Our Favorite Time of Year!

This is easily one of Nate and I's favorite times of the year, probably like most people! (Although for me it is a toss up between enjoying a nice summer day at the beach or by the pool!) Seriously though, not only do we love December because it is the month we celebrate the day we became husband and wife, or because we love picking out a Christmas tree and decorating the house, or because we get to drive around and look at Christmas lights while listening to our favorite Christmas music, but most importantly it is the time of year we reflect most on all that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ has done for us! It is so easy to get caught up in gifts and parties and the fun things that this time of year has to offer, but I hope and pray that I can take time this Christmas to be thankful for what the Lord has done for me. He has given me an amazing family, wonderful friends, and the perfect husband. I am also so thankful for the baby He is allowing me to carry inside my belly. I can't wait to meet our son or daughter in just about 5 months! My prayer for myself in the coming new year is that I can be a great wife, mother, daughter, sister, friend, along with all the other roles He has given to me. I know I can only do these things with the Lord's help. Like so many of the Christmas cards that we sent out this year said, our prayer for you is that the coming year would be full of many blessings for your family! We are really looking forward to seeing a lot of you in the next few weeks! For those of you who have not been able to visit us yet in Tallahassee at Christmas time, here are a few pictures for you to enjoy!

Have a very Merry Christmas! Check back in with us at the beginning of the New Year for more updates and pictures on Baby Schuck!

Love you all,

Joy & Nate

Baby Belly - 16 weeks

As you can see, my belly is getting a little bigger (even though it is not quite as big as my booty yet)!!! I am in my 16th week now and feeling pretty good! Please continue to keep us and our baby in your prayers!

Celebrating 3 Years and a Baby on the Way!

On December 6th (at my 15 week appointment), after waiting at the doctor's office for nearly two hours because they were so busy, I got to hear our baby's heartbeat for the first time! Even though I was so tired of waiting by the end of that appointment, the wait was well worth it. The sound of my baby's heartbeat was so soothing and reassuring! The doctor said everything sounded great! He also said that we should find out the sex of the baby at our next appointment on January 4th! Yay!!!!

This past week we celebrated our 3 year anniversary on December 11th! Nate surprised me that morning with tw0-dozen roses and the sweetest card. He also made me breakfast before I had to leave for work (which isn't unusual)! He's the best husband I could have ever asked for! That night we enjoyed dinner at a restaurant we had never been to called Food Glorious Food. When we got home we watched our wedding video, which has kind of become a tradition for us! It was the perfect night to reflect on all the blessings God has given to us as a couple over these past few years!

Thanks to Nate's mom and my wonderful mother-in-law Linda, the anniversary celebration continued when a few days later we got to enjoy another very nice dinner at Clusters and Hops! She made the reservations and arranged everything for us....it was great! Thanks again Linda! The picture at the restaurant didn't turn out the best, but it kind of gives you an idea of how romantic is was!

***Pictures on Snapfish***

I just wanted to let you know that we have started posting our pictures on Snapfish. (We even have some as far back as our wedding!) We thought this would be a good way to share all of our photos with family and friends (especially when the baby comes)! It is also great because you can purchase the pictures your in or that you want and have them sent directly to your house for a good price! To view our pictures you have to enter your email address and create a password, but don't worry, I've never known anyone that has ever received any junk mail from them. Snapfish is very similar to Shutterfly, if you are familiar with that. I have even heard that the Snapfish site is a little more secure than Shutterfly. Let me know if you have any problems with it and I'll see if I can help you out. Anytime you want to see the pictures, you can click on The Schuck Family on Snapfish from our blog page in the right hand column under Pictures or go to the following web page. Enjoy!

http://theschuckfamily.snapfish.com/snapfish

Jeep For Sale!

Nate's 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee is for sale! So, if you know anyone that's looking for a car in great condition, send them our way! You can view more information about it on http://www.autotrader.com/ (use zip code 32309 for your search). Thanks for spreading the word!

Thanksgiving in North Carolina

This year we got to spend Thanksgiving in North Carolina with Joy's family! Despite the long drive, we had a blast! We rented a cabin for 3 nights in Valle Crucis, NC, which is close to Boone. The cabin was just a few minutes away from our aunt and uncle's mountain house, so we got to spend Thanksgiving Day with them as well. We also enjoyed celebrating Nana's 71st birthday on Thanksgiving Day! The weather was very cold during our stay and we even got to see some snow! If you look closely at the jacuzzi picture, you can see the snow flurries coming down on Nate, Matt, Robin, Holly & Dad! Below, check out more pictures from our trip! (Also notice the huge scary bear above the fireplace!)

