21 days....

Well, ChooChoo and I made it to full term (37 weeks)!! Yeah! :) Which means, I'm ready...ha! The baby has dropped slightly (yet somehow I have more heartburn....!), and I am about 1 cm dilated.  Having this week off from work is good timing to get some rest and also finish up some pre-baby chores.  My doc thinks I am fine to keep working (I intend to work until the baby comes), but we're keeping a close eye on my swelling (which is head to toe).  The baby continues to "dance" away in my belly.

Ok, warning, TMI portion of this posting...my doctor has some doubts that CC will come out the "regular" way based on the shape of my pelvic bone (warned you) and the size of the baby, but she would never rule anything out.  She has noted in the past (prior to me being pregnant) that a vaginal delivery may be tough for me, so I'm not too surprised.  So there is the potential of a scheduled delivery in the future, but we are taking the "wait and see" approach.  I'm not opposed to a cesarean as I feel that whatever will keep everyone as healthy as possible is good with me.

As a reminder ---> We are going to take down www.katieandchuck.com and just use this blogspot site as our URL in the next few weeks.  Please update your bookmarks to http://thenellis.blogspot.com

Please update your bookmark....

*** We are going to take down www.katieandchuck.com and just use this blogspot site as our URL in the next few weeks.  Please update your bookmarks to http://thenellis.blogspot.com ***

We have my 36 week appointment tomorrow, and we'll go every week now until the baby comes.  I'm pretty swollen and have a really hard time sleeping....29 days to go.

Chuck is off for the rest of the year, and I just work this next week and then am off the following week.  It is amazing that Christmas is here already...and even more amazing that we are now counting down my pregnancy in DAYS.  Whew - time flies!!

We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family yesterday and had a wonderful time at Michael, Carrie, and Sofia's.  Sofia loved ALL of her gifts. :) ChooChoo got in on the gift action even though s/he isn't even here yet!! (I think the grandparents might be excited to have a new grandbaby soon...).

Happy Holidays!

And, I FINALLY added some of our photos from 2009 --> HERE

5 weeks and counting...

Not too much exciting from here - still pregnant! :) The good news is that the baby is not measuring as big (as of the ultrasound last week). The "forecasted" size is looking more like 8 lbs instead of 10 lbs is we make it full term. Sounds much better to me. The size forecasting isn't a precise science by any means, but at least the baby is down from the 92nd percentile to the 77th. :)

We celebrated the holidays with a get together at my office on Friday. It was a low key party, but it will still nice to relax with my coworkers. Yesterday we went to cookie party at Tricia's house (ok, it was really to meet her boyfriend!!). :) Baby likes cookies.

Chuck has the last two weeks of the year off, and I have the last week of the year off, so we have just one more 5 day work week this year! I'll work the week of Christmas, but it will be nice to have that last week off together.

I'm feeling pretty good - my feet and ankles are swollen pretty much all the time, but my blood pressure remains good, so it is more discomfort than anything to be concerned about. I am going to have to break down and buy some bigger shoes for work though. Crocs do the trick on the weekends (when there isn't snow on the ground!), but Crocs aren't really bank appropriate footwear. Ha!

Holidays are here!

We have been busy preparing for the baby and for the holidays! Our tree is up, stockings are hung (next year there will be 4...yes, of course the cat has a stocking), and we have about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground!! The holidays are definitely here! The nursery is all done, outside of hanging some decorations on the wall.

Tomorrow I'll be 34 weeks - just 6 to go! I am still measuring big, so we're having another ultrasound tomorrow morning to check on the size of our "little" one. My doctor doesn't think I'll go early, but wants to know "what we are dealing with" as far as size. I have had a good amount of fluid as well in the last ultrasounds, so she wants to see if it is more baby or more fluid. I am thinking a combination of both as it was at the 28 week ultrasound.

