Christmastime is here!

The Christmas season is our favorite time of year! Of course, we love to celebrate the birth of our Savior, but we also enjoy all the sights, sounds, tastes, and smells that the Christmas season brings--Christmas lights, yummy treats, traditional hymns and fun Christmas songs--this is definitely the best time of year!

Every year we cut down our own Christmas tree and this year was no exception. Last year we found a great tree farm out in Santee and we went there again this year. See the pictures below for the play-by-play!

So many great trees to choose from!

(Yes, only in San Diego can you pick out your Christmas tree while wearing shorts and a T-shirt).

Jack helping to find the perfect tree

The winning tree!

Packing it up

I love Christmas!

The finished product!

A Busy Season

It has been a while since I last posted on here and much has happened in the last couple months. Of course, the biggest news is that we're expecting a baby next summer! We are super excited, although the dramatic life change that is approaching still seems a bit surreal. :)


At this point, I am about 14 weeks along in my pregnancy. I have been feeling good the last couple of weeks; my energy is back up and I am able to eat more than I did during the first trimester. When I first found out I was pregnant, I seemed to be feeling good, but then at about 6 weeks, I started to feel nauseous. Basically, I couldn't eat much because nothing ever sounded good; however, I was hungry, but instead of feeling normal hunger sensations, I automatically felt nauseous. Overall, it was not fun, but it was mostly bearable and I was able to continue working without too much difficulty. Thankfully, I am now feeling like my usual self. :)


So far, the pregnancy seems to be moving along well. I got to have an ultrasound at my first doctor appointment and we got to see the baby's heart beating on the screen--so amazing (see ultrasound picture below). I just had my second doctor appointment last week and this time we got to hear the baby's heart beating! WOW!


Obviously, this is a very exciting time! We're amazed and in awe at this process of pregnancy and we are looking forward to entering the realm of parenthood (with some fear and trembling mixed in!). Thanks to all of our friends and family who've expressed so much love and support during this exciting time! We will keep you posted on this journey!


Love,
Allison

Baby Wardrip at 9 weeks

New poll question

Inquiring minds want to know...check out the new poll question!

Catching up

Hello again to our faithful blog readers! When I checked to see the last time I posted an entry, I was surprised to see that it was almost 2 months ago! I wish I could say we've been caught up in something exceptionally great that has kept us from posting, but alas, this is not the case. Basically, I haven't had anything grand to post about, hence the hiatus. Now that we're nearing the end of October, I guess it's time for an update!

September was a fairly standard month for us. Aside from the usual day-to-day work and life busyness, Noah also started school at the end of September. Now, every moment that he's not at work, he's either reading articles, doing homework, or on campus in class or in the lab. Yikes! In the meantime, I am keeping myself busy with work (of course), various church commitments, reading (I just finished Laura Ingraham's "Power to the People"), watching football (Go Chargers!) and even watching the baseball play-offs.

A few weeks ago, Noah's mom and brother came to visit and we had the pleasure of celebrating Jonathan's 16th birthday together. Our family unit wasn't quite complete though since Laura is still in South Africa (although we did get to do Skype while Jonathan opened his birthday presents, so Laura did get to participate via computer [see pictures below]). Also for Jonathan's birthday, we attended the Miramar Air Show, a favorite for all of us. Unfortunately, the camera quit before the show was over, so we don't have pics of the F22 Raptor or the Blue Angels (definite highlights of the show!).

Anyway, here are a few pics for your enjoyment!

A horse-filled visit

Last week my mom came down to visit for a few days. She hadn't been down to visit for over a year and it was her birthday, so we took the opportunity to celebrate in a couple different ways. First of all, my mom is a horse fanatic, so what better way to celebrate than 1) watch the horse races and 2) go horseback riding, which we did! Unfortunately, Noah had to work both days my mom was visiting, so he couldn't join us on our outings (or maybe fortunately for him because he's not a big fan of horses.) :)


The horse races at Del Mar were pretty exciting. This was my first time going to any type of horse races and there's a whole horse-racing culture that I didn't even know existed. I tried my hand at betting on one race and my horse actually came in first! My total profit came to a whopping $2.20.


