Christmas Parties.

December is always such a fun month- so many Christmas parties and events to attend. It made the month fly by and I just noticed on our baby registry that it says 24 days to go. Holy crap.

The squadron Christmas party is always a lot of fun and full of colorful characters. It is a 500+ person event held at a hotel downtown. A good time to catch up and enjoy the season!

My hubby was looking super cute and had a hard time picking out something to wear because all his clothes are too big! I, on the other hand, am not having that problem. Luckily I chose a festive color for our October baby shower and could wear the dress again.

In mid-December we attended the Moran's annual Ludachristmas party- a tradition that began when we were neighbors in Japan. There, we had the party on Christmas day night since many people stayed in Japan for the holidays since it was so expensive to fly home, but now it is held another weekend. I bought my sweater at Salvation Army for $2.09 and I made my  necklace (although I think my mom had one quite similar circa 1993).

On Christmas Eve, we had Glenn's family in town (his sister, BIL, mom and grandma) and we invited our close friends the Polsons and the Morans to join us. It is always fun to mix our real family and our Navy family and enjoy good food together. It was Glenn's best roast beast to date!

Glenn's sweater was ordered for the Ludachristmas party, but it didn't come on time so he wore it for Christmas eve instead. Perhaps it will make an appearance next year along with those festive red pants (although I think those can be worn all year long!) Side note, we also found out that the Morans are staying in Norfolk for the next 3 years (at least 1.5-2 of which we will be here as well)!

I hope your holiday season was filled with as much fun, family time and relaxing as ours has been. We are looking forward to a busy/crazy/exciting and baby-filled January!

Merry Christmas!

Awkward Family Photo style. :)

3D Ultrasound

Glenn calls this his 'power to the people' pose. :)

Glenn and I went last Friday to redo the 3D ultrasound. I was a little worried we wouldn't get any good pictures since I was at 34 weeks and we are running out of space quickly. At first, the little bugger had not only both arms in front of his face, but his foot as well!

But we jiggled him around a bit and waited for him to move more and finally he gave us a few good pictures!

 Wait for it...

 Getting closer, buddy, just move your arm...

There you are! I just love those chubby cheeks! I think his lips look like Glenn and his mom says that this looks just like Glenn did when he was a few days old. Only ~4.5 more weeks!

Nursery Art

I've been having fun finding new art and pictures for the baby's room. Here is a little of what I've found (and hung). The room is coming together, but it is serving as our second guest room over the holidays so the last few touches will have to wait til after Christmas.

This makes me smile

I love Christmas cards!

Happy Birthday Conman!

I can't believe my nephew is 7 years old already! I wish is wasn't going to be so long until I see you again, but you will have a new cousin to meet!

Love you, buddy.

Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Mexico! Glenn and I headed to Playa del Carmen over Thanksgiving to help celebrate with the new Mr. and Mrs. Paul Dunning. Paul was in our wedding and went to high school with Glenn. Sixty-one guests came to Mexico for the wedding and it was a blast! Such an awesome group of people. Since we were in Japan, we have missed all the other weddings of Glenn's buddies, but we were so happy to make it to one finally. The next wedding is scheduled for Feb 2014 as a destination wedding as well! Mom, Dad, want to babysit??? I'm giving you 14 months notice. :)

Glenn signed up for a dive trip for the day after we arrived. If we had been there longer and I was able to dive (no allowed for preggers), I think we would have gone over to Cozumel which we could see across the water. You can do a two tank drift dive along the whole island's reef. Maybe next time.

I laid on the beach, read baby magazines and got a massage while he was gone. Not a bad way to start vacation.

The resort had beautiful grounds with monkeys, turtles, peacocks, roosters, lizards and all sorts of animals roaming free. It was a 4 or 5 minute walk from our room up to the main lodge where the restaurants, disco and spa were located so it was fun to see the animals each time.

 

There were also so many tequila shots! None for me. After a few of these kinds of pictures, I was kind of missing not being able to drink. Luckily, we were at an all inclusive resort and there was always ice cream to be found. My new favorite is coconut ice cream. Yum!



The rehearsal dinner was on Thanksgiving day which is when many of the guests arrived. Glenn and I arrived on Tuesday and stayed until Sunday, but Paul and Natalie were there for the entire time their guests were there. It was nice to get to hang out with them before the wedding craziness started.

The resort also had a disco. It didn't open until 11 pm and we were usually the only people there minus a few randoms, but it was always fun!

The groom requested that on Friday morning, the guys played a little basketball. I think they all quickly learned that they are all close to 30 and not 18. The basketball playing was pretty entertaining for those of us watching. I think most trips down the court involved 6-8 passes and minimal dribbling.

