A Very Merry

We had a fabulous Christmas with my mom. It was very low key as my dad and crazy brother Kyle were both absent. My mom cooked as though we were expecting 23 guests at any moment and that provided us some very tasty left overs. We were also fortunate enough to see Tami, Tabetha and Erin, our dear friends from San Diego.
In baby news, it was confirmed last week that we are having a boy! No surprise to me, I have pretty much known since day one. Nonetheless, extremely exciting and fascinating to see all of his organs and bones. As you can see in the above picture, he is either waving or more probably pumping his fist and thinking "Go Broncos"! If we had slightly more money, we would take him to the Fiesta Bowl and cheer on our team. But alas, we chose to provide him with a bed and some clothes.
Let's see, what else? I've been thinking of all kinds of things to blog but they have slipped my mind. That is not unusual these days. I forget everything and lately I have been using the wrong words, like "we need to get a radar detective if we want to speed" and "look in the glove department in my car". I think I am being humbled as usually I poke fun at people who make these mistakes. I have definitely been keeping the fun poking to a minimum as of late.

Winter Wackiness

My goodness, it has been a long time since we blogged! I can honestly say we have been extremely busy, Jake with finals and I with my job. It's very interesting how much crazy stuff happens in the grocery stores during the holidays. For examples: I have had to explain more than once that coming to work with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit is not ok. And just today a guy who was denied vacation time due to his only being with the company a couple of months said he was pretty sure his mom was going to die on Christmas day. When asked why he thought that, he actually said that that has always been her dream. I am not making this stuff up. He was told he would need to provide us with some kind of obituary and the number to the funeral home or he would lose his job he said "never mind, we're not that close". I'm told next week will be even more interesting than this week. I can hardly wait.

Last weekend I had the pleasure of spending time with my peeps in Utah. Things I learned from my best friend Dana:

1. Global warming is not as big a deal as Al Gore makes it appear.

2. Only the muslims and hispanics are properly replenishing their race.

3. Home schooling is a good thing, and there are ways to keep your kids from being freaks.

I also learned that having three kids under the age of 4 is a bit of a handful. But they sure are cute!

We hope everyone has a great Christmas!

31 Things I Love about Jake

So it was Jake's birthday last week, the 28th of November to be exact. It was my intention to take him out to a nice dinner, make him the devil's food cupcakes with milk chocolate frosting he wanted, and write this blog. Baby Mahalo had other plans and I pretty much spent the night in bed. Then I got very busy and all Jake got was a "happy birthday" from me and some pizza for dinner. Well, I am here to make this right! We will go out for a lovely dinner this weekend, the cupcakes just came out of the oven, and here is my ode to the love of my life! In no particular order, 31 things I love about Jake...

1. His spot on impression of Borat, which makes me laugh just thinking about it.

2. His concern for global warming.

3. His dedication to school.

4. The fact that he buys me flowers for no particular reason.

5. When he talks to our baby, and reminds me that I should probably stop swearing soon.

6. The way he makes mac and cheese, so delicious!

7. The fact that he will watch Oprah and the Amazing Race with me.

8. His new found fascination with NPR.

9. How he looks when he first wakes up.

10. How he takes the garbage out and cleans the shower every time it needs to be done.

11. His logical mind.

12. The fact that he is super smart with computers.

13. How he is organizing a study group in his physics class to help the people that aren't understanding.

14. He's strong.

15. He can fix anything.

16. He thinks I am super smart. (a common misconception!)

17. He likes pizza almost as much as I do.

18. He's very protective.

19. He watches cartoons and laughs out loud at them.

20. He has no problem cooking or cleaning.

21. He bundles me up with blankets every night during my cold spell.

22. The way he puts the sheets on the bed, something I cannot do.

23. How he rubs my head when I am sick.

24. His obsession with energy efficient light bulbs.

25. His commitment to his PlayStation.

26. His exquisite gift giving ability.

27. When he pretends he is an old man and can't hear anything I am saying.

28. He's very good with money.

29. How he loves the clothes I buy him, or at least pretends to.

30. When he kisses my nose.

31. How he knows all of the characters in Days of Our Lives and will engage in conversation about them as though they are my friends and family.

