Finding Christmas

I had a hard time getting into the Christmas Spirit this year. I think it's because I was too distracted by too many things. Like my pregnancy. And no snow in Seattle. And no going home to spend the holiday with all our family. And mailing gifts to loved ones instead of delivering them in person. And trying to help a husband through finals. And doing my best to keep up with a 2-year-old while being 8 months pregnant...you get the idea.

I'm happy to say, though, that I found Christmas. Just in time. And here is how.

Bradley
He is one amazing guy. First, he finished his finals, then quickly proceeded to get our home ready for Christmas. He sang carols all day. He took us shopping to make sure we had everything we needed. He played with Lainy constantly (she had missed her Daddy terribly during finals). He made dinner. And at night, he read us Christmas stories under the Christmas tree.

Our Lainy Girl
Brad's parents got Lainy a Fisher Price nativity set. She has spent the last three weeks playing with it. She has slept with the angel and Baby Jesus. She's even learned the whole story (with very few prompts). My favorite part is when the angel appears to the shepherds. Lainy says: "Angel say: "Glory to God in the Highest. On Earth peace, good will to men." It's adorable and so, so sweet.

2 Parents-In-Law
They came the Sunday before Christmas and filled our home with love and cheer until they left Christmas Day. They did my dishes, cooked meals, bought groceries, vacuumed my house, played with Lainy, brought a plethera of our favorite Christmas movies, treated us to some fun activities, and acted so excited to be spending Christmas with us, even though it must have been hard to be away from their home and other children. Our house felt very empty and quiet after they left.

The Ronald McDonald House
Brad wanted to be sure and make time to do some service this Holiday Season. We wanted it to be something Lainy could be a part of. So Brad grabbed his violin and we headed up to the Ronald McDonald House. We collected a small audience and Brad played them Christmas Carols. It was so neat to see the peace that beautiful music can bring people. I could tell that Brad's little concert helped get their minds off at least some of their worries. It was a special evening.

Nazareth Night
My favorite Christmas tradition. We turned off all the lights, lit candles, prepared simple food, dressed in ancient Israeli garb (towels on our heads and robes wrapped around us) and had a nice quiet night thinking and talking about that sacred night in Bethlehem. We read this talk by Elder Holland, which really brought the Spirit into our home. It was such a nice break from the hustle and bustle of all our other Christmas preparations!

The Christmas Ship
I'd heard about a tradition in Seattle where a cruise line decorates one of their ships in Christmas lights, hires a choir to sing on board, and sails around to the beaches and waterfronts of Seattle. Anyone who wants to decorate their own boat can follow behind the Christmas Ship, while people on the shore watch and listen to the choir. We decided to go. The beach was lined with hundreds of luminaries, and we arrived just in time to see the Christmas Ship pull into shore. What a fun tradition! The choir on the ship was great! The parade ended with the people on shore joining the choir in "Silent Night". It was something we could only have done in Seattle, and it made me grateful to be here.

Christmas Eve pageant
You can't let Christmas Eve pass without doing a little pageant. Not in our family anyway. Brad's Mom brought her script and the five of us acted it out as best we could. Lainy played Mary, Brad was Joseph, Mom was the angel, I was a shepherd, and Dad played a wiseman. It's always so neat to read the account straight from the scriptures.

Christmas Morning
Lainy was sooooo excited that Santa actually brought her a dollhouse and eaten the cookies she'd left out for him. I surprised Brad with a little gift that actually made him cry. I was shocked to discover that Santa had left us a double jogging stroller/bike trailer. (Hooray!!) It was so fun to open gifts and think about each giver. Isn't Christmas morning always magical?

So that is how I found Christmas this year. It was a little different, but wonderful and magical in so many ways! I hope you were able to find it too!

A Few of My Favorite Things. . .

This Mrs. Claus ornament. I think she looks so sweet!

This sweet Santa my parents gave to Brad and I a few years ago.

My Nativity.

The Wisemen that were added to my Nativity this year.

Having a 2 1/2 year old at Christmas time. She's so excited about everything and makes it magical for all of us!

And, of course, this man who just finished his finals and probably wishes he were back on a beach in Hawaii, but has been helping me cook, clean, and get ready for Christmas instead.

Merry Christmas Everyone!!

Baby

Today Lainy pulled me into her room saying she'd put her baby to sleep. This is what we found:

Cute hu?

Maybe I need to teach her not to cover up a baby's face with the blanket before we have a real baby around. . .

Speaking of real babies...ours is due in less than a month! Crazy stuff. We're getting excited!

Dr. Hansen (aka Brad) has put me on temporary bed rest until he finishes his finals on Wednesday.

Why did he put me on temporary bed rest? Well, maybe it's because I decided to carry all of our groceries up our three flights of stairs (in one trip) last week, which led to some contractions...which stopped after I layed down for a while. (In my defense, I couldn't decide if it would be worse to carry them all up in one trip, or to go up and down the stairs 3 or 4 times...I guess got my answer.)

