got home and realized I wasn't with him he sent MJ out to look for me since he was too cold. Ok, that didn't really happen, but needless to say he was cold. It was actually a nice walk though and when we got home we plopped on the couch with some hot chocolate, the fire going, and Survivor-it was a perfect Sunday evening.

Both of our commutes this morning were slow going-but fortunately we made it safely. However, it's suppose to be sunny today (high of 30) and then get down to 15 tonight, I'm not a 100% sure I want to risk it out there, especially since I ride in a vanpool and I'm putting my life in the driver's hands...and my daughter's. We'll see how it is tomorrow morning. I just hope it doesn't all melt by next week, I'd really like a white Christmas :)

Speaking of Christmas, I can't believe it's a week and a half away, I'm so excited! This Saturday my mom and sister's and I are doing our baking day. Every year we get together to bake Christmas goodies and I always enjoy these days, and not just because of the good food ;) It's so fun getting together with them and talking for hours on end, which we can do quite easily. I will be making muddy buddies as they are my absolute favorite. Some people call them reindeer poop-it's the chocolate and peanut butter covered Chex-to die for.
Saturday evening we have 2 Christmas parties: Mom R. (Brian's mom) is having her annual Christmas party and Tiff and Eric are having the annual friend one. We are going to make it to both, just trying to decided which order to go in. Hopefully the weather allows for safe traveling!

Lance arrived safely! We had a little family dinner party for him and it was a lot of fun. Thanks to Jenny (and the Tegner family!) the house was perfectly decorated in red, white, and blue, we had face tattoos, and Navy hats. It was very festive and we were just so glad to have him home.

Here he is showing his big guns off:

It sounds like he had some great adventures and it was fun to hear him talk about it all, he's definitely grown up, although he'll still always be my "little" brother.

That's pretty much it on the Holcomb front, we're just plugging along, enjoying the Holidays, and thinking about how different next Christmas will be when little Bria is here with us-so excited!

Christmas Tree

It's Christmas time, yay! I am thrilled to pieces that the Holidays are here and in full swing. We decorated the inside of the house and our tree this week, I like how everything turned out.

Brian wouldn't let me capture a picture of him and the tree since he was still in his UPS uniform.



I love our stockings. Jenny and Kyle got those for us for Christmas one year and they are just gorgeous, I'll have to order another one for Bria :)
This year I took off Christmas Eve and the day after Christmas off so I'll have a 5-day weekend which will be wonderful. Usually I don't bother taking time off since Brian can't, but I know I'll enjoy having extra time to relax and get stuff ready for Bria's arrival. And it'll allow me to help with Christmas Eve dinner and not be so rushed. Plus, I had to work the day after Thanksgiving so I deserve this :)

Brian finished up his class on Sunday, thank goodness. Now he has a few weeks off which is perfect since it's starting to get busy at work for him.

So I haven't seen Lance yet since he came in last night at midnight, but I get to see him as soon as I get off work and I'm so excited to give him a big hug. I guess this means he'll want his Office DVD's back, dang. ;)

Tomorrow is my baby shower and I'm really excited for it. It's at 12:30 so it's brunch style and I think it'll be a lot of fun. Tiff is doing all the games and Sara is doing the food so everything is going to be awesome.
Tomorrow night we are going to a work Christmas party for Brian and I know he is really looking forward to it. I am too, I just know I'll be exhausted. But it's not the Holidays without lots of parties and being tired right?

I think that is all the updates for us right now, have a wonderful weekend.

Temporarily in mourning

I can't go in details, but the Beavers lost the big Civil War game on Saturday- Brian and I are still in mourning over the horrible and tragic loss, ugh.

Anyway, here is what has been going on in our world:

• Thanksgiving day was nice and relaxing-the food was unbelievable, so delicious
• Friday night Thanksgiving was also incredibly scrumptious and we had a wonderful time talking and taking pictures of MJ
• Brian finished his final yesterday! Now he has a few weeks off before winter term starts, yay :)
• We got our Christmas tree yesterday- I'll decorate it tonight
• Brian helped me decorate the house in Christmas stuff yesterday
• While Brian worked on his final at the dining room table, I played Christmas music and baked banana muffins-it was a nice evening

Lance is coming home on Friday! I cannot wait to see him, it's going to be so nice to have him home.

Alright, that's all I can muster up for now, I'm going to go cry about the Beavers some more.

Thankful

Thanksgiving is tomorrow, wahoo! I'm looking forward to a day off work and more importantly time spent with the family.

What I'm thankful for:
Brian
Bria
Our family and friends
Healthy pregnancy & fetus :)
Our health and our loved ones' health
MJ
Our safety and our loved ones' safety
Our financial stability
Our jobs
Our home

The little things I am thankful for:
Pillow talk with Brian
Rubbing my growing belly
Feeling Bria squirm and kick
Sleeping in on the weekends
Taking naps
Reading
Walks with MJ


What are you thankful for?


