Our bun ain't done!!

Yesterday I had an amniocenteses done to check and see if our little 'bun in the oven' was ready to be born. (Let me just say that an amniocenteses is NOT fun--I hope to never have another one!) My doctor has been stumped on this pregnancy because nothing has lined up...the due date, the period, the measurements...before she could deliver this little guy she wanted to make sure the lungs were developed. Well my doctor just called and said the results came back and 'our bun is not done'. Bummer! Good bye tax deduction! So long holiday baby! See ya later family! We are all pretty disappointed, we were looking forward to having family around when we had a baby. (Although Mimi will most likely stick around a little longer!) But we are so grateful our doctor was wise in this decision and we do not want our baby starting life out with immature lungs and at a disadvantage. At this point we do not know when he will actually arrive. I will see my doctor on Monday and she'll make a decision. She said maybe not for two more weeks, possibly around Jan 11. We will keep you updated...who knows maybe I'll go into labor in a week and he will have to come! But we just want what is best for this little bundle of joy and above all we want a healthy happy little son!

We wish you a Merry Christmas!

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We sure enjoyed our Christmas day, full of family, good food, and sunshine! We wanted to share some of the happenings of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with those who couldn't be with us:

Guessing Game!

Well we are down to a ONE week countdown until our little bundle of joy arrives! I thought it might be fun to have a little guessing game on this baby's weight...since we already know the day and time of his delivery we can't guess that! But feel free to leave your guess of how much this 'little porker' (as Grandpa Lewis likes to say!) will weigh! Hopefully he won't beat his brother's weight of 10 7!! --now that was a baby porker!!


We are really excited for our New Year's Eve Celebration at the hospital. Today's doctor's checkup went well. Because we are taking him a week early and he was measuring smaller in previous ultrasounds my doctor wants to do an amniocentesis on Friday to make sure he is fully developed and ready to be born. She said we will go ahead and plan on the 31st assuming all will be fine with the test results!!

12 Days of Christmas

This Christmas Season has been so wonderful! We've felt the Christmas spirit and the magic of the events are in our home-- it sure makes it fun with a four and two year old!! One thing that has added to the fun of the season has been receiving the 12 days of Christmas. Each day Ty and Mara get so excited to open an envelope from Uncle Scott and Aunt Lorisa. Each day for the past nine days they've been receiving a card in the mail with a new verse of the song The 12 days of Christmas so that they can learn to sing this song. (This was one of our favorites growing up by the Muppets.) Here's just a little clip of Ty singing:

Snow much fun!!

Oh the weather outside is frightful but the fire is so delightful!

And since there's no place to go:
Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!

Ty has been so excited to have it snow so he could play in it, but it doesn't stay long enough to actually play in...well Tillamook got dumped on hard on Friday and it was for sure a play in the snow day! We had so much fun running around in the snow. I pulled the kids in the sled around the house--probably not the smartest thing to do 8 1/2 months pregnant! But oh well, it was fun and the kids had a blast! We tried making a snowman but it was too fluffy to pack. Nate buried Ty in the snow up to his chin and Mara thought it was the funniest thing and tried digging him out!
Everything on Friday was closed and canceled due to the snow including our Ward Christmas party and Ty's preschool Christmas program. He was so excited to sing his Christmas songs--he's been working on them for several weeks now and couldn't wait to see his friends and teachers at school. Poor buddy, we'll have to have a little Christmas program when Mimi, Papa, & Blake arrive!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

It just feels, smells, looks, sounds and tastes like Christmas around here! It should too since Christmas is only 5 days away! We had a really good time making ginger bread cookies. It was just like play dough but tasted good! The kids loved decorating them and I think they had more sprinkles and frosting then cookie! But they sure tasted yummy!

I am happy to announce that my meltdown last week was for no reason at all because I am 98% ready for Christmas, baby, and company! YAY!!! I'm feeling much (much) better about everything, and can hardly wait for all the festivities to begin! The kids and I had so much fun pulling out all the baby clothes and getting them all ready for the new baby. It was fun to see all the little things Ty wore--although because of his size he really didn't fit in the newborn sizes!!

With 10 days to go until our little guy arrives I'm feeling GREAT, pregnant but great! What a blessing it has been to have such an easy pregnancy. I am very thankful to have felt so good the past eight months! My belly continues to grow, but it's nothing the size it was with Ty (thank goodness!) I'm finding it harder to get comfy at night, and all the trips to the little girls room in the middle of the night is getting to be annoying! But other than that I'm happy, healthy, and so excited for baby #3!!!