Wow, that was easy, I could go for another 31! Anyway, I love you baby, you are the very best.

Thanksgiving Fun

We spent Thanksgiving with Stephanie's family this year. We drove 5 hours from Boise to Montpelier, Idaho and that is about as far as I am willing to drive for just about anything. We had Thanksgiving dinner prepared by Helen, Steph's grandma, and it was fantastic. It was a very simple Thanksgiving for us as all we had to do was show up and eat as much as we possibly could. In my case, that is a whole lot of every single thing on the table. In Steph's case, it would be just ham and rolls. Nothing else, just ham and rolls. She is an adventurous one. I am rather upset that I will not be indulging in any cold turkey sandwiches this week. There is nothing better than a cold turkey sandwich with mayo on white bread. Yum-O!

After dinner and naps, we had the customary game of hand and foot. For those of you who are not familiar, that is a card game that every person in the Portela family knows how to play. In fact, within an hour of meeting Steph's family, grandma assigned herself as my teacher of hand and foot. I think we have played every time we have come to visit since that first meeting.

We watched a riveting episode of Survivor that night with the Allens and went to bed happy. We hope you all had as great a Thanksgiving as we did.

My First Glimpse of the Oregon Coast

I was in Eugene, Oregon this week, and my brother just happened to be there on vacation with his friend Dane. I haven't seen him for a very long time so it was fun to catch up, advise him on his girl troubles and eat like pigs at the Olive Garden.

I had some extra time on thursday afternoon and thought it would be a great time to drive out to see this Oregon Coast I have heard so much about. But first, a side note. When I picked up my rental car in Portland I had only two choices...a PT Cruiser or a minivan. There was no way I was going to drive the minivan as I am not a mother of 2 or more children. Minivans are reserved for those people. So I chose the electric blue PT Cruiser. I have never understood the fascination with these vehicles and always thought they were kind of lame. Well I am here to tell you that I will now be choosing a PT Cruiser every time it is available. They are very funky and unique automobiles and a pure joy to drive.

On to the coast! We loaded up the PT with Kyle and Dane, stopped at the store to get me some smoked gouda cheese (which is my current obsession) and started the hour long drive to Florence. When I first saw the coastline in all it's glory I think I stopped breathing for a second. It is absolutely stunning. This is not your California coast, folks. The waves were gigantic and the general feel of the ocean was very tempestuous. As Dane so perfectly put it, "This is an angry ocean. Let's not upset it further."

We only spent a little time out there, but it was well worth the drive and I can hardly wait to spend a week out there next summer with the family.

My Crazy Travels

This past week has been a crazy one! For those of you who do not know, I work as an Associate Relations Manager for the grocery chain Albertsons. I am in charge of all of our stores in Oregon and basically I make sure everything runs smoothly from a personnel prospective. I do love my job, it's way more exciting than my legal career, but weeks like this past one test my sanity.

I travel to Oregon at least once a week, usually the Portland area, but this week I will be venturing over to Eugene for 3 days. Last week I had planned on being in Portland for 2 days. That didn't work out. First let me say that I have yet to travel to Portland when it is not raining. They tell me that there are many days when it does not rain, but I have yet to see it with my own eyes. When my plane landed on Tuesday it was pouring rain, nothing unusual. I then learn that Oregon and Washington are in the middle of some of the worst rains they have seen in 100 years. Still, the only difference it makes to me is that it is raining slightly harder than the previous week. It's all about perspective I guess. I saw all kinds of landslides and floods on the news at my hotel on Tuesday night, and actually had to assist some of our associates in one area to find alternative housing. On Wednesday I gave myself 2 hours to drive to the airport to catch my flight home, but it was not enough. So I had to stay in the torrential downpours for another night. I finally get home at noon on Thursday to find out I must return to Portland on Friday morning.