My favorite foods at Thanksgiving:
Sweet potatoes with extra marshmallows
Mashed potatoes
Berry pie/cobbler
Cheese and crackers (as an appetizer)
Bread

I think I could just eat those things and be completely satisfied :) Maybe add a bowl of cereal. I'm a nut, I know.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.

Loved it

Twilight was...amazing. I loved the actors and thought they did a great job of including as many details as they could (there were a few I thought should've been included but that's ok, that may just be me). I just loved it and am so looking forward to the rest of the movies. My sisters and mom and I are already working out a time to go see Twilight again, it's that good.

After the movie we went and got Mexican food which was great because Brian doesn't like Mexican food anymore and I've seriously missed it. We had a great time talking about the movie of course and then anything else we could think of, it was a wonderful girls night :)

Saturday I did about 13 load of laundry. Not really, but I did quite a few loads, it felt good to get it done on Saturday so I didn't have to worry about it come Sunday. After that Brian and I went and got our facials. For Christmas last year Brian got me couples facials at a wonderful spa here in town, we finally decided we need to go and get them and I am glad we did, they were wonderful. Plus our faces looked great afterwards, too bad I can't afford to do that monthly, that would be awesome.

Anyway, after that we watched the Beavers beat U of A which means we are 1 win away from the Rose Bowl!!! I can smell the roses baby.

So that is our weekend in a nutshell and I am looking forward to Thanksgiving this week. I'll be decorating the house in all our Christmas garb this weekend too. The Holidays are here!

Today is the DAY!!!!

Twilight the movie has finally arrived and I CANNOT WAIT to go see it today. I'll be amongst squealing teenagers but that's ok because I'll be squealing right along with them.

I'm coming Edward!!

More tailgating

So pretty much our Saturdays are spent tailgating or watching the Beaver game on tv, and I'm not complaining because we always have a good time. This last Saturday Jenny and Kyle had us all to their tailgator and we had a great time. My Dad and Anna had tickets to the game so they joined us, Craig was in town staying with us so he came as well, and of course Kyle's Dad Harold (his mom Cindy had to work :( ), and then some of Kyle's high school friends. We did omelet's in a bag, an idea we got from the Bauer's. You just put all your omelet fixings in a ziplock bag and then drop it in boiling water for 5-10 minutes, that's it! They turn out delicious and they are easy. Fortunately everyone else agreed and they were a hit. We of course had tons of hot chocolate, cinnamon rolls and hot dogs as well. It was so much fun and we couldn't have asked for better weather, especially in November. It was sunny and not too cold, and most importantly, the Beavers won!!

Craig, Kyle, and Brian

Representin' with our jerseys, go Sammie Stroughter!

All six of us in our Beaver gear:

After the tailgator Brian and I headed home to watch the game. It was nice because we were both pretty tired, so we were able to relax and even shut our eyes for a few minutes.

We were up late the previous night since we hosted the neighbor wine party at our house. It was a lot of fun and we had tons of good snack foods: lil' smokes, cheese & crackers, bread & vinegar, vegetables, fruit, and little sandwiches. The girls played Clue for awhile which was fun and then we all just ended up talking until about 12:30 am. Once everyone had left I had to clean up, I just couldn't leave it for morning since we were getting up early for the tailgator. Then Brian really wanted to go for a walk since it was foggy and a gorgeous evening. So at 1 am we went for a walk, I'm sure our neighbors thought we were crazy but it was really nice and I can't say no to Brian wanting to go for walk.

Sunday we went to church to watch Jaidyn and Kailey in their primary program and they were adorable. It was fun to see them up there and Jaime did an amazing job-she taught all the kids (60 total!) the 8 songs they did and some even had motions to go along with the chorus. All went very well and it was definitely a success.

Work is going well, Brian is starting to have longer days as we get closer to the Holidays. Fortunately his class ends the first week of December I believe so that will clear his schedule up a bit. He's still doing really well with his class and I enjoy him just taking 1 as I see him more often and can tell he's less stressed. We are thinking he'll be done Winter or Spring of 2010.
My work is fine, 3 months left!

A visitor

So last Wednesday MJ had her favorite visitor come stay with us, and boy was she thrilled. Chris (our previous back yard neighbor) came back for a business trip last week so on Wednesday Brian and I went to dinner with him. It was good to catch up and we enjoyed having him over, but I have to admit I think MJ was the most excited, not that we weren't happy to see you Chris! Chris let's MJ lick his hands and face and constantly pets her so she just loves him. It was adorable when he walked in the door because she started freaking out, I'm sure she was thinking, "Where the heck did you go? Ah, who cares, you're here. Now I will not stop licking you until my mommy pries me away."

"Let me clean your ear for you"

"I lub you"

"Can we keep him mom?"

Chris' next visit he will be bringing Brandi and Austin and I am so excited! It'll be after Bria is born so Austin and Bria will get to meet and we'll work out the details for the arranged marriage ;)

In other news, we are hosting our neighborhood wine party this Friday. There are a few couples in our neighborhood that get together once a month or every other month and drink wine while socializing. It is nice to get together with them and it's our turn to host. The theme is bring your favorite kind of wine :) I of course do not drink the wine, I just socialize and stuff my face with cheese and bread.

