Emma has 6 weeks left

Isn't she beautiful. I know she is ready to have this child. Can't tell from the front but got a side view for everyone.

B-E-A-UTIFUL!

It was snowing all day yesterday and finally started to accumulate last night, now look at it this morning!!! It is beautiful! Call me crazy but I love winter. There is something about waking up on a Saturday morning in a warm bed and looking outside to see slow snow falling. Yes I now have to shovel but it is good exercise, I am sure it will take me a bit longer but what do I have to do today? NOTHING except enjoy this beautiful day =) I would be lying if I said I was not sad about missing the first half of snowboarding season but hopefully I recover fast so I can get out there in February!

Check out the babay bellay

It's that time again, another belly pic. 25 weeks, closing in on 5 and a half mos...I cannot believe I will be a mama in less than 4 months!!! So I know I was kind of sour about the pregnancy the last time I posted a pic. I would still just rather be able to do the "I dream of Jeannie" head nod and have a baby BUT besides the ribs hurting it is not so bad. I am feeling baby D move a ton and of course I have something to say about that. Very cool but very creepy. I had a true alien experience the other day, here I was trying to push back and mess with the kid the all of a sudden I felt a very weird swoosh across my entire stomach and it felt like something was trying hard to claw its way out. I got goosebumps and jumped because, well, it was just plain freaky. Don't get me wrong, I love this little baby with all my heart but I just get all caught up with the thought of something living in me. Oh and if any of you want to know what to buy stock in go for the coco butter because I am using it like crazy trying to prevent good ol stretch marks. I cannot mess up my new tattoo now! (jk) I do feel though like my stomach cannot stretch anymore and it is not even that big yet, how this all happens amazes me. I do have to say that women's body's and their capabilities are amazing!
I did it, not only did I finally post a bare belly pic I did a close up! Y'all should feel so privileged ; )

I was checking into my health benefits the other day and what happens when I move to Colorado and they told me I have to have the baby on base, not only on base but I have to go to the Army hospital. NOT COOL!!! Not to make judgements but...well...ok so I am going to make judgements, I DO NOT want to go there. Especially this being my first kid and not having my mom or sis there to tell me everything is ok totally freaks me out. People have said that when they have gone there it was a huge room with multiple women in there separated by sheet walls. Yes, once again that was SHEET WALLS. Not going to happen. Ugh, woosaaa... I just want to find a nice quite relaxing place where people actually wear white coats and scrubs, not that camo crap. It's just all wrong, that is what I, my dad, and my brothers wore to go shoot animals. That is what people wear to go fight war, this is not war people this is simply having a baby. Anywhoo, I did some research and found out I can tweak my military insurance a bit so I can go see a normal doctor. I found a great place where there is one doctor and one midwife, and their website said they are accepting new patients!!! So I called them today and told them the moving situation and the Lady's voice was very disappointing. She was like "oooh, um let me try talking to one of the doctors and, um, see if they can take you so ahhh, late?" I am so frustrated and still waiting for a call from them :( I think I was a bit too lax when I had the "there are plenty of doctors who know how to deliver babies it will be fine" attitude. I need to quit being so easy going and start being more opinionated, bossy and persistent. I am sure I will be updating this soon ; ) I am also sure no matter how hard I try I will never be able to aquire those qualities.

Graduation!!!

YIPPIE!!! Luke has officially graduated! He had the choice to go to Alaska to graduate or to Arizona...of course we went to Arizona one because family is there and two plane tickets to AK are ridiculous. I am so so so proud of Lukey, he has worked so hard at trying to complete his degree while being in the military. I would ignore the commercials that say "join the military and complete your degree while you serve" because depending on what career field you are in it is not easy at all to take classes. But Luke managed to buckle down and took every chance he could to get his classes done. And surprise! Cindy McCain was his guest speaker. We had no clue until we looked at the program and saw her name. I guess it makes sense since she is from Arizona. She gave a pretty nice speech giving props to the military graduates and how hard they have to work to get this completed while keeping their careers number one.

