Our First UltraSound

So I don't know if this will be the only one, but I can say it was very exciting....especially because we found out the sex of the baby! It is going to be a boy. It was the last thing we found out, but right when the technician focused in on that part of the baby, Joe could see the baby's penis! It was right there for us to see just because he wanted to make sure everyone knew! And right away he was doing karate kicks...Joe loved that too. Needless to say, we are thrilled and so excited to be having a boy (secretly it was what we both wanted). And just seeing the baby made me realize this is really happening! So in the picture you can see the baby's head and he has his hand on his forehead. The second picture is a front image of his face...doesn't it look like skeletor? And last is a video where you can even see the heart beating!

Twilightville

I couldn't drive through Forks, WA and not stop to take a picture. I would not call myself a faithful Twilight fan, but I have read all the books...and quickly too. I have also seen both of the movies. And being that I am a teacher that has many students with an obsession for the stories, I thought I would have to get a picture.

Of course, the town looks nothing like the movie...however, all the forested land does. And we also went to the beach next to La Push...it was beautiful. I noticed that everyone in Forks was feeding off the popularity. There were Twilight burgers, Jacob or Edward sandwiches, plus many stores were selling things related to the movies!

Wildlife Sighting in Washington State

We had the best spring break in Washington State. It was beautiful and a little cold, but well worth to trip. We took lots of pictures, but I'm just attaching a few for the time being. In fact, I think it was the perfect babymoon trip for us. It had a little hiking, some great mountain vistas, nice beds to sleep in, and no set schedule. I don't think we could have been it any better. I love my husband more and more everyday and it was so much fun to take this trip together. Most of the pictures you will see were taken by him...he is much better with a camera than me!

Giant stuffed bears...oh my!


We saw about five raccoons while at the museums in Victoria, Canada.

Seagulls in Ocean Shores, WA


Roosevelt elk spotting as we circled Quinault Lake.

Hey look it is Big Foot's son...and he is going surfing!

New Adventure - Spring Break in Seattle

So Joe and I decided that we should make our spring break a fun trip because we did not know what kind of fun we would be having in the summer when I am really far into the pregnancy. So after scoping out ticket prices for a while, my wonderful husband found tickets from Washington, D.C. to Seattle, WA for a little over $200 each. So we decided to book the tickets and travel off to a part of the United States that neither of us has really been. Plus, we are renting a car and traveling to Vancouver, B.C. and Olympic Island National Park.

It is going to be a true adventure because we have decided not to book anything in terms of hotels. I guess we figure this way we can take our time everywhere. I just hope that we can still do this on the cheap....we will have to report about it and tell you later. I think it would be fun to stay in a tree-house hotel and since it is the off season, we might have a chance of getting a room for a lower rate. Plus, there are the hot springs on Olympic Island that I won't mind soaking in! It will be fun.

I know I have not posted in a while, but it has been project central at our house and it did not seem that important to write about. When I return from spring break I should show the finished pictures of our bathroom and we painted our bedroom. Plus, there will be a nursery to create too! And pictures of Washington! So stay tuned.

The Big News!

The word already went out on facebook and of course we have told our families, but I am officially 9 weeks pregnant! Of course I am so excited, since I have had a baby fever for a while now. It just felt like the right time to start trying and after about six months we were successful. I feel very blessed, since I have had many friends that tried for years and years to become pregnant.

So at this point, now I need to eat heathly and hope for a heathly baby. Oh, and we have one more house project to complete, a nursery to decorate, and Joe is recovering for a serious rock climbing accident. After hurting his hand and wrist severely, he is not working to move his fingers again and we are both praying for nerve recovery. So there is lots to do, but we are so excited and scared for our future!

Snow Storm

The first week of January we had a week off of school. It snowed everyday about three or four inches a day. Nothing too bad, but the icicles grew all around the house. Each day this one would get bigger and bigger. Until finally I decided to open the window and break it with a hammer! Now we are having snow again, and the icicles are building up again!

