4-Week Checkup

I had another doctor's appointment yesterday! The doctor said that I am right where I should be. My uterus is developing normally, I am making progress in weight gain, and the baby has a very healthy heart rate! It's so good to hear the heartbeat every once in awhile and know that everything is going alright.
My doctor said that I could go find out the gender next week! However, I will be in Utah (which is a very good thing!). So, I have an appointment on the 22nd to find out what our little peanut is! I can't wait! I am dying to know! I feel like I have been waiting so long already!

Catch Up!

Me (and little peanut)!

Over our Christmas break, at home with the Bendixsen family, Tess would check my tummy everyday to see if I was starting to show! We noticed that after I ate I would get considerably bigger. Tess left to go home Saturday morning... on Monday I started showing! haha It is very exciting to actually be showing now! Hopefully people won't ask me where I'm hiding the baby when I tell them now! It's not a ton, but I have had a few requests for a picture so I am putting one up. I explain it as... if you knew me before you can tell that I am showing, but if not then you would have no idea!













Here's the picture of my "little" tummy... compared to how big it will be!



Change in plans for Christmas...

Because of the increased accumulation in snow (see below) and the fact that Portland does not know how to deal with aforementioned snow we were not able to make it to Utah to spend Christmas with my family. We were to fly out Tuesday, the 22nd, but our flight was one of the 250 canceled that day. Out of all the days we chose to fly back in August, we managed to choose the one that had the most flights canceled. After finding out our flight was canceled and waiting for me to settle down we talked about our other options: staying here (with now Christmas decorations whatsoever), going up to Vancouver (to spend it with Tyler's Aunts, Uncles, Cousins and Grandparents), or going to Hermiston. We decided to go to Hermiston! However, there was one more problem. The gorge (which is the only way to get to Hermiston) was closed because of the weather. Yikes! We decided to wait and see what the 23rd would bring! Luckily, they opened the gorge in the morning and we were able to make it to Hermiston!
We had a great Christmas with Tyler's family! It was so fun to be with family and to be home! We were lucky to have a plan B that wasn't a huge hassle! We watched a lot of movies, played lots of games, and I even won a couple times in Dr. Mario! We also went up to Tri-Cities the day after Christmas to hit the after Christmas deals! Thanks for taking us in at the last minute Mom and Dad! We had a great time!
P.S.
Sorry about the lack of pictures surrounding this holiday... we couldn't find our camera until 2 days after Christmas! so lame!



More Snow!

We got a lot more snow than previously mentioned. Over the week (and a few more days) we got a total of 19 inches! That's the most snow Portland has seen since 1940. We were so fortunate to be here for that... yeah right! Tyler decided to take some pictures in the snow! He was very persistent at keeping up with shoveling our million miles of sidewalk for the complex!
He looks a little cold, if you ask me!

This was taken after only about 6 inches to snow. So... imagine this amount times about 3! Crazy, crazy snow!

An inkling of snow...

As you know, we are living in Portland. We got 2 inches of snow on Sunday and the hills got about 5 inches. We got a call Sunday morning saying church was canceled because of snow. I looked outside and the roads were not even covered yet! Growing up in Iowa we needed white outs, blizzards, or 2 feet of snow to ever get cancellations! I was extremely surprised. Tyler informed me that it usually does not snow here and does not get this cold. Turns out they haven't received this much snow since 1996! So, why the first winter that we move here? I wish I had taken a picture of it... but you have all seen snow before. However, because of the lack of snow the whole city shuts down... literally. They do not salt or sand the roads, or even plow them. Most of the streets are complete sheets of ice. Tyler did not have school on Monday because of this snow and it's finals week! They are expecting another 6 inches tomorrow! I am not sure what will happen, but I just find it odd that people do not know how to react to snow! It's a natural thing.

Our Little Peanut!

Yesterday we were supposed to find out what gender our little baby is! However, when we went to my ultra-sound they told us that I am actually only 13 weeks and 5 days along (according to the size that the baby is)... putting the due date on June 13th, 2009... mine and Tyler's birthday! I will have it induced if it's in the small percentage of babies that are actually born on their due date. We got some really cute pictures of our new little baby! It was so neat to see it moving around! It was doing flips and turning and really active. It's so weird to think that it's growing inside of me, but so cool! We were able to see and hear the little heartbeat, and the doctor said it sounds very healthy! That is so good to hear! I am so anxious to have this baby and meet it! I just love it so much!










Our little baby waving to us!











Sucking it's thumb! Soooo cute!











A great profile view! The ultra-sound tech said that our baby is very photogenic and loves getting it's picture taken! It was so good for the camera! :)











And another profile.


Hope you have enjoyed seeing these as much as we have! We are just so excited and happy to be having a baby!

DS 1 Christmas Party!

Our friends Willie and Anne put on an amazing Christmas party this past Sunday. We had a baked potato bar, an ugly Christmas sweater contest, and an ornament exchange. There was a really good turn out and it was so nice to get to know some of the other DS 1s. There were some great Christmas sweaters, but Anton was the winner! His was truly the ugliest Christmas sweater there! Way to go Anton!