I am very tired - mostly because I can only sleep in 1-2 hour stretches (preparing me!) due to back and hip pain while sleeping. :( And my back has been giving me fits. I really don't have it all that bad - it is just the fun of the third trimester!! Chuck is a wonderful masseuse and support for me. I am so lucky to have such a wonderful husband. The baby moves a lot (seems kinda squished in there!) and I look like I have an alien inside me when s/he really gets moving!! I've given up on attending after work events for both my board duties and work. I am simply too exhausted (and swollen) after working all day. And I intend to work up until the baby comes.

So, we are mostly all set (no, my bag isn't packed, but I made a list...need to get it packed!) and are looking forward to meeting the new member of our family. The cat still chooses not to listen when we tell him about the baby and he still attempts to snuggle with me (not easy, for either of us!).

We are getting some payback for the mild winter we had last year so far in Colorado. We had a few days in the teens last week, and it won't get above freezing until Thursday of this week - burr!! We have some snow on the ground now and there is more in the forecast...nothing substantial in the city, but enough to make my 45 miles in the car each day last much longer than normal.

We're celebrating Christmas with my family in a couple of weeks before Michael, Carrie, and Sofia head to Iowa and Mom and Dick head to CA for the actual Christmas weekend. Mom has given ChooChoo strict orders not to be born while she is gone! We'll spend Christmas Eve and Christmas day with the Nellises at Alex, Jeremiah, Maddie, and Ana's house, which is just about 5 minutes away from our house. :)

Showered with love!!

I had a wonderful baby shower yesterday. This baby of ours is spoiled already!! I am so lucky to have such generous and amazing family and friends. I'll get some photos added one of these days (I am behind on all of our photos...sorry...the real reason is that I am not thrilled with photos of my preggo self being shared with the world...). Amy came all the way from Oregon to help throw the shower with Kari and it was just awesome.

Amy helped me put most things away today (such a huge help!!). Choo-Choo now has a great start on a library (everyone brought a book as part of their gift), and lots of great clothes, toys, and more. I have some very crafty and talented friends and family - the baby has knitted sweaters, knitted blankets, hats, quilts and afghans to keep him or her warm!! :)

I took today off, so I get a short day this week (yeah!) and next week is just a 3 day week for me as I am taking Friday off (banks are open the day after Thanksgiving). Awesome! :) We are "hosting" Thanksgiving here with some of our family. The ""s are because everyone is bringing the meal and we are providing the house to enjoy the gathering. My back and ankles appreciate the I am not going to be in the kitchen all day...

Ok, we are off to put the clothes away! This is such an exciting time and we just might be the luckiest mom and dad that there has ever been. Thank you to everyone who are making this time so very special for us. We can't wait for each of you (all 3 that read this) to meet our little one.

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween!

As you can see, we carved our pumpkins tonight. :) And yes, we do use templates. Chuck's took about 2 hours! Mine was much quicker as I do not have the patience to do anything so fancy! We'll put them out once we get home from the CU game tomorrow. :) We get quite a few trick-or-treaters through the development.

The last few weeks have been busy. The baby continues to grow...fast! We had a ultrasound at my 28 week appointment and the baby is measuring about 3 weeks ahead. Now we know why I look 8 months pregnant when I am 7 months! Ha! My glucose test came back normal, so it looks like I am "just" growing another big ol' Nellis baby! The head is measuring the most ahead, but the belly and femur are looking big as well. No news on what this will mean for when Choo Choo will arrive as things can change quite a bit by then. I'm feeling good, just large! Chuck continues to be an amazing support - taking care of pretty much everything for me.

Corinne made a quick (24 hour) trip to town last weekend. :) She was quite the fairy-godmother - she took me shopping for some great fall and winter clothes to get me through the next couple of months. Our antics seemed to entertain the girls working at Motherhood, so I think it is safe to say we had a great time. She even hemmed the sleeves for my short arms before she left!! Such service!! :)

We had a freak October snow storm this week. We only got about 16 inches over the 2 days. I say "only" because many other areas had even twice that much. Chuck got to use the new (to us) snow blower generously passed on to us from Mom and Dick. Although many offices closed for part of the storm, both of us still made the trek into work all week. The melt-0ff started already today.

