O (cheap) Christmas Tree

It's Aaron again...Wow, 2 posts in a day, that's gotta be a record. But we couldn't NOT post this. We got our Christmas tree this year from a place called Wise Buys in Roseville--it's like the Dollar Store but this place has everything $10 and under, including Christmas trees! When we first heard about it, we were skeptical, thinking that the trees would be crap. But lo and behold, they are not crap, and we walked out of this place with a beautiful tree...the beautiful part = it was only $10.88 after tax. Needless to say we're pretty proud of this.
...and in case we don't post before then, MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

HAWAII

So, this is Aaron again, and I've decided to temporarily take over as the "blogger" in our relationship as my wife has recently (if you haven't noticed) taken a liking to not blogging like she used to. So, in order to continue to appease our faithful followers and let them know we are still alive and doing well, there are a few new posts, starting with our awesome trip to Hawaii :)

We went to the big island over the Thanksgiving week and stayed in Kona on the west coast of the island with the entire Coons family including the little kids. Teresa has more pictures that we'll hopefully get and post (or if she posts them herself on her blog we'll put a link that you can follow to see them there), but here are some highlights we got on our camera.

We wanted to get the "Hawaii experience" by not only enjoying the beautiful beaches (and the perfect 80+ degree weather in November) but by also exploring the other side of the island where the rainforests, waterfalls, and volcanoes were. But first, here are some pictures of us during the week enjoying the beaches:







The water was the perfect temperature and practically see-through. On one of the beach days we went snorkeling and saw a ton of fish, some of which can be best described as the fish in Finding Nemo, seriously. We also saw huge sea turtles that weren't afraid of us and actually swam right along with us in the ocean one day, it was a cool experience.

Here are some pictures of us on the other days when we went to explore the rainforests with nature trails, waterfalls, and the volcano. On this side of the island it felt more like November with the overcast clouds and rain, which is pretty normal for the "Hilo" side (Hilo is the major city on the west side of the island for those of you who don't know). As far as the volcano went, we weren't able to see any of the lava (that would require at least $100 each person for a helicopter tour which we weren't about to do for multiple reasons) but we were able to get close enough to see a huge smoking caldera (in the picture set below), which was really great:










(***DISCLAIMER***: Ok so I wasn't educated about how the other side of the island would be cold and rainy, so while my dad was driving us to the airport to leave for Hawaii and knowing that I didn't pack any warm clothes, he suggested that I take his hoodie--his TIGGER hoodie. In case any of you could tell in the pictures of me wearing the tigger hoodie, I want to make a point that it is my FATHER'S and for some weird reason he likes Disney stuff with Tigger. Not to make fun of my dad, but I'm just clarifying. However, props to my dad for not only being secure to have a hoodie with Tigger on it, but also because it was much needed and I would have frozen my butt off without it--thanks dad) :)

Anyway, here are some other random pictures from the week:

We went on a cool boat ride we found at this resort:


This was the view from the condo we stayed in

Our nephew Kayden enjoying the sand:



We had a blast--it was way too short--and we can't wait to go back. A big thanks to Greg and Teresa for everything!!!

Cutest Thing I've EVER seen!

Today was the long awaited 20 week ultrasound so we got to see our little baby. It definitely is a boy-glad our early ultrasound wasn't wrong! He is looking so cute and according to measurements seems to be more like 20 weeks 5 days instead of 19 weeks 5 days. Aaron says he had a big head as a baby/kid so he's probably right on schedule. I wouldn't mind if he came a week earlier.
This is my favorite picture of all time. He has both his hands in fists up by his face and may even be sucking his thumb.

Here is a profile and you get to see the spine. I'm hoping he has Aaron's nose and this profile looks promising :)

And, for my embarassment, here are some belly pictures.
This first one is the first pictures we took at about 8 or 9 weeks. This is to give you an idea of where we started.

This is about 17 weeks

and this is 18 weeks.

My stomach is even bigger since then so I will post more pictures soon.

Happy Birthday Emily!

This is Aaron, and I know I never post blogs on here, but I thought this post is a good reason for me to get on here :) Emily turned 27 on Monday, so after work we went out to Spaghetti Factory with my parents, Jim & Dee, and Wes and Landon (Lani had to work that night). Em had been craving this pasta dish that had Mizithra cheese, so she was happy to be there :) After dinner we went back to our apartment and had Baskin Robbins ice cream cake - its the tradition on her birthday to do that! And since Emily's favorite BR ice cream is mint chocolate, and I HATE mint chocolate, I got 2 small cakes - one with mint chip and one without :) I didn't get pictures from dinner, but here are the pictures after at our apartment for cake & presents. I also didn't get pictures of the presents themselves, but, Em got a new pair of maternity jeans, a baby boy outfit for our future little guy, and a salad spinner that she's been talking about wanting for a really long time!

Em with her beloved mint chip cake:


Both cakes:


The presents:


I also made sure to get her flowers - it's a STAPLE present for any occasion, one that I would be in trouble for if I forgot :)


Em and my parents dragging on the couch after all the hardcore partying:


Happy Birthday Em! You're back to 2 years older than your husband again, at least until June :)

It's a BOY!!!

and we couldn't be happier.

