Scotties

We've had some requests for pictures of the Scotties, so here they are. Aren't they regal looking!? Scotch has the blue collar and Kelly has the red. For those who don't know, they are twins. We inherited Kelly, after our good friend Maureen passed away. She flew to us all the way from Kentucky!

Sister Baby Bumps

My sister came home for her baby shower a couple weeks ago, so of course it had to be turned into a family pregnancy photo shoot! She is about 37 weeks along in these pictures and I am 21 weeks. We can't wait for the arrival of baby boy Ryder, with her due date in 1 more week!


Sisters
Sarah, 37 weeks
Me, 21 weeks


Mom with us

Farmer John, I mean dad, with his girls

Ultrasound Pictures

2-D Profile
She looks so still & sweet, but don't let this picture fool you she has been quite the active gal kicking & punching so far!


2-D Girl Parts
Did you know that the way the sonographers tell if the gender is a girl is by the 3 lines which are the female labia?


3-D Face
One of the only shots we got with her hands not covering her face! You can also see the formation of the head, the two sides grow together as seen in this picture, which is why they have the "soft spot" on their heads when born- very interesting & amazing!


3-D Hiding Face With Hands
This was how she was most of the time, with both hands covering her face, as if she was hiding from the camera, and she was sucking one of her fingers. Can you say ornery!?

Sugar-N-Spice

"With patience and love, we wait for our baby girl.
With excitement and joy, we announce her to the world!"

We had our ultrasound today and found out that we are definitely having a girl! She must have known something was up today because she hasn't stopped moving all day! The ultrasound tech said it looks like we will have a feisty one on our hands! It was amazing to see all the organs, spine, heart beating, and "3 lines" that definitely mean she is all girl. I think the ultrasound tech liked us (or the baby) because she said she was having so much fun in there let's look at her in 3-D too (I don't think they usually use the 3-D unless needed up at the hospital). So we got a sneak peak of her face but only briefly as she kept moving her hands in front of her face and sucking one of her fingers. Everything checked out great and she is almost 1 pound already. Yikes, must take after me, as I was a huge chunk and weighed almost 10 pounds when I was born (sorry mom)!!! We will post the ultrasound pics once we find a scanner.

20 Weeks- Half Way!

We are at week 20, the half way point! I have been feeling baby move a lot lately, mostly when I am sitting down in the evenings or after eating. We go in to have the ultrasound to find out the sex of the baby this Thursday, July 10th! We plan on finding out if baby cooperates. Dusty thinks it will be a girl, Lola & Sarah think it is a boy, and I have no idea! We will be happy with whatever we are blessed with, we just hope for a healthy baby.

OH BABY!

Dusty & I are excited to announce that we are expecting our first child, due Nov. 22nd, 2008! We are 12 weeks along right now. Stay tuned for updated belly pics!

Our First Home!

On April 11th we will turn the key to the front door of our very first home purchase! We are very excited! The plan is to start here and then eventually build our dream home out on the ranch. Stay tuned for our open house date, and of course, many of Dusty's poker parties!

Winter In the Country

Here are some pics from around the ranch this winter. As many of you know, we had a hard winter with a lot of snow this year! One of these pics shows the avalanche on the hill behind the ranch, one is a herd of deer, one is of some Kildeer birds nesting, a beautiful sunrise reflecting off the clouds, and the ranch house.

Auntie Jessy & Uncle Dusty!

CONGRATULATIONS to my sister and brother-in-law, Sarah & Richard, who are expecting their first child on Aug. 1st! This is the first baby on my side of the family so it is a very special and exciting time for all of us! They will make excellent parents and we are very excited to be auntie & uncle!

Happy New Year!

Here's to a great 2008!

Lil' Red Heeler Pup

My brother surprised my dad on Christmas by giving him this new red heeler pup! She is 6 weeks old and Jas found her in Canby, OR. Her name is Tessy (with Maggie coming in a close 2nd). The Scotties tolerate her but would rather rule the roost.

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas, here's to 2008!

Scotland, Paris, & Italy

As most of you know, we were fortunate enough to get to visit Scotland (for the second time), Paris, then tour around Italy. The primary reason for our trip was to go to our friend Zoe's (she was our exchange student in '95) wedding in Scotland! It was like a fairy tale! They got married in a castle, which we got to stay 2 nights in. The castle was situated with a loch (lake) on one side and a forest on another. It was amazing! We also got to go sailing on a Scottish loch with Zoe's dad who owns a sailboat.

Next we went on to Paris. We met up with our friends Leon, Angela, & Jon. We saw the tower, went to the louvre, Notre Dame, had wonderful Paris coffee, crepes, wine, and bread and enjoyed the city. I think the most memorable was when we got stuck in a rainstorm on our way to the tower and had to duck under a tall building's eve until the rain stopped! During this time we, of course, had to uncork some red wine! It made the wait a lot more tolerable and fun! :)

Last, we toured around Italy. We used trains as our primary source of transportation. We went to Venice, Florence, Tuscany, the Italian Riviera, and ended in Rome. We liked Tuscany and the Riviera the best, with Rome coming in close behind. Venice was really neat and we did a gondola ride (which was one of the best parts). Florence was a happenin' place and we saw the famous statue of David. From Florence, we made a day trip to the Italian Riviera (Cinque Terre) and visited a few towns along the coast. We lounged around and swam in the warm sea. We all floated like logs because there is so much salt in that water. Way more than here. Jon, Leon & Dusty also loved the "scenery" as it was normal to see topless sunbathers there. We went to the Tuscan region after Florence and loved it. All the neat cypress & olive trees and vineyards along the countryside were beautiful. We had lunch at a small quaint country farmhouse. We made a pit stop and saw the famous leaning tower of Pisa. Our last stop was Rome. We loved seeing the ancient ruins and Colosseum, it is really amazing. We also went to Vatican City which was cool.

Thanksgiving

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving, it is so nice to be home! We got to eat twice, once at Dusty's folks' and once with my folks. It was the first Thanksgiving in my folks' new house with all the kids home so it was neat.