Last September Jason and I got to celebrate our 1st year anniversary on Kauai! We had a great time hiking to waterfalls, exploring the Napali Coast, surfing, and just lying around on the beach. The best part by far was the helicopter ride! An hour long flight along the coast, through the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific", beside waterfalls, and to the wettest place on earth. It was extraordinary! A great way to celebrate our first year of marriage.
After a fun-filled week, we headed home to San Diego and began packing up for our big move to Seattle. With so many wonderful friends and family in San Diego, it was hard to leave. However, we were also excited about what lay ahead in Seattle. Jason headed off on the long trek north, and I stayed to work an extra week, then flew up to join him. The weather was exceptionally nice for October in Seattle, and we were able to get out and do some wake boarding on a local lake. 
However, we hit a few speed bumps over the next few months. First, I wasn't able to start work right away because I had missed part of the paperwork to get my nursing license transferred to Washington. Because of that we weren't sure we were going to be able to get approved for a loan on a house we'd put a deposit down on. By a small miracle, we were still able to get our loan approved, and we moved into our new house in November. My parents were a huge blessing and helped us move into our three story townhouse. (Thanks again mom and dad!)
Then winter hit. And hard. It was the worst fall/winter in Seattle in many years. First it was record amounts of rain, causing bad flooding. (Thankfully our house is on top of a hill!) Then it was an early snowstorm, which made work for Jason very difficult as he was on the road all day long. I hadn't started work yet, so I got to enjoy it some. Then two weeks before Christmas we were slammed with the worst wind storm in the area since the early 90's. The windows in our house were shaking so hard, we thought they were going to blow in. Of course the electricity went out, and there were trees down everywhere. We survived by living next to our gas fireplace, and were thankful for our gas range as well. After 4 days without a warm shower and living by candle light, the electricity came back on, and I tried to desperately catch up on Christmas baking and shopping. In January there was another bad snowstorm. I tried to make it into work, but left to late and got stuck half way down our big hill. After 2 hours of inching along and watching cars slide into each other like toys, I abandoned my car and walked home. With temps in the 20's, it took about a week for the snow to melt and life to return to normal. For Jason and I, who were well acclimated to the San Diego sun, had a very hard time with the cold, dark, constant rain, wind, and snow. What was harder was that we hadn't met many people in the area, so it was a lot of just he two of us time. Finally spring arrived, and we spent Memorial Day cleaning our boat and getting it ready for the summer. But when we went to put it in the water, we discovered that it had a cracked engine due to the cold winter weather (never an issue in San Diego). Supposedly you're supposed to "winterize" your boats up here, and since we didn't know that, insurance didn't cover the damage. So we're hoping by next summer we'll have it up and running again. Still a sad blow for us.
But amidst all the challenges, God has shown himself faithful and has blessed us in many ways as well. About a month after we arrived in Seattle, we found out I was pregnant! Then 4 months later we found out it was a boy! So we have been on cloud nine planning his arrival and enjoying all the milestones along the way: hearing the heart beat, feeling the first kick, watching my belly grow.
It has all been so fun, and other than a little queasiness at the beginning, has been a very easy pregnancy. Jason has been great about taking over some of my chores and rubbing my feet, and he has enjoyed reading to our little guy at night. He seems to know Jason's voice, which is so cool. The last two months have definitely been the busiest, with showers and decorating the room. We are now down to less than a week till his suspected arrival!
We've also gotten hooked up in a great church, and have formed some wonderful friendships. I've enjoyed getting to know the ladies at our Wednesday evening bible studies, and Jason joined the setup crew. We are so blessed by these friendships, and thankful to have people to fellowship with after such a long few months without. There are a few other new babies at the church, so it will be fun to have other mommies to get together for play dates with.
And finally, Jason has joined a baseball team. After years of playing on a slow pitch softball league, the switch has been fun for him. He's still working on getting a hit on a 90 mile/hr fastball, going to the cages with the guys to work on his swing. And I'm happy to report that he got his first hit today! Go Jason! Also got two big pop-up flies and a double play. Double header tomorrow!
So, that has been our life the last 9 months or so. Stayed tuned for all the big events coming up this summer!