Oh, and as an update to the post below, we selected a Primrose School for daycare. We both felt really comfortable with the staff there. Plus, the center goes all the way through pre-school and even has before/after school for kids up to 12. I feel really good to know that Choo Choo has care all set up.

Tomorrow is Homecoming at CU. We have some friends coming into town for the game, so it will be great fun. While Chuck was working on his intricate pumpkin, I made some caramel apples for the tailgate. Yum!

30s last week, 80s today....Coloado weather!

Well, winter shower up last weekend with a vengeance, and was ushered out just as quickly by the return of summer! We had a dusting of snow and really cold temps for October (enough to postpone the Rockies playoff game last Saturday), and now it is 80 degrees outside. Ah, Colorado weather...wait 5 minutes and it will change! Fortunately, we didn't have a CU home game last week - we tailgated yesterday under blue skies and 70 degrees. :) CU pulled off a win over the #16/17 ranked Kansas Jayhawks at home last night. It was a nail-biter at the end (CU gave up a 20 pt lead!), but they pulled it off. The fans were really into it, so it was a fun game (although chilly in the the second half).

Last Sunday we celebrated Darby and my birthdays (a bit late...Darby is a Sept baby and I'm a July baby) with the Nellises - it takes us a long time to get our schedules in line! Tarah treated us to a YUMMY meal at Maggiano's. We ate way too much, and the baby had to kick around all that food!! We had a great time and realized how much little Ana has grown! She is 3 months old already!!

So, 13 weeks to go! Time flies. 13 weeks seems really close, but also really far away! I have been starting organizing things like lists for the hospital for Mom, Dad, and baby. I bought our first pack of diapers in preparation...the first of MANY. Choo Choo continues to kick a bunch. S/he has "kicked" Mimi (my mom), Uncle Michael, Aunt Darby and Kari so far. S/he likes to kick in response to Daddy talking to my belly, which is pretty special. :)

We are both off work tomorrow to investigate day care. We have a Goddard School just 2 blocks away that they built in the neighborhood last year, so that is our first stop. And, a Primrose School is going in across the street from the Goddard School mid-2010. They both have similar philosophies, and the convenience is certainly intriguing! We also are going to see if Maddie and Ana's daycare has any references for us (she is full for now). The idea of giving up the care of 3 month old baby that we haven't even met for 40+ hours a week is daunting to say the least.

Lots of kicking!

25 weeks and counting. Choo Choo is making his/her presence known these days with lots of kicking/punching! Chuck has been able to feel the baby kick several times now, and I frequently giggle when it happens...even at work. Ha! :) We have been working more on the house to prepare - cleaning closets, organizing filing, etc. Not very exciting chores, but something I would much rather have us do before the baby arrives!

The last couple of weeks have been good. I took Chuck with me on a day business trip to Steamboat to visit a completed construction project last Monday. We had to drive in some snow over the passes, but it wasn't bad at all. It was nice to have a day in the office be spent in the mountains!! Tuesday and Wednesday our house was invaded by a very nasty stomach bug. It seems that I got the worst of it, and then gave it to Chuck since he was my nurse all day on Tuesday. The best news is that it was short lived since we left for Vegas on Sunday!

My cousin Laura and her new hubby, Eric, chose a destination wedding in Vegas last week. Eric has been a part of the family for a while now, and we were so happy to be there to make it official! Laura was a beautiful bride, and her two sisters (and two other friends) were gorgeous next to her!! The best part for me was my Uncle John being able to walk Laura down the aisle. His health has made the past few years hard on him, but he and Aunt Toni were just beaming as they walked Laura toward her new husband. Vegas 6 months pregnant was a bit less exciting for me than years past, but we had a great time. We stayed at Caesar's Palace and they had just redone their pool area - it was great! We even played blackjack at the swim up tables - so fun. We also got to see Scott and Vita Bauer (they live in Vegas). :)

This weekend has been filled with chores and organization. We did have Anderson Snyders hang out with us for a few hours yesterday. He is about 9 months old and is just adorable. He was particularly amused with our sliding door blinds. Chuck watched us both have a nap yesterday mid-morning! Ha! The cat was none too impressed with the house guest. And to make it worse for Zack, Indy hung out for a few hours after Mom and Dick came down with the snow-blower so we could go to lunch. A dog and a baby...rough day for the cat.

