Introductions and pictures!

Let's try for some better introductions. Here we are:
That picture is from last July, and while Brian looks the same, I look more like this:

















29 weeks along.

A quick run-down about us: we met at the end of September in 2005, moved to Texas in January of 2006, married in June of 2006, honeymooned in Tahiti in November of 2006, and then had a seriously busy year in 2007. So busy, in fact, that I wrote a blog about it for my myspace page, so I'm going to cheat and copy that over to here!

January:
In January we paid off the loan on Brian's Kia and we were officially out of debt! After being out of school since 2001, Brian got back into school mode and started his first semester of college. As of January 9th, I had been working for Baker for 1 whole year, by far the longest I've ever worked at a one job. Even if you add up the three summers I worked at Choice Hotels. (How fun was that job by the way)

February:
We celebrated our first Valentine's day as a married couple, and actually got to spend it together since I wasn't out of town! Brian turned 24 and we probably did something... We decided that now that we were out of debt we should get back in big time and buy a house.

March:
We bought at house! With 3 bedrooms, 2 and 1/2 baths, and almost 1900 square feet it made us really appreciate living in Midland where housing is affordable. Then, the same day we moved in, we called on a newspaper ad, drove up to Andrews and brought home our two lovely greyhounds, Onyx and Brenna. It took them awhile to warm up to us but they are definitely worth it.









Front and back views of the house.









Brenna on the left, Onyx on the right.


April:
Ok, I don't think anything particularly interesting actually happened in April.

May:
Brian finished his first semester of college, with a 4.0 of course:) We decided we were ready to start a family and found out that Kirsta and Joe were doing just that when they called to announce that they were expecting.

June:
I got to meet lots of Brian's family in Florida before we left on a cruise with my family. Took a cruise to Grand Cayman and Cozumel with my family where we ate tons of good food, tried escargot, and sang lots-o-karaoke. Found out I was pregnant just in time for our 1 year anniversary! Had our 1 year anniversary!

The ship we were on. Brian and I all dressed up for the formal dinner.

July:
I had a miscarriage. After which I found out that people really don't know what to say to you when you tell them you've had a miscarriage. July was the month of other people's babies; I attended 3 baby showers within one week. My parents came to Texas to visit, got to see our house and meet our dogs. We visited Carlsbad Caverns while they were here. Plus we took them to KD's, the best BBQ in the world. Seriously.

August:
We took lots of quick trips in August. At the beginning of the month we went to San Diego for a wedding celebration where we found out that Eric and Amy were also expecting. Later in the month we spent a weekend in Denver for Brian's cousin Brianna's wedding and I got to meet lots more of his family. Brian started his second semester of college and somehow during everything else I managed to get pregnant again! As soon as I told Brian I was pregnant, he told me it would be a girl.

Brian with Brianna at her wedding.

September:
We went back to San Diego where we got sealed in and attended my cousin Jason's wedding at the San Diego temple. Which is gorgeous, by the way. I turned 25 and spent my birthday working and watching TV. At 8 weeks pregnant I wasn't up for anything more than that. Plus cake sounded disgusting so we had birthday milkshakes from Burger King.

Brian and I with my parents and Kirsta and Joe.

Jason with his new wife and the extended family.

October:
Had an ultrasound at 10 weeks and listened to the baby's heartbeat:)

November:
Blood tests showed that I have heterozygous Factor V Leiden (random since Brian has it too) so I got to add aspirin to my morning prenatal. Brian's family came to visit for Thanksgiving and got to see the rare occurrence of Midland snow. Brian's mom did all the cooking, which was wonderful, and even made a ham since pregnancy has given me an aversion to the texture of poultry.


Nicholas showing off his snowman.













December:
Brian finished his second semester of college, again with a 4.0:) More blood tests showed that I also have a homozygous MTHFR mutation. So I got to add 4 mg of folic acid to the morning supplements. Brian was proved right when the 18 week ultrasound showed a girl! Went back to Colorado for Christmas and had the longest vacation I've had since starting work for Baker. We spent an exciting New Year's eve driving over Monarch pass (Vail was closed) and back into Texas. Then we partied it up! Oh wait, I mean we watched TV in a hotel in Amarillo. Happy New Year to us!

So there it is, 2007 in review. More to come soon.