Summer 2014...so far...

We are anxiously counting down the days until Baby Boy joins us!  Until then, we wanted to recount some of our summer adventures!

In June, we had a visit from Grandma Pando and Grandma Skidmore and enjoyed some of what makes Oregon so beautiful this time of year.

Jordan was able to live his dream of hard core dirt biking with help from his childhood friend Russ Chestnut.  He took a weekend to get weekend to get it "out of his system", but as his friend put it, I think it only got it "in his system".

I (Alina) celebrated my 31st birthday!  Jordan's sister Ashleigh was in town as well as Berke and Carol so we were able to celebrate together.  One of my birthday gifts from Jordan was an expansion to our karaoke machine and we had a rather successful karaoke party with some of our new friends here in Beaverton also.

4th of July was gorgeous!  Beautiful weather and fun community events.  Roy was a champ and stayed up late for fireworks or "the colors", but really all he wanted to do was lay down and take a "nap" with his monkey.

Jordan had a conference in Seattle in July and Roy and I tagged along.  We stayed in the city and took advantage of the shopping and sightseeing there.  Roy loved feeding the seagulls at Ivar's, riding the Ferris Wheel, being at the Park with Aunt Rita and Uncle Rick, going to the Mariner's game with Grandpa and Grandma Horrocks, and especially seeing the seals at the Aquarium with Dave, Marie, and cousin Piper.

Not nearly as bad as Houston heat, but it sure can get toasty here in the Northwest!  Nothing like skinny dipping in the backyard to cool you off!

We had a surprise visit from Mike and Maddie Hansen!  The two little friends picked up right where they left off!

And we had a visit from Dave, Marie, and cousin Piper.  It was good for Roy to practice being the "big boy" and learn to share and be gentle with baby Piper.

Roy is talking up a storm these days - picking up on things we say and forming little sentences.  One of his favorite words is "Tylenols" from when we had to give him some for a little fever, haha!  Other cute things he says are: "I find it"(usually when he's looking for the remote or the itouch), "no please", "yeah please", "all gone tickles" (when he wants us to stop tickling him),  "no song daddy" (when he wants Jordan to stop singing), "hold you" (when he wants to be picked up), "I see it!" (when he's seen the baby move in mom's tummy), "yucky trucks" or "garbage trucks" on garbage day, "I sorry mama/daddy" (this is usually combined with a soft stroke of the face and is a sure fire way of making us forget why he was in trouble in the first place), "dangit!" (courtesy of me and Jordan's pseudo-swearing), "Jeopardy" (our whole family is all about it every night at 7pm).   He loves having lunch with Dad where he can see "Daddy fishes" in the aquarium there and collect Orthopedic and Fracture stuffed animals (he now has the whole collection).  We started swim lessons at the local aquatic center and he hated them at first but now he loves kicking, blowing bubbles, and doing "big jumps" into the pool.  He knows his name now and well as "Dor-don" and "A-nee-nah".  He's great at giving "big squeezes" and loves giving Mama's baby hugs and kisses.  He knows there's a baby in Mama's tummy, but he has no idea what he's in for :).

I was working at the hospital a day or two a week until the end of July, then I got too pregnant.  The pregnancy has gone very well, but that last month is brutal.  I've been trying to relax and stay cool and comfortable.  Also, I've been "nesting" and finishing some house projects (or rather, Jordan's been finishing house projects for me :)).  We finished another ridiculous instructional video about pregnancy that you can see here: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k_V6zhak8s&feature=em-share_video_user

Until next time...then we'll be a family of four!!!

   

Spring in the the Northwest

So we made it through our first Northwest winter, which truthfully wasn't all that bad.  I think we were braced for something much worse.  And the spring has been amazing!  There are a lot of things that bloom here that didn't in Texas and it's really beautiful.  Now that we have a yard, Jordan and I are both learning a lot about plants, gardens, trees, etc.  I am proud to say that we have a functional little garden with herbs, berries, and some veggies and our trees are pruned to perfection (Jordan's new favorite obsession :)).

At the Woodburn tulip festival

The month of April was crazy for us! We started off with a trip to California to see the Redwood National and State Parks and to meet up with our besties, the Hansens.  We enjoyed some great hiking, beach exploration, and Roy and Maddie rekindled their little love for eachother :).

Roy loved his 2nd Easter - he grasped the concept of the egg hunt pretty quickly this year.  And isn't his easter outfit so cute?

Next was our graduation extravaganza in Provo, UT.  My brothers (Derek and Brian), my cousin (Danny), and Jordan's brother (Justin) all graduated from BYU this spring and so many family members came in to town to celebrate.  We were also able to be present for the blessing of the newest Pando grandchild, Penny (Brian and Meredith's baby girl) while we were there!

