Merry Christmas to All!!!

We are headed home to WA this evening to spend the holidays with our families. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

A New Addition to the Family - Victoria Ballard

Please join us in congratulating Cousins Tony & Laura on the birth of their first baby girl VICTORIA REESE BALLARD. Laura went into labor early Sunday morning, but being a typical little girl, Miss Victoria showed who was boss by refusing to leave her snuggly spot in mommy's tummy. She was finally delivered by c-section Monday night. Mommy and baby are doing great. Congratulations Laura & Tony!!! We are so excited to meet Victoria.

An early Christmas present?

Hello again everyone. Hope you're all having a great holiday season. Nikki and I can't wait to come home for Christmas in a few weeks. I'm especially looking forward to it since it's been a couple years since I experienced one back home with family and friends.


Nikki and I are also eagerly awaiting news from my cousin Laura and her husband Tony as they are in the midst of having their first child (Victoria) today down in Arizona! She posted a blog on her site this morning that contractions had started and they were on their way to the hospital!! Looks like the makings of an early Christmas present for the family. The timing of our pregnancies couldn't be better as Laura and I were the closest in age within our crew. Now our little ones (both girls) will get to grow up just a couple months apart. Great planning huh!

Nikki and I went to our first parenting class this weekend. The purpose of this one was newborn essentials which taught us things like bathing, changing diapers and the voodoo of wooing our upset child to sleep. I got to be the guinea pig for changing diapers where I proved to be an absolute pro. Never mind that I was working with a stationary doll. I'm sure that real babies stay just as still right? I think we both came to the conclusion that even though there was a lot of good information in this class, taking care of a newborn is going to be one of those things where you do most of your learning on the job

Other than that we'd like to keep Nikki's mom in our prayers as she recovers from a recent trip to the hospital. She's home and working her way back to feeling 100% and we can't wait to see her when we fly in for the holidays. Hope everyone else is doing well and we'll chat with you again soon.

Remembering Others This Holiday Season

Now that December is here and the holiday season is in full swing, I thought it was important to remember all of our brave men and women willing to be parted from their families to ensure that you and I are able to spend time with ours. My husband is one of those brave and wonderful men who proudly served this country last holiday season in Iraq. As you celebrate and enjoy the holidays this year, please remember to take a moment to think of those brave men and women of our Armed Forces and their families.



'Twas the night before Christmas, he lived all alone,
In a one-bedroom house made of plaster and stone.
I had come down the chimney, with presents to give
and to see just who in this dwelling did live.


As I looked all around, a strange sight to see,
no tinsel, no presents, not even a tree.
No stocking on the mantle, just boots filled with sand.
On the wall hung pictures of far distant lands.
Medals and badges, awards of every kind,
a sobering thought came alive in my mind.
This house was different, it was dark, it was dreary.
I had found the home of a soldier, I could see that most clearly.


The soldier lay sleeping silent, alone.
Curled up on the floor in his one-bedroom home.
His face was so gentle, room in such disorder,
Not at all how I pictured a U.S. soldier.


Was this the hero, of whom I’d just read?
Curled up on a poncho, a floor for a bed?
Then I realized the other families that I saw this night
Out there lies the soldiers who are willing to fight.


In the morning around the world, children would play
Grown-ups would celebrate a bright Christmas day
But they all enjoyed freedom, each month through the year,
because of soldiers like the one lying here.


I couldn’t help but wonder how many lay alone,
on a cold Christmas Eve, in lands far from home.
The very thought brought a tear to my eye.
and I dropped to my knees and I started to cry.


The soldier awakened, I heard his rough voice,
“Santa, don’t cry, this life is my choice
I fight for freedom, I don’t ask for more.
My life is my God, my country, my Core.”


The soldier rolled over, and drifted to sleep,
I couldn’t control it, and I continued to weep.
I kept watch for hours, so silent and still.
as both of us shivered from the cold night’s chill.