I'm feeling pretty good. Bending over is becoming increasingly hard! Chuck has been a wonderful help to me! Getting off the couch is a lot harder than I would like to admit...

Choo Choo's room is painted!

Chuck has been very hard at work ALL day today painting the baby's room. We went bright and bold with the colors, and we love it. We hope you do, too!

Hmm, someone is a bit needy already...

Divided household!

Tomorrow is the CU v. CSU game yet again! Being that I am a Buff and Chuck is a Ram, it is a fun game. I made a shirt to wear tomorrow (well, I bought the shirt and ironed stuff on it), to celebrate the mixed college football DNA of ChooChoo. The logos and ? are right over my baby bump. :)
We'll be tailgating with Michael, Carrie, Sofia, Mom, Dick, Devin, Tracy, Hailey, Kari and Brad! Football season is my favorite time of year - not only is it Fall, which is my favorite season, we spend lots of time outdoors with friends and family.

GO BUFFS!
(hey, if Chuck ever wants to post on this site, he can root for the Rams!)

Listen to the heartbeat!

We recorded the heartbeat today at our 20 week appt. You can't see much (the screen we could see is the box up on the wall in the middle), but you can clearly hear the heartbeat (143 bpm) starting about 5 seconds in (turn your sound up pretty high). SO cool.

The baby looked great - is looking a bit on the big side (measuring about a week ahead)...along with a head in the 98%ile. Yeah, really. But, ultrasounds at this point can be off by several weeks, so who really knows. I'm hoping for not such a huge head! :)

Starting to prepare for ChooChoo

We have spent the weekend figuring out how to rearrange furniture to make room for all the things babies need! :) We (and by "we" I mean Chuck and my brother) are moving the guest room into my former office and the guest room will be the nursery. I feel bad that I am giving directions and not helping much...furniture is heavy and I can't lift much! We did get the closets cleaned out in both rooms, and I was at least able to do that part!

There was quite a bit of furniture in the office that is mostly being donated to Goodwill. It's decent stuff, so I hope it will go to a good home. Our house only feels small when dealing with furniture!! We did find a dresser/changing table combo for the nursery yesterday, so we are on our way!

I have hopes of the nursery being done by early November since the craziness of the holidays will be upon us shortly thereafter - yes, I'll post photos once it is done! We're getting the furniture moved much earlier than we had planned - thank you to Michael and his truck (and strong self!!). My Escape treats us well, but doesn't have all that much cargo space when it comes to furniture.

The "results" of the gender poll at 50/50 - of course, just 4 people took the poll! I'll put one up again closer to the due date. :)

We get to "see" ChooChoo again next Monday at my 20 week appointment. I'm feeling the little train moving a bit - not enough for Chuck to feel just yet. I'm much less tired now (although I can still sleep...a lot...if given the option), and also much less hungry, so I'm feeling really good. :)

Choo Choo says hi. :)

Choo Choo at 15.5 weeks (9/24/2009)

Keeping up with Katie and Chuck...and Baby Nellis to be!

Although I think anyone who reads this is either on Facebook or knows already, Chuck and I are thrilled to announce on katieandchuck.com that we have a baby on the way! Baby Nellis is due about January 18th, and we are so excited to start our family. I know that cousins Maddie, Sofia, and Anastasia look forward to their very first cousin!! Zack (our very loved kitty) isn't quite sure about this whole "sibling" thing...

We won't know pink or blue until the baby arrives (Chuck's orders!), so our nickname for the little one is Choo-Choo (like a train). We heard the heartbeat a few weeks back (160 bpm) and we thought it sounded like choo-choo-choo...and the nickname was born!

That's the big news from here! In just 6 months this blog will forget all about us and will move on to all Choo-Choo, all the time. :)

Happy 4th of July!

