What we've been up to...

We bought an ice cream maker! Yes we were just a little bit excited about this one.

Our first batch of ice cream was classic chocolate. Very creamy and yummy. We made some cinnamon chocolate and cinnamon strawberry later on for Devin and Bridget's Hot Luck in the Spring.

Through work Patrick got tickets to the Zoo Lights. We enjoyed the lights, walking around, eating cookies and sipping hot chocolate. We also took a little ride on the zoo train. We are excited to go back when the weather warms up and the elephant land is completed.

We visited the aquarium. It was pretty fun and we got to touch rays. We were mesmerized by the jellyfish and octopus.

Our Christmas Tree! Since we both had to work a lot during the holiday we stayed here and spent time with Linda and Devin and Bridget's family. Somehow I managed to get Christmas day off which was amazing. We slept out by our tree, opened presents, and rushed over to watch the kids open their presents Christmas morning. It was fun to see them so excited about their gifts.

We made gingerbread houses and then decided to use the BB guns to shoot them. This is Patrick's house. So lovely, he put everyone else to shame.

It was fun to spend Christmas in Portland. We have only had one other Christmas here and that was when we were engaged! It was nice to spend  time with Linda.

We have done more hiking in Forest Park and it is so fun. Crazy how green everything always is here.

Red velvet heart pancakes made by Patrick. It was my year to plan and I'm not sure how he snuck these in on Sunday morning. For Valentines Day we went for a hike, ate lunch at the Original Pancake House, enjoyed Qdoba burritos for dinner, and made chocolate lava cakes. Yes it is all about the food for us!

Danielle and Chad visited us over a long weekend!

                        We ate, shopped, hiked, and did all sorts of fun while they were here.

 We tried some super fancy desserts too.

Of course we played some rounds of Adventure Time Munchkins. I even stayed awake.

Just a cute picture of us to end on :)

Surprises...

The Friday in November before Thanksgiving I got home from work to discover the first of many surprises from Patrick. He knows first thing I do when I get home is shower and so I found a gift bag on the bathroom counter. I didn't know it at the time but I was in for amazing surprises all weekend long!

 I opened the bag to find some chocolate and another box to open Saturday. There were also glitter hearts in the shower!

 Saturday morning came around and I opened the box to find another box to open later on. Thankfully he also included some tasty cookies for me to eat in the meantime. Since these pictures were taken in bed I'm pretty sure that's were the cookies were eaten :)

 The cookies were so pretty. We had been eyeing them at Whole Foods for some time so it was fun to finally try them!

 Later on I opened the box to find this. Yep, that's right a bikini! Actually there were two so I could take my pick. I chose the one pictured here. And of course another something to open later on.

 Patrick let me open the card early instead of waiting until Sunday morning. I learned we were going to the beach! I was totally surprised.

All packed up and ready to go!

 We unloaded our stuff in our beach front room and checked on the private hot tub on the balcony! Good thing we checked because it was pretty cold. Patrick talked to the hotel people and they were going to get it fixed while we went to dinner.

There were even more surprises from Patrick after dinner, sparkling juice, see's candy, and we watched one of our favorites, Pitch Perfect! Then we got in some hot tube time.

The next day we spent more time soaking up the view from the balcony.

Patrick gave me one more surprise. A locket with my initials on it with a picture of us inside. It was so sweet and I love it. We spent the rest of the morning walking on the beach before heading home. 

It was such a wonderful getaway and nice to take our minds off of things and to just have fun together. I'm so lucky to be married to Patrick. I love him so!

Baby Panda...

We went to our 13 week OB appointment this week with the hopes of hearing our little cub's heartbeat and setting up our ultrasound to find out if little one is a he or a she. We thought we had turned a corner with my nausea getting better and having more energy thinking it was because we were moving into our second trimester. Unfortunately we found out that we miscarried several weeks ago. 
We were so excited to be pregnant and have had so much fun shopping, preparing, researching, and thinking about our baby panda. We are devastated that we won't get to meet baby this spring. We are so grateful for all our family who support and love us.

Summer highlights...

We decided to swing by Crater Lake on our way up to Portland from our trip with Linda. We were a little under dressed but it was beautiful!

 There was still a ton of snow. So much that we couldn't drive on all of the roads because they were still being cleared.

We decided that we will have to visit again in the late summer when we can hike around the lake.

  We went hiking in Forest Park!

 A banana slug we saw :)

 Hung out with Devin and Bridget's kids.

 I promise we played with the older two kids too. The younger ones just liked to have their pictures taken. They liked it a lot!

 There were many sword fights while we lived with them. 

 We house sat and had a sports court to play on for 6 weeks. Maybe we didn't use it until the last couple of weeks because summer here was pretty hot.

 While house sitting we took care of a turtle and a small patch of grass.

We celebrated Patrick's Birthday by having Devin & Bridget's family over one night for Mexican food. We then had a sleepover with the kids.

 

 To celebrate our birthday's out we went to the zoo one weekend. I even ate an elephant ear!

 

 

 We did some more hiking.

Went to a fancy movie theater where you can order and eat dinner during your movie.

  Both dinner and the movie were amazing!

 

 Then of course there was one more highlight of the summer, finding out that we are pregnant! We are so excited!

The smashed penny swap...

Since we found out a couple months ago that Ashley's parents would be coming out to visit, Ashley and I have been so excited and began thinking of what we should do when they arrive. However, about a month ago we knew exactly what we'd be doing.

Our excitement continued to build and they finally arrived this past Thursday. I was in Florida for a conference and didn't arrive to the party until late that night. We chatted for a bit then went to sleep. In the morning we made a bee line for Tillamook cheese factory. It's an hour an a half drive on a windy road, toward the end Ashley was starting to feel car sick. We even had to pull over for few minutes so she could get some air.

Finally we arrived. Ashley and I were bursting with excitement. The first thing we did was head to the penny smashing machine to smash our pennies. Ashley and I do this everywhere we travel and so does Ashley's mom. We all love it. So we thought it was a perfect way to surprise Gaylene and Bruce with the news.

If you look closely you can see that Ashley pulls a smooth move by switching the penny that came out of the machine with one she had in her hand. This one:

Gaylene and Bruce had no idea it was coming! It was so fantastic!! Poor Bruce was left in the dark for a half a minute as Ashley and her mom hugged it out. I love the video so much! Gaylene had such a fantastic reaction. It's too early to know if it's a boy or girl but we couldn't find a smashed penny that said, "We're having a baby" or "I'm pregnant". So we bought a girl and boy penny and Ashley picked between the two. We'll find out right before Christmas whether it really is a boy or a girl.

Ashley did such a great job keeping it a secret until we could tell them in person. Even that morning on the drive over, when Ashley felt "car sick" it was in fact just morning sickness. The timing of their visit really could not have been better planned. At the time Ashley was 8 weeks pregnant and we were able to schedule our first ultrasound visit for that Monday right before they left.

The past month has been so fun for me. So fun to watch Ashley. The baby is seriously the only thing she talks about. It's the cutest thing ever. All day long it's, "Patrick what do you think panda will look like?" "I just love panda so much!" on and on. She been all smiles. I swear even when she sleeps she has a smile on her face and is dreaming of little panda.We are so excited for our panda cub to come!!!