The festive holiday season of madness

The Jeppson clan Christmas and Thanksgiving were pretty wild! We were working a lot, like mad for me(hence the reason I'm not in the picture), and my parents had the whole family in town for Christmas! Riot!! Sad to say we don’t have many pictures from Christmas (as my camera and purse were stolen in August, including a lot of cash and gift cards :( very sad times). But Christmas was great! My parents gave us a fabulous stroller/car seat combo that we are excited to use along with a lot of other useful baby items and post pregnancy clothes for me. Maybe one day I’ll be able to wear them! For New Years Eve we just kicked it at home with the family and watched the ball drop. When did Dick Clark get so old?

Happy Halloween!

For Halloween we decided to take it easy and pass out candy to the kiddies. While we were hanging out I made Rob give his son his first Halloween costume. Rob dressed up in his lovely Chinese silk pajamas that we got for fun in China, so in the pictures he kind of looks like a crazy Chinese doctor. He did a good job though didn’t he?!

It's a Happy Day!

Happy Birthday!! We celebrated Rob’s 27th birthday at my parent’s house; also where we’ve been camping out while looking for a house since we got back from China. We also used it as a “guess the sex of our baby” party. We made everyone pick a blue or pink cup to use then we went down to watch the ultrasound DVD that we had done a couple of weeks before. What cup would you have picked? (Refer to pictures below to see if you are correct!!)
It's a...!!!!

Our baby!

I thought it was a good time to give Rob a birthday/Christmas present…a set of skis and boots! Hurray, no more rear entry boots for Rob! Side note: Rob and I got engaged shortly before Christmas so for that Christmas I promptly went out and bought him some skis to let him…try out skiing. Some say I wouldn’t have married him if he didn’t take to skiing and that this was the last test. I don’t think I’m THAT shallow, but we’ll just say it’s a good thing he took to it quickly and at least pretended to enjoy it. So all he had were the skis and bindings I bought him, he “made due” with some good ol’ fashioned rear entry boots that didn’t fit him, that’s how dedicated he was! Wasn’t he a good fiancé?! So now he’s a little more “legit”. Both of the parties were good times!
Happy Birthday!



Doesn't he look great in his jeans and boots? All his needs now is a Cowboys jacket and he'll be a Texas skier! :) no offense Texans...

Like a bump on a log

So, as I’ve was…increasing in size, I got a job as a behavioral therapist working one-on-one in a school with a boy with autism. It’s was an incredibly rewarding job (one that I first got experience at in Hawaii), but a physically and mentally taxing one. Throw in the being pregnant factor and working in a school during the “swine flu pandemic” and that makes for a festive concoction. Well, I lasted three months. I know, I’m a wimp. But mostly just not a fan of putting my life and my unborn child’s life in that type of environment along with the stress of dealing with the boy’s mother who had multiple issues herself. Now it’s time to once again search for a job…as woman with a five month old pregnant belly. Hummm… Here are a couple obligatory baby bump pictures while you wait!
12 Weeks

22 Weeks

Time flies when you are crazy busy! Oh yeah, and...

When I got home from India and South Africa I spent the whole summer up at school completing my degree. Hurray! I can finally say I have a degree! I graduated with a B.S. in English and a minor in Psychology. With Rob going to and from different lighting retailer shows I was once again on the hunt for a job. In June we got a visit from someone...a “stork” came by to announce that he would be dropping off a package in about nine months! We found out in August that we will be blessed with a bundle of love due Feb. 25, 2010!!

"To be learned is good..."

Rob has officially graduated! He is an MBA! It took a while to get the actual degree in the mail, but it’s finally here! I’m so proud of him for sticking it all out, through the multiple issues of the good ol’ Shidler College of Business, craziness in China, and good times during his internship. IT’S ALL COMPLETE!! HURRAY!! Congratulations Baby!!

"You did what??"

What do I have to say for myself? Well, quite a bit actually! I'll go in chronological order so as not to confuse anyone, including myself. To begin with, once we arrived back to America after our stay in China, Robert went directly to an internship with a Chinese LED company called CAO. This was required in order to complete his MBA. He...struggled through it, quickly got a paid position there and actually endured that for quite some time. Meanwhile, I was searching for a job. Then I did some more searching. Then some more. Eventually I received an email from UCA (Universal Cheerleaders Association), a company I've worked for in the past, stating that they were looking for qualified and available people for an intriguing job opportunity. Well look at that! I actually WAS qualified, and obviously quite available! So needless to say I applied. What was the position you ask? Well, how much do you know about the game of Cricket? Don't worry, I didn't know anything either. Apparently it's a pretty MAJOR sport outside the U.S. One place it is particularly popular is in India. They have a league that's entitled the IPL (Indian Premier Cricket League). It’s equivalent to our NBA, NFL, and MLB all combined. In that I mean it is a combination of ALL of our major sport organizations. It is THE sport and THE league. Millions of lives revolve around it. It was placed on the shoulders of fifteen girls to popularize the addition of cheerleading and dancing to it. No pressure. So, after many long talks with my husband and several hang-ups circumvented, off to India I went.
We were “on assignment” for one particular team: Royal Challengers Bangalore. We did a few press conferences and filmed a music video while we were there. Then, due to circumstances out of the league’s control, the IPL T20 tournament was moved to South Africa. Time for more adventure!
The majority of the time we spent in South Africa was devoted to cheering at games and trying to convince the crowds that we were what the IPL needed. Thankfully we had some down time; and man did we ever take full advantage of that time. We went on a safari
played with baby lions and tigers (unfortunately no bears)

played in the ocean, went exploring, and overall just soaked up all that South Africa had to offer
. Our team, RCB, ended up making it all the way to finals, barely missing the first place podium by a few runs.
By the end of our two month stay all of us had grown incredibly close. We experienced a lot together, things that for better or worse we will all remember. Not to sound too cliché but it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. During this time my sweet, supportive husband stayed at home slaving away working for the man. We spoke via skype whenever our schedules lined up. It was hard being apart but it all ended up alright (unless you ask him… :) ). What an experience!!