Home to the Snowy Northwest

We made the move home safe and sound! We were supposed to leave last Saturday morning but decided to try to beat the storm that was going to hit all the passes, so we left SoCal Friday night. We stayed in Bakersfield the first night and then drove all the way to Portland the next day and got in about 1am Sunday - we hit snow and ice on the passes and knew that if we stopped for the night again that we might be there for a few days. We woke up Sunday morning to about 3 inches of snow, and the wintery weather hasn't stopped since then!

We had to buy chains for our car and for our Uhaul to get them across town to Jason's parent's house where we're staying. We got the Uhaul unloaded and into storage on Monday and now we're just going to interviews and trying to get into some sort of routine - which is hard to do when you really can't drive anywhere! There are so many people that we want to see and really haven't been able to see much of anyone due to the ice and snow!

It snowed all day yesterday, there are at least 7 new inches of the white stuff on the ground and to top it off there is ~1/4 of ice on top of it from the freezing rain last night. We're pretty home bound for the next couple of days, that sure makes running last minute Christmas errands difficult to do!

Baby Bump

At the request of a few of you I am posting another belly picture...it really is an odd concept to be celebrating getting fat! :) The baby has been moving up a storm, I started feeling her at about 18.5 weeks, and I'm 20 weeks now. her movements and kicks are getting stronger each week. Jason has even been able to feel her kick quite a few times which has been really exciting!
On another not so fun pregnancy note - I am on an emotional roller-coaster and I'm not loving that! I've never really been an overly teary person but my gosh it doesn't take much to bring it on...we were in church and I saw a cute little girl lighting the candles and welled up with tears - I mean come on, get it together! I can swing the other way at the drop of a hat too...I don't like to be grumpy but it just seems to come out of no where! Between the stress of moving and dealing with his psycho wife I don't know how Jason is surviving! Oh the joys of hormones!

Done with boards!!!

Hooray I am done with all of my board exams! I took them all in record time....ultrasound physics, vascular physics, OB/Gyn, Abdomen and Breast. My friend Sara and I studied our butts off together...all through school we studied for everything together, so it was a challenge to figure out what to do when she moved to Las Vegas...well we used Skype and studied for hours each day before and after work and it worked wonderfully! We finished taking them in record time, and I truly couldn't have done it without her! I am now officially an ARDMS Registered Diagnostic Medical Sonographer and Registered Vascular Technologist! It feels SO odd to not be studying!

Thanksgiving...it did happen!

It's been a little crazy around here, and needless to say I have been very lacking in the blog department! I have quite the backlog of things to post, and I have a moment of spare time so I guess I better do it before something comes us.

Well...Let's start way back with Thanksgiving. I had to work actual Thanksgiving day, so we made our own little dinner the weekend before. I got a free turkey from the hospital so that was our inspiration. We made a big dinner completed with turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, sparkling cider, and lemon meringue pie! It was fun to make and delicious to eat!

US Pictures Sonographer's Will Appreciate

What do ya think Dr. Davis?

These pictures were for my sonographer friends....I posted the cute ones earlier for the rest of you to enjoy - these are just for us geeky lovers of ultrasound.

We had our official ultrasound last Friday. We had it done at Loma Linda and my friend Amanda got to scan me, but first played a little trick on us. I used to help teach the junior class "scan lab" - basically a hands on class where they can learn to scan and just use each other as models (any time they aren't in scan lab we usually just use patient's as test dummies...it's great!), anyway, so we walked into the exam room and about 8 of the new class of students who only have about 2 months of hands-on experience were sitting there in chairs like it was a class. Amanda said "ok we never get OB's at scan lab, so you are model today. Since you used to teach scan lab you get to teach this one" then she walked out the door and left them with me. I was in a little bit of shock but was like "ok let's do it"....so as the patient laying there and teacher on the fly I am trying to tell someone that has never scanned an OB what to do...it was pretty comical until Amanda walked back in about 5 minutes later and said "just kidding". It was a funny trick, she had Jason and I fooled - good one Amanda.

She loves to show off her profile

Here are a couple new pictures of our little peanut. She is actually about the size of a large pomegranite and weighs a whopping 6 ounces...lol! She's still a girl and is growing just like she should be. I can't feel her move yet, but am looking a little pregnant. Much to my dismay, and Jason's entertainment, my dumb belly button is sticking out already! I've always had kind of a finicky belly button that thought it wanted to be half inny-half outy, well now it's letting it's true colors show, and it's actually a bit embarrassing. I guess there are worse things in life but I may have to buy stock in band-aids to hide the thing for a bit.

