TSO

We are keeping up with our tradition! We went to the Tran Siberian Orchestra concert again this year and loved it as usual. This year was especially great because some of our good friends Jake and Nicole decided to join us. Also, Luck was on our side because after a major mishap our seats were upgraded for free!

We went to dinner at Z'tejas at the Gateway before the show. (I LOVE this place simply because of one amazing salad they have...and of course now I can't remember the name of it to tell you but it is the only chopped salad on the menu. Try it if you have the chance.)

I snapped the rest of these during the show. I am not really sure why they have the no camera rule since EVERYBODY, including me had a camera there. I am glad I was able to get some decent shots even with my crappy camera!

It is one of the best shows I have ever been too! If you have never been you must go at least once. If you love music and have an open mind, you will appreciate it!


I also have to share these pics of my dear Harli. She had the time of her life this year during the first snow of the season. She ran around so fast in the backyard I was afraid she was going to hurt herself because she was slipping and sliding around everywhere. She LOVES it!

If you look really hard in the back ground, past the snow flakes, you can see Harli running around.

One of the great things about Harli is that her fur is water resistant because she is a water hunting dog so we can just brush the snow and water drops off her and she is not even wet! But that feature makes baths hard; we have to drench her several times before we can soak her down.


We hope the holiday season is going well for you all so far! I have just been working on the house like crazy and Sheldon is finishing up the semester. We recently went to the doctor again and heard baby's very healthy heartbeat, which was a joyous sound! Next time we will find out if we are bringing a boy or girl into the world! I, along with my parents, most friends, coworkers and our Sunday school class believe a little girl is cookin'. However, Sheldon and his mom think it is a boy. We shall see, we shall see! BUT I can't stress enough that Sheldon and I don't care what we have. Our instincts are not indicative of what we want, just what we think. We have waited so long to start our family and that is what we want is a family, not a baby with a certain gender. But now that the reality of the pregnancy is setting in I am getting the biggest itch to shop and decorate!!! It would probably be wise for my wallet not to find out what we are having until it makes it's entrance into the world, but let's face it...we all know that is never going happen. So far we have been very laid back and sometimes forgetful that we are having a child because it has been so long with just the two of us. We have not even bought one single baby item, which I think is impressive being almost 4 months. But as soon as we know a gender, decisions will start to be made, especially regarding a name (as many of you know choosing a name will be a dilemma for Sheldon and I) and baby items will start to accumulate in our house. So, we will keep you posted.

FREE Shutterfly cards (I knew the word FREE would get your attention!)

Oh my…I can’t believe it is that time of year again! I feel like Christmas has snuck up on us. Christmas time means holiday cards! Since Sheldon and I have been married I have made it a tradition to send out Christmas cards every year in order to send holiday messages of love to family and friends. In my search to find the perfect card this year I fell upon a fabulous promotion from Shutterfly. They are generously offering 50 FREE Christmas cards for bloggers…yes I said FREE!

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To get in on the action all you have to do is go to http://bit.ly/sfly2010 to learn how.

Happy Holidays!!!

Yes, it is true! For those of you who care and thought this day would never come...well it has. Sheldon and I are expecting our first baby right after I turn 27 and just before our 7 year wedding anniversary, talk about the best birthday and anniversary present ever! I am around 13 weeks and we are due June 5th. We are so thankful and very excited :)

Here are baby's first pictures as a little peanut.

This is my second test...I just bought the Walmart brand tests and the positives were VERY VERY faint. So it was very hard to believe that there was anything growing inside me until sickness set in (just a little bit, nothing unbearable) and I went to the doctor. If I would have had it my way we wouldn't have told anyone until Thanksgiving, BUT it's funny how things have a way of slipping out and getting around without you knowing! Plus Sheldon can't keep a secret for his life!

This is my sister's reaction as she found out, first very confused and then excited. I think this picture was snapped during the confused part.

If you know my sister you know that the whole attitude saying totally fits.

This is how we announced the news to our parents. We bought pies and put signs and binkis in them and then put them back in the box. Then we took them over to our parent's houses and told them we brought dessert to share. When my mom opened the box and saw the pie she said with a very confused look "What kind of pie did you get?" (haha, come on mom get there faster) And then when my father-in-law saw the pie he was very confused because of the 2010 part. Oops, that was my bad! I wasn't really thinking when I typed up the sign. I totally spaced that it would be a new year when the baby actually came.

So that's the news! Yipee!

Time and energy is hard to come by these days, hence the lack of posting! Anyway, I decided to upload all the photos on my camera and thought I would be ambitious and do a post while I was at it so here we go!

We had a blast celebrating Halloween! Some of our friends threw a murder mystery party. The setting of the murder mystery was the 50's so we didn't dress up as anything specific just the characters we were playing in the game. We have some of the funniest and most creative friends as you can see.



Just in case you were wondering, Nicole (far left) is demonstrating what Snooki would have looked like in the 50's. I just look like a nerd, but Danielle (far right) is one of the only girls that can make those glasses look good!

Sheldon got a little too much into his character.

