Wednesday, May 28, 2008

ba-by.

we're expecting a boy in october.

Saturday, May 24, 2008

j's b'day #31

they brought out our dessert- a marscapone rhubarb tart- with a little candle for j - how cute! and they also brought us two small glasses of dessert wine. all in all it was a fabulous night out, probably one of our last... :( ah well, we have to grow up sometime. we're enjoying it while it lasts. j is still out cold as i type this, as he drank pretty much of the bottle of wine, plus the dessert wines. the mountain air will wake him up - we're going sledding with the nephews at summit today!

j's b'day #31

we began the meal with an appetizer of manchego fritters with red pepper sauce. they were made from unpasturized manchego, but i ate 1.5 of them anyway - hah! take that, pregnancy! we continued the meal, sharing two dishes: red quinoa with cheesy custard with fava beans & morels, and steak + frites. i had to eat around the sides of the steak because it was pretty rare in the middle. great food!

j's b'day #31


man... so many pictures to post lately. thank god i had insomnia tonight, or else i'd never get caught up. with the nephews & grammy visiting this weekend, there will be a lot more picture taking, necessitating photo-downloading.

last night, j & i celebrated his 31st birthday with dinner at the gilt club. it's a restaurant downtown on nw broadway & nw everett. this was our first visit, and featured in this picture is my First Glass of Wine of the Pregnancy. with every slow, tiny sip, i felt an immediate mini buzz. after we meet baby h, i'm gonna be such a cheap date! this first glass of wine has been in the planning for a long long time- i was SOO looking forward to it. not the best wine, but still sooo good!

j's b'day #31

j & his requested birthday breaky, before our secret morning outing. j chose to work from home on his birthday. i baked him a triple layer guinness chocolate cake in the afternoon, and we tasted it after his soccer game in the evening. that thing is massive. i have no idea HOW we'll ever finish it all! if anyone wants a piece, feel free to call & stop by...

baby belly.


the beginnings. 18.8 weeks, & counting...

j's b'day #31

on monday evening, we met j's parents for dinner at mccormick & schmicks out in beaverton. they treated us to dinner in honor of j's 31st birthday, which was on thursday. it was fun going out for dinner on a weekday, and i was able to go thanks to operation "studio reduction 2008." thanks for the dinner, r & d!

smith rock piano burning


j and his sunscreen pox, the Morning After. sunday was a little cooler. i was able to hike down into the canyon this time with everyone, over to the far side "phoenix" area, before immediately leaving to hike back. my day's mission was to drive into bend to SEE A MOVIE! yay! movie! air conditioning! no hot sun! no desert dust (which, by the way, gave me a mini cold for the next week for some reason...). i drove in and watched prince caspian, the second movie of the chronicles of narnia series. it was the longest movie available. it was great to see on the big screen, although i struggled to stay awake during the middle. i think it had something to do with a sugar crash, thanks to a "small" (pretty much 3 cans worth - don't worry - didn't drink even half of it) sprite and twizzlers. it was a little lonely, but more fun than sitting in the heat on hard rocks, being unable to climb or even belay. after driving back, we all met at the terrebonne depot for an early dinner. the afternoon had cooled off, and we had a great meal outside on the porch before heading back to portland. fun weekend!!!

smith rock piano burning


piano legs, potatoes, oh my!
we'll all never think of piano legs the same way.
c, so sorry the potatoes never turned out. we had way too much breaky food anyway!

smith rock piano burning


and the marshmallow execution begins, with c & j doing the honors. the best part about camping out!!!

smith rock piano burning


here goes the first piece of the piano! yay! go b!

smith rock piano burning

mystery girl + j, & a pretty sky...

smith rock piano burning


while we were relaxing, waiting for it to get dark, two awkward teenagers came by our campsite & asked "what would it be like if there were no temperature - no hot or cold?" at first i thought they were going to ask for some beer or something... anyway, c, j, & the others were more than happy to give them an earful about thermodynamics & other things, most likely much more than they were expecting. poor bored kids... :)

smith rock piano burning

ok, baby h- this is exactly how NOT to chop wood.

smith rock piano burning


i'm not exactly sure how this started... i'm assuming j was getting his gear in order, and then the two boys had to compare (show off) their racks. boys will be boys!

smith rock piano burning


ooohhhh- i was so so jealous. damn this whole prego thing!

(just kidding, baby h...we love you)

smith rock piano burning


here's more piano wood - the garbage can is full of the smaller pieces.

smith rock piano burning


last weekend, we met up with friends at smith rock for a weekend of climbing and piano burning. the weather was really hot - close to 100, but we all followed through because the piano just had to be destroyed! i, personally, did no climbing - it's not allowed in my "condition." and it was too hot for me to make the short journey down to where people were climbing, so i stayed up near the parking lot in the shade. i got to do a bit of puppy sitting for cute d.m., who was battling puppy separation anxiety issues. j, j, & i got ice cream cones late in the afternoon. we all made it back to the campsite, where c started cooking us dinner. it was actually his birthday that weekend, but he chose to make us all dinner AND breakfast. dinner was yummy chicken/beef fajitas, with the chicken/beef leftovers + eggs for breaky. delicious, c! thanks so much for your culinary skills! in the 2nd pic, you can see poor r nursing her bee sting with an ice cube, and in the 1st & 3rd pic, you can see the piano wood "bench." that wood actually never got burned. we had way more than we could consume, so it's back sitting piled in our backyard.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

b'day wishes...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUBBY!!! I LOVE YOU!!!

Thursday, May 15, 2008

busy life.



i haven't been blogging recently, because our weeks have been pretty busy. two weekends ago, we hosted j's mom for a few days.
last weekend, our brother & sister in law stayed with us on friday night, along with their adorable newborn j. saturday, i volunteered for an ASTA event, and my wallet got stolen. big fun. i spent a lot of time saturday & then early this week making sure all the credit cards & other items were cancelled effectively. saturday afternoon, j took me shopping for maternity clothes for the first time. pretty depressing. i hate shopping. j is a much better shopper than i. i was lucky to have him around, esp considering i had no way of paying for the clothes (& new wallet). that evening, we were invited to an impromptu bbq at our friends' house, and had our last opportunity to see friend k pregnant. she gave birth tonight - congratulations, c & k!!!
on sunday, mother's day, j made french toast for me for breaky, and then we met up with family in canby for lunch at a mexican restaurant. i think i spent the rest of the day just watching tv... i was drained from the week/end. this week is almost over... today is my longest day of teaching. sat & sun we'll spend at smith rock, burning the remains of the piano sat night. it's supposed to be pretty warm there, so i might sneak off to a movie in the heat of the afternoon while everyone is climbing...
i'm starting to get nervous about $$... many of my students are taking the summer off, which i hadn't anticipated. combining that with the two or so months i'll have to take off once the baby arrives, i just hope we're ok.
i'm up with insomnia at the moment. we still have flannel sheets on our bed, as i became too busy today to change them to lighter ones, and it was a bit warm. tomorrow/today it's supposed to be in the mid 80's to 90's. perhaps i should try sleeping in the basement.