Christmas in March

I couldn't sleep last night. 

I could chalk it up to being uncomfortable, sneezing and a mild touch of heartburn, but maybe was because I am so excited about today. 

Today feels like Christmas morning. You know that excited feeling you had when you were little (and that I have even now! I love being with family!) and you couldn't wait to see what presents you got and what you'd get to play with all day - that is exactly how I am feeling this morning. 

Today we will learn whether we are having a boy or a girl. This is one of the most exciting parts along this journey. Today will forever determine what our life will be and whether we will be the mom and dad playing in the backyard with our little boy (who know doubt will be a spitting image of Tim) playing catch or making mud pies. Or will we be the mom and dad that are constantly putting pigtails into our little girl's hair and playing make-believe in a fort made from her bedsheets? 

Either way, Tim and I are 100% excited. We don't care what today may bring - it is all just an amazing miracle.

"Don't know much about you
Don't know who you are
We've been doing fine without you
But we could only go so far

Don't know why you chose us
Were you watching from above
Is there someone there that knows us
Said we'd give you all our love

Will you laugh just like your mother
Will you sigh like your old man
Will some things skip a generation
Like I've heard they often can

Are you a poet or a dancer
A devil or a clown
Or a strange new combination of
The things we've handed down

I wonder who you'll look like
Will your hair fall down and curl
Will you be a mama's boy
Or daddy's little girl?"

-From "The Things We've Handed Down" by Marc Cohn

Jenna's New Love

Jenna has a new love in her life.

And I love her new love, too.

Meet Miley Anderson:


A loving, but ornery little black and white puffball.


Miley was rescued by Jackie. Jackie has a ginormous heart for animals and knew she had to save this little girl who was wandering homeless around the apartment complex where Jackie works. Thank goodness she rescued this little babe...because this little girl is too precious for words!

Jenna and Miley are getting along great...so far Miley has run head first into a mirror, dive bombed into a plate of mustard and even joined Jenna in the shower.


I'd say the two of them were destined to be. And so, I'll leave you with this picture:

HAHAHA! I guess you get the best of both words, huh, Jenna?

Evolution of the "Badass" Pose

Jenna and Tim have a special connection. They both have the same sense of humor. They can have colorful conversations on politics and yes, even sports. They both support the Republican party. And they both enjoy making fun of me whenever possible.

Together they have enjoyed taking the infamous "badass" pose whenever they meet. It has no meaning whatsoever and I think they both forget that they are white and neither would stand a chance in hand-to-hand combat.

Enjoy these photos of Jenna and Tim and their "famous" pose.

The Second Wine Tour

It's hard to believe that it has been 365 days since the first wine tour, but a year later we were able to bring everyone together again for the second annual wine tour.

It's becoming a wonderful family tradition. You'd definitely want to be a part of our awesome family.

Last year we explored the Finger Lakes region in New York and this year we set out to try a newer wine trail called the Niagara Wine Trail. It has a lot of wineries that are much smaller and quainter in size, but still has LOTS of good wine.

Here's this year's group. We lost a couple of members (Rob and Beth) from last year's tour, but gained a brand new one (Jenna). The nine of us set off for a day full of fun at 9 a.m.


Our first stop was to the Schulze Winery. This place was gorgeous inside. It was a great place to get our first drink on. In fact, it was so great that it actually attracted a cowboy and his bride-to-be (please note bride in green jeans to the left of the bar).


I tried a red wine here, but I have to say that white wine will always win my heart. So, that's what makes Tim and I a perfect pair...he's the red to my white.


From Schulze, we went to Vizcarra and Becker Brewing Co. It was an enchanting little farm and they actually served some of their wines hot which really tasted like apple juice for adults...but I totally loved it.

The scenery here was beautiful and it smelled of fall everywhere (and I may or may not have had a taste of a cinnamon doughnut). This little archway provided the perfect photo op, too. These are our totally cool parents!

After Schulze, we went to Marjim Manor, which is featured on Ghost Hunters and is supposed to be haunted.

Let me tell you one thing, I wouldn't want to be there on a Thursday at 3 o'clock...everyone dies then. But seriously, the only scary thing about Marjim Manor was this guy:

And he doesn't look to scary at all...so I guess it was a bust. We all know Jenna was hoping to hear some ghosts or to see some paranormal activity, but the nice Jewish family that owns the winery now blessed it, so spirits be gone!

From Marjim, we went to enjoy lunch at the Lighthouse Grill-n-Spirits where a nice table was already set for our group. We arrived in a limo, so they must have thought we were a big deal.

After lunch, we headed back out on the wine trail and went to Niagara Landing.

I had a chocolate wine there that was delicious, but probably the most delicious thing about Niagara Landing was the wine rack I scored for $25. Once I mount it, I'll share pictures of my lovely display. Here's another lovely part of Niagara Landing...(that's Mike and Hege!)

Finally, to close out the day, we went to Arrowhead which clearly had the best tasting wine, including an award winning Syrah.


So, with five wineries under our belt this year, we concluded another successful family wine tour. And proved you don't have to go to France or Napa to have a good time tasting wine.

