Long Overdue.

I've been rather bad at blogging this last month so this post will most likely be a long one and picture heavy as a result.  Nothing too crazy has been going on here, work has been keeping me busy while school has done the same for Matt, Baby J is continuing to grow and look healthy (more on that of course!), and the Christmas spirit is in full swing in the Joseph household.

We had a lovely and relaxing Thanksgiving, just the two of us.  Matt prepared the turkey, dressing, and green bean casserole while I tackled the mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, gravy, and made two pecan pies and two pumpkin pies.  I must say, we did a great job for our first Thanksgiving on our own and the food was delicious!!  We spent the evening with some friends from Matt's class enjoying dessert (hence the excessive number of pies) and board games.

Matt's beautiful and tasty turkey!

We decorated our home for Christmas last weekend and went to the Denver Botanic Gardens to see their Blossoms of Light exhibit: over one million lights decorate the gardens to help you get in the holiday spirit!  Christmas is hands down my favorite time of year and I absolutely loved walking through all the lights!  Of course, we will still have to head to Tilles Park to see Winter Wonderland while we're in St. Louis but it was great to see Denver's light display.  Despite the fact that it was a bit chilly outside we decided to head to Little Man Ice Cream in the LoHi district...we didn't realize that it was an outdoor only establishment but the ice cream was well worth it and it was great to explore a new area of Denver.

The lights!

Matt really liked the blue and green combination.

Love the reflection off the pond.

So many lights!

Such a cute place to get ice cream...though
it's no Custard Station. ;)

We opted to get our Christmas tree from a tree lot this year (if you recall, last year we drove down to Pueblo and cut it down ourselves!) as we don't have space for a very large tree.  I believe we went with the second tree we looked at, definitely a record for the shortest time I've ever taken to choose my Christmas tree.  We just love our tree, it is absolutely beautiful and fits perfectly.  Normally, I wouldn't be decorating for Christmas quite so early but seeing as how we'll be heading back to St. Louis on the 20th, we wanted to enjoy our tree.  I've been ready for Christmas since before Thanksgiving but restrained myself from decorating or listening to Christmas music until the day after Thanksgiving.  I think part of all the excitement is the fact that we're going to be driving home this year to celebrate with our families.  While we loved spending our first married Christmas just the two of us out here in Colorado, there's nothing quite like being home for the holidays.  We are so excited to see all our family and friends in about a week and a half...it just can't come soon enough!!

Matt putting the finishing touches on the tree.

LOVE our tree! :)

J is for Joseph.

Representing good ole' Mizzou.

A slightly blurry Grinch...my favorite Christmas story.

And last but not least, an update on Baby J!  Our babe is growing well, we're over 23 weeks at this point, and looking healthy.  We had our 20 week doctor appointment the day before Thanksgiving and the ultrasound technician apparently could easily tell the sex of the baby...good thing we informed her prior to starting that we want it to be a surprise!  I've finally been feeling Baby move which is both amazing and strange.  Matt hasn't been able to feel it yet, but I suspect it won't be long before he can.  It seems like we have a pretty active child in there...he or she is often moving around!  I feel like my baby bump actually looks like a baby now, though people seem to think I'm on the smaller side for being a week shy of six months pregnant.   We haven't been keeping up with the weekly pictures like we had planned but here's a couple from a few weeks ago:

19 weeks.

20 weeks--halfway there!!

I'll have to take another picture this Friday to mark 24 weeks which is roughly six months!!  Matt and I joke that this baby is going to be here before we know it the way time is flying.  Our next appointment is in just over a week, can't wait to hear Baby J's heartbeat again. :)

Well, this post has gotten long enough, hope all is well with everyone and we'll be seeing some of you soon!!
Xoxo!

Cooper was a bit overwhelmed from all the Christmas decorating and excitement. :)

Growing.

Hard to believe that we're already five days into the month of November--where has time gone??  I hope everyone had a great Halloween.  Ours was a very low key night; we purchased a lot of candy in hopes of trick-or-treaters but didn't get a single kid!  So, we were left with way more candy than we need.  I guess next year we won't need to worry about having candy for the kiddos.  Nevertheless, we had fun carving our pumpkins and watching scary movies.  The Friday night before Halloween, Matt's MBA program had a party a bar in Boulder so we dressed up Tony Stark and Pepper Potts from Ironman (sadly we forgot to take any pictures!) and had fun celebrating with Matt's classmates.  I can't wait for next year when we'll have our Baby J to dress up! :)

My pumpkin is on the left, Matt's on the right.