I figured that it was time to post! :) Chuck is in CA working with Uncle Kirby on the fireworks in Mammoth. They had a successful show in town last night (finished up at midnight) and were done setting up the big show today about 3:30pm (another late night of cleanup after the show). I have missed Chuck being home - we realized that this was out first time apart since getting married. It's been a bit lonely. :( I've had some company though and I am dogsitting for Pete and Emily, so Oscar and I have been hanging out. Zack is none to pleased about this arrangement, however.

We had a nice time celebrating Nonnie's long and wonderful life in California with our family. We had a mass for Nonnie on Monday and then went back to my aunt and uncle's to look at photos and share memories. Many of my dad's cousins came for the celebration and it was nice to see all of the extended family.

We slipped away to Napa on Sunday (Father's Day) with the Hawthorne girls while "the parents" watched little Sofia. Many good wines were "tasted" and much fun was had by all!

The following weekend Chuck and I *finally* had a "date" with the Lackey family! The group of tailgaters has a hard time getting together outside of football season for some reason, and it had been since Chirstmas time that we had seen them! We headed to the Rio (big shocker, I know) and walked Pearl Street before topping off the evening with some ice cream. We won't wait so many months next time!

I had a DCB concert today and then headed up to Michael and Carrie's for a bbq and early birthday celebration for Michael (36!). Tomorrow is chores and relaxing for me. Chuck is back on Monday afternoon (yeah!!).

The Smith family reunion is quickly approaching! We are so excited to see Aunt Sabra, Uncle Jim, Aunt Linda, Uncle Cris, Matt, Tracy, and Hazel Claire and look forward to being tourists in Colorado with them!

Angelina "Nonnie" Garioto 1913-2009

I am sad to post that Nonnie (my father's mother) passed away on Tuesday (6/16). We are heading to California with my brother and his family on Saturday to spend time with our family and celebrate her long life. Nonnie turned 96 in March.

You may recall Nonnie and her sister, Marge, cutting a rug at our wedding reception. :) Her last few weeks were more painful then we would have liked, but we now have a spunky, beautiful angel, or Angelina, watching over us.

Should you care to read it, click here for her obituary.

Vi amiamo, bella Nonnie
We love you, beautiful Nonnie
We took this photo with Nonnie about a month ago when we visited her after our Hawaii trip.

Taken at our wedding.

Severe weather!

We drove home from the mountains today to see this (taken from our back deck)....YIKES!I know, it is a "small" one, which is good since we were on the deck and not in the basement...

We have kept busy since the Maui trip. We celebrated Chuck, Alex, and Brady's birthday at a bbq here last weekend which was great fun.

This weekend we went to Annie at the Boulder Dinner Theater with Mom and Dick. My childhood was well defined by Annie, as I frequently would belt out the tunes from my window accompanied by my Annie record. :) Dick cooked up some yummy breakfast for us and then we headed up to Vail/Beaver Creek for the night. My good friend Natanee and her family live up that way, so we got to spend lots of time with them, which was great!!

Ok, now to the chores....cheers!

We heart Maui

What a great trip!! We had a wonderful time in Maui and can't wait to go back!!

Here are some of our photos --> HERE (the underwater cameras are being developed today, so look for those that turned out later!)

Trip details...

-Friday (5/15): up at 3am Denver time, arrived in San Fransisco at 7:42am. Flight to Maui was very, very delayed....scheduled to leave at 1:10pm and we actually left around 7pm. 12 hours in SFO...!!! But, alas, we made it. We rented a Jeep Wrangler and got to the condo around 10pm (so, 2am our time, and neither of us had really slept...yawn).

-Saturday - The alarm went off at 2am Hawaii time (so we got about 3 hours of sleep) and we headed to Paia to catch the bus up to the top of Haleakala to watch the sunrise. We were fitted with our gear and bikes and were on our way. The sun came up over the clouds just before 6am. It was amazing (but, very cold). After the sun was up, our guide took us down to about 6,500 feet and we started the 26 mile bike ride back to Paia. It was a great ride and the most amazing thing was the incredible smells of all the flowers. We stopped about 2/3 of the way down for breakfast overlooking the island. In our sleep deprived delirium after the ride, we decided to rent some snorkel gear and head to the beach! We snorkeled a bit and then headed to the condo to shower and get ready for dinner....except that we fell asleep about 4am and didn't wake up for 9 hours. :)

- Sunday - We drove up to Lahina after breakfast in Kihei and found a secluded beach about 30 minutes North of town. We snorkeled and sat and enjoyed the awesome views and amazing beach. From there we headed to Lahina for a Cheeseburger in Paradise (really) and then headed home.

