Happy Valentine's Day!

Nate and I had a great Valentine's Day this year. He pretty much let me choose what I wanted to do that day and that's what we did. We slept in and then got up to make pink heart-shaped pancakes with the rest of the family.



Mama Jackson also made heart-shaped cupcakes with Kaiya and we got to eat the yummy treats later. Then Nate went and dropped me off at the nail salon while he went to the church to practice the organ. I got to be pampered and got a spa manicure and pedicure. It was SO nice! I definitely needed that! After I was done, Nate needed more time to practice the organ so I went and paroused Petco and Payless. At Petco they were having dog races down the aisle and it was really fun to watch. The dogs were all shapes, sizes, and ages. They were all very cute! Petco is actually a really neat place. I had no idea they had a doggy treat bar with treats even I wanted to try...lol! I also watched the mice and birds do funny things in their cages. I guess I found a new fun place for me. I could've spent all day there! Simple mind, simple pleasures. :) Once Nate was finished practicing he came and picked me up so I could go home, shower, and get pretty. We decided we were going to go to a movie and dinner so we ended up going to see Twilight (the 2nd time for me and the 1st time for Nate). It was on at the $3 theater. I guess that is the $1 theater of the Seattle area (everything here is a bit more expensive). Still, $3 a person is a great deal compared to $10 a person at the regular theater. Yikes! After the movie, we went to the Cheesecake Factory because we had a gift card for the place. We definitely went at exactly the wrong day and time because we ended up waiting for over 2 hours before we even got seated...lol. That was really hard for me because I didn't bring any food with me and I get really sick and have really bad headaches if I don't eat every hour or two. Thankfully Nate had a couple of granola bars in the car so I was able to have something to tide me over. When we first got there the place was packed more than any restaurant I'd ever seen. I got in line to talk to the hostess and finally got our name on the list. She said to come back in an hour and a half to get a buzzer so while we were waiting, we walked over to the mall and had fun looking at books and listening to music in Borders. We then went back to get the buzzer and waited for another 30 or 40 minutes when it finally buzzed and we got seated (In the meantime we played our electronic Yahtzee game...lol). It was crazy!!! There was still a TON of people there all willing to wait like we did. I bet that restaurant had people there past midnight easy. So we ordered and got our food around 8 or a little after. We were starving and the food was amazing! We also couldn't resist and got a slice of dutch apple struesel cheescake to go. It was well after 9 by the time we got home. So the dinner part took a really long time but I felt like it was worth it. YUM!



And then like the tired pregnant lady I am, I went to bed very soon after we got home and ate our cheesecake. It was a great day though. We also had to include our baby in the day's plans so I had Papa Jackson take our picture so you can all see how I am starting to show...or just how fat I'm getting...lol.



On a side note, we got to hear the baby's heartbeat again today. It's such a surreal feeling to hear that fast thumping and I'm getting more and more excited every day! We get to find out the gender of the baby in just 4 weeks on March 19!!! Yay!! I'm so excited to start making blankets and decorations and to start getting baby supplies for our baby. I'm especially excited to narrow down the name selection. Names are really hard to pick out. I mean, we're choosing the name it'll be known by it's whole life! That's a lot of pressure! We can't wait to find out and we'll be telling everyone when we do!

Hi, this is Nate again. It has been a long time since I have posted anything to the blog and now that I'm making the effort, I've got writer's block, so this post will be short. There is some sad news this week but also happy news.

I guess I'll relay the sad news first. On Wednesday night, our Meg was put to sleep. Over the past few months, she developed a weird tumor thing that hung from her belly. My dad took her to the vet to see what could be done. They said that if they removed it, she could potentially die from the resulting bleeding. Meg has also had some other health issues affecting her. She was an old dog and according to the vet, she would was the equivalent of being over a hundred years old (dog years for a dog her size). It was decided to put her down so that she wouldn't suffer through the rest of her life. My dad was with her when she passed on. He buried her in a peaceful location with a toy from Heidi and Kaiya. There are many fond memories that we have of Meg and it was a difficult decision to make. We miss Meg and look forward to when we see her again!

The good news: We went to the doctor's office on Thursday and got to hear our baby's heartbeat! It was cool to hear the steady, but quick thumping of the baby's heart. Amy is starting to have problems fitting into her pants.... basically she is starting to show that she is pregnant. :) We are enjoying following the progess of the baby's growth and Amy's pregnancy. Today, she didn't suffer from morning sickness as much so we are hoping that the worst of it is over.