Nate and I are so grateful that we got to spend Thanksgiving in North Carolina this year! It was a wonderful time to reflect on all the blessings God has given us. We are really looking forward to seeing the rest of our family that we missed at Thanksgiving for Christmas!

Baby Schuck's First Picture!

This has been a very exciting week for us! Yesterday we got our first Ultrasound! What an amazing experience! As soon as the baby's picture came up on the screen we saw the rapid heart beat. Baby Schuck was asleep at first, but woke up quickly. It was so exciting to see our little baby moving around and kicking for the very first time! The doctor seemed very pleased with everything and he measured the baby at 41 mm, which is a little over 1 and a 1/2 inches. He said that we should be able to find out the sex of our baby in around 8 weeks (which I'm hoping will be right before Christmas)!

A little over a week ago, I also got to feel the baby move for the first time! It was so exciting! It felt like a fluttering sensation or tiny bubbles underneath my stomach! I can't wait until I can start feeling the baby move around even more in the months to come. I'm even more excited for Nate to feel it! This whole experience really does remind you how awesome our God is! I'm in my 11th week now and feeling pretty good! Thank you again for all your prayers! Please keep praying for our baby!

Fun Times this Fall!

Looking back at this Fall season so far, it has been a bit crazy for us, yet so much fun at the same time! Traveling and being away from home 7 weekends in a row was stressful and exhausting at times, but we truly do treasure all the memories we have made with our family and friends!

The craziness began with Nate's 10-year reunion in Orlando at the end of September! He was glad he went to catch up with some old buddies, and I was happy I got to meet some of his old classmates and put faces with names! That same weekend I also got to attend two of Holly's wedding showers! It was a fun weekend!

The following weekend we went back down to Orlando for a MonaVie conference with our friends from Tallahassee, the Grulich's and the Garcia's. Nate, David, and EJ went to the conference all day on Saturday and me, Kailee, and Shannon went shopping with their little ones at the outlets! Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures, but it was a fun trip! The car ride down was especially memorable when David and Kailee's little girl, Avery, had an upset stomach! Her diaper leaked all over her carseat!!! Poor thing! It wasn't fun for Kailee to clean up, especially since we were pulled over on the side of the interstate, but it made for some good memories and some good experience for Nate and I with our future kids!

Next was my sister's wedding! It was absolutely gorgeous and a very special time for the whole family as she married her childhood sweetheart! Nate and I both got to be a part of the wedding party - me as the Matron of Honor and Nate as one of Robin's groomsmen. We had a blast, even though Nate failed at his job as the "Designated Sparkler Lighter"! :) We are so happy to welcome Robin into our family! Nate and I are looking forward to lots of fun times with them in the future as our family continues to grow!

This same weekend Ansley and I also got to give a wedding shower for our best friend Lisa! It was a very special shower and I am so glad I got to be a part of it! Lisa has been one of my best friends for about 8 years now!

The following weekend we came back to Orlando for James Hunt's wedding (one of Nate's highschool pals). It was a very nice wedding and we had a good time catching up with Nate's former Track & Cross Country coach and buddies!

The next weekend Lisa and Eric got married!!! I felt so honored to be a part of the wedding. It was an absolutely beautiful wedding! Nate and I had a blast! Congrats again to Mr. & Mrs. Petersen!!!

One of our most favorite things that we got to do this fall was go to North Carolina for 4 nights with some of our best friends, John & Erin Moss (and their dog Roxy)! We were so blessed by amazing weather! We couldn't have asked for a better long weekend. The weather was cool, the colors in the trees were amazing, and the time spent with our good friends was priceless! It was even more special than usual because Erin and I are both pregnant - it was both of our baby's first vacations! We can't wait to take Baby Moss and Baby Schuck back to the cabin one day! John and Nate have been going there now for over 5 years. They love to hike the mountains, cut down trees, make fires, and just be boys while they are there. They used to talk about how they'd love to take their wives up there with them one day and that came true! Now the dream is to spend many vacations at the cabin with their wives and kids!

Nate turned 29 on October 29th! We celebrated his special day with a very nice dinner at the Melting Pot! Having his 10-year reunion, turning 29, and finding out he's going to be a dad all within the same month is making him feel a bit old, but I keep telling him that the fun is just beginning! The best is yet to come!!!

The last weekend of our 7 weekends away from home ended with Greg and Donna's wedding! Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the bride and groom, but at the end of this blog, you will see a few pictures that I took with Nate's sisters and his dad. We had a very nice time, but we are so happy to be back at home now for a few weeks before Thanksgiving!

Here are more pictures of memories that we've made with family and friends in the past few months: