Things I loved about this Christmas. . .

Things that I loved about this Christmas. . .

Hanging out with my wonderful hubbie. Doesn't he just look so mysterious? He's really not. I'm sure he's figuring out how to turn my blogging into a profit. j/k.

Watching my nephews open their Christmas gifts. We got my nephew Logan a toy guitar. What 5 year old wouldn't want a toy guitar?! He went to town on it. He even was laying on his backing wiggling his legs in the air as he was rocking it. It was awesome. Unfortunately his daddy didn't think it was so cool. He mentioned something about payback with annoying toys. We shall see!

Hanging out with my family &
enjoying my new camera (It has a panorama function. How awesome is that?!)

Baking lots and eating my wonderful chocolate trifle dessert (nobody gets in the way of my desserts! haha)

Observing the odd ways that our cat Franklin sleeps (how is that even comfortable for a cat?)


Decorating the nursery! We're almost done with it. Observe the adorable chipmunk in the crib. I found him on Etsy and I could NOT resist him. So of course he found his way into the nursery!! I need to think of a cute name for him! I'll post more pics when we're actually done with the nursery.

Hanging out with some old friends in high school. I seriously can't believe it's been 10 1/2 years. Gosh I feel old. Everyone looked great though (minus the mini-vans that everyone was driving. Haha. I know my day will come too).

Sam and I going to the Redlands temple. This was the view from the temple to Big Bear. It was breath-taking and the session was pretty awesome too!

SNOW!! Now, I normally don't like snow. But when Sam's home, and I know that we don't have to work or go anywhere, I do enjoy it. We got 2-3 inches, but it melted the next day. It was good while it lasted! :). I snuggled up with a good book while it was snowing. It was awesome!

Alas, my Christmas break is almost over (I go back to work on Monday. *sigh*). But I'm excited for next Christmas! Only 12 more months to go!

A Bit of Randomness

Ok, so I'm a bit behind in updating our blog (what else is new?! :)). Aside from receiving the most AWESOME news ever (read the post below), we've had a really busy past couple of months. In October, Sam and I went to our social worker, Sarah's wedding reception. Everything was so beautiful and she looked gorgeous. Here Sam and I are having some awesome Italian sodas!! Sam's only smiling because he didn't have to pay for the sodas. Haha!

Our social worker Sarah and I (finally, a friend my size! Haha!)

We also had my sister Em, her hubbie Matt, and my adorable nephew Luke come and stay at our house. I CANNOT get over his beautiful blue eyes!

We also went to my niece, Remi's first birthday party. I can't believe she's already one!

For Halloween, the other 1st grade teachers and I all dressed up like Miss Viola Swamp (from the Miss Nelson is Missing book). We looked pretty freaky, but it was still awesome. I really love these gals! :). Most of my students dressed up and our school had a costume parade. It was so cute to see their costumes and their happy faces! :)

Sam and I did our annual Disneyland trip. We usually go the weekend after Halloween. The crowds are usually mild and the weather is great. We had fun!

I LOVE all the Halloween & Christmas decorations that are up that weekend! It gets me all excited for the holidays!

The week before Thanksgiving, my class learned all about the first Thanksgiving. To celebrate we had an "authentic" Thanksgiving meal. We had Costco rolls, fried chicken, pumpkin pie & apple pie. Ok, so it wasn't quite authentic. In fact, I don't think a single one of those items was even at the first Thanksgiving. But, it was the best we could do considering nothing could be made at home - everything had to be store bought due to our wonderful state health laws. However, one of my parents is a professional chef and he made this BEAUTIFUL turkey center piece all made from fruit (the turkey's body was a canteloupe covered in grapes). It was SOO pretty that I didn't want to eat it. My students sure didn't have a problem with it though! That fruit tray was gone in a flash!

Sam and I have also been busy getting the nursery ready. It feels so weird to finally be able to put a nursery together, but we're really enjoying it. We bought all the main furniture already and we decided to go with a forest theme (bears, turtles, porcupines, owls, etc). It looks super cute! I'll post some pics when we're all finished!

Lastly, I've been busy writing the Literature Review portion of my thesis. That part is due next week, so I've been busy trying to get it all written. 2 other teachers and I are currently writing a book on Project-Based learning, which will count as our thesis. We're just doing the research part now (we each have to do our own Lit Review) and it's taken me FOREVER. I'll be excited once it's finally all done!

I think that's it for us! Sorry this is so random . . . that's kinda how we've been lately! :). Hopefully my next post will be a little more coherent!

The most AMAZING birthday gift EVER!!!!! :)

I had the most AMAZING birthday yesterday (and Sam didn't even spend a penny!). WE WERE OFFICIALLY PICKED BY A BIRTH MOM! :)! We've known for a couple of months that she's been interested in us. But yesterday we got a call from our social worker, Sarah, telling us that she had something for us.

So, after work, I drove down to our agency and Sarah handed me this basket (filled with onsies, diapers, washclothes, etc) and the most amazing card from our birth mom, letting us know that we've been officially picked!!! The crazy thing is that our birth mom had no idea that it was even my birthday! She couldn't have timed that more perfectly!

Our birth mom has asked for a very closed adoption. She wants 100% privacy, and so there's very little that we can tell you about her. We do have one request from everyone. We know that our birth mom is on Facebook. She is obviously still very sensitive about this situation and we want to respect her privacy wishes. So, please be very sensitive about posting anything on Facebook. Thanks!

