Our Christmas Letter

This year, in lieu of sending our Christmas letter out to all of our friends and family who belong to the blogger world, we decided to post it here. This way, people can read it faster and it saves us on postage and printer cartridges. :-) Merry Christmas to all of you and here is to hoping you have a very happy New Year!

Dear Family and Friends,

Another year has come and gone, leaving more new changes for us than any other. Here are just a few of the things that have happened in our lives. First and foremost, our family went from two to three on November 20, 2009 when Jackson Dallin Koecher was born. He was born at 7:59 in the morning weighing 8 lb 2 oz and 20.5 inches long. He has a lot of dark hair and is the most adorable little boy we have ever seen. We are now working on adjusting to taking a diaper bag with us everywhere we go, getting back out of bed ten minutes after you put Jackson to bed because he decided he really didn’t want Mom and Dad to sleep, being “responsible” parents, and learning to always have another diaper ready during diaper changes to avoid having to change our own clothes too. He is a great little boy and we couldn’t be happier. We love him so much!

This summer, Dallin graduated cum laude from Utah State University with a degree in public relations and minored in marketing. He is still working at the Spectrum (temporarily) and has decided to take up doing sudokus and watching the TV series “24” to fill his former homework time. He is currently the first chair bassist in the Cache Chamber Orchestra. He enjoys the group and has a good time keeping up his music skills. They are a lot of fun to listen to. He is also busy studying for the GRE. We’re not sure what the future holds, but he is leaning towards a Master’s degree in Public Administration from either the University of Utah or Brigham Young University next fall. You’ll have to wait until next year’s letter to find out where we end up.

I also celebrated a graduation this summer. I graduated from the University of Utah with my Master’s degree in social work. I’m glad to have my degree and not to have to drive to Salt Lake through the canyon every week this winter. I’m currently working at a daycare in a women’s shelter here in Logan (also temporarily). My main focus is being Jackson’s mom. I’m waiting until we decide where we will end up before hopefully finding my dream social work job.

We were also lucky enough to go on some wonderful trips this year. In June, Dallin and I went to Hawaii on a graduation present/belated honeymoon/one year anniversary/hurry-and-go-somewhere fun-before-the-baby-is-born trip. We spent a week in Oahu and had a great time hiking, seeing the sights, swimming in a waterfall and getting sunburned on the beach. We also went on the annual Naegle family trip to Moon Lake, camping several times, four wheeling and hiking in Mesquite, to some fun rodeos and demolition derbies, and a lot of fun family parties and get togethers. We love getting together with our family. We are so grateful to be surrounded by such wonderful people.

Right now, we love living in Logan and the friends we have made. Overall, as this year comes to a close, we are grateful for where we are in our lives. Surrounded by friends and family, we are never short of people who love and support us. We are so grateful for everyone’s help and support as we get used to being parents and make even more big decisions. Thank you all for everything you do for us. We love you and look forward to another great year!

Love,
Dallin, Amber & Jackson Koecher

Some videos of our little guy.

This is a video of me playing with Jackson when we were in the hospital. Tickling him with my hair is one of the few ways that will usually wake him up.

This is Jackson doing some tummy time to strengthen his neck and back muscles. He was really funny. It looked like he was trying to crawl but couldn't quite get it because he was so top heavy. He sure tried though. I can tell he's going to keep my hands full tryig to keep up with him. It's a good thing they don't come home from the hospital already crawling or walking, it would probably be too much for me. :-)

My wonderful family :-)

As most of you already know, my family has grown in the last little bit. On Friday, November 20th (two weeks ago today), Jackson Dallin Koecher joined our family. He was born at 7:59 in the morning and was 8 lb 2 oz and 20.5 inches long. He was having a hard time breathing at first, so they had to put him on oxygen for about an hour and keep him in the NICU for about 5 hours to keep an eye on him. I'm happy to report that everything is going well and we have a healthy and happy (mostly) baby boy. It's amazing how having a child changes your life. He's a great addition to our family and we sure love him. It's still strange for me to think that I'm a mom and Dallin is a dad. We sure love it though. We love our perfecct little baby boy. Welcome to our family Jackson :-) Here are a bunch of pictures. I just couldn't narrow them down.

Jackson and his daddy.
Me and my adorable little boy

The new and improved Amber and Dallin Koecher family

This is Jackson with his mom, Great Grandpa, and Great great Grandma. It would be 5 generations if my mom had been there.

Jackson loves having his hands by his face. He did this pose on his own.

Jackson's first night at home in his crib

Going home from the hospital

Jackson and Mom

Dad giving Jackson his first bath. I love the way Dallin is looking at him. You can tell how much he loves this little guy.

The proud new daddy :-)

Our first family picture. We're actually in the NICU. They wheeled my whole bed in there after recovery so I could see my little boy. It's a good thing too...they wouldn't have wanted an upset new mom on their hands.

This is one of Jackson's first pictures. He looks like a real chunk in this picture. I just love his face and hands.

The first time I got to really see him and hold him (kind of)

A week before he was born, the ultrasound tech measured Jackson at 8 lb 12 oz. They were concerned he would be too big, which is part of the reason they did a C-section. We were very happy with 8 lb 2 oz. I wanted to tell the doctor, "I told you so!"

This is what happens when you have a nervous dad to be at the hospital with a hair net at 5:30 in the morning.

My first pic with Jackson. This was before his bath and we thought his hair was really curly. No more curls for now, there will be plenty of time for that though.