- Monday - We got up early and headed for Makena Landing for our kayak/snorkel trip. Our first stop was Turtle Town, where a green sea turtle surfaced right next to us!! We had two more stops (getting out of the kayak easy...back in...not so much) and then had a yummy lunch on the beach. That afternoon we walked around the shops in Wailea. Our dinner that night was at Sarento's on the Beach Restaurant. We had the best table in the house for the sunset and had an amazing meal!

Tuesday - Up early again (we never really adjusted to the time change), we decided to do the drive to Hana. It was an all day adventure, but was so worth it. The views were so amazing. The drive is highly recommended (take Dramamine if you get car sick though, it is a very curvy drive). Tacos at Fred's hit the spot for dinner.

Wednesday - We decided to spend the day on the beach with some snorkeling on our last full day. We first drove down as far as the road would go south though lava fields to a reserve area. We braved the rocks and snorkeled among the lava. After the waves were making us a bit nervous, we headed up to Big Beach to enjoy the sun. It was a great day!

Thursday - time to go home! We got in one last snorkel just down from the condo and then went home to pack. We had a bit of extra time after breakfast and decided to go to the Iao Needle on the way to the airport. The valley was so beautiful. And then, off to the airport we went. Bye bye Maui!!

We spent Friday - Sunday in the Bay Area visiting my family. We visited Nonnie, who turned 96 in March. Her memory isn't very good these days, but she looked great. We headed back to Denver on Sunday (delayed again...!!!).

Aloha!

We had a great mother's day weekend celebrating all of the Mothers in our life! They are all pretty special ladies. :) We slacked completely, however, and took no photos...We'll be much better in Hawaii - promise!

We're off to Maui tomorrow! Woo hoo!! Our adventures planned are a visit to Haleakala Crater followed by a downhill bike ride. We'll be watching the sunrise from the summit of the volcano, so we'll be up early Hawaii time! We are also taking a kayak/snorkel trip and making the day drive to Hana. Oh, and we'll also sit on the beach, snorkel, and perhaps eat.

Off to pack....ALOHA!

Lots and lots of DCB....

Hello my faithful readers (who now never check this blog since I never seem to write....)! April has been very busy!! Maddie had a wonderful time celebrating being 3 on the 11th! We were able to surprise her with a Dora bike, and she had a great time enjoying the spoils of being cute! :)

The next weekend we went to Houston for the Association of Concert Bands (ACB) convention and to visit the Smiths! The rain was a bit crazy, but Matt braved the elements to get me back and forth for rehearsals and the concert on Saturday. Sunday we were able to drive up to see Cris, Linda, and Goo Goo at their home on a lake. It was beautiful! Lisa even stopped by for a few minutes, so now I just have Heather, and Andy and the kids to complete meeting all of the Smiths. Hazel Claire is just a doll, and we can't wait to see how much she has grown when they visit in July.

And this weekend I had even more band!! We had a performance at the Metro State WindFest on Saturday morning, where we were critiqued by the composer of one of our peices (no pressure!). He encouraged me to really smack the daylights out of the suspended cymbal by (and this *is* a direct quote) "smack(ing) it like an ex-boyfriend. Not one that you dumped, but one that dumped you on a family vacation." The whole band was cracking up, along with the audience. It was hilarious (well, to us...band humor...). After just a couple of hours at home (and Chuck spending a few hours at work), we jetted off for the DCB Young Artist concert. We had dinner first with Mom and Dick at Benny's. The concert went well. It was out last formal concert of the season (next one is in November), so now it is time for our summer season.

Needless to say, I am pretty darn tired and am happy to have tomorrow off from rehearsal! I feel like I'm getting a cold or something (yuck!), so I'm off to bed early to fight it off! Cheers.