Snowy Sunday!

This morning when we woke up there was no snow, but as we ate our breakfast and got ready for church the snow really started coming down! Growing up in Utah I'm used to the snow and it makes it feel like winter and Christmas--here in Tillamook however snow isn't smiled upon! We got all ready for church in our Sunday best:

we drove safely to church, and as we sat down the Bishop made the announcement that after sacrament meeting church would be canceled! We barely got three inches of snow, all of which melted before the meeting was over, but Bishopric felt like everyone needed to be safe in their homes! The speakers for church actually slid off the road on their way to church this morning and had to call the Bishop and let him know they would not be able to speak. Ty was so excited about playing in the snow when we got home, only to be disappointed that most of it had already melted! Poor little buddy wanted to put on this snow gear and make a snowman!

as for the rest of our weekend..

Yesterday we went to the hardware store to buy some paint for our new project: the new staircase. While we were there Santa was visiting and giving out candy canes and cookies. Ty and Mara were excited to see Santa--only from a distance though! Mara pulled my finger over to where Santa was sitting and I thought maybe (just maybe) she would sit on his lap so I could get her photo-- NOPE! This was as close as she got:

she just wanted the candy cane from Santa but she needed me close by so she could get one! I thought Ty might want to sit on Santa's lap, but he said no way! Oh well...there went my chance for a cute photo of my kids on Santa's lap! Maybe next year!

I had a little anxiety/near meltdown about upcoming events this weekend! Just thinking about having to get the house all ready for company, get everything ready for Christmas, and get ready for a new baby all at the same time ---it made me a little overwhelmed!!! But we were able to work on the house and do a few more things for Christmas on Saturday so I'm okay now--no worries! I am really really excited about everything, and I know it will all work out.

Nate and I were even able to go on a really nice date last night:

The Oregon Coast Dance Company performed the Nutcracker last night and we were able to enjoy a little ballet recital! I haven't been to the Nutcracker since I was a kid and could hardly remember it, so that was nice to relax and enjoy a little Christmas concert. My favorite part was the teeny-tiny little ballerinas that came out in their candy costumes. It made we want to sign Mara up for ballet, but I don't think she's quite old enough, maybe next year she'll be ready for dance!

LOL--A few laughs!

LOL--we see it everywhere, in text messages, on blogs, sad but true I had no idea what it stood for for the longest time! I finally had to google the phrase and found out that LOL means 'Laugh Out Loud'!! So this past week we've had just a few LOL moments I had to share:

Who could help but laugh when they see this picture!! It's always wrestling and tackling daddy time!! I think we have a 'Ty sandwich" here!

We were setting up the Nativity Set and the kids were finding all the characters. Ty found the three wise men and said, "Mama here are the wise men...but where are the foolish men?"

Mara has learned to fend for herself with her big brother, she can be rather 'fiesty' at times and able to 'hold her own'. We were a little concerned about how she might be with other children, is it just with Ty or how does she do in nursery? We asked her teacher one Sunday and Sister Paladeni said, "Oh Mara is fine, she can sometimes be a 'cute little bully' but other than that she's okay!" ---We've never thought Mara as a bully before! Yikes!

Our heat source in our house is a fireplace, and the chimney runs right through the upstairs. We were all upstairs listening to the First Presidency Christmas Devotional via the internet and Ty noticed all the bricks were warm. I asked him why he thought the bricks were warm and what was making them warm...he responded: "I think it's because they feel the spirit!"

Mara is quite the talker, everything now has a name or a word for it--she's even making up her own vocabulary! Things like 'bobby--means band-aid, and every time she gets an ouch she wants a 'bobby'...sometimes she even wants a bobby for scabs or older owies!" The other day she found an ouch on her arm and said 'I need bobby' I examined her little boo-boo and came to realize it was not an ouch--rather it was grape jelly left over from breakfast toast!! I licked it off and said "All better!" She looked and looked again sure it was an owie, but soon realized it as okay! No bobby needed!

Yesterday I picked up Ty from preschool and he seemed rather down for some reason. When I asked him what he did in preschool he didn't really want to talk about it. When we got home he started taking his feelings out on everything (the door, the car, his sister) and I could tell my little boy was struggling. So I held him on my lap and said to Ty--"What's the matter little buddy? I can tell you are struggling." He finally said "Mama, my teacher at preschool wouldn't let me go nuts today. It's fun to go nuts!" Well at least I figured out why he was sad, it must not have been the right time and place for a kid to go nuts!!

