Hello There!

Well the time has come. The bump is starting to surface! I feel like I woke up one day and it was there.

I am still sick, but hoping that Santa grants my Christmas wish to feel better:) We are headed to the winter wonderland of Idaho for Christmas. I hope I remember how to dress for the cold!

Bottoms Up!

We are pleased to announce that we are expecting our first baby on June 9th, 2011!!

We mailed this little surprise to our family members to open on Thanksgiving. I kept the secret for a whole 12 weeks!

We convinced my parents to fly down for Thanksgiving promising it would be one to remember. It was so fun to see their reactions in person!

I scheduled my ultrasound for while they were in town and it was a really special experience.

 The little one is growing perfectly with a strong heartbeat! We even got to see legs flying and arming squirming.

Hopefully the rough nights are coming to an end and I can start to enjoy this pregnancy. We are both kind of still in the shock mode, but are looking forward to the next 6 months!

Happy October!

October started off with getting to throw my friend April a baby shower! Who doesn't love to throw a party!? After pulling Dave's arm to be out of the house and go golfing the fun began.

We had great food! Lexy helped plan the menu and her chocolate cake was to die for:)

 I can't wait for baby Kaben to arrive!

Our complex hosted a fabulous Halloween party! They had yummy food and even better door prizes. Of course we didn't win anything, but it was still fun. Dave even learned that not all slushy machines serve virgin drinks:) After several, "This drink so gross"... I took one sniff and realized it was a Margareta!! Ha Ha!!! He will not be living that one down for a while.

Cute little devil Lexi

  We all cheered loud enough that Little Woody won the costume contest.

Best part of the night was the free "fortune teller". Dave and I had a lot of fun with this one. I couldn't resist getting a picture with the person who told me I would have six children and come across a lot of money:)

I have decided that all holidays are better when you have 24 little ones going crazy about it! At school we had a fun trick or treating to the classrooms party. These kids made out pretty good considering we had to empty into garbage bags halfway through!

The Cat in the Hat crew. I regretted the blue hair after about the 3rd wash.

We ended the week with our ward's Halloween party. At the last minute Dave got put on call and was oh so happy to attend:) I went as a tiger and Dave was....a nurse.

October was a great month. Dave got to squeeze in a few extra days and work. I still have my job:) The best news of all was that after interviewing at University of Buffalo we found out 24 hours later that we could be seeing at of blue buffalo's!!!!!!

Dave got accepted into his first school! The program starts next September so we still have some time to decide. I guess I better not get rid of all my winter things:)

The Bad Guy

Today I had to play the awful  role of the dreaded... 

"Mean Teacher".

I HATED it:( 

Boo to being a grown up and having to follow rules.

One more day till the blessed weekend! We are headed to the temple and the balloon festival again. It is going to be a much needed weekend:)

 

Oh and Dave sure is racking up the interviews! This is probably going to be the most expensive two months of our little married lives. He will be going to New York, Washington D.C and North Carolina all within 2 weeks. 

I am very proud of Dave and his accomplishments thus far!

Happy Days

I have been holding my breath now for 3 weeks now...

I finally found the perfect job! I wanted to make sure I actually liked this position before I told the world:) I am an assistant teacher at Franklin High School's CDL( child development lab). I work from 7:45 to 11:45 M-F. Can you say PERFECT! I couldn't be happier with my hours. I leave just before Dave gets home, but I am back before he wakes up. This has been an answer to prayers to say the least:)

The Details: The preschool is full of 24 energetic 3 and 4 year olds and about 30ish junior and seniors. The preschool is attached to a classroom where the high school students take shifts coming into the classroom. The head teacher (whom I really like) teaches the remaining high school students in the classroom while I and another assistant (who is equally great) keep the flow moving in the preschool. The high school students are each assigned different duties and teaching days. I grade the high school students and keep the little ones in line. Did I mention I LOVE IT! 