By Friday the winds have picked up in addition to the rain and it is all I can do to not vomit on the plane ride over. Interesting story about that trip...I was sitting in the emergency exit row and the flight attendant comes over to make sure we are willing and able to assist in case there is an emergency. The guy sitting next to me listens to her describe the features of our Boeing 747-700 series and then says "Oh I see that the doors now raise up instead of twisting out." She confirms that the doors now raise Lamborghini style. He then says "Well, that will be easier for us. Do we still exit to the end of the wing and then slide down from there?" Flight attendant confirms this as well. I then say to the man "So, you have experience with plane crashes?" He says in a very matter of fact tone "Yeah, back in '84 I was in a crash and I was sitting in the exit row. We were able to get most people off, but of course, a few died. For a plane crash though, those are pretty good numbers. You don't expect to live through a crash." I really didn't have much of a response other than "Well, I guess if we are going to crash I am sitting next to the best possible person, would you like to trade me seats so you are closer to the door?" He says, "No that's ok, I'll just reach over you to open it if you don't mind." Not at all, sir.

So I spend another very rainy day in Portland. I have no idea how these people deal with it. It's fun for a few days, but I could never live there or in Seattle. Anyway, I was determined to make my flight despite the rain so my colleague and I left with ample time to get to the airport. We actually got there pretty early thanks to Kip's bold rain driving. Kip and I were flying separate airlines because I refuse to fly the prop jets in bad weather. So he was on Alaska and I was on Southwest leaving at the same time. They had just started boarding my flight when an announcement was made that all terminals and security checkpoints were immediately closed until further notice. I had no idea what this meant, but I knew it wouldn't be good. It got worse when the gate attendant told us to go grab dinner or a drink until further notice.

I decided to call Kip to see if he wanted to meet up for dinner or something (he was in a different terminal). He answers and says "No, I'm getting on my plane, we are leaving, Alaska rules!" I was jealous of Kip, even though on those Alaska flights you have stand out on the tarmac in the pouring rain to board your flight, and the seats are super tiny, and it only seats 50 people, and in any kind of weather at all you feel like you have accidentally joined the Blue Angels and you are in the middle of an air show. I would have dealt with all of that if I could just get home.

An hour later we start boarding again, but not before they tell us to go to the restroom first because nobody is allowed out of their seats during the flight because of the horrible weather we will experience all the way to Boise. Throughout the flight, at least 10 times, and that is not an exaggeration, the flight attendant with the most annoying middle eastern voice I have ever heard apologizes for not giving us drinks and snacks. She hopes she can make it up to us later. It got so annoying that people started shouting back at her "It's fine, we won't die without our peanuts!"

After an extremely tumultuous flight, we finally land in Boise. As I am getting on the elevator to get my car, I see Kip coming out of the airport. I asked him what was up and he explains that a guy tried to run onto his plain and that they hurriedly closed the doors, tackled him to the ground and carried him away. The very guy who was the cause of the security breach that shut down the airport was trying to jump on a flight to Boise, Kip's flight! That further confirmed that Alaska Airlines has no redeeming qualities.

I made it home quite late, with a raging headache, and the thought that I will have to do it all over again this week. Perhaps the rains have died down a bit, though I highly doubt it.

Halloween and other things

I realize it's a little late to be blogging about Halloween, but I wanted to post some pics from the night so you'll have to bear with me. Jake had a good night scaring the kids, although we didn't have very many this year. Perhaps it was because it was extremely cold. Anywho, that's really all I have to say about Halloween. We took a picture of the cutest kids in the land, which happen to be parented by our friends Sunny and Joe.