Horseback riding was also quite an adventure. We went out of a place in the South Bay and got to take our horses along Imperial Beach. We actually rode right up to the CA/Mexico border fence. Also, along the ride back to the stables, my horse stopped on the trail and decided to sit down! It was quite startling because I thought for sure she was going to start rolling around in the dirt, which would not have been good with me sitting on her back. Just as the guide was about to tell me to jump off, she quickly got back up and we were on our way. Phew!


Overall, my mom and I had a great few days together during her visit to San Diego! Pictures are included below...

Mom and daughter at the Del Mare race track

And they're off...

Crossing the finish line

My winning horse

The scoreboard showing my winnings

On the trail to the beach

Approaching Imperial Beach

The border fence with Mexico in the background

The end of the trail. This isn't the most flattering picture, but after 3 hours on a horse, our butts, knees, legs, and backs were aching and we were ready to get back on the ground!

Olympics

Is everyone else out there enjoying the Olympics as much as we are?! WOW, it has been so exciting! We have been putting our new DVR to good use this past week.

Of course, the Michael Phelps journey was awesome to watch, but there have been lots of other exciting events, such as men's and women's gymnastics, women's indoor volleyball (USA's win against Poland was a close call!), men's and women's diving, and various track and field events. There's just something about watching the best athletes in the world display their talent that we find so riveting and inspiring. Yay for the Olympics!

P.S. Let's go USA!!

The Vaccine Book

So, I just finished reading "The Vaccine Book" (pictured above). I read this book for two reasons: 1) I work with children with Autism and there is a lot of controversy surrounding the issue of vaccines being linked to Autism and 2) Noah and I hope to have kids of our own in the future, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to read up on the issue.


I found the tone of the book to be good; the author provides a lot of information regarding the pros and cons of getting or not getting each vaccine and basically leaves it up to the reader to decide what they would do for their child based on all the information presented. The fact that the book is not blantantly pro- or anti-vaccine is refreshing. However, after reading this book, I feel a little overwhelmed by the whole vaccine issue. There's so much information regarding the pros and cons of vaccines. At the end of the book though, the author provides an alternate vaccine schedule for those parents who still want to get vaccines, but in a way that doesn't bombard their child with multiple vaccines at once. This seems like something to consider....


Also, the book is eye-opening in the sense that it gives information on the specific ingredients that are in vaccines...formaldehyde, fetal cow blood, monkey kidney cells...yikes! Monkey kidney cells...who knew?!

Anyway, this was definitely an interesting read. I think I may need to read it again (and maybe some other info) before actually making a decision on the issue. It's good to be informed though because at one point in the book, when talking about the Hep B vaccine, the author says, "Parents should be aware that some hospitals give the hep B vaccine to babies without discussing it with the parents first" (pg. 53). Wow, that's a little scary.

So, for any of you out there that read this blog and want to weigh in on the vaccine issue, I'd love to hear your viewpoint. Please leave a comment!

Into the Wild Blue Yonder

Two weeks ago, Noah went on a 5-day backpacking trip to Sequoia National Park. He went with 4 other men from church and apparently they had a great time (except for maybe the last day of the trip when they hiked out 11 1/2 miles (~ 8 hours) and then drove straight home to San Diego for another 7 hours--yikes!).

Since Noah's not too interested in posting on this blog, I have taken it upon myself to pick out some pictures from his trip to share with all of you. And since I wasn't there, I don't have any commentary to offer, although a picture's worth a thousand words, right?

Enjoy!

Hello Summer!

