Check this out...

You may have heard of it, it's called the "Gestation Project"...

You can read more about it on the website, but basically it's a streaming video of pictures taken during a woman's pregnancy (every couple days). It's pretty neat to watch her grow!

http://www.enjoyyourdigitallife.com/?p=8

Per my husbands request...

I am posting a picture of Jessica and I with Josh Blue...

But before you see the picture, it is important that I say that I am not usually one to have my picture taken with anyone even resembling a celebrity. I really see them as no different than myself and tend to think that it must get a little annoying to have random people constantly wanting to take a picture with you. I also worked in a restaurant during college that was frequented by "celebrities" and we were expected to do everything in our power to ensure that they had a comfortable, uniteruppted dining experience. I learned very quickly how to act completly neutral, as if I had no clue who they were (forget the 7 foot basketball player with legs so long that they didn't fit under the table, diamonds so big that I was blinded everytime I walked up to the table and women and men alike loosing their minds inside as the other employees made it clear they were not to even get close to the table).

Okay, now that I've given my disclaimer...enjoy the picture! ;)

On our own!

I called my mom on Saturday morning to chat and the next thing I knew I was packing a suitcase for Bella and we were on our way to Susanville. We met my mom there, had lunch, loaded Bella up in her car and off she went to Grandma's! It worked out great for us since we had tickets to see the winner of Last Comic Standing, Josh Blue that night. We were able to go out without having to worry about getting home in a timely manner and had a great time at the show (he is *really* funny). After the show we hung out while Andy and Josh played table games at the casino. They both made a little money which made for an even better evening!

Here is a picture of Andy and I after the show...



Yesterday we were at church most of the day for our annual Baptism and BBQ. There were more than 100 people baptized which is absolutely amazing! It was so neat to see person after person climb into the pool. At one point a whole family was baptized together (Dad, Mom and Daughter) which of course brought tears to my eyes. One of our friends from our bible study was also baptized which was really special to see. After that we came home for a couple hours, rested a little and then headed out to play Softball. We won our first game which meant we had to play a second game an hour later. We were 1 player short both games and still managed to win! We were pretty excited but also completely exhausted!

Speaking of Softball, here is a picture of our team from last week...



Today we decided to stay at home and get a few things done around the house. We are getting a new receiver installed today from Dish Network so we can have DVR capabiities. We harldy watch any TV as it is so it will be intersting to see if this changes our television viewing habits?? We are going to go to the mall later to exchange a few things I bought for Andy and then have dinner. We are thinking of seeing Talledega Nights, but aren't sure yet. Regardless it will be nice to enjoy an evening out, just the two of us, not having to worry about getting home to our sweet little Bella.

Bella will come home tomorrow evening and it will be back to the grind for all of us. We love that little girl more than we ever imagined we would, but would be lying if we said it wasn't nice to have the occasional break and enjoy our time as husband and wife. Thankfully we still like eachother enough that we really enjoy our time together. ;)

That's all for now.

Where do I start??

Wow! It's been busy around here the last couple weeks! I'll probably forget something, but here goes...

We went to Andy's 10 year class reunion. We drove to Redding on Friday night, had lunch with my mom on Saturday, and hung out with our friends Chris and Sierra until reunion time on Saturday evening. Andy had a good time, but was a little dissapointed that more of his old high school friends weren't there. I actually had a pretty good time too. Thankfully we are good friends with one of Andy's high school class mates and his wife so Sierra and I were able to hang out most of the evening and not feel too out of place. We had to drive back Saturday night so I could be at church on Sunday morning for my class. Needless to say we were exhausted the next day but were able to spend some time with Andy's parents (they were here for a horse training seminar) which was really nice.

Here are a few pics from the class reunion...

Andy and his good friend Chris




Andy and I



Our good friends the O'Connells were here visiting last week. It's always a great time with them, but this trip was extra special because we got to finally meet the newest member of the family, Drew. I'm probably biased, but he is one of the cutest little boys I have ever seen. As always, their visit was too short, but now that it's our turn we hope to make it to one of our favorite places (So Cal) in the not too distant future.

Here is a picture of Bella and Kendra after Bella's party...




And one of Bella and baby Drew...



As I just metioned, Bella also celebrated her 4th birthday with a Dora Party. We started the festivities at our house with pizza, cake and gifts and then went down the street for an hour of bounce house fun. The kids had a lot of fun us big kids had a pretty good time too. By the time we made it home we were exhausted but it was well worth it!

