Brandon + Christina + Baby

Birthdays and Babies

2012-01-31T20:30:00.004-07:00

It's been about a month since I last blogged. BUT I have been kinda busy. Teaching 30 Kindergarteners, house hunting, and being pregnant takes a lot out of me sometimes. But I love my life. :-)

So, I decided to put a new picture of me on here. If you are friends with me on Facebook, you've probably already seen it. Here is a pic of baby and me at 28 weeks. Aren't we so cute?

Also, I just passed my 25th birthday on Saturday. I'm now a quarter of a century old. Woot! I woke up to Brandon singing happy birthday and hitting me with a pillow (don't worry- it's a family tradition). And- I won't lie- I LOVE getting presents. For my birthday, I got a GPS, two nice sweaters, a baby nursing cover, and many other gifts. Brandon also made me breakfast, took me out to dinner, and then made my bday cake. The meal was complete with those little ice cream cups that were so awesome in Grade School. My parents also called to sing and talk to me. It was an AMAZING day! :-)

I love life, and all that's going on. Here's to hoping the next couple months go as smoothly as possible!

Christmas pictures

2011-12-19T18:15:00.005-07:00

I thought I would put my Christmas newsletter on here. A lot of the information is things that I already put on the blog, but you are welcome to read it. Merry Christmas and a happy new year, you all!!!

Dear family and friends,
This year has been one of changes and excitement for Brandon and me! This past year I finished teaching 5th grade and Brandon graduated from BYU-Idaho. After that, we moved to Ridgecrest, California in the hopes of settling down in Brandon’s hometown. Since we were both able to get jobs here, I think that we made the right choice.

Right now I’m a long-term Kindergarten substitute at Faller Elementary School. Brandon is working on the China Lake Naval Base as a Java Developer. His job has been a big blessing for our family. Because he has such a great job here, we are looking around at houses in the area so that we can settle down. That, for me, is very good news since our first baby is also on the way (coming around April 20th). We recently found out that the baby will be a girl. I’m so excited- bring on the frilly dresses and bows!

We are loving life right now. We can’t even imagine the fun and excitement of the upcoming year. I’m sure that we’ll have all sorts of fun baby stories to tell next year. We hope that you all have a merry Christmas and a happy new year!!!

Love you all!
Brandon and Christina MacGregor

The baby is a....

2011-11-23T13:56:00.005-07:00

This picture is of the baby at 12 weeks. I need to get a more current one. But until then, you can see our little gummy bear. Isn't the baby cute??? :-)

So, for the big news...our baby is a girl! Yay!!! I would've been okay with having a boy baby. Boys and girls are both fun in their own way. But now that I know that I'm having a girl, I can dream of cute frilly dresses and bows in my baby's hair.

Brandon is excited, too. He did inform me that he hopes our little girl plays sports like him. I say if he can get her up for 5 am basketball (when she's old enough), then that's awesome. I do like that he's happy about the news, and as excited as I am.

So below are some pictures of things that I hope she's interested in:

Books

Bows

Dresses

Ballroom Dancing

musical instruments

Of course, if she's not into these things, it's okay. I know each baby comes into the world with their own personality. But man oh man, I'm just so excited that we are having a girl!

So the name that we are thinking of is Ariadne (pronounced: Air-ee-add-knee). Brandon and I first heard the name on the movie "Inception," and we really liked it. I researched it some more recently, and found out it actually is a greek mythological name. It means "most holy." Here is the story about it below:

http://www.theoi.com/Georgikos/Ariadne.html

While I'm not totally fond of the whole story behind her name, I do like the fact that her name is associated with being very smart. In the story, Ariadne gives a thread to Theseus to help him get out of a maze. So now her name is used when trying to solve complicated puzzles:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariadne's_thread_(logic)

This post is getting a little long, so I should probably end it. I'm just so excited and happy about the future. I get to make all sorts of plans and get cute baby things. Yay for babies! And double yay for baby girls!!!

Brandon's Graduation

2011-11-23T11:55:00.005-07:00

Since Brandon's college graduation was so momentous, I thought I'd put some pictures on here. And thanks again to all his family who came to it- you are all amazing and we love you!

New updates

2011-11-22T16:38:00.008-07:00

So...I haven't been on this blog in forever. Quick updates: Brandon graduated from BYU-Idaho, and we moved to Ridgecrest, CA. He is now working as a Java Developer on the China Lake Naval Base. Because he has such a great job here, we are looking around at houses in the area so that we can settle down. That, for me, is very good news since our first baby is also on the way. We get to find out tomorrow if the baby is a boy or girl. Yay!

