Showers, maternity pics, & nesting!

Well things have been really busy lately, sadly leaving very little time for blogging...but here's an update and some pictures of what we've been up to lately. Two Saturdays ago (1/17) was a really busy, but fun day! We got an EARLY start (thanks alot, Shannon ;) to our day, having our maternity pictures taken by my friend & neighbor, Shannon who was joined by another friend and budding photographer on campus, Lindsay. We went to the Marin Art and Garden Center...it was a beautiful but chilly morning... 39 degrees when we got back to the car! Thanks girls, it was a blast and we love the pictures! You can check out more at Shannon's website!
Yep, we're due on Valentine's Day~ we know, love baby :)
Later that day, the ladies from our church, Calvary North Bay, threw us a shower. It was held at Toni's (super cute) house in San Rafael and was really fun. They had planned some games (I won the "guess that baby food" game) and had the place decorated really cute. The food was good and I ate way too much lemon cake and ice cream...yum!

Our baby boy's first stuffed animal!
Joe was set on attending even though he was the only guy except Toni's little boy, Luca. I was glad he was there, though! Maggie, Joe and I.
Brook, Tana, Sara, and Natalie
And on to next shower....The next Saturday, three dear friends- Brook, Liz, and Shannon threw me a shower on campus. It was at the Cunninghams' and a bunch of girls came- most of them either prego or new mamas! We had a great time...thanks so much, ladies!
Playing the diaper game...the melted chocolate bars really looked like poop! I was horrible at guessing, but my friend Erika got them all right!

Reann and Mara, Leah, me, Katie, Melissa, and Emily
Erika (also a mom-to-be come June), me and Brook
Liz's exquisite truffles! These things are the BOMB!
And finally, here's a sneak peak at the baby's room. This was actually about a week and a half ago, so we've done a little more...but you get the idea!
Joe has been working so hard on it...from painting the walls and washing all the bedding, to completely refinishing this little dresser (which is also our changing table)- thanks, Babe! And I think my "nesting urge" has kicked in too... been cleaning a bunch and wanting to do more in the nursery, but tomorrow's my last day at work... so hopefully I'll have time for that soon (and to rest)!
Well that's it for now...I go to the doctor later this afternoon, so we'll see what he has to say (if I've made any more progress)!

Truckee Trip!

Over New Year's weekend we were part of a youth ski trip with our church, Calvary North Bay to Truckee, CA (the coldest town in the whole state according to my friend, Lauren, at work). There were 15 people (16 counting baby boy Evans) who went- made up of youth, leaders, and some college- age kids. I went against the advice of my doctor...he was concerned since he's had several patients in the past who traveled around 34 weeks and then went into pre-term labor while they were out of town. Thankfully our son wasn't ready yet, and didn't get any ideas about surprising us early...now just watch him be late!

Here is a picture of the snow on the way up...this was before we got to the even colder temperatures where the snow was covering the trees. It was so beautiful! We got to see the snowflakes falling as we finished our drive, and fortunately we didn't even have to put on our chains.

The cabin we rented was super nice. It was actually the family's primary residence- more of a comfortable, stylishly decorated, good-sized house, than a cabin. We got to stay in the master bedroom (I guess because we were the only married folks and I'm a pregnant lady...or just because everybody was really nice!). Anyway, the bed was HUGE and there was a really beautiful view of the mountains outside the window.

Here's Johanna by the Christmas tree. It had to be the biggest, coolest Charlie Brown Christmas tree ever.

The snowman (Bob) the girls made the first night to welcome us home when we got back from renting equipment/ grocery shopping.

The skiers/snow-boarders getting ready for a big day on the slopes! And no, I didn't join them (although I secretly wished I could have), but Joe went skiing for the first time and (aside from a really sore behind) had a fantastic time!

Joe scraping all the ice off the windshield...quite an experience for us Southerners!

While everybody else went skiing, I got to hang out with 3 really sweet girls and we had a great day. We took it easy in the morning and spent some great time in the Word together. Then we went to this REALLY good little Mexican place (wish they had Mexican food that good here in Marin!) for lunch. After lunch we went treasure hunting in a couple little thrift stores, and then headed over to Donner Memorial State Park right on Donner lake- the place where the unfortunate Donner party spent the long winter of 1846, unable to cross the 22 ft. of snow blocking the mountain pass. There was a very interesting museum and video that we watched about their ordeal. It was hard for us to believe that only happened just over 150 years ago, and how things have changed. Before going back to the house, we finished off the afternoon stopping at a popular little sledding spot. It was fun, but COLD!

Here I am with Sarah W. and Kiti-

Kiti and her friend from school, Sarah-

Some really cute kids playing in a little snow fort-

Lexi, Sarah, Elisa, Johanna, and Joe C.


5 of the Chaimongkol 8! Joe, Kitima, Johanna, Tavi, and Ben-

No photo editing here...it was really 15 degrees the morning we left!

The whole gang!

Christmas at our place...

Well, I know I'm late in posting these and Christmas '08 is already becoming a distant memory...but here are a few pictures from our Christmas Day. We had a really great time, cooking dinner and hosting friends. We all ate way too much, then finished off the afternoon playing our favorite card game, Dutch Blitz.

Here we are with our friend, Katie Redd- love that girl and her Carolina ways! She had to work at Starbucks in the morning- yes, they are open in Mill Valley on Christmas Day!- then came over to our place.

This is my friend from work, Lynn. She's from Malaysia and a really cool and sweet girl. She came early to help me cook and made the harvest pie (unfortunatley I don't have a pic)...my personal fave.



Our tree...the tree we got to decorate twice- once in our old place at Tichenor, then off came all the ornaments and we moved it over to Judson. We loved having a real tree...got it from Rite-Aid! It was sooo pretty, I was really sad to take it down.



Our half-way consumed turkey...prepared in my new roasting pan from Ikea!!!

Chocolate chess pie (there's a story behind this one, notice the drip down the side of the pie dish...we nearly spilled the whole thing trying to rotate the oven racks!), homemade mac & cheese, carrot souffle, and green bean cassarole...

The pecan pie is Joe's masterpiece (great job, babe!)... it came out so well! And so did this pic... courtesy of Lynn.

One more of the tree...

Well that's about it... I got a new camera for Christmas (just a small digital one, because my other one broke and the only pictures I had been taking were with my phone) so I hope to be taking more pictures this year! I'll post some soon of our trip to Tahoe/Truckee last weekend!