Look at the amazing beer that Carolyn found the other day for us.

 

I have not tried it yet but with a name like that it must be the best beer ever!!

Till Later

Well at the baby shower that Carolyn's sister had for her on our last trip to Cali a little project was started.

 

Decorating wood blocks for the boys was one of the activities.  Everyone - from little 3 year old cousins to grandparents - had a great time and we ended up with a lot of great decorated blocks that the boys will get to play with starting in a few years (and for many years to come).  You can decorate the blocks anyway you want - paint, sharpies, using rubber stamps, wood burning, carving, dremel tool designs, etc. Whatever way works for you.

 

We are inviting anyone who would like to join in on the fun to pick up a block decorate it and get it back to us.   Better yet come and hangout sometime and decorate a block while you are here or take it with you and just get it back sometime.  If you are out of town and want to participate you are welcome to just send one or you can drop me a line with your address and the number of blocks you want to decorate.  I will ship you the blocks and you can ship them back.

 

All we ask is that somewhere on them you sign it with your name so we know who did each block.

 

Look at some of the great blocks that people have decorated so far.

 

Ah yes there is my beautiful wife while we are down in cali visiting her family.

 

Just classic barefoot and pregnant with our twins in the Willow Springs kitchen and even better yet cooking me lunch.

 

 

Well once again a day of doctors visits totally rocked. 

 

This afternoon was filled with another detailed ultrasound to make sure the babies are growing and that they are staying close in size to each other.  The great news that we heard was that Baby A "Ellie" is 1 Pound 10 onces and Baby B "Zee" is 1 pound 12 onces. Both right on track and right with each other!!!! Currently they look perfect!!!!!

 

We then got to have a few pictures taken.  We started off getting some nice profile shots.

 

The technichian had to work with the babies and have Carolyn move around because they were not cooperating.  But they finally got the pictures.

 

Once they finished all the measuring to make sure the babies were right on track we asked to get a little confirmation to make sure there were no surprises like my sister had on delivery day.

 

So the technician got us a few good pictures of the new hostetler family jewels........

or as Carolyn put it 'the boys junk'!!!  For those who have not read an ultrasound before the technician put arrows pointing to the "junk" as Carolyn put it.  (Carolyn is a little embarassed that I'm posting 'fetus porn', as she calls it!). 

 

Then for even more fun the technician pulled out one of there cool 3D/4D ultrasounds and worked to get a good picture in 3D and showed us a little 3D video (time being the 4th D) of the two boys.  Here is a little 3D ultrasound picture of one of the boys face seeing the eye, nose, mouth, cheek, ear with arm coming up in front of it. So So So Cool!!!!

 

 

I hope everyone has the opportunity to see their in utero little ones like this when the time comes, it was so cool.

 

And 6 hours later, I am still on a high from it today - even after going back to work for a few hours, playing an indoor soccer game (which I kicked butt at - scored 2 goals and 2 assists - just endless energy from my baby high).  Here is hoping I can fall asleep sometime in the next few hours.

 

Well that is it for now.  Soon I will recap our great 4th of July weekend this past weekend but baby ultrasounds had to get posted the day of.  Medical technology just plan ROCKS!!!

What the....
How the .....
Pull what.....to tighten what....i think miss cabbage patch is getting strangled by this thing.

Well I woke up this morning dying to find out the sexes of our twins.  As soon as I and Carlyn were barely awake I said "Can we *NOW* open the cards and find out who we get to welcome into the world in a few months."

And Finally I got to hear "Yes we can open the cards now."

 

Carolyn got up and brought me my first fathers day present.

Which consisted of a book.

"101 Secrets a Good Dad knows" I wasn't sure if I should take this as a good or bad hint.  But I guess it was very appropriate considering that I am an expectant father. I took a quick look through it and thanks to my amazing dad I pretty much alread know all of these so called secrets. - Thanks Dad!!!!

But the second very exciting piece was in the back of the book were the two cards for Baby A and Baby B.
So Carolyn and I opened card for Baby A together

Then we opened the card for baby B

So we are having Twin Boys. Very very exciting. What a great way to start my first fathers day as an expectant father.  So much fun. 

