Pick a color...

Aunt Laurie treated us ladies to pedicures!  How these tired feet loved the massage and foot soak!  I chose sparkly red polish in honor of the holiday.  What fun!  Thank you again!!!

Night out with Aunt Laurie...

Ray's Aunt Laurie recently moved down from Alaska and is now settled into her new home in Clackamas.  It is such a treat to have her here.

A couple nights ago she took all of her nephews and nieces out to dinner, then followed it up with a special trip to Papa Haydn's in Portland.  This place is renown for it's desserts.  WOW.  We had a very nice evening and ate to our hearts content!  Thank you Aunt Laurie!!

Ray's big 26th BIRTHDAY!!!

We celebrated Ray's 26th birthday on the 20th, with a big ham and family.  It was so nice to be home this year, and to separate it from Christmas and yet still have the "feeling" of the holiday. I feel SO honored to be a part of his life, to celebrate who he is and who he inspires me to be.  Most of all, I can't wait to watch him become a daddy and invite these little two peas into our lives.  I love you Ray!!!

26th birthday at 23 weeks!!!

Eugene and Salem friends...

Last week we trekked down to Eugene for three days.  It was SO nice to see friends and say goodbyes.  We stayed with our dear friends, Jon and Jen Derby, attended our fun Christmas dinner at Calvary Fellowship, played with a donkey at Dane's and Casey's, and on Friday night, the Dashers hosted a going away party for us.  Ex-students of mine and dear friends alike showed up to say their goodbyes.  The Dashers put on a beautiful spread.  We are so grateful.

On Saturday we headed up to Salem.  First stop was the Dalgas'.  Holly and Matt came over, and we compared baby belly's.  She is 34 weeks!

What delightful people...

Afterwards we headed over to the Hermann's house for our 8th annual Christmas dinner.  I regret having not taken any photos:(...  It was so much fun to see old friends from Willamette, sing carols and enjoy the company of dear friends.  We are RICH in this life...

Shiga Lake Stars, HERE WE COME!!!

Thursday, December 17th, we finalized our contract for Japan and sent it off.  Ray will be returning to play for the Shiga Lake Stars (the same team as last year) to finish off their season.  I will also be delivering our two little babes there.  We will be departing at the beginning of January and will return to the states in early June.

We thought some blue suspenders were an important addition to his uniform!!

22 WEEKS!

WOW- passed halfway and feeling good!  I literally grow by the day.  I went in to the midwife and she says I'm definitely showing at the 30+ week stage for the single baby mama.  

Notice the outie belly button.  Here it comes!

To Astoria...

As a little getaway, Katie invited us out to Astoria overnight, where she prepared us an incredible dinner and we got to see the sights.  It was the first time out there for both Ray and I, and we thoroughly enjoyed smelling the rich ocean air...

21 WEEKS!!!

Christmas brunch with the ladies...

Aunt Kathy's church put on an outstanding brunch for women, served by the men.  She invited all the women in the family.  Every table was decorated by its "hostess" and were so elaborate and beautiful.  The food and time together was all wonderful.  Here we are from left to right:

Me, Grandma Schafer, Aunt Kathy, Kim, Val, Katie and Aunt Laurie...

20 weeks...

Ray's a project person.  He needs to keep his hands busy, and thus takes up new woodworking and craft projects on a regular basis.  This particular one blew me away, however.  He worked about a week on it during the training camp in Boise.  He carved it out of a block of wood, with a whittling knife.

See the resemblance??

Westward Bound...

After packing up and saying goodbye to our dear friends the Winspears (and their beloved bulldog Caboose), we made our trek back towards Portland...

I've always wanted to take the historic Columbia River Highway, and this made the trip home all the more enjoyable.  The waterfalls are breathtaking...

Go Broncos???

The day after Thanksgiving, Ray and I were given some free tickets to go see the BSU Broncos play Utah.  We braved the COLD to watch them win a good game- and even got to see the infamous blue field where our good Ducks, well weren't at their best...

turkey day the Boise way...

Well, the last day of team camp rolled around for Ray and it looked as though there were no more cuts to be made!  However, being that there were one too many centers on the team, the coaches had to make a difficult call in cutting one more man.  That man happened to be Ray, the rookie among NBA players.  

This was a tough thing to hear.  We really loved Boise and were so excited to be settled.  As God does sometimes, however, doors close and He is always so good to open another... so now we wait.

The upside:  we were able to spend an absolutely beautiful Thanksgiving dinner with our friends the Winspears, who not only housed me for three weeks, but were some of the most gracious hosts I've ever had...

Idaho Stampede...

Preseason game:  Idaho Stampede vs. Utah Flash

Idaho ended up winning by nearly 15 points.  Ray showed very well for his first NBA caliber game...

Black Beauty...

While Ray and I were up in the hills, we stopped at a park so we could use the sani-can.  When Ray walked through the door, this little fella was hanging in his way.  Neither of us had ever seen a black widow before, but this guy's markings were undeniable.  It gave us the jitters, but was awesome too!!

Beautiful Boise...

Well.... We're here.  And we both love it already.  Ray is in training camp for a couple weeks so he is busy.  I have been staying with a friend from high school who has been a sweet delight.  We have been dreaming up projects and planning for Thanksgiving.  It already feels like home.

Here's the downtown capitol building...

We woke up to snow a couple days ago.  This is my favorite weather: COLD and SUN!!

Kristin and I went on a little adventure to find branches to decorate with.  These ones were bright red and beautiful as a centerpiece for Thanksgiving.  The drive up the river was so gorgeous that I took Ray up there yesterday.

The textures on the hillsides were delicious!

Eat your hearts out, rock climbing buddies!!!