Making Memories

Every year during the Holidays, I love going to AJ and Uncle Steve's house and looking at their Family Christmas Memory book. Flipping through the pages and seeing the Holiday greeting card for each year is so neat, especially since you can see my cousins growing up in pictures over the years. In addition, AJ documents the happenings of the past year on each page of the book. Since I have always admired this book, AJ and the girls gave me one of my own just before Allen and I got married and I know that this book will be treasured not only by me, but also by Samantha as she grows up. Every year, I start our "year in review" by mentioning how busy we have been. The past year (2008) was so busy that we JUST finished our update in September, 2009. This means that our book will be almost current for the coming Holiday season, but I'd better get a move on with 2009's "year in review" ASAP!

Anyway...as Allen and I talked about our 2008, we had a good time remembering a lot of fun times. 2008 was definitely our biggest year to date as we found out in October '08 that we would be expanding our family. Thought I'd share some pictures and memories from the past year and a half!

Allen, Wally and Travis finishing the Livestrong 100 Mile Challenge in San Jose

Spring 2008 (I think)

Al coming out of the water at Ironman Canada

Looking strong around mile 80 of the bike at Ironman Canada


Nearly done with the marathon portion of Ironman Canada

The lake behind us is the location of the swim for Allen's Ironman event

I took this picture on the Royal Mile in Scotland. I was there for work in May, 2008 and was able to spend a few days in France visiting Cari and Benoit afterward!

A couple of days after our time in Canada for Al's race, we went to Cabo San Lucas for Mike and Brooke's Bachelor/Bachelorette Party

We had a great time and it was the perfect end to a busy summer!

This is the picture that we used for our 2008 Holiday Card

It was another fun week in Samanthaland. This week, Sam and I made it out to Baby Boot Camp on Tuesday and Thursday. Boot Camp is definitely kicking my butt, but I am feeling stronger and really enjoying the outdoor workout. It's so nice to bring Samantha and have her be a part of all this. On Tuesday, our friends Jennifer and Bradley made it out to camp with us and the four of us also had a chance to meet up for lunch. On Thursday, we also met up with my friend Amy and her daughter Avery for frozen yogurt in Los Gatos. Here's a plug!!! Yumi Yogurt in LG actually rivals the Willow Glen Frozen Yogurt Company--I like to think that I'm an expert when it comes to frozen yogurt!

Sam and I went to "Diaper Days" at the Pruneyard on Wednesday and had a lot of fun with some of the babies/moms from my prenatal yoga class. "Diaper Days" is an opportunity for new moms to attend a matinee movie at the Pruneyard theater and it is "baby-friendly" (i.e. babies can scream and cry during the movie and nobody minds). We saw "The 500 Days of Summer" (actually, we saw most of the movie--Sam had a minor meltdown and I needed a bathroom break) and it was a lot of fun to get out and about. We even managed to squeeze in a visit to the LLS office afterward.

Here are some more pictures from this week!

Happy Sam just before the start of boot camp!

Pre-bath in her terrycloth robe. She looks like a prize fighter! Sam and I at Rock Bottom Brewery where we met up with some of the girls before the movie

Sam hates tummy time, but her head control/strength is getting better. Shelley recommended using the Boppy pillow and it has helped a lot. Clearly, she is thrilled that I have shoved the camera in her face!

Last, but not least--a picture of us on the way to Cari & Benoit's wedding! November 18th, 2006