Neglecting the Nellis News...

I have been a bad blogger!! I can't believe it has nearly been a month...

My last post said that spring was coming...well, in true Colorado style, winter has made a comeback over the last couple of weeks! It snowed has snowed a bunch, which will hopefully make the lawn be green instead of brown! Ha!

This past few weeks have been busy! We had our monthly Nellis sibling dinner on 3/17 (corned beef - yum!) and celebrated Mom's birthday and St. Pat's (again) the following Saturday! We stayed the night at Mom and Dicks and had some of his famous crepes in the morning. More yum! It is birthday season, as two of the Schwerin kiddos (Erik and Krissy) celebrated their big 0-5 and 1-0 in the last two weeks. :)

The exciting news here is that last weekend we book a trip to Hawaii!! We are going to Maui for 7 days in May - YEAH!!! We are so excited!! Operation Bathing Suit is in full force, so we now have a work out area in the office for me!

Last night I went to the Elton John concert with the Hoppers (well, Kari is a Snyders) in Colorado Springs! He was AMAZING. The drive wasn't all that fun (lots of wind and snow), but I stayed slow and steady. Thank you to Jim, Jan, and Kari for such a fun night!!

I serve my civic duty tomorrow - Jury Duty! I had to reschedule (originally called during our loan review), so I have to appear! We'll see!

We are off to Houston in two weeks for the ACB convention. I get to meet some of Chuck's cousins while we are there, so I am very excited!!

Next week we celebrate Maddie's 3rd birthday! She is growing so fast!! Happy belated birthday to Christine and early (tomorrow) birthday to Erin (told you it was birthday season!!).

Cheers!

Spring is coming....

We have had a great couple of weeks! We celebrated Jeremiah's birthday (a couple of weeks late) with Chuck's family, took in the US Curling Team Trials, had dinner at my brother's, and DCB had a concert. No wonder I haven't been posting! :) I have put a video of Maddie reading to Aunt Darby below for you - she is pretty darn cute!

My next few weeks are really busy work-wise with events, meetings, and preparing for an audit - blah! But, I am really excited to attend a lecture by Jane Goodall next week!!! We'll celebrate St. Pats twice, once with the Nellis siblings, and again with at Mom's with the family. Happy early birthday to Mom! :)

1st Anniversary and Valentines Day!

I can not believe tomorrow will be a year since our wedding. Some days I feel like Chuck has always been by husband, yet I still learn new things about him all the time. I am so lucky to be married to a man that is so supportive, amazingly sweet, and well, I could go on and on. Getting married to him is the best decision I have ever made (well, some would say that the decision was made for us by a greater power). I also remember all of our many of our wonderful family and friends made it to Red Rocks to celebrate with us (and a few that couldn't make it there were there in spirit). We wouldn't be the people we are today without all of you.

We do a scaled down version of Valentine's Day with our anniversary just two days later. We stayed in last night and made Rachel Ray's Pasta Carbonara, and it was YUMMY!! We got some of that "take and bake" bread from Target and had steamed asparagus on the side. We are going out to Sullivan's tonight, so another good meal is in our future! We are staying the night at the Oxford Hotel, where we stayed on our wedding night.

A not so romantic thing this weekend involved our washing machine throwing in the towel, while washing towels. The motor creaked to a halt (and made the house smell icky). Once we got the stuff out, we did get it spinning enough to drain the water, but it is dead. So, I got a wish granted with a new set of front-loaders! The drier is fine, but we wanted to get a set. They deliver the washing machine tomorrow (and take the old one away). We'll have lots of laundry to do tomorrow evening, but since it will supposedly take 1/2 the time, that's good!! :) We did our part to support the economy.

On a lighter note, Eric also did his part to support the economy and put a ring on my cousin Laura's finger! Yeah!! We are thrilled for them. Laura and Eric, enjoy this special time - being engaged is a wonderful feeling. And I know you can't wipe the smiles off your faces...the wedding will be the same way. Best wishes on this new phase of your lives together. Cheers!

