Sneak Peek!

Baby #2!!!

Coming late April/early May

Amazingly, no doctors, medications, or procedures were necessary, despite being told earlier this summer we only had a 2-3% chance of conceiving on our own. Our tentative plan was to try in vitro again next year, but thankfully we don't have to worry about that now!

I am about 14 weeks along and starting my second trimester. We'll find out what we're having a few weeks before Christmas :)

We are excited to share the good news and are so grateful for another miracle!

A few Halloween pics

Jackson and my friend Andrea's cute boys:

Bam Bam and a couple of cousin garden gnomes:

A sleeping skunk and papa gnome (love the mullet Jer!):

Hopped up on sugar after trick-or-treating:

Bam Bam

Indoor version:

Outdoor version:

Ready for Halloween!!!

Carving pumpkins 2010

I look forward to carving pumpkins every year. My sister's family joined us Monday night and we ended up with these beauties!

Dave carved the awesome witch on the left for Hayley, Emily carved the pirate skull for Max and Adam, Sean and I collaborated on the "R" in the middle, I carved the Mickey Mouse for Jdawg, and Sean carved the spooky guy on the right. And yes, we all used patterns!

And just for kicks I had to take a picture of our pumpkins on the doorstep.

Until next year!

Yosemite

Since we've been married we've been able to travel all over the United States together, but it's usually been for work or other reasons. It was due time for a family vacation! We've been wanting to visit Yosemite National Park for a long time and thought Sean's fall break was the perfect opportunity. We decided to spend a few days in the park and end our trip in San Francisco.

I was a bit nervous when our trip started out with Sean losing his wallet in Winnemucca, NV. I was also a little worried about the drive, but we invested in a dvd player and it seemed to do the trick.

We made it!

Yosemite was GORGEOUS and did not disappoint. It was amazing scenery everywhere.

Day 1

Bridal Veil Falls (No, not the ones in Provo Canyon):

Falls are behind us towards the left:

Tunnel View:

Swimming at our hotel (Sean and Jackson are in the middle):

Day 2

Mariposa Grove of giant sequoia trees:

Sean and Jackson are standing at the base of the tree on the left:

Standing inside the tree:

The Grizzly Giant:

Jackson ate it on the trail back to the car and skinned his knee. I didn't realize until we got back to the car that he bled all over my white shirt when I carried him. Needless to say, I was grateful there was a gift shop in the parking lot with a cute Yosemite shirt for sale. I was worried I would have to spend the rest of the day walking around in a shirt with a wolf howling at the moon!

Washburn Point:

They are sort of hard to see, but there are two waterfalls in this picture. One on the right in the center of the photo and one in the center on the bottom.

Glacier Point (Half Dome on the left):

This last picture was pre-Jackson's meltdown. I may or may not have finally caved and given him Sean's Dr. Pepper (much to the dismay of another tourist) :) Really though, I cannot complain. He was so well behaved the majority of the time and I was really glad he was with us.

Also, it was really nice going in the off season. I hear it's crazy in the summer. Traffic for us was minimal and we never felt crowded. It was a great beginning to our trip and we're glad we finally went!

San Francisco

After spending a few days in Yosemite it was on to San Francisco!

The drive was fairly uneventful, though we enjoyed driving by all of the nut orchards. It was harvest time for pistachios and almonds. We ended up stopping at a farm and buying a bag of each. Yum!

Sean scored us a deal on a sweet hotel in downtown San Francisco and it was close to everything. The trolly stopped one block away and there was an enormous mall right across the street (with the biggest Nordstrom I've ever seen) :)

Waiting for the Trolly:

Fisherman's Wharf:

Oh crab... how I wish I could eat you!

Of course we had to go here:

Where we stopped here:

So we could eat this! mmmmm...

Jackson was pretty fascinated by how the chocolate was made.

He was also fascinated with chasing the pigeons.

Somehow we lucked out with amazing weather. When I think of San Francisco I usually think of it being cold and windy. Temperatures were in the 80's the entire time we were there!

We took a ferry trip around Acatraz and the Golden Gate Bridge. We had headphones and listened to little tidbits about the history of San Francisco. We all loved it.

Alcatraz

View of the city:

This is the only picture we got of the whole family in front of the bridge-- Jackson was more interested in running around the boat than posing with his parents.

Checking out the seals at Pier 39:

Merry-go-Round at Pier 39:

Where we ate dinner at Fisherman's Wharf:

The food was awesome. We looked at reviews before heading down there and we were not disappointed. We had to laugh because usually people eat clam chowder when they visit San Francisco. We are a bit of an oddity though since I couldn't eat it because I am allergic to shellfish and Sean couldn't eat it because there was flour in the soup. He ended up getting shrimp (which I can't eat) and I ended up getting pasta (which he can't eat) It was a good compromise I think! ;) Not to be forgotten, Jackson must have been starving that night because he ate every single bit of his macaroni and cheese (and it was not small) and then started digging into my dinner! I think I could live off of the sourdough bread alone.

Day 2

View from our hotel window:

Watching cartoons after waking up:

After we got going we walked a few blocks over to a place called Sear's Fine Foods. I guess they are sort of known for their breakfast. The atmosphere was cool and we all loved our food.

Of course we had to take a trip down Lombard street:

Jackson was asleep when we took this one:

We also went through Golden Gate Park and drove over to Sausalito for lunch. We finished our day with dinner at an awesome pizza place called Amici's. They had gf crust for Sean, which he said was really good. They bake their pizza in stone hearths and it was some of the best pizza I've had. Sorry for the play-by-play of everywhere we ate, but I want to remember them for when we go back!

The next morning we stopped at the ferry building marketplace before heading for home. I bought a sourdough round (which I consumed nearly entirely on my own for the next week) and Sean bought some yummy gf cinnamon rolls and focaccia bread from a bakery there. We made a quick stop at my uncle's in Sacramento and then bid adieu to the sunshine state.

I'm so glad we had the chance to take a family vacation. We had such a great time exploring and spending time together.

And guess what was waiting for us in the mail when we got home-- Sean's wallet! Some nice guy found it and mailed it to us :)