Unfotunately I lost my USB cable and my camera card was full so I only got a couple pics on my camera. Thankfully Jessica filled in with her camera. Here are a few that I had on my camera (I got a new cable in case anyone was wondering).

Before everyone arrived...



A terribly cheesy smile...



After her party, hanging out in the Dora Treehouse that Kendra and Drew gave her and showing off the jewlery she got...



And a bonus picture of Bella and Lucy...



Life has been pretty crazy for us lately. We have had some great times, but hope to slow things down a bit here in the next few months.

Birthday's Everywhere!!!!!!

In the month of August we have already celebrated Bella's Birthday, Kendra's Birthday and Morgan's (Bella's neighbor friend) Birthday. Today we add to that list, Grammy's Birthday, Mike's Birthday and yes, you guess it...my birthday!

So, Happy Birthday to Mike and Grammy! I couldn't think of a better day to celebrate a birthday! ;) We hope that your day is wonderful and that this year brings with it many new blessings!

We love you guys!

Happy Birthday Kendra!

Kendra is 2!!!!!!

Bella and Kendra truely are kindred spirits...not only were they born on the same day, but also at the same time (2 years apart of course). Sure they have different aspects to their personalities, but they seem to be cut from the same mold. They have similar behaviors, ways of talking and even similar health issues (poor girls). It's amazing to me that I would find a friend who is more like me than anyone else on the this earth and that we would have children who are so similar. I can't wait to see what 20 years does to us and what we will be saying on the day that we celebrate a 24th and 22nd birthday!!!

We love you Miss Kendra and can't wait to see you next week!

Happy Birthday Isabella Grace!!

Today our beautiful little girl turns 4!

Truth be told, I am having a hard time wrapping my mind around the reality of having a 4 year old. It sounds a bit cliche, but it really seems like yesterday that we laid eyes on her for the first time and spent those first few days and weeks falling in love with our baby girl. Now when I look at her all of the "baby" things seem to have quietly dissapeared and instead of my "baby", I see a little girl.

As we have watched her grow into the little girl she is, there is no denying that she is extremely strong willed and independent. While those characteristics sometimes cause distress in the McMinn household we are determined to foster them and help her to use them in a way that she can be proud of. I have no doubt that God made her the way He did for a very specific reason and it is my prayer that as her parents we foster those qualities and never do anything to make her feel like she needs to be anything other than the girl (and eventually woman) that God created her to be.

In addition to her strong character qualities there are other things about her that are just priceless. She has to be one of the friendliest and outgoing little girls I have ever met. I have shared this story with many of you, but on a regular basis she stands on the patio in the backyard waiting for people to walk by so she can say hi to them. If they don't respond the first time she will say, okay, yell, "I SAID HI!!" If the person walking by happens to engage her in conversation she will talk until I head outside to relieve the poor passer by of their obligation to stand there and talk to the cute little girl. Today she has told EVERYONE she has seen (stranger and friend) that it's her birthday and she is 4 now. As usual, some people think it's great and others act a bit annoyed that I let my child interrupt whatever it happend to be they were doing...even if it was as simple as walking down the sidewalk or standing in line...but I digress...

I could go on and on but at the risk of sounding like an overly doting mother, I will simply say that we couldn't have asked for a more perfect little girl for our family. In the recent months as we have tried so hard to have another child, I have really began to realize what an incredible blessing she is in our life. Only now do I see how much I took for granted the time that I was pregnant with her and really, each and every day of the last 4 years. God gave us a good and perfect gift when he blessed us with Bella and I hope that she always knows that even if no one else on this earth loves her or supports her, there will be 2 people who will never give up on her, never stop loving her and never forget what an amazing gift we were given on that 6th day of August.

We love you Bella!!!

Like Father, Like Daughter...

We took the boat to the lake on Monday and Bella rode in her tube for the first time alone. Most 3 year olds would probably be a little scared, but not Bella. We taught her hand signals the day before and here she is giving her favorite one...



Here are a couple more...





And of course, here's where she gets it from (cause we all know it isn't me)...

"God doesn't care if you're late..."

