Our 1st Anniversary

I can't believe it has already been a year since Tony and I got married! Time has FLOWN by! It has been an amazing first year of marriage - definitely not without its ups and downs, but still one of the best years of my life. It amazes me that even after being together for almost 6 years before getting married, there are still things we are learning about each other and new things we are experiencing together. I love being married and I feel so lucky to have such an amazing husband!

We spent the weekend of our anniversary in Lynden with my best friends and volleyball teammates from college - along with all their husbands and kids. We are quite the group these days with 6 couples, 7 kids and 4 babies on the way! It can be crazy at times, but it is always so much fun to get together.

On Sunday, our actual anniversary, Tony and I headed to Semiahmoo Resort on Birch Bay to celebrate. We had a great room looking out onto the water and we spent the afternoon walking around the resort and along the beach. That night we had a great dinner at Packer's Lounge and then spent the evening just hanging out and playing cards in our room. It was so relaxing and it was wonderful to get to spend some quality time together just the two of us, especially since it won't be just the two of us for that much longer :-)

Walking along the bay.

Happy Anniversary!

Spying on the Canadian's across the bay :-)

View from our room.

Birch Bay sunset.

Happy (Belated) Father's Day!

Because we were in Alaska for Father's Day this year, I wasn't able to give Tony his present until after we got home. I got him a "Diaper Dude" diaper bag :-) At first he wasn't quite sure what to do with it, but once I showed him all the fancy compartments and the pull out changing pad, he thought it was pretty cool. I told him that I wanted a cute, "girly" diaper bag so I thought he should have something more "manly" to carry when he has the baby by himself.

Modeling his cool new bag.

Giving me a demonstration of how he will use the changing pad.

The best part about Father's Day this year was finding out that we are having a little boy. We are both so excited for him to join our family in October! And I think Tony was pretty proud that he was able to pass on his "boy" genes ;-)

We are both so blessed to have such wonderful dad's of our own as well! We want them to know how much we appreciate all that they have done and continue to do for us. Throughout our lives they have shown us the kind of sacrifice, time, energy and love that it takes to be a great parent and we know they will give that same love and energy to their grandchildren. Happy Father's Day!

Alaska Vacation - Part II

We spent the last couple days of our trip doing more "touristy" things. We took a day trip to Denali National Park. Unfortunately, the mountain was completely clouded in so we didn't get to see it, but we did take a nice drive through a portion of the park and then we went on a short 2.5 mile hike through another part of the park. We saw some beautiful scenery and some great wildlife. It felt good to get some exercise too!

We got a little lost on our way into the park and had to stop at the Grizzly Bear Cabins to ask for directions. They had this picture board there, so of course we had to get a picture as Eskimos :-)

The beautiful scenery of Denali National Park.

Taking a quick picture break on our hike.

The family (minus Mikey & Steph) at the turn-around point on our hike.

I needed to rest after the first half of our hike, so I found this nice rock to lay down on while everyone else walked around. I am so out of shape!

Hanging on for dear life!

Our last day in Alaska we decided that we wanted to do something relaxing, so we took a trip to the Chena Hot Springs. It was about an hour drive from Bob & Linda's house. The thing about Alaska is that there is a TON of space (duh) so everything is really spread out and we spent a lot of time in the rental car driving to all our destinations. I have never been someone that gets carsick, but I sure did in Alaska. A lot of the roads up there are severely damaged from the permafrost and it is seriously like riding a roller coaster. Tony's parents rented a big SUV that fit all 8 of us, but it was a tight fit and I didn't do so well driving on those roads when I was stuck in the back seat!

Tony and I were the last of the "kids" to fly out of Alaska, so the two of us, his parents and Linda all went to the hot springs. We saw a couple moose on our way up and another on our way back. We also took some homemade bread and lunch meat and made sandwiches for lunch. It was a great way to end our vacation!

This is one of the moose we saw driving up to the hot springs.