Thursday night we attended ward temple night. We had a decent turnout - 21 people altogether. We ate dinner in the cafeteria and got to sit with President Skeem and his wife (Amy's aunt and uncle). It is always fun to see them in the temple. Dinner was good and the session was wonderful. Both Amy and I came away with new insights. I'll admit that after a long day at work, it was really hard to stay awake for the whole thing. It was peaceful, warm, and the perfect atmosphere for a nap. I was fighting to keep my eyes open for the first part and for the most part succeeded. I was always awake though. It is always nice to be able to escape the cares of the world for a couple hours.

Today, or should I say last night, the snow returned to Washington. We woke up to the ground covered with a quarter inch of snow. Fortunately the roads were clear and we were able to go to church. Tonight we may get some more snow but it shouldn't be that much. I'm just ready for summer already! :)

Christmas and a New Year with New Experiences!

Happy Holidays to all! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Ours turned out pretty good this year because our big present was the fact that I'm pregnant! Yay!!! We actually knew about it before Thanksgiving but wanted to wait and tell everyone in Christmas cards. It's actually pretty funny because while we were in Utah with my family, I was asked if I was pregnant yet and I actually had to lie and say I wasn't. :-p (Ben and Christy I hope you're not offended). For those first few weeks of pregnancy I was doing great and felt normal except for mild random cramping, which my doctor later told me was normal. Then in the beginning of December, the morning sickness hit, big time. And I've been sick ever since. I didn't go to work for almost a week when it first started (lots of vomiting and misery). Then, thankfully, I had my first doctor's appointment and was able to get a perscription for anti-nausea medication. It helped a lot and without it I throw up like crazy (as I found out last week when I ran out and didn't get the refill on time). With them I usually only throw up once or not at all and can get to work okay. I'm pretty nauseous all day long and feel like throwing up but haven't yet at work (I refuse to throw up at work!!). I've missed a few days here and there of work since I got the pills and they're being really patient with me. They've changed my start time to 10 am instead of 8:30 so I am able to take it slow in the morning and eat so I can feel better. I usually have to eat/snack all day long or I get really sick. I've tried every trick in the book (including wearing my acupressure bands 24/7) and though some things help temporarily, I'm back to being sick again really quickly. My guess is that it might be this bad because I have always had a weak stomach and am prone to motion sickness. I read in a pregnancy book that people like that are more likely to have worse nausea during pregnancy. Who knows, though. As for Nate, he has been such a trooper dealing with all of this. Poor guy has to deal with my demands for certain foods I feel like I can eat, my complaining, my moaning during the night, my commands for him to hold me and make me feel better, me telling him he stinks or that kissing makes me nauseous, etc. Honestly, it's kind of gotten to him and it's been hard for us both. We're both really hoping I get to feeling better soon, him for his sanity and me, well, so I'm not sick anymore and can feel normal! Needless to say, this sickness thing has taken over our lives and sometimes I have to force myself to think about the reason we're going through this in the first place: our baby! Mom and Dad sent us our first baby gift this past week. It was a pair of newborn baby booties and really helped me put this all in perspective. We are going to have a new little baby! It was really neat to see the baby's heartbeat on our first ultrasound too. It was unbelievable! It's still really hard to imagine my own baby, but I get thrilled when I think about it. Our little blob! (That's our nickname for it now) I've put the booties and the ultrasound picture right next to my bed so I look at it everyday. We already love our little blob, despite the misery we're going through. :)

So besides the pregnancy, we've had fun dealing with the crazy weather here. For a while we had a big snowstorm that made it really tough to get around (in Seattle they have hardly any snowplows, so roads are really bad). Work even closed early so people could venture home through the mess. Christmas was a white one, which for here is very rare. It was beautiful on all of the trees here. Christmas was nice just spending it here with Nate's family. We all got some fun things, nothing big, but lots of little fun things (DVDs, gift cards, clothes, tools, etc.). For New Year's we were housesitting at Nate's aunt and uncle's place so we got to spend it alone together, which was really nice. It's definitely been a holiday season to remember and we're really looking forward to having our baby, which is due on August 1st. That makes me almost 11 weeks along (a little over 1/4 of the way!!). We send our love to everyone and hope that everyone is doing well!!