So, our little BOY is expected to arrive on February 9th, 2011 and we couldn't be happier!! We can hardly believe that we're going to be getting a little one in 12 weeks. We have so much to buy and do before then, but we're ecstatic! :)!!

Below are the pics that Sarah, our social worker, took of me opening the gift. We really want to thank everyone for your help throughout this experience. We've never felt such an outpouring of love and support from everyone. You have all helped us so much that we truly appreciate it! Thank you all so much! :)

Rad 80's Video! :)

Ok, so I found this TOTALLY awesome literal version of "Total Eclipse of the Heart". When Sam and I watched this we seriously couldn't stop laughing, so I knew I had to share it. Enjoy! :)

Battlefields and Liberty Bells and Monuments, Oh My!

So, obviously I'm a bit behind in updating our blog. Things have just been super busy here with my classroom and my Masters program. Writing my thesis has been a daunting task, and it's consumed so much of my life (Anyone want to write it for me? I promise I'll pay well! :) ).

Although things have been pretty hectic for both Sam and I, we were able to go back East and visit my parents in the beginning of October. It was an awesome trip! The weather was beautiful, and the leaves were just starting to change. It was exactly what we needed!

So, the morning after we flew in (after only getting like 5 hours of sleep), we went with my parents to Gettysburg. Sam has been talking about going there ever since we visited Maryland at Christmas. So, I caved in and let Sam go. Haha! Here, Sam's showing his "manliness" by carrying a cannon. What a man!

I won't bore you with all the history, but a bunch of important things happened because of some war. Whatever. I was just excited about the views!

Ok, I'm only kidding. I know exactly what happened on this battlefield and I'm really grateful for the sacrifices that were made. It's crazy to think about Pickett's army and the thought of crossing this field. CRAZY!

Sam was enjoying every minute of Gettysburg. Mom and I enjoyed it, until about the 6th hour of driving around the battlefield. . . by then, we were a bit done! :)

The next day was pretty rainy, and so Sam and I decided to head into D.C. and go museuming. We went to the National Archives and saw the Magna Carta, the Declaration, and the Constitution. Unfortunately, we couldn't take any pics inside the museum. Following, we went to the International Spy Museum. It was WAY awesome seeing the spy weapons and cars. That evening, we met up with my Dad and we saw Ford's Theater. It's pretty crazy to think about all the history in that building!

On Tuesday, Mom, Dad, Sam and I headed to Philadelphia. It was another rainy day, but it was beautiful in Philly. We first saw the Liberty Bell. Like the Mona Lisa. . . I thought it was going to be MUCH bigger. Oh well!

Next, we went to Independence Hall. They're doing some restoration on the outside of the building (your hard earned tax dollars at work people!), but the inside was pretty cool!

So we did the tour inside of Independence Hall. We had the most animated tour guide, and he made it a fun tour. As I stood in this building, I kept having horrors/flashbacks of "A More Perfect Union" (Dad's favorite movie). *shudder*

Rain soaked street in Philly. While we were there, my one request was to eat an authentic philly cheesesteak. There were plenty of street vendors, but there weren't any places to sit and eat it. With the rain, we decided to eat at a restuarant inside. I'll eat my authentic cheesesteak one day!

On Wednesday, Sam and I headed back into D.C. to see more sites. We first went to the Bureau of Engraving, where they print most of our money (they also have a site in Texas). Sam was LOVING that museum. They showed us how they print the money and the colors they use. It was pretty fascinating. Sam wanted to take home loads of souvenirs, but he was rejected! Haha!

(In this pic, Sam is looking at a case which holds $1million in $5 bills. I had to literally pry Sam off of this!)

Next, we went to the Holocaust Museum. I've visited that museum before, but I think it impacted me more this time because of all the WWII things we saw on our Paris trip.

Afterwards, Sam and I went to the Washington Monument to ride the elevator to the very top! Here's a pic looking up at the Monument.


The view from on top was amazing! It was pretty creepy to feel the whole monument swaying in the wind, but it was so worth it!


Some of the flags that surround the Washington Monument. I LOVE the dark clouds in this pic!

Following, Sam and I walked to the other end of the mall to visit the Lincoln Memorial. Here we are on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial.

Good ol' Abe Lincoln!

Another good shot of the Washington Monument.

On Thursday, Sam and I headed to Arlington Cemetary. Here are some of the tombstones from Arlington.

We, of course, saw the changing of the guard. Perhaps it's because we went in the off season, but the changing of the guard took 30 minutes to do! They had 2 special wreaths that they put on the tomb, and so they had a special routine they had for each wreath. Sam thought it was a bit overdone, but I enjoyed it.

The view of D.C. from Arlington.

On our final day, Sam and I headed to Mount Vernon. We visited the 2 awesome visitors centers there (I'm not a huge visitor center fan, but these are WELL worth it!). And yes, we did see George Washington's dentures. . . and contrary to popular belief, he never had a pair of wooden dentures. The ones on display are actually made of hippo tusks.

One of the archways of Mount Vernon, looking out to the Potomac River. The location is just gorgeous and so it's a fun place to visit.

To finish off our day (and our trip), Sam and I took a nice, peaceful river cruise of the Potomac. It was so serene!

(Sam and I on our river cruise)

Well, we had an awesome trip! We were able to see lots of amazing sites (most of which I'd never seen before) and of course it's always good to see my parents. Now. . . if only I can get Sam a job back East! :).