I hope the rest of the dads out there have a great fathers day.

Well today was just an amazing day all around. 

 

Woke up early because I could not sleep because I was so excted about our ultrasound appointment today.

 

The appointment went great. it was so so so amazing.  They went through and measured everything.  The babies look perfect.  They are almost identical in size and right not track for 19 weeks. 

 

It was just amazing we got to see.  The only problem I had was that I was so excited I could barely stand still while watching the monitor.  By the end my cheeks hurt from the 2 hours of ultrasound and my perma-grin while watchign the screen. 

 

The babies were moving around and we got to see everything and watch as they measured all their little parts.  So cool to see them move their little arms, legs, hands and such. 

 

It was so amazing to see there little legs with femurs that are just over an inch long.

 

They then checked baby sexes and Carolyn made some cards up for the technician to write down the sexes inside and seal so we can find out together later, if i can convince her to find out before hand.

So that is as much of the sexes as i know so far.  I am workin hard on having us find out.  It is just a simple opening of the cards to find out. I so want to find out. So So so want to find out.  Her latest thought is since I want to know so bad that maybe her gift to me on Father's day(June 21st) or my birthday (September 14th) will be to open the cards.  All i can say is that both of those are way to far away.  Can't we jsut open them together and have the joy of finding out.

 

We did get some good pictures of the babies.  Here they are:

Here is a shot of both of them with their in utero names on them.  You can see the membrane bwteen them. They are both in completely different sacks with serperate placenta's.  So either identical or fraternal. Still do not know?

 

Then a profile of each.

 

Ellie

 

Zee!

 

Then we went to our doctors appoitnemnt after that and we got to listen to heart beats.  Oh man that was cool!!!  Seeing thema nd then hearing there heart beats. 

 

Now that was a fantastic day!!!

 

And that is not even counting that I played soccer for the second time after my 2 monhs off with a hamstring tear.  That is just so insignificant comapred to the baby fun.

 

Well time to head to bed.

 

Later

   Hoss

 

 

 

 

 

  

Well wednesday was the end of the first trimester mark and we had our next appointment.

 

Good news is everything looks healthy and great, bad news is carolyn is still waking up not feeling good, has a few hours of no sickness mid morning and then feels sick agian teh remainder of the day and is wiped out most days.

 

Our next appointment went great. We got a quick ultrasound int eh doctors office instead of the nice equipment at the medical center so not as clear but they are bigger and oh were tehy active.  They were bouncing up and down and turning over.  It was crazy to see.  Wee are so excited!!!!

Next appointment is in three weeks and we should get to hear the heart beats then instead of jsut seeing them on the ultrasound monitor.

 

This week I have borrowed a few baby car seats from friends and we are going to start looking at cars because we know our cars in all likely hood will not work.  hard to fit two car seats in a Hyundai or Z.

 

Oh and one last thing. Carolyn's stomach started to pop this week. There is a small bump forming.

 

Well Carolyn and I are seeing double vision these days. 

 

We went to the doctors today and got some exciting news. 

 

For those who can read an ultrasound, yes there are two sacks each with a baby in them.  Very exciting.

 

If all started a little over 5 weeks ago for us.  Carolyn had a little pain so we went in and got checked out.  There was a fear of an ectopic pregnancy based on the pain and Carolyn having just missed her period.  The first low resolution ultrasound was not conclusive to rule out an ectopic pregnancy.  They scheduled us for another high resolution ultrasound the next day.  Here is how that next day went.

 

We arrived they started the ultrasound.  Made sure there wasn't anything in the fallopian tubes. Passed the first test.  Based on hormone levels they now wanted to find something in the uterus.  The doctor looks for awhile and then asks Carolyn if we were trying to get pregnant.  She answers Yes. Wondering why he was asking.  He goes back to looking at the ultrasound. After another five minutes he asks have you been taking any hormones.  Carolyn has no clue what he is hinting at so she says "well I was on Birth Control for many years and went off a few months back". At this point Carolyn is a bit freaked because she thinks something is wrong from his questioning.  The doctor says Hmm and looks at the ultrasound a bit more. 

