Jackie's Christmas and Other news

Well, we decided to give each other our Christmas presents before we left. I passed the state life and health insurance exam last week and to celebrate, Jackie wanted me to open up her present. She said it was something I could use in Portland and I thought for sure it was going to be a rain coat. It wasn't. I opened up a box of shoes, which I have needed since I threw out two pairs when we left Miami. Both of those pairs had lasted me about eight years.

The anticipation was strong. Note the left over wrapping paper from our Wedding.

For Jackie's Christmas present, I decided to frame some of the art she bought in Portugal while on the mission. Both are watercolor and are very pretty. They've been rolled up for so long and she's always wanted to display them. It turns out the frames I got match one of our clocks so Jackie was very happy about that (I got lucky). Also, the 16 x 20 frames were $24.99 but when I got to the counter, they both clocked in at $9.99. Thank you Christmas sales.

Both of our gifts were very practical but that is how you roll when you're on a budget.

In other news, I finished school! I'm so happy right now. Yesterday I finished my last two finals and I have to admit, it felt a little odd walking off the campus for the last time as a student. My goal over the break is to write down my most memorable moments from college. I'm looking forward to it.

In more news, BYU's Noteworthy was on NBC's The Sing-Off the past couple of nights. They advanced past the first round but got kicked off the second night. Jackie was in the band a couple of years ago and when she was in it, they took first place in the international collegiate a capella competition. Since I didn't have to worry about any school work this morning, I have been listening to some of the songs from the 2007 competition. They perform the most beautiful rendtion of How Great Thou Art and Jackie has the best moves in Don't You Worry About a Thing

Back to packing, we're loading up the truck for Portland tomorrow.

Ready for Christmas

We've unpacked our Christmas decorations, just to pack them back up in a few days. We're getting excited for the big move to Portland this week! I have finals tomorrow and on Tuesday and I cannot wait to be done. We'll pack up on Thursday and take off on Friday. We'll come back to Utah on Christmas Eve and spend a week here.

New addition to the tree this year is the Aladdin and Jasmine ornament that we bought while we were in Florida. It's awesome.

The animals may not be a perfect scale but I still love having the extra African animals with our nativity scene.

In other news, the baby is continuing to grow inside of Jackie's tummy. I felt it kick the first time a couple of weeks ago and it was awesome. People had made such a big deal about it and I finally realized why once I felt that first kick. It was my first moment with my boy.

Also, Jackie sang in church today and she was awesome, as usual. She sang I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day.

Update: Sean made it to the Top 5

Sean's video, Year of the Rat, made it into the Top 5 of the contest!

Go here to vote for his video, Year of the Rat, on the SF ballet website.

SF Ballet Magical Memories Nutcracker Video Contest

My good friend Sean created a couple of videos for the San Francisco Ballet Nutcracker video contest. Both of them are pretty funny and I've posted the links, you should definitely check them out (don't worry, they're short):

Year of the Rat - A mockumentary style video where Sean plays the Rat King from the Nutcracker, and it shows what the Rat King is doing to prepare for the fight scene that he never seems to win

and another video

Dreams of a Real-Life Nutcracker - Story of a real-life nutcracker trying to find the Clara of his dreams

Thanksgiving

We spent Thanksgiving with Grandma and Grandpa Emmett up in Logan and had a great time. I did miss the morning surf session that I'm used to on Thanksgiving morning but it was fun to be with extended family.

Jackie made the pink jello with the berries on top

I let Jack take some pictures with my camera

This picture was actually pretty good

This is probably my favorite Jack picture though. He would push the button and then put the camera down before it actually took.

I've looked at this picture several times and for the first time I just noticed Jack in the background. Haha, oh man, why is he trying to hold all of those pool balls?

It won't be too long until this blog is filled with solely our baby's pictures!

Goodbye to Jimmy

Jimmy left for his mission a couple of weeks ago but we were able to spend a little bit of time with him before he left. He came out with Hod and Jonnie and we all stayed at my parents house the two nights before he left

"I told you, I'll be back in two years, no biggie"

Jimmy had three suitcases, two for his clothing and one for his two-year supply of Crystal Light . Here he is making some right before we left.

The proud parents

We participated in the curb-side drop off at the MTC and it was very cool. Missionaries lined the sidewalk and every single one would waive at you as you drove by to get to your drop off area. When we stopped the car, a couple of missionaries came over and grabbed Jimmy's bag and tried their best to make him feel comfortable. He was nervous because he wasn't going to be able to take all of his suitcases by himself, their help eased his nerves. We all gave him one last hug and that was it. It went really fast and you could tell it startled him a little bit but he was able to hold back the tears, unlike his Mother and sister.

In-N-Out....in Orem!?

