A new blog post?!

I have decided that I may be the worst blogger the internet has ever come into contact with. It could be that since last time I updated our blog we have been really busy, including moving, cleaning, working and the fact that I have actually had the pleasure of being able to increase my activity level again. I suppose that deters me from being online quite as often!

Matt and I went to the Dr. again today for a monthly check up. Last time we went we had our 20-21 week ultrasound where we learned that our little "Wyatt" was actually not a Wyatt at all. Since then, we have been changing gears and looking at little girl items. Today (25 weeks) we got to have an additional ultrasound because last time she wouldn't cooperate for them to get all of the measurements they needed for her heart. Luckily, today she was very active (almost too active to get pictures of) and they were able to get exactly what they needed. We also had her double check to see if she still thought it was a girl. She did.

Our wee one measured in the 58th percentile, so I think that means that she is about average size. Currently she should be somewhere in the vicinity of a pound and half with an overall length of 13.5"-14". They also measured my abdomen and said that I was right on track, so I am very thankful for that. I can't believe that she is going to be here in about 3 months!

Here are a few pictures from the last couple of ultrasounds. I will try to get a new belly pic to put up on here. Hopefully my next blog post will occur sooner rather than later!


This one is kind of self-explanatory...just look for the arrow.



Here is a side profile of our little beauty...love that you can see the little nose and everything.



This is a picture of her looking straight at you. It amazes me how much detail you can see on an ultrasound.

Randomness

Matt and I have been in Seattle for the past 2.5 weeks. While there we were able to celebrate the marriages of Jon and Katie Chisum, and Kyle and Kelly Blair! It is so fun to have such great people get married!

While in Seattle, we found and purchased a new vehicle. One big enough for our whole family, come January. :) Turns out a Ford Ranger isn't exactly a prime family car, so we sold our ranger to Matts brother Ryan and purchased a 1996 F-250 Powerstroke crew cab instead. ***We don't have a camera currently, so perhaps when I get a new one I will post more pictures...until then....?) We were pretty excited about this because we were able to buy it with the money we got from selling the old truck and didn't have to get a loan. Mama C (Matt's Mom) helped us drive both trucks back to Colorado, which took two full days.

Yesterday we had a Dr's appointment and the baby sounded good. The heartbeat was in the 140's which the Dr. said was right where it should be for this stage. We are excited to go back two weeks from today to find out if this little one is a boy or a girl (for sure). Last ultrasound it looked like it was likely a boy, but it was too early for us to completely believe it. I'm excited to know!

Pregnancy has started to become more real in the past few weeks. My belly has started to grow and as of about 16.5 weeks, it is obvious that I am pregnant (either that or I just have a very strange shaped abdomen). I have also been able to feel this little one kicking, which is a pretty cool thing to experience!

We are excited to be back home and back to quasi-normal life. I will try to post some pictures of these exciting adventures soon!

Baby Chisum

Matt and I are expecting our first little one to arrive at our home sometime around January 18th! We are really excited to watch this journey unfold, even though that means BIG changes in our lives....starting with....MY BELLY. :)


Here I am at about 13 weeks....not showing a whole lot, but definitely getting bigger love handles. HA!

Furniture

What does one do, you may ask, when he or she has no work? Here are a few examples of what we have been up to lately.

Matt and I were blessed to get a beautiful bed frame for our wedding (almost 3.5 years ago already!), but we have never had any nightstands....so he decided to make some to match our existing bed frame.



He got a new tool called a "Craig Jig" for Christmas this past year from my parents. It is a handy little tool that allows you to make hidden "pocket" screw holes that hold together furniture. So great! He was able to use this tool to make the new night stands and he did a fantastic job!!!!










My friend Hilary heard that we were looking for an inexpensive dresser, so she said she would keep her eye out for one being as she lives near one of the only thrift stores in the county, and it happens to be the ONLY one I have heard of where EVERYTHING, including furniture, sells for $1.00! She found a dresser for us that needed a little bit of TLC, but overall was an incredible buy! I stripped the paint off, sanded it down, re-painted it in black, and ordered new drawer pulls for it.
Dresser - $1.00
Black Paint - $13.50
Drawer pulls - $13.00
Having a place to put my clothes away - $$$PRICELESS$$$

Rodeo and Redneck Day

Last weekend we went to Fort Collins to watch Bryce Rodeo. He and Cameron did really well and would have placed 1st place in the round but their steer tripped on its way out of the box so it broke the barrier and added 10 seconds to their time. What would have been a 6.5 was then a 16.5. Way to go anyway guys!