The Bathroom Renovation

So the last time I post anything it was the start of our bathroom renovation. I was hoping to post in steps, but it was a lot of work and took a lot longer than I expected. We figured we would get the big stuff done in a week, and if we had a normal house that would have been okay. However, our house is over 100 years old and it needs a lot of work. So here I go with a story.

We started the renovation the week before Thanksgiving, since we would have a whole week off for the break (it is great to live in WV, because Thanksgiving and hunting go together). So Joe and I started the prep work by getting rid of the ugly walls and flooring. We emptied out the cabinet and basically started to demo. Then when my dad arrived on Saturday we continued the demolition process, which did not end until the end of Sunday. There was a lot to get rid of and lots of blown-in insulation to get rid of. While demoing we noticed some bad electrical work and that the roof was falling. Of course those were things that we had to fix first. It took one day to jack the roof up and re frame out the ceiling. My dad is basically a trained electrician but it was a surprise to him to see some of the spliced electrical work. He was so stumped that it took him a while to figure it all out. Plus, we had to pull of the flooring up as my dad discovered some electrical work that was sparking! He had to make cut-outs and boxes for all this electrical work Plus we now had a lot more framing to do. I figured we would have the shower, cabinet, and tile installed within the week. That would have been nice!

Instead, we were lucky to have the electrical work done. We even had to call my brother in for extra support since he is excellent at framing out walls and such. Luckily two days after the Thanksgiving break was up, we had a shower and drywall up. Even though it was just for a week, I was tired of showering at a campground. Plus, it was November and it was just plain cold outside. And when I had to go back to work, it was not fun to feel dirty and tired from not getting a morning shower.

My dad and brother had to go home and back to work so we were on a stand still for another two weeks until they were able to come back down to help us. On the second trip, we installed the tile, put in the cabinet and sink, and had the drywall mudded two times. Then it was another break for the holidays.

At this point, I was glad to see some of the biggest problems solved, because I really did not need a fire to start from bad wiring, however, I also wanted it to be done! We needed my dad's help, since he was mudding the walls. Fortunately he was able to come day on New Year Eve with my mom. On Saturday we finished the mud and sanding. Then we cleaned up and prepped for paint. We primed and painted on Sunday and it was great to get everything into place. Plus, it was snowing so we knew that we would be off school on Monday. YEAH FOR SNOW DAYS! Unfortunately Joe did not like the paint color, so on a whim we rushed to Lowes on Monday afternoon and picked another color. Then we started to paint, but we did not like that color either. That meant we were back at the store on Tuesday (another snow day) to pick up samples and wood for the trim work. Thankfully we found a color that we like and on Wednesday (another snow day) we were able to paint again. Plus Joe got a start on some of the trip work after painting. On Thursday (another snow day) we put up the trip work and cleaned up the house. Then we celebrated because Friday was also a snow day so we painted the trim work and any touch-ups, installed the toilet paper holder, and stained our built in cabinets. This could not have been done so well if we had to work each day. I'm so glad we had the time off. Tomorrow I am going to clean off any mud on the floors and caulk the tub. All that is left is to finish our built-in shelving! It looks so good and I am glad to see one more room in this old house be renovated!

Our next project...the hallway and staircase!

So here are pictures in a play-by-play:

1. This is what the room looked like when we bought the house.

2. Demolition (do you see the electrical work just sticking out of the insulation?)

Or how about the electrical box sitting in sawdust? We ripped up the floor to take a look at this and found three more splices in the electrical wiring! What a nightmare!

My dad actually fell through the floor by accident. He was okay, but it put a hole in our kitchen ceiling. That gives us one more reason to renovate that room too!

3. We start to re frame the roof and add structural support

4. I think we filled our truck and my dad's truck about six times.

5. Drywall is up and the cabinet is being installed. Yeah for a shower!

6. Here comes our new slate flooring. It was a process to put these in, because I had to seal the tiles three times, once more before grouting, then grout, and then seal it again. Plus, I ran out of grout and had to put some and finish the last four tiles on the next day.

7. The finished project (minus the built-in shelves). We were able to reuse the toilet and medicine cabinet. Everything else is brand new. I will have to put a price break down on here soon.