Anton and his wonderful sweater! (Also, Stevenson and Tyler Scott)











People mingling before dinner.










Tyler and Megan Scott and Steve and Danielle Jackson.










Ornament exchange!











Tyler and me!


It was a great party and everyone had tons of fun! Thanks to Willie and Anne for putting it all together and making it happen! Merry Christmas everyone!

Lots and Lots of food!

This year we spent Thanksgiving with Tyler's family! It was so nice to get away from school and work for almost a week and just relax with family. The Bendixsens had lots of family over for Thanksgiving, so it was a busy house. More people just means more food! We had all kinds of food... turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy, green bean casserole, 12 layer Jell-O, spinach dip, artichoke dip, rolls, and of course lots of dessert. It was so very delicious! We were eating all this food for a few days! Unfortunately our camera battery died, so I wasn't able to get very many pictures of this blessed event. However, the few that I got or stole from Cameron will be included.
Here is Cousin Mary and Dad (drooling over the food).



The girls on Thanksgiving day. (Tess, me, and Cam's fiance, Camilla).

On Friday, most of the girls, (cough cough Milla) got up early and went up to Tri-Cities to do some Black Friday shopping! It was fun to shop with the girls! It has always been tradition that just the girls go shopping on Black Friday, but this year the boys came up and had lunch with us and finished shopping with us. It was a loooong day of shopping! I don't think I bought anything for Christmas, but was successful in finding a shirt for family pictures! :) It was lots of fun!

On Saturday we took family pictures and then headed somewhere in Washington (Walla Walla maybe?) to find the best Christmas tree! Apparently it takes a lot of people to find the best one ;), but we did manage to agree on one. It was beautiful and smelled sooo good! It fit perfectly when we got it home! It was about an inch from the ceiling!
Thanks for a wonderful Thanksgiving mom and dad!

Happy Hour!

I've decided it's about time to let everyone know about the greatness of Happy Hour here in Portland! For those of you not familiar, "Happy Hour" is very common in restaurants all over Portland. The "Happy Hour" menu is discounted a lot! The restaurants intentions are to make all their money off alcoholic drinks. However, since we are a bunch of LDS people we just get cheap food! It's amazing! We can usually eat dinner for $12 or less for the both of us! We have a group of us that usually go to enjoy it while we can! There are about 5 or 6 couples that go and we are always squeezed around these little tables. It is quite the sight! We will have to take a picture sometime. We usually get weird looks when we all order a round of waters (or pop if they make you do a drink purchase), but we're okay with that! It has been a lot of fun to try more expensive restaurants at a very cheap price! I would recommend looking into "Happy Hour" at your local restaurants. However, I don't think you will find any in Utah.

6/6 Tag

My friend, Heather Harris, tagged me! What I'm supposed to do is post the 6th picture from my 6th picture folder. I arrange my folder's alphabetically, so this is from my "Birthday" folder from this past June. It was our first birthday celebrated together! Tyler decorated our apartment with streamers and balloons to surprise me when I got home from class. I think this picture is actually already on our blog. I tag Danielle, Megan, Malorie, and Marissa! Have fun girls!

Big News!

I think we have waited long enough to announce our big news! We are pregnant! We are so excited for this little baby! I am ready for it to be born now, but we will have to wait until the end of May. I have had some pretty bad morning sickness (but it's all day long and worst at night). I am hoping that it will subside in a couple weeks when my first trimester is over! Tyler and I both have a hunch that it is a girl, but we won't find that out for a while longer. Tyler has been great at doing pretty much everything around the house on top of his school work because of how I have been feeling. I'm so glad he's amazing and willing to do all of it!

All Hallows Eve!

This Halloween was a blast! Our friends threw a rockin' Halloween Party! We bobbed for apples, ate dough nuts off a string, watched the Balzer's game, played some Wii, and ended the night with the greatest movie ever... Poltergeist II! (haha not really the greatest movie ever). Tyler and I had a few ideas for costumes, but finally settled on the easiest idea. It turned out great! I was a laundry basket and Tyler was static cling! So... here are a bunch of pictures!

Me and Tyler (obviously!)

Dr. Cameron and Dr. House AKA: Danielle and Steve Jackson

Biker Stud and Biker Babe AKA: Willie and Anne Fugere.

Cutest witch and die-hard UTES fan AKA: Megan and Tyler Scott

A scary clown and skeleton AKA: Jon and Malorie Hall

Obi Wan Kenobi, Princess Leia, and Yoda AKA: Stevenson, Marissa, and Spencer Smith
(PS I stole this from their blog because they didn't dress up for the party, but Spencer was the cutest little Yoda, I had to put it up here!)

The group of 1st years at the party!

Willie won the dough nut eating contest... he ended up eating off the floor! haha It was great entertainment to watch these guys!

My Tyler eating a powdered dough nut off a string!

And Tyler bobbing for apples with his head totally submerged in water! He got beat by Willie by .5 seconds! It was soo close!

Thanks for a great party Megan and Brittany! It was a blast!