Bear Valley {Christmas 2013}

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The last of the bump!

FYI - Just wrote a blog post and somehow deleted it so here is the quick version of what I had wrote:

1. I am just over 38 weeks pregnant.

2. I am SO ready to be done being pregnant. I've been struggling with some bad pinched nerves in my lower back and carpel tunnel in my hands. Also, I won't mind having my normal wardrobe back. :)

3. With that said I want to make sure I proclaim my thankfulness for pregnancy. I am grateful God has given us three wonderful children (even though I hardly know the third). I am soaking in all of these last kicks, swirls and hiccups in my belly....as this may be our last.

4. We will meet little miss in 6 days or less.

5. The boys can't wait to meet her (Sterling tells her all sorts of things and even sings a song or two to her).

6. We have installed her car seat and have hospital bags packed 90% of the way.

7. I'm not sure I will be able to sleep the night before my c-section but am hoping I somehow can. 

8. I hope to get pictures of the nursery up this week but may just wait till she is in it :)

9. I had a baby shower this last week and was extremely blessed by so many wonderful woman. Thank you Mary-Hayden, Alissa, Kristy and many more for outdoing yourselves in blessing me and baby girl! I seriously have the sweetest collection of headbands and bows and little girl books! Can't wait to show you all!

10. I had my last prenatal apt last week where they did a growth ultrasound just to make sure she was big enough and she weighed in at 7lbs 2oz. We will see how accurate that is.

10. Our little lady has a name...we think! We are waiting to see her and then will make our final decision out of 4 names ...though we have one that is a favorite.

Here is the last of the baby bump pictures (left - Sterling talking to her and saying "you are so wonderful baby sister" and on the right - a very tired me after we went out to dinner). I don't know why everyone has been telling me I look so small, these pictures prove y'all wrong! I've got a torpedo!

Prayers on Thursday are very appreciated - I am always a little anxious and fearful to go through a c-section again. Thank you!


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back to school...wooohoooo!

...and the wooohooo is from Sterling. I love my littles here at home with me. I would be lying if I didn't give a little wooohooo for the structure and routine school has provided for us (and 3 hrs of alone time) but I never want to send my kids off with the attitude of getting rid of them for the day. We took a parenting class this last year from an amazing family and one of my favorite lines that I took away from it was "I had you to be with you." That is what I want my kids to know and remember. Christmas break was great. We had a lot of good play days in p.j's. and adventures at Charlie Safari, Fantasy Lights and night time drives to look at all the lit up homes. After two weeks off, Sterling was excited to go back to school and I'm happy about that. He loves his teachers, loves his friends and loves doing something out of the ordinary. He was so happy about going back on Monday that he washed his face (even used soap), combed his hair (for a good 10 minutes), named his classmates and put on a button down shirt to look "fancy." It melted my heart. He even wanted his picture taken. He is really growing up. I've loved hearing about his days back to school and having some good conversations that have lead to some great learning moments. I love this boy!

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2012 flashback

I've been looking through my Picasa albums and reminiscing on 2012. A lot can happen in a year. It's amazing how easily I can forget all the events and life changes that took place over a 12 month period. I am truly thankful for pictures to look back at as they remind me of all the blessings the Lord bestowed upon our little family. Here are some of my 2012 favorites. 

Left to Right Row 1:

Spending every other day at the beach with my boys

Monday nights with our Life Group and experiencing true gospel community

Going to Boston/Connecticut/New York with my family

Sterling starting up another year of preschool and making strides in his verbal skills

Left to Right Row 2:

Watching Boone become a toddler but being reminded that he was still my baby sleeping bottoms up

Going to "Uncle" Eli's wedding and seeing him marry his wonderful bride Emily

An Officer family reunion in Seneca

My ten year HS reunion with my man

Left to Right Row 3:

A girls trip to cannon beach with some of my favorite ladies

Letting the boys share a bedroom and giving it a makeover just for them

Announcing Officer baby #3!

Finding out we are welcoming a baby girl into this family in March

What a blessed year we had. And there is so much that happened beyond these pictures. Celebrating my moms birthday and going to the Broadway Wicked, projects completed, family members having new babies, day trips, out of town visitors, other weddings we attended, baby showers galore and the every day life of lounging in jammies all day with my boys playing with toys are just to name a few. I haven't mapped out goals for 2013 and I know deep down we will be experiencing some sleepless nights with a newborn many of the months of this year. Those days often feels like survival mode. So for now my 2013 mission is my current every day battle which is losing my selfish desires so I can love my family the way Christ would. Simply not losing my patience and being grateful for my little crew here is where I'm at. Cheers to a great 2013!

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Our first snowfall in the PNW

We have SNOW! It's only an inch and super wet but we will take whatever we can get! The boys crawled into bed with me at 6 am having no idea that there was snow on the ground. I told them immediately to look outside and they were ready to put on snow gear. I wasn't going to traumatize my most likely sleeping neighbors with happy squealing kids that early so I did my best and held them off till about 7:45 and then released them into the snow. They did some snow angels, attempted sledding, threw snowballs (of course had a timeout or two...trying to be real here) and then came inside to get warmed up. We went on a coffee/hot chocolate date to Starbucks where we colored for an hour (and ate a doughnut or two) and then went to the library to play on the computers and somehow checked out 17 items. Let's hope I can remember to return all of those because I am notorious for paying late fees. My boys are all snug in their beds taking naps while I upload pics, blog a bit and rest. I love winter days like this! Rumor on the street is that there may be some more snow tonight. Oh how I hope so!

 I just love being backed up to a forest. The trees are beautiful dusted in snow.