Seriously! If any of you remember my graduation and Luke's graduation from the Air force you will recall that the pictures turned out fuzzy...WHAT THE #$^@ This is so frustrating all I wanted was to capture his big moment but fuzz is all we get. I think we better invest in a very nice expensive camera by the time our kids graduate because this is ridiculous.

Once again CONGRATS BABY!!! You did it and I am SO proud of you and the person you are becoming for our family, I love you too much. CHEERS!!!

Baby D

Check out our little baby!!! I just wish I could hug and squeeze it. We went home for a week and while it was very busy I am very happy I got one thing done...REGISTERED! Me my sister and mom went and I am so happy that I had their help. Picking out a bottle sounded like a piece of cake until I got to the "bottle wall" oh and then there is the "nipple wall." Holy crap I never thought anything could be so difficult, it got to the point where I had to have my mom and sister tell me what to get. I still have to make a couple adjustments but I am feeling pretty good about it :)

So the sex of the baby...the Dr said she could tell and that 90% of people find out what it is. I think she wanted us to find out but I told her we wanted to be the 10% that pisses family off by not finding out. I still have a feeling it is a boy. What do you think it looks like?

18 weeks

It is pretty sad. Luke and I found ourselves full out cleaning the house FRIDAY night, what the heck? How does this happen, I want Pam my maid from Alaska back and a fun Friday night. I can only imagine it is going to get worse once this "nesting" thing that is supposed to happen kicks in. Too bad Luke will not be here to enjoy it. He has been waiting and waiting for me to start so he does not have to clean the house (since he is the one usually doing it) but he is going to be in Texas training for a bit. I told work that I am going to work up to Christmas and then be done...I hope I am not early because that is just three weeks before I am supposed to pop this thing out.

I had my first pregnancy nightmare last night. I had a dream that I went to the doctor and they told me that I was not as far along as they thought. They said my new due date was JUNE 2010...SHUT THE FRONT DOOR. So I made them do some other kind of test and they said oh yeah we were wrong it will not be that long. You are due MAY 2010...still not OK, I was totally freaking out in my dream and trying to figure out if I was really human. Needless to say I woke up and all was well except just a couple days ago when I woke up my gut was still pretty flat but now it sticks out. No more even trying to suck it in for me. But the super cool side of being almost half way through this "great journey" is that I am feeling it move every day which is pretty cute =0) Luke wants to feel it so bad, but I think it just isn't strong enough yet.

So here we go again...a picture of me getting FAT and forcing a smile. I am going to make Luke take one with me next time except I am sure he will not feel as self conscious as I do, I should make him post a naked picture then he will get it!


Gosh I just read over this message and dang I make it sound like I really hate this. In all honesty I do not like the process of it so far at all. BUT I love the fact that in just 4-5 months I am going to have my own little baby to love the crap out of. And then when I start freaking out about it growing up and trying to teach it the right way to do things I just remember that I have Luke and he is going to be the best parent ever so I think we have it covered. Dang how did I get such a great hubby?

Here it is...

I could not bring myself to put a bare belly pic because I just feel fat right now. I know it is a cool thing but so far only two things have been awesome about this pregnancy thing. 1-finding out! and 2-hearing the heartbeat the second time because it was so much louder and stronger. Other than that this is not nearly as glamorous as I thought it would be....but we will get there someday I am sure. It will probably make it better when Luke actually believes there is a kid in there!