Here is a picture from opening day at the In-N-Out in Orem that I took with my phone. I showed up at 1:00 p.m. and this is what the line looked like. I was looking for the signs you see at theme parks where they inform you how much longer you have "from this point" until you get to the front. They didn't have any signs but I asked the guy directing the foot traffic and he said 30 minutes from where I was until I could order. He was right on the dot. He informed that that the drive-thru line, which wrapped through the parking lot and around the other buildings, was about an hour wait. At this point, they had somewhere between 75 and 85 employees working that first lunch.

It took a while but of course it was worth it. I got to meet Jackie and have lunch with her so that is always awesome. It was also awesome as I looked out the window and saw the city of Orem and then looked back and saw my double-double, whole-grilled onions hamburger in my hand. Now I just need them to follow us up to Portland.

If you guessed we were having a ...

boy, then you guessed right! We went in this morning for the ultrasound and the lady showed us just about every other part you can imagine before she looked to see if it was a boy or girl.

"Well, it looks like we got some outdoor plumbing." Uhh, what does that mean lady. Are you telling me we're having a boy!? She then typed "BOY" on the screen so she answered the question in my head.

Updated due date is March 21st!

Here I am at about 12 months. Think the baby will look as good as me?

The real question is whether you think the baby will be as cute as his beautiful mother. Here she is with her belly around 19 or 20 weeks

Halloween

Last year Jackie was a samurai babe for Halloween, an outfit that brought several strangers to our blog. This year her department decided to dress as characters from the movie Mystery Men. Jackie went as Casanova Frankenstein's mistress.

On Halloween night we went up to Midway to hang out with John, Beth and their kids. Jack was a cowboy and Lily was a cowgirl.

The kids had quite the entourage with them as they went trick or treating

At the last minute, Jackie and I decided to dress up. We decided to be Mozambicans. Jackie is wearing her capulana (skirt) and carrying her bag on her head. I got my sweet pants on and I'm walking around, trying to sell my batiks. I do this by saying English words like "beautiful", "yes", "blue", "Lion King", and "50 dollars".

Ultimate Frisbee

It's Ultimate Frisbee time again. Last year our team won the championship in Division 3. Most of us are back and this year we made it into division 1, the highest division. We had our first playoff game on Friday night and my family decided to come and hang out. They were troopers, it was both cold and wet but they stuck it out.

I think these are the two reasons my parents wanted to come

It wasn't long until Jack wanted in on the action. My Dad suggested John work with Jack on catching the frisbee, but John responded that he was starting with teaching Jack to keep his eyes open first.

Walking off the field at halftime, we were up 6-4. We ended up winning the game 8-6. We are now in the final four of the winner's bracket (double elimination) and our next game is against the BYU club team on Thursday. Yikes! We'll see how it goes.

Boy or a Girl

We should find out next week whether we'll be having a boy or a girl. Our appointment is set for 11:30 a.m. next Tuesday, the 3rd of November (my brother John's birthday). We're pretty excited to find out. Probably like most couples, I'm leaning towards a boy while Jackie would like a girl. Obviously, we'll both be excited with whatever comes our way.

Make sure you cast your vote on the left side of the page. Here are a couple of facts, not that they really say anything about the sex of our baby. I just thought I would get them out there.

Jackie had a dream a few weeks ago that we were going to have a little boy
My parents had a boy first (John) and so did Jackie's (Reg)
The baby's heartbeat is always a little faster than the average
So far the baby has been pretty content where it is, although the movement is supposed to pick up

Weekend with Michael and Jack's B-Day

Michael had a big party on Friday night. He invited over some old friends, a few new friends and told the story of his and Tashina's courtship. You can really see how they captivated the audience in the picture below. I had just seen the Proposal starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds the night before so I decided to yell out, "let's see a kiss from the happy couple!" They obliged.

See if you can tell who is looking at Michael and Tashina and then who is looking at Max Hall throw an interception against Utah State.

Earlier that day, the three boys took off school/work to go do some golfing.

Michael, showing us how it is done

John, looking good.

The following day was Jack's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese

Jackie and I tried to get a picture with the birthday boy but he wasn't having it. I'm going to stare straight down because if I can't see the camera, the camera can't see me.

We tried to get a solo shot but that didn't work either

Surprise attack!

Looks like Tashina and Michael didn't have much success either

Lily on the other hand...

...is just too kind. We could take pictures with her all day long

Dad showing son how it is done. John would actually go on to take the Crown. He had the highest score of anyone that day. We're trying to convince our Dad to buy one for the downstairs party room.

Jack showing Lily how it is done.

Jack cruising around Chuck E Cheese on his new bike. Watch out for that table!

Family Photos

Michael came to town for conference weekend so we took advantage of everyone being around to get a few family photos. Michael took advantage of the time to get engaged!

We took about 20 of these shots and there is not a single shot without at least 4 people closing their eyes because of the sun. I liked this picture though because Lily is just hanging there.

Michael and Tashina will get married on January 2nd, 2010. Congrats!

It won't be too long until another little baby can join this picture!