Thanksgiving in Boise

We drove to Boise this year for Thanksgiving. The drive there wasn't bad at all. Hannah was content to watch her movies and it only took us about 6 hours. We had a ton of fun with Jake's family. Jake had a week off for Thanksgiving, but unfortunately his final exam's started right after break, so he spent quite a bit of time studying. That didn't stop the rest of us from having fun :-) I managed to get almost all my Christmas shopping for Jake's family while we were there. We ate TONS of excellent food. We also took Hannah to see Tangled. Such a cute movie!! And Hannah loved it. She sat there and watched the entire thing. I guess we can officially start taking her to movies again, haha.

On Monday night I watched Dancing With The Stars with some highly unlikely viewers: Papa and my brother-in-law Mike. They didn't just watch it with me, they critiqued the performances, predicted scores, reacted when the scores didn't match up with what they saw, and I loved every second of it :-) So fun! Toward's the end of the program the kid's came out of the play room and noticed the music. They all started dancing and even Papa joined in on the fun. Here is a short clip of them getting their groove on.

Dance Party from Gretchen Pollard on Vimeo.

On Tuesday night we drove to Nampa to visit our good friend's the Bower's. It was so good to see them! They fixed us up a fabulous dinner and we had a wonderful time. They have a 1 year old son named Samuel, and they are expecting a baby girl next month. Hannah and Samuel played so well together! Hannah is not big on hugging, but when we said by to them she gave Samuel multiple hugs with pat's on the back. It was adorable, and fitting since they have a prearranged marriage :-)

Illnesses plagued part of our trip. On Weds Jake's sister Aubrey was in so much pain that she had to go to the ER. They weren't able to pin-point the exact cause, but the doctor thinks it was a ruptured cyst. Scary. She recovered quickly and we are sooo glad. On Sat Hannah came down with a high fever. Fortunately it went away by morning, but it was a rough 12 hours for her.

Sunday afternoon we said goodbye to family and headed home. The drive was 8 hours instead of 6 due to snowy road condition's and accident's that blocked traffic. It felt so good to finally get home. It is gorgeous here in Moscow. It became a winter wonderland while we were gone.

Time for pictures!!

Macy, Katelyn, and Hannah played so well together. Hannah and Macy (4 yrs old) just adore each other. I love that even though we are separated by distance, there is still an undeniable love and connection between Hannah and her cousin's.

Above is Hannah with her Mimi, Papa, and Uncle B. She loves them all so much. We truly are blessed with wonderful families, on both sides. We love and miss you guy's already!

Another Reason We Love Shutterfly

Hello blogging friend's.

Guess what folks? Shutterfly.com is doing a special promotion where you get 50 free holiday card's for writing up a blog post about Shutterfly and the amazingness that is this company/website. I have used Shutterfly a lot over the years.

I made Jake this photo book last year as a Father's Day Present. I have also made photo books as present's for my parent's and Jake's parent's. Last year I made a Christmas card on their site that I just loved. This year I am working on another one, here is the sneak peak.

With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

They have so many beautiful Christmas Card designs. Go here to check them out and make one of your own! Photo Calender's and Personalized Card's also make great gifts. Shutterfly.com is very user friendly and always has special discounts and promotion's to make your creation's even more affordable. Now go to Shutterfly.com and get started on your own masterpiece!

Hello 3rd Trimester

On Saturday I was officially 28 week's pregnant. Which mean's I am in the 3rd and final trimester of this pregnancy. Wowzer's. I felt the little guy hiccup for the first time a couple of day's ago. So precious. According to the ultrasound he weigh's about 3 lbs, has chubby cheeks, big lips, big eyes, and an attachment to his hand being right by his face. We are so excited to meet him. And now we just have to weight 2.5 months.

Baby bump at 28 weeks

Trip Home to the Paradise City

Hannah and I spent last week with my parent's in good ol Paradise. We had a lot of fun with them. Hannah just loves her "Gama Geriii" and "Papa". She loved all the attention she got from them. And if Grandma wasn't paying attention to Hannah, she new exactly how to get it back. She was constantly yelling "Geeeerrrriiiii!!!" if she didn't know where she went. It was pretty precious. We mostly just hung out at home. But on Tues night we had BIG plan's :-)

We went to the So You Think You Can Dance Live Tour at the ARCO Arena. It was awesome!!! Hannah went with us and did remarkably well. The show was 2.5 hours long and she clapped and danced right along with them. A man sitting near us commented on Hannah's rhythm and thought that she was taking dance classes. But when we informed him she wasn't even 2 yet he was even more impressed. The show was amazing. Our seat's could have been better, but next time we'll know to get stadium seat's and not ones on the floor. Otherwise it was a perfect night.

On Thursday Hannah got her flu shot. She only cried for about 10 second's and never complained since. She is such a trooper. Right after her shot I had a 3D Ultrasound appointment (Thanks Padre!!). Since my dad refer's so many patient's to this Ultrasound office they did it free of charge! Usually it would cost about $200. One of the many privileges of having an OBGYN for a dad.

On Thursday night we drove up to Lake Tahoe. Which is one of the most gorgeous places on earth. We ate yummy food, hung out in the condo with the fire place going, played, and just enjoyed being together. Thanks so much for an incredible weekend mom and dad! Not to mention a great week. We love you guy's and can't wait to be together again for Christmas!

We visited Justin and his family on Sunday. Hannah had a lot of fun riding this rocking horse.

Hannah with her adorable cousin's


I love getting them together

Grandma and Grandpa bought Hannah this beautiful Belle costume at Disneyland a couple of week's ago. Hannah LOVED wearing it.

She loved admiring herself in the mirror too.

Our beautiful baby boy! Check out those chubby cheek's and big lips!

He was yawning :-) He also kept his hand up by his face almost the entire ultrasound.

Hannah playing on Grandma Geri

It looks like Hannah had a lot more fun doing this than Grandma did...

Proof that we went to the SYTYCD Live Tour :-) Pretty good shot for no flash eh?
2 of my favorite dancer's. Allison and Kent. Love them!
Check out this action shot!! I caught the boy's mid air. That is pure photographic genius right there, haha.
A cute shot of part of the cast. Robert was looking gooooooooooooooood
Russell after his krumping solo. He is intense.
Ade and Billy dancing one of my favorite all time dances. Mad World by Stacey Tookey. Look it up on Youtube, it is amazing.

And that was our week in a nut shell!

Christmas Family Photos 2010

Last year my sister in law Rashell took our family pictures. Go here to reminisce with me how much our little Hannah has grown in a year. Since we moved far away from Rashell and her fabulous photography skills I had to find someone else to take our pictures this year. Kassy Whetten of Whetten Photography is in our ward and she took our pictures last weekend. They turned out great! I posted some of my favorites but you can go to her blog and check out more of them.