Snow and Closing Costs...

I was thinking today how simple life used to be when I was younger. It has snowed here in Washington several inches in the last 3 days and it feels like the world has just shut down! A few inches hasn't affected my mindset very much being from Idaho where there are several inches to several feet for months at a time, but I'm definitely learning it's different up here when it snows.

When I was little, it snowed and we all went outside with our snow clothes on to play with the neighbor kids, make snowmen and igloos, and then when we were chilled to the bone we'd come inside and mom would have hot chocolate ready for us to warm up. What great memories!

Well, now it snows and all I can think of is how this might affect my travel plans, that my last day of work with my kids after-school program is cancelled, and that tonights get together at Marianne looks pretty impossible. Crazy how our perspective changes as we get older huh?

Well, I'm dealing with lenders, title companies (yes 2 of them), and closing costs; plus packing for Christmas vacation and finishing a few last minute gifts. I wish I could just leave it all for an hour and go play in the snow with my brothers and sisters. Maybe I'll just go make a cup of hot chocolate and sit down for a few minutes.

P.S. Isn't it great that I have so much to do, but I take the time to sit and write down my thoughts in this silly post! BTW: closing on a house is pretty insane - somehow the title and lender companies find ways to add another cost every couple hours it seems like. I'll be glad when this is overwith!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Old News - Twilight Pics!

Okay so the big new is down below this, but I never did post these pics! My awesome group of friend all went to Twilight together. All of us left our husbands and children at home and had a great time! Thanks for the memories everyone!

As for the movie itself...it was alright. The books are better definitely! That's all I'm going to say about it here (especially since I'm way after-the-fact and everyone has already gone into detailed discussions about the movie on their blogs a long time ago). I'm sure I'll watch it again, I mean at some point I've gotta get Trav to watch it right? Getting Trav to read the books - that one is pretty much a mathematical impossibility ;-) But he let me go see the movie with my friends and even cleaned the house while I was gone! What more could I ask for?

We're Moving to Texas! And We Bought a House!!

Okay, so I haven't posted anything new for a long time (as Sage so gently pointed out ;-) Well, here's all the news at once! We just got back from a week-long trip to Houston, Texas. We found a beautiful home and bought it! Whew - this is all so hard to believe! Here's few pictures of our new castle. We're officially moving the 1st week of January. Trav's new job starts the middle of the month. We're so excited!

P.S. I'm 25 weeks along right now. We'll have about 2 months left by the time we move and get settled in before this little manly man-child comes along. There are tons of changes for us in the next few months!

TRAV'S BACK!!

Yeah - Travis got home from China on Sunday around 10:00am. After one cancelled flight, one night in a crummy Japanese airport hotel, and long hours waiting for flights in foreign airports he's finally home!

Okay, really he was only gone for 2 weeks and 3 days. It went by really fast and we were both really busy during that time. We've loved being back together though. Trav was pretty useless for a couple days - the time changes just killed him. He went to work each day and then slept much of the evenings. He's finally back to normal though. I think he was almost more excited to eat my cooking than to see me. He didn't enjoy authentic Chinese food.

Here are a few pics from his trip! He brought me home some carved jade souveniers and some amazing finger paintings! Search for "Chinese Finger Painting" on youtube.com! I've never seen anything like it!

P.S. Baby Oldham is the length of a banana this week - 10 inches from head to feet!

Trav rode a tram up the mountain overlooking Hong Kong.

Another picture overlooking Hong Kong! Trav says it's a beautiful city!

Travis found Aslan on the steps of a Chinese bank!

Here's a picture of the airplane he was working on over there.

All Dressed Up...Well Kinda

I work at the Boys & Girls Club and for Halloween on Friday we had a big carnival for all the kids. Last year I didn't dress up and I never heard the end of it, so this year I decided to make an attempt. For some reason, the kids thought I was sooo funny. They called me the "fat farmer."

I was actually going for cute cowgirl, but didn't pull that off very well. The overalls turned me into a farmer I guess. Here - judge for yourself!

These overalls are for a full-term pregnant woman so they were pretty huge on me ;-)

Hey Trav - thanks for the use of your shirt and hat. We had fun and my kids at work thought I was just the coolest!

Halloween and Pumpkin Carving!

Those who know me, know that I'm not a big fan of Halloween. From the looks of these pictures you'd never know it though. Travis loved carving pumpkins and this year we went and picked out the "perfect" one along with a fancy pumpkin carving kit (you know, the kind with all the patterns and little tools).

Well, then Travis got called to China and the pumpkin was left uncarved on our balcony.

So for Family Home Evening the Monday after Travis left, Pepper (the baby) and I got ambitious and carved a "cool pumpkin" like daddy wanted. If it were left up to me I probably would have cut out some triangles for eyes and a large O for the mouth. Simple and easy. But, in honor of dad, we tried our hand at intricate pattern pumpkin carving (say that 5x fast). Here's a look at our attempt.