I have a DCB concert coming up next weekend. It is our "guest artist" concert and the featured artist this year is an organist. We play in a old, huge church that of course has a pipe organ, so it is fitting. Our next concert will be in Houston at the Association of Concert Bands convention (we have the Saturday night slot!). I have a wicked (and very exposed) mallet part in one of the pieces...already worried!! We are going to stay with Chuck's cousins while we are there and I am so excited to get to know them and there little one, Hazel Claire.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Prepping for the Superbowl

As my turkey stock is cooking, I thought I better post so Aunt Toni doesn't say I never do! :) I am making gumbo for the game tomorrow, as I always do (well, not always, as I didn't make it last year with the wedding and all). We're having a few people over for the game, so it should be fun. Our youngest party guest will be little Anderson! This boy is already a handful as it seems he likes to get all the attention he can get. :) The whole family is waking up at their house today! Yeah!

I met up with a friend of mine from grad school for margaritas last night! We hadn't seen each other in over a year, so it was great to catch up!

Time for chores - I should take some inspiration from Jenna to deep clean. It has been a while and it really is so much easier to keep the house clean once it is "really" clean. We'll see how it goes! :) Our closets need a lot of work...but I can tell you right now that I'm not *that* inspired!

Happy February to everyone! Happy birthday on Tuesday to Robin!

Cheers, and Go Steelers (or Cardinals)....!!

Winter is back and so are we!

I know, I suck at posting.  We just aren't that exciting...but, now that I think about it, January has been busy.  

We officially became Sofia's Godparents on January 4th.  The weather cooperated for Carrie's parents to make the drive our here for the ceremony, and it was great fun.  Sofia of course shined in her christening gown. That next week, Corinne came to visit and we did a whirlwind tour of Denver and family, and braved the cold and wind!  I played with the Lonetree Sympony again for a late holiday concert...I had to play without rehearsing, so I was happy to stop either with or before everyone else (after is bad!). Ha! 

Work has been very busy for both of us.  I am so incredibly happy to be with Northern Trust.  We posted record earnings for 2008 and continue to have a very strong (and clean) balance sheet.  Chuck remains busy as well, despite having his project in a slower period. 

The long await for Anderson Snyders is over! He arrived on Inauguration Day (yet another thing to make 1/20/09 historic!!).  I was lucky to snuggle him just hours after he entered the world.  He is super cute and mom and baby are doing well. Check out his blog (link to the right) for photos and more!! 

Thursday was an event that featured Northern's Director of Economic Research - a timely presentation that made me a little less pessimistic about the economy.  Dad, Suanne, Keith, and Barbara happened to be walking by the bank as the event was ending and I joined them for a late dinner at PF Changs.  Yum! Last night we went to our favorite local restaurant, Armando's, with Diane, Anne, Mom and Dick.  We ate too much per usual...it can't be helped at this place as it is SO good.  Armando himself is from the same region of Italy as Nonnie, and that northern Italian food is just yummy!! We are gearing up for the Super Bowl next weekend after a one year hiatus of our annual Super Bowl party.  We skipped last year with the wedding and all.  

We are quickly approaching our 1 year anniversary.  I can't believe it!! We are celebrating with a night at the historic Oxford Hotel (where we spent our wedding night), a nice dinner, and an Avs game (hey, tickets are paper after all!).  Mostly I just want to celebrate being married to the most amazing person I know.  In fact, that wonderful husband of mine is cooking up some breakfast, so off I go!  

I'll try and post more often!

Happy new year!

We rung in the new year (well, Carrie and I rung in 10:30pm with the boys and went to bed) at Michael and Carrie's.  The guys made it to midnight.  My cold has come back with a vengeance and my voice was completely gone by the morning.  :( I seem to be on the mend again...I have heard ugly rumors of this cold lasting many weekend and let's up that is just not true! We "officially" become Sofia's Godparents on Sunday and Corinne (now a grand-Godmother!) arrives on Monday. 

2008 was a wonderful year for us (getting married and all!) and we wish a wonderful 2009 to all of our blog readers (all 2 of you).