"As long as you make it there safely" was what the Sparks Police Officer said to me after I told him I was on my way to work at the|rock church right down the street (he asked me where I was headed that I needed to be driving 55 in a 40 mph zone). After agreeing about his assesment of God wanting me safe and a brief conversation about my "unique" name he was kind enough to not give me a ticket and inform me that I really needed to watch my "need for speed" as they would be out every morning monitoring the stretch of road I drive on my way to work.

I can't tell you how relieved I was not to receive a speeding ticket. I'll admit that I'm a bit of a lead foot, especially around here. I blame it all on living in "Big City" California for so long...the flow of traffic is 80 mph and it is quite a task for me to slow myself down and drive in a place where most people go 5 mph BELOW the speed limit. Plus I think it's in my genes...my mom drives faster than I do sometimes! ;)

As I was leaving work, one of my co-workers reminded me of what the officer had said to me earilier in the day and then said, "I can't believe you actually used the God card." I replied, "you better believe I did and guess what...IT WORKED!" ;)

Happy 4th of July!

We hope everyone has a wonderful day celebrating today. Andy has to work all day, so it's just Bella and I today. I have some work I have to get done and then we are going to go check out the town festivities. We will visit Andy for a while and maybe have lunch with him and then of course watch fireworks tonight. We have some sparklers for Bella to do tonight. It will be the first time she's used a sparkler so it will be interesting to see what she thinks. I of course will be sure to take pictures!

As most of you know today is bittersweet for our family. For years the 4th of July was a very special time for our family. All of our holidays were wonderful, but there was something about the 4th for us. I think it had a lot to do with my dad's love of fireworks and how cool Jason and I thought they were. It was always so exciting for us, whether we were setting them off on the street in front of our house or in a small town called Trout Lake with our friends Jim and Darlene. And then as fate would have it, 7 years ago today my brother and I stood in a hospital room with our arms around eachother as we watched Pop (for those of you who didn't know, we called my dad "Pop") leave this earth. All of sudden a day filled with such good memories and happy feelings was now tainted with an inescapable saddness. Time has been a friend to me. I am still sad, but it's not the unbearable weight that it once was. Today my saddness comes from the fact that my dad never saw me graduate from college, get married, or have a child. He would have been a great grandpa to Bella.

In October when I found out I was pregnat of course the first thing I did was calcualate my due date. You can imagine my surprise when I realized it was July 4! A day marked by the end of life would now be marked by the beginning also. The death of a grandfather and the birth of a grandchild. Although I realized the chances of actually delivering on my due date were slim, I really felt like God was giving our family a gift with this special date to hold on to. And then I miscarried. So many times I asked God, "WHY?" I simply didn't understand why he would allow this to happen. Not long after my m/c I was listening to my Jeremy Camp CD and the song, "I Still Believe" was on. The whole song is very special to me, but there is one part that has been stuck in my mind ever since. It says,

Though the questions still fog up my mind
With promises I still seem to bear
Even when answers slowly unwind
It's my heart I see you prepare

I now know that God is preparing my heart for something. I don't know what it is, but that's okay. It's not always easy, but ultimately I know that His ways are so much greater and that sometimes we have to trust that He knows what we cannot see.

So today, a day filled with some of my best childhood memories is also a day filled with saddness from the loss of my dad and now for the first time, the loss of our very much wanted baby. As I was thinking about it last night, I thought, "well at least I get it all over with in one day." ;)

With that, today is going to be a happy day for us. Bella and I are going to put on our red, white and blue and we are going to celebrate a day that for so many years brought me more joy and fun than any child could have ever hoped for. Those memories are ones I will never forget and there are the ones I'm going to choose to fill my day with.

Where have I been???

In consideration of everyone's time, I'm going to use bullet format to answer my question...

-- My cousin Brad was married on June 24th in Mt. Shasta. Bella and I spent 5 days at my mom's preparing for the wedding and visiting with family. The wedding turned out absolutely beautiful and we had a really nice visit. Congraulations to Brad and Dee! May you have many years of happiness!!

--We came home from Grandma's with a little something extra!

Meet Lucy...



My mom and Mike found her in their garage, stuck in the back of a drawer in a large tool chest. They have no idea how she got there, but after hearing something for 2 days they decided to investigate and were shocked to find a baby kitten. Bella of course took to her immediately and my adament refusal to bring home a kitten was slowly broken with comments like, "Look mom, she loves me so much". What can I say, I'm a sucker!!