(JENNA--why did you let me hold your hand like that?!)

Until next year!

Here's to new beginnings

This blog has always been about our life, including our adventures with family and friends, our ever-evolving house projects, and our personal trials and triumphs. The purpose has been to keep our family and some of our closest friends updated through pictures and words on our life in Ohio.

It wouldn’t make sense or feel right for me to skip over or just omit what has been happening in our life for the past seven days. So, even though it is uncomfortable and sad, Tim and I wanted to share this experience here.

Last Tuesday when we experienced our second miscarriage, words can’t begin to describe the devastation we felt when we knew the inevitable, but unthinkable, was happening to us again. It was like tumbling down a muddy, slippery slope and it just gets messier as you keep sliding down to the bottom.

Clinically, I don’t think doctors would say we lost a “baby.” They might say we lost a fetus or use some other medical terminology. Even to us, it was not a real baby. In fact, all we saw was a blob on a fuzzy black and white ultrasound screen. But it was a blob with a beating heart and it was ours; fully created by me and Tim. It didn’t have a face or a name. We never saw fingers or toes. But it had a heartbeat. It was impossible to deny the existence of a God when we saw that flickering light.

That “blob” held the promise for us of an exciting future, one where the three of us would be our own little family and we began planning out the adventures the three of us would have together. Tim and I felt a surge of victory and optimism. We had overcome all these challenges and obstacles to get here and had come to this point completely on our own—with no medical or pharmaceutical intervention as my doctor indicated I would need. God must have had a hand in this, right?

As each week went on with no signs of abnormalities, our confidence grew. We initially we cautious because of our first experience, but now everything just felt so certain, so destined to be.

Ten weeks is an eye-blink in the scheme of life. But ten weeks for us was 70 days of dreaming and planning on what our new life would be like and 70 days of preparing for this little person we knew nothing about. When we took our evening walks with the dogs, our conversations were always about preparing for our new reality and how exciting all of these changes and experiences would be. We both agreed life couldn’t get more perfect than this.

In less than 24 hours, everything changed. Our life went from one of limitless possibilities to one where we had a thousand questions with no answers to be found. As I lay in bed last week realizing it was all over, I kept thinking, “Could we be happy if life wasn’t how we pictured it?”

A week later, we’re on a new journey and a new path to healing and recovery. We are on a quest to find answers to these questions. I think we can be happy again – we are so infinitely blessed. We have two amazing dogs, our very own house, two great jobs, an incredible family, and we have each other.

We know that our journey to become parents may not happen in the way we expected or in the time we expected it to, but we do know that as long as we have each other, there isn’t much we can’t overcome. We’ve truly been stretched to our limits, our faith has been shaken, and our marriage has been put to the test. We’ve got a long way to go still, but there is no doubt that we can get through this side by side, hand in hand.

And I know that all of you already know what an incredible man Tim is, just like I knew from the first moment I met him, so I’m not sharing anything new. But this week I realized what an incredibly, incredibly lucky girl I am to have met someone who loves me in spite of everything, who will still spoon me and hold my hand while I fall asleep, who will wipe tears and snot off my face, who will take off work just so I don’t have to be alone, who will let me sad whenever I want to, who will let me entertain the idea of buying really expensive boots just because I think they will make me feel better, and stills thinks I’m 100% beautiful even when I’m at my worst- puffy-faced and crumpled hair.

He’s the best. I wish every girl could be as lucky as I am.

Mike and Hege get married

Welcome back....after an 18 day hiatus from blogging. But I'm back, and it is time to catch up.

So let's start with one of the biggest events in the past 18 days, the storybook wedding of a Norwegian princess and a New York business man. Seriously, you can come up with a better premise.

The wedding weekend started with a trip to Niagara Falls and a evening summer cookout back at the Ulbrich's house in New York.
After Thursday's meet and greet, Friday was the rehearsal at the church and the welcome dinner at the Center for Tomorrow at the University of Buffalo.

It was a fun night of getting introductions out of the way and getting to know people so that the real party the next night could be oh-so fun. And let's be clear, the Norwegians know how to have a good time.

We also got to catch up with the extended Ulbrich family. Mike and Tim's Aunt Cathy and Uncle Rick came in from California.


And we also got to catch up with the Slatterys from Texas, y'all. (And I'm pretty sure if Bonnie lived in Ohio, I'd want to be her best friend. She is a pretty amazing girl.)

Saturday morning came and Mike got ready at home with all his groomsmen before heading to the church.


And Dad U popped the champagne open for a day full of celebrating.

Tim and I enjoyed all the fun and were in charge of capturing pictures of the big day. Tim fully intended on "charging" for his photo services, but in the end we were the ones who were going to be out money because we totally fell in love with Mike and Hege's new camera. I foresee a major expense for us in the near future...


Soon, it was time for the ceremony and time to make things official.

The ceremony set the tone for the day when Mike and Hege flew a Norwegian minister in from New York City to help with the vows. I've only cried at a handful of weddings, but tears were definitely pooling in my eyes when Mike said his vows to Hege in Norwegian and Hege said hers to Mike in English. What an incredible way to honor each other and the merging of two cultures.