What do you see?

Yep, that is the very first picture of our baby that is coming March 14th, 2010. We are so incredibly excited and already feel like this last 12 weeks is creeping by. I can't wait to have this baby!
Here is the ultrasound we had last Friday at about 12 weeks. You can make out the alien head on the right, arm buds and chest on the left. The little feet are supposedly in there somewhere too. We got to see the heart beat but won't hear it til our next appointment on September 25th.

I hardly feel like I'm pregnant because the only major difference I feel is that I'm extremely tired. I probably shouldn't say this because most other women will hate me, but I really haven't been sick. I've had the occasional nausea when I wake up before I eat anything but other than that the only sicknesses I've been fighting are colds and the stomach flu.
We won't find out what we're having til the end of October but I'm curious to know what everyone thinks so I'll be putting a poll on the sidebar. Let us know what you think!

On another note, we have a whole lot of blogging to catch up on so look for our Summer 2009 post coming soon.

Mexico!!

I know it's been a while so I thought I'd come back with a bang-our trip last week to Mexico! We went with the entire Carter family and had such a great time. It definitely went by way too fast.
We went to the Grand Mayan Resort in Nuevo Vallarta. Here we are at the entrance to the resort.


The resort was AMAZING, and had so many things for us to do! There was a lazy river that circled around the entire pool area, a waterslide, and a wave pool. There were also a few restaurants in between all of this. Our hotel room was on the 6th floor with an ocean view. Here's our view from our balcony of the resort, and the beach is just within a one minute walk from there!


Another view from our room of the pool area:


Aaron and I on our balcony:


Looking in from our balcony into the living room/kitchen area of our suite. On each side of the room are doors that led to the bedrooms and bathrooms. It was so wonderful!


We really enjoyed the pool area--here's a few pictures of it, I'll be adding more that are on Dee's camera when I get them.
Lani with Landon on her back in the pool, and Aaron and Wes looking cool in their matching straw hats:


Wes (left) and Aaron (right) up on the fountain platform--they're such dorks when they're together


When we weren't just hanging out by the pools outside, we did venture out into the city for different activities. One of the days, the guys went golfing at a course nearby--Here's Wes, Jim and Aaron


Aaron taking a swing:


On another day, Aaron, Hillary and I went and did a canopy tour! It was so amazing to zip line through the trees, and some lines went across a canyon over a river! And don't we look awesome in our gear?
Aaron and Hillary, ready to go:

Here's me coming in:


Aaron pulling himself up:


Here's Hillary riding UPSIDE DOWN! The guides would offer to go with you, and while they held onto your legs, they let you hang upside down--I got to do this too but didn't get a picture of it:


In between each zipline would be a little hike to the next one, so it was actually really tiring, especially because it was super hot and humid! But it was all worth it for those amazing views.
The 3 of us:


While we waited for our bus to take us back from the canopy tour, there was a small petting zoo next door that we got to check out. Here's Aaron, holding this tube-thing that the zoo guide gave him--it had food in the bottom of it, so when we went to see these cute little monkeys, they would jump right onto you and go for it! It was really funny



On another day the whole family decided to explore other beaches in Nuevo Vallarta, and we found one that had some cool shops and restaurants nearby.

Here's Hillary and Aaron boogie-boarding, and Wes is off to the right surfing:


Aaron and I lounging:


The whole Carter clan: Lani, Wes, Landon, Me, Aaron, Hillary, Dee & Jim


We went to a different part of the city during the week and found this street that had tons of shops and restaurants on one side, and the beach on the other--it was beautiful! We got some really nice sunset shots there:



Another fun thing that happened in Mexico was Aaron's 25th Birthday!!! Wes and Lani couldn't join us because Landon wasn't feeling too great that day, but the rest of the family went to downtown Puerto Vallarta (about 30 minutes from Nuevo where are hotel was) and ate at Pipi's Restaurant. It was great!

Aaron and I decided that the chips and guacamole at Pipi's is probably the best we've ever had! Chips and guac is one of the main reasons Aaron and I look forward to going to Mexico :)



And since it was Aaron's birthday, of course the restaurant waiters had to sing happy birthday! But there was a little extra Mexican twist on it, not just the standard singing and leaving. They brought out this free flan dessert on a plate (which was AMAZING by the way), and instead of just leaving it in front of him, one of the waiters decided to stand right next to Aaron and SHOVE a spoonful of the flan into his face while they sang! Since they came in so fast, and was SO unexpected, Aaron didn't know how to react except to just take a bite when they served it to him! After he was rapidly fed a few bites, and while they were still singing loudly, the guy starting putting the whip cream on his face!!! Isn't that bizarre? It was SO funny, we all were cracking up, including Aaron--he was a great sport about it. We just couldn't believe that they actually were doing these things, it was so unexpected! It was definitely a birthday dinner to remember!


The fam at dinner:


The trip was amazing, we miss being there! More pictures will come, Dee has some good ones on her camera that I wanted to include too. There, I think I've made up some ground from my previous blog drought! :)