Today we got creative and made pine-cone bird feeders. Ty asked if bird seed was good to eat. I said "No, but birds liked to eat it, it probably wouldn't be very good to us." He asked if it was poisonous and I said no. The next thing I know he put a spoonful of birdseed in his mouth and started eating it! He quickly spit it out and started wiping his mouth and tongue! "Yuck, that's disgusting! Bird seed is not good mom!" Why must he learn the hard way? I tried to tell him!!

Last but not least...my husband is always making me laugh! He's a really funny guy--just one of the things I love about him! The other night we were talking about things to get ready for the baby and he asked where he was going to sleep. I was planning on the baby sleeping next to my side of the bed in a little port-a-crib/bassanet until we were ready to put him in the big crib. Nate responded "Why don't I make him a bed!" I wasn't sure if he was kidding or serious on this one, at first I wanted to laugh, but if he was serious I thought I'd cry! I decided in a moment like this the best thing to do is laugh it off!! Ha Ha Ha--that's a good one! We have THREE weeks until this baby comes, not to mention in TWO weeks it's Christmas, and we have many other things to do in between that time!! Nate is amazing with making things out of wood--he just finished a new staircase, but I think we'll stick to the port-a-crib
Thanks for the laugh Nate--"I'll make my baby a bed!" That's a good one!

The Best Birthday!

What a great surprise! I thought for my birthday I would be going alone with the kids to Portland to visit the asthma specialist--but instead Nate had an overnight conference in Corvallis (two hours south/west) and invited us along! So we canceled all appointments and had a fun get away! We left early, early, early on Wednesday morning to get Nate to his meeting. While he was working the kids and I went Christmas shopping. I've had an urge to get all my shopping taken care of so I can focus on other Christmas things as well as a new baby! The kids and I had a great time in the big city of Corvallis--it was nice to have other options to shop at than just Fred Meyer!! We even went to a pet store and the kids thought that was so neat to see all the animals--no they are not getting a pet for Christmas but it's always fun to see parrots, fish, bunnies, and snakes!! We ate a great dinner at Ruby Tuesday's-it brought back many fabulous memories from our days in Logan (that was one of our favorite places to go and I don't think we've been there since.)
We noticed a bunch of Christmas lights and festivities down the road so we drove over to check it out. The Pepsi company put on a light show with music. We drove around the property enjoying the bright lights in the warmth of our car!

Ty's favorite part about staying in the hotel is the swimming pool! He asked from the moment we stepped in the door 'when are we going swimming?' Ty loves to swim, it doesn't even matter the temperature of the pool! And let me just say I don't think I've ever felt a colder pool! Ty jumped in and swam like a fish! Mara and daddy tried swimming in the cold pool for a little while but Mara decided she would be much better off in the hot tub with Mama! Ty was having a great time swimming until he got pulled under by daddy and started to cough--his coughing made him gag and you probably know what came next:-yup his entire plate of food ended up on the side of the pool!! Don't worry--we cleaned it up and decided that was enough swimming for one night! Ty said he was just fine and couldn't understand why he had to be done swimming!

To all our surprise Nate's meeting on Thursday was canceled! So we did a little more shopping and headed home! Thanks Nate for inviting us to come along and making the best birthday getaway! It was fun to see Corvallis and be with you!

Fun Filled Friday!

The holiday continued throughout the weekend! Not only did we eat yummy left overs all weekend but we also had some fun family outings!

On Friday we went to the Garabaldi Maritime Museum.

Ty loved taking apart the puzzle boat and putting it together again! He also liked the cannon!

Mara had fun trying on the hats and just running around!


But the most fun at the museum was playing dress up and putting on the costumes!

After the museum we headed up the Trask River in search of the perfect Christmas tree! We went to the tree farm to cut down our own Christmas tree. Who knew looking at pine trees could be so fun? Not to mention the yummy hot chocolate and apple cider we enjoyed!

We searched high and low for the most beautiful noble fur Christmas Tree and we found it! Well, it looked like the most perfect and beautiful tree...until we got it home and tried putting it in the stand!