Now for this part I wish I had a video camera on Carolyn for.....

The doctor then looks back at us and says well we did not find anything in the fallopian tubes so that is good so we were then looking for something in the Uterus and we found 3 something’s in the uterus. 

       I was watching Carolyn’s face because I thought I knew what was coming when the doctor started talking because I had been watching the screen and Carolyn could not see it. I saw her face first have a wave of relief that everything was OK, then her face went white realizing that he said 3 and then she started giggling.  It was the best three combined emotions all at once I had seen.

      He then said he would go review with a few other doctors and get back to us.  He came back in about 15 minutes later and said well since we are only a few days into pregnancy we cannot say if there really is more than one but everything looks healthy and you are pregnant so come back at the 10 week mark.

 

So we had to wait about 5 weeks till the next appointment with this hint that we have somewhere between 1 and 3.

 

  Well today was the 9 week 6 days mark and we had our next appointment.  We had a great discussion with the doctor and then had another ultrasound that confirmed we have two healthy babies. Fraternal twins and both look healthy and normal so we are so so SOOO EXCITED!!!!!

 

Well no one can say we go into anything half hearted. 

Now I will update the blog more often because we have more exciting news to pass on as things progress.

 

We are looking forward to this new adventure to begin.   

After many hours of work consolidating our combined experience with CRM solutions, the book I wrote with two collegues titled "Success with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0" is now available for purchase.  Actually avilable back in December.  It was written by Altriva founders Aaron Yetter and Justin Mathena with Hoss Hostetler, Director of CRM at Altriva.

Success with Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0: Implementing Customer Relationship Management is aimed at readers who are interested in understanding how to successfully implement Microsoft Dynamics CRM 4.0 within their projects. It is intended as an implementation roadmap for the business and technical representatives leading or engaged in a project.

The book covers the capabilities of Microsoft Dynamics CRM, both in the traditional functional areas of sales, marketing, and service and as an applications framework for XRM deployments.

The book demonstrates Microsoft CRM best practices for design, configuration, and development. Through real–world solutions and exercises, you will be given the confidence and expertise to deliver an implementation that provides long–term success for your organization.

Well there is my business plug on my personal website.  Soon I will post what is going on with us at home.

- Hoss Hostetler

Well I have not made time for the blog in awhile.

 

There has been lots that has gone on in the past month since my last post but I just have not found time to post.  I have been getting a few nudges to post so I will get some posts up shortly.  

 

till then....... 

Well time for a few pictures of the whole in the wall Carolyn created when she was home alone on Veterans day.

 

Looks like she had fun. I guess another house project has been started.

 

             

a few more pictures in the photo album.

 

There will probably be more work and pictures this weekend.

Well Yesterday was Verterans day which for me meant work as usual. For Carolyn it meant a day off and at home alone.  Which means I came home to a new large hole in the wall.  No pictures with me today but i will post some in the next few days.  Looks like Carolyn got us started on the next new house project she would like done which is removing the wall from the bottom of the stairs to open the back corner of the living room up.  To begin she knocked out in a very controlled and planned fashion a section of the wall.  I will update soon. Till then.

Quick update. 

First week back has been good.  Lots of work and a lot of relaxing on Saturday and Sunday.

We are now back to starting our second week and getting back into the swing of things.

Not much else to report this week.

 

 

Day 7 Second half

Well we did get restless the seond half of day 7 so we took off and hiked the sleeping giant as was recommend to us by Phil and Mary.

 

It was a great hike but as can happen on a Hostetler outing we ended up hiking down the mountain under a tiny sliver of moonlight because we did nto get down till about an hour and a half after the sun set.  No more light from the sun. Luckily Carolyn knows her husband so she does not hike anymore with me without a flashlight.