I'm looking forward to tomorrow because I don't have to work and I have a hair appointment. Double bonus. I'll probably do some grocery shopping after my appointment and then come home and organize/clean. But before all that I'll watch Regis and Kelly in my pj's while sipping hot chocolate and petting my dog, a perfect morning really.

11 days until Twilight comes out in theaters, OH MY GOSH!

Happy Birthday

My hunk of a man turns 32 today, Happy Birthday babe! And oddly enough, his twin sister Sara does too, Happy Birthday lil sis ;)

I can't even tell you how happy Brian has made me, we laugh so much together and that is wonderful because that's my favorite past time. And now we are about to embark on the journey of parenthood and I could not be more excited to see Brian as a father, I know he will be wonderful and Bria will have him wrapped around her finger in no time. He will portray confidence in all his fatherly duties.

One of my favorite places to be is tucked under his arm, I feel protected and safe, how could you not with his big guns?
Brian is always up to have some fun. I cringe when he tells me stories of all the daredevil things he did growing up, I will save those stories for later (I don't want to give his mom a heart attack on his birthday). The thought of, "Maybe I'll get hurt," doesn't even cross his mind. Then there is me and that is always the first thought that crosses my mind.
He is incredibly caring and generous. He loves to help out family and friends in need. He asks a million and one questions and I love that, he's just so curious about things. Because he asks questions he is also incredibly intelligent. When we watch Jeopardy at night (yes, we watch jeopardy every night) he amazes me with his knowledge, he's such a smarty pants.
I think what I love most about him is his affection. He's always rubbing my leg or back or arm to let me know he loves me. He gives me kisses and hugs everyday and I just eat it up. He gives MJ lots of love too and she definitely loves her Daddy, not sure what she's gonna do when he starts paying attention to Bria. Poor guy will have 3 girls in his life fighting for his attention! It's a rough life ;)

I love you more babe, Happy Birthday.

Halloween and Tailgating

It is picture overload today. I made sure to take lots of pictures this weekend since I've been such a slacker. Here is a low down of our weekend:
Friday morning I get a scary call that my Dad went to the ER Thursday night. He thought it was kidney stones but he ended up having his appendix taken out Friday afternoon and stayed in the hospital until Saturday, which he was not excited about. I told him he was stealing my thunder because we weren't suppose to go to the hospital until Bria was born ;) He is doing well now thank goodness.
So after I visited my Dad in the hospital on Friday night, Brian and I headed to Nate and Amy's house for Halloween fun. Nick and Mindy were there (Nate's brother and his girlfriend), Jeff and Katlin (we cheered with Jeff) and Amy's co-worker and husband and little boy. Plus 4 little dogs all dressed up for Halloween:

Do you know how hard it is to get a picture of 4 little dogs? MJ was a bumble bee, Porter was a pumpkin, Lilly was a lady bug, and Jack was a bat. They were all adorable.

We played Skip Bo, passed out candy, and talked. It was a lot of fun and it wore MJ out which was great :)

Saturday was Beaver game day and us not having tickets didn't stop us from going tailgating! It was the alumni game so our old cheer friends were there which was so fun, we got to see people we haven't seen in a long time. Plus, Brian was able to prove that he's still got it. Blogger decided to change how it uploads pictures on me so this is out of order, oh well.

Here are Brian and Nate tailgating

Shauna and I (she's the one that gave me a bunch of maternity clothes and baby clothes!)

Brian and I

Here is my big strong husband proving that he can still cheer. That is Shauna on top and she is really good.

(This is where it gets out of order) After Brian and I went tailgating we joined my Dad and Anna at their house and watched the game. We of course were all sporting our Beaver pride, here is little Abby:

And little Cassidy :)

Back to tailgating, Mindi and I in front of the Bauer's Beaver bus, it's awesome!

Here are the custom seats inside the bus

And of course what Beaver bus would be complete without a flat screen tv? We watched the Ducks (our rivals) lose before the Beaver game. We won :)

So as you can see we had a great weekend and I remembered my camera and the battery.

That's all for now, is it Friday yet?

One Word: AWESOME

Shopping on Saturday was a complete success, not only because we all got some great deals, but because we had an absolute blast. Well I guess I shouldn't speak for everyone, but I had such a good time. I left my house at 8 am and didn't get home until after 7 pm, I was one tired pregnant lady. But it was more than worth it. I loved spending time with my mom and sisters and Lanie, we had such a fun time talking and shopping and just hanging out. I got a few pairs of pants, some shirts, a sweater or two, and 2 pairs of shoes. 1 pair being the find of the century. All day we were looking for cute red flats and were not having much luck. But Nordstrom's came through for me and I was beyond thrilled. May I introduce to you the prettiest red shoe there ever was:

Sigh. I just love them, they are sooo comfortable which was numero uno priority for me. Plus they are just fantastic.
We were all beyond exhausted from the big shopping day, but we managed to stay awake on the drive home because we can't pass up an opportunity to talk :) I'm so grateful to my mom for taking me on the best shopping spree ever, I had an amazing time. And thanks to my sister's for taking the time out to help me pick out cute clothes. And one last thanks to Lanie for meeting us for lunch and then shopping with us afterwards, I think we wore her out in just 1 afternoon, we are tiring!