The pre-carved pumpkin!

The carved pumpkin. It's much harder than it looks, really - it took me almost 2 hours!

However, it did look pretty cool all lit up! Trav, I hope you're proud! We thought of you the whole time!

In honor of Travis, we also watched "The Burbs." Great Halloween movie (and not too scary to watch by myself).

Me (and Pepper) after 2 1/2 hours of sitting on the floor carving a pumpkin. I was pretty proud of our effort (though I was sore and quite tired).

We're Seeing BLUE!

We had another ultrasound yesterday and the verdict was given...

It's A Boy!!

How exciting is that? I must say I was a little shocked, I was kinda expecting a girl for some reason, but hey, I'm happy to be wrong. Travis was plenty excited to receive the news over in China. He wrote right back talking about boy baby names. It's so fun to be able to connect a gender with the baby I've been carrying now for four + months!

Here's the ultrasound picture.

Personally I can't explain this one, but the nurse was pretty certain of her diagnosis so I guess we'll just trust her. Thank goodness she labeled it!

Here's a few other pics from the appointment yesterday too. Little Boy Oldham was moving around like you wouldn't believe. He flipped over from his stomach to his back right in the middle of the appointment and then several minutes later flipped back. He was waving at us and kicking a whole ton. I think I'm starting to feel those little movements. I can only notice them when I'm sitting pretty still or sometimes laying in bed. Being pregnant is soooo exciting!

Baby's profile! You can see the nose really well and the hand up next to the face!

This picture was soooo cool! He was giving us a "thumbs ups" sign!

Guess he's doing alright in there!

Hand and elbow picture - this one was so clear!!

Here's the knee and foot. We were able to see this one when he was flipped over on his tummy.

Last one: Here's the hand and elbow again, but his time you can see almost every bone - even the ribs and fingers!

Travis is going to China!

It was kinda of short notice ... okay it was really short notice. We were asked yesterday is Travis would go to China for a company project. They originally asked him to leave next week, but last night they decided it would be better for them if he left today. We had a little over 12 hours to get him packed and ready. Wow - it was a whirlwind! I dropped him off at the airport today around 1:00pm and his flight was at 2:30 pm or so. He's got a 10+ hour flight to Japan and from there several hours on to Hong Kong where he'll wait in a hotel for his visa and the hop a 45 minute flight up to Guangzhou, China!

Guangzhou's Location in China: 75 miles Northwest of Hong Kong

Here's the crazy part ... I don't know when he's coming home! Hopefully we'll know soon though. The company is still deciding exactly how much they need him to do, I guess. Trav's guess was that he'll be back sometime in the middle of November. Let's hope so! This is a great opportunity for him, but I miss him already and he's only been gone a few hours! He was pretty excited for this adventure though. I just hope he can navigate his way through foreign airports, connect with all the right flights, and find a hotel at night to sleep in. Good luck Trav!

Guangzhou City located on the Pearl River!

I found some information on Guangzhou that I thought was interesting.

Guangzhou, the capital of the Guangdong province and formally known as Canton, has been a major center for international trade for over 300 years. Guangzhou is at the center of South China's most important trade zone which includes Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta.

2000 Census: Population - 6 million

Metropolitan population of 8.5 million!

Most populous city in the province and the third most populous metropolitan area in mainland China. The official estimate of the metro's population at end 2006 by the Provincial Government was 9,754,600.

16 Weeks Pregnant and Buying "Mommy" Clothes

Hello Everyone,

Okay, it was time to go shopping. I tried to avoid shopping as long as I could, but my shirts were getting a little too tight around the tummy ;-) Trav finally convinced me to go about a week ago Saturday. He took me to Motherhood Maternity and we found several shirts and a pair of pants (on sale I might add). WOW - I didn't realize what I was missing! Maternity clothes are SO comfortable! Thanks Travis!

So here are a few picturesof the growing baby and belly!

Pink shirt worn yesterday for church! This picture makes me look plenty big huh?

This one is one of Trav's favorites!

I love this picture! This is one of my favorite shirts!

Baby's first ultrasound! You can see the little fist held up the the mouth!

October Ultrasound: baby's profile with the nose and lips labeled.

Baby's face close up - Happy Halloween!!

You can see the face, belly and one little fist on the right side.

Just checking if this works!

I've spent several hours on here today trying to figure out this world of blogging! I've realized several things:

• It's much easier to blog if you're not worried about it looking "cute"
• I'm not very computer literate
• Thank goodness for google.com and friends like Melanie who patiently try to help me figure this out!

Overall, this is it for now! Hopefully we'll get some pictures up soon. Trav made me promise that if we're going to have a blog I have to update it weekly if possible. Wish me good luck on that one :-)