Some quality time with Grammie on Temple Square

We found out that baby Horrocks #2 is another little BOY!  Just as active and wild in utero as Roy was so this should be interesting.  Roy is very good at giving "mama's baby" kisses.

And Roy, of course, continues to bring so much joy to us.  He loves kicking and throwing balls, playing with (or arranging) little cars and trucks, watching the school bus and garbage trucks in the morning, helping dad in the yard and mom with the laundry, eating "treats", picking and smelling flowers, and watching Curious George and Elmo.  He continues to be very friendly - waving hello to anyone (or anything) we pass by, giving "hi-fives" and "knuckles", and now giving a modified "thumbs up" (using his pointer fingers instead of his thumbs).  He is also quite the dancer and loves to show off his moves when given the opportunity.  Some things he does NOT like include: sand on his feet, swimming (in slightly cool water), getting his hands dirty, and eating healthy food.

Shout out to the Blazers who after 6 nail-biting (literally....look at Jordan's nails...) games against Houston  won their first round of play-off games with a 3 pointer by Damien Lillard at 0.9 seconds left.  This was a big deal in our home!  They weren't as lucky against the Spurs, but it was a good season anyways.

Our most recent adventure was a trip to Arizona to celebrate the graduation of Jordan's sister Emily from OTA school and the blessing of another little cousin, Lacey (Megan and Kris' baby girl).  A lot of Jordan's family was able to be there.  Roy loved playing with 14 of his cousins!

We were also able to have a wonderful visit from Berke and Carol in May and next month my mother (Sally) and grandmother (Anna Jean) will be visiting us as well.  We are so fortunate to have such a large and loving family!

Hey - Oregon is not so bad!

Don't get me wrong, I (Alina) still have moments that I tear up when I think about how much I miss Texas and everyone back there...BUT so far, the Northwest has treated us pretty well.  Here's what we've been up too:

So after living in Vancouver, WA for 6 weeks (thank you, THANK YOU Teresa!!), we bought our first home in Beaverton - just 4 miles from Jordan's work.  It's in a great neighborhood and an awesome ward.  There are tons of young families and everyone has been extremely warm and welcoming.  We're learning that home-owning comes with a seemingly never-ending "to-do" list and a lot of added expenses (furnishings and what not...), but we're enjoying the extra space and a backyard.  And we now have a guest room with a REAL bed, so visitors are very welcome!

We hosted Thanksgiving in our new house and we were so happy to have my mom, my brother Sean visiting, as well as Jordan's mom, brother Justin, and sister Emily.  Plus, we got our ping pong table set up just in time!

Jordan and I celebrated our 3rd wedding anniversary!  Wahoo!

For Christmas we travelled Miami, Florida (loooong flight, but Roy did awesome) for a big ol' Cuban Christmas with most of the Pando side of the family.  We had a blast chillin' with the family, stuffing ourselves with Cuban food, and taking advantage of the warm weather.

We no longer refer to Roy as "baby Roy" - it just doesn't fit.  He is full blown "toddler Roy" or "little man Roy".  When we left Houston he had some bottom teeth, then he grew fangs (not kidding), and now he has a whole mouth full!  He can say "ball", "buh-ball" (basketball), "touchdown", "dada", "mama", "cheese" and perform an array of animal sounds.  Still a feather-weight (at 16 months he still hadn't broken 20 lbs), but he is a super healthy, happy, busy, and fun little boy!

In January, I started as a part-time/on-call PT at a hospital just up the street (Providence, St. Vincent) where I'll be working 2 days a week.  Roy goes to his friend Dieter's house on those days and he loves playing with another little guy.  Jordan's job was rough at first - especially since he was having a terrible commute and he had pneumonia for 4 weeks - but any new job comes with a learning curve.  We've both found things are done very different around here.  We feel blessed to have these good jobs, but we miss a lot about our old ones.

And since we sold my car before we left Houston, we finally got another one to replace it - a 2004 Camry.  Now we have 2 silver Toyotas in our driveway :)

Yes, it is cold and rainy here, but not too bad!  There have been some beautiful days and we've been able to enjoy some outdoor adventures already.

My dad was also able to come out for a visit in January.  We showed him VooDoo donuts, Multnomah Falls, and the Bonneville Dam and Fish Hatchery.  

Jordan's teams are really having a great year!  Of course, the Seahawks were AMAZING in the Superbowl, but the Blazers are doing well also!  We've been able to enjoy a few games at the Moda Center.

So, so far so good!  We love being closer to some of Jordan's family, love the area, and feel super blessed to have found these jobs and this home.  We hope that we will continue to have many more visitors that can help us explore this cool and beautiful city!