Shark Week and Girlfriends

Shelley came for a surprise visit and I was so happy to see her and her cute kids! She ended up staying for a few weeks and I got to see her several times. Shell and Bre came over to hang out one night and we had a good time. I say this every time we get together but I love these gals. They are like my older sisters that I never had. They have done everything before me so they give me their advice and I always trust it completely. Now that I’m pregnant, they are my go-to gals for information! They both have two kids and are pro moms. Their kids are so well behaved, smart and just great in general, so I know I will be bugging them lot over the next few months (and years to be honest) about pregnancy, giving birth, taking care of a newborn and raising children! I can’t wait to go visit Shell in Connecticut in a month!

Dan is obsessed/terrified with sharks and last week was Shark Week on Discovery Channel. We have been looking forward to this for a while and Dan invited his brothers and parents over to celebrate and watch the premier! Dan is so creative and hilarious and he decided to make red jello with gummi sharks and army guys in it.

We had to go on quite the adventure to find the gummi sharks (Winco doesn’t have them anymore!!) but it looked awesome! Dan put the army guys in the shark’s mouths and cut some of the guys in pieces so it looked like a bloodbath. Gory but so funny.

We had swedish fish, gummi sharks and goldfish for snacks.

Dan with his wonderful creation. Notice his sweet shirt as well. “Live every week like it’s shark week”. We got him some art with that quote from Etsy and he has it in his office. I made him the shirt a few months ago with my Silhouette Cameo and he loves it. I used iron on vinyl and it worked really well. A few pieces started to peel off after several washes but we just re-ironed it and it has worked great.

Because of Dan’s love/fear of sharks, we have already purchased 2 shark outfits for the babe. We haven’t bought many clothes yet, but we already have 2 shark shirts! These are pretty adorable and our babe will be as obsessed with sharks as Dan is!

Here is a picture of the bump at 23 weeks. I’m excited because I’m finally looking like I’m actually pregnant instead of just chunky. I can still wear most of my clothes, but I bought some maternity jeans last week and I love them. I also bought some leggings and I’m sure I’ll be wearing a lot of leggings with long shirts and sweaters.

I’ve been feeling pretty good, just a little more tired than usual, but no more sickies like the beginning thank goodness! I just get winded super fast and have to rest. I have also had really bad back pain nearly the whole pregnancy. I have done a few things that help but there is not a ton I can do.

I have been working out but not nearly as much as before I was pregnant. I try to do an “official” workout 3 times a week and Dan and I will also go on walks as well. I hate the heat but when it cools down we will start doing bike rides again too. My weight gain has been steady but right in the normal range. It has been hard because I lost so much weight before getting pregnant and I was so strict and now I need to eat more and it can be hard to see the scale go up instead of down! But my body is taking care of this babe so I try not to stress and not eat a lot of junk or treats and have healthy snacks. I am still tracking most of my calories and my weight on Livestrong.com. Check out the chart of my weight since January! Yikes. It does make me happy that at 5 1/2 months pregnant, I’m still below my maximum weight from back in January.

I have been feeling him move a TON lately and it’s awesome. Dan still hasn’t been able to feel him because he stops moving when Dan tries to feel! But he goes crazy most of the day and it’s the weirdest/coolest feeling ever. I can’t wait for Dan to feel him too! We haven’t talked a ton about names, but we have about 5 names that we both agree on right now. I will share them eventually but we are still working on it and we aren’t going to decide for sure until we see him. I know people say all babies look the same but my baby will look different to me and I feel like I need to see him before I know for sure what his name is!

Updates around the house

Garden update: it’s out of control. Everything has done amazing except for the red onions. They grew really tall but they are tiny so that was a bummer. But just look at the madness.

We have harvested the following: spinach, lettuce, cilantro. parsley, basil, cucumbers, carrots, green beans, peas, green onions, zucchini, tomatoes, and maybe more…can’t remember. It’s amazing that all this came from some tiny seeds I planted a few months ago! I love it and I’ve learned a ton about what to do differently and change for next year.

This all came out of one quick harvest the other night. Basil, green beans, zucchini, tomatoes, carrots and cucumber. It’s crazy! I have made a lot of delicious and relatively healthy zucchini bread and we love it. Luckily I only planted one zucchini plant because that has been insane.