We found the most perfectly bowed Christmas tree on the lot! You can kind of tell, but there is a definiate bend in our tree! Oh well, it's still pretty. Oh and another thing...trees look a lot smaller in the tree farm than in your living room! Let's just say there is plenty of room under this tree for a lot of presents!!

Our Day of Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today was perfect! What a wonderful holiday! We think Thanksgiving should be once a week--or at least once a month!

Our day included:

Playing games together--yatzee! "Come on big bunny" as Ty would say!

Doing a puzzle--the kids even love big hard puzzles!

We also watched a couple movies, read stories and took it easy... it kind of sounds like every other day of the week, but we had our daddy with us and it just felt like a special day!

One of our favorite things this holiday was making the pies together. Nate's favorite kind is pecan, but since this family can't eat pecans we tried a new kind: Almond Pie! Boy was it a winner! It was delicious! We also made a pumpkin pie--nothing says Thanksgiving like pumpkin pie!

Some of the things we were thankful for were:

Family
Friends
The gospel
Being together
Cell phones
Plenty of food including turkey
Dishwasher
Laughter
Good health


This was our fifth Thanksgiving away from family... it's crazy we've had more Thanksgivings away from family than with family! It seems to be getting a little easier for us each year to be away, but hopefully next year with any luck we could see the family for the holiday!

Lucky #7!!!

Good things come to those who wait,

GREAT things came when I found Nate!!

I am so thankful I didn't have to wait too long to meet this awesome guy!! WOW! Seven Years! Can you believe it?
When I think back to that cold January day in Logan when for some reason I had a crazy urge to go running in the field house at 6:00am how grateful I am that I got myself out of bed and went! It was the best surprise in the world to meet the man of my dreams running there as well!!

Our dating months were fun, we look back with fond memories, good times, and a lot of love!

I'll never forget the most beautiful day in November, when I thought for sure we would have snow and ice, but luckily it held off and we had a gorgeous wedding day!

Now seven years later (seven wonderful years I might add) we have sure had an adventure together, and it truly has been a great adventure! Seven years ago I would have never imagined me moving to so many states, seeing so many places, and doing so many things--but I would do it all again in a heart beat if it means being with Nate! I love this man! How could I have deserved such a wonderful guy? I'll never know! But with each year he keeps getting better and better!! He is perfect in every way! He is the best dad in the world, a great handy-man, I think he can fix about anything now (except for cars)! He makes me laugh, and he is my best friend-forever!
Love ya Nate!

A few photos from the past seven years together:

Bring on the rain!

When it rains...it pours in Tillamook! Yesterday we had the first (definitely not the last) flood of the season! It rained more than 5 inches yesterday, and with the high tide levels and over-flowing rivers we woke up this morning to flooded streets. This is the main drag--101 North!! No getting through this street! Highways and other roads have been closed due to mud slides and washed out bridges. For the past couple months we've had Emergency Preparedness Night for Family Home Evening. We never know when we are going to get hit with a natural disaster: flooding, tsunami, hurricanes...!! So we've been working on getting our 72 hour kits ready, and other emergency procedures in order. Now we need to work on our food storage, food storage food storage!!! But hopefully we will be prepared and not have to worry when a disaster hits! It was a little scary driving to mutual last night with the rain coming down in buckets! But we were all safe and grateful this storm has passed! I'm sure we will be seeing another storm soon!

Oh so yummy!

There's just something fun about licking the beaters (or spatula) after making a tasty treat--just as my husband and kids! This is one of their favorite things! On Sunday for dessert we made brownies--yum, the kids (and that includes Nate) loved licking the batter from the bowl and utensils! We especially liked seeing Mara's face after such an experience! How can one little sweetie be so messy!

Baby Update!

Baby Lewis #3!!
I know it's hard to see anything in ultrasounds, but here you can see his head, nose, mouth, chin and little hand there on the right

Yesterday I had an ultrasound to check and see if our little baby boy is growing properly and to give the doctor a better idea when he should join our family! (The last ultrasound I had done he was measuring two weeks earlier, so my doctor was hesitant to deliver too early.) So after having the ultrasound everything looks great! He is right on track where he should be. The technician said our baby weighed about 3 lbs which is exactly what he should be at right now. He said if he gains 1/2 lb a week from now to delivery day he will be around 8 lbs when he's born, which would be perfect! The funniest part about the ultrasound was when he was checking everything out on the baby and found his little tummy. He started to laugh and said "Look at the rolls on that kid! He's already chubby!" Oh great! He's taking after his big brother! Although if you knew Ty as a baby he really wasn't chubby around his tummy--it was all in his cheeks! In the ultrasound the baby looked just like Ty, but maybe all babies look the same on the ultrasound screen! All I know is I can hardly wait for our chubby little guy to come to our family!

