Vancouver

The five of us returned Sunday evening then spent all day Monday relaxing and catching up on laundry. Tuesday the four of us, sans Todd (work), drove to Vancouver, B.C. for the day. We had a great time in the rain. Got lost a couple times but finally found our way. Had lunch at a good Thai place then grabbed coffee to go.

We spent a couple hours walking and driving around Stanley Park. Visited the Beluga whales at the back entrance of the aquarium. The whales were being played with/fed by their handlers so we got a great view of them from behind the glass. I think Holden enjoyed watching them too.

We then parked downtown and walked towards Canada Place to get some city shots before dark. Holden also needed his picture next to a Canadian flag for his first time there.

 

 

Oregon Weekend

Almost two weeks ago my brother, sister-in-law and nephew flew up from California to stay for 8 days. The day after they arrived in Bellingham we all drove down to Warren, Oregon to spend the weekend with more family. I was given a baby shower and family got to meet Holden for the first time. My parents even flew up for the event, which we had all been planning for awhile. We had a wonderful time chatting, eating and playing games (later on in the evenings).

Thanks again Aunt Cathy, Uncle Lamar & Brittany for hosting all of us for the weekend!

   My cousin Anna & I are about 5 days apart. Cathy, I stole this picture from your Facebook :)

28 Weeks

I am actually in my 29th week but was delayed in posting this. We were busy with my brother, sister-in-law and nephew who were visiting this past week. I will have lots of photos of our time together coming soon.

Besides a few aches and pains, this past month has been pretty good. Roo’s movements have increased along with lots of baby hiccups. Todd & I got the baby room mostly done so my nephew Holden had a comfy place to sleep while here. I still have things to put on the wall, curtains to find, and a chair to buy but everything else is in place. I’ll have pictures of the room at some point. We also started our childbirth class which has been great, we are learning a lot. Only 11 weeks to go until baby should be here :)

24 Weeks

This time around I decided not to do the self portrait “headless horseman” thing. You can see my face! I still am tired beyond belief, which you can tell in my face and messy hair. Actually my hair is always messy because it is so thick! Oh and my hormones are making me break out like crazy, it’s like high school all over again, fun! From all the weight I am gaining the side view is the least disturbing, no front views for you all (unless of course you see me in person).

Enough about my lack of grace while pregnant. Baby is doing great. Lots of movement during the day. Roo likes to kick at my bladder for some reason :) Next doctors visit I get my RhoGAM shot because I am RH negative and take a glucose test after drinking some “yummy” lab concoction. In the next couple weeks Todd and I will be signing up for a childbirth class. The fun/torture begins!

Wedding Bells

This past weekend we were in the Olympia area celebrating the wedding of Todd’s sister Kali and her husband Seth. The ceremony was small yet beautiful. We wish them the very best!

They had a photographer but I thought I would take a few with my lenses. I used all three and discovered I don’t really like my stock lens much anymore, especially for indoors (800 ISO is terrible) but needed it for wide angle. The other two did well without a flash.

Nooksack Cirque

I borrowed Melissa’s camera and went for a hike to the Nooksack Cirque. Three guys from work and two from church joined me on the adventure. After hiking through the woods and through the glacier stream we reached the cirque with a glacier nested 2000-3000 feet above us on the cliffs which surrounded us on all sides.

Here is a map of the destination. We hiked to the bottom of the bowl in the center.

As I said we hiked through the woods…

and through the river.

You could follow the leader… 
or decide to go your own way.

Sometimes going your own way meant crossing a log…

or pondering how deep, cold, and fast a crossing is…

and then going for it.

Often we stuck together and helped each other out.

Though sometimes it was nice to go off on our own and enjoy God’s creation.

  

I also decided to try and do an HDR image by using  exposure bracketing on Melissa’s camera.

This picture is the normal exposure picture. Notice how we are a little dark and the glacier is a bit washed out. I also look like one big black blob.

This is the underexposed picture. The clouds, sky, and glacier have great detail but we are too dark.

This is the overexposed picture. You can now see our faces and can see that I’m wearing blue shorts and a black shirt, but the sky and clouds are washed out.

This is the HDR photo made using a free program I found called Picturenaut. The idea is that it uses all three to build one that has details in the bright and dark areas. For a first try I was happy with the results.

20 Weeks

I’m half way there! It’s gone by pretty fast, but it has been uncomfortable. I haven’t slept straight through a night in about 3 months and I know it won’t improve after the baby is born :) At least I will be used to a waking every 2-3 hours schedule.