32 weeks

OK. I am officially huge. Not sleeping well. My back REALLY hurts. I am ready to not be pregnant anymore. I guess this means I really am in the final stretch:) Two more months and Conman will be here. He is currently the size of a jicama. He moves ALL day and night long and he has the hiccups all the time, which makes me laugh. I have been thinking a lot more about what Connor will look like and what it will be like to have an infant around. GETTING EXCITED! We painted the room and I really like the color. This weekend we are putting up shelves and putting the crib together, which is great! After Christmas it will be time to get all the tubs of clothes down and wash and organize them....that will be fun! It is so wierd that this time around we have everything, we just have to dust it off and it will be good as new: infant tub, infant car seat, breast pump (AHHHHH!), and all the little toys and binkies. The final countdown has started!

The belly in all it's GLORY!

Seattle Babymoon

I am pretty sure no one ever really knows what the hell I am talking about when I say babymoon, but I have adopted the word into my vocabulary. Just like you have a honeymoon to celebrate your love and your wedding day, you can have a babymoon. A chance to get away with your love before your world gets rocked by an infant! We had our babymoon before we had Dillan in Hawaii and this time we went to cold, rainy Seattle and had a blast! I had never been to Seattle and we wanted to go somewhere that actually felt like winter! We bundled up and walked the city streets, did some shopping, saw movies, had amazing dinners, and slept in!!!!!! I LOVE spending unadulterated time with Dusty and this trip was the perfect time for us to connect and catch up on rest before little Connor arrives. We also got to visit and spend the day with our good friends, the Bentley's who moved there this last year. We got to hang out with their little guy Camden, who is SO CUTE! Crystal and I are two weeks apart in our pregnancies and both having baby boys again, which is so fun! We even got to have a fun dinner together that night. It was great to catch up. Thanks to both of our parents who watched Dillan while we were gone (which in this case also meant taking care of Dillan while he had the flu and then all catching it). Thanks to my husband for working so hard so we could take this fun trip together and for treating me to the most unbelievable day at the spa that I have ever had! I wish I could live there sometimes:)

Dinner the first night at Palisade .....

an amazing restaurant with yummy food

and gorgeous views of the city

Walking to Pike's Place....it's chilly!

I wanted to eat everything in the fish market....

is that wierd?

Christmas tree lot by the market

Camden being silly

The preggos

Our buddies

A little day trip to Bainbridge

Pike's Place Market

The VERY 1st Starbucks!

Coffee....yes please!

Beautiful Seattle night

Yummy Ruth's Chris dinner

Dusty's two favorite things....wine and steak:)

7th Annual Christmas Party

Nicole and I are going 7 years strong hosting our annual Christmas party! This is such a fun thing we LOVE to plan together and we have kept up the tradition and hope to for many years to come. We changed the venue once again to accommodate everyone's growing families! The Olson's hosted this year and it was such a hoot to see how many kids were there running amuck......I LOVE IT! This year we changed the menu a little bit as well. Instead of a ham, we went with lasanga and garlic bread and it was a hit! We had some people bring some killer desserts and had LOTS of food. The highlight every year is the white elephant gift exchange game and this year did not disappoint. We had everything from a DVD of ELMO's potty training to yoga video for people with IBS to used rollerblades! The best part is being together as family and friends and celebrating Christ's birth!

The hostess'!

Yaya and her grandbabes

Mom, Davo, and Dad

June and Erica

Dustoff conducting his trivia game

White Elephant gifts!

Elmo potty training...YES!

Les and Meg

Belly band anyone?

A little vino for Mikey

Dust got the photo keychain!

Cutest cousins ever!

The Hammans

Sarah and Kar in their matching attire:)

Drew and Beebs

Decorating for Christmas!

We have our annual Christmas party at our house on Saturday so we had to take down Thanksgiving and get Christmas up right away!!!!! I LOVE DECORATING the house for Christmas and this year we had a whole new space to play with:) We found a HUGE tree and she is absolutely beautiful and smells divine! So far Dillan has been a CHAMP with all the decorations and hasn't broken anything:) However, it is only December 2nd, so I will let you know in a couple of weeks how that is going. Dillan LOVES the nativity scene the best and always wants to give baby Jesus a kiss and tell him "Happy Birthday." After all, that is the real reason to celebrate:)

Dillan helping Daddy put up lights

Picking out our tree

It was COLD out so Dillan had to wear his cool

hat from Auntie Les

My little man

Decorating our tree...she's tall this year:)

I had to make sure my belly

didn't knock the tree over:)

In all her glory

Nativity Set

Stockings....had to improvise this year with

no fireplace:(

Dillan inspecting the tree while mommy says,

"No touching Dillan. Just looking."

His face after mommy telling him not to touch!

My cutie patootie!

Give Thanks

Thanksgiving is such a wonderful time of year. It is a great reminder to take "stock" of everything in my life that I have to be thankful for. A time to sit and reflect (which doesn't happen a lot these days) on the things in my life that make me "full." There are so many things and some of them may seem cliche, but they make everyday life so enjoyable! This year I was especially thankful for our new home. What started out as a hard thing (deciding to short sale our home), God ended up turning into a huge blessing. We have so much more space and are in a home that allows us to entertain and fit our growing family:) I am so thankful for God's provision during that season. Having a sick kid the last few weeks has also reminded me how grateful I am for Dillan's health. He has really only been sick a couple of times in his life and for that I AM SO GRATEFUL! Seeing your child sick is so hard and DRAINING:) I am also very thankful for the chance to grow our family. I am so excited to bring Connor Charles into this world and watch our family grow from three to four. This year was a pretty tough year for a lot of people with the economy taking a dive. Although it was a hard year for Dusty, he got up every day and kept hitting the pavement. He works so hard to provide for our family. We are so grateful for his job at Federated and the security he has there. We are also so grateful for our family and friends that surround us and walk through life with us. Their loyalty and support are unwavering!

I had a great word spoken to me during my quiet time the other day about being thankful for our suffering. It was out of the Message in Phillipians 1 "There's far more to this life than trusting in Christ. There's also suffering for him. And the suffering is as much a gift as the trusting." And so although it is hard, I am learning to be thankful for suffering and praying that God uses it to shape and mold me into the the woman He has designed me to be.

This year we hosted our first Thanksgiving and cooked our first Turkey! Her name was Matilda and she tasted oh so good! We had 20 Olson's over and it was really fun to look in magazines for creative ideas on table settings, decorations, and recipes. The day was a great success! Food was yummy, being with family was awesome, and Oly's bucket games were in full effect.

We then headed up to Pasadena and had a Davis Thanksgiving on Friday. My mom and dad pretty much cook the ENTIRE meal on their own and it always tastes SOOOOO good! Everything is homemade with love and care and for that I am so grateful! We had extended family with us this year as well which is always fun. And of course the babies make EVERYTHING better (even when they are sick).

Thanksgiving is over and we are now entering into Christmas! We are celebrating the fact that Christ was born in the most humble way and became man so he could know us that much more intimately. So here is to celebrating the real reason for the season!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Food Table

EAT!

Table Setting

Place setting

Game time!

My handsome boy

Andy and Pattie

All the cousins!

Dust, Kim Dillan, Tobin, Braden, Lexy, Ryan,

Ashlyn, Tessa, Charlie, Chrissy, and Boe

Papa getting ready to carve the Turkey

YUM!

The Spread

Pretty table

The Davis Gang