Dave almost doesn't know what to do anymore now that I come home with a huge smile from work. A big change from my last job... which we won't name:) The pay is descent and we are looking forward to adding some extra padding for our near future move.

I have been completely occupied with finishing this really fun collage lately. After three long weeks of running back and forth to Hobby Lobby every day with more coupons I finally finished it!

 I have a serious appreciation for people that can make a bunch of things flow together! It took me so many tries to get it to look nice. Not to mention I glued everything on and then was told I did it upside down. Good thing my husband is handy:)

It is a collection of our grandparents and parents wedding photos or at least young pictures of them. I had a lot of fun looking through the old pictures and learned a lot about them that I didn't know. Thank you Lexy for the idea and Tara for sending me the Michael side pictures!
The best part of this whole project was finding out that my vision is not crazy. After disagreeing that the frame was crooked for about 20 minutes Dave measured and don't worry it is just the wall:) I love El Paso!!!

Fajen Family Reunion 2010

Who doesn't love a family party!?! Celebrating my Dad's birthday was only half of the fun. It was an amazing trip and unforgettable memories were made. I can't wait for Reunion 2011!

Here is the week in replay...

The first few days were spent running around picking everyone up at the airport. 

When we finally were all reunited we attended a Red's baseball game. We were even allowed to get hot dogs and peanuts:)

Later that night I survived sharing a bedroom wall with my niece...okay I actually only lasted one long sleepless night. Good thing she is cute!!!

We all had fun learning to feed Ella her yummy gross baby food...even Uncle Dave volunteered a few times.

No one even got messy!

For the party day we were all gifted with matching t shirts! My dad's had a special message on the back, but for the love of my mom I won't display it. We had a delicious Malia's Kitchen catered dinner and stuffed ourselves to the max!

Uncle Jim and Livy were kind enough to come down from Michigan to celebrate.* Note the birthday banner!! I snagged it at the last minute to bring...might as well get use out of it right:)

Dave didn't even put up a fight to wear it!

Even Ella got one.

We joined the fellow cornhole lovers.

She loves her sunglasses...and leaves them on!

Happy cousins

King's Island made the itinerary since none of us had been in probably 10 years. Mom and Dad enjoyed pushing Ella around in the stroller and taking her to the Snoopy shows. What good grandparents:) Jonathan mapped out our ride schedule and we were able to hit a ton of rides...even though he has us power waking the whole time! We were one of the last cars out of the parking lot. Our feet hurt I couldn't tell where my stomach was from the roller coasters, but we all had a ton of fun.

There was A LOT of line waiting which equaled good family bonding. Don't worry we behaved the rules of line jumping...but EXcuse me to whoever didn't!!!

Took a little skyline break for lunch. Jonathan planning the next half of the day for us.

We got the same thing, but somehow Dave's is double mine? Oh wait...he sweet talked the underage concession stand girl!! Gotta love him:)

We were lucky enough to be in town for the famous WEBN Labor Day fireworks show. Dave thought he had high expectations of the Idaho Falls firework show. Boy was he surprised what Cincinnati had to offer!! Little did he know that he would get an even better people show:)

We all kept sliding down the hill, but it was still worth it!

Ella didn't enjoy having to wear her little ear plugs.

We all got to eat our favorite Nati foods.

Ella survived all of the smothering Aunts.

Jonathan's birthday landed while we were home too so we got double birthday cake!

The boys enjoyed steaks the size of their faces!

What good sisters to give him a tent!

Dave learned how to do balloon animals.

Grandpa just lovin Ella.

I got eaten alive by the mosquitos!!

Played lots of fun games...I even won a few!

Ended the trip with a stop at our favorite Cheesecake factory.
Happy Birthday Dad and Jonny Boy! This trip was a great way to end our Fajen Family visits for the year.

The best news on the trip was that Dave has an interview with Boston College and Northeastern this weekend!! Keep your fingers and toes crossed for us!