Baby's First Jump

If there is one thing this baby is going to have to get used to, it's jumping.

(At the beach in Yachats celebrating our 4th wedding anniversary.)

We are in our second trimester and are feeling wonderful, which is a very nice change from the never ending nausea experienced during that delightful first trimester. I have gained exactly zero pounds which is not very exciting at all. We are trying to remedy that but my diet consists mostly of strawberries and string cheese, which apparently are not high caloric foods.

Our next doctor's appointment is July 26th and will include a ultrasound to find out what we're cooking. Can't wait!

A Return to the Blogging World

I've been doing a lot of this lately.


Mainly due to this.


We're due December 16th and are very much looking forward to this new adventure into babyland.

Avalanche Smavalanche

There once was a boy who had a dream. A dream to photograph Crater Lake during the winter, after fresh snow and with clear skies. Too much to ask for? Maybe. Perhaps. But luckily not.
The original plan was to drive up to the top and then snowshoe gracefully around part of the rim. Unfortunately there was a wee bit of an avalanche closing the road, so we instead got to snowshoe straight up to the rim. It was a really great reminder of just how out of shape we are.

Our view from the top made all of the sweating and whining well worth the effort.
Awww, so beautiful.

While Jake shot his heart out (that just doesn't sound right), I froze my hiney off. One might think the cold temps might inhibit our ability to pull off a jumping photo, but we're pretty professional when it comes to this obligation.

Because we are Jake and Jill

This last week has been our Spring Break- a time when most people tend to visit warmer climates, but alas because we are not like most people we opted for a very wintry SPRING break near Crater Lake.

Here's the charming little cabin we stayed at with our good friends Kris and Allison. There was no heat in the bathroom and barely enough room to turn around in the rest of the living space, but totally delightful and fun.

Our first adventure was snowshoeing at Diamond Lake. It turned out to be a bit blizzardy, and you couldn't quite see the lake. In fact there was so much snow, you could barely see the sign itself.

Here's our lunch break spot. There's nothing quite like sitting in the snow to eat your bagel sandwich. At this point we tried to imagine sitting on a nice warm beach. Kris almost makes it seem believable. Almost.

We even wrote Spring Break 11 in the "sand."

Next up...why an avalanche didn't stop us from getting up to Crater Lake.

Have Goggles Always Been Sexy?

My mom does not like the word sexy, so to her I apologize. She also does not like the word snot, for anyone keeping track.

Jake used to say that January and February were the absolute worst months of the year. He hated them with a deep dark passion. Kind of like how I hate when kids sneeze in my mouth. I was always a little offended by this hatred as both my birthday and our dating anniversary fall in February. I may have told him this many times, but it did little to alleviate his winter hatred. "What's there to look forward to?" he would whine.

Snowboarding, however, has taken away any and all feelings of angst towards our first two calendar months. Strap a board to his feet and a pair of sweet goggles to his noggin and all of a sudden life in the Denbrook home is much more manageable. Fresh powder of course helps as well. To be honest, snowboarding scares the bajeezes out of me and I am not good. Not even a little bit good. I am a professional snow plower but any sign of acceleration leaves me sweating and praying that I don't break my neck. But hey, at least I've got one hot pair of goggles.

Snow Day

Well thank goodness they canceled school today. It was definitely dicey outside. In fact, Jake feared for his own safety as he drove to get Starbucks this morning. Luckily, we have an AWD vehicle otherwise this treacherous weather may have gotten the best of him.

The Firm

Long before the germs of sticky handed five years olds took down both human members of our household there was a dream. A dream of flat, shapely abs. Our late twenties were in full gear and our 6 packs were a thing of the past (if ever present).

So what did we do? We did what any other reasonable adult would do. We moaned. We pouted. We talked of the past. And then we took our cheap selves down to the local Goodwill and picked up the first DVD we could find that seemed remotely related to exercise.

Cha-ching!


Oh Nancy Tucker, I do believe you and your southern accent are heaven sent. With phrases such as "now move your fanny lifters", "eww, that hurts," and Jake's favorite, "come on ladies, you can do this." We are bound to have the abs of our dreams in mere weeks.