Speaking of Baby J, we are now at about 18 weeks and 3 days.  I am still feeling great pregnancy wise though I've had a nasty cold/cough/sore throat since last Tuesday that I haven't been able to shake.  On top of feeling under the weather, work has been a bit busier lately and I had a tough last week patient load wise. Hopefully this week will be better!!  I feel like I'm finally starting to show bump-wise and I've actually purchased a few maternity items...such as the grey polka dot sweater I'm wearing in the picture below.  Our last OB appointment was on the 24th and baby's heart beat was nice and strong!  All of our tests have come back negative so we have a very slim chance of Down's, trisomy 18, or any neural tube defects.  We weren't worried about that to begin with, but it's nice to know that Baby J is healthy.  Our next appointment is the 21st and we'll be having another ultrasound done--I can't wait to see how much our little peanut has grown!!

There's a baby in there!!  And he or she is the size of a sweet
potato: 5.6 inches long and 6.7 ounces!

Pumpkin Spice Chocolate Chip Cookies.

I simply adore pumpkin, especially in the fall.  I love almost anything pumpkin: pie, bread, Starbucks pumpkin spice latte. :)  So, when Matt mentioned that our neighbor had made these delicious pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, I was sold without even tasting them.  Even better, the recipe had three ingredients: a can of pumpkin, a box of spice cake mix, and a bag of chocolate chips.  That's it.

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Mix the pumpkin and cake mix and then add in the chocolate chips.  I stuck my dough in the fridge for a little bit so it could solidify some as it was pretty soft and sticky.  The dough tastes pretty delicious too--and there's no raw egg to worry about!

Drop dollops of the dough onto a cookie sheet and bake!  I didn't grease my cookie sheet but it may not be a bad idea--some of the cookies stuck just a bit to the sheet.  I left mine in the oven for roughly 10 minutes and the insides were still a little soft, just how I like em!  You may need to adjust the time if you try these, I'm not sure what exact effect the higher altitude may have on bake times.

These easy cookies are great for fall and I got about three dozen out of my batch...way more than two people need to eat so I'll probably take some to work and send some to class with Matt.  Once they're done baking, grab a glass of milk and enjoy!!  :)

Yum!

First Snow.

We got our first snow of the season last night with more expected tonight and into Friday morning.  We took a moment last night to stand outside, watch the snow fall, and just listen to that amazing silence that a fresh snow fall brings.  :)

Fall Break and Four Months.

This last week marked the end of Matt's first session of his MBA program and that meant lots of studying for, and taking of, finals.  However, it also meant a much deserved Fall Break!!  It's been great to have Matt home for a couple days without having to worry about school.  We drove into Boulder on Thursday to hike at Chautauqua Park which is a national landmark and quite beautiful (you can click the link if you'd like to know more about it).  I love hiking out here in the fall and seeing all the colors and breathing in the crisp, fresh air.  Unfortunately, I'm a bit slower than I used to be and seem to get out of breath much quicker than I used to which is incredibly frustrating...I was told to expect that with pregnancy but it doesn't make it any less irritating.

The Flatirons.

Looking out a CU's campus from our hike.

Stumbled across some unexpected red in a field.

We planned to hike on the McClintock trail but had Cooper
with us and well, we're kind of fond of our dog and didn't
want him to possibly become bear food.

I mentioned in my previous post that we planned to spend a day and night up in Ft. Collins but plans changed and we ended up driving down to Golden instead yesterday for a nice day-trip.  Matt had been to Golden a few times but it was my first.  It only took us about 20 or 25 minutes to get there and it's a beautiful little town.  It reminded me a lot of Old Colorado City where we used to live in the Springs.  The leaves on the trees were nice and colorful and there's an awesome creek that runs through the middle of the town.  We had lunch and then walked around the shops downtown and along the creek.  If we did end up staying out here after Matt's graduation I could see us living in Golden as it just has such a better feel to it than where we are now and what I've gathered from Boulder as well.

I just loved this creek!!

There were a number of old building from the Pioneer days and the "M"
on the mountain is for Colorado School of Mines.

Another view of the creek.

