Introducing...

Our little baby BOY!!!

Here he is at 14.5 weeks

He is scheduled to arrive February 12, 2011. Which means I am now 20.4 weeks along, or half way:) Ryan an I are very excited for this next big step in our life together. I haven't been sick once, which has been a huge blessing and relief. Up to now, I haven't really felt pregnant. Now I have a baby bump and am starting to feel him move around.

Here are some more photos of the little guy.

These were taken at the 20 week ultrasound yesterday. Here is his profile.

Here are his little legs and feet (from the knees down).

And here are some 3-D images of his face and little arms and hands.

Honestly, I haven't done much reading on the subject of pregnancy and labor. I'm starting to read some now and have realized I really don't know much at all, so any advice or tips would be welcome:)
We are super excited and I love that I am making Ryan a dad. He'll be absolutely amazing as a father.

My Hawaii Trip- part 2

For the last half of my trip to Hawaii, Leslie and I flew to the Big Island to do some sight seeing.

Akaka Falls

Here we are at Akaka Falls. This was by far my favorite waterfall. It is so pretty and big.

Volcano National Park

Here are just a few of the many pictures we took at the Volcano National Park. It was really cool. We went on a 4-mile hike across a big crater that use to be a lava lake. Then we went through a lava tube. It was a lot of fun and really interesting to learn about and see. We started at the visitors center and browsed around and watched a video on the Hawaii islands and volcano. Did you know there is another island being created just south of The Big Island? Then we drove around and visited a couple of the sites and look out points and took pictures. Then we went on our hike. After that we drove to the newest lava flow section. Here is what was there:

It was cool to see the lava on the road and the sign sticking out. We also tried going to the active lava viewing area, but there just wasn't any lava flow so we didn't see any molten lava. But overall, it was an awesome experience and a very interesting National Park.

Black Sand Beach

The sand here was really course and kind of hurt to walk on. But it was fun to see.

The waves coming in to the beach.

There were a few turtle around also. You weren't allowed to disturb them, but we got some good photos.

Me on the rocky side of the beach.

South Point

South Point is the southern most point in the U.S. so we decided to go since we were so close. It's pretty barren, but still had some good photo opportunities.

The cliff on the south side were about 40 feet maybe and a good place to jump off into the ocean. I didn't make the jump but Leslie did.

Here was a really cool hole in the ground that led down and out to the ocean.

Rainbow Falls

A very pretty place and when there's more water and sunshine, it's suppose to create some awesome rainbows- hence the name.

Botanical Garden

The garden was pretty big and had a ton of things to see. I loved all the colors.

In the center, there is a bird habitat full of parrots. I think there were 5-6 in there.

Beautiful flowers.

Me in the garden:)

A fun shot of a little lizard on a big leaf.

My trip to Hawaii!

The beginning of this month I flew out to Hawaii to spend some time with Leslie. I was there for 10 days and had a great time. I spent the first part of my trip on Oahu. Here's a little of what I did:

Paddle-boarding

This was a lot harder than it looks. But we had a lot of fun giving it a try. Good things the waves weren't too big:)

Dole Plantation

I went to the plantation by myself one day while Leslie was at work.

I took the garden tour and then rode the Pineapple Express.

It was really interesting to see how pineapples are grown. I had never ever thought about it before and when I did, I didn't have a clue to how they were grown or what a pineapple plant even looked like.

Here is a close up so you can see better. The pineapple grows in the middle of the plant and doesn't have to be a certain color to be ripe. Green pineapples can be ripe. Check out the leaves, sharp pointy edges.

Here is one of the many views in the garden.

Manoa Falls

The hike to the falls isn't too bad, but we did get rained on.

I love hiking in Hawaii. It's a rain forest all around and you always end up with a great view.

Lagoons in Kaneohe

These are the vacationers dream lagoons. Perfect sandy beaches, green grass, tropical trees and umbrellas, and the water is perfect with no waves coming in.

Sunset at the lagoons.

August Review

Well we finished out the summer hanging out with Trent, Wendy and kids. I went to the pool with Wendy and the kids a couple times and we had Sunday dinners with them. It's been nice having them around since they've moved closer. Also, Amy moved out since school started again. She has been living with us all summer while working at an internship in Arlington.

August 10th marked Ryan's one year point of being with his firm. He had his one year review and did pretty well. He's on the right track and just needs to keep going and keep getting better. I'm super proud of him for all his hard work and determination.

I planned a trip to visit Leslie in Hawaii for September, which is where I am now. I've been here for the last 10 days and am headed home tonight. I'll post some pictures when I get back home.

July Review

My parents came and visited us in July. They got here on the 4th and we went to the airport and watched the fireworks across the river in DC.

My parents stayed from Sunday to Thursday. I was able to get work off so I could go touring with them. We went to DC and walked around the mall going to all the monuments. We also went to a couple different museums.

We went to the Natural History Museum and also the American History Museum. There is always so much to see you could spend days in a museum.

One day we walked around Old Town Alexandria and took the tour in the George Washington's Masonic Temple. A different day we went to Mt. Vernon. We walked around the grounds, toured the house, listened to some character reenactments, and looked through the museum and display on George Washington's life.

The end of July I went home to Utah for Brandon's funeral on the 24th. I stayed there for two weeks to visit with family and to rearrange my mom's store.

Here's my family in the kitchen getting dinner ready.

My nieces and nephews.

Ady, Carissa, Brock, Landon

We gave the kids horse rides. They loved it and would have ridden for hours, except the adults got tired.

Ady and Carissa on Prince

Ady, Carissa and Landon on Prince

Here's the store all re-done.

June Review

In June, Ryan and I pretty much continued to work a lot. I was still working full time and Ryan kept plenty busy at the firm, putting in a few nights too. However, we did manage to take a small vacation. Since our anniversary is over Memorial Day weekend we decided to postpone going somewhere until later. We went a month later on June 25th to Shenandoah National Park.
We stayed at the Iris Inn Bed and Breakfast in the Hawk's Nest Room. It was a nice place and we even had a hot tub on our balcony.

We went hiking and drove some scenic routes. We also went to a campground area that had a great swimming lake.

One of our days there we went to the Grand Caverns. We took a tour through the cave for about an hour. It was a cool and large cave.

My favorite part was when they used different colored lights to light up a section of the cave. It looks really cool.

Also in June Ryan and I went and saw Eclipse:) We really liked the movie and can't wait to see Breaking Dawn.