Escape Artist/Contortionist

I don't know how she does it but somehow Ande has an ability to point her toe in directions that shouldn't be possible.

Let alone ...... escape

One of the BEST years EVER!!!!!!!!

First off, 2009 was a great year for Mike and I. We had a lot of great things to look forward too. We were living in such a beautiful valley in a cute little house with a HUGE yard that also had a creek on it. Emma would not stay out of the creek and loved to have such a large place to run around. We miss that place and living out there.

We were having such a hard winter with a ton of snow. So much snow we could't get into our driveway a few times because there was unbelievable amounts of snow on it. Nice suprise to come home to after being stranded out of the house after Christmas Break for an extra 3 days or so (not complaining whatsoever, it was a blast) due to closed roads. Mike was constantly plowing us IN to the driveway ahaha more than out. I tried to help as much as I could but being pregnant didn't leave me with much tolerance for extra exhaustion. I have a such a sweet hub. So come March we were definetly ready for a long awaited vacation to the sunny state of Florida! Mike's parents took the family there to go play at Disney World!!!

It started with an extremely early flight, but that didn't matter to a few little kiddos. Little Benny was excited at the thought of getting to ride a "ROCKET"!

I had done some research on fun things at Disney World and found out that if you get on the first raft over to Tom Sawyer's Island, they have a few hidden paint brushes for you to find. If you find one of them then you and your whole family get a super fast past which is basically a ticket to the front of any ride line you want. Mike and I took Minnie and Devyn (Mike's cousin) and ran through the park as soon as it opened in hopes that we could get on that raft. We could not believe how many people were already in the park, but we managed to get on the first raft. I didn't realize how big this island was. We all split up to better our chances at getting one and with a WHOLE raft load of people with the same idea it was going to be tough. After awhile of searching and seeing other people find a couple already I headed back to find the others. This is what I ran into...

THEY FOUND ONE!!!!!!!!! So yes we got a family fast pass and it came in pretty handy. After all this excitement and riding a bunch of rides it tuckered out one little guy to the point he passed out.

At this point I was going into my 7th month being pregnant and couldn't ride all the rides. Total bummer, let me tell you. I loved the shows though, air conditioned and a chance to get off my swollen feet. Not a fan of the 3D kid shows: the kids! Totally freaked them out.

Ride with the longest wait: Peter Pan.. no joke. We FINALLY made it on ONCE!

We had such a fun time! As fun as it was though... some of us weren't too thrilled about leaving.

Thanks Don & Cyndee for such a fun vacation!

A month before baby Andelin came we bought a townhome and moved in. Mike's brother Jared was our agent and really helped us out a bunch. I was stressing of course going into the nesting stage and wanting to have everything in it's place. We got settled just in time because a month to the day we moved I started having contractions! My family in Washington drove through the night so they could be here for birth. Just in time too because the morning they arrived I was in LABOR!! Went to the doc's and they told me walk around the park for a bit. After hobbling around in excrutiating pain I started to get embarrassed from all the sounds I was making. I could not help but to moan out loud. Poor park goers. We ended up at Tanner and Lindsay's house so I could moan more privately! haha poor Linds though...she was so sweet to talk with me as I layed and moaned through each contraction. After awhile we went up to the hospital and waited for an epidural. I just wanted some relief whereas Mike was as cool as a cucumber. Here is before the epidural and of course after.

I was feeling GOOOOD after the epidural! Doc came in a broke my water and in the process Ande had inhaled her meconium putting her in great stress. Her poor little heartbeat dropped down below 30 and I ended up having an emergency C-Section. Oh man was I freaked out. She was born at 7:06pm June 29 6lbs 8oz 2o". As soon as they pulled her out she was rushed out of the room to the NICU to be monitered by the respiratory specialist. I have never felt so alone before at what should be one of the most happiest times in my life. Lying on the operation table being pieced back together while I had no idea what was going on with my new little one. After about 4 or 5 hours I finally was wheeled down to see her so we could name her. I couldn't focus on more than 5 inches away from my face so how was I supposed to see what she looked like to give her a name. Let alone she had tubes coming out of every place on her body.

FINALLY after the LONGEST night of our lives, we got to hold our Ande girl. The most surreal moment.

After 4 days in the hospital we got to come home. Mike and my family had suprised me with a yard! When I had left for the hospital we had just dirt and weeds. They all worked so hard the day before we came home to make sure it was all done. What a sweet suprise.

I keep finding myself saying, "I can't wait until we can hear her little voice. I can't for her to crawl or walk. I can't waifor this or that." I have to remind myself to take a breath and enjoy it while it is happening and that is making every stage so incredible. Life is so much fun now with our little Ande Lu Hoo!

Mike drew on a moose hunt this year and was so excited for it.

Good Job Mikey! We now have a freezer full of MEAT!!!

Yeah for Halloween! We had such a fun time with everyone and all the fun treats. Everybody had such sweet costumes. Tuna & Lulu definatly took the cake this year!

I don't have any pics of Thanksgiving I guess but it turned out really great! We spent Christmas out in Thayne, WY with family. We went to Jackson Holeone day where we took a sleigh ride through the Elk Refuge then shopped downtown.

Benny Bob as usuall kept himself entertained along with the rest of us.

We made fun gingerbread houses that turned out so AWESOME!!

What's Christmas without yummy food right?

We made our own Rootbeer!

COOKIES!

We were up till weeeee hours of the night wrapping gifts and putting together a super sweet suprise for some super excited boys!

Christmas morning was so much fun watching the kiddos open up their gifts! They could NOT wait to get downstairs to see what Santa had brought.

Most everyone was super happy that morning... but there was one guy who... not so much hahaha! The Grinch stopped by for a minute. No, it is just hard to wake up to madness after having a night of no sleep.

Christmas' are going to be so much fun now being able to see the excitement in our own little kiddo's eyes. All in all it was a great 1st Christmas with little Ande Lu Hoo.

We thought it would be fun to ring in the New Year with all our friends. So... we did! We had a blast. We are grateful for such great friends. We love you all!

2009 was a GREAT year for our little family and we look forward to 2010!