There were statues all along the creek...Matt really enjoyed this one.

Today marks week 16 of my pregnancy, or four months.  I'm still feeling great, just tired sometimes but it's hard to tell if that's from the pregnancy or just the fact that I work nights.  Baby J is definitely growing and is approximately the size of an avocado and weighs about 3.5 ounces.  While Baby J is doing plenty of growing, I still don't feel like I look very pregnant...more like I've eaten a bit too much lately and have a food baby going on.  I've noticed that my waist and hips have gotten wider and my middle looks softer, but I'm looking forward to the day where the bump just "pops" and people will be able to tell that I'm actually pregnant.

Not much of a bump...and please excuse the fact that the
flash illuminated my undergarments! Opps!

Hope everyone has had as great a weekend as we have...now it's time to settle in on the couch for some football! Xoxo!

Weekend in St. Louis.

We're back home safe and sound after a quick trip back to St. Louis for our good friends' wedding.  We landed a little later than expected Friday but made it to the rehearsal dinner just in time for the actual dinner.  It was wonderful to see all of our friends again and to celebrate Tim and Megan together.  We were able to watch that intense Cards-Nationals game as well...there's nothing like cheering for your team with your friends with the Arch in the background.  I have to admit, it made us miss St. Louis even more.

Matt was one of the groomsmen in the wedding Saturday and he looked quite dapper in his suit...he cleans up very well. :)  I was able to squeeze into a dress I already owned--I'm really trying to avoid having to purchase too many maternity items so I'm putting it off as long as I can.  The wedding itself was simply lovely, as I knew it would be, and the weather was perfect for a fall wedding.  We danced the night away with our friends and just had an amazing time.

We clean up pretty well. ;)

Not the greatest picture of us, but the bride and groom look lovely
and you can see the baby bump (it grows after meals, haha). :)

We took a little time on Sunday to enjoy the weather and the beautiful colors of the changing trees.  There is just something wonderful about fall in St. Louis: the smell, the crispness in the air, and the colors.  As amazing as Colorado is, you just don't experience fall like you do in the Midwest.

Prime example of amazing fall colors!

In other news, we're into week 15 of the pregnancy with Baby J roughly the size of naval orange.  It's hard to believe we're less than a week away from the four month mark.  I'm still feeling great which is wonderful.  Our next Dr. appointment is the 24th so we'll get to see the baby and hear the heartbeat again on the ultrasound.  Pretty exciting stuff!!

Matt has finals this week so most of his time will be devoted to studying.  He has Thursday and Friday off after finals as part of a Fall Break so we're hoping to head up to Ft. Collins for a day and night or so.

Hope all is well with everyone!! Xoxo!

Snuggles.

This was the sight in our house this morning after a rough night at work for me:  I worked the two previous nights, had difficulty sleeping during the days between shifts, and was on call last night only to be called in at 0100 this morning.  Oy.  Sometimes you just need a quick nap on the floor snuggling with the dog. :)

Not the most flattering picture, but Cooper snuggling is a rarity.

We're getting ready to fly back to St. Louis this afternoon (yay!) for a wedding but I'll be sure to post an update picture of my baby "bump"...it seems to have had a minor growth spurt these last two weeks!!

And Then There Were Three!

I'm sure that many, if not all, of you have already heard our big news, but we have a big announcement:  Matt and I are expecting our first child!!  Baby J's due date is April 6th, 2013 which puts me at roughly 14 weeks pregnant currently--just barely into the second trimester--and Baby J at the size of a lemon.  We don't plan to find out the gender of the baby until he or she is born, so we've got a pretty big surprise awaiting us come April!

Such a cute kid already...and look at that little hand!! :)

We found out in early August that I was pregnant and I have to be honest, it was a bit of a surprise.  We anticipated that it would take a few months of trying before those two little lines would show up on that stick.  However, that certainly didn't turn out to be the case for us!  And, it's funny how things work out as the timing really isn't too bad:  Matt will be finished with classes in May and we'll have had 4 months to settle into a routine before his second year of grad school starts.

It's hard to believe that I'm 3.5 months pregnant as I really don't feel much different from my pre-pregnant self.  I must say that I've been very lucky thus far:  my first trimester was pretty easy.  So much so that I often forget I'm pregnant.  I didn't have any morning sickness, just occasional bouts of queasiness, and I've yet to experience any sort of crazy cravings (though, there's still plenty of time for those I'm sure).  In fact, I didn't even have any of the "typical" symptoms to indicate that I was pregnant, I simply had a persistent headache which was out of the norm for me.