Here is a prego picture of me. I'm about 19 weeks long, but I don't look it. (I've heard many times that your first pregnancy takes the longest for you to show. I hope that it's true.) :-)

I also dyed my hair. It was supposed to be brown, but since I have a reddish tint to my hair, I got red instead. I still like it. Here's some pics of what it looks like:

So that's the news in our neck of the woods. I'll post more baby details tomorrow- I can't wait!!! :-D

First Kiss at 3 am- Brandon and my story :-D

2011-02-15T22:43:00.002-07:00

Since it's just after Valentine's Day, I thought I'd share the story about how Brandon and I first met, and our first kiss story.

Brandon and I met freshman year of college. I'll admit, I was pretty shy when it came to boys. I didn't date much in high school, and I guess it showed. I was extremely awkward. I hadn't even had my first kiss yet. :-)

Brandon and I were put together as FHE brother and sister. We started to hang out the first semester of college, but just as friends. In December, I invited him out to a girl-ask-boy dance. I did so, thinking that he didn't like me as much as I liked him. However, he must have like me at least somewhat, because our relationship sped up after that point.

Fast forward to January. Things had been building up gradually to that point. Then we had a huge snowball fight. I know- how many times does a snowball fight lead to love? It did that day, though. A whole wintery flurry of love. I went to bed that night, all happy about the exciting night that we had had.

The following morning, around 3 am, my roommate came into my room. She told me to quickly brush my teeth and go outside. I had no idea what was going on. I groggily made my way to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and waddled outside. Brandon stood there, looking very nervous.

Sleepingly, I looked at him. Everything was a bit of a blur (I honestly don't do well at 3 am). I bluntly asked him why he wasn't in bed. He informed me that he couldn't sleep. Confused, I asked him why. He said, "Because of this..," and then he leaned forward. He held my face and sweetly kissed me, but I didn't kiss back. The kiss didn't even register. I just stared at him in bewilderment. He smiled, and then said, "I guess I'll see you later," and then left.

I went inside. My roommate was sitting on the couch. She asked what had happened, and I told her that I had just gotten my first kiss. She started to scream and jump around, and then she asked me what I did after I was kissed. I told her that I had just stood there. Her screaming stopped, and she looked at me like I was an idiot. "You have to call him now and let him know that you liked it!" she demanded. Since I was not the connoisseur of love, I agreed to do just that.

I called Brandon's apartment, and- thinking he was the only one up at 3 am- exclaimed, "How do you expect me to sleep after that?!!"

On the other end of the line, I hear a quiet, "Um...Christina? This is Neil. Do you want me to go and get Brandon?" I sheepishly told his roommate that I did.

After talking on the phone that night, having many more long conversations on the phone and IM, and Brandon serving a two year mission for our church, we finally got married. I feel very blessed to be married to my best friend. The past couple years of marriage have been amazing! It just goes to show that an awkward friendship, that led to an awkward first kiss, can lead to a FANTASTIC marriage and a lot of laughs. And as for me, I don't think that I would want it any other way. :-)

Weddings :-)

2010-05-24T20:39:00.004-06:00

So both Brandon's family and my family have had a lot of weddings in the past year. There has been three for my side, and two for his (including our wedding on both sides). I put a couple of pictures of the weddings on here, for those of you who know the lucky couples. Cheers! :-)

Gavin and Emily's Wedding

2010-05-24T20:25:00.005-06:00

Pics of John and Leeann's wedding

2010-05-24T20:23:00.001-06:00

2010-05-24T19:51:00.001-06:00

This free picture collage made with Smilebox

Valentine's Day!!!

2010-02-21T19:58:00.001-07:00

So, I love Valentine's Day- I really do. Growing up, my family would go all out to make it special. My parents would buy each other the coolest heart-shaped boxes filled with chocolate, and then use use them as decorations for the following years. (We had everything from furry, felt-covered heart boxes to denim ones- it was great!) They would also give us kids some wonderful treats, as well as an awesome breakfast- and that was just the beginning of the day. We would often recieve gifts at school, like flowers or other things, and then have a fantastic Valentines Day dinner later that night. My parents felt it was one of the most important holidays, and wanted to make sure that we felt loved. And by the way they treated us, we always did. :)

So, this year was my first Valentines Day married to Brandon, and it was the most amazing day ever. With a husband like mine, how could it not be? :) He made me an elaborate and yummy dinner with his friend, bought me some beautiful pink roses, and just treated me like a queen all day. I bought him the biggest heart-shaped box of chocolates that I could find, and put together a massage kit for him. We also had a Valentines Day breakfast of blueberry muffins and apple cider, which was a tradition we carried on from our wonderful Valentines Day last year. I love Valentines Day, and I have a feeling that they are only going to get better and better! :)

Our Apartment Pictures- Finally!!!