Or maybe it's because I felt an overwhelming urge to re-arrange the furniture in Lainy's room (so it can accomodate another little girl soon), which led to some contractions...which stopped after I layed down for a while.

I'll have you know I'm being a very good patient now.

And Dr. Hansen is doing phenomenally well on his finals.

That's all for now. I hope you're all having fun getting ready for Christmas!

Singing Tigers and Honest Toddlers

So Lainy and I watched a few minutes of the Christmas Tree lighting at Rockefeller Center in NYC tonight. (On TV, not in real life.)

Aretha Franklin sang "Joy To the World" to start the show.

This is what she was wearing:

After watching Aretha for a minute, Lainy (always the commentator) turned to me looking thoughtful and said: "That tiger sings really good".

Ha HA ha!!!

I'm still laughing as I type this...

Thanksgiving Break

Here are some highlights of our Thanksgiving break:
1. My sister Hayley coming to stay with us. She's so awesome. We just love her!
2. Finding out my parents sent Hayley with an activity fund, which we spent on some really fun stuff we that we might not have done without the help. (Thank you!!)
3. Pikes Place Market (again). But this time it was much more lively. And yes, we did devour a dozen more mini donuts in about 30 seconds flat.
4. View from the top of the Columbia Center. It's twice as tall as the Space Needle and 1/3 the cost.

5. Watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade with a very excited 2-year-old. When Santa Claus came, Lainy yelled "Santa! Santa! Bring presents for everyone!" Too cute.
6. Spending Thanksgiving dinner with the family of one of Brad's med school friends. They were so kind! Dinner was delicious, and I was very grateful that I didn't have to cook a whole Thanksgiving dinner by myself.
7. Playing rock stars at the Experience Music Project (a museum) Friday morning. Brad was lead guitarist and singer, Lainy and I played the drums, and Hayley was on the keyboard. It was hilarious. Way better than Rockband (as we were playing real instruments in front of a huge screen of screaming fans who had apparently been sleeping on sidewalks for two days in order to see our show).

8. Salty's restaurant for lunch. Yum. The restaurant was decorated for the Holidays in huge six foot, handpainted nutcrackers. Lainy loved them (almost as much as her french fries and Brad's mango smoothie).

9. Watching Hayley and Brad trying to eat crab legs - complete with having to crack the shell to pull the meat out. It was messy, but it sure smelled good!
10. White chocolate mousse cake. It was heavenly. It might be worth the trip to Seattle if anyone's interested...

11. Taking a ferry boat to Vashon Island. I've been wanting to go on a ferry ride since we got here, and it didn't disappoint.
12. Seeing this in real life:

To fully appreciate how much this meant to us, you'll have to go read a Christmas book called "Red Ranger Came Calling". Seriously. Go read it. You'll be glad you did.
13. Shopping with my sister in interesting new stores only to discover once again (for like the hundredth time) that GAP clothes just fit our body type the best. Good thing they were having a sale...
14. Seeing the crazy UW Husky and WSU Cougar fans gather at Husky stadium for the highly contentious Apple Cup football game. (And the fact that UW won 30-0)
15. Sleeping after playing hard all weekend!

A short note to my sis: I love you! Thank you for doing my dishes, for your input on how to make my garland (it turned out cute!), for not noticing (or not commenting) when the 2-year-old was acting up and her mother was frustrated, for carrying Lainy down three flights of stairs every time we left the house, and for being so darn fun to have around. We miss you already.

A short note to my parents: Thank you for sending Hayley here. I still miss you though. Love you!

A short note to the rest of my family spread across Idaho, Virginia, and DC: I wish we could have been with you all for Thanksgiving! We miss you and love you! A lot!

Pike's Place

Last week Brad had a day off of school, hooray! We celebrated by playing tourists and going here:

We paid a high price for parking, walked around oggling at all the gorgeous fresh produce, and made a stop by this beauty:

Gross hu?! It's a monk fish. The guys at the stand have a string tied to its tail and if anyone gets close to it, they pull the string and the fish wiggles. We heard screams coming from that corner of the market the whole time we were there! Luckily, they only gave it a little wiggle while Lainy was close so she didn't get too freaked out. Though she did keep bringing up the "wiggling fish" all day.

One nice guy at the same stand pulled out a crab so Lainy could have a closer view:

As you can see, Lainy wasn't sure she wanted a closer view. I didn't blame her. That seafood looked like it had just barely been pulled out of the sea and could crawl or wiggle its way right off its icy display.

We ended our stay at the market by devouring something we could all really appreciate: delicious, hot, sugary mini donuts. Yum!

After the market we walked down to Seattle's waterfront. It was chilly, but the sun was shining (and what more can you ask for in Seattle?)! Sometimes we have to pinch ourselves that we actually live here.

Just to prove we were all there together, we asked a lady take our picture. She grabbed our camera, pointed, and shot the picture without giving us the old "One, two three!" or "Say cheese!" or anything. So this is what we ended up with...