It was a gorgeous day in San Diego today and Noah and I took advantage by enjoying some outdoor activities. First, we had a picnic lunch at Seaport Village with Jack in tow. Next, we made an excursion to the dog beach in Coronado. This was Jack's second trip to the beach and we can now say without a doubt that he does not like water! He walked along the wet sand just fine, but as soon as the water started to roll in, he quickly dashed toward the dry sand. Noah is also not fond of wet sticky sand between his toes, so I'm sure he was quite happy that Jack was the cleanest and driest dog among the bunch when we left the beach this afternoon. :)

Jack hiding behind Noah (avoiding the water)

View of dog beach (with the Hotel Del in the background)

Inseparable

Just chillin'

Cheeeese!

Five Years of Wedded Bliss

Okay, so maybe 'wedded bliss' isn't the most fitting description of our five years of marriage...we have definitely had our ups and downs and plenty of challenges on this journey of merging our two lives into one. Thankfully, we have had many wonderful (and wise!) mentors and friends along the way who've encouraged us through much prayer, counsel, friendship, and fun. Thanks so much to all of you who have supported us on this journey!

Over the course of our years together, Noah and I have learned a lot about each other and we've grown in our care and love for one another (and we hope to continue to grow lots more in these areas in the coming years!). We've discovered that we're actually quite different in some of our interests--Noah enjoys rigorous physical activity in the outdoors, such as backpacking, running, and mountain biking, whereas I prefer a quiet afternoon with a good book as a way to feel refreshed and relaxed. Despite our differences though, we are also similar in a lot of ways. We both enjoy making a yummy breakfast together on a lazy Saturday morning, we love visiting the many fun sites around San Diego such as the zoo, Wild Animal Park, and Balboa Park. And, of course, we love taking our dog, Jack, to the dog park!

One fun thing about our anniversary is that we love to reflect on our wedding day and try to remember what we were feeling that day. This year, we watched our wedding video and giggled as we watched ourselves gaze into each other's eyes and share our first kiss. It was so much fun and a great reminder of the vows we made to each other and the wonderful blessing it is to be married to each other. We are truly blessed and look forward to many more wonderful years together!

We treated ourselves to a Padres game on Saturday night!

Noah, ready to catch a foul ball.

The happy couple, 6-21-08

The happy couple, 6-22-03

A Father's Day Tribute

Since our fathers are no longer with us, we'd like to take this opportunity to honor their memory this Father's Day.


Gary Horton
February 12, 1950-January 6, 1998







































I (Allison) have many fond memories of my dad. He had a quiet and gentle spirit and he had a great sense of humor and loved to joke around. My dad loved music and played the guitar. Some of my favorite memories of my dad include listening & playing music together, the fishing trips we took, learning to ride a bike with my dad's help, and my first trip to Disneyland.


Nathan John Wardrip
December 29, 1954-April 29, 1994

Noah also has many fond memories of his dad. His dad was gentle and caring, intelligent, athletic, and he enjoyed being with his family. Noah remembers playing baseball while his dad coached his Little League team. He also went on a memorable father-son backpacking trip to Bullfrog Lake with his dad. Noah also has fond memories of being his dad's right-hand-man during their home remodeling project.
























Although we both feel a void in our lives without our dads here, we are confident that we'll see them again one day in heaven. Until then, we will continue to honor their memories and think of them with great fondness.


Happy Father's Day to our dads! We miss you both!

Recent happenings...

It's hard to believe a month has already gone by since I've updated the blog. Although, on the other hand, not much has been happening on the Wardrip front, so a blog update didn't really seem necessary.

Noah's life has been filled with studying, homework assignments, more studying, work, school projects, more studying, and now finals. This quarter he has been taking an algorithms class, which has been challenging to say the least. The picture below gives a glimpse of just what I mean--two weeks ago we drove up to NorCal to visit family and Noah studied most of the way up and down California (while Jack snoozed on his lap!).

Needless to say, we'll both be ecstatic when he finishes the quarter this Thursday! We're looking forward to spending time together this summer enjoying the many fun things San Diego has to offer!

This last weekend, I flew up to Davis for a solo weekend with my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. My mother-in-law treated me to "The Phantom of the Opera" which was such a blast. I had never seen the show before, so it was great to see all the stage effects, costumes, and of course, the music and singing was phenomenal.

Til next time,

Allison