Let's see, what else? In baby news, all is going much better in this second trimester. I can hardly tell I am pregnant. I have gained no weight and have not yet started to show. Last week I got both my flu vaccination and pneumonia vaccination so I have two very sore arms. Since I had both the flu and pneumonia last year the doctor felt it would be a very good idea for me to get the shots. Fine by me! Otherwise, we are just waiting to find out the gender. The chinese lunar calendar says it's a girl, but there is also a disclaimer at the bottom stating that the test is only accurate 50% of the time. I found a kit online that tests my blood and can tell me the gender within 48 hours and it's 100% guaranteed. You can do this when you are only 5 weeks along! Fantastic, except for it costs $275. We could do that, but then the baby would have to sleep in the bottom drawer of our dresser because we could not afford a crib. So, I suppose we will patiently wait for the ultrasound which is still 5 weeks away. The suspense is killing me, although my strong hunch is that it's a boy.

And now for some of my favorite one liners from the Coffee News, which you can find in just about every restaurant in Boise.

"I went to a restaurant that serves "breakfast at any time." So I ordered French Toast during the Renaissance."

"For my birthday I got a humidifier and a dehumidifier... I put them in the same room and let them fight it out. Then I filled my humidifier with wax, and now my room is all shiny."

"When I woke up this morning my girlfriend asked me, "Did you sleep good?" I said, "No, I made a few mistakes."

A Sunday Drive

We decided to have our Sunday dinner in the mountains, so we drove up to the Sawtooths. It was a beautiful day, we hung out by the river and then Jake built a really big fire. He ate hotdogs and I had a green apple, a granny smith green apple to clarify. On the way home we saw a vending machine at the side of a gas station that said LIVE BAIT. We were intrigued so we drove over to it. Sure enough, for one dollar you could buy yourself some live worms straight out of a vending machine! I am wondering how they stay alive as it has dipped into the 20's lately. Part of me wants to buy them all so a. they don't have to suffer in a cold vending machine and b. they don't have to suffer as someone's live bait. Are these my maternal instincts kicking in? Anyway, enjoy the photos, especially the one where Jake is being one with nature.

5 Things I Can't Live Without

This morning I was driving to work as usual when I encountered some very heavy traffic on the freeway. Now for you folks who reside in major metropolitan areas and are not familiar with Idaho, this is not a normal phenomenon. People here think they have encountered serious traffic when the speedometer falls below 40. Anywho, I was completely stopped on the freeway and realized that I would probably be very late. I called my secretary to let her know that I would be late and tells me to tune into the radio to hear what is going on. Now I don't listen to the local radio because I have XM Satellite Radio, which used to be a fantastic thing until they started playing commercials. So I tune in to the radio to hear that 2 Afghani men are leading police on a high speed chase (which i suspect is only able to occur because they have chosen an Idaho freeway to have their chase at 7:30 in the morning) down the freeway and that they are side swiping cars and acting all kinds of crazy. Obviously this has happened ahead of me, because I am sitting on the now closed freeway listening to the report on the radio. The over excited news guy on the radio is giving a blow by blow as to how the police have managed to stop the men and are now holding them at gunpoint, on the closed freeway. The men surrender and everything gets back to normal, although I have now spent a good hour and a half in the car.

My point to this story, which was probably not even necessary for this post, is that after the craziness subsided I was still listening to a local station and the next segment was titled "5 Things You Can't Live Without". Callers would call in and say their 5 things and I have been thinking about my 5 things all day. Here they are, in no particular order, although Carmex has to be near the top.

1. Carmex
2. Green Apples
3. Jake
4. The Internet
5. Music

Now obviously these could change on a daily basis, although this has been my top five for at least a month, ever since my craving for green apples has become almost insatiable. I am pretty sure I would hurt somebody for a green apple. Luckily, that hasn't happened yet. Anyway, I am interested to hear your "top 5".