We started about 4:30 PM which was abotu 1.5 hours till sunset.  At 5:30 carolyn tried to get me jsut look fromt eh first Vista and head down but I had to explore. I ran all over the top of the mountain. Great views.

 

Here you can see that Carolyn is on her way down as it is starting to get dark because the sun has set but I am still busy getting close to the cliff edges and climbing through caves.  So much fun.

Carolyn did jsut start heading down so I finally ran down and caught her.  But it was too late. We were destinted to walk int eh darkness down.  Here is the last picture I took about a quarter fo the way down back up at where we just were.  Note it is getting dark so i could not get a great picture.

Well we ended the last mile in complete darness with jsut a sliver of the moon out and Carolyn using her small but very helpful flashlight to finish off the hike.  Whoops the curse of hiking with a Hostetler. We never know when to turn around.

 

Then it was back to the hotel to get ready to leave the next day because we had an ealry start to our last day.

 

Day 8

Because my back was healed up well enough we scheduled a Napali boat and snokeling cruise for the last day.  I was able to get into the water and we planned on making the most of the last day. 

 

Well the Cruise was great.

Lots of Dolphins (Bottle nose and Hawaian spinners)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well Hawaii has been great and we are now totally relaxed and just hanging out so I have time to put a bit on the blog.

 

Day 2 was great we got up and headed to the North shore of the island.  As we drove we went back and forth from no rain to down pours that no more then 5 MPH was safe.  

But that did not stop us. We were going to go hiking and see some sites.

We stopped at a few places along the way to see as much as we could inbetween down poars. 

We drove all the way to the the end of the road on the north end of island.  When we got there it was sprinkling so we decided to start hiking and see what hapened.

it was a great hike with our first views of the Napali Coast from the trail.

The hike was great. We hiked all the way out to Hanakapia with a few sprinkles here and there.  We sat on the beach adn ate our lunch.

 Our last picture for this hike is the sign near the beach as we left becasue from this point on it began to rain harder. Then it rained harder and harder and harder as we hiked back.  The nice trail wich was a little damp with some puddles on the way outhad new streams and waterfalls cascading down across it on the way back.  Once again we were soaked from head to foot but it was incredibly fun.  There were places on the trail ont eh way back were the trail itself was 6 inches of running water down the trail.

We got back to the Jeep and jumped in and started the slow drive back over some slitly flooded roads.  We also turned on the radio which is weher we heard the flash flood warning for the area we were jsut hiking.  There was 2-4 inches per hour coming down which was causing flash floads over trails and on the beach we had been on. Obvisouly we made the right choice to turn aroudn as it started to rain harder. Luckily we learned the day before.    

 

Day 3

We deciede to explore the South end.

We started with a driving tour which took us to a swingin bridge stop.

Then we made a stop at teh last running sugar cane mill. It was really interesting to see the gran entrance wich you coudl see at one point was amazing but was now in disrepair and being allowed to slowly go to ruins.  It is no longer the sugar cane factory hayday it once was.

 

From there we headed all the way out to the Waimea Canyon but on the way out Hoss found some hunting trails so headed off road a bit.

After our quick detour we drove to the top of the Waimea Canyon with lots of stops along the way to look down into the "Grand Canyon of the pacific".  When we got to the lasts top we did a hike to the lookout and a great hike through the high swamps on top of the platea before the water from the mountain cascades down into the canyons to build the shear cliffs.  It was great.

It was a great hike and very interesting and our first hike without rain. It was amazing with amazing views except at teh actual highest lookoutpoint which was covered in clouds when we were there.  From there we headed back to our place.

 

Day 4

This was supposed to be our Biplane flight day but the rain clouds had not left yet so they pushed us till the next day.

Instead we went back for some more sites on the South end.  It went back and forth from clear to raining pretty much all day.

We saw the sites along the south coast.  With all teh mist to rain adn sun we got to see many rainbows and stopped by spouting horn. 

From Spouting horn we headed over to the Hyat so see teh grounds. We walked aroudn and they really are amazing. Half way through our walk a downpour opened up and we huddeld together watching teh waves and rain come down in one of hyats covered layn chairs. it was great fun. 