Tony & I in the hot springs (along with a bunch of old guys :-))

More swimming in the hot springs. Don't worry, I only stayed in for 10 minutes :-)

Zack & Josie's Wedding

The main reason for our trip was Zack & Josie's wedding. They had an outdoor ceremony in the back yard of some of Bob & Linda's friends. It was a gorgeous back yard - and huge! The wedding was at 7 o'clock in the evening (it's not like we were going to run out of daylight), so we spent most of that morning getting things set up. The weather was gorgeous all morning, but the forecast was calling for rain. They did rent a couple tents, but they weren't large enough to cover all the tables if it did start raining. Luckily, the weather held out all day and through the entire ceremony and dinner. However, right after they finished the toasts and Zack & Josie had their first dance, it started pouring! We were able to get the tents over some of the tables and everyone crowded into the extra space that was available. It slowed the party down for just a little bit, but then we figured out a way to move the tent as well as the tables and chairs underneath it all at one time so that we could get closer to the dance floor. Then some of the guys braved the rain and moved one of the smaller tents onto the deck (which was the dance floor) so people could start dancing. After that, the reception got going again and everyone had a great time.

Of course Tony and I were also counting down the hours until midnight so we could open the envelope and find out if we were having a boy or a girl :-)

The bride and groom saying their vows.

The first dance as Mr. & Mrs. Bullock.

Josie dancing in the rain with a mini umbrella - she was so cute!

The dance floor nicely covered from the rain.

Proud parents-to-be :-)

Alaska Vacation - Part I

We just returned from a 6-day excursion in Alaska. The entire Butorac family made the trip to attend his cousin Zack's wedding and to visit his Aunt Linda & Uncle Bob. Tony had never been to Alaska before and I have only been when the ground is covered in 5 feet of snow and the temperatures are well below freezing, so it was nice to experience the summer weather as well. Unfortunately, we just missed the sunny 85 degree weather they were having before we arrived. The majority of the time we were there the temperatures were in the low to mid 70's and it rained off and on. The craziest thing about the trip had to be experiencing daylight 24-hours a day. It was nuts! The darkest it ever got was probably what we see in Washington around 8 or 9 PM in the summer time. I love the longer days we get in the summer, but after this trip I decided that I also appreciate the darkness as it really helps regulate your internal body clock. We would be tired around 11 each night, but it just felt like you were going to take a nap and not like you were going to bed for the night. Then if you woke up in the middle of the night, it would feel like it was time to get up because it was still light outside. Needless to say, it threw all of us off schedule a little bit.

The first couple days of the trip we did "touristy" things and finished up last minute stuff for the wedding. We also did a TON of cooking! This is pretty much expected anytime all the Butorac's are together - it's all that Italian blood in the family. We were constantly joking about how most of our conversations throughout the day revolved around what we were going to do for our next meal :-) I have to say that one of the best parts of the trip was having Linda's homemade cinnamon rolls for breakfast. I am pretty sure I had one every day I was there :-) They are amazing!

Here are a few pics from our first couple days in Alaska:

Tony's cousin, Kristi, and I posing with a Grizzly Bear at one of the restaurants where we had lunch. I wouldn't want to run into this guy in the wild!

The Santa Claus House in North Pole, Alaska. This is where kids send their letters to Santa each year. Inside the house was a gift shop with tons of Christmas trees, ornaments and decorations for sale. Santa Claus himself is also there almost every day ;-)

Tony & I posing like Santa & Mrs. Claus.

Here is one of Santa's reindeer. Tony decided this was Donner. Donner looked like he was about 100 years old and I'm not sure he is capable of pulling Santa's sleigh anymore.

Kristi & I in Santa's sleigh.

This is the giant statue of Santa that is outside the house. I am taking this picture from across the street. Look how big he is compared to everyone standing below!

This is the great Alaska Pipeline.

Posing in front of the Pipeline.

Interesting facts about the Pipeline. (You are probably starting to get the idea of what I meant when I said we did "touristy" things :-))

Would any trip be complete if you passed up going to a brewery when the opportunity presents itself? Not if you are a Butorac! After the Pipeline, we went to the Silver Gulch Brewery and the guys tasted a sampler of all the different types of beer. This is the aftermath - apparently no one liked the dark beer.

Stephanie & Courtney at the Brewery.

IT'S A BOY!!!

We are so excited to annouce that we are having a BOY! Tony and I are in Fairbanks, Alaska right now for his cousin's wedding and at 12:01 AM here (1:01 AM for everyone at home) we opened the envelope and looked at the card from our Dr. After all the build-up and nervous excitement, we looked at the card only to see a symbol written on it. Can you believe that my crazy Dr. wrote the male symbol instead of just writing the word "boy"?!?! We were both so wound up that neither one of us could remember which symbol was which. (That is a little embarrassing to admit since I was a Biology major in college and took many anatomy courses!) At first, Tony thought it was the female symbol, and I said, "are you sure?" I told Tony to Google it on his phone so that when we went back and told everyone we weren't just guessing. The female symbol came up and it was the circle with the plus sign. Our card had the circle with an arrow. Tony got a HUGE smile on his face and said, "that's a boy! We're having a BOY!" We quickly googled the male symbol just to confirm and then went back to where all of his family was waiting to break the news to them. We put a little pair of blue booties (I bought a pink pair too, not knowing which ones we would be using) and put them in a box. We gave the box to Tony's dad and said, "Happy Father's Day!" Mike opened the box and saw the booties and was very excited - everyone was really excited :-) I then called my dad and my sister to tell them the great news. They were both very excited as well!
We get back home on Tuesday night, so I will post some pictures of our trip later on in the week, but we couldn't wait to share the big news with everyone!

20 Weeks!

It looks like I am closer to 30 weeks pregnant rather than 20!

Duke wanted his picture taken too :-)

I had my 20 week ultrasound on Monday. It was so fun to see how much the baby has changed since I had my last ultrasound at 12 weeks. I am sure most of you are wondering if I was able to talk Tony into finding out the sex of the baby. I did talk him into it, HOWEVER, the compromise is that we had the Dr. write the baby's sex on a card and we are going to open it on Father's Day. So, we will all have to wait a couple more weeks to find out the big news. I really wasn't overly anxious to find out what we were having until the day of the appointment when I knew we could find out, but wouldn't be. Now I am DYING to open that freaking envelope!

The appointment went well, but it was cut short because the nurse came in while the Dr. was in the middle of the ultrasound and said that another patient called and she sounded very urgent and said she was in labor. I guess I can't complain too much because if it was me in labor I would want the Dr. to get to me ASAP! But before he had to leave we got to see quite a few different views of the baby including a 3-D view of the heart and a couple other organs. He said that everything looks very healthy - which is always good to hear! It didn't seem like he spent much time looking at the area where the genitalia would be. I kept thinking I would get to test my sonogram reading skills and see if I could figure out if it is a boy or girl on my own, but he hardly spent any time at all looking at anything below the baby's chest. Tony told me after the appointment that the sex of the baby must have been very obvious to the Dr. right away since he didn't spend much time looking in that area. For Tony, this meant that the Dr. must have seen a penis right away so it is probably a boy. I told Tony that I hated to burst his bubble, but it could also mean that the Dr. didn't see a penis right away, so it could just as easily be a girl. I told him there was one way to be sure (meaning we could open the envelope), but he didn't go for it. He said he could wait 2 more weeks. The Dr. didn't tell us what the heart rate was (and I completely forgot to ask before he had to rush out) so I can't even make a guess at the sex based on that theory. We did get a couple profile pictures of the baby that we got to take with us, but I need Tony to scan them into the computer using his scanner at work, so I will add those later. The Dr. did say that the baby has a very strong nasal bone (which you will see when I post the ultrasound pics), but I think it was just a nice way of saying that the baby has a big nose. Unfortunately, it looks like the baby is going to take after its mom in the schnoz department :-)

I am loving the second trimester! I have so much more energy and have actually started working out again. The weather has been so nice that I have been able to go for walks in the evenings. It feels really good to get some movement in! Work has been really busy so I basically sit at my desk all day and barely get up to walk around at all - which is not the best thing when I feel like my stomach (and everything else) is getting bigger by the second. These past couple days I have just felt huge! It is so weird to just continually expand no matter how healthy I eat or how much exercise I get. My major craving right now is fruit - which isn't a bad thing to crave I guess :-) I am especially loving watermelon and pineapple. It just feels good to be eating somewhat normal meals again. I am still eating way more often than I used to, but at least when Tony BBQ's pork chops for dinner it actually sounds good to me.

Everything is great in Ellensburg! Tony is out of school next week and then we are off to Alaska for 6 days. When I think summer vacation, Alaska is definitely not the first place that comes to mind, but it will be fun to see it during the summer months. The only other times I have been to Alaska were for volleyball games in college and we usually went in November, so there was lots of snow on the ground and the temperatures were 20 degrees below zero! We are actually going up there for Tony's cousin's wedding. The wedding is on Saturday, June 20th, which is the Summer Solstice so it will be daylight for almost 24 hours straight! I am hoping I can stay up until midnight so that at 12:01 on Sunday (Father's Day) we can open the envelope and find out what we are having :-)