No Pictures

Sorry there have been no pictures but I have nothing to take pictures of...my house is not the cleanest, I have not been doing anything fun, I look like a total bum, and well I guess I just do not care right now. Seriously, I do not know how I am going to get through this. I felt fine for a while then my 6th and 7th weeks my nausea started to kick in, my 8th week SUCKED and now I am in my 9th week and I think it is gonna be just as miserable. The other morning I woke up and went strait to the cupboard to get some cereal I did not even bother fixing my twisted shirt or running my fingers through my knotted locks to try and look somewhat presentable. Luke was on the couch and just starring at me, I was just waiting for him to say "your the one that has wanted this forever" but he didn't. He just started laughing when I told him those words better not EVER cross my ears...I think he has been wanting to say this for some time now. This is not just morning sickness people this is going on ALL DAY LONG no matter what I do. My stomach full or empty still feels nasty nasty nasty. Here are the things I have tried, preggie pop drops, crackers by the bed before I wake up, gingerale, a lot of small meals, ginger pills, getting up at 3 am to have crackers and milk, lemon water and NOTHING! No relief. Work is sucking more and more each day because I am trying so hard to focus on not puking that I feel like I get no work done...not a good thing since my job requires alot of motivation and spunk. Just as I think I am feeling better the tonsils start to twinge.

I had the weekend to myself, Luke met all his buddies in Chicago for the Twins game. He apparently drank a bit too much and mixed with only 6 hrs of sleep the whole time has been feeling sick himself. Normally I like when he is sick so I can take care of him and cook for him and just try to make him feel better. HA! Not this time my dear lukey poo. I am concerned about me and only me, I have not had to hear him complain because I think he knows that I would not want to hear it. His is self induced mine is EVERY FLIPPIN DAY. I told him that at least he had fun getting his ill feelings! I love him dearly and I feel very bad but for some reason I just do not have the sympathy this time.

So anyway, no pictures because we are both feeling nasty and I am just to dang lazy to get up and get the camera. Heck, dinner can burn for all I care!

What Is Wrong With Me?

Ok, for those of you who know me well you know that my nightly snack is a bowl of ice cream (preferably chocolate), a brownie or cookies and milk! I can not go to sleep without it. So I know I am pregnant but I have no clue what is going on. Luke just made chocolate chip malts and I even had a pink straw, I took about 5 sips and gave it to him and went and got some cheese, crackers and juice. What the hell? This is SOOO weird. I just do not get it, I thought that my chocolate addiction would only worsen but it is slowly disappearing and I am beginning to love the thought of fruit, fresh cut grass, and juice. All I gotta say is "what the &$%#"

A Tat and Biking Story

So I got this tattoo about 2 years ago in Alaska. First the dude did the outline (which you can tell is kinda crappy) Then I went back and got "color" but if you notice the color is well.....very sad. I finally found someone here in Cheyenne that does a ton of flowers and loves color so I finally made an appt. Here is the Before...

And this is the after. He totally fixed the color and reworked the lines. If you compare the pink flower on the bottom in this pic to the same flower in the pic above you can clearly see that this new guy rocked it out. He had some great ideas of other ways to make it pop and I also wanted him to be able to put his own creative twist on it rather than just coloring in someone else's pic so I made another appt....

The background he put in really makes the color pop and I LOVE IT! This was fresh so the background which looks black here has lightened up to the grey that it is supposed to be. He wants this to heal and then he is going to go back and throw a few color streaks into the grey background and I am going to see if he can put my families initials in yellow in the stars, that is what I wanted in the first place so stay tuned!!!

OK, so you can see Luke's big head stick out of the helmet but their is a story behind this. Luke organized and volunteered this last Thursday for the Law Enforcement Special Olympics torch run. He picked up the torch just like the real Olympics in Wheatland, Wy and ran it through their town as he was cheered by the athletes that were competing in the games. Once they got it to the outskirts of town, they jumped on bikes and road the bikes from Wheatland to Cheyenne which is 72 miles. He didn't ride the whole way, he had others to help him out but he rode 10 miles which for someone that doesn't ride a bike, that was a lot. In the end, they made it to Cheyenne with no problems and they were able to run it into the opening ceremonies that night. The Wyoming Special Olympics kicked off with a bang that day all because Luke and the others were able to deliver the torch.

