A little boy and flowers!

At our 16 week ultrasound we found out that we are expecting a little boy!!!!! We are so excited to no longer call the baby "IT"! We are so excited for him and to buy him things!!
As soon as the nurse told us, Paul asked if I was sure about the name Henry? So we will see what name this little guy ends up with! I thought I was sure, but we have time :)
The very next day Kreesh sent this beautiful bouquet to congratulate us. Thank you Krids, this was so thoughtful and you were very fast acting!
The next week was Valentines Day and Paul surprised me with a bouquet at work. So the house was fragrant and very enjoyable! Thanks for my flowers you guys!

The Nursery

We had a busy weekend painting the nursery. It was so nice to have my parents in town to help! Picking the colors wasn't too bad, I knew we wanted 2 shades of green and Paul knew he wanted what I wanted!! We went with a darker color on the bottom and a chair rail to separate the colors...the chair rail was slightly trickier than anticipated. But Paul, Katelyn and Roy Boy put their heads together and got it done while Merv and I supervised!! We had some fun dinners out and a great time just hanging out. I sure miss having my parents close by. Thanks for all of your help and for the washer and dryer!!
Things are going well, still getting nauseous and I didn't realize my emotions were getting the best of me.... until I cried during The Lion King and then during American Idol. In my defense, the Mufasa scene is super sad and I think I've always been emotional over it!
I have an ultrasound on Tuesday and we're very excited to see the progress of our little one!

Announcing:

Drum Roll Please...It is time to announce baby Lopez! Paul and I found out we are expecting just before Thanksgiving.

We headed to Phx to share the news with my parents. We thought it's be cute to take a family picture and Paul said, "Say cheese" then he took another and said, "Say Kim's pregnant!" We were hoping to capture my parent's surprised faces...but they held their smiles for the pic and through their teeth murmured, "Whaaaaaaat?!!"

We decided to wait until Christmas to tell Paul's side of the family on Christmas Eve. We had Paul's parents unwrap a gift that included a little note and a Utes One-sie. The note read, "To my grandma & grandpa, you'll hold my hand for a while and my heart forever! I can't wait to meet you around July 15th!" (I can't get the video of this to upload, but I'm working on it!)

I am currently 13 weeks and with minor night sickness and lots of crackers-- we're doing just fine! The ultrasound on Wednesday was amazing. Paul squeezed my hand as we saw our little baby for the first time! Hearing that little heartbeat was such a relief and an eye opener of our new life to come. We have been trying to start our family for a while now and are so grateful that the journey has begun! I took about a dozen pics of the ultrasound so I could include it in this post... tried different angels and without flash... but any way you slice it, it's shaping up to be our precious lil alien!!!

A great end to 2010

We had a wonderful Christmas morning, just me and my Boo! We exchanged gifts, had some cinnamon rolls, watched our new movies then headed to the big tamale feast. Gramma Ana didn't disappoint!! The fam feasted on hundreds of tamales, home made rice and beans--the whole nueve yards :)

The next morning we headed to Phoenix. After a few icy roads, we were in the clear and Knuckles makes an excellent co pilot. The entire week was bustling with a whole lot of... nothing!! And I loved every minute! We slept in, stayed in our pajamas and barely combed our hair! There was some game playing of course and we finished a ridiculously painful puzzle-then tragedy struck!! It was dismantled before dad could take a picture. I'm not quite sure what one does with a picture of a puzzle??


Another highlight was Alyssa and Kyle and kids coming over for games and of course some New Years fireworks that we set off in the street! Then we watched the ball drop on TV and I promptly fell asleep at 12:05! Party animal, I know!!
When reflecting on 2010, it was a year full of awesome vacations, lots of family and Knuckles became a part of the family. I can't wait for the adventures 2011 will bring :) ... to be continued!!

Thanks G 2010

This year we were going to drive to Seattle to enjoy the holiday with friends and my sis, Krystle. Then the weather wagged it's snowy finger in our face and sent us south instead. Since mountain passes were closing, we decided to head to sunny Phoenix and hang with my awesome parents and cousins Alyssa & Kyle. So we hopped in the truck and made the 11 hour journey!

Here we are enjoying the "snow" every half hour at the mall in Gilbert. It was quite a festive atmosphere and only required a light jacket. Gotta love that AZ weather!
We were privileged to have a visit from Elvis!!
Here's Spencer and Mom as we walked to the park, there are a couple in the neighborhood. We had to walk off that delicious turkey, pie and strawberry fluff!
Here we are racing the boats, but the controls were interfering with each other...so basically we'll say I won!!
Family pic with the palms!
Knuckles was a great traveler; he stayed in his little bed and laid down. He would lift his little booty and shift his weight when we went around corners...cracked us up.
Hope every one had a great holiday, it's so nice to share it with loved ones!
PS we also braved the stores at 3am on black Friday...no major traumas or black eyes from the mobs and we even got a few things on our list!