 

They did much better with water basketball the next day. The water was the great equalizer between all the players, I don't want to know what happened under the surface though.

The wedding! Friday afternoon was the ceremony and the reception followed that evening. It was short and super sweet. They both wrote their own vows and Paul's dad was the officiant.

We did not mean to coordinate, but I think it looks cute. :)

Mr. and Mrs. Dunning!

They did a short champagne toast immediately following the ceremony and then the bridal party went off to take pictures before the sun set. The rest of us headed to the bar!

The dinner was great (until about 6 hours later when Glenn got food poisoning :( ) and there didn't do a lot of fanfare so that everyone could get to the dancing and partying.

The spouses/fiancee of all the high guys.

Paul and all of the guys. We were just missing Brandon and Jimmy!

 

Thanks for letting us help celebrate with you! Congratulations!

Wordless Wednesday: Mexico Memories

One year!

December 8th marked the one-year anniversary of living in our house! Wow, this year has flown by! We've accomplished a lot of projects in the first year, but we still have a growing list. We know this home is not going to be our forever home, but it is going to hold so many memories as our first home together.

Here are the biggest projects we've accomplished so far:
- Installed blinds on most of the windows and privacy paint on the front door
- Installed a master closet
- Added a poured concrete patio in the back yard
- Painted the interior of the house (80% complete, still the guest room and living room to complete)
- Add a utility sink in the basement (Thanks, Mom & Dad!)
- Build a workbench in the basement
- Installed new lighting in the kitchen, dining room and bedroom.

Here are a list of projects we still hope to accomplish in the next year:
- Add a gas insert to the fireplace (gas company is suppose to install the line in the next couple weeks!)
- Change out the vanity in the master bath for a double vanity
- Paint the guest room and living room
- Install more cabinetry in the kitchen (including a wine fridge, microwave and slide out garbage can)
- Switch out the over-the-stove microwave for a vent hood

I'm sure the list is going to get much longer, but hopefully most of the improvements we make will add value to our home. There are a couple houses down the street that have sold pretty quickly so we are hoping when the day comes to move, we will have luck as well.

Christmas Lights

Last week, Glenn helped me haul the boxes of Christmas decorations out of the basement! I love this time of year and I can't believe Christmas is only a couple weeks away!

I found a stocking that matches Glenn and mine on sale this year so I bought it and it hangs nameless this year. Can't wait for next Christmas!

Congrats Paul & Nancy!

In early November, we headed up to Annapolis to the wedding of our friends, Paul and Nancy. It was a beautiful event and SO SO much fun to catch up with all of our Japan friends that are spreadout over the east coast (and further).

The Naval Academy chapel is beautiful!

I guess when you get married over Veteran's day weekend (3 day weekend for Navy guys) and at the Naval Academy, you have enough sailors to do a sword arch. Not gonna lie, I was a bit jealous. We weren't able to do one at our wedding in Minnesota. Love the pictures though!

Japan reunion! Gizelle rode up with Glenn and I and the Rohrings drove up from Patuxent River, MD!

The beautiful bride!

Somehow, I managed to squeeze in to the same dress that I wore for Emily's wedding a year before! Although, it fits me slightly different now and boy was I happy to take it off at the end of the night!

We spent a lot of time catching up with our friends (and new baby friends) at the reception.

What a fun time! Congrats Paul and Nancy! Enjoy your honeymoon in a few weeks!

Ahoy! It's still a boy.

Where did November go? Seriously, I cannot believe there are only 6.5 more weeks left in this pregnancy. I do NOT feel prepared and with all the holiday festivities, there is just so much going on. I am glad we are not traveling for Christmas this year, but hosting requires just as much work I feel sometimes. At least my baby daddy is calm and organized because I am not feeling that way.

So...I am long over due to post a wonderful thank you to my sister-in-law for hosting a beautiful baby shower in my honor in October. In the words of my father, "she is a hostess with the mostest" and it was a wonderful laid back occasion. I got to catch up with some of my favorite people and that was what was most important to me.

My best friend, Emily and I who had her little guy just a few days ago. Our due dates are about 7 weeks apart. Can't wait til our little guys get to meet!

Grandma and the baby daddy. I don't think I have a picture, but Cheryl bought tiny cowboy boots. Wowzers are they cute. I see a photo shoot session in the future.

All the lovely ladies. Thank you so much!

Sarah drove up from Iowa and Ali flew in from California. I have amazing friends! Thanks for color coordinating with the affair as well. :) Miss you all!

And since Jen is so amazing at all the details

Glenn was a peanut when he was born and I was a chunker. I'm hoping we end up with a baby somewhere in between!

Thank you, Jen for opening your home and organizing such a beautiful event. It was the best!