2010-02-21T19:06:00.000-07:00

So Brandon and I are finally putting some pictures of our apartment on our blog. We think it's rather roomy and nice, and we love it!!! Any way, here are the pics. :)

The first two pics are of our bedroom. The second picture is the view from the end of the bed.

This picture is of our "music room," but not because of this wall....

but these two walls. On this wall we have a saxophone picture, a miniature flute (that Brandon gave me while on his mission), and a guitar chord chart.

On this wall, we have Brandon's keyboard, my guitar, and my flute (which is hiding). :)

This is the first view of our bathroom. More like, this is the view of our shower.

This is the second view of our bathroom.

This is our lovely kitchen- and the dishes in the sink are clean and drying, I promise. :P

Another view of our kitchen, with its random chairs. On the back counter there are some muffins- yum!!! :)

These stairs lead to outside.

This is the computer area in the Living room.

The Living Room

And that's a basic tour of our apartment. We have another storage room in the back, but since it is full of boxes I didn't want to take a picture of it. Cheers! :)

Switch-a-roo

2009-09-30T16:23:00.000-06:00

So Brandon and I haven't been on here forever! Between my teaching job at the junior high and his schooling, we've been a little busy. Also, Brandon and I are in the process of moving stuff around in our apt. After getting all our stuff moved in, we discovered that the internet worked better in our bedroom area. So now our TV room is our bedroom and our bedroom is the TV room of awesomeness. :) Any way, as soon as it is all done we will post pictures up on our blog so that everyone can see it. Also, I'm going to post some summer pictures while I'm at it, because we had such a fantastic time in Ridgecrest! So, until then...ciao!!!

Date night!!!

2009-06-05T13:48:00.001-06:00

Every Friday Brandon and I go on dates together. (Both our parents did it that way, and we really loved the idea!) Usually we eat out or go somewhere fun, but now we think we'll start using the kit my sister, Becky, gave us at our wedding reception. It has match cars, water guns and balloons, and supplies for a "Sprinkle Contest." Watch out Friday night- here come some crazy times! :-D

Good Times

2009-06-04T20:11:00.000-06:00

Northern California Pictures

Brandon and I after swimming in Grandma MacGregor's pool

Grandma MacGregor's yard

The fam walking around Old Sac

(The top picture is of the Jazz Fest in old Sacramento)

Summer lovin' :-D

2009-05-28T16:03:00.000-06:00

Brandon and I are loving California and married life! We just went to northern California for Memorial Day weekend to see Brandon's Grandma. (She couldn't make it to the wedding or the receptions, so we went up to see her.) She is really fantastic, and has a wonderfully great personality. I like her a lot. :)

She also has a large pool and an almond orchard outside the back yard. (The almonds go to the "Diamond" company.) She also has blackberries, peaches, lemons, strawberries, and cherries. The cherries were just like the ones in Shoshone, as were the strawberries. The lemons were wonderfully tasty, too- we're planning another trip up there to pick peaches later on in the summer.

After spending Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in Durham (where Grandma lives), we left early Monday morning. We stopped in the old part of Sacramento to eat, shop, and look around. It happened to be the Jazz fest that weekend, and so their was amazing music wafting through the air. I think my favorite song was done by one of the big bands- "Rubber Ducky" is always a crowd pleaser. ;-)

After we finished out sandwiches and salt water taffies, (It was amazing- the store had TONS of flavors of taffies, and you can pick them out individually because each flavor is in a big barrel.), we went to visit the old cemetary there. Brandon's mom, Charisse, found some family names there, and we took pictures of some of the relatives, including Josiah Howell.

Besides trips around California, I'm substitute teaching and Brandon is working at the Base. Now that's school's ending, however, I need to get another job. I will be looking around some more- the never ending job search is great fun!!! :-P

Any ways, those are the updates. The weather is good, work is great, and we're enjoying life.

~ Christina and Brandon

Marriage

2009-04-23T14:37:00.000-06:00

Brandon and I are getting married on Saturday! Yay! And since his wonderful family loves to do blogging, I decided to jump on the bandwagon, too. Hopefully people will read it, but if not, at least we can have a grand ol' time with the internet. We plan to put our pictures, thoughts, and news down (well, as they occur). This is a new and exciting stage in our lives, and we want to share it with everyone. :)