IT'S A.........???!!!!!

Wellllll we had my 23 week check a couple days ago and the baby is amazing. My doctor asked if the baby moved much and when I replied that the baby doesn't really stop moving, he seemed skeptical to say the least. To his surprise, the baby moved the entire time which made the sonogram a bit of a challenge at times. I was very proud.
At the end of the check up, my doctor still hadn't mentioned anything about the sex of the baby, so of course I asked. He said," I think it's a girl." To this Etienne replied, "What do you mean THINK!?" My doctor then told us that he is 99% sure it is a girl. So there it is folks. After waiting for what seemed like forever, we finally have our answer from the fabulous Dr. Dumb. The funny thing about the whole matter is that no doctor can be any more sure about the sex unless they do a special test. So the fact that he didn't want to say because he wasn't 100% sure is just pure male ego in my book. So get ready world, here she comes... a little girl Egg!

It's a small world...

So while we were in Italy, we had an interesting experience. We were there over one weekend, and got to go to church. There is a tiny branch in the "big city"(Lecce) close to where we stay. Etienne and his family know most of the members since they go there every summer. The branch is growing, but still has mostly the same members. The main people who change are the missionaries, and as it happens this time there were four of them.

As we got to talking to them and asking the typical "Where are you from" types of questions, one of them announced that he is indeed from Gresham, OR. For some reason this rang a bell to me but it took me a second to realize that I've been there before. I even know someone from there. My good friend Amanda is from there. So, we got to talking and it turns out that he knows Amanda and her sister really well. Ok, I know that this happens all the time, especially in the church, but it doesn't ever make it seem any less strange/cool. So really Amanda this one is for you. Elder Hill says hi!!! (and it just looks like we are touching. It's just always weird taking pics with Elders.)

Viva Italia

So we got back from Italy a week ago and I am just now getting around to blogging about it. Well what can I say. It's Italy. It is incredibly beautiful, we had a lot of fun, and we got to do things that we haven't done there before.
Normally the majority of our time is spent in going to the beach, swimming, snorkeling, and cliff diving. This time we still did all of that, but we got to see a couple new sites and I really got to learn the way of life.

The trip started out with some excitement because when Etienne's parents came to pick us up for the 14 hour drive down there and after we had finished packing our things into the van, we discovered what we thought to be a leaking gas tank. As this was on a Sunday, fears that the trip would have to be delayed immediately struck. However, we soon realized that Etienne's dad just filled the gas tank too full and then we were on our way. Yeah!! Here are some highlights of the trip:

Otranto: such a beautiful little city. We loved it, even though I was not exactly feeling up to par that evening. My legs were swollen and I had cankles. That sucked. Anyway, it is this incredible city right on the Adriatic Sea at the bottom of the heel of the boot, so it is a port city. It has an old castle which the city is built around and there are so many little streets and shops to explore. I can't wait for next year. I already know what I want to buy there!!! Look out Etienne! Just kidding. (kind of)

The cliffs by Torre del' Orso: Normally we go cliff jumping in Torre del' Orso, but this year, we went to some different and very cool ones. Of course I didn't jump this year, but you better believe I'm preparing for next year. It is hard to tell from the pictures, but somehow the water carved out a cave into the side of the rock and then I am not sure how it happened, but it looks like a large part of the roof of the cave was washed away too, so you can actually jump down into an open area which is surrounded by rock and then swim through the cave into the open sea. Then at some point, I guess the locals carved steps in side of the wall so you can get back out. It is hard to explain, so look at the pics and use your imagination.

Saturday market: This was one of my new fav's. Why?? because I love to shop. It had everything anyone could want from food, to bathing suits to clothing and underwear, to bags and accessories (shoes), to furniture and kitchenware. It was a shopper's paradise. I was very reserved and only bought a cute white sundress for just 10 Euros. I was impressed with how controlled I was.

Night football: We've done this one before, but it was fun as usual. Actually I didn't play, but this is one of Etienne's traditions from his teenage years. Every year he meets up with several of the same guys and they play a semi-friendly game of football. It's always fun to watch and interesting to see how popular this concept is. There are hundreds of football fields all over Italy that you have to pay for a period of time to play on. They are lit so you can play at night. It's a cool concept anyway.

Everyday living: This year Nonna (Etienne's Grandma) taught me several of her own recipies, so I am excited to try them out. Also, this year, I found out where to buy everything you need in the little village. This can be tricky because there are so many little shops and they don't all have the same standards for food. Our normal daily shopping list included fresh mozzarella, perchochi (the most incredible fruit in the world), bread, and tomatoes, all of which were incredible.

My favorite memory of the trip: spending alone time with Eti just crumbling freshly dried oregano to take home with us. We just sat, talked, and did a lot of laughing. My husband is the best.

Life is Hectic...

Well you've probably noticed the large amount of new posts on our blog today. Well my answer is... Life is Hectic.

The day after Al, Vic, and the boys left. I shot my first wedding with the new camera!! I was in heaven. I really miss doing photography on a regular basis.

Etienne came with me and was, as always, indispensable. He was my right hand man the whole day, constantly running around changing fire hot batteries, buying batteries, getting me whatever I needed, ie: food, drinks, batteries, drinks, CF cards, batteries, etc. It was just really nice to be able to work side by side like that, and I think we got some really great results.