Sunday we went to church and then had our English friends Tom, Jess and Paul over for a "redneck" day of sorts. We met at our house and then Sedar took us to her property where we proceeded to shoot multiple rounds through my 22 handgun, Sedar's 40 caliper handgun, and Sedar's 22 rifle. After getting too cold to stay out, we went to my parents house where we had a BBQ and taught Tom, Jess and Paul how to Rope and fly fish. Paul had never been on a horse, so we also got him on one for the first time.



Jess showing some of her Big Buck Hunter style




Jess' failed attempt at being a redneck. ha!




L to R: Tom, Paul and Matt



Paul's first horseback riding experience





Tommy D


Not quite a normal Easter, but still good. We were sad to say goodbye to them for the year as they had to go back to the UK and go back to work. Hopefully we will make it over there way in the next year or so.

Quick trip to Torrington, WY

Matt and I took a little venture to WY this weekend to watch Bryce at the college rodeo in Torrington. We hadn't really planned to go, but we had so little going on Friday and Saturday that by Saturday night when we heard he was in the final round on Sunday, we quickly hopped in the car and off we went.

We started driving around 9:45pm and decided to stay in Laramie (2 hours from here) overnight. We left Laramie at about 6:15am and headed to Torrington. Once there we attended Cowboy Church (one of my favorite church services to go to), went to breakfast at the "Cowboy Cafe" which was amazing but took forever and then proceeded to watch the "short go"/final round.


Matt and I at the rodeo

Bryce and his partner Cameron placed 5th overall, even after the steer fell down twice. Pretty good considering the circumstances!

Once the rodeo was over, we hopped back in the car and drove home!

Such a nice little break from every day average life. :) Thank Bryce for giving us a reason to take a road trip!

Next weekend Bryce is competing in Fort Collins at the next college rodeo....hopefully we can make it to that one too.

Jude Michael Land

After our lovely trip to California we flew straight to Seattle.
Our nephew was due to be born on Monday, January 25th...which would have been cool because that day just happens to be my brother, Bryce's birthday. However, Jude decided to hang out a few extra days, which allowed us to be at the hospital when he was finally born on February 3rd, 2010.

Jude was born at 2:49pm and weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20 3/4 inches long. What a cute little bundle of joy.



Jenn asked Valerie and I if we would want to be in the delivery room for Jude's birth, so we were able to be there for the miracle of his birth. Jenn is a champ!

One of my favorite parts of the whole day was when Caleb arrived to meet his new baby brother. He was overjoyed and could hardly contain his excitement...at least until the french fries arrived and he decided to try sharing with Jude. :)



While we were in Seattle, waiting for Jude's arrival, we were able to spend some time with friends. It was great to see Chase, Kim and Finn, Trevor & Heather, Kyle & Kelly, as well as Matt's family. We were also able to go to our old small groups. It was so good to see my girls!

We went to the Snoqualamie Taproom and Brewery with Trevor and Heather and had pizza and beer. Kind of a hole-in-the-wall place, but it was really good cheap beer. :)

We had a great time hanging out with Lance and Val and Jaz. It was also really good to see Ryan for the first time in a year.

Another highlight of the trip was the multiple games of Super Mario Brothers on the Wii. Matt and I played with Greg and Joanne, Lance and Val, Trevor and Heather, and Ryan and Gary. This game proves to be my favorite Mario Brothers game because 4 people can play at once...funny memories.



Gary and Jude



Some of the uncle's get to see Jude for the first time!



Big brother Caleb coming to meet Jude for the first time.



Caleb's first time holding baby Jude




The Land Family - Jenn, Gary, Caleb and Jude



Uncle Matt and Aunt Whit with Jude



Me (Auntie Whit) holding the little bundle of joy.



Auntie Val (Bal) and Uncle Lance (Bear)



Uncle Ryan and Jude



Nana, Papa and Jude

After Jude was born we were able to hang out with family for a couple more days and then it was time to come back to Colorado. It was so nice to be there to see everyone and meet our newest nephew! Luckily for us, we will be back in Seattle for a few weddings this summer, so we will be able to see everyone again soon!

