A Year Ago Today...

I woke up before sunrise to climb Mt. Coolum for this view...

Then Andrea and I (she visited for a week during her spring break) enjoyed breakfast on the beach with this view...

And then we took a walk and saw a koala in the wild ...

and then we spent four hours on the beach...

Today is not my "golden" birthday like last year. It's just number 26. No, I will not be taking any sunrise hikes or enjoying breakfast as the waves crash right in front of me. I definitely won't be sunbathing in a bikini at Noosa Beach. Instead, I will drag my very-pregnant self to school where I'll teach 25 squirrely 6th graders for a half-day and then have a few parent-teacher conferences. A lot can change in one year!

On a good note, however, my amazing husband woke me this morning with breakfast in bed before he had to take off for work.  I'm also looking forward to catching my brother's tennis match this afternoon before heading up to the Hooks for a family dinner w/ both sides of the fam. Life is not that bad:).

Family Weekend

We just got back from a great weekend away with the Hook clan. We went up to Sandpoint, Idaho and stayed at a beautiful condo on the lake. Jonathan and I actually were up there a few weeks ago (just the two of us). It was wonderful being with family this time around. 

We spent a lot of time just resting and relaxing. We also went shopping downtown (in a snow storm), went out for a delicious meal on Saturday night, played games, slept be the fire, went to the spa (I got a pedicure and Jonathan got his first ever massage), went xc skiing, and most of all enjoyed quality time together. 

Now I'm just trying to gear up for another crazy week of work, after school meetings, birth classes, and get togethers (the best part). Why do Sunday nights always feel insane?

Back from Africa!

After thirty-some hours of international travel (bus rides from northern to southern Uganda, flights from Kampala to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Seattle, and Seattle to Spokane), Leah and Travis are home! Horrah! 

We met them at the airport tonight and celebrated with a little mud pie gathering afterwards. Mud pies (oreo crust, ice cream, fudge & cool whip) have been a tradition in our family for all special occasions since the beginning of time (as I've known it, at least), so we had to welcome them home with the sweet taste of tradition. The sad part: Leah and Trav were the only ones not quite able to finish them. I guess the lack of dairy in their diets over the past six months made our giant helpings of mud pie a little hard to handle!

We got to see an awesome video that they made highlighting their time in Uganda. Then we all received hats & scarves! My hat was made by Doreen & my scarf was made by Teddy. I love them! I guess the hats are in the new line of products to come out soon & the scarves (made from Kenyan yarn) will soon hit the website too (www.krochetkids.org). Here is a picture of Jonathan sporting the newest garb.

Here are the amazing traditional African outfits that were made by KKI's seamstress. Tom has a shirt that matches Claudia's and my dad has one to match my mom's (my dad was out of commission tonight w/ strep throat. Bummer!). Pretty incredible, ay?

And for a finale pic: all of us sporting our Ugandan goods. Ah, home sweet home!

Sandpoint Getaway

Jonathan and I got away this weekend for a last hurrah. My cousin's wife (who is also expecting) called her weekend escape a "Babymoon" and I suppose our weekend away might fit into the same category. It was great to get out of town, even if our trip was barely over 24 hours away from home. We stayed in a great little "penthouse suite" above a restaurant on the main street. Mostly we just walked around in the sunshine, drove up to Schweitzer where we hung out at a little coffee shop by the fire, ate out, and spent quality time together. 

Like always, I wish we would have done a better job documenting our venture, but here are a few pics (plus an updated belly shot). I am 29 weeks along as of yesterday and feel like I'm expanding at a rapid pace! More to come soon, I promise:)!

Memory Lane

Yesterday we went through some boxes that have been in our basement since the move (and probably haven't been opened before the last three moves). Jonathan stumbled upon a box of "Amy stuff", including letters, pictures, and things I had sent him through our dating years.
We started going through the box and then I went and found my own "Jonathan collection". We probably spent two hours going through piles of things. We didn't even come close to reading everything (there were piles and piles), but we still found some treasures. Here are a few of the highlights that we got a kick out of...