Soon you will all be able to see my website. I know I've been saying that for over a year now, but I promise it will really be soon. My goal is to have it ready in the next 2 months. So, you can hold me to it. Ok!! Well here are a couple shots from the wedding as a teaser. Obviously I didn't put them on very high quality because of copyright issues. (I don't want anyone to steal them.) Anyway, enjoy.

Our Angel

If the first person who came to your mind when you read the title of this post wasn't Max, then you've never met my nephew, and he technically isn't ours, but we claim him as such.

When Al and her fam came to visit, they were so kind as to bring my very new, very amazing camera with them. I love it!! Anyway, as you may guess, I was very excited and the first quiet moment I got (when Graham was supposed to be taking a nap) I started inspecting it.

Well Max is also quite the photographer, so of course, a shiny new camera immediately caught his attention. As he sat with me, admiring my new purchase, he very inquisitively asked, "Aunt J, is your camera almost as good as Grandpa's?"
To this I enthusiastically replied, "Well, actually my camera is better!"
I then continued to inspect my treasure and after what must have been a couple minutes Max somberly asked, "Aunt J, how do you think Grandpa would feel if he knew that you said that???" Ouch. I then went on to explain that I only had a better camera because mine was newer than Grandpa's.
This answer didn't really seem to satisfy Max, so after a second of thinking what I should say, I responded, "Ya know soon Canon is going to come out with a newer camera and I know Grandpa is going to buy that one (No response from Max.... ) and that one will be better then mine."
"Oh... well that's ok then, he chimed in."

Seriously you can't get much sweeter than that, and there is definitely no questioning his love for his Grandpa. Nothing is right in the world if someone else has a better camera than Grandpa!! You can imagine how the conversation over my flash went.(It is newer than Grandpa's)

We love that sweet boy.

AL & the MEN visit Switzerland

It's always strange for us when our two worlds collide and just a few weeks ago, they did in a big way. We got a visit from the (in)famous AL and the MEN. It was amazing. I love to see my nephews (and my sister and bro-in-law too of course) and wow, they have gotten bigger. Honestly I feel sorry for all those mothers out there who don't have Max and Graham as their boys, because really no other boys can measure up...and NO I'm not biased!

While they were here we got to do some fun stuff even though their trip was sadly too short to do everything. So here's what we did:

On the first day, I showed them our city: the one and only St. Gallen!!!

We went to the flower island of Mainau another day where there is an amazing water play area for kids. (The boys didn't want to leave.)

Another day, we went to the top of the highest mountain around--- Mount Säntis---way cool. We went up right before a storm so the ride was a little scary because we were traveling through clouds and all we could see was white for a time.












We went swimming in the pond on the hill overlooking St. Gallen called Drei Weiern one evening.

We also went to a chocolate factory, where we bought tons of chocolate...yummmm. (sorry no pics allowed) Actually, I don't think we ate much other than cheese and chocolate for the week they were here---and I wonder why I gained weight so quickly.

We had so much fun doing so many things together and even more fun just sitting and talking. The boys are more fun/funny than ever so there was really never a dull moment.

Well, it's always sad to say goodbye, but luckily this time wasn't too bad since we'll be seeing them very soon for family reunion!!!! So Al, and the men, come back soon. We love you.

Zürich football tournament

First I just want to clarify something. This is for the Americans (which most of you reading this are). If I say football in any post, there's a 99% chance that I am talking about soccer. So with that cleared up, on with the post...

I know I am really behind, but you will see from the next several posts that we have been incredibly busy over the last month. About 4 weeks ago, Zürich stake held their annual football tournament. Every year Etienne organizes a team, usually consisting of the same players, and every year or close to it, they are in the final of the tournament. They had never won one of these tournaments.... until now. Etienne has just corrected me. They had never won the Zürich tournament until this year. They have, however, won the Bern tournament before. I am very proud of him though. Every year he works so hard to create a good team and this year it really payed off. Congrats Bacca!!! I love you.

So here are some pics of the team and their amazin coach...

Dr. Dumb

I am really sick of doctors who expect their patients to just believe everything they say no matter how incompetent it is or how much you have read and know that what they are saying isn't true. To get to the point, I went to my OBGYN on Wed thinking I would find out the sex of the baby. Note to all those of you who haven't been prego before or haven't read a million books on the subject: Usually you can tell the sex of the baby between the 16th and 20th week of the pregnancy unless baby doesn't want to cooperate.
So, I went to an appointment during the 16th week and my IncrediDoc told me it was too early to know. Fine... I could easily understand that since it was at the beginning of that range, so I happily waited til the next app't because he said that we would be able to see those "other body parts" the next time. This Wed was my 20th week check up (the next time) and he again told me that it was tooooo early to see. Alayna was with me this time since she and the men got to come to visit us this week. She looked shocked at this statement as did I since she knew the sex of both her boys at 16 weeks.
So anyway, I don't know what the sex is, and now I will have to wait another three weeks to find out what the sex is for sure. My next appointment is on the 23rd of July when we get back from Italy.
However, the Doc did say what he thinks the sex of the baby could be, so for those of you dieing to know, then you'll have to call me or email me to find out. I'm not posting it yet since it isn't "for sure". I think the Doc is just non-committal for fear of being wrong, because that might shrink his manly-hood or something. Who knows, but I guess we'll see. Please stay tuned for further posts and a few pics of our visit from Al and the Men!!!!