Of course there have been some changes and adjustments already.  I've had to tweak my workout routines as I can't work out as hard as I used to.  My doctor nixed the second half-marathon we had planned on running last month.  I've had to get used to the fact that I'm not working out to lose weight and that it is expected and good that I gain weight.  I really don't feel as though I look pregnant yet and am very much looking forward to the time when I have a noticeable baby bump as opposed to simply looking bloated/having eaten a large meal.  There's a pretty small bump at the moment though it really isn't visible under my clothes yet.  In fact, here's a picture to show my current "baby bump":

13 weeks with Baby J--just a small bump.

As I said, not much to see yet but I know it will be soon!  We'll try to take a picture weekly to show the baby's growth and progress.  We didn't take one for this week, 14 weeks, but there really isn't much of a change yet.  Our next doctor's appointment is October 24th and we'll get to see Baby J on yet another ultrasound--such an amazing experience to see the little guy or girl moving around and hear the heart beat!

We're heading back to St. Louis next weekend for a whirlwind trip for our good friends' wedding but I'll be sure to update once we're home again.  Hopefully at 15 weeks there will be more of a bump to see! :)

All Settled In.

Apologies for the lack of posting lately--it's not so much that I've been too busy to post but rather there just hasn't been much to post about.

We're all settled in out here with our apartment, Matt's school routine, and my job.  In fact, Matt actually had midterms last week if you can believe it!  I'm sure he'll explain how school is going in another post but from what I can tell, he's enjoying it.  It's been a bit of an adjustment with him at class during the week as I had gotten so used to having him around all the time since he went on terminal leave back in February.  However, I must say that I am so proud of him for all the hard work he's been putting in to doing well in the program. :)

We're basically all unpacked in our apartment now.  I have to say, living in an apartment has probably been the biggest adjustment.  Matt has never lived in an apartment complex while I lived in three different apartment complexes during college.  We're on the first floor which is great for Cooper and unloading groceries but it means that we have to deal with all the noise coming from the apartment above us.  I've never seen who lives up there but I'd be willing to bet that they've got an elephant up there or they just really love stomping around.  Of course, it's not the end of the world and I'm sure it could be worse.

I've gotten into the swing of things at work.  I'm working at a small hospital, Avista Adventist Hospital, that is part of the Centura Health system that my previous hospital belonged to.  I'm working nights still which is less than ideal but has some advantages.  At St. Francis, the surgical floor I worked on had 36 beds as did the separate medical floor.  Here at Avista, the two are combined into a Med/Surg floor that has about 22 beds total so it's a much smaller hospital.  That means that it can get quite slow and boring from about 1 am until 5 am but at least I'm not leaving work stressed out and frustrated after every shift.

Other than that, there's not too much to report right now.  Matt has been doing a few outdoorsy adventures with some of his classmates--I'm sure some of you have seen his pictures atop mountains on Facebook.  I'll have him do a post about school and his adventures soon. :)

Hope all is well with everyone! Xoxo!

Here is St. Louis

I posted this video on my Facebook page already but wanted to share it here as I think it really highlights what a great city St. Louis is.  Matt and I watched it and experienced a wave of homesickness...funny how growing up in St. Louis I never realized all that it had to offer. :)

Getting Back in the Swing of Things.

We've been living here in our new place for about a week and a half now and it's finally starting to come together.  In fact, we actually had a few friends come in town and stay with us this weekend.  Our friend Andrew came down from Ft. Collins and Johnny and Gina are in town from Hawaii for their wedding this week!  It was wonderful to see them all again and it gave Matt a good chance to pick Andrew's brain about grad school since Andrew is about to start his second year of his MBA program.

We all went to see the band Blind Pilot at this really interesting venue Friday night--it was almost like a barn in a park in Boulder.  After the concert we hit up Pearl St Mall which is where a lot of shops, restaurants, and bars are in Boulder.  We haven't really gone out much here so we're still learning the best places to go, but we had a great time!

Waiting for the concert to start.

Blind Pilot.

Me and Gina.

It was nice to have a fun weekend with friends as this week is a big and busy one!  Today is Matt's first day of orientation and my first night at work.  I had my two days of orientation last week but tonight is my first shift on my floor.  I'm excited to get started in my new job and even more excited for Matt!  He has two weeks of orientation and his classes officially start on the 27th.  It seems as though we've been talking about him starting his MBA program for ages now so it's pretty exciting that it's finally here.  In fact, here's a picture of my handsome grad student husband on his way to his first day of school this morning!!

So handsome in his suit!! :)

We'll be heading back down to Colorado Springs later this week for Johnny and Gina's wedding this Friday.  We can't wait to stand beside two of our dear friends on their wedding day.  I'll try to get some pictures of the apartment taken next weekend now that we're all unpacked.

Xoxo!

And We're Back!!

Apologies for the absence of posting in the last month or so...we were busy packing up our life in Colorado Springs while avoiding the wildfire, took a much needed trip to St. Louis for the month of July, and have spent the last four days unpacking here at our new apartment.  I can't believe that we're already almost a week into August and that we're living in our new apartment!  It's going to be a bit of an adjustment and while we miss our old place, friends, and neighbors in the Springs, I think this place will work just fine for the next two years.  So, here's a quick rundown of what we've been up to this summer:

First, as I mentioned, we spent the end of June getting ready to move and taking in the whole wildfire situation.  It was a brand new experience for both of us and I started to write a post dedicated to it at that time, but I was interrupted mid-post and never really found the time to finish and post it.  Needless to say, it was horribly sad to watch on the news as the city that had become our home seemed to be hopelessly burning.  We've all seen the images on the news: the trees engulfed in flames, the C-130s making drops on the fire, the exhausted firefighters.  They're moving images for sure, but it's a whole different experience when the images are coming from your town.  The term "wildfire" seems to be misleading in itself--it makes you think of a fire out in the woods, in the wild.  However, that's not really the case.  These fires were in our cities, our home, and they burned people's home and lives to the ground.  It was hard to look at the images on the news and see these burning structures knowing that was once someone's home.  Some of the physicians and nurses from my old hospital lost their homes and I just cannot imagine how daunting a task it would be to have to essentially start over and rebuild one's life.  We are just so grateful that we never had to evacuate and that more lives weren't lost.

The Army packed our home up and we headed to St. Louis July 1st.  It was SO nice to be in town for more than just a weekend.  It seems like so many of our trips have been just a whirlwind of trying to squeeze so much into a short time.  We had a mental list of everything we wanted to do while we were in town this summer and I believe we checked all but two things off the list.  We weren't able to make it to a Cardinals game or down to my family's farm but we still had a wonderful trip.  While we absolutely love the state of Colorado, the people in St. Louis are pretty awesome and we miss all of you already!!  We were lucky enough to be able to make it up to Michigan for a week as well and it was such a relaxing week.  Matt even found time to compete in the Tour de Kirkwood triathlon before we drove back to CO and I was able to attend my friend Megan's bridal shower.  It was great to see all our family and friends and we can't wait for our next trip back.

We arrived back in CO late Wednesday night and have been settling into our new apartment since then.  As I mentioned, it's going to take a bit of adjusting as we're used to living in a larger space but it's starting to feel more like a home.  We've meet our neighbors and it just so happens that they're a young couple like us with a dog whose energy rivals Cooper's so he's already made a best friend. :)  I started orientation at work this week and it's so nice to only have a 10 minute commute.  This hospital is smaller than the one I was at previously, but I think it'll be a good fit.  Matt starts orientation for school in a week and then classes begin on the 27th.  We've got a wedding on the 17th as well--our good friends Johnny and Gina are getting married and both Matt and I are in the wedding party--so it's certainly going to be a busy month.

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Michigan (if you've looked at the pictures on Facebook then these are nothing new) as that's really the only time we took any photos.

Quite possibly the best place to watch the sunset.

Typical beach day.

The hammock debacle 2012.

An evening stroll on the beach.

Enjoying a good book and the water on our toes.

Goofing off.

Big Red though it looks more like Big Pink.

A sunkissed couple. :)

Me and my dad.

How every evening was spent.

It's not a proper trip to Michigan without numerous sunset pictures.

I'll be sure to post some pictures of our apartment once it's a bit more put together.  Hope all is well with everyone back home, we miss you all!! Xoxo!