I didn’t want to leave him on that cold, dark night.
This guardian of honor, so willing to fight.
Then the soldier rolled over with a voice soft and pure.
He whispered, “Carry on Santa, it’s Christmas Day, all secure.”


One look at my watch
and I knew he was right,
Merry Christmas my friend,
May God bless you this night.

Happy Turkey Day!!!

We are now relaxing after enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving feast prepared by my mom (a fabulous cook!) We are so thankful for our familiy and friends and wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Busy Weekend!

What a busy week and weekend we have had! My parents arrived Thursday evening and will be visiting with us until next Sunday. They probably thought it would be a relaxing trip for them but we have kept them pretty busy with little projects. We did manage to give them a break Saturday evening when we went to a wedding of one of my dearest friends from law school. Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Jason and Jen Karlin - we had a fabulous time at your wedding!!!!!!! It was so much fun to get dressed up for a night out on the town.

Today we planned on relaxing but decided instead to hang border in the 'lil fish's room. As you can see from the pics below, we could be pros ;-)  It was a bit more involved than we anticipated but we did a pretty good job and had fun. We even covered the light switch plate. Just a few more things and the nursery will be all ready for the princess.

The biggest news of the week is that Garrett finally felt his little girl move and was very excited. Hopefully she continues to cooperate and gives him a few more kicks over the next couple months.

Other than baby stuff and work, we are getting very excited for Thanksgiving. It is one of our favorite holidays and we are so happy that my folks are here to celebrate (and cook!) with us. Garrett is really looking forward to my mom's pecan pie. It is so nice having them around! Of course, I am looking forward to getting up at the crack of dawn the day after Thanksgiving for the annual shopping trip with my mom. We always have such a great time and find some wonderful deals. After returning from shopping (and taking a much needed nap!) we will get our Christmas tree and start decorating the house. This is such a fun time of year

We hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

Decision 2006 . . .

As many of you know, we thought the military would be moving us to a new location (preferably closer to the West Coast) sometime next summer. Well it turns out that Uncle Sam is having budget problems and has decided to extend all Air Force personnel (minus pilots) to four year tours. While ordinarily that would be a great thing, allowing for more continuity, in our case it felt like a death sentence. The thought of another year of commuting and surviving another likely deployment seemed like too much to bear. We tried everything we could think of to get the Air Force to move us - we even considered going to Alabama where Garrett would become an instructor at an officer training school (not something he wanted to do), thinking it might be fun to try living in the South. Unfortunately, nothing worked. So then we figured it was time to cut our losses and say goodbye to military life, especially since they are trying to convince people to get out of the services by offering large amounts of voluntary separation pay. However, we love being in the military and really struggled with the decision of what would be best for us, especially since we had no clue what to do if we got out of the military. Finally, after a very long couple of days, a lot of stress, not much sleep, and a ton of praying, we made a decision last night . . . we are going to stay in the Air Force for a career and take whatever they throw at us. This means a couple of things. First, we will remain in New England (assuming they don't change the policy again) at least until Summer 2008. Second, it is a very strong possibility that Garrett will be deployed again for another six months during our time here. I hate the thought of this and know that I will question our decision if/when this happens but I also know that we made the right choice for us. Fortunately, we have wonderful families who have agreed to help out by coming out here for alternating six-week stints to help with the 'lil fish while I'm at work if Garrett does get deployed.


The best part about this whole ordeal is that it forced us to examine what we want and don't want. Although stressful, it was a great learning experience and we discovered quite a few goals and fears neither of us realized we had. We know that everything happens for a reason and perhaps the reason behind this speedbump was to figure out what we really want to do with our lives. Although we feel confident with our decision and know that it is right for us, we also know that there will be difficult times ahead and we ask that you keep us in your prayers.

The crib is finished!