4 Months Later....

Luke swears our life away, well I guess swearing that we will have more opportunities! We found out that his package got approved when no one elses is. So we took it as a sign from God and decided to stay in another 4 years. He will not be a cop anymore as of August (which is great as far as his schedule goes...also deployments will be fewer and he will be gone for less time) and will then be in contracting. This job gives him a ton of opportunities to do this on the civilian side. Our "plan" is to finish these next 4 years, I will be further in my career with UOP, Luke will have his experience in security and as a contractor and hopefully be an officer by then and get out and do the contracting job as a civilian for more $$ than the AF pays. That is the plan anyway but the plans never turn out the way we thought so we are just gonna roll with it! We are excited for our adventure, it will be interesting to see where they will send us...if they even decide to move us from Cheyenne.

Aaaand our special brother Justin, once again caught in a Kodak moment. Yes our little Justin on Christmas morning (i know we are a few months late on Christmas) received a new helmet for Christmas since his old one was worn out...oh yeah he is also wearing one piece jammies.

Justin and Jody sporting their fun Xmas gifts, if you can not tell what Jody is wearing check out this next pic....

HUGE GRANNY PANTIES!!! Nice rear Jody

Wedding time! So a long time ago I told this girl my brother knew that I wish she was my sister in law some day. And my brother Jason and my finally sister in law Kate got married a couple weeks ago.

Me and Jas before the big moment. It was so neat, they did not see each other before the wedding, it kept the suspense. I was in the girls room one minute and Kate was talking about how her hands were sweaty then I went into hang with Jason and he was like "dang my hands are sweaty" perfect! they were already having sympathy pains for each other ;)

Me Kate and Donna. Kate did such a great job matching the colors. Her dress was champagne and our dresses were all different black styles with champagne accents...it looked so sharp.

Dad, Donna, Mom, and me. My Mom and Dad were so cute, they were totally matching and my Mom wow! I sure hope I get her beautiful genes, she looked stunning...I know my big (little) sis got them, she was so cute in her tiny little dress....no it wasn't a mini skirt she is just a peanut!

oops! this one is supposed to be further up. Luke is signing the actual papers here...I was so nervous I was almost in tears. For those of you who know me very well I cry for everything, happiness, sadness, excited, nervous, angry...? But we are both so happy with our decision!

Mmmk Back to the wedding. Jason and my sisters youngest Albert, notice his Johnny Poppers, they are john deer cowboy boots. My sister can not peel them off of him to save her life, now he has a cowboy hat to go with them...too cute.

By brother Jared secretly caught the garder but he handed it to Henry (my sisters middle son) quick so no one would see. Many think this is a myth but this garder has HISTORY! Jason caught it at Kate's sisters wedding and her husband caught it at another wedding and back and back (something like that ) I smell another wedding in my families future.

Jason and Scottie rockin it out. It was so much fun, I don't think I have ever danced that much in my life! The majority of the music played was country...perfect for my family and a straight up ho-down!

Luke even danced...THAT WAS A SIGHT

We had so much fun but had to leave that next night, its always so sad to say bye to family. I asked Jason and Kate if we could do it again this next weekend! -7 kegs and all-

It was so nice, everyone kept telling me what a great family we have. I always knew we were very close but never realized that many other families aren't. I feel so fortunate to have such fantastic parents and siblings, I would wish for nothing more than the relationship I get to have with them...never thought it would be this way after all those years of my little bros picking on me :) Just hope I can do as good of a job with my future family as my parents have done with us...I am so excited to have Kate with us now to experience it all, she is the perfect addition!

We don't like the Packers

Yeah right! While the whole family was together in Phoenix for Christmas Karin and Brad arranged for us to get family pictures taken at their house (perfect backdrop if I may say). Their friends came out and did an amazing job!

Our one casual pic that turned out quite nice after chopping down branches and fixing the bench that kept sinking in the ground.