California

Matt and I made our way down to California for Donny and Margie Bruyn's wedding. Donny is a friend of Matt's from flight school.
While we were there we had the pleasure of seeing a lot of family and friends.
We arrived in Cali on Friday January 22nd. Matt's aunt and uncle, affectionately referred to as Mimi and Unk, picked us up from the Onterio airport and we headed to meet their son Jeff at the Mexico Cafe for some delicious and HUGE margaritas. My favorite.

Saturday we went to Chino, CA for the wedding. Which was beautiful, but I failed to get any pictures. Its a little awkward to take pictures of people you don't even know.


Matt and I after the wedding



Sophie is all grown up now.


Sunday we had brunch with the Jaynes family and then went to visit Grandma Fluffy.


Brody warmed up to Matt and I pretty quickly.



Corey, Unk, Brody and myself at bunch



Scott, Jennifer, Savannah, Riley and Matt at El Torito


Brody and Delaney on my lap


Monday was a bit of a crazy day. Unk let us borrow his big yellow H2 and we drove to visit various friends just north of LA.



Our first stop was to see my friend Sarah who lives in Sunland, CA. I had not seen her since she moved from Colorado in 2003. It was so great to see her and catch up a little bit.

Congrats to Sarah and Brian - expecting their first little girl in June.

After visiting with Sarah for a few hours, we ventured up to Canyon Country, CA to visit Steven and Jennifer Foltz and their family. Their boys, Eli, Seth and Elliot showed off their army outfits that their Grandma made them for Christmas. So fun!


The Foltz Family

As the day wore on we found ourselves in Burbank where we visited my friend Dan and his girlfriend Sarah who just moved out there recently from CO. We got to see their cute apartment and then went to happy hour at Acapulco.


Sarah and Dan


Matt and I at Acapulco


After all of the driving while only getting 11 MPG in the Hummer, we decided it was time to head back to good ol' Bloomington.

Tuesday morning was spent packing up our things and spending time with Mimi, Unk and Sophie. We then went to visit Grandma Fluffy again at her apartment in Loma Linda.


Grandma Fluffy

That afternoon Mimi and Unk drove us to the airport so we could catch our flight to Seattle to visit everyone and meet baby Jude.

Good Friends

What a great weekend to start 2010!!!

We started it off by skiing with the Van Wyke's and friends at Winter Park, where there proved to be more snow than we thought there would be. Still not enough to cover up the many rocks that litter the mountain, but so fun nonetheless.

Kaylee, Coleman, Travis, Aaron, Kristen & Whitney

Matt and I on top of Parsenn Bowl - the 50 knot crosswind didn't stop us from having fun!

Kristen and I - top of Parsenn Bowl

After skiing yesterday we decided to take the day off today and go snowshoeing with our friends Chris and Hillary.

Matt, Hillary, Chris & Jaz - King Mountain Ranch, CO

Chris, Hillary & Jaz - So fun, thanks guys!

We must not have been thinking about who we were going with when Matt dressed for the outing. Chris loves to have fun and will go to extremes for that to happen. Needless to say, Matt was completely soaked by the time we got back to the truck. Our snowshoeing turned into downhill telemark skiing on snowshoes. Good times.

Matt had a little run-in with a big hill :)

All that said, it was a great weekend and we are looking forward to many more like it this year!

The end of 2009

We just came home from a lovely Anniversary getaway in Steamboat Springs, CO. We arrived in Steamboat on Wednesday, December 30th, our 3rd anniversary. After checking in to our hotel/condo, we went to the local Safeway to gather some grub. That evening we had a nice spaghetti dinner and hung out in our condo. Thursday morning we woke up to some beautiful new snow....perfect for the skiing we did later in the day.
After skiing for a few hours, we decided to go home for lunch, planning to come back and ski again in the afternoon. Plans changed when we could not find the parking lot our car was in and ended up walking almost to our house in ski boots. We then decided to stay home once we got there. :)
Thursday night we went and relaxed in the Old Town Steamboat hot springs. This helped our legs and feet feel much better.
Then we proceeded to have some Pizza downtown Steamboat.
Although it was New Year's Eve, we were so tired we called it a day and went to sleep. However, we were able to tell each other happy new year at midnight because we were woken up by the sounds of fireworks going off at the Ski area right behind our hotel.

This morning we woke up and packed our things and drove home....it was absolutely beautiful with all of the new snow. Too bad Granby didn't get any.
Now we have the whole weekend before we have to return to work! Yahoo.