Here is a horrible attempt of a belly pic using a self timer. I have had some belly pic requests so here you go! It's the best I can do for now.

 Boots lined up for round two after naps.

Watching the snow fall with my snugly child.

 Enjoy the snow if you have any!


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to the dentist we go!

Justin and I's Christmas present this year was a camera and it has already arrived...wooohooo! And no way were we going to wait to open it! A huge thank you to my wonderful friend Kari for letting me ship it to her to save some mula on tax. Oh how I miss Oregon and knowing what the price tag says is what you will dish out. No adding a silly 10% tax fee. Kari and I met in the middle (that's a whole separate post in in itself) just last week and it shipped the night before we met so she was able to give it to me. Perfect timing! Anyway, there is going to be a picture overload in the next month or two...maybe next few years actually. We are awaiting an arrival of a sweet baby girl and all! You know there will be a plethora of pictures of her. In just a couple of days, Justin and I have already taken a few hundred pictures trying to get used to this camera. There are a million setting and things to learn about a nice camera...we will get there in time and will always have more to learn I'm sure. I'm watching DVD's, reading the manual and mainly just taking pictures and deleting most of them. :) Looking like awesome tourists, we took our honkin' camera to the dentist this last Monday for the boys' very first dentist visit. Not only did the boys get their teeth cleaned but so did the two of us. 4 of us and 3.5 hrs at the dentist could have been a recipe for disaster but it surprisingly went amazing. The boys thought it was awesome and were able to get a complete check-up: teeth polished, flossed, x-rayed and fluoride to boot. I was kind of shocked myself. It's amazing how excited my kids can get about a free toothbrush, toothpaste and a little trinket out of the treasure chest. Now if only their flu shots will go that well next week. Kind of doubting it since I can barely hold it together for mine! Pray for us on Tuesday if you remember...we will need it! Here are some pics of the boys getting their pearly whites cleaned....

I am so proud of my little men!

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a one car family - I laugh, I cry, it's emotional

We have been going Dave Ramsey style around here with our finances for about 4 months now... which has been wonderful yet really hard BUT ultimately full of blessings. Financial Peace is pretty awesome. If you want more info about it you can ask me personally through email or give me a call. Justin and I are pretty excited about it. We weren't huge spenders to begin with but when you really cut back and spend money with just "needs" in mind vs. all of those "wants" it really makes a difference. I haven't bought clothes in a really long time and have cut back to a few coffees out a month which was painful at first but now it's no big deal at all. Change is a hard at first but is now my new norm and really worth it.

In August Justin was at the Steilacoom Library sitting at the stop sign getting ready to turn right onto Steilacoom Blvd when a big ol' truck crashed into the back of him. Long story short, it totalled his truck and we walked away with the money and began the adventure of a one car family. It's been a little rough. I get stir crazy and like to be out of my element...almost daily. I have no choice but to be creative in my own space with the boys. I put more work into crafts for the kids and planning my days better because the option of hopping in the car to retreat to a playground is out of the picture. I am convinced Dave Ramsey would be proud. :) We really don't need two cars right now. I'm a stay at home mom and can grocery shop and run errands the three days Justin is home. It's plenty of time to get stuff done with a vehicle. We are learning to be organized and plan the week out together. My mom has been a saint and comes to rescue us when I just need to get out of this house (like today!). By the way, I really miss that truck. Justin and I have so many great memories in it. He taught me how to drive stick shift in it at Corban University's gym parking lot. Good times. Goodbye Toyota Tacoma - you were so good to us!

With another baby on the way we do want to find another vehicle but want to pay cash for it. We need to wait a little longer but are excited to find something that works great for our family for the next 5 or so years. It has to be a seven seater and not a gas guzzler. I know, I know!...it will probably be a minivan. I really am okay with that. They really are practical and incredibly convenient with loading and unloading a small crew of kids. My pride is out the door. If you see anything great out there holla at me! I looked up some seven seaters and I found some interesting options. They make me laugh and then I imagine the reality of it and want to cry. Justin sends me pictures of seven seaters off the country intranet here and there and the latest was an RV (not a nice one...actually a really creepy brown one from the 70's that was about a thousand bucks). He says things like "how cool would it be to take the whole family to my work and you guys can hangout in the parking lot, eat meals, shower, etc". He is totally joking but with these pregnancy hormones it can send me into a frenzy. Don't mess with me people. So, when you find a good deal keep my pregnancy hormones in mind. Please and thank you. This will give you an idea of what will make me laugh and what will make me cry if you need some examples.

This makes me laugh:




This makes me cry (probably because Justin would think it's half way awesome and I may believe it could be a reality just to save a few bucks...though deep down I know it's not!):




Woohooo and booohooo for car shopping!
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7 years of love

Justin and I celebrated our 7 yr anniversary this summer and the statement above couldn't be anymore true for me. I have a husband that makes me laugh everyday in my marriage (no joke...everyday) and I do find that being a real treat. He even made me laugh hard over breakfast this morning - and he loves that he can do that! Really, that is one of the biggest reasons I married him. A man that loves the Lord and is also funny!?! Yes, please! I'm glad he is all mine and I love that we got to go out and celebrate 7 yrs together by dropping the kids off at Mimi and Poppi's house and spending the day like middle schoolers at Wild Waves on a 90 degree day. We did at least 4 laps on the lazy river together and rode every single ride in that whole park. We loved it. The next day we went out to dinner and did our tradition of re-capping each yr of marriage and the big events of each yr including the highs, lows and what God taught us through it all. I'm looking forward to this next year and what the Lord will teach us in another year of marriage and parenting together! I love you, Justin!

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