Halloween Season's Greetings

Hello once again. It is that time of year again where it is legal, sanctioned and encouraged to scare the poo-poo out of four-year-olds in fairy costumes. We truly live in paradise. First I will have a black light on my front porch and this scary pumpkin guy as well. The entryway into my house will be as dark as possible with the use of the shower curtain rod and my dark red bedroom curtains. I will be wearing all black; black leather trench, black leather gloves, black pants-socks-shoes and a black Russian military hat. Even parts of my face will be black. Only my eyes will glow bright white in the black light. I want to get one of those plastic pumpkins to dish out the candy. My hope is that it will fluoresce a bright orange.
If you hadn’t noticed, I (Jake) am writing the blog today. Steph is… Well, Steph is pregnant, nuff said. May your children’s hunter gatherer instincts reward parents with heaps and mounds of candy that you need to “inspect” for razorblades.

Rest in Peace, Grandpa!

Jake's grandpa passed away on Sunday so we would like to dedicate this entry to him. I only met him once, but the meeting was very memorable. He lives on a large plot of land in Tucson and Jake and I went to visit him a couple of years ago. Jake was out in the garage with his uncle Bob and I stayed in the nice air conditioned house with Grandpa Bud. We played about 40 hands of Gin Rummy when Gramps asks me how long my hair was. I had it all pulled up in a clip and it was fairly long at the time. I pulled the clip out of my hair to let it down and grandpa let's out a whoop and says "amazing, do it again!" I found this to be amusing the first time, but several requests later, I was beginning to get creeped out. I was looking around for Jake to save me but he was nowhere to be found. The only thing I could think of to do was to grab the little device that tests your blood sugar on the table and I asked him to show me how it works. A couple of finger pricks later, I learned that I have a normal level of sugar in my blood. The other memory I have of that day is when it was around 5:00 p.m., Grandpa says to us "If you want something to eat, you are going to have to go get it yourself, we don't feed guests here". I looked at Jake and he said "well alright, let's go get something to eat!" That was the last time we saw grandpa, but we were the recipients of hundreds (and that is no exaggeration) of forwards throughout the years. We'll sure miss you, Grandpa!

"That peanut there is your kid"

So we had our first ultrasound yesterday. Our doctor moved it up a few weeks because he was concerned about how sick I was last week. It was an amazing experience, to say the least. Since I feel so good this week, I was skeptical that I was even still pregnant, given how sick I was last week. It was a very welcome sign to hear that heartbeat beating at 175 beats a minute.

Our ultrasound tech was not exactly what you would call "warm and fuzzy". When we first heard the heartbeat Jake says "is that the baby?" and she says "well I certainly hope so" in a slightly sarcastic tone. I was immediately amused by the whole situation but the best part of the whole ultrasound is when she says in her gruffest truckdriver voice "that peanut there is your kid". I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time. What she said after was almost as great..."you are definitely only having one kid this time". Oh thank you Marge! (I imagine that to be her name)

As we left the doctor Jake says "I am really excited, I'm excited like when I was a little kid and it was my birthday". Priceless. I wasn't sure he would ever be quite as excited as I am, but now we are on an equal field.

Here is the obligatory ultrasound picture that every new parent shares with everyone they come in contact with. Jake was so kind as to label it because unlike most ultrasound photos where you can almost pick out a leg or the head, you will recognize nothing with our little 4 centimeter bundle of joy. It is truly a bean, or a peanut as Marge would say. And we are proud to say that that peanut bean is our kid.

Click on the picture to make it bigger so you can read the labels.

The Train, Tamarack, and 2 Fabulous Years

We'll start with the train. Grandma Portela, aka Peggy, came to visit us last weekend and took us for a train ride. We were wildly excited to take a crazy ride through the mountains. Imagine our surprise when the train never reached 30 miles an hour and really never provided what we could quantify as excitement. It was a lovely way to spend a saturday afternoon though!




















Since we just couldn't get enough of the mountains, we decided to spend our 2 year anniversary at the beautiful Tamarack Resort. We had a lovely time swimming, playing Pente (our favorite board game) and relaxing. It was a nice end to an otherwise not so nice week, as I was quite sick and extremely tired. I don't mind it much though, I understand it's all for the cause.