So far she has been a wonderful kitty. She tolerates Bella's constant desire to hold her and take her everyone she goes. She has been litter box trained from the moment we brought her home and is already starting to plump up and look like a healthy kitten should.

--Last Saturday we attended Andy's cousins wedding. It was another beautiful wedding. We had a really nice time seeing our family and were sad to have to leave so soon. Bella had a great time dancing the night away and Andy even busted a few moves that I didn't know he was capable of. ;) Here is a cute picture of Andy chasing Bella around the dance floor...



--My "part time" job has quickly become much more than that. I've spent appx. 30 hours a week doing my job and still have things that need to be done. Andy has also been working a lot and so in the few moments we have together we have been trying to come up with a plan of how to both work jobs that are quite demanding and still maintain our home and most importantly be good parents to Bella and good spouses to eachother. It's not an easy task but I'm confident that we will figure it all out. Like Andy said, "there has to be a way because there is no doubt that we are both exactly where God wants us to be". I couldn't agree more!

--Yesterday we spent the first part of the day at church and then came home and got some housework done. In the evening we had friends over for Margaritas and a BBQ. We had a great time and are so blessed to have such great friends.

--Today I spent most of the day cleaning and catching up on laundry while Andy slaved away outside. He did some serious weed control and our back yard is looking quite nice again. We are going to take it easy this evening and enjoy some family time.

--For those who may have tried to call us the past few days, our phone has been out of commission. I came home on Thursday to find that our phone had no dial tone. The repair man finally came out today and was able to fix it quickly...evidentally they had been out doing some work on Thursday and unknowingly disconnected our service. Everyone knows that I'm a phone talker, but I have to admit that it was kind of nice not to hear our phone ring for 4 full days! ;P

June 20, 2006

It is my pleasure to welcome Andrew Ryan to the world. He was born today at 2:05 p.m., weighing in a 8 lbs. 11 oz and 20 inches long.

I will post a picture of him for all to see as soon as I get a close up of him!

Dan, Jessica and Kendra...

We are so happy that Drew is finally here, safe and sound! We can't wait to see more pictures and more than anything, can't wait to meet the newest member of the family. You guys have done a fabulous job with Kendra and we know you will do the same with Drew! I can't believe little Miss Kendra is a big sister!!!

We love you guys!

Andy, Donielle and Bella

Happy Father's Day!

What a weekend of celebrating we've had...yesterday our anniversary and today, Father's Day!

Not having my dad here on earth to celebrate today is of course a bit sad, but mostly today has been filled with incredible joy when I see what a wonderful father my daughter has. Andy is everything that I am not when it comes to being a parent. He is like a big kid and one of the coolest dads I know. He takes time to play with Bella, reads to her every night before she goes to bed and most importantly isn't afraid to tell her just how much he loves her. He hugs her and kisses her and gives her the love that every daughter needs from her father. Seeing all of this warms my heart in a way I simply cannot describe.

I know that much of the father Andy is comes from the father that he had, so with that, I say a heartfelt thank you to Gary, for showing my husband what it means to be a dad. Without your example he would not be the man (father and husband) he is today!

Happy Father's Day to all of the dads out there and to those of you who don't have a dad to celebrate, regardless of the reason, hang in there and know you are not alone.

Happy Anniversary to us!!

Six years ago, at approximately 2:00 in the afternoon I became Mrs. Andrew McMinn! It was one of the best days of my life, everything I dreamed of (except for those awful orange walls at the reception site) and six years later I am happy to report that being husband and wife has come quite naturally to us. We have had our hard times, but in the whole scope of things, I thought we would have to work a whole lot harder in order to have a healthy marriage. Of course part of this is due to a husband who although stubborn at times, eventually comes around and does his best to be a great husband. But more than anything I think it's has to do with my dashing beauty and irrisistable wit!! Okay, that's a joke, but one that Andy will appreciate when he reads this! ;P

So, here's to you, Mr. Andrew McMinn! Thanks for never leaving my side, for putting up with my craziness, for supporting me and encouraging me to never give up. And more than anything, thank you for showing me how to strive to be a better person today than I was yesterday. You are a true gift to me and I look forward to spending many, many more years with you!!

Stepping it up a notch!