All the kids

The girls with one of their horses butts...how convenient

The manly men....how do they not have a horses @$$ in the background? hummm

Me and my baby

K, so Jody is probably going to kill me for selecting this picture but I had to. Among all the green and gold Jody's red striped socks kept peeking out in all the pics so she decided to show em off and not hide them. I think its pretty darn cute!

And last but not least Brad and Karin. We had such a great time and the whole family was such a joy to be around during the holidays. Thanks guys!

PS...Stay tuned, more Xmas pics to come including another fab pic of our bro Justin.

Skating in Phoenix

Among the many activities we did as a family ice skating was one of them. I must say it is much harder than I remember, it probably did not help that our skates were dull as jello.

Dan used to play hockey, eventually all of us migrated off the ice to the benches to stuff our faces with way over priced hot dogs and rest our aching feet. But little Danny was no where to be found, we finally spotted him skating his little heart out with a huge smile on his face, round and round and round and round he went. I have a feeling it brought him back to the good ol days. And once again our super special brother Justin, yes the kid that we snap ridiculous Kodak moments of (usually in front of the mirror). Look at the person that is balancing so gracefully doing a swan-like sweep across the ice....yep, that would be Justin, ONCE AGAIN!

Thanksgiving...now that it's Xmas!

For Thanksgiving my brother Jason and his fiance Kate stopped by our place in Cheyenne, spent the night, then we all drove to Denver(ish) Colorado to Kate's parents super cute cabin in the mountains. First I have to say that I was so excited that they made the time to stop by our place since they were my first visitors since I moved out. In preparation I sprayed the crap out of our place with allergen reducer since Jason is allergic to cats, I was sooo worried that he was going to be miserable but he held up pretty darn good. We did not do much that night, we went to dinner and the country bar, went to bed a bit early so we could get an early start on our Thanksgiving day meal and travel into the mountains. We ended up eating our turkey and everything about noonish and left shortly after. We arrived to some snowy mountains which was a good thing since we were going snowboarding the next day.... Me and my bro Jason. We had not been snowboarding together for about 5 years so it was a ton of fun to enjoy the fresh snow together. Luke however had to leave at 5 am to head back to Cheyenne cause he got called in to work. He woke up to an additional 5 inches, good for the snowboarders bad for him and my little Honda. But he made it there and back safely.

Jason (well, at least his goggles and helmet) and Kate.

When we got to the cabin Kate called her dad only to find out that she had to do a very risky task....check the laundry. Yes, Big Al forgot his laundry in the washer...Not the dryer but the washer. The best part is he said "its fine, just throw it in the dryer...mildew and all" we had a pretty good time bustin a gut.

Within 5 min of setting foot in the cabin Luke found Kate's dad's (who is also as tall as the jolly green giant) special spot. In front of the TV watching sports with a shiatsu back massager, foot massager and a icy cold can of Coors light.

Here is a random photo of my tea. I went to take a sip of it and saw something staring back at me, do you see it? The ice cube eyes and the lemon smile! It cracked me up and I could not stop laughing :0)

Okay seriously, I can not believe I am putting this on the Internet. Just take a guess at what I am doing here......yep, I am peeing in a cup in Luke's brand new truck. As some of you may have heard it took Luke and I 5 hours to get back to Cheyenne from the mountains, it usually only takes 2 hours max. We were stuck in traffic going up the mountain and guys started getting out of their trucks and peeing on the side of the road in the snowbank. After awhile it started to occur to me that I might be facing a difficult situation some time soon. And when it came down to it I decided to dump out my soda and, uh...do my thing. VERY AWKWARD!

Luke and I went back skiing to Breckenridge after we said by to Jason and Kate, very sad but we were stoked to hit the mountain.

Throw some Cavanaughs in with a holiday celebration and before you know it you have created a 3 dimensional beer-a-mid. The best was after they had fully finished it the guys were all standing in front of it, in their PJ's, taking pictures.

Saving the best for last...my little lukey poo. He found Kate's mom's PINK cowboy hat, some goggles and poles. Who the heck knows what he is doing but he sure does look happy...Should I be worried?