What I didn't tell you about Alabama.

I traveled to Alabama for work to learn about Radiological Hazards through FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. Well when you are pregnant they will not allow you to participate in getting dressed for all the trainings. I actually had to sign something with the Department of Homeland Security saying that I would contact them when the baby is born. It was hard for my classmates to not know I was throwing up. In class on average I would get sick about 15 times per day. It was awful, if I ate or drank anything it would just come back up. My instructor for the coarse bought me crackers and Gatorade to make me feel better. Since I couldn't dress out for any of the hands on exercises I was always Safety officer or team leader which is a ton of work. We were team Alpha, but we called ourselves Team Awesome. While I was in Alabama I seemed to get very swollen and my baby bump was awfully big for only being 7 weeks. The class joked and called me Octomom...they were sure that there was more than one baby because of how big I was. The last day of class the entire class gave me a congrats card with an envelope full of money for the baby. These people had known me for a week! It was amazing to see other peoples kindness. All I could do was cry. It was one of the kindest things anyone has ever done for me.

Here's another picture from my trip that I didn't share because its very obvious how big my stomach is growing!

What we didn't tell you about our Honeymoon

On our beautiful honeymoon in Maui I was getting really sick. I thought it was because of traveling, but after a few days of getting sick Brad and I decided to get a pregnancy test. I went to the store and paid $16.34 for one pregnancy test! Super expensive. We let it sit at the condo for a few days since I was scared to take it. I finally took it the day before our wedding anniversary. We got up early that day to go on a day trip to see the seven pools and travel the Road to Hana. Sure enough, the expensive little pregnancy test that we bought was positive. Brad and I were very excited/freaked out. The entire day of traveling was fun, but not good if you are throwing up every time you take a turn. The road to Hana is a road with 624 razor sharp turns and dips. My stomach was awful. We had to pull over quite a bit so I could throw up. Locals even pulled over to tell Brad the pressure points to press to keep from throwing up.....I pressed them and it made me throw up again. Ha Ha Ha.

On our one year anniversary we had wonderful dinner reservations at this beautiful restaurant called Kimo's that has an amazing view. I took one look t the menu and I couldn't eat a thing on the menu. The smells in the restaurant were making me nauseous so Brad and I snuck out of there and had our one year anniversary at Cheeseburgers in Paradise. It will be an anniversary that I never forget.

Here is a picture that we didn't share before because you can see the beginning of the baby bump. We had such a good time snorkling and swimming with the fishies. It was perfect.

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving

This year my mom made a huge turkey and invited some of my parents friends over for Thanksgiving dinner. Brad and I were happy to join them and eat turkey. Any excuse to eat turkey is awesome!

Here are a few things that I am thankful for:

• My wonderful husband Brad
• My family who is always by my side loving and caring about me
• Our beautiful home
• Happiness and Health
• Great friends
• My relationship with God

What more do I need? I'm a pretty lucky girl who has a lot to be thankful for.

Sweet Home Alabama

I recently traveled to Anniston, Alabama for a training with the Department of Homeland Security for Radiological training since I am on the HazMat and Safety committe at my work. Luckily my best friend Becky and her family live 10 minutes away. The class was great, the instructers were so smart, really neat training exercises, nice people in my class.....and I passed!

At night I stayed at Becky's house rather than staying in the military barracks that they had assigned us. I don't get many chances to see Becky so when I do I spend all the time I can possibly spend with her. Her mom and dad were so wonderful, made dinner for me every night, opened their home to me, took care of me since I wasn't feeling very good. She did that when I was younger so she said nothings changed. Which made me laugh. Becky and I spent the whole week together. We made cupcakes, argued about where we were going to eat (which gets nowhere), went to bingo......we were losers, went to Sonics for yummy slush, wore pajamas, laughed like we were kids, ate ice cream....perfect best friend time.

The day after I left she moved to Florida for a new job, she was pretty excited to go, but that only means she'll live farther away from me. We made a promise when we were kids to stay best friends forever.....go skydiving, be at each others weddings, be there when each other have babies, see each other once a year.....and so far I am happy to say we have kept all of our promises so far. No distance can ever keep us apart.

My Girl Elie

It was such a treat to have my really good friend Elie come to our new home from Seattle for a visit. We didn't do much, which is what we do best. We talk and laugh and have so much fun together.

I met Elie when we were both booked to model for Coors light in Seattle. None of the models were nice, but you know me.....always trying to make new friends. Elie and I became attached at the hip. Everytime I worked in Seattle I stayed with her, which was almost every weekend. We had a lot of really fun times and there are so many more to come.

I'm lucky to have her as a friend in my life.

Happy Anniversary Marc and Anna!