The Beginning: The fall of 1999: Amy attends Jonathan's youth group and they exchange email addresses on small pieces of paper. The best part...you read correctly....my family had "integrity online" - please tell me someone remembers those days of old:)! It was even a family account. It was our first form of communication. HA! I can't believe we both held on to these treasures.
This picture is one that Jonathan had in his box - a picture given to him of my little brother, Ethan. I think Eth must have been in 4th grade. He truly did grow up with Jonathan in the picture from the very beginning. Ethan's now a junior in high school and is 6 ft & still growing.
A personal favorite item, this is a valentine that Leah, my sister, must have given Jonathan during one of the first few years of us dating. Leah was in 8th grade when Jonathan came into my life, so maybe she wrote this as a 9th grader? Check it out (I hope you can read it).Here is the first (horrible) birthday card Jonathan gave me. It's only horrible because it was during the month of my junior year when he decided we shouldn't be dating. The card was covered in smiley faces and said something like "you make me happy". He has gotten a lot of grief for that ridiculous card through the years. We found it in the box.During our two years of long-distance dating, Jonathan attended a church that sent out free encouragement postcards each week. I am pretty sure he sent me one every week during his time at CWU. I kept them all. I think the one on top has some coded message puzzle. They were great.Here are copies of emails I sent to Jonathan. As you can see, there were tons!
This summer we'll hit the 10th anniversary of the day we met at Dan & Shelley's wedding in June 1999 (technically, we didn't "meet" because we never talked - but it was the first time we noticed each other) Here is the big moment...love at first sight:). He's the one on the right, singing.Okay, last picture, our first official date. February 11, 2000. Lewis & Clark Valentine's Dance. Wow:)!

My Favorite Thing

I really don't know if there is anything I like more than xc skiing. Seriously. I don't know what it is about it. The stillness and quite. The scenery. The exercise (which is undercover, by the way). Maybe it's the feeling of absolute escape...like you're miles and miles away, even when you're not that far from home. Whatever the reason (or all of them, I'm sure), I LOVE xc skiing.

If you haven't tried it, you should.
If you have tried it and don't like it, I'm not sure we can be friends.
If you ever want to go with me, just give me a call and I will undoubtedly agree to join you.
If you can't decide, just look at these pictures and maybe you'll make up your mind...

The Bump

I have had over two weeks off from teaching. Why is it that it is Sunday, January 4th, the day before I am to return to my job, that I am finally posting pictures from the last month!? It's probably the same reason I am sitting down to lesson plan/grade today. Yikes! It has been a terrific break:). I'll start by posting the latest baby bump pic.
I am now 22 weeks along and have been feeling the baby kick quite a lot lately - which is pretty incredible. There is something about actually feeling the baby move that makes all of this even more real than seeing pictures of the baby. Still, I'll include a few of the ultrasound pictures as well. We went the the doctor earlier in December when I was 18 weeks along. From what they could see, everything looks good. I'm glad they are the professionals. I could distinguish some of the bones/body parts, but at one point I thought we were looking at the face when it was actually the baby's heart. I'll trust their expertise:).I feel truly blessed to have had a relatively uneventful pregnancy thus far. I definitely have more energy than I did during the first trimester, and I'm not too huge yet so I'm not uncomfortable. I know that it's just a matter of time until that changes!

Many of you know this already, but we're not finding out whether we're having a boy or a girl. I have gone back and forth on this (most recently the day before our ultrasound I tried to convince Jonathan that we did, in fact, need to know), but I feel good about being surprised at this point. It is strange mentally preparing for it and going back and forth, convincing myself that it must be a girl, then a boy, then a girl, then a boy, etc. Jonathan keeps reminding me that it is still a 50% chance either way, so in the end, how can I really convince myself that it's truly one or the other? The truth is I have NO idea. Stay tuned...I'm sure we'll try every old wives' tale in the book (dangling the wedding ring, heartbeat info, etc.) and maybe we'll post about it and take bets. Hmmm. Which will it be? :)