Lopez Life Lately

Hello to my 2 fabulous blog fans out there!! I haven't updated lately because not a lot is going on. For the past 3 weeks I have been "working hard for the money" & putting lots of overtime and 12 hour work days in for new software implementation for the U of U Hospital. This week we have actually been using the software and there are lots of glitches and it will take time to get used to... but I am back to my regular work schedule at least... but there is hardly time for personal emails which is just plain wrong!! Paul kept up on most of the chores, dinner on my late nights. I'd make an occasional "list" for him... he's not so sure he likes being a house wife and definitely despises a "honey do list" --but I even drew boxes for him to be able to check off, who wouldn't love that?!?!! : )
On the Friday before Halloween, I wore a Boston Red Sox jersey to work...any excuse to wear jeans to work is fine by me! I only ran into one Yankees fan that I had to handle.
Knuckles told me he wanted to be a Ninja for Halloween and we went over to gramma and grampy Lopez's. I jumped up to pass out candy at every door knock to check out the costumes. My favorite of the night was a chubby cheerleader with pig tales...she reminded me of myself at 9 yrs old and she got some extra pieces of candy from me!! Little Ninja Knucks enjoyed his costume so much that I decided he likes clothes and his mama likes a good deal and is thrilled that TJ Maxx sells little pup clothes for only a few bucks!! He practically begs me to put him in his new sweater and it keeps him warm on these brisk fall nights.
He turns ONE soon---on either the 6th or the 9th...Hey, he was adopted don't judge me!! I'll have to find his paperwork so I can give him an extra raw hide for his B-day or I'll feel like a bad mom!Not that I obsess over my dog or anything!!! ..... October was full of work and hardly any play. I'm excited to enjoy the up coming holidays and looking forward to doing some crafting and treat making.
Lastly, I'd like to dedicate this blog to my dear dad, Roymundo Louise. He inspired me to update my blog by saying, "Hey! Update your blog, the St. Marten recap was so last September!!!!" Thanks dad, enjoy!!

St Marteen Vacay Sept. 2010

We all made it to St. Maarten in one piece with all of our luggage!! We got settled in and adjusted to the "island pace" there is a lot of waiting and many things that don't work on the island-and that is just how it is! The prices were high at restaurants and at the grocery stores. We tried to be savvy and purchased pancake mix, eggs, frozen pizzas and then went out to eat here and there too. On the 1st full day we went on a bus tour that took us through the French side and Dutch side in a quick over view. We stopped at Orient beach for an hour and one side is a nude beach and my mom was overly excited to see what that was about, but when it came down to it, we didn't venture "to the dark side!" There is one main road that circles the island and there are lots of hills and cliffs and crazy drivers. There are round-abouts and you just have to plow in there...no one lets anyone in-ever! Also, motorcycles just drive in the middle, between cars, whenever they want and there isn't much of a side walk, yet lots of peeps walking and narrow roads, so that's a fun game. We went on a sunset cruise around the island and there were fish jumping and a double rainbow--like scenes from a movie. It was beautiful and lots of fun! One day we rented jet skis. I didn't love it. You have to be balanced and plus there are waves and I was so afraid to fall off in the deep ocean. Paul says "Are you loving this?" screaming over the motor and I say " I am hating this." so he takes me to shore and goes on his own. Everyone kept pressuring me to try again, but it scared me to death...my arms hurt from grabbing Paul so tight and it was only for 5 mins. I can appreciate it-but its not for me. Since when did I become such a wuss??? One day my mom and Krystle went on a snorkeling tour and had a really great time seeing tons of fish. That day, me Paul and Katelyn and Jess went back to Orient Beach and rented a boogie board...I mostly just sat on it to avoid touching things!!! hahaha, but it really was fun, even thought I am afraid!! :) We took a bus to Phillipsberg-the Dutch capital. We walked around in the muggy air and everyone wanted to sell us t shirts and jewelry! We also took the bus to Maho Beach and watched the planes fly right over our heads!! Other than that we didn't make many structured plans. Lots of relaxing and swimming. This was definitely an adventure that I will cherish forever!!!
It was also my and Paul's 3rd anniversary while we were there--what a way to celebrate!!