As you can see, we got the entire bedding etc. for the crib finally. This stuff actually should have been first to arrive but the trials and tribulations of getting UPS to deliver our stuff intervened. Not to belabor the troubles we had but their delivery schedule of 10:00 to 2:00 with a requirement of a signature upon delivery really made it difficult for two folks who work everyday, 1 or more hours from home to sign off. I'm sure we are not the first delivery they've made where this was an issue but it sure seemed like it. Oh well, we got our stuff finally with only minor inconvenience and aggravation.


We officially toured the Brigham and Women's hospital on Saturday which is where we plan to have the baby. Nikki had been there before but I was very impressed with the place. You could definitely tell that they specialize in child birth so no complaints on my end. Nikki's getting more and more kicks and other forms of movement as the days go by which is exciting. Unfortunately, I have felt a grand total of zero of those kicks. No matter how much coaching I do, the little one is not listening to me yet. Hopefully this is not a sign of things to come.......

Busy Getting Ready for the 'Lil Fish

What a busy weekend we have had! The babytizing of the Fisher residence has officially begun.

On Saturday, we picked up our princess' crib which was an adventure in itself. Picture this -- torrential downpour and windstorm going on and the box our crib comes in was way to HUGE to fit into our car. Uh oh. Luckily we were able to unpack the crib a bit to find that it was really three smaller boxes inside which we were able to somehow get inside the car. Aside from being drenched, we definitely dodged a bullet.

We also did some random shopping on Saturday and found yet another Halloween outfit (caterpillar) on sale for a price we couldn't resist.

So all in all, the little one is good to go for her first two Halloweens (huge relief to have that taken care of........). After we got home, we got the crib all assembled officially checking off that parenthood milestone making for a pretty great day. Saturday would later gain "perfect" day status when the Cougs spanked UCLA catapulting them into the top 25 (AP) for the first time in three years and the Dawgs fell short once again effectively closing the book on any bowl game aspirations they might have had this year.

Sunday continued Saturday's perfection as the daylight savings fairy flew in and gave me an extra hour of sleep. We then went to church where they were having a bake sale ~ we made some very delicious Nordy bars.

Afterwards, we cruised over to Babies R' Us and got ourselves a baby mattress for the crib and registered for all kinds of stuff. Registering is always fun but I gotta tell you that I am still pretty clueless with the baby gadgets. The research is ongoing but we were able to zap lots of fun stuff for the kiddo. Hope everyone has a great week.

A Relaxing Weekend

We had such a fun and relaxing weekend. We planned to go out to eat Friday night but wound up ordering pizza and eating it by the fire. It was a very stormy evening so sitting by the fire was great! On Saturday, we went in search of a Red Robin that we heard had finally opened in MA. Turns out it is only about 15 minutes from our house and is in this huge shopping complex that we never knew existed. It was Heaven!!! Apparently the folks out here are as excited about Red Robin as we are because even going at 1:45 in the afternoon, we had quite a wait. The restaurant did not have the Red Robin feel that we are used to but the food tasted the same so we were happy. After lunch we decided to check out the rest of the shopping complex - did I mention it is HUGE? Garrett's cell phone was on the fritz so we stopped into Cingular to get him a new one. He wanted the new black Razr. Now mine was doing fine but since I was eligible for a new one (and I thought Garrett's was really fun) I wound up getting the new PINK Razr - I know, how silly but I do love it! After becoming stylish with our new semi-matching phones, we went to Babies R Us right next door just to take everything in. We were a bit overwhelmed by how much babies need! We went home and subscribed to Consumer Reports and spent numerous hours researching every baby item imaginable. Armed with this new knowledge, we decided we would go back next weekend and really focus on the registry. Who knew such a little person could need so much?!?! After church on Sunday we went to our favorite mall so that I could spend some of my birthday giftcards on some maternity tops - my regular ones just don't cut it anymore. It was successful, but more exciting - we got the 'lil fish a Halloween costume - a GOLDFISH! How cute is that?


Well that's about all that is going on with us. Hope you have a great week!