Christmas Lights are Up!

3rd trimester!

We have entered the final stretch! I'm still feeling very well and Blinn continues to take good care of me. :) I feel Trey move all of the time and now his kicks and punches are strong enough for Blinn and other people to feel too. In less than 2 months we will be a family of four!-we can't forget Gus!

Post work-out pic. Not my best material.

NKOTB Round 2!

Sixteen years have passed since my mom took Em, Liz and I to see the New Kids on the Block concert at Beasley Coliseum in Pullman. Last weekend, Kristin, Ashley and I saw the New (older) Kids at the Tacoma Dome, and I think I screamed just as loud as I did when I was 10!!! It was such a fun time both at the concert and visiting Kris in Seattle. Blinn and Jay watched football all day at the bars while Kris and I prepped for our big evening with breakfast with Lyssa and a manicure.

The concert crowd was made up of 24-35 year old women and everyone screamed and danced while NKOTB played mostly old songs that we knew ALL the words to. When their new songs came on, the three of us took that opportunity to sit down for a rest. :)

Here are some pics from our evening. Notice my shirt...it was Trey's first concert! Probably not exactly what his Daddy had in mind. :)

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! Our family sure has a lot to be thankful for this year. We're getting ready to head down to my mom and dad's house to enjoy all of the Thanksgiving fixins; including the best stuffing in the WORLD! YEY!

Escape!

We had such great plans for our Veteran's Day morning. Blinn and I had just hopped in the car and we're getting ready to head to breakfast at McDonald's. For the record, their $1.99 mochas ARE as good as they look. Before we can pull away from the curb, Gus sprints around from the side of the house like a mad-man. He had accomplished his first escape of the morning. Blinn put a couple of boards supported by a 25 lb. bag of mulch in front of the fence that he had sneaked through. We waited a bit outside in the car to see if Gus could get out, and once we were confident his escape route had been patched up, we left for breakfast.


We got home to an empty kitchen and backyard. Gus had made escape number two. Only this escape was different. Gus had realized (he is SO smart) that we were no longer out front and had tried to get back into the backyard. That pesky bag of mulch was in his way, so resourceful as ever, Gus ripped through the sealed bag of mulch to get it out of his way. The end result looked like this:

Gus had his second bath in less than a week after this picture was taken. Here is the mini-Houdini on his favorite perch post bath:

In other Carstensen news, we have reached 25 weeks in my pregnancy which means we are now officially in the sixth month! Baby Trey moves a ton and does not seem to share his mother's love for all things tomato based- indigestion is no fun! At our last ultrasound appointment we got to see Trey move his mouth and at one point he moved his little hand and tried to get it into his mouth. It was awesome. Everything looks great with the little guy and we're getting his room ready slowly but surely. It's hard to believe that in three months we'll have him with us! Here I am this morning in all my 25 week glory. :)

Happy Halloween!

Our little bat says Boo!- and give me a treat for wearing these stupid wings. : )

It's a...

3D picture of Trey!

If you look closely, you can see "the goods" between his legs!

Baby Boy! Blinn and I (Gus too as you can see) are so excited to announce that Terrance Myron Carstensen, "Trey", will be joining our family in late February. I'm posting some ultrasound pictures, though I realize that they are hard to figure out. But for those ultrasound experts, here you go! I've been feeling him kick/ move around regularly for the past 2 weeks or so. Blinn even got to feel one strong kick! It has been a dreamy 21 weeks of pregnancy so far. The family pictures were taken the morning after we found out we were having a boy.

We've had a great October so far. We took a trip to Greenbluff with Gus to pick some apples, and then of course the big news that we'll have a son this time next year. So amazing! I'll let the pictures do the talking...not much else to say right now except we're just over the moon about Trey!

NYC Vacation Pictures

Manhattan Island taken from Ellis Island (I don't usually look "that" pregnant yet; this was right after lunch) : ). Our last dinner at a restaurant in Little Italy.

Times Square
Yankee's Stadium!
We had breakfast at the Seinfeld diner!
Dad and Blinn by Rockefeller Center.

Mom and I with NYC's finest!
After our Today Show debut with Mr. Matt Lauer!
Mom and I with the lovely Meredith. ALL of the Today Show people were sooooo nice and friendly!
Lunch at Tavern on the Green.

Our Summer Vacation

At the University of Georgia football stadium.
The last of Blinn's boil.
Battery Park in Charelston, SC.
Scarly and I at a bar in Charelston.

3 beers and a lemonade at Folley Beach, SC!

Blinn and I had a busy and fun September! We celebrated our 3rd anniversary at the Spokane Int'l Airport! We boarded separate planes to visit Jake and Scarlet at their home in Athens, GA on the 10th. It was SO much fun to spend time with them and explore the South! They were wonderful hosts and we accomplished a lot in five days: we toured all of Athens, including the University of Georgia and their football field as well as the other sports facilities Jake manages; ate at delicious restaurants (excluding Cozy Yum Yum); went to the Georgia Aquarium; and spent some time in Charleston, SC. The best part was that we were able to do 99% of it with Jake and Scarlet. I'm already excited for Christmas when we get to see them again!!!