Thanksgiving in Salt Lake

This year Nate and I spent Thanksgiving with my family in Utah. It was great to be able to go back and see them after being in Washington for a while. I really missed them and it was so great to be with them again! We didn't go for very long, just 2 days, so that was hard but at least we had a good time for the amount of time we were there. Thanksgiving Day was great and we ate lots of good food! We had it over at the church by Mom and Dad's place in the Young Women's room. Nate made rolls there at the church and I made a cherry pie. Our contributions were pretty small compared to Ben's delicious dutch oven food and all the salads and sides people brought, but it was all so yummy! We had a pretty big group, about 30 people (including children) so we had a lot of fun just talking and eating. We also got to meet my brother John's fiance Trisha. She is so cute and so nice and think they make a great couple! Her little girl was so adorable too. I'm so happy for him and it'll be fun to have a couple of additions to our family! Then after dinner we all went back to the house. Some people napped while others of us played games and still others just kept eating pie and goodies. The hit game of the day was Apples to Apples. I have to say that I've never played it quite like the way my family played it that day. Some people were new to the game and others weren't, but I couldn't believe how SLOW we played it! It was just so funny to see how long it took people to decide which card to choose. I've discovered that most people in my family take everything very literally, especially when it comes to definitions of words. Nate and I were used to playing it a lot faster and less literal with his family, so while other people took their time deciding, we went to the kitchen to eat goodies...lol. But it was still pretty fun. We are sad to say that we forgot to take ANY pictures on Thanksgiving so we have no visual reminders of how it was. :( At least we remembered the camera the next day at Temple Square. That day was kind of uneventful, but we got to see Tia and Deren and their family and went to the mall together. When we came back we had pizza for dinner and then headed to Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square. It was the first night for the lights to be on so it was a little crowded (and cold!), but SO beautiful! Nate got some good shots of the lights and temple. There's just something about being around the temple and all of those beautiful Christmas lights. The Spirit really is present there and depsite the cold, you feel all warm inside when you're there. It was fun to walk around with everyone and the little kids.









After perusing through the lights, we decided we wanted to get warm and eat a treat so we headed to the basement of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I had no idea there were vending machines and tables down there. It was awesome! They even had BYU creamery milk so we HAD to get a chocolate milk. It was delicious!! I also got some donuts to have with it, but my hand got stuck in the flap...lol. The donuts and chocolate milk reminded me of my freshman year at BYU. That was my staple for breakfast almost every day that year. No wonder I gained the freshman 15...lol.

That wasn't the only problem we had with the machines either. My dad went to buy an ice cream treat and it got stuck. So he decided to buy another one and the first one came out but the second one got stuck too! We thought about calling the service people, but decided to try one more time. So six bucks later, he bought a third one and this time shook it as it was being vended and they both came out. Yay! Except then we were stuck with 3 ice cream treats and we couldn't take them in the car because they would melt. So even though we were full we got them all eaten. What really cracked me up was that after all of that, we went home and my dad had a bowl of ice cream...haha! I love it!

Payton had fun making faces for the camera and Nate and I had fun teasing her by kissing in front of her everytime she told us not to. She's so fun to tease. :) On our way home we stopped by Wal-Mart to get a Christmas movie, but their selection was so slim!! Of course, it was Black Friday so that's probably why so many movies were gone. Luckily I found Elf somewhere towards the checkout lines so my parents got it and we went home and watched it. The next day we flew back home. Lots of fun in Utah!

My 27th Birthday!

Well, I admit that it hasn't really sunk in yet. I feel younger in my head than my body feels and than I actually am. So anyway here is the scoop on my birthday.

First thing in the morning, Amy woke me up a few times because she was having nightmares about the following not going according to plan. Then she brought me a delicious breakfast which started off everything.

Breakfast included eggs, bacon, pancakes, and the following note:

"Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you! I've got someting fun instore to do. Are you ready for some clues? Today we are going on a treasure hunt for presents you won't want to punt. Hope you enjoy the fun without delay, For today is your 27th Birthday!"

Clue #1

"As soon as you are ready to go, Head for the place where we sit in the front row. A place of worship, a place of love, Where our faith & testimonies can grow."

So we went to the church where I got this present (organ music books). WHOO HOOOO! New music!!! I love new music!

and the next clue:

Clue #2

"Now that you've found some music to play, Perhaps you should see where we're going next today. Go to the place you first went to school, The place where you did a project as a scout so cool"

Being at my elementary school brought back a lot of memories. It was fun to see the changes since I'd last been there.

