Yuma Babyshower

My lifelong friend Jil Patterson decided to throw me a baby shower to celebrate Cally Mae. From the adorable invitations, to the decorations, and the delicious food courtesy of Susan, Jil's mom, it was a great day and I couldn't have asked for more. We had a great time playing games, catching up, and just hanging out. Thank you all for sharing such a special time with me and for all the wonderful gifts. Both Cally and I are blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives!

Stephanie and I, both 8 months pregnant

Mandy, Me, Erica, Stephanie, and Jil

Lizzy and Layla- The Boxer and the Hound

Our wonderful neighbors Mike and Erin have a dog by the name of Lizzy. Since the first day we moved in, she has been around and has made great friends with Stafford and Layla. However although Stafford and her get along great, she has found a "best friend forever" with Layla and Layla with her. They absolutely love each other and look forward to seeing each other every time we go out. If I open the front door and let the dogs out,

Layla runs to Mike and Erin's door and cries for Lizzy to come out. Lizzy jumps to the chance of coming and visiting Layla anytime her parents let her. When they are both outside in their own backyards they talk through the fence and peek through the holes in the wood to see at each other. Out on the trails when Erin and I go for walks, they run around together both full of energy and loving life. It so great to watch them together and see how much they cherish their friendship. Like Lizzy and Layla, I too cherish the friendship that Zane and I have found in Mike and Erin. We are lucky to have them as neighbors but more importantly as friends.

Showered with Gifts

Although I have only been working in the ER for a few short months, I have met some wonderful people and they have welcomed me with open arms. Selena, my coworker and trainer, along with Andrea another wonderful co-worker, were kind enough to put together a baby shower for Cally and I. I must admit, I was surprised at their kind gesture given that I have only known them for a few short months, but I was very touched as well. All the girls from work along with Erin, my neighbor, got together at a Mexican restaurant and celebrated Cally with great food, adorable presents, and lots of fun little games. Not only did we celebrate Cally, but also my birthday which was just 3 days away...Selena thought of it all and even got me a birhtday cake where I could blow out the candles and make a wish. Overall it was a great time. Thank you girls for all the wonderful gifts and showing me such kindness.

The Beauty of Pregnancy

I have always thought that pregnancy is one of the most beautiful things in this world. I feel privileged as a woman to be able to to experience such an amazing miracle of creating a life. I knew the minute I got pregnant that I would want to document the beauty of it all and that maternity portraits were a must.

Lucky for me, my wonderful friend Molly is an amateur photographer and was kind enough to volunteer her time and amazing talent to capture such an important moment in my life. We spent all day taking pictures of me and my belly and had so much fun doing it. Shes is one talented girl and really did a beautiful job! Thanks Molly for all your hard work! I absolutely love all the pictures!!!

The Most Magical Place on Earth-Disneyland

Zane and I took our last trip to Disneyland together as kids before we have kids of our own. We spent all day walking around, eating delicious food, and seeing all the magical things that only Disneyland has. We also hopped over to California Adventures, Disneyland's other theme park, and Zane got to ride all the roller coasters while I stood by watching. Being 7 months pregnant, I was definitely limited from riding alot of the fun rides so we were stuck riding alot of "kiddie rides" together but nevertheless we had a great time. By the end of the day I was exhausted and my feet where killing me but we had a great time!

Cally's Room

Cally's room is coming along great. Zane has been working really hard making the wood floors and Erin has done an amazing job painting the designs on the wall. I've helped both of them to the best of my ability but let's face it, I don't really do carpentry very well and I don't have an ounce of artistic talent. So with that said, I'd like to give credit where credit is due; thanks babe for working so hard to try to make me happy and of course thanks Erin for putting in so much of your time and doing such a wonderful job in making Cally's room so beautiful.

Cally in 3D

Today Zane and I had the opportunity to see what Cally is going to look like. We went in for a 3D ultrasound and got watch her on a big screen as she moved around, smiled, yawned and stretched out. It was such an amazing experience. She was very active throughout the whole thing however her head was positioned in the lower part of my uterus and was difficult to see a full frontal face shot. We pretty much just saw her profile but were still able to watch her play and hang out in mommy's belly. She is currently approximately 3 lbs and growing like a weed. I still can't believe that she is going to at least double in size by March! I'm am currently 29 weeks along and there seriously feels like there is no more room for her but I'm sure my body will continue to "adjust."

I'm very excited that I only have 2 1/2 more months left and that Cally will be here with us soon. By the looks of the 3D ultrasound she is going to be one cute kid and I have a feeling she's gonna look just like her daddy. What do you think?

A California Christmas- Christmas 2008

For the last couple of years Zane and I have traveled to Denver to spend Christmas with my parents. It's a great reason to go spend some time with them and have a white Christmas...plus Zane never passes up the opportunity to go snowboarding. This year however, we decided to do things a little different. Since Zane and I are now living in the west coast and my sis and her family are only a few hours away, we decided that we should all meet in California at our house instead. We have a big enough place to host a large group and did pretty well when Zane's family was here for Thanksgiving so we thought we'd give it another go.

Erica and Klay, my sis and brother in law, and Nickolas and Kaitlyn, our niece and nephew, drove up from Yuma while my parents and two younger brothers Mikey and Danny flew in from Denver. Carlos, my other brother, was unable to make it due to his work schedule which was really unfortunate.

My mom and I spent most of the time in the kitchen making all sorts of good food while the boys helped Zane tear down our concrete wall to put up a wrought iron fence so we can have a view. The weather was pretty ugly the whole time that they were here, rainy and cold, so we spent most of the time next to the fire place catching up.

We had a huge Christmas Eve dinner and opened presents at midnight. They all only stayed just a couple of days but it was great to have all the family together once again(other than Carlos, of course).

There's nothing better than the holidays spent with the ones you love...

My parents, Nancy and Raul

Playing Cranium

Spending some time in the kitchen

Helping Zane out

Christmas Dinner

Telling stories

Passing out the presents

My mom and I on Christmas morning

Zane and I Christmas morning