When I got home I showed Brian all my awesome purchases and then we frosted the cupcakes I had made for the pumpkin carving contest, sprinkled them with green sprinkles, and headed on our way. We were way late so we didn't carve our pumpkins or enter the contest, but we did socialize and eat which is just as fun. We went home and crashed that night, but not before Brian rubbed my feet which was awesome, they were killing me from all the walking.

Brian and I are both feeling better (we had the awful cold going around) so we've been going for lots of walks in the evening which I love, MJ does too. The weather is perfect right now so I want to take advantage of that. It may start raining on Friday, just in time for Halloween which is so typical of Oregon. Hopefully it holds off so the kiddos don't get soaked trick or treating. Although we are going to the Beaver game on Saturday so I don't want it to rain then either, and I'd like to spend time outside on Sunday so...really if it could just wait until after the Holidays that would be great.

Brian got his birthday present early, that's right, we are officially Mac owners. We borrowed the money from our credit card and will pay it off on Friday when I get paid. Why did we do that? Because Brian is impatient and we are going to be busy Saturday at the Beaver game. Lame excuses, but regardless, we have a working, functional computer and are thrilled. Brian had a lot of fun playing on it yesterday. He was able to do his homework a lot faster which is a huge plus. I think it'll take awhile to get use to, but we did ask the sales guy tons of questions so he helped orient us a little. Happy early birthday babe :)

Plans for this week include relaxing, relaxing, and relaxing. I'm looking forward to it.

Shopping Trip!

Saturday Plans
So my mom is taking me shopping tomorrow for maternity clothes and my wonderful, beautiful, sisters are able to join us and I am beyond thrilled. We also get to meet up with my cousin, Lanie, in Portland for lunch and hopefully she'll join us for more shopping afterwards :) I'm looking forward to girl time and hopefully getting some cute maternity outfits, my regular clothes just aren't cutting it.
While I'm off shopping Brian is so generously helping a co-worker scrap his popcorn ceilings, he loves doing that kind of stuff.
Tomorrow night is the annual Pumpkin Carving Contest at Tiff and Eric's and that's always a lot of fun. This is the 11th year I think of them doing it. Brian is going to do a snowman pumpkin and he's already started getting them ready-don't worry that is allowed, there really are no rules at the contest which is pretty nice. I think I'll just help Brian with his instead of doing my own and I'll be sure to take pictures and bring both my camera AND the battery :)

Halloween
I'm looking forward to Halloween, I even decorated the house up a bit to get in the spirit. We'll pass out candy for a little bit but then we are heading up to Salem to Nate and Amy's house. They are having a couples get together and we are to bring our dog all dressed up. We're going to put MJ's bumble bee costume on her that she wore last year, it still fits and looks adorable on her. Jenny and Kyle also got her this cute little shirt that says Trick or Treat so we'll bring that to put on her when she's tired of the bee costume :)
It will be fun to hang out with everyone since I feel like we don't see them very often.

My Weather Rant
The weather here as been unbelievably beautiful, just gorgeous. A little fog in the mornings to remind you it's fall, then blue sky, sunny, and in the low 60's. Great fall weather, I'm so thankful. Our summer took forever to come so I think now it's making up for that :)

The Taylor's
I realized since Chris and Brandi moved my posts don't contain pictures of my cute little man, probably because I'm so sad that I don't get to hold him and play with him :( But I do talk to Brandi still and she said things are going great in New York, Austin is growing like a weed of course, I couldn't believe it when she sent me these pictures, he is getting soooo big!




Hopefully Brandi and Chris don't mind me posting pictures of their little man, he's just too adorable not to share :) I am so glad they are doing well in New York, but man I miss them. I remember holding him and rubbing those tiny little feet, now look how big he's gotten, I can hardly believe it. It's a reminder that when Bria arrives she will also grow too fast for us, I think I'm starting to understand what parents mean when they always say, "They grow up so fast." Amazing that it took me until now to realize that simple phrase. I never claimed to be a rocket scientist.

Happy Friday everyone, I love the weekends!!

Weekend Fun!

So we had a great weekend and stayed pretty busy. Friday night we decided to go to Red Robin because we hadn't been out to dinner in awhile. On our way there Tiff calls me and says her, Eric, and little Maggie are on their way to Red Robin to eat and do we want to join them? I couldn't believe the coincidence and I said of course, we are on our way now!
We had a great time catching up with the Brown's and watching Maggie be adorable. Tiff kept saying how excited she is for us and how it'll be the best thing, I completely agree.
After dinner we went to our neighbor, Roxie's, birthday party and had a good time. The only other people we knew there were our neighbor's, Adi and Scott, so I was a little out of my comfort zone and wasn't able to have a glass of wine to relax, lol. But everyone was really nice and there was another pregnant girl there so we had lots in common to talk about. Brian had fun with the guys out in the garage playing games. Then karaoke came out and it was on. Even Brian joined the fun which was awesome, he was cracking everybody up, he's my class clown :) We had a great time and I'm glad I came out of my shell.

