12 years

Today is our anniversary,
I want to thank my wife for twelve amazing years. I knew the first time we went out that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. Jen has supported me in everything I have ever done. Right now she is enduring discomfort of mass proportions carrying our babies around. She never complains about it and glows with anticipation of their arrival. While we are excited to have the twins come into our life we have been very fortunate to have had 12 years to enjoy each other's company alone. We have been able to see and do a lot of things together and it has been wonderful. I love Jen more than I will ever be able to put in words. Thank you Jen for making my life what it is. I can't wait for the twins to get here and join us for many more amazing years to come.

Portland Prime AKA Portland Mediocre

This year Jen and I have been married for 12 years. We got married in 2000 which was a subconscious effort by myself to make it easy to remember how many years we have been married. 2012=12 years! I also subconsciously planned our wedding date to be near Valentines day so I could get all the hearts and flowers done in the same week ;) So today is our anniversary and the last as just a couple (babies will be here soon!). So I decided to take Jen to a fancy restaurant for dinner. I found what appeared to be the best place in Portland, El Gaucho. When I called to make a reservation they were booked... The subconscious scheduling of our wedding near Valentines backfired because everyone was doing a special valentine dinner this weekend. I had to pick another place. After some phone calls the recommendation was "Portland Prime". I looked them up online and they definitely seamed to be the caliber I was looking for. When we arrived the lobby was not set up well and it didn't feel like a 5 star joint. Should have turned back but we had reservations and finding something last minute was out of the question. The hostess didn't offer to check Jen's coat, another sign that this is a place pretending to be fancy. We were seated and the place settings were not fancy. The flatware was old, dull and beat up. The plates looked like they had been purchased when a Chinese buffet went out of business. The wine glasses were dirty, I mean dirrrrty. A gentleman poured us some tap water, another sign this isn't a fancy restaurant as a true 5 star joint would offer still or sparkling. When the waitress came for our drink order she didn't tell us her name nor did she offer the special(this will annoy me greatly later). We ordered beverages and the waitress seamed annoyed we didn't order any cocktails but hello even if we were interested in doing so Jen is PREGNANT! When I got my Cola it was flat, like a soda from McDonald's after being in the car for two days flat! The waitress was collecting our dirty unnecessary wine glasses when she asked if we needed another minute to look over the menu. Well we didn't but when I said we were ready she again seamed annoyed because she had to set down the wine glasses to take our order. If you weren't ready to take our order don't ask if we need another minute when I probably don't. When we received our salads they weren't bad but mostly pretentious with slices of apples and not enough dressing. We received our meals and there was no attempt at presentation when they plated up our food. The prime rib was average, nothing you couldn't get at Outback, Black Angus or any roadhouse. The best prime rib is still found at Hamilton's in Logan Utah. I ordered lobster tail with my meal because we were at a "fancy" restaurant in a big city which should equal good seafood. Wow was I wrong! The lobster tail was solid rubber...I mean I stuck my fork in to pull out a piece and the entire tail came in one piece, I tried cutting it with the steak knife but it was such rubber it just squished and wouldn't cut. It was so chewy it was like the bits of clam you get in canned clam chowder. It took a good couple minutes to chew through each bite. At this point they seated another couple and the waitress told them about the special, it was a great deal compared to the items we had selected but they hadn't told us about the special. Now I was really ticked. This was supposed to be the nicest dinner ever and it wasn't even as good as Texas roadhouse. So if anyone is wondering, we won't be going back to Portland Prime.

21 Weeks!

Our little girl has Bryan's nose and Jen's mouth and eyes.

Side profile of our little girl

The one and only glimpse of our little boy.

He turns his head every time they try to get a picture. He is upside down with his face to Jen's back. He kicks HARD and covers his face with his hands. He takes after his dad, who doesn't like his picture taken either :c

Today we went for our second official ultrasound. They took all the measurements to make sure they are growing even. Our girl weighs 15oz and our boy weighs 14oz. They are a week ahead of normal for a single baby which for twins is awesome. Boy's heart beat was 150, girls 151. All is well and Jen has them on quick bake so these cookies will be big and healthy when they come out.

Finally a sunny day roadtrip