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Next, is pumpkin carving. My parents had a little pumpkin carving party a couple weeks before Halloween and we discovered that we rock at carving pumpkins. Unfortunately, I don't have the end results to prove it because my camera has been having an attitude lately (darn, guess that means new camera shopping :)

This is my adorable nephew Kyson (oh, and my mom). He was so over pumpkin carving as soon as he saw the pumpkin guts you have to take out before you start carving.

Handsome hard at work.

My brother and dad taking short cuts, and Stephanie (Andrew's wife) cracking up in the background.

I know my pumpkin doesn't look like much here but it turn out awesome, thanks to Sheldon and my dad for helping!

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And finally, the last glimpse of summer. Way back in September we went to an annual family reunion and enjoyed the last days of summer. We were able to take our Harli with us and she loved it because she got to explore and swim, which is her favorite. I wished we lived closer to a pond or lake so we could take her swimming more.

Harli in her kennel ready to roll.

Our nieces getting ready to canoe.



I love how extra cute Harli is when she is wet...haha, I love my pup!

R & R

Ahhh...I just had the best vacation of my life! Sheldon and I treated ourselves to a vacation just because WE NEEDED IT! Thanks to the stress of life we were barely hanging on just waiting for this trip to come, and now that we have been medicated with 7 days in Mexico we feel so much better. This is a long post and there are a lot of pictures but this is a glimpse.

Day 1: Destination, Puerto Morelos, MEXICO

Puerto Morelos is a little fishing village on the Mayan Riviera just outside Cancun. We loved our resort because it was quiet and away from all the commercialization.

Here we are in the air, on our way!


These are some of the first pictures of our vacation at the beach!

Day 2: Relaxation ONLY

Getting ready to casually explore the resort and go to the beach.

This is part of our resort, which we LOVED.


I snapped this picture of this hot guy in the lobby of the resort ;)


My first pina colada...I loved this chair by the way




Lunch by the beach.


Dressed for our first dinner...Japanese it was!



Sheldon catching the shrimp tossed by the chef.

Day 3: Craziness

So, Sheldon insisted we go on this wild adventure in the jungle, and that is just what we did. Our first stop was repelling. I don't normally have a problem with repelling but when it is in the middle of an exotic jungle, with a 50 ft cliff, with people who don't understand what I am saying and vise versa then I have a problem. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into with this excursion but we couldn't turn back. We did it and survived.

This is a Mayan priest who blessed us because we were considered strangers in their land.


Next, was zip lining across the jungle-this was awesome.


Next, Kayaking. Again, I don't normally have a problem with kayaking but our tour guide was so kind to educate us on the wildlife of their jungle which included: spider monkeys, jaguars, and crocodiles-just to name three of the several he told us about. I wasn't concerned about crocodiles until he brought us to this swap land and advised us, "DO NOT get out of your kayak, DO NOT tip over." But then he told us not to worry because the crocodiles only hunt at night...WHATEVER!!! I was kind of freaking out. I let Sheldon paddle and I tired to distract myself by taking pictures the whole time...and yes we did see some crocodiles.




Whew! We made out of the water and back on to land only to hike a few miles through the jungle. No crocodiles to worry about here, just jaguars; thank goodness we didn't see any of those. The jungle was green, lush and breathtaking.




Next, exploring a cenote. Cenotes are water filled sinkholes in the earth. We had to descend down into a cave-like hole in the ground to get to this cenote. Once we were down in the cenote we could see stalactites and stalagmites and there was amazingly clear water with healing minerals, or that is what the Mayan people believe.







Next, eating an authentic Mayan lunch in a small Mayan village.



And finally, exploring the Mayan ruin Coba.


Coba is the only temple ruin in Mexico they still allow you to climb. It stands almost 140 ft tall. The climb is a good workout, the view from the top is stunning, and the climb down is enough to make you dizzy and sick...even if you aren't afraid of heights.






We were POOPED at the end of this day!

Day 4: Snorkeling at a barrier reef

Just goofing off before our snorkel adventure.



For this excursion we were taken about 10 minutes from our resort to this amazing beach. We jumped on a boat and went two miles from shore into the ocean to a barrier reef and did some awesome snorkeling.



Jesus visited Mexico while we were there...haha, ok I am totally joking but doesn't this picture look like he is about to appear? It was so beautiful.


Washing off the saltwater and sand and spraying Sheldon with the hose :)



I told you we saw crocodiles. Look closely, can you see them?


Could resist, and I don't know what is up with the sudden underlining of this sentence???

Day 5: More Relaxation

Well, I relaxed and Sheldon kayaked.

Going to another dinner.


Walking on the beach at night. I am not sure what I am doing but I look like I am having fun.


Playing card games in the room.


Haha, these pictures make me laugh. Something about being on vacation makes jumping on the bed fun and OK, even though we are in our late 20's. :)

Day 6: Tulum

Tulum is another ancient ruin civilization. Touring this was one of the highlights of the trip.

The ruins are all on top of a cliff, and this is what is below the cliff...stunning beach and ocean.


These guys were everywhere. This one was kind of scary, I don't think he liked being photographed.









Back at the resort and making sad faces because it was our last day :( :( :(



Our last night spending time on the beach.

Day 6: Farewell

These are just some random pictures I shot on our last day. There was nothing happy about this day, excepting maybe going home to my Harli, but nothing else.

That's all! If you are considering a Mexican vacation, we highly recommended this!