Saturday was Beaver game day! We spent time at the Bauer's tailgater which was of course a blast as always. This year though they have the Beaver bus, oh yeah. It's a short bus converted and personalized into a Beaver bus with custom seats and a flat screen TV, it doesn't get any better. Oh wait, yes it does. They also have a Beaver van that they transport all the food and stuff in while the people ride in the bus. So freakin' awesome. You may be asking, so where is a picture of these cool rides? Let me tell you a funny story:
I have been kicking myself for forgetting the camera when we go places so I made a mental note to NOT FORGET THE CAMERA. Did I forget the camera? Nope! I remembered and I was so proud. So when the moment was right I whipped the camera out for Amy to take a picture. I tried to turn it on before I handed it to her but I had gloves on so I thought she could turn it on. It wasn't working for her so Brian tried. What was wrong, why wasn't the camera turning on? Was it low on batteries? Nope, I just charged it....oh crap. The battery was sitting safely in the charger on the kitchen counter. Son of a gun. So every few minutes that whole day I would sigh and get made at myself for being so forgetful. Ugh, I was so mad. We snapped 2 quick ones with my phone but I didn't think the quality was very good so I didn't bother taking more. Although looking at them now they aren't half bad, just the lighting sucks.

Brian standing in line for the restroom

I love our matching jerseys :) My dad and Anna have the same ones!

We also spent time at the Tegner's tailgater which was really fun. Kyle's mom, Cindie, wasn't able to go to the game so she gave us her ticket! Then one of the Bauer's friends gave us hers as well so we were set, wahoo! We had so much fun at all the tailgaters and the game as well, plus we creamed WSU, 66-13.

Sunday we finished the stripes on the nursery so the painting is complete! Dad and Anna helped us which was really sweet of them (for pictures see baby blog). Brian also mowed and winterized the lawn, then we spent the rest of the day relaxing and resting from our busy weekend.


Um, have I mentioned that the Twilight movie comes out on November 21st? I am so excited I can barely stand it, every time I see a trailer for it I squeal. Seriously, if you have not read the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer you are missing out and I am sad for you.

It's not news that Brian and I need a new computer, our trusty labtop is just on it's last leg. It is slower than dial up and can't handle all the fancy websites (one being Brian's school homepage). So we were going to get a new Mac as a Christmas present, but I can't do that to Brian. He is trying to do homework and it takes him hours to do a few things, poor guy. We bumped up the purchase date for the new computer to his birthday, November 7th. Just one more month and we'll be in the 21st century, yay! So half of my paycheck will go to student loans and half will go to the new computer, not horrible. We are still set to pay off my student loans before Bria comes. I am really excited about getting a new computer, although it's going to be hard to get use to a Mac. I love all my shortcut keystrokes and Mac's are completely different, but I want to be adaptable to change so I'll just learn as I go.

Lance is doing pretty good, he is homesick but they keep them pretty busy during the week there. I can't wait to see him in December.

I'm enjoying life in my new cubicle ;) My feet are always warm and I know what the weather is at all times. Right now it is sunny and in the high 50's to low 60's, perfect fall day. I think I need to go refill my hot chocolate cup. Mmmm.

Tagged-7 Random Things

1. I am compulsive about checking my zipper after I use the restroom, I usually check it about 3 times before I even leave the bathroom.

2. My right shoulder is double jointed so I can bend it in half in a scary way. I use to sleep like that and I would wake up to a loud POP coming from my shoulder, I don't think that was a good thing.

3. I have donated my hair to Lox of Love twice. I plan to do it more in my lifetime.

4. I can eat cereal and toast for every meal. Since I've been pregnant that has been my usual dinner and I love it.

5. I drink milk for every meal (except lunches during the week while I'm at work), so does Brian. Needless to say we go through about 6 gallons in a week, just the 2 of us. We are going to need another fridge as our family grows!

6. I am rigid when it comes to finances. For example: since I first started a bank account, I never touched savings, I rarely even think of it as my money, it's just the savings. Another example: I have a certain amount I can spend each week and I don't go over, no if, and's, or but's about it.

7. I thrive on organization, but I suck at actually organizing. I get really overwhelmed with where to start so I recruit my mom and sister's to help. Once I'm organized I'm good at maintaining it, I just have trouble setting up organization.


I invite all who want to do this to do it, it's fun to think of 7 things that are normal to you, but random to everyone else :)

This and That

The weekend was great, I love weekends. We were able to relax, be productive, and see friends and family all in one weekend.

Friday night I went and saw my friend Shauna and her adorable little 6 month old, Aria. Aria has the most precious smile and gorgeous light brown eyes with dark eye lashes, she's going to love those when she gets older! Shauna and I have good cheerleading memories together from OSU. We also did the Trail Blazer stunt team together for a year, good times. At OSU Shauna, Ashley, and I hung out a lot and I smile thinking back to some of our crazy days together. Anyway, it was good catching up with her.