After our time in Athens, we were off to The Big Apple! Blinn had a conference there on Wednesday, so I we decided to make a trip out of it. We stayed Tuesday through Saturday and my mom and dad came over on Wednesday evening. It was truly an amazing (and HUGE) city and we were really happy that we got to tour it with my parents. When people ask what we did, I respond by saying that we visited everything you can think of except museums. :) There just wasn't enough time for everything that NYC has to offer! Some of our highlights were the Today Show; Tavern on the Green; riding the subway; the 4th to last game at Yankee Stadium; the Statue of Liberty; Little Italy; and lunch at the Seinfeld cafe. We made lots of memories, and I hope you enjoy a peek at some pictures.

October 13 is our "big" ultrasound! I'm already saying prayers that Baby C cooperates so we can see if it's a boy or a girl. I'm 18w3d and at our last appointment went very well. The baby's heartbeat was at 152 bpm and it was very loud and strong this time. I've also started to feel some movement which is amazing. Stay tuned for an Oct 13 update! I'll throw in another belly pic then as well.

15 weeks along!

Here is my first "belly pic" at the 15 week mark. Everything continues to go well! I'm thinking the next post on here will tell you if Baby C is a boy or a girl!

We have had a busy couple of weeks. Two weekends ago Kristin, Jay, and her little pup Chloe came over for a visit! It was so much fun! Kristin and I went shopping on Saturday while Jay and Blinn golfed. I sure wish we weren't 4 hours away from each other. Despite the picture below, Gus and Chloe got along very well. I like to think in this picture, Gus was just showing her that this was his house.

For our Labor Day weekend we stayed the night at my Grandma Hazel's in Colfax from Saturday to Sunday. It was a very nice visit! When we got home on Sunday, Blinn started to paint our bedroom. Bye bye bright blue! He has done a great and very thorough job. Once everything is finished and we've moved our furniture back in I'll post a pic.

Next Wednesday we are flying out to Athens, GA to visit Jake and Scarlet! We're beyond excited. Jake had his first football game this past weekend, and he made the Atlanta Journal newspaper! I think that the presentation of Uga (apparently Georgia's beloved mascot) looks like a crowd outside of the Today Show or something! It will be a great vacation and we're so happy we get to spend it with them!

ExtravaCANza!

Blinn and I chose this 98+ degree weekend to take our first foray into canning! We canned about 2 lbs. of string beans from our garden this weekend using my Grandma Hazel's spicy-pickled string bean recipe. It was definitely a bit warm in our little kitchen, but the final result produced 6 jars of pickled beans that we hope turn out well.

Our first garden continues to grow! I took some pictures of our tomatoes, jalapenos, green peppers, pumpkin, and our corn. We also have basil, red peppers, onions, and carrots, but I didn't want to make this any more veggie-heavy than it already is.

In other news, I had my first hamburger in 12 weeks today and it tasted gooooood! Could entry into the second trimester be the end of my food aversions?! I hope so, because I'm not sure if a life without steak and hamburgers is really worth living...sorry PETA.

Tomatoes & one of our pumpkins

Jalapenos and green peppers

Mark your calendars!

We're having a baby! My due date is February 26, 2009. Blinn and I are thrilled as are Baby C's Grandparents, Aunties, and Uncles. We had our 10 week appointment last Wednesday, and even though we were unable to hear a heartbeat, the Dr. did an ultrasound (so cool!) and confirmed the due date based on the baby's size and told us that the heartbeat is a healthy 164 bpm. Baby C is the size of a plum and, get excited, no longer has a tail!

In other news, we celebrated my Mom's birthday at our house on Sunday. It was a great afternoon for some of Blinn's famous flank steak and good company. Speaking of flank steak, our darling Gus sure enjoyed some. As Blinn was cutting the steak, apparently Gus was quietly (and for those of you who know Gus, you know he is FAR from quiet) standing under the cutting board getting drenched by the meat drippings. Blinn then told me that Gus had "some" (emphasis on the word SOME) steak juice on his head. Well, this is what SOME looks like:

His entire head was soaked! He is now known fondly as Steak Head. After this picture was taken, Steak Head received his 2nd bath of the day.

A mixed bag June so far

The Lust Family at John Adam & Amy's wedding
Lusty Ladies! heh heh

Crazy June weather in Spokane! This was a thunderstorm on Wednesday night.
Sometimes only a sister knows when you need a giant (and delish) sugar cookie sent straight to your door.
I love you to pieces Scarlet! You da best!!!

Where is our sunshine and summer?!?! Despite the less than fabulous Spokane weather, we've had a nice June so far. Blinn was in Chicago for a conference a week ago and had a good time. He had a steak that had been aged for 40 days! Eeeks! He was glad he tried it, but wasn't sure if he needed to have that aged of a steak again. :) I served on jury duty for two weeks and sent a bad guy to jail. ; ) It was actually quite an interesting experience! Last Saturday we celebrated my cousin John Adam's wedding and danced off every beer we downed!

We're heading down to Almira this weekend to ring in Father's Day with Big Mike. We'll swing by Davenport on our way home to say hi to my Dad as well. I think we really lucked out in the Dad department; I may be a bit partial, but I'm pretty sure we have the best two out there.