Our precious baby Jackson :-) We love him so much and are so grateful to have him in our home!

Jackson Dallin Koecher :-)

Jackson Dallin Koecher has arrived!!! He was born at 7:59 this morning and weighed 8 lb 2 oz. We couldn't be happier. Dallin has had more time on his hands and is feeling a little better than me, so check out his blog for pictures. Jackson is most definitely the most adorable baby I have ever seen. There will be more pictures to come. Dallin's blog is dwkoecher.blogspot.com. Thanks for all of your love an support. We are so happy!

A good laugh and a memorable night :-)

A baby shower, an air soft pellet gun, a black limo, five police cars, and balloons=One crazy night. To read the whole story, check out Dallin's blog at dwkoecheer.blogspot.com.

It's getting closer...

Well, the big day is getting closer. I am officially considered full term now. Our doctor said that he will most likely start me next week. It's so strange to think that Dallin and I are so close to becoming parents. Our lives will never be the same. We are so excited (and nervous). We spent this weekend in prenatal classes learning the ins and outs of what we are supposed to know. It was actually really good and left us both even more excited for our little boy to make his entrance. So, for now, we're trying to get everything we can done in advance, visiting teaching, overtime at work, laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, and organizing Baby Koecher's room. Instead of a long narrative about what we've been up to, I decided to post some pictures instead. After all, isn't that what everyone really wants to see anyways? Sorry the pictures aren't in chronological order. Blogging is the one thing that can make me feel computer illiterate faster than anything else. Oh well. Some of them are from quite a while ago.

Here's Dallin and Britt at my parent's house. She's one tough 18 year old. I really like this picture. It's one of the rare ones Britt let me take.

34 Weeks.
36 Weeks (It's crazy to see how much things change :-)


Carving some pumpkins with friends for fhe a few weeks ago. Thanks for coming over.

We went to see the Utah Symphony perform on Halloween with Dallin's parents. It was a new way to "dress up" for Halloween. :-)

Our little guys room a few weeks ago. Now he has a mattress on his crib instead of a bunch of blankets. And, as we get more and more ready for him, he gets to share his room with a lot more "stuff".

Putting together more baby furniture.

After the priesthood session of general conference, we got together with a bunch of Dallin's cousins at his parents house. It was a lot of fun.

We also went to a demolition derby a couple months ago with some of Dallin's high school friends who came up to Logan. We had such a great time and can't wait to get together again soon.

The whole group... Creighton is the one hiding under the beard ;-)

That's pretty much everything for now. We'll keep you all updated as we get closer and closer to having our new little addition arrive. Hopefully everything goes well :-)

A much needed update...

Well...it has been an incredibly long time since my last post. A lot has happened in the last nine months. First and foremost...Dallin and I found out that we are going to become parents! This is so crazy to us. When someone says mom or dad, we think of our parents. It's strange to think that in two more months these titles will apply to us. We are going to have a little boy. Dallin has lovingly taken to calling him baby Dill (Dill Koecher???). I can definitely say that will not be his official name. He is officially due on November 28th. Since I'm diabetic, the doctors say that they will most likely start me at least one week early, so around the 21st of November (two months from tomorrow, believe it or not!). I've been really lucky so far to be able to avoid morning sickness and a lot of the pregnancy discomforts that a lot of my friends have had to go through. It has been harder to keep my sugar levels stable, but with a lot of work and a great husband, things are going well. I'm hoping to avoid having a huge baby, like some diabetics do. I figure I better work hard since I already have two strikes against me. 1)I'm diabetic and 2) My husband is 6'4". Two weeks ago, we had an ultrasound where our little guy finally decided not to hide his face. This was taken at 28 weeks and is the first 3D ultrasound picture we've gotten. He looks like he has really chubby cheeks too. They said he is only 3 lb so far, but I guess most of it is in his cheeks :-) We think he's really cute though. We're keeping busy getting ready for this little guy to join our family. We're excited (and nervous, of course).

This past May, Dallin and I also graduated from college. It is strange to be done with school after going for such a long time. Dallin graduated from Utah State University with his bachelor's degree in Public Relations and Marketing. I'm so proud of him. Now he's just working hard at the spectrum to keep our insurance benefits for Baby Koecher and looking for something better. If anyone knows of any employers looking for a top notch employee, let us know :-) Here are a few pictures from his graduation.

This is a picture of Dallin and two of his cousins who also graduated from USU. Go aggies!!!

I also graduated from the University of Utah with my master's degree in social work. Here are a few pictures from my fun day.

Let's see...we've done a lot of other fun things this summer too. Here are a few pictures to give you some of the highlights. It's definitely not all-inclusive, but it's a pretty good cliff notes version.

In June, Dallin and I went on a belated honneymoon/one year anniversary trip/graduation present/hurry and go somewhere before the baby is born trip to Hawaii. It was made possible by some amazing family members and their generosity. It was a lot of fun. We spent a week on Oahu. We went snorkeling, hiking, to the Polynesian Cultural Center, hung out at the beach, went to Pearl Harbor, swam in a waterfall and overall just enjoyed ourselves. I love traveling and it was a lot of fun with my cute husband ;-)

Okay, so this post has taken a long time to put together. I think I'll post some more pictures later this week (hopefully) instead. Overall, 2009 has been great so far and still has a lot more coming. The Koecher family definitely won't be the same.