Saturday we ran baby errands and did stuff in the nursery which of course I loved. Then we grabbed some pizza from our favorite, Pizza Pipeline, and went to Sara's house (Brian's twin) to watch the Ducks lose while playing Beaveropoly (Monopoly with a beaver spin on it). Brian won Beaveropoly but only because he negotiates his A$$ off. Seriously, we can't just play a normal game of Beaveropoly, he brings in negotiating tactics and mind games like you wouldn't believe, I think he needs to be a salesman.
Then we headed to our friend Dave's house (also a former OSU cheerleader) and he has a little 11 month old, Scarlet, who is just adorable. Blond hair blue eyes and loves to smile. We caught up on his life and just talked and talked until it was Scarlet's bedtime.

Back to the work week and I am looking forward to the next weekend, it's what gets me through the week.
My exciting news for work is that I switched cubicles to one by the window :) We rearranged at work so the accounting department is together since we were all spread out. I totally lucked out and got a window seat, yay me. Now I can daydream even more, lol. Oh, and I finally got a heated foot pedal too, man does it feel good! I realize that my exciting news is lame, but hey, it's the little things that matter :)

Baby Holcomb is a...

check out the baby blog if you haven't, the sex of baby Holcomb is revealed!

Things are going well here at the Holcomb's. Brian was in Bend for a few days working, I'm glad he's back now. I'm getting braver about staying alone, but it is still a little unsettling.

So I am thrilled that it's almost the weekend, this week has just been crazy at work plus Brian was gone, I'm ready for a few days off. Although I can't complain too much because we took yesterday off for the big ultrasound and then went to register-it was just the day we needed, well it was at least the day I needed.

We had a great time last weekend spending time with my sister's and their husbands. We ended up just staying at Jaime and Schuyler's after we BBQ'd because the bowling alley was being occupied by a corporate party. It didn't matter what we did, we have a good time together. The guys ended up in the tv room while Jaime, Jenny and I chatted. Eventually we all sat in the tv room together and laughed about past events, good times.

The rain is officially here, it is true Oregon weather. I'm not sick of it yet, but talk to me in a few weeks when the rain and gray clouds won't leave. Right now it just makes me want to curl up on the couch in my pj's with a nice cup of hot chocolate and a movie. Hmmm, maybe I'll do that tonight :)

Blog Slacker and BEAVERS!

Slacking
So I've been putting all my blogging energy into the baby blog and neglecting this one. Partly because my thoughts are centered around the baby and little else :) By the way, I put the link to our baby blog on the right side, under the picture of Brian and me. If you don't want to hear about pregnancy symptoms, you might want to just stick with this blog ;)

School
Things are moving along great with us. Brian's class started yesterday but he's been reading his textbook for the last week. He loves the topic (corporate real estate) and reads the book almost every night. He's excited to have just one class to focus on and a topic he's really interested in.

Bowling
This Saturday we are going bowling with my lovely sisters and their husbands. I'm so excited, I think it'll be a blast since we always laugh so much when we're with them. I love that our husbands get along so well, we are so lucky. They're all pretty good guys-most the time ;)

Beavers Rule
So if you follow college football you've heard of USC and the fact that they are, excuse me, were #1 in the nation. We (Beavers/OSU) played them last night and many people felt they already knew the outcome of the game, I mean, Beavers may put up a fight, but USC was going to win in their minds. DON'T THINK SO! Beavers won 27-21. Wow, was it an awesome game or what. I seriously wish we would've been there, it was unbelievable. Go Beavers!
We watched the game at our neighbor's house: Roxie and Nate's and they have a little one year old named Gracee. Everytime the Beavers made a good play we'd all stand up and shout, poor Gracee would get this look on her face and run to hug her parents. So after we all shouted we look at her and start clapping quietly and saying, "Yay Beavers." She liked that better than our yelling.

Where are the pictures?
I've been horrible at taking pictures lately and I'm realizing I need to change that ASAP. Mental note: take camera to the bowling alley this Saturday.

Work
Work isn't too bad right now. I'll admit, I'm having a hard time staying motivated. But overall the agency is getting a lot better and it's a more pleasant environment. Now that I have an end in sight the weeks seem to be going slower, I feel like a kid looking forward to Christmas. I still don't think accounting is my passion, but I've enjoyed learning accounting policies and procedures and increasing my Excel experience. I love Excel.
Brian mentioned how it would be great if I could find a place that needed bookkeeping help and I could go in once a week for a few hours. That would be perfect, dare to dream right?
I am feeling more comfortable with our finances. We went over our budget again and fine tuned it, taking into account a scheduled raise next March for Brian, changing his W-9, and he decreased his 401k contribution from 10% to 5%. We didn't want to reduce the 401k, but we will increase it the future, it just makes it more manageable to pay off my student loans and get ready for the baby. Anyway, things look pretty good and we both are sighing a little bit of relief.