Happy Anniversary to my brother and sister in law, Marc and Anna. They have been married for 9 years and are still crazy about each other. They have three of the cutest little kids.....yes I am biased because I'm their Aunt, but seriously they are extremely cute. Brad and I are so happy to be related to such wonderful people and such wonderful role models in happy marriages! Next year will be 10 years! Since Marc and Anna went out of town for romantic dinner overnight trip, Uncle Brad and Aunt Nikki got a chance to have 3 kids overnight. So we had a slumber party. The kids and I did yoga, apparently they teach that in their P.E. class now. We colored, watched cartoons, had dinner, played, had popsicles, and finally went to bed.....or so we thought. Brad and I shared our bed with all three munchkins. Ezra rolled all over the place, Grace snored, and Audrey cuddled so hard that I thought she was going to smuther herself so I kept waking up. It was really funny. Brad and I decided at that moment that the bed is not made for 5. We love watching the kids, its so much fun!

How I Met Your Mother

Brad and I have become very addicted to the show How I Met Your Mother. Brad and I just received Season 4 and its pretty amazing and funny. If you have not seen the show yet, watch it, its hilarious. All of our friends have borrowed the DVDs from us and are addicted too! Maybe one day I'll write a story titled How I Met Your Father :)

Oyster Run Baby

Every year I work for my girlfriend Caroline at her bar Watertown for Oyster Run. Brad went to the Hawks game with his buddies...I call it a man date. If you have never heard of Oyster Run its an event where bikers come and ride to Anacortes and park all along the main street of Anacortes. There are always a ton of Oysters served any way imaginable, vendors, music. Its a pretty fun event. Every year I wear short shorts and leather chaps and get all dolled up, which I love to do. For the past 3 years I have bartended at Watertown for Oyster Run and I make pretty good tips. The best part of it all is working with my girls Caroline and Phelana. I don't get to see them very often so when I do its really a treat. This year was the first year m parents come to the run. My dad is a very proud owner of his new motorcycle, so it was only right that he come hang with the rest of the bikers. They had a great time. Here are a few pictures from the day!

Honeymoon

Brad and I went to Maui for our honeymoon to celebrate our marriage. We stayed at the Sugar Beach Resort for 9 glorious days. It was so relaxing.

Our flight was really nice. We had exit seats which Brad loves since he's so tall. I watched Night at the Museum on the plane while I was writing my wedding thank you cards. I just got the wedding photos for the thank you cards, so I am almost ready to send them off. When we arrived we upgraded our rental car to a convertible.....something new I learned about my husband. Brad hates getting in a convertible unless the top is down, so if we went anywhere we had to have the top down, even 5 minute trips. It was really funny.

Once we arrived the staff was super nice and got us all checked into our room, Room 222. It was really cute with a beautiful view of the water, it was just perfect. We decided it would be best to stock up on food in our condo to help save money....Hawaii is expensive. We spent $200 in groceries and we really didn't buy much, it was crazy! We ate most of our meals in. We did order this awesome pizza since I didn't feel like cooking. That night we went for our first of many sunset walks along the water on the beach. It was really warm and so romantic.

Brad and I drove about a half hour away from our condo to go to Dave Veach's secret snorkeling spot. It was truly amazing. We rented gear from our condo for $7 a day and saw so many beautiful fish. I told Brad that I saw most of the fish that were in the cartoon Finding Nemo. I had no idea the cartoon was so accurate. I saw Dory, Shark Bait ow ha ha, Nemo, and the school of fishies.We spent a day in Lahaina, about a 1/2 hour away from our condo to do some window shopping and have lunch. There were some really neat shops that we looked at, we picked up a few cute things for Laney, I bought a dress, and Brad bought a shirt, bandana, and belt buckle. It was too hot to eat lunch so we had icecream instead. A littl ebit later we went to Cheeseburgers in Paradise and had the mot yummy cheesburgers as we watched the sun set. It was so wonderful.

Brad and I took the road trip to the road to Hana, its a 50 mile long road with 627 turns. I did not survive. I threw up and felt awful....it was beautiful, but I'll never do it again.....no way! Locals were even pulling over telling Brad what pressure points to press to make me stop throwing up.....I pressed them and it made me get even more sick. It was pretty funny. Once the Road to Hana ends we arrived at the Seven pools area where we hiked to a waterfall, it was beautiful. It was soooooo hot so we only hiked a few miles and decided to head back to the car and go back to the condo and relax. We found this awesome BBQ joint that has amazing pork sandwiches and yummy cornbread.

We did so much more, but we can't tell you everyhting.....we'll leave a little honeymoon mystery. Happy Anniversary my love. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you.

Aunt Nikki

Early in September Brad and I watched the kids so Marc and Anna could go to a show together. We had so much fun jumping on the couch, throwing the kids onto the bed and listening to them giggle, coloring, and watching cartoons. It is such a joy to be an Auntie. The kids even helped me make Brad's lunch....it was really adorable especially since they kept licking the spoon and putting more and more peanut butter and jelly on the bread. Audrey would follow me around the house like my little shadow and when I'd look behind me shed put her little hands together and have the cutest grin on her face. It was so adorable. Can't wait to watch the kids again.