 

The rain let up enough for us to finish our walk and get back to the Jeep.  From here there is an old Sugar cane mill no longer used that we went in search of. This entailed some off roading which left our Jeep covered in Mud.  As we went in search ti began to rain and soon teh dirst road we were on was puddles and mud and I (Hoss) was havign a great time int eh Jeep in the mud. The gate to the old sugar mill was closed but we had fun getting the jeep really dirty untill Carolyn decided I might gegt us stuck so we turned around. So much fun but no pictures because it was raining enough that we did not get out to take pictures of teh Jeep.

 

From there we went to Poipu beach to walk the beach and wait for sunset.  We had fun watching the sunset together ont eh beach. 

 

Day 5

We woke up to a clear dry day. So we were up early and off for our Biplane ride.

Which was amazing.  We had a great time jsut look at these smiles on our face after the flight.

The views were great and the ride was smooth right up untill the point where we asked for some areobatics.  Which were great we got soem quick loops and a great evasive manuvear whihc put us directly aimeda t teh ground with a quick turn out and over and back up at the end. It was a blast.  We highly recomend it. 

 

After the plane ride we heade dout for another hike. We hiked around fro a few hours but the sky was clear adn it was hot out so we only last about 2 hours of hiking before it was time to get out of the heat. So we headed back to our place to lookout over the ocean and cool off till we ate dinner and then headed to bed.  During our hike we did find a very interesting group of bamboo in the forest. Very interesting.

 

Day 6

We woke up to another great sunrise and no clouds in the sky.  For most poeple this sounds like a great day for hiking and being out and about. For us this was the perfect reason to stay in and spend some time reading and relaxing.  We did venture out and went to the a craft show at the Hyat hotel and ended up staying and reading on there seaview terrace in the shade. We stayed till teh saeview terrace abr opened had a few drinks.  AS teh sunset approacehd we headed over to glass beach and had a little fun lookign around.

 

Day 7

We woke up again to a clear skies and deciede to keep u the relaxing past two days so we are jsut hanging out reading and being together watching the ocean.

 

but I think we are now getting restless and will soon head out for a hike this afternoon.

 

till later....

 

 

 

 

 

   

Well this past weekend started with Hoss and Carolyn working a bit late trying to finish up everything before we were both off from work for a bit.  I believe Carolyn got all of her stuff done but it took till past 5 PM on Friday fro sure.  I did not get everything done but did get most everythign covered and ahnded off before I departed.

After work on Friday it was home and time for Carolyn and I to get ready for our quick trip to Portalnd the next day Carolyn to go to my sisters baby shower and for us to see my sister (who was just put on bed rest due to the pregnancy the day before), Jess and my mom who was in town for the baby shower.  Our friedn Beatriz came with us for the drive so she could see out friend Heather down in Portland that day also.  The rip was great and we got to see my sister and had a good cance to hang out while she stayed lying on the couch or in bed.  We stayed till about 8 PM and then drove home.  We arrived at hme around 12:30 or 1 AM.

 

Sunday started with Carolyn and I getting up and finsihing our packing. We also worked on getting the house cleaned and ready for us to be gone for a bit.  We were all packed and ready to go with a half our to spare before Beatriz picked us up to drop us at the airport.  We were ready to start our relaxing non-adventerous trip mostly due to my recent surgrey planning on slowing us down.  Well Beatriz dropped us at the airport about an hour 30 minutes before out flight and we tried to check in but the kiosk would not let us.  We then went to a ticket agent to try and check in.  She tried to check us in and then asked us for our bonus flight coupons.  We looked at each otehr and saiid, whoops we do not have them with us. No one told us to bring them with us.  She informed us that there was no way that we could board the plane without the bonus flight coupons.  Well we are now at the airport without a car becaseu Bea dropped us off and are being told we cannot get on our flight without these coupons.

Carolyn quickly called our friend Don to see if there was any way he could drive to our house grab teh flight coupons from our files and drive them to the airport. 