Ok, I'm done rambling for now, hopefully I'll have some pictures to add to the next post!

I told you so

Guess who decided to take a class this fall? My ever ambitious husband. I was completely against the idea and was going to make sure it didn't happen. But yesterday when he called and asked if we could talk about the idea of him taking a class this fall, I liked his approach and decided to open my mind.

Why I didn't want him to take a class this fall:
1.) Finances. We need to finish paying off my student loans before the baby comes-end of story. We don't have the money to fork over for a class.
2.) He is burned out and needs a break.
3.) I am burned out and need a break.

Why he wanted to take a class this fall:
1.) He wants to get done with his Masters ASAP.
2.) He planned on taking 2 in the winter and this way he can take 1 now, and only 1 in the winter without getting behind.
3.) He is focusing on Finance and not all finance classes are offered every term.
4.) He's a butt munch and likes to stress me out.

We took a walk and discussed all these things. He understood the financial part and said he would apply for financial aid today so we wouldn't have to delay paying off my student loans. That may sound pointless, paying off one debt and adding another, but we can lump his student loans together for one payment. Also, his student loans are quite high so what is another $1300?
Anyway, that made me feel a lot better. Plus, I could tell he wanted this so bad and I can't help it, I like to make that darn guy happy. Those freakin' dimples are my weakness. As far as him being burned out, taking just 1 class instead of 2 will hopefully help with that. So he's had a few weeks off which I think is good, and now he's back to being busy :( Oh well, focus on the end goal right? I will be soooo happy when he is done with his MBA.

Along the lines of student loans, they are getting to be quite outrageous. It feels like it will take us decades to recoop the costs of these darn things and it's very frustrating. Why can't they make college a little more affordable? Does anybody else feel like they'll never pay off their studen loans?

On a brighter note: Lance graduated from boot camp, yay buddy! My mom took some pictures at his graduation:

Proud dad (on the left), smiling mom (behind Lance and to the right) and happy stepmom (far right):
So grown up!

I can't say enough how proud we are of him!

My mom said it poured in Chicago the weekend of his graduation, at least it was held inside :) They had a good time though. They spent a few minutes with him after the ceremony and then about 2 hours with him at the airport before he flew off to Mississippi for his A school. Now he can use his cell phone and labtop, yay!

Oh, and you know how I was complaining about my insurance changing to something not as good? Well UPS decided to do the same thing, aw, thanks guys. Man do they have good timing, right before our little bundle is do both of our insurance is changing to plans that are worse. I don't like to talk politics, but we need a freakin' CHANGE!!!

All this financial stuff gets me all stressed out and I fear it will affect our plans of me being a SAHM. I may have to look for a job where I can work from home part-time. But that is me being negative, I need to focus on the many positives going on in our life, which are abundant. Everytime I think about the little one growing inside me all the fears and stresses go away and life gets put in perspective. We are so looking forward to meeting this baby.

Tonight we are going to Sarah and Travis' for game night which I am looking forward to. They have a Wii and we love playing it! We usually laugh for 90% of the time we are with them and the Wii only increases that, good times.

Alright, that about sums things up for me for awhile, yay for the weekend almost being here!

Detroit Lake

A couple weeks ago we joined my Mom and Randy out on Detroit lake for the day. We brought Trav and Sarah as we thought they'd enjoy a fun and relaxing day out on the boat, it was a success even though the weather started out a little iffy.
As we drove up that morning the clouds increased and it started misting, we were not so happy. When we arrived at their campsite we wrapped up in blankets and drank hot chocolate while the guys helped Randy get the boat ready. We started seeing a little blue sky as the mist went away so we hopped on the boat. Thankfully the sun eventually won and it warmed up.

Trav and Brian
MJ and Sarah

We spent all day out on the boat which meant no grass area for MJ to go potty. We tried to get her to go on the swim platform at the back of the boat, but she wasn't having it. So Brian put her on a tube and swam her to shore, such a good dad. As soon as they were close to land she hopped off and squated, she had to go BAD.

On the trip back Brian was battling the current so it was slow going. Apparently too slow for MJ. When they were about 10 feet from the boat MJ shocked us all by jumping in the water! I don't think she realized what she was doing as her eyes doubled in size. She swam to the platform and we picked her up. At that point I of course had put my camera away so I couldn't capture the hilarious moment, but we won't forget it.

Brian was determined to get Trav out on the tube regardless of how much Trav resisted. If you know Brian, you know he doesn't give up easily. So after a few beers Brian won and Trav hopped on the tube.

Randy gave them the rides (multiple) of their life and it was awesome. Trav was being whipped around like a rag doll and I was laughing so hard. Everytime Trav slammed into Brian, or Brian slammed into Trav, Trav would go flying off. Poor guy, he held on pretty good though, he definitely got better as the day progressed. Sarah said he couldn't stop talking about it the next day so I think he had a good time to say the least. I'm glad Brian convinced him to go, even though I felt bad he was pressuring him so much. In the end it was a good thing.

I can't believe the summer is coming to an end, I'll definitely miss our beautiful sunny days. But I am looking forward to Fall and football season :) I always get excited when Halloween comes because it's the beginning of all the fun Holidays. I LOVE decorating for Halloween, I think it's because it's been so long since I've had holiday decorations up. This year Halloween falls on a Friday which is kind of fun, hopefully there are some fun Halloween parties going on. Although I enjoy staying at home and answering the door to cute trick or treaters. I just don't like when the teenagers put on a hat and expect to get candy. If I wasn't so scared they'd come back and egg my house I'd wrap up rocks to give to them. On second thought, how would they know which house it was. Hmmm, not a bad idea.

:)

At last

I have uploaded all our pictures to snapfish, yay! So I was able to delete all our photos from the memory card and we no longer have to worry about losing pictures or filling up the card. It is such a huge relief to have that done. The next thing I need to do is order prints and luckily snapfish gives me the first 20 prints free, sweet!

The rest of our vacation was heaven. We enjoyed relaxing, getting pictures uploaded, spending time with Craig (he stayed with us for a few days), shopping, and a movie. It was wonderful and it makes being at work today even harder, but isn't that always how we feel after vacation?

We did receive some very annoying information in the mail. It was from my insurance provider-Samaritan Select. I love them, we have great insurance and I seriously have no complaints. There are no copays and it was going to cost like $300 for labor and delivery-that's not including Brian's insurance which is my secondary. Anyway, we got a letter in the mail saying they were no longer going to be covering State employees (and many others as I found out) and we are being transferred to Regence Blue Cross come January 2009. Of course, why woudn't that happen the month before our little one is due! Ugh, I'm quite frustrated about this whole thing. Regence does not seem to have as good of coverage at all and we'll end up paying quite a bit more, plus copays. I'm trying to look at the good side and realize that at least we have most of the pregnancy with Samaritan Select, and my doctor is a preferred provider for Regence as well. But it's hard when the most expensive part of the pregnancy is going to be covered by Regence. Ick.

Pre-season games for the Beavers have started, let's just say we are still working out the kinks. But we've only had two games and the Beavers always improve as the season progresses, I just hope they improve quickly :-) I am really getting excited about football season, Brian and I love sporting our jersey's.
Speaking of the Beavers, you do know that Michelle Obama's brother is our new head basketball coach right? After the Democratic National Convention where her brother spoke and put in a little Go Beavs, OSU was the most googled topic. Glad people are taking an interest to our school, or maybe they just think a Beaver as a mascot is pretty funny, either way it's good publicity.

Lance graduates from boot camp at the end of this week, yay buddy! All of my parents (Mom, Dad, Stepmom, Stepdad) are flying out for his graduation and I'm so excited for them to take pictures so we can see what he looks like all cleaned up ;) From there he goes straight to A school in Mississippi for 3 months. I'm thankful we get him back in time for Christmas. I miss him so much already! I've written him a few letters and I try to keep them light hearted and funny so hopefully I make him laugh.

I think that is about all for now, have a wonderful week.

Labor Day Weekend

Washington was so much fun. We had a great time with Dave, Kim, and their girls: Courtney-12 and Kaitlin-5. They were amazing hosts and made us feel right at home.

Dave scored tickets to the Seahawks game so Friday night we got to see a pro football game! The seats were unbelievable, they were about 13 rows up from the field. We had a lot of fun cheering the Seahawks on and being in the middle of downtown Seattle.



Saturday we got to enjoy a day out on the lake. The weather started a little cloudy but soon cleared up and we got to relax in the sun. We went out on Lake Washington and they gave us a tour of Seattle from the lake, it was awesome. We saw Bill Gate's house, University of Washington's football field, and the Space Needle from the lake. Not to mention all the homes that were on the lake, UNBELIEVABLE. The houses were beautiful and of course consisted of walls of windows in order to enjoy the view of the lake.
That night we had to watch the Duck game (University of Oregon, our rivals) since that is where Dave graduated, but we wore our Beaver (Oregon State University) jersey's to represent.

Sunday was spent at Pike's market and Fremont street, it was fun walking around to the different shops. We even got to go in the very first Starbucks, we would've gotten something but it was jam packed to say the least.
The birth place of UPS is in Seattle so Kim looked up the address and we went to visit it. It was actually a pretty cool little place with a waterfall and everything, pretty impressive :)

Monday was another day out on the boat, although the sun only came out for about 10 minutes. Brian and Dave still enjoyed some wake surfing and we toured Lake Sammamish. Again, beautiful houses on the lake.

We had such a good time there and felt so comfortable, they really were incredible hostess'. Their girls were so cute and energetic. Kaitlin enjoyed watching me get ready in the morning and helped me pick out my outfits for the day. Courtney was nice enough to let us have her room while we were there and also babysat so the adults could do a few things. She is so smart and outgoing, and a wonderful big sister.

Brian's got pride for his company:

Bill Gate's house, most of it is hidden:
University of Washington from the lake:
Space Needle from the lake:
Dave and Brian looking at the houses:
On Lake Washington: