Capri & Sasha ~ Sasha & Capri

Sasha, The Story: It was a cold day in October, the year 2000… ok seriously… I was at Target with some friends and there was a family selling their litter of Akita-Dalmation puppies out front for a mere $10 a pup. I immediately fell in love with this little yellow mix, the only one without black and white markings (we later found out she probably had a yellow lab dad). We decided to get her and purchased all of the necessities at the store before taking her to Ryan’s work as a “surprise”. He was currently working at Garts just across the street so I brought her in all bundled up in my coat. Of course the other girls in the store swarmed and by the time Ryan made it over he was surrounded by not only the puppy, but 6 girls giving him puppy dog eyes as well, how could he say no!?! Well, he loved her too but the fact was we weren’t allowed to have pets at our current apartment. She spent the night with us and we devised a plan, we were sure Ryan’s parents would love a new puppy right!? With only Michael left at home it seemed like the perfect solution. We were hopeful and made sure she looked her best, bow and all. We went to his parents with Sasha following close behind as we walked into the house, she didn’t have a name yet but Ryan’s sister was on a mission in Russia at the time and Sasha was chosen as a good Russian name. Ryan’s brother and mom rushed over to play with her while his dad kept his distance, giving us a “what have you done?” look. It was decided that joint custody would be the best solution and as soon as we could take her we would, little did we know that would be 7 years… She happily became the family dog and over the years everyone loved her, the neighbors, the family, especially our little nephew. When we purchased our house in 2006 it was quickly determined we were finally in the perfect position to take her, now they have visitation rights and when Ryan’s dad is here you will nearly always find Sasha at his side.


Capri, The Story: As we moved all along the Wasatch Front over the years we determined it would be nice to have a dog, well mostly me especially when Ryan was traveling, even if it was just a little one. Our first little pup was a Toy Poodle named Bender (after the robot in the cartoon Futurama). He was the best dog!! Such a sweetie and very smart, actually too smart. He was acting out (accidents on the carpet, chewing on things, etc.) and we hoped a friend to play with him while we were at work would help, that’s when we got Capri. She is a Miniature Schnauzer and was only 1 pound when we purchased her from Bird World. To wrap up the Bender story, this didn’t help and he now lives with a wonderful family with three kids to give him plenty of attention! Back to Capri… We got her in January of 2006 and she has been my baby ever since. She is very playful and territorial, she gets jealous of Sasha easily, but she is a good friend and loves to pick on Sasha for attention. It will be very interesting to see how she responds to the new baby, she is pretty good with kids and keeps her distance but this will be different for her. We named her after the beautiful Italian island of Capri, one of our favorite places!

Mondays Weather

For those of you not in Utah here is a taste of what I meant by “CRAZY” weather. Look at the flags on the front lawn and the snow on my windows is from the wind blowing it sideways.

You can also enjoy the background sound of my compelling work training!

Today, on the other hand, is BEAUTIFUL, I am happy they have a better day to set those posts! I will be so sad when they build behind us... look at that view!!

Just another Monday...

So having a blog is making me realize how boring my life really is!! Or maybe I am just not good at finding a story in the things that I do… either way I don’t have much to update with on a regular basis.

Today the weather is CRAZY! It is snowing and SO windy. Of course this would be the day that the poor guys are out trying to put up my fence. I feel so bad for them and hopefully they will be done soon, I think they will just dig the holes today and be done. I guess getting a fence is pretty exciting, and even more so on Wednesday we are getting a washer and dryer… I know FINALLY!! Isn't it pretty!?! Wednesday should be a good day since we will have our taxes done as well and that’s always good news!

The best thing that happened to me this weekend is that my belly started to look pregnant. I know that may not seem like great news but what I love about it is that instead of just looking like all-over chub it’s looking more like a preggie belly – see that IS good news!! My next dr. appointment is Monday, I can’t wait to have everything checked again and wish I could get ultrasounds all of the time, I try to be patient…

Back to work!

Our House

As mentioned below we bought our first house in W. Kaysville November of 2006. It has been a lot of fun settling into our own space after 7 years of moving all over the Wasatch Front! We put in the basic front yard last summer and are now working on getting the basement finished. We will also be fencing in the backyard within the next month. It’s all very exciting and a lot of work! The decision process alone keeps us very busy. Here are pictures of the exterior and the basement in progress…

The first look at Baby Thomas...

Yesterday was the first ultrasound, it was so exciting!! The baby measured 1 inch long with a heart rate of 176. This confirms my due date as officially August 11, 2008. It’s hard to believe this little peanut will be ready by then but we can’t wait to have him/her here. Enjoy the video – about 10 seconds in you can hear the heartbeat! It takes a few minutes to load so be patient...

Head is on the right and feet the left, it's lying on it's back and you can see the racing heartbeat!

A baby?? Us?

Can you believe we are having a baby!? I know I can’t, but how did we get to this point after 8 years of marital bliss?

It all started early 2007, we had moved into a house in November 2006 and were running out of reasons to put it off; it seems having kids was inevitably just around the corner. We had a trip to Europe scheduled with friends the first week of April and decided we would talk about it after we were home. I was feeling pretty anxious when we returned but decided to give Ryan the opportunity to bring it up himself, kind of… I told him that Monday that he had until Friday at 5PM to bring it up, otherwise I would have to start the conversation. We were driving home from work Friday and it was about 4:45PM when I reminded him he had about 15 minutes to bring it up, not much warning but we proceeded with a conversation that only took about 10 minutes. Ryan asked what I would do if it were entirely up to me, I said “I would go off birth control and see what happens” assuming it would take some time anyway. His response was classic “can’t you just do that and not tell me about it!?” We laughed for a few minutes but that was literally the extent of our conversation. It was only about 2.5 months later that I panicked and went back on, that’s not all that surprising right? But the turning point this time was on August 27, 2007 when we visited the hospital to see Neil and Krissy’s adorable new baby boy, Mikade. We arrived in time to be the photographers of his first bath and everything, it was a pivotal moment and we determined, with more mutual enthusiasm that it really was time. A few more things fell into place for us as well; on October 15th I left Oracle and started working for a partner Serene Corp. in a position that allows me to work from home. Little did I know how appreciative I would soon be of this transition as I moved from working East Coast time zone to West Coast, a welcome and relaxing change of pace. It wasn’t until late November when the signs began to show, but how could it be so quickly? After taking 6 pregnancy tests and all of them showing negative I finally made a doctors appointment on December 4, 2007. While at this point I obviously expected the result to be positive, I was still shocked when the doctor broke the news; there are no words to describe my elated state! I was hardly out of the doctor’s office when I called Ryan, I was prepared to play it cool but did not expect that it would take me an hour and a half to get a hold of him; apparently he didn’t expect much to come of this little doctor’s visit. It was all I could do to not just blurt out the news but I wanted to make him think a bit. We had been planning a Nordic cruise for August of 2008 (fortunately we didn’t book it!) so I just asked him if we had made any plans for August, he said not yet and I said “well maybe we should just have a baby!” there was a moment of silence followed by a dozen or so comments in the form of “no way” and “are you serious” he was immediately excited too. We determined to wait to tell anyone until Ryan’s sister Lisa would be in town from D.C. so we could tell her in person, this was a very long 10 days away and I could hardly contain myself. I pretty much avoided people for fear of giving it away.

It was an exciting day on December 15th, the day of our 8 year anniversary that we got to tell the world our exciting news! I could hardly sleep and called my mom bright and early to tell her and Anna. Again wanting to try for some sneakiness I simply asked my mom if we could borrow the cradle (that my grandpa had made) next August, she quickly replied yes but I could tell it hadn’t really sunken in yet. When she did realize what I was asking we celebrated over the phone and I told her I would call my brother Curtis with the news and then she could tell whomever she wanted after 6PM so I could tell Ryan’s family first. I had to work a short shift at Williams-Sonoma that day but it felt like the longest 5 hours of my life! I was finally on my way home and going directly to the Thomas’s but much to my disappointment when I arrived Jim and Kristi were out shopping. Ryan knew I was anxious and called his dad who would only be about 15 minutes and I called Kristi to see when she might be home, trying not to sound suspicious, she would be home in 20 minutes which I thought I could barely handle. But that wasn’t then end of complications... when they were both home Lisa had decided to take a nap and when she did get up Kristi was in the shower. I really didn’t want to make everyone be in the same room so I just kept hoping it would happen soon. When Kristi was getting ready I went to talk to her with Lisa about clothes or something and luckily she followed us back out into the living room where I finally just yelled that I was pregnant! I was so relieved to get it out and share our excitement. We told the rest of Ryan’s family at a Christmas party that night.

Word has spread fast – thanks to all for your shared excitement!