Monday, November 2, 2009

Our little one.


We got an ultrasound today and we were right, it's a girl. You've felt this baby was a girl from the beginning and it was true. I'm really glad that my motherly instinct was correct, it helps me have more confidence in my instincts... YIPEE!!! We are so excited to raise a little precious princess.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Our little one is growing



 Tomorrow we get an ultrasound to see if our baby is a boy or a girl. Joseph and I both think it's a girl, so we'll see... I'm about twenty weeks now. In the black top with green skirt I'm 13 weeks. In the red shirt I'm 18 weeks and in the black shirt and khaki maternity pants I'm about 20 weeks. It's so fun to watch the baby get bigger. This week was the first time I could feel it move inside of me. It feels so cool I just love it.


Beautiful Spokane











One of the last sunny days here in Spokane we went up to Riverside National Park and rode our bikes on their scenic trail. It was a lot of fun, then we went out for mexican afterward. These are the sweet moments that make life worth living.

Primary Class


This is my CRT 8 class. We had a pizza party with rootbeer floats to celebrate them bringing their scriptures to class. They sure had a good time. Now I'm an advisor for the beehives it's a lot of fun. I really enjoy going to the Wed. night activities.

2nd dress up night






























The 2nd formal night was the last night on the boat. We sure had a fun time. We took our first offical family picture. We went to the captain's ball and danced and drank free fruit punch.















Cozumel, Mexico







Our fourth stop was in Cozumel, Mexico. The place where we went on our honeymoon. We walked to downtown Cozumel. We thought it was like a mile walk it ended up being like 3-4 miles. We made our way to a mexican supermarket where we bought mexican candy, chips, and liter of juice that Joseph drank by himself, he was thristy. Afterward we went to Chankanaab national park where we went scuba diving. Needless to say this was the first time I tried to throw up during my prenancy. I think being out in the heat with not much nutrition did me in. We shortly went back to the boat at 3:00 pm. Loralee and David went and saw the ruins at Tulum, they enjoyed they're trip.

Grand Cayman












Our third stop was Grand Cayman Island, this was our favorite place. We got to feed stinging rays and go snorkling. We took a boat out to the middle of the ocean and there was a sand bank where you could stand, it was like 3 feet deep. We held and kissed the sting rays. The guide put one of the sting rays on my back and it moved around, he said, "he's giving you a back massage," it felt so cool. I fed it fish and it sucked it up into it's mouth. When we went snorkling they gave us saltine crackers and we crunched them with our hands and the first came right up to us and ate the crackers. It was really fun.



Ocho Rios, Jamaica
















The next day we stopped in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We decided to go see Bob Marley's house/museum and then hike the Dunn's River waterfall. We took an hour drive through native Jamaica, on the way we bought jamaica "grapes" from little Jamaican kids for one dollar. The grapes tasted good, the texture was another story. Joseph thought they were like snotty grapes. We tasted them to say the least. Up at Bob Marley's house they gave out joints to whomever wanted one. There was a Holland family that passed their joint around to the whole family, it was unbelievable. Loralee and I just tried to stay away from the smoke, with clean socks covering our noses, we'd do anything for our babies. So the drive up to Bob Marely's house was cool, actually getting the tour and being around the smoke was not so cool. Afterward, we went to the falls and Joseph held the binoculars and camera and took pictures of us while we hiked the falls. It was a lot of fun and very refreshing. The guides made us do fun tricks off the rocks that made the experience more fun.

Labadee, Haiti












Our first stop on Monday was Labadee, Haiti. It's a private piece of land owned by Royal Carribean. We basically enjoyed the beach and ocean. It was David's first time swimming in the carribean. I stepped on a sea urchan and got four black spikes that went into my right foot, that was not fun. It took over a month for them to come out. Luckily they didn't hurt when I walked on them. For lunch the ship brought out a big bbq and fed the whole island, since the island was basically only those that came from the ship. The ship was too big to pull right up to the island so it docked in the middle of the ocean and we took a little boat over to shore. David, Joseph, and I all bought straw hats to help keep the sun out of our faces. My favorite part of Labadee was laying on a hammock with Joseph and feeling the breeze of the ocean wind and the sound of the waves crashing into the shore.



One of the formal days



















David, Loralee, Joseph, and I all sat at the same table for our dinners every night. The second day out to sea they had a formal day where you were required to dress up for dinner. Joseph and David all week got the most random and exotic thing available on the menu. There were times when Loralee and I could not even look at what the boys were having because the sight made us nauseated. I was 9 weeks and Loralee was 8 weeks pregnant when we were on the ship.

more fun things to do











Here are other fun things we did on the ship. We watched the belly flop contest. We went up to the chapel and read the ensign on Sunday and Joe felt he needed to re-enact his proposal. We went to a show almost every night and then we would get a bite to eat at the pizza shop (the panini sandwiches were really good) or a dessert at the pastry shop (we loved the brownies they were so good and moist). There is a picture of the ship, it was called Liberty of the Seas it's one of the biggest cruise ships out there.

Fun things to do on the ship











There were a lot of fun things to do on the ship. We bought binoculars before we left of the trip so we could spot dolphins and lightening shows while at sea. Joseph really enjoyed using the binoculars. We enjoyed sun sets, watching others surf of the surfing simulator, and watching ice skating shows.

Cruise to the Carribean Aug. 2009








We decided to take a big trip before we start adding a bunch of kids to the family, so we went on a cruise to the carribean. Loralee and David joined us (Joseph's brother and wife). We sure had a great time. One of these pictures is just just leaving Miami. You can see the downtown Miami behind us. The first night we flew into Miami and we stayed a night at the Hilton Hotel. David ended up leaving his cell phone at the hotel, but no worries they still had Loralee's...


Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Hiawatha Trail




Here's the beginning and end of the Hiawatha Trial in Idaho. It's a scenic bike path that used to be home of a cross country train.

Sunday, October 18, 2009
















Visiting the Nicolay Family in SLC, Utah














Fourth of July weekend we went to Utah to visit the Nicolay clan, we'll most of them. While we were there we did a lot of adventures. One was hiking Mnt. Timpanogos, the boys took turns pushing their lovely mom up the hill. The view was beautiful the whole hike up. Afterwards, we had a bon fire up the canyon. Here is also a picture of Remington, our newphew. Remington looks like Joseph when he was his age. We just seemed to love him to peices as we anticpiate having a little Joe or Angie running around our house.

Stoker Family Reunion












The Stoker Family is growing we are over 100 strong now, with all the grandkids and great grandkids. We spent a three day weekend up in Seattle, Wa at a church camp called Zion's camp. It was a lot of fun. We slept in a 4 big cabin's. We each got our very own bunk bed. The weekend was full of games, food, candy, cool toys for the kids, a family fireside and story telling, movies, board games, laughs, music, and dancing. Joseph and I were chosen to be in the family play, it was a reenactment of Paul Stoker's family when they went to Disney Land and made a video about Star Trek. We were aliens... Another picture is Joseph in his moments of solitude. You were able to fish for free and keep one fish. Since it's church owned they get to regulate the fishing. Another picture is of all the kids playing with water noodles. They had a blast with those. The older men called the little kids 7 and under "immortals" because they would charge at them in full strength with no worry of being hurt and they would get just clobber the older men. Another photo is the family jam session. Mike's girl sang a song and we all got to take turns trying out to be her back up dancers, that was really funny to watch.