Clue #3

"Congrats! you've made it this far. Now it's time to go back to the car. Drive to your next place of learning, Where your tush & legs would get some burning."

We had to avoid the girls practicing soccer and find the clue taped to the building near the track at my Jr high school.

Clue #4

"After you take a couple of laps, Follow the included two maps. They lead to a place you'd go when mad, the best little hideout you ever had."

This hideout of course was in the backyard at home.

Clue #5

"Are you getting tired yet? I hope not because now we've got to jet. It's off to your best man's house we go. To get your next clue, an answer to a question you must know."

We went to the Waisath's house where I found the next clue.

Clue #6

"Q: What's big and blue and goes all over? [Ans: my car] Great job! You're a winner! The number of clues are getting thinner. If you look in your glove box, you'll find some music that rocks!"

The music was the CD from last year's MoTab concert with the King Singers. I highly recommend it. :) Oh and incidentally, fortunately I was on the phone with Amy's mom, who provided the answer to the clue. I never would have gotten the car because I was thinking really big... like the sky... ocean... etc.

Clue #7

"Jing jing jing jing jing jing jing. Now as we listen to MoTab sing, Let's get ourselves going to Federal Way. Best Buy awaits you there, OK?"

We spent some time just looking around in Best Buy to see what cool things they were selling.

Clue #8

"While you're looking for something you want, You'll be looking for letters in font, Follow the puzzle below, and the place we're going for dinner you'll know."

So I made Amy squirm when I figured out the puzzle in record time and it really bugged her that I figured out the answer without even knowing all the words in the puzzle. We were going to Panda Express...

Clue #9

"Chinese food is really good, Just as Panda said it would. Here he is to say 'Skadoosh!' Let's go home with a woosh!"

There was also a gift I got from Amy here--- the "Kung Fu Panda" DVD. The funny thing was that at Panda Express, I got a fortune in the fortune cookie that said "A pleasant surprise is in store for you." So we went home and then to my pleasant surprise, my family was there to sing happy birthday to me (except Kaylee who doesn't like to be around us). My cake was amazing and the smoke filled air didn't kill anyone, or set off the smoke detectors.

Thanks to everyone for all the birthday wishes! I had a wonderful birthday.

Fun Halloween Week!

Guys' Hunting Trip

The fun week started with a hunting trip for the boys. Nate, his dad, and Landis left really early in the morning last Saturday with the dogs for Ellensburg, WA up in the mountains. While they were gone, Valerie and I went shopping (tee hee!). We checked out the grand opening of the new Costco here and did a bunch of other little errands. We walked around the Kent Station mall and had lunch at Panera Bread. It was a lot of fun! It was nice to get some girl time in while the boys were having their boy time. I will let Nate tell about the hunting trip:

It was a good long walk. The dogs were so excited they couldn't control themselves and couldn't be controlled. Kia scared up two pheasants and they were too far ahead of us to get a shot off. My dad shot once and missed. I went through another grassy area with the dogs and scared up two pheasants and they flew back towards my dad and Landis. I nicked one but couldn't find it. I think it hit the ground and ran. So we walked across the field trying to scare more up, but couldn't find any more. Meg got thirsty and decided to go down to the canal for a drink. She got down there and couldn't stop because it was steep and ran right into the water. It was too steep for her to come back up so I had to rescue her. She cried all the way back to the car because she was tired and sore. We got back to the car, ate some goodies, and came home tired and empty-handed. These are some of the pictures I took on the way, during the hunt, and back at the car afterwards.







Trunk or Treat

This year for Halloween we decided to reuse the costumes we spent so much money on last year (yay for thriftiness!). Nate was a pirate and I was Elizabeth Swan. We wore our costumes to the ward Trunk or Treat last Saturday and decorated our trunk with lots of fun pirate stuff, courtesy of Stacey and Landis (thanks guys!). We put the candy in a treasure chest and called it our treasure and we even put out a "plank" for the kids to walk in order to get their candy. Nate was a very mean and scary pirate (that smiled a lot...lol) and I tried to get my British accent on. It was fun!




Stacey, Landis, Heidi, and Cirdan and their kids came to visit us. They had such cute costumes! Check out Heidi's blog for more pics of that. The kids made bank on the activity because they continued to go around the row of cars over and over until all of the candy was gone. That's the way to trick or treat!