While Carolyn talked with Don I tried to work with the desk agent, the desk agents boss the agents at the Alaska Gold hotline to see if there was anyway we coudl get on the flight without the flight coupons because we just drove down with Bea and saw the traffic and figured there was no way anyone could get the flight coupons to us quickly enough. They all told us no and also looke dinto booking us on another flight. With our class of service our next option looked to be Thursday (alaska only ahs one flight a day to Kuauai).  So we had resigned to not making the flight but then SUPER DON somehow was able to pick up the flight coupons from our house and get them to the airport with 30 minutes to spare before depature.  How we have no idea but we are pretty sure a few speed limits were not abided by and there was some Anit-Traffic Super Power he must possess.  Thanks for the amazing efforts from SUPER DON to allow us to get to Hawaii.  Once the flight coupons were there they allowed us to check our bags even though we were 10-12 minutes past the 40 minute cut off.  We then ran to security and got through quickly because we then had tot take the shuttle to the N terminal and got to the plane with a few minutes to spare. We were so glad to jsut get ont he plane and be actually going today.  So much for relaxing so far. 

But from this point it got better. The flight did not have the wind they usually have so we got to Hawaii about 30 minuted early and they gave su free Mai Tais ont eh plane. The rental of our Jeep Wrangler went really wuickly and we were to the resort in under and hour after out flight landed.  We then checked into our room and got a surprise that instead of being on the non-ocean side we are ocean side with a view of the front lawn of the resort, palm trees and the water.  We were exhausted so I hooked up to the internet to send the work e-mails I did on the plane and then we went to sleep. 

 

      The next morning we awoke well be for the sunset and got up and watcehd the sunrise from our room alternating between the bed and balony we have.  The sunrise was a great way to start our first day in Hawaii.  This is great to start the relaxing trip we should be having.

 

  

 

So with my back surgery just two weeks past we will ave to take it easy and we planned on a very relaxing first day.  We figured we would just hangout relax and then meet up with my co-worker on the end of his honeymoon for dinner.  Well we were doing great at having a relaxing non-eventful trip so far when around noon Carolyn broke down and gave into my asking if she wanted to go on a hike every 15-30 minutes.  Ya the whole realxing and just hanging out on vacation is really against my nature.  I guess I was a little persistent on asking if she wanted to go do anything and sugesting hiking.  I more felt like I was jsut checking in with her to "see if" she wanted to do anything.

 

So we headed off to go to a close by hike to Ho'opi'i Falls.  It was a quick 15 minutes drive away. As we got to the trail head it began to rain a bit.  We being northwesterns we were not detered by a little rain.  It rained a little on our trip down to teh falls and we got a few great picture by the falls.

 

And then it began to rain a bit harder.  So we huddled under a tree to stay dry and eat our packed lunch. It tasted great and we were having a great time.

 

Well recovery has been going well.  The back is feeling better but with vacation coming up this weekend there is lots to get done at work.  Design signoff for a project is this Friday before I leave for vacation.

 

I got to a physical therapy appointment so I know what I am supposed to be doing.  The exercises I have to do each day means I should be doing 2 hours of Physical Therapy each day for the next 2 months.  But with the current workload I haven't been able to do the physical therapy the last few days.  Which is not good and I woke up this morning with pain back in my leg. Not Good!!!!  I have two more long days ahead of me then 9 days of vacation where I can relax, recooperate and do my daily physical therapy.  Hopefully that will get me on the right track and then I will jsut have to plan in the extra two hours for the next 2 months.

 

Till later......  

Well the day after has been pretty good.  I am up and walking around.  Enough pain and muscle spasms so that I am still on pain and muscle relaxers.  Still not mcuh sitting because the back does not like that as much as standing.  So far the recovery is going very well.  Hopefully from here things are just getting better from here.   Hopefully Thursday morning I will get to walking and making progress back to getting to play sports in a few months.

 

Hopefully when I get up in the morning it does not hurt to much so I can not take and medications and head off to work.  We will see.

 

Later

   Hoss