Thanks lady!

It was a fun morning! Wiggling fish, parking fees, donuts, and all!

Prego

Last night I asked Brad if I in any way resembled a hippo.

He said no.

"Then maybe a buffalo?"

No again.

"Then maybe, perhaps, do I vaguely look like a redneck guy with a beer belly?"

A tiny smile, then another "no".

And I was satisfied. . . until I tried to hug him and ended up giving him a belly bump instead.

Still, it's nice to have a sweet husband when you're 32 weeks pregnant and feeling fat and awkward. Especially after a guy at church walks up and says, "Wow, you look way more pregnant than last week".

To his credit, he was totally right.

To my credit, I only smiled, chuckled, and agreed (instead of pointing out how very dangerous it can be to make a comment like that to a pregnant woman).

And if you've been dying to see a prego pic, I guess I'll oblige just this once. . .

By the way, I do know that I am full of it, and that I have been blessed with uncommonly good pregnancy genes. (Thanks Mom and Dad!) Still, I'm allowed to poke fun at my pregnant self once in a while, right?

Cookies

This is what Lainy and I did while Brad studied tonight.

Gathered ingredients

Measured and mixed
Scooped and dropped

Waited anxiously

Admired

Consumed with cold milk. Yum!

I love having this little girl around!

A Happy Halloween

Halloween was a little bit funny for us this year. For some reason the Medical School scheduled their Cardiology Final exam on Monday, November 2nd. Since Brad doesn't study on Sunday, it meant he had to study really hard all day on Halloween. My parents were here to lessen the blow, but we still missed Brad!

Lainy was a Fairy Princess for Halloween. Just for the record, I think she was the cutest one I've ever seen. She had a tutu and a wand (both of which I made), some fairy wings, and a tiara. She loved it! She kept twirling and dancing and waving her wand. It was adorable. See for yourself!

So on Halloween day, we just played around with my parents, got Lainy all dressed up, picked up Brad to go trunk-or-treating for an hour, dropped Brad back off to study, and headed home to play and wait for trick-or-treaters.

Our Fairy Princess trunk-or-treating. Brad went as a tired Medical Student, can you tell?

We saved most of our Halloweening for FHE after Brad's test Monday. We carved our pumpkin, made milk-shakes with leftover Halloween candy bars, and listened to spooky music. We had a fun night (even if it wasn't technically Halloween)!

Feeling the "yucky slimy stuff". Yes, that is a direct quote from Lainy.

Finished product. Lainy said she wanted a funny face - do you think we accomplished that?

Family Pic with our Mr. Pumpkin Head (I know it's a bad picture. We're cuter in person, I promise)

Hope you had a Happy Halloween too!

Visitors

We had visitors last week! My parents came on Thursday and left Sunday morning. We loved having them here!

Our activities included showing my Mom and Dad around our neighborhood, going to REI (my Dad's all-time favorite store), walking along Alki Beach and throwing rocks in the water, eating at an amazing restaurant (Salty's on Alki), going to the University Village, playing at home, eating more good food, going to REI again, and going to our stake Trunk-or-Treat.

Unfortunately Brad was MIA for most of the weekend. He had a huge test he needed to prepare for, so we had to plan things without him. It was a bummer, but I was glad my parents were around because it could have been a lonely weekend for Lainy and I.

I was awful at remembering my camera, but here are the few pictures I took of the weekend.

Throwing rocks on Alki Beach

View from Salty's restaurant

Trunk-or-Treating

We were sad to see Mom and Dad leave Sunday morning. After Lainy and I returned from dropping them off at the airport, she kept asking me if we could go back. I'd ask her what she wanted to do and she'd say, "Go to airport! Gamaw and Papa coming soon!" Needless to say, we miss them already.

Thanks so much for coming, Mom and Dad!! We love you so much!!

It's Autumn Time!

It's autumn time, it's autumn time, the leaves are falling down...

Do you know that Primary song?

I love Autumn! It is my favorite time of year. I love the crisp air, the colors, the smells, the cute sweaters and jackets, oh just about everything that comes with Fall.

I must say that I am loving Autumn in Seattle. It has been gorgeous!! The air is fresh and crisp but not too cold, so the leaves are all staying on the trees and looking fabulous.

Here are some things that we have been doing to celebrate Autumn:

Going on pony rides (It was fun while it lasted, but Lainy threw-up a few minutes afterward...I guess it didn't agree with her.)

Enjoying gorgeous views from our balconyGoing on walks
Collecting leaves and making leaf rubbings
Eating candy corn and drinking apple cider (but not together...gross)

Getting ready for Halloween! (We made this collage to hang on our fridge.)

In other news, I'm now in my third trimester of pregnancy! And boy am I feeling it. Maybe I have a skewed memory of being pregnant with Lainy, but I don't remember feeling this uncomfortable and achy until I was closer to my due date with her. Still, I only have a few weeks left! Hooray!

Stay tuned for Halloween updates and a visit from my parents (who are coming Thursday)!