WELCOME

...welcome to the world sweet boy!! At 1:04am on Thursday, May 12th Richie and I welcomed our beautiful little boy into the world. I think it was a little shocking for him:)...but he seems to be adjusting quite well. Don Christopher Faatoafe made his entrance weighing 7lbs 9ozs and measuring 20 inches long.It is absolutely amazing how much and how quickly you can fall in love. This little guy has stolen my heart, as well as his father's. We often find ourselves just staring at him because he is so perfect.We entered the hospital Wednesday morning as a family of two and left on Saturday as a family of three. This is honestly the most amazing experience of my entire life. Richie and I were talking last night about how people always say that the two best days of their life are their wedding day and the birth of their first child. We agreed however, that the two almost can't be compared. Our wedding day was so fun and amazing, but this is a miracle...a little piece of our hearts is now on the outside of us.So here we are...a family of three. Our little guy is more wonderful than I ever could have expected. When my sister had her baby 19 months ago, she kept saying she was so happy she could burst and I now know what she meant. My heart is so full of love for this little guy and for my awesome husband, who has been sooooo busy taking care of both Don and myself. Sorry for sounding so cheesy in this whole post, but honestly, there is no accurate way to describe the feeling that comes with motherhood...I think I am going to enjoy this new job:).

One last night...

...as just the two of us. Today is Baby Don's due date, but so far he hasn't acted like he is really planning on going any where. At my doctor appointment today we decided to get induced tomorrow morning at 8:30 am. So if all goes well, we will have a baby by the end of the day tomorrow:). I am so excited to meet our little guy!!! Tomorrow our lives will change forever. For nearly 10 years, Richie and I have loved and taken care of each other and tomorrow we will have somebody, who is a little bit of both of us, to love and take care of.

Opening Day

Last Saturday was the opening day of fishing season. My Grandpa lives on Macintosh Lake in Tenino, WA, which is where my Dad grew up. It has been a long tradition that we head out there and do a day of fishing on opening day. When we were little, my Dad would practice casting lines with us in the yard the night before, so that we were all prepared for the next day. It never failed though that we would still manage to get all of our lines tangled up and spend a good portion of the day untangling...it was funny because this year Kora and I spent a lot of time untangling Sophia's line, so I guess that tradition continues as well.

Baby Don got a lot of exercise, as I was trying to walk around a lot to get labor started:). It didn't quite work though because I am still pregnant!! I hope next year we will be able to take him out there to do some actual fishing, or at least get some pictures of him sitting on the dock. Here we are...almost 39 weeks in this picture!!!! Nothing says opening day of fishing season like some fried chicken!!! My Mom always comes out a little later in the day to bring lunch for everyone. Richie always jokes around saying that is the meal that got him to the weight he is today:). When we first got together, Richie worked out like crazy and ate SUPER healthy. Nothing greasy or fried...boring!! The first time he met my family was on opening day and that was the only food there. Needless to say, he hasn't stopped eating greasy, fried food since then:)...LOL!!

And here is the picture to prove that! HA! Which one of us is carrying the baby?!?!?!?! He is still so cute though...love that silly guy.

Here is my Dad with some of the fish. I always love hearing stories about when he was younger and would catch 40, 50, even 60 fish on opening day. Now this is what we have to show:).

My man...casting his line. He was able to pull in a few...I was pretty proud of him:).

It was such a great day and a little bitter sweet because my Grandpa is getting older and none of us were sure if this was the last year for opening day or not. I just wish there was some way we could keep the house / property in the family so that traditions like this could stay alive. There are so many great memories that we have been blessed with:).

Royal Wedding

That's right...we were invited to the event of the century!!!!

We all woke up, or some of us just stayed up to watch the royal wedding in the middle of the night...or should I say, extremely early in the morning. The wedding footage started to air at 1:30 am our time.

Here is the wedding group posing behind the "reception" table. You will notice that everyone is either wearing a fascinator or a hat...very British:). The beautiful table at the wedding party...

Baby Don was thrilled to be up so early in the morning:). As you can tell from the picture, I was very tired, but the whole night was so fun...totally worth it. I ended going to sleep around 10 o'clock, waking up around midnight, staying up until about 4:30 am, when the couple went back to the palace for brunch, took an hour nap, and woke back up around 5:30 am to see the kiss on the balcony of the palace. Needless to say, I was EXTREMELY tired and as soon as they were done with their kiss, well their second one, I went back to sleep for a few hours.

My Mom and Kora are just posing with the happy couple. It was so nice of them to invite us to their special day!! This tea towel is actually straight from London, where Nick's cousin is at...or something like that. Either way, Nick's parents were willing to let us use it for our wedding party. It was the perfect touch...felt as though they were in the room with us:).

Mary won the award for best dressed by far!!!!!! Her hat was stunning, the jacket had gold sparkles all over it, her jewelery was amazing, and her purse and shoes tied it all together. GORGEOUS!!!!! I just wish that I would have gotten a picture of the shoes too. They were gold heals...perfect.

I had such a fun time at the party. I hope that the newlyweds enjoy a lifetime of happiness:). Some people thought we were crazy for staying up most of the night, but who doesn't love a real life fairy tale?????? And now I can say that I saw it live...well, at least live from my T.V. LOL!