Showing off those long legs

Getting a little baby bump

Happy Early Thanksgiving

For the past 2 years we have gotten to travel to Surprise, Arizona where Jason's grandparents live, to celebrate Thanksgiving together. Well I am working at the hospital this year on actual Thanksgiving Day so we celebrated the day with a wonderful turkey dinner a little early. We went to Arizona for the weekend a couple weeks ago and had a very nice visit. Jason's grandma cooked us a wonderful meal complete with all the fixings! Probably our last visit to the desert for a while.

Making Apple Crisp...it was yummmmmyyyy!

Dishing up!

Beating Jason at backgammon....he taught us how to play and
then I beat him at his own game, love it!

What a birthday gift!

So we were supposed to wait until late November to see what gender baby we are having, but we're so antsy so I decided to call a friend at Loma Linda to see if she would do an ultrasound for us. We're just over 15 weeks so we thought she could tell and .......IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!


We are so excited and we're seeing pink already. It was pretty funny...last night we decided to do a scientific method of determining what we're having, it's called the "rock, paper, scissors method" - best out of 9 (since there are 9 months in pregnancy) if Julie won it would be a girl since I'm a girl, and if Jason won it would be a boy, since he's a boy....well Julie won! Our method worked! :)

Showing off that left arm....she's gonna be a left handed outside hitter!


A little foot

Just hangin' out in the pool

Pumpkin Patch

We went to a pumpkin patch near our house today. It's about the coolest set-up we've seen. It's a kid's dream....petting zoo, pony rides, hay castle, games galore, giant jump houses, and don't forget the pumpkins! They also have the best gift shop full of fall decorations - I had a hard time resisting buying a bunch of stuff but then realized that I don't want to have to move it! There isn't a hay ride and I think that they may even ship the pumpkins in to the farm, they have a section you can walk out and u-pick or you can pick from a table....we chose the table route - we found some that "begged to be carved" right away! :) We got a pumpkin for each of us - even a tiny one for the baby. (ya ok, so we're dorks!) Speaking of the baby, we decided that we're going to find out what it is, our "official ultrasound" is Nov. 21 - we'll see if we can hold out until then to find out. We could really find out anywhere after ~15 weeks, it just gets easier to see the later it is, we'll keep you posted when we find out.

Oh Baby!

We are excited to tell you all that we are having a baby! We are 13 weeks and 3 days pregnant. It's due in late April. The baby is the size of a peach right now. On the ultrasounds we can see it kicking and squirming all over the place. It's nice to have connections in the ultrasound world ya know. :) We are so excited about our new addition and we can't wait to move home to Oregon in December and start our new family!

Home From Paradise

On the jungle covered, winding, one lane road to Hana!

Enjoying dinner at Mama's Fish House

The black sand beach

We had a wonderful time in Maui. We snorkeled every day that we were there. The weather was beautiful - about 85 degrees each day with just a couple days with sprinkles. We went to a Luau, magic/comedy show, drove to Hana, swam with turtles, took a catamaran trip to Molokini crater, visited a blow hole, saw and swam in the 7 sacred pools and much more. It was such a relaxing time. We stayed in a condo with a full kitchen so we got to cook a lot of our meals which made us happy. It was our first visit to Hawaii and we can't wait to go back!

Thar she blows!

We enjoyed many of Maui's beautiful pink and orange sunsets

Hawaii Photos

At our favorite beach - Napili Bay

Jason and I at the Old Lahaina Luau

Look at those hula hips go!

Jason in his snorkel get-up at Molokini Crater

I Passed (make that twice)!!!

Wow what a busy week it's been! Monday I took the first of my National ARDMS Ultrasound Board Exams! I started with Ultrasound Physics and Instrumentation....and PASSED! Today I took the Vascular Principles and Instrumentation exam and PASSED it too! YaHoo...2 down and 5 to go! I think that these were going to be the hardest of all of them and there were the 2 that I am required to pass (I only have to take one more to be registered but most employers require more...and if I know the material now I might as well take them now!) so hopefully this is a good sign of things to come! I am SO glad to be done with the physics portion of my studying and exams - physics and I don't get along well, but apparently well enough to pass! :)

Jason and I leave for Maui tomorrow. I am not going to study one bit while we're gone and man alive does that feel good! We're so excited for our trip and cant wait to hit the beach, snorkel a ton, eat some good food and enjoy our time together!

Oh and on a side note...I HATE earthquakes! I woke up at 2am to loud cracking sounds and everything shaking a bit...just a 4.1 but good gosh they freak me out! They are so common place here that it doesn't make the news or anything - maybe I'm just a big baby.