Kevin's 37th Birthday, Part 2

Tuesday, December 4th was my REAL birthday. Elzbieta's family took us out for dinner at Longhorn Restuarant to celebrate my birthday. The food at Longhorn Restuarant was very good! Thanks for the good time and nice cards!

Elzbieta & Me

Mom & Dad (Elzbieta's parents)

Marta, (Nephew) Tomasz, Danuta, & Elzbieta (Sisters)

Me holding a huge delicious birthday cake!

Afterwards, we went to Dynda Parents' house, and Marta's husband, Charlie came to see me and said "Happy Birthday" since he was at work and was not able to attend dinner with us.

Charlie & Marta

Thanks to both families for a memorable birthday: what a great way to welcome us home!

Kevin's 37th Birthday, Part 1

Hi, everyone! What a long but fun month it has been, and its only half over. :)

On December 1st, we flew back from Seattle to Illinois to the typically bad Midwestern weather: rain turning to freezing rainy. Later, we would get more wintry weather.

However, things did "warm up" over that weekend we had 2 pleasant surprises for my birthday.

First, on Sunday, the "Peoria Morges" took us out for dinner for an early birthday feast to the Olive Garden: it was quite yummy! Then, we went back to Mom and Dad Morge's house for some cake, presents, picture posing, and relaxtion. Thanks for the nice gifts: clothes and books, just what I wanted!

Happy B-Day from Mom and Olive Garden!

Above: Elizabeth, Meghan, & Ryan listen to a funny story.

Below: Don with "the happiest baby on Earth"(Elizabeth's and Luke's Annibelle)

The cute couple, Luke and Elizabeth

Kevin enjoying an early birthday drink.

Below: Back at the house, Kevin with the scumptous birtday pie (thanks, Mom!)

A REAL surprise gift: a cute Sox outfit for the baby to match one for me (no Cubs?!)

Elizabeth, Meghan, and Annibelle show off their best Christmas poses (how CUTE!)

Below: Luke, Elizabeth, and Mom get ready for Christmas

Dad is not sure Ryan has a good point in their "argument".

Thanksgiving Holiday

Sorry for not update our Blog for a long time since the last time I wrote it. The reason I didn't write Blog because the last few months, I had a terrible morning sickness. It made me not want to do anything at all. Right now I feel better and am going to write our Blog more often. By the way, hope you all had a great Thanksgiving with families and friends. Kevin and I had a wonderful and busy long Thanksgiving weekend with our families. Here are all the pictures over Thanksgiving Holiday. Hope you all enjoy looking at them. :-)

On Thanksgiving Holiday, Kevin and I stayed at Parents Morge's house and had delicious dinner for Thanksgiving. Yummy.....

Thanksgiving (Thursday) Dinner at Morge Parents'. From Lt to Rt: Kevin, Mother (Pat), Father (Mike), Elizabeth, Luke, and Don. (Annabelle (Elizabeth's Daughter was hiding behind her.)

Sister-in-law Elizabeth, with adorable daughter, Annabelle

From Lt to Rt: Kevin, Me (Elzbieta), Father, and Mother

Brother-in-law, Don, and Me (4 Months Pregnant)

Luke & Elizabeth (What a cute couple!)

On Friday after Thanksgiving Day, my mother, Anna, Danuta (sister), and I woke up at around between 3-3:30 am to go out for shopping. That day was a big sale. The stores we attended were crazy and had the longest lines to check out. One of us stood on the line while others went to get something, and then switched to stand on the line. However, we bought a lot of stuff, and we had a blast! I took a picture of us standing by the car trunk with a load of bags we bought. Unfortunately, I just found out today that it didn't show up on my digital camera. It did show up last time, but not this time. How odd. Sorry, Danuta!!!!!! :-( Anyway, they dropped me off at Morge's. Kevin and I babysat Niece Annabelle while Morge Parents went out to shopping. Annabelle's parents (Luke & Elizabeth) and Don were out to shopping in the late morning. In a while later, Ryan and Meghan Morge came to stop by from Chicago for a short time. It was nice seeing them! In the afternoon, Kevin and I were going out to buy a new and better digital camera since our old one didn't save that pictures we took and low battery quickly; and do some other Christmas shopping. Afterward, we stayed home and relaxed! What a long day!!!