Trick-or-Treat!

We had a really fun night at our Trunk-or-Treat at the church. They had a few games and activities for the kids, and Ty and Mara had a great time getting their buckets filled with candy! If you can't tell what my costume is...well I'm an oven with my 'baby in the oven' or as they say 'the bun is in the oven!' Everyone thought it was hysterical! (Thanks Heidi for the great idea!) Two months from today my baby will be done!

Here are a few more pictures from this week's activities:

Halloween Festivities!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

We have been celebrating Halloween all week long! Seriously I don't think there is anything more fun than having a 4 year old on Halloween! Every waking moment this week he has wanted to wear his costume and we have had plenty of opportunities to get dressed up! Let me give a quick background on the costumes! When I asked Ty what he wanted to be for Halloween he said a dinosaur--no surprise!! But where in Tillamook would I find a dinosaur costume? So I checked ebay--no luck! So I called Mimi and told her my dilemma and she headed straight to the Tooele Boutique (bless her heart!) There she found the perfect costume for my little Ty-Rex! But when we got it in the mail and tried it on it was too small (Even though it was a 4-6X I have one BIG T-Rex!) So I called again--Mimi saved the day and found matching fabric and I was able to sew some 'extenders' on the arms and legs! Thank you Mimi for all your help on the costume! I said to Ty "That is so cool that you are a Ty-Rex" And he corrected me and said "Actually Mama, I'm a carnatour!" I asked him what the difference was and he said, "Carnatours have horns, T-rex's don't!" So he is not just ANY dinosaur--he's a carnatour!! Mara's cute little costume came from a friend of mine in a bag of hammy-downs (Thank You Maryanne!)
Ty's favorite thing to do in his costume is chase the bunny and try to eat her!
"But Mama Carnatours love to eat bunnies!"

On Monday...

Here we are with our Art & Craft group. All the kids dressed up for a little Halloween Party!

At Art & Craft we decorated sugar cookies with frosting and sprinkles. Then we did sidewalk chalk outside--it was actually warmer outside than inside the building!

My little bunny loves cookies!

On Tuesday...

We visited daddy at work and took the Hebo Ranger District employees a little treat! The kids were thrilled to see their daddy during the day and his co-workers were pretty excited about a yummy Halloween treat!
We were even able to have a picnic with daddy up at Hebo Lake during his lunch break! It was mighty chilly however but we didn't mind--it was well worth it to see Nate!!

All this fun makes any bunny tired!

Thursday...

Here we are at our friend's the Sables for a fun Halloween Party. We played a few games like pumpkin bowling and pin the legs on the spider. Sandra made a yummy pudding graveyard treat! Sandra has three boys--Quinton (who was dressed as Lighting McQueen, Tyson-the bumble bee, and Eli-the ladybug!)

Ty had a blast at preschool today at his harvest party. He said it was really fun and they played lots of games. Tonight we are headed to the church for our trunk-or-treat party.

Fall Fun!

Fall is in the air--you just wouldn't know it with the GORGEOUS weather we've been having here in Tillamook! The past week an a half has been nothing but sunshine and blue skies! It's been warmer this week than the past summer! We had a BBQ and picnic outside one night for dinner, we've been working in the yard, and last week I took Ty & Mara up to canyon to see the beautiful colored leaves. I was actually surprised how green it still was up there. Ty and Mara had so much fun throwing rocks in the water (of course!) and Ty found a big stick and was 'fishing for leaves'!! Give him a stick and a rock and he's good to go for the entire afternoon! We went for a nice walk up the Trask River.
The Halloween season wouldn't be the same without carving pumpkins! For Family Home Evening we carved our pumpkin and the kids had a lot of fun pulling out the seeds and guts from the pumpkin! Ty helped draw the face on the pumpkin and although I thought our artistic daddy should do the honors of carving he let mama use the knife! Daddy did the design and I did the cutting action! Mara had fun for the first few minutes then she just wanted to hang out on daddy shoulders! One of our favorite parts of carving pumpkins this year was roasting the seeds---yum!

Stay tuned for some darling little kids in their Halloween costumes...coming soon!