Christmas Time!

We just spent over two weeks in the great Northwest! It was full of ups and downs but mostly ups. It was great to get away from the snowstorm and be in our hometown!
The drive up was nice and easy no snow or ice on the roads! We made great time. We stayed with my Red grandmas which is probably one of my most favorite places in Oregon. She took us in and took great care of us.

We decided to share some presents before we left, apperantly Max decided this when he opened his presents 2.5 weeks early the moment they were put under the Christmas tree.

He went and framed a picture that Tatevik (a girl I taught in Armenia) painted for me. I was so excited. It's been packed away for two years and now we can display it!
When we got to Oregon we kind of just hung out at my grandmas for awhile while the extended family came and went.

We went to our home ward on Sunday which is pretty much where Max and I met many years ago.

We spent Sunday afternoon attending a wedding for a friend from our ward and high school.
We then celebrated our niece, Shadow's second birthday.

We made a trip to Powells books on a rainy day in Portland!

We got a bunch of repairs done on our car.

We slept in pretty well on most days.

Before Christmas we took a trip up to the Seattle area to visit my Brother's family. Seeing my niece, Gwenevere, for about the third time in her two year life was the highlight of the whole vacation for me. I was pleased to see that she didn't hate me and by the end of our trip she started calling me by my name instead of Max's.

While we were in Washington we had family pictures done as our Christmas presents for our parents. Here are a couple. ( I thnk these are the unedited shots)

Of course Gwenevere's favorite is uncle Dano!

This was right before she started pulling on the back of his pants and saying "Dano poopy"

Then Max was kind enough to braid our hair! Gwenevere sat surprisingly still.

Pretty Impressive...My husbands got talent!!

Grandma (my mom) came up for a day. Gwenevere worked on sewing ornaments with her.

Then back to playng with Uncle Dano!

After two days in Washington we headed back on December 23rd to celebrate Christmas with the Baertleins! I'm not sure why we didn't take pictures because I have some pretty cute nephews and a niece. I actually wasn't feeling good at all for this occasion.

So here is the story of the ER...(You can skip this part if you don't want to hear a bloody story) I was pregnant when this little vacation started but only a couple of weeks, I was at high risk of another ectopic pregnancy so I saw my doctor right before we left to check if everything was okay. It was too early to see anything in the ultrasound but he said while I was away if I started to bleed at all I sould go get some bloodwork done at the hospital. Well all day on the 23rd I was bleeding and had incredibly painful cramps. After our Baertlein family party we drove right by the hospital so we decided to stop by and see when we could come in for the blood work. Well...they were concerned because of my previous ectopic pregnancy and sent me to the ER. It seemed a little much but I guess I had to follow the doctors orders. I was given an IV and had blood drawn and had a an ultrasound done. I was there for about 5 hours. (Last miscarriage I only had to take a couple short trips to the hospital to get some blood drawn) So the results...I did miscarry but the good news is that it was not an ectopic pregnancy! The baby was in the uterus just like he should be. The hormone levels were higher than last time too so we got a little farther than last time. We got to finally leave the hospital at two in the morning on Christmas eve after waiting forever for a doctor to interpret the ultrasoud results. Anyway, this little story is a tangent however it was a huge part of our "vacation" so I thought I would add it.

So, back to Christmas break...On Christmas eve I arranged for Santa to make a house visit for my family...(yup I have those kinds of connections) It was fun to see Gwenevere's and Lexi's (My cousin Stephanie's baby) reaction. Gwenevere was nervous and Lexi just cried.

We always spend Christmas Eve night at my Grandma Roemhildt's house. He have a delicious Turkey dinner and open presents. Green Grandma always spoils us.

James Elizabeth and Gwenevere all stayed at Red Grandma's house with us so it was a fun slumber party on Christmas eve. Max read Gwenevere a bedtime story.

Then he impressed me with his etch a sketch skills....who knew??

Then I didn't take pictures for awhile. Christmas morning my dad and little brothers came over for a breakfast. My dad made most of the breakfast so we feasted on his homemade bread.

We were spoiled some more with Toy story 3, and a fancy apple slicer contraption, a rolling pin and so much more. Our family loves us.

So then we just hung out a little bit. I still wasn't feeling too great.

Later My grandma and my Aunties made a Turkey dinner. Delish!

Max got to go play Water polo with the Tigard High Water polo alumni at our high school pool. Max's younger brother Justin is currently on the team so it was fun for them to play together.

It was fun for me to watch him play again. It reminded me of the high school days when i would go to his games and oogle over him.

Max and Justin
We went to go see the Portland Winterhawks play. I don't think I had ever been to a hockey game before.

They lost but it was still fun.

Us with Brent and Lisa

Max got to go snowboarding too. I decided not to go...it really didn't sound that fun to me right then.

Oh and I guess that is the end of the pictures. But we did so much more.

We went to the Portland Temple

We cleaned my grandma's house

I played Simpson's Clue while watching the Simpsons with my little brothers

We had a lunch date with my mom.

We ate out at Home town Buffet as a family thanks to my green grandma.

Spent more time having various family parties

We spent New Years playing games with our little brothers and we all had a blast.

Lots of Sleeping in.

We headed back to Provo on Sunday January 2. Max drove most of the way bless his heart...there were some icy patches but we survived until we arrived in our snow coverd driveway. It was late and he didn't want to unpack our car from the street so we tried to plow through it. We got stuck but luckily our neighbor was outside and offered to dig us out. After a bit of digging and pushing we made it to our carport and we were home.