On Saturday, Other Morge family came to stop by, and it was nice seeing them too. Kevin and I cannot beleive how big Michael Aaron and Madison are! Here are the pictures below:

Cutie Nephew Michael Aaron (5)

Beautiful Niece Madison (2)

Diego :-), Mia, Madison, and Annabelle (What a cute cuddle family!)

Kevin and I had to get ready for my whole family pictures. We had over 80 pictures, and these pictures were so gorgeous and awesome! We all enjoyed taking pictures with all of us together, couples, families, grandparents, grandchildren, etc... I am not going to download all of our pictures in this blog. I chose one picture of us all together. See below:

Clockwise: Michal, Kevin, Me, Charlie, Aniela, Marta, Mom, Dad, Danuta, and Tomasz

After took the pictures, we all went to Dynda Parents' house for late Thanksgiving Dinner with whole families since some of us were with other families for Thursday Thanksgiving dinner. Some of us did stop by on Thanksgiving Day to visit for a short time. However, Dad made the fabulous and beyond delicious smoked turkey that he used from the smoking house in his backyard!!

Dad sliced the turkey into a plate to get ready to eat a big delicious Thanksgiving Dinner!!

Niece Aniela and Nephew Tomasz ate popcorn on Saturday Thanksgiving Dinner. Guess no big fan of smoked turkey to eat.

After we ate dinner, we all were full and cleaned up. At that night, we all were sitting to relax, chatting, and playing with kids. While kids were sleeping, the guys were playing poker and blackjack all night until around 1 a.m.

Me and Tomasz playing with little car to go vroom!

Tomasz & Aniela loved to bong the blue ball by grandpa.

Guys played poker and blackjack.

The next day on Sunday, Kevin and I had to leave to go back to Seattle. :-( Furthmore, we will go back to Peoria, Illinois again tomorrow ( December 1st) for a few weeks before leaving to Florida for Morge Families Vacation for one week. We will be back to Seattle on December 31st. We are thrilled and cannot wait to go to Peoria, Illinois again soon to visit families and friends. Here are the couple of pictures before we left back to Seattle.

Kevin read book to Tomasz and Aniela.

Ampara (My favorite dog)

That is the end of the story for our long Thanksgiving Weekend! For your information, I already mentioned that Kevin and I will fly back to Peoria, Illinois tomorrow (Saturday, December 1st). I will try my best to write Blog while in Illinois. If not, then will write when get back to Seattle at the end of December. Hope you all have a great Christmas and Happy New Year in case I don't write Blog on these holidays! :-D

SURPRISE

SURPRISE (Some of you already knew but most of you dont know)!!!! I AM PREGNANT! Today in the morning on October 1st, 2007, Kevin and I went to my first OB appointment. As you can see the picture on left, you can see our baby on the right side in black area. Also, you can see these two white tiny crosses on top and bottom of baby. Our baby has a great heartbeat that we can see from the screen. It was so amazing to see it. My doctor said that I am 8 weeks pregnant and the baby is about one inch (I think). Also, the doctor said that my due date will be on May 11th. Of course, you all know that it might will not be on that date, but I will be in labor anyday before or after that date. Who knows. We will wait and see. By the way, Kevin and I are very thrilled and are looking forward to seeing our baby growing inside my abdomen in weeks.

Emily Morge's Baptism

On the weekend of September 21, 2007 in Thousand Oaks, CA, Kevin and I flew to visit Dan and family for their newborn daughter Emily's baptism. Dan asked Kevin to be Emily's Godfather, and Kevin is proud to be his niece's Godfather. We were excited and were looking forward to meeting Emily for the first time. Once we arrived, we finally met our niece, Emily! She was so beautiful and such a good baby! Emily is now about two months old. It was wonderful to see some of the Morges and Blomgrens.