Unfotunately my body is being somewhat resistant to the acupuncture and natropathic treatments I am currently doing. Things are definitely improving, but much slower than we had hoped. It's really no surprise, as my body seems to have a mind of it's own (for example my bizzare reactions to almost every OTC and prescription medication out there).

After a long discussion about my progress (or lack there of) last week, Dr. F decided to start a more agressive treatment plan. She added a Chinese Herbal tincture to my daily regimn that is supposed to support the acupuncture and also changed my acupuncture treatments.

My previous acupuncture simply involved needles being put into various points on my body. Today things got interesting...

Not only did she use a variety of different points, she also put several needles in my head and face to address my increasing frequency of headaches and full blown migraines. Along with that she drilled 2 needles in each side of my abdomen. She put the needles in so deep that I had to close my eyes because I started to feel queazy when I realized how little of the very long needles were exposed. After she was done she attached electordes to both needles and turned up the frequency as high as I could handle it. If that wasn't enough she also put a needle in the middle of my stomach, put a paper around it on my stomach, set a Moxa (chinese herb that smells exactly like marijuana) over the needle and lit it on fire. At that point she turned the lights off and left me with a burning herb on my stomach and electric shocks pulsing through my abdomen for 30 mintues. After the intial shock of it all wore off it wasn't that bad, but I have to admit that it's was a bit nerve wracking at first.

This is my new treatment plan for now. Hopefully it works because I'm afraid of what might be next! ;)

And so the balancing act begins...

For the first time since becoming a mom I am working outside of the home, albeit part time, it's still proving to be quite an adjustment for us.

We have been moved into our offices for about 2 weeks now and I have been actually going to work (before I did everything from home) on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. My goal is to work 2 days a week at the office and do the rest at home, but right now I am so incredibly busy I'm not even close to getting everything done in 3 days, let alone 2.

I had a great routine down for getting everything done and all of a sudden I feel like I'm barely keeping my head above water. I feel rushed from the second I wake up in the morning until the minute I drop into bed at night completly exhausted. The good thing is that I am really enjoying my job. It is by far one of the most challenging and emotionally draining (I'm mostly referring to the counseling aspect of my job) things I have done in a long time, but even with that I am so happy to have this opportunity. I by no means feel like I made a mistake in taking the job, just that I need to figure out how to balance being at work 2-3 days a week and continue to maintain a household. I really think I will be able to figure it all out, it's just going to take a little time. Thankfully Andy is willing to help out in some of the areas that I'm slacking in which takes some of the pressure off, but truth be told, he has virtually no free time with his current work schedule.

We both feel like we are exactly where God wants us to be, but also are very aware of how important it is to keep our focus on our family and especially on our precious little Bella.

My hat goes off to all the women who do this full or part time. It's not easy, but I think with a little work we will find a way to make it work well for our family!

Happy Birthday Morgan!

We hope you had a great day today and that this year is filled with many great things!!!

Love,

Andy, Donielle and Bella :)

Our beautiful Princess Mulan...

Bella had her dance recital yesterday. She was dressed up as Princess Mulan and danced to the song, "Cups and Saucers". She did a really good job (much better than her recital in December) and was so excited to be on stage. We took Morgan and Luke with us to watch her which of course she was absolutely thrilled with. The lighting was weird so none of my pictures turned out of her actually dancing, but I got some cute before and afters (we also video taped it).

Here she is...

Two Peas in a Pod...

i took these pictures of Andy and Bella playing their racing game...

Here they are in action...





And finally a break to smile for the camera...

Happy Birthday to my wonderful husband!

Andy turned 28 today...for a few short months we will be the same age and then once again I will be the "older woman"! ;)

We didn't do anything overly exciting, but had an nice day none-the-less. We went to church this morning, relaxed at home a little and then went to see X-Men, which by the way is an excellent movie! We have the other 2 and really like them and the third was as good, if not better than the first two. One little note for those of you who might go see it...make sure you stay through the end of the credits for a clip that you don't want to miss...

After the movie we had dinner at Macaroni grill, stopped by Starbucks and got a Java Chip to share and are now back home.

Bella and I made Andy a card and got him a book and a couple CD's. He's been wanting TiVo for quite some time now, so we are going to pick that up this week for him too.

If the weather is decent we are going to do some wakeboarding tomorrow, if not we will probably hang out at the house and work on our landscaping.

Hope everyone is enjoying their long weekend!