Casey's Baby Blessing

Last Sunday lots of family came over for Casey's baby blessing (Nate's sister Stacey's baby). The blessing was so precious and it was a happy time for everybody. There was a lot of goodies to eat and it was nice to visit with family members. Casey was so cute in his little white outfit!



Nathan in the kitchen, where he tends to be most of the time, making and serving hot cider for everyone. Yum!


Halloween at Work and Home

My work decided to let us have lots of fun for Halloween. They let us wear our costumes to work and had us bring in pumpkins that we carved for the pumpkin carving contest. This is the table of all the pumpkins that were entered. Can you guess which one's mine? Okay, okay I'll tell you. It's the weird one on the very left.


This is the full picture of my wormy pumpkin. I got the idea from the internet and decided last minute Thursday night that I would do it. I had to do it all really fast but after the customer and employee votes, I won scariest pumpkin!



I had to take a picture of the Wilson pumpkin because it just made me laugh. It was a lot of fun and everybody went all out with their costumes. Here are some other girls from work that had similar costumes to mine (princess/royalty type). I love playing dress up!

Then when I got home we had corn dogs and french fries (fried at home) for dinner and then made donuts and homemade root beer. YUMMY!


It was SO good! I think I can see the donuts piling up on my love handles...lol. There weren't a lot of trick-or-treaters so we were able to just chill and watch TV for the rest of the night. What a fun Halloween week!!

October Update

I can't believe how time flies and that it's already been a month since we last posted! I'm kind of kicking myself for not doing this sooner because I think I've forgotten some of the things we've done. If I find I did forget something, I guess we'll post it later. We've been living in Washington now for 3 months. It's been wonderful to be here with Nate's family and we're really grateful for their kindness and hospitality. We're still not sure when we'll have a place of our own, but both of our jobs are stable and we're saving up money and for that we are very grateful. Okay so here are some of the things we've done in the past month:

*We went to Nate's cousin's wedding reception at the Woodland Park Zoo. It was really different but very cool. The reception was all set up in the exhibit for the grizzly bear and the river otters. Even though it was dark outside, the grizzly bear was still up and playing in the water that we could see through the glass. The bear literally came right up next to the glass! It was huge!! Kind of scary at night thinking it was just a window pane away from us. Anyways, the reception was nice and it was good to see some family.

*Nate and I were asked to speak on "leading by example" at church the week or two before Conference (can't remember which one). Two talks in one year is enough for me...lol. I guess that's what happens though when you keep moving into different wards. The talks went well, despite the fact that we each only had 5 minutes since there was a lot of ward business and the last speaker was a missionary leaving on his mission.

*Over General Conference weekend (which was amazing!!) we went to Nate's grandma's house with a bunch of the extended family to watch it. In between sessions on Saturday we went to Salmon Days, a fair in Issaquah. It's a huge flea market with food, vendors, and bands playing, all celebrating the salmon coming back up stream to mate and lay their eggs. They have a big facility that regulates the fish and you can see them through the glass around the bins going up the fish ladder. It was really cool to see! I've never seen that before so it was a neat experience.

*Nate and I were also finally given callings in our ward here. Nate is Ward Organist..surprise, surprise, and he's been doing wonderful at it! Honestly he is so very talented and it brings a great spirit to the meetings!! I was called as the Sunday School teacher for the 12-14 year olds. My first teaching calling! I am loving it so far, but have found that it's very hard to teach exactly the way I picture it in my head, especially with a bunch of chatty teens. It'll be a great learning experience for me for sure.

*Last Saturday we went to my cousin Kyan Skeem's wedding at the Seattle Temple. It was so beautiful! It was my first time attending a sealing at the temple other than my own. It was also so very great to see all of my cousins that I haven't seen for years! I couldn't remember anyone's names but I was so happy to be around family at the temple. I also was able to see Galen and Anita's offices at the temple. That was a great experience too.

*This Saturday is our wards Trunk or Treat and Nate and I are planning on dressing up like pirates and decorating our car that way. Nate's been trying to figure out how to build an air cannon that we can put dry ice in and have it blast out puffs of "smoke." It's going to be so good!

Anyways, that's about it so far. We've mostly just been working and doing family stuff or church stuff. I will try to be better at keeping up and hopefully I have pictures on the next post!