And now for the big finish...The best two years of our freaking lives. Let's play a little game. I am going to guess the top two reasons my husband loves me and he will guess the top two reasons that I love him. I'll go first.

1. I am hilarious.

2. I love him.

Ok, and now for Jake's turn...

1. I am abnormally patient.

2. I am funnier than she is.

Ok, this is Steph and I must say that his number 1 is dead on, but ain't no way he's funnier than me!

Jake here, I wish I could think of something funny to say, but I just can't.

[Jake Speaking]

Why is Del Taco important?

Well, let's start from the beginning. It was a cool morning and I had been in school since 7:00am. It was near the end of my second class of the day at 10:15am. Stephanie called me and disturbed the entire class as it was in the middle of a lecture. I know what you're all saying, "why was my phone on?" Well who cares why, she has my schedule so she knew I was in class so I refuse to take responsibility. Ok, ok, ok... maybe a little. :) She wanted to go to lunch... NO, I didn't talk to her while in class! I waited until it was over and called her back. Stop interrupting my story with your incesent request for details to preserve continuity.

As I was saying, she wanted to go to lunch. Mind you it is 10:30am but what the heck, I will go just so I can have something to do. (You see, I needed something to do because my next class was not for another two hours).

She comes to pick me up and we proceed to the greatest fast food joint on earth, Del Taco. Unless it is those few times when they poison you (Jason, you know what I am talking about). Regardless, Steph stops me at the door and says shes wants to tell me something that I might want to hear in private. She says, "I'm pregnant, I took like four pregnancy tests from three manufacturers and they are all positive". We then kissed and hugged for like ten minutes. After that we left Del Taco, both admitting that we weren't ever really hungry.

That is how I was told I was going to be a dad.

Aloha and Mahalo

So let's back it up a bit, shall we? Our adventure begins in the Hawaiian Islands, more specifically the big island of Hawaii, more specifically Waikoloa, or the Hilton at Waikoloa Village, Room 7031. It was a lovely room, with a lovely view of the Pacific Ocean.

For those of you who are fans of Dog, The Bounty Hunter, you may recognize this photo as the very place Dog made an honest woman out of Beth.

With basal thermometer and ovulation predictor kits in tow, we set out to make a baby. Of course we had no clue if we had accomplished our task, but we were certainly happy with our efforts.

While on the big island we decided to take a 50 minute helicopter tour over the live volcanos. Jake was the official photographer as I proceeded to puke my guts out for a solid 48 minutes and 16 seconds. I know this exactly because out of the corner of my eye I could see the stop watch that ticked down the minutes to the end of our journey. I can now appreciate that little glimpse into hell as I do not believe it is possible to ever be that sick again. This has prepared me for any morning sickness I may encounter.

Anyhow, we had a lovely trip, saw all of the sights and spent some quality time with our good friends Katrina and Marcus. We really didn't give a second thought to whether we accomplished the goal we set out to attain. We remembered when we returned home as at least a half a dozen people reminded us of our bold declaration when we left Idaho that "we would not come home from Hawaii unless we were pregnant". I think secretly we just wanted to stay in Hawaii for as long as possible. We clearly didn't recognize our own power!

And now if we may be serious for a moment...building rock piles is a serious problem in Hawaii. There are signs everywhere warning of the dangers of piling rocks. What if one were to topple off the pile and hit your foot? Or what if, heaven forbid, you were to accidently lose your balance and fall onto your pile of rocks? If you hadn't built a pile, you would have only fallen on a single rock, or several rocks grouped together but not stacked. I think this is good practice for every state in the union. Hawaii is on to something.

The Beginning of Something Beautiful...

Welcome to our blog! We felt that we wanted to capture this time in our lives, but neither of us are really into writing things down. Plus we also felt that this would be a fantastic way to keep in touch with our many friends and relatives who don't live in Boise. So that would be pretty much everyone although Jake has a friend here and I have about 3, give or take a couple.

So feel free to leave a comment if you are so inclined, and enjoy the adventure. I know we will!