And I have to share the next picture. Hege is amazing in more ways than one and I just love how her smile captures all that love and happiness that must have been flowing through her in that moment. And I love how Mike is looking at her like she is the only person in the room at that moment. See, I told you it was a storybook love!


The reception was afterwards at Park Country Club, which looked like a castle.


The mixing of traditions continued as each table was equal party Americans and Norwegians. We enjoyed a two and a half hour dinner and had so much fun learning about Norway and listening to speeches from the head wedding table.


But, now, what we really came to do: PARTY!


The party went until midnight at the Country Club and then moved to Jack's Place, a bar across from the hotel where most everyone was staying. Tim and I called it quits early, but I know a good time was had at the bar until the early morning hours on Sunday.

On Sunday we enjoyed brunch back at the hotel and then got to visit with more Norwegians on Sunday night and learned that straight up regular Coke is the drink of the day.


It was a splendid weekend and I'm pretty sure tourism in Norway will rise in the year 2011 as all of us make the trip over to hang out with our new Norwegian friends.

Congrats Mike and Hege! Can't wait to see you when you get back from Bali!!

Baking Beauties

When Hege emailed me a couple of weeks ago to ask if I would make buckeyes and cookies for a dessert table at her wedding, I was so excited.

I quickly enlisted my mom for many reasons. One, she has an amazing kitchen with a beautiful gas oven and large countertop and an extra fridge for keeping buckeyes and cookies cold. Two, I love to bake with my mom. We catch up, listen to music, sample our goods, and just generally have a good time. I always imagine us getting together in December to make Christmas cookies together, but the holiday craziness often prevents that. So, instead, moments like this make up for it. Afterall, my momma taught me everything I need to know about baking.

We spent Saturday morning/afternoon working on the cookies and buckeyes. Mom had generously made up the dough ahead of time so that it would be ready and it always seems to work better when chilled.

I brought my little buffalo cookie cutter I bought last year at the Roosevelt Inauguration House (was it Teddy or FDR? Somehow when I drink a little wine, I get confused on that subject :) But that's a story for a different day.) at Christmastime. The cookie cutter came with a crappy shortbread recipe that wasn't even close to shortbread. So, it was time to use this little guy on good ol' sugar cookies.

We also pulled out a "U" cookie cutter (you know I love monograms! Remember? Read about it here.) that was from a bucket of alphabet cookie cutters I used back in my Residence Life days. We thought it would add a nice touch.

When it came to frosting our cookies, we knew we'd be using the red and blue colors of the "Buffalo" Bills on our baby buffalo cookies and probably a purple color to compliment Hege's color choice for her wedding. To add in her second color of silver, we bought silver decorating balls and used them as eyeballs on the buffalo (I swear it's not creepy at all.)



To get the desired red and blue, mom showed me some special frosting dye that I'm sure all the professionals use. It looks like gel and it is super potent because it stained my fingers just getting it out of the jar. I assure you, though, it's 100% non-toxic and edible. But as strong as it was, it required a lot of coloring to get it to the right color for the Bills look.

As for the buckeyes, they were easy-peasy and mom took care of all the dipping. She's perfected this technique by using baking chocolate which is nice and smooth. We put them in little silver cups to dress them up a bit.


But, needless to say, we got what we were looking for and had a lot of fun in the process. Here are the finished products:


That's a lot of cookies!

Virtual Vino

Check out this awesome video made by Mike Ulbrich capturing our 2009 wine tour!

Wine Tour 2009 from Jessica Ulbrich on Vimeo.

Mike, I think you've missed your calling! This is amazing!

Farmer Tim

In keeping with this week's theme of backyard Ohio fun, here's what it is like to ride in the back of the lawn mower cart with Tim behind the wheel. We recruited him to drive the lawn mower later that night to take out the cooler and other campfire goodies.

Ah, nothing like fresh air, s'mores and good company to end the day. (And play the alphabet game...'Q' was for "Quiet", Dad.)


Getting ready for the campfire....


We loaded up the food and cooler in the back of the cart for Tim to haul out to the campfire....(he looks so good on that mower, dontcha think?)


And here's the bumpy ride.....

Lawn mower ride from Jessica Ulbrich on Vimeo.

Ohio Is For Lovers....

Ohio is for lovers...we're good to your mothers.

Yes, there is nothing quite like an Ohio girl. We can do all sorts of things, including operate a lawn mower with natural ease. Here is Jenna showing us how it's done.

Jenna's Mad Mower Skills from Jessica Ulbrich on Vimeo.

Second Annual Wine Tour

If you missed out of this......



Don't let it happen again.

Planning is underway for the second annual wine tour! Potential weekends are October 2 and October 9 through Geneva on the Lake or elsewhere in Northern Ohio, PA and NY. Check your email for more details.



Seriously. Don't miss it. 'Cause if you're not there.....we're going to talk about you.

A bunch of Salty Dogs

Thought I would share this picture of all of us in our Salty Dog t-shirts. I'm the only one in the family who has never been to the Salty Dog Cafe in Hilton Head, but I sure love their t-shirts! Thanks Mom & Dad for picking out a cute pink one for me this year!