Left: Aunt Elzbieta and Emily

Left: Uncle/Godfather Kevin & Emily (Big Cubs Fans)

On the special day on Saturday, September 22, it was Emily's baptism. Emily's cousin named Lindsay was also giving baptism on the same day as Emily's. We families were on the way to church for the two babies' baptism.

Left: Godfather Kevin & Emily

Left: Kevin & Elzbieta

Left: Pouring Holy Water into Emily's head surrounded by Godparents & Parents

Above From LF to RT: Dan (Father), Kim (Godmother/Cousin), Daniel (Brother of Emily), Kevin (Godfather/Uncle), Sue (Mother), and Priest.

After the baptism, we all went to the house to take a lot of pictures with Emily. It was so beautiful and sunny outside.





From LT to RT: Dan, Sue, Emily, Kevin, and Kim

Elzbieta, Emily, and Kevin










The Morge Families from left to right: Sue, Dan, Daniel, Father Mike, Don, Mother Pat, Emily, Kevin, and Elzbieta.

Magnolia Park

During the summer, Kevin and I always play tennis during the weekends, sometimes weekdays in the early evening if not too tired from work. After we moved to Seattle, we were looking for tennis courts to play. We found one that is close to our apartment, and that place is at Magnolia Park. They have two courts. If this courts are full, we often go to other courts that they have about half mile up ahead.

However, at the beginning, these courts were not that great as we thought they would be, as it was kind of old and rusty. It was because there were many dead leaves everywhere on the edge around the courts and had few cracks on courts. After a few weeks, we noticed that someone did clean the courts to get rid of leaves. It looked much better but still had a few cracks. It was okay to play for awhile. A few weeks ago, we passed this courts to go to other courts, and noticed Magnolia Courts were closed. Also, the nets were deattached. We started to wonder what was going on. While playing tennis at other tennis courts, we like to play at Magnolia Tennis Courts better than others. Others have courts that are not even. The court is little slight downhill from the top, and the balls keep rolling down to the other court, not ours. We had to run down to get so it would not be in others' way. It was pain in the neck. After a few weeks later, the other courts were full, so we decided to go to Magnolia Park to see if tennis courts were open. It finally opened so we went into the courts. Oh my gosh, it looked brand new and looked much better! Whoever did fixed the cracks and repainted the courts. We also noticed that someone did cut down a few trees by the courts fence. Maybe the trees were dying and cutted down or was probably in the path's way while people walk back and forth.

The past few years, Kevin always beat me. I had a hard time to beat Kevin. He did well on playing tennis. This summer, it is about time we are on the same level to compete with each other. Our score totals for this summer are tie. I am getting better this summer. Hopefully, I will beat Kevin a big time by next year. Cross fingers!

Above: Kevin and Elzbieta served.

Above: Elzbieta and Kevin postured with tennis racquet.

Tucson, Arizona

On the weekend of August 23-27, I was visiting my good dearly friend, Renda Gauwitz, in Tucson, Arizona. She used to be my trainer for horseback riding lessons when I was about nine years old. Kevin had to stay in Seattle to work on his GO LIVE project the whole weekend. I would be boring on the weekend without Kevin being at home so I went to Arizona to visit. In Tucson, I saw many interesting plants such as different kinds of cactus all over the desert. One interesting thing about the Saguaro Cactus that Renda researched and told me is that if you see Saguaro Cactus with branch (arm) curving upward is about over 75 years old! Image if they have more than one branches, it must be over 150 years old! That is amazing! I often saw few small lizards running around. Also, it has a beautiful mountain of Catalina Foothills. One of these days, Renda and I were driving ahead of the mountains/valley, and saw big lightning struck behind the mountain. It was beautiful and awe-inspiring! I couldn't believe my eyes to see that. Anyway, I had a great time in Tucson, AZ even though Renda had to work half days (last minute): the company at where she works was short of people to work over the weekend. While she was at work, I was outside lying down by the swimming pool to get some tan most of the days. You all know how Kevin is dark, but I was hoping I would beat him. It didn't happen. Darn it! Haha! It felt great to get into the swimming pool and relax. Sometimes, I let the dogs outside. This guy named Todd owns the house where Renda stays at. Todd's dogs were the ones who I often took out for potty while Todd and Renda had to work. Two of dogs loved to jump into the swimming pool to catch the tennis ball! It was fun to watch them jumping in and got all wet!! Todd also has three horses on his property. Two horses belong to him and his wife, but one they will sell. The third one named Tuffy is to take care for the owner who lives in North Dakota (I think). The reason the owner wanted their horse to be in AZ because of warm weather all year. Tuffy is over 30 years old and is not good to be in cold weather in North Dakota.

Saguaro Cactus

On Friday, Renda had a day off so we had errands to do. Once we got home from errands to do, we gave all 4 dogs a bath! It was fun to bath them even though it was a lot of work. Afterward, we jumped into the swimming pool to cool off. It was sunny and hot outside!! At 4 p.m., we had massage appt at "Massage Envy" for one hour which I looked forward to. I never have been to massage before. Once I got massage, oh my gosh... it was so wonderful!! I almost fell asleep. I felt much better after the massage. Now, I know what massage is like. In the future, I am curious about going to SPA what they are like! Hmmm... Afterward, Renda, Todd, and I went out to Mexican Restaurant. It was delicious food. Yummy.

The day of Monday was heartbreaking and crushing. When I was packing and getting things ready to go to the airport back to Seattle, Todd found Tuffy lying down by his stall and dead while he went out to feed the horses! It was heartbreaking for the owner and Todd! Todd mentioned that Tuffy was fine the night before: he assumed he died overnight. Tuffy is very old like over 30 years old. I saw it, and it was my first time to see horse dead like that. It impacted me, as I imagined how people felt when they got bond with horses who they love deeply. However, Todd had to call the owner and already took care of the horse. The good thing was that I was not bonded to Tuffy because I didn't know Tuffy at all. I will be deeply heartbroken if something happens to Renda's horses because two of them and I are very bonded, and I have known them for a long time!

Later, I arrived in Seattle/Tacoma Airport, and was thrilled to see Kevin cuz I missed him deeply. I felt like I haven't seen him for a long time while I was in Tucson. Kevin gave me a beautiful bouquet of colorful of callie lillies! He knows that it is my favorite ones. I was surprised to receive it from him. He was so sweet and romantic!

Archstone Belltown Apartment

In downtown Seattle of Washington, Kevin and I were living in Wall Street Tower Apartment for about over 6 months. Before we moved to this apartment, we were looking for other one-bedroom apartments. They all were so nice and had a wonderful view but were very expensive! We liked other one which was Neptune but it was far from the Swedish Hospital where Kevin works on his project. Wall Street Tower was the only one that is close to Kevin's work (about less 2 miles away). However, Wall Street Tower had a great deal of rate to pay rent monthly. We both know that we will not live here longer so it doesn't bother us.

A few weeks ago, Wall Street Tower were purchased by other company, Archstone Belltown. We heard the information about Archstone Belltown, and they sounded wonderful. The new staffs are working on to remodel apartment. Anyway, our lease is coming up expired by end of September. We received lease paper with rates for any months people want to sign for a new lease. We were shocked and were not happy with this rates. The rate went up big time! We were like.. there is no way this rate would not match to this kind of apartment. Once we discussed what to do about it, we decided to look for other apartments with good rate.

Today, Kevin and I made appointments with two apartments to tour and made decision. These two apartments are M Street and Neptune. These apartments are wonderful and are even better than the Archstone Belltown. M Street is very close to Kevin's work, and it is only four block apart. So, I made chart for each of these apartments with pros/cons to discuss. Our final decision is that we like M Street better than Neptune. We haven't apply yet but will soon. If apply approved, then we will start moving to M Street at the end of September before our Archstone leases expire.

From the aboves, this is the Archstone Belltown Apartment where we currently live. As you can see the picture from right, the Space Needle is about a few block away from our apartment on the left side of the picture. It is nice to walk there. We haven't been there yet but will go there sometimes during the weekend.

From the above, this is the front entrance of the Archstone Belltown.

This is the view of downtown Seattle from our living room where we live on 15th floor. The pictures on left side show the view right straigh ahead. The left ones show on the right side view from our apartment.