A few things for next year:

• plant more: peas, peppers
• trellis the peas
• trellis the cucumber
• probably won’t plant: carrots
• plant 1 cherry tomato plant
• plant less: spinach, cilantro, parsley, lettuce
• fertilize everything, especially onions, cucumber
• give tomatoes their own box with support
• give zucchini its own box

Our backyard flower beds look awesome and I love the bright flowers. They have just exploded and gotten huge. We will still add more perennials to our backyard in the fall but I love the color we have had so far.

A few weeks ago I got the hankering to repaint our half bath on the main level. I had painted it the orange color over a year ago but it was just too much for me in that small room. And it clashed with the counters and cabinet.

So I painted it the same gray we have in our master bedroom and I also painted the cabinet white and added hardware. It looks a million times better now and it was almost free (just bought the hardware)! I may add something where the vinyl was but I’m not sure yet.

I also want to get a different rug, but overall, it feels much calmer and brighter and doesn’t clash as much with the counter and floors.

Nursery progress! I am dying over how much I already love this room. Dan has been a beast and done a ton of work and it looks amazing so far.

Remember when it used to look like this? Keep in mind those are fairy stickers and one wall was sickly green. And that orange rug won’t stay there.

Now it seems so much bigger and brighter and I LOVE IT! We still have tons of work to do but I wanted to update with some progress. We still have to caulk a ton and I will paint the board and batten bright white to match the walls. Hopefully we can build a window seat too! The color looks really blue in here but it has a greenish grayish tone to it as well and is really pretty. We also painted the bathroom across from the nursery the same bluish color and it looks a lot different in there too.

I bought this crib on KSL ages ago because it was the one I wanted for cheap! I still love it. The top of the board and batten has a shelf so I can put artwork on it (not above the crib obviously).

There is a ton more to do in here and I am excited to figure out what type of rug to do, artwork, a dresser, glider, lighting, etc. Of course I have tons of ideas and plans so hopefully it all works out and looks as great as it does in my head!

Celine the dream

Steph and I went on a quick last second sister trip to Vegas last weekend to see our long time love, Celine Dion. I have been obsessed with Celine since I was really small and I always had all her CDs. I adore her and finally seeing her in Vegas was a dream come true. We had a blast together and I used Priceline bidding to get a hotel and once again, it didn’t disappoint. We got a great hotel (The Westin) at an awesome price. It was perfect because it was about 2 blocks from the strip and much quieter and classier than strip hotels.

The first night when we got there, we took advice from the concierge and went to dinner at Senor Frogs inside Caesar’s Palace. It was a bit rough getting there because it was still around 100 degrees at 8:30pm at night (we didn’t think it would still be that hot!), and Caesar’s Palace was a lot further away than she said. So I was on the verge of a breakdown by the time we got there. They also managed to give away our reservations even though we were early. Nice.

Luckily it turned out really well and the place was a huge party. See pic above of our waitress giving people shots in a congo line next to our table. Sweet. It was half bar/half restaurant but it was all open and it was a hopping party. There were tons of people and it was super loud and crazy. They had loud music and just a lot of drunk people but it was fun. It wasn’t to the point of being gross and the people were just funny to watch. We had a blast and the food was great but that could have been because it was after 9 when we ate.

They had these funny signs that they kept moving next to people at the tables and I got high maintenance. Not even true. I look like a rock star and I blame it on working half a day then driving to Provo and on to Vegas then walking to Caesar’s Palace in the heat, then eating at 9:30pm. And being pregnant.

Speaking of being preg, my sis took this pic. It’s a big exaggerated with my back arched, but it’s starting to look like a real belly now instead of just looking like a chunk!

On Saturday we slept in and hit up the pool for a while. We went to a buffet at Excalibur and it was a bit disappointing but not too bad. It was cheap. And yes I’m wearing the same shirt that I wore the night before.

Saturday night was the big show and luckily Caesar’s Palace was about half a mile away and I came prepared by wearing my Chaco flip flops and carrying ice water.

My sis was excited and looked cuties too.

Celine we love you!

Celine is back. Also, a picture of Celine’s back (literally).

We had pretty bad seats but they were still bloody expensive but well worth it. Our seats were high up but the theater isn’t huge and we still could see perfectly and enjoyed every second. We may have gotten emotional multiple times throughout the show. I was so entranced that I honestly thought that as the show was ending that it was only intermission! Disappointment and I could have stayed there for hours. She was awesome and beautiful and the music was magic.

Some shots walking back to the hotel. We only got hit on a few times and Steph just kept saying “she’s pregnant”. Totally worked. We went back to the hotel and watched a movie and hit the sack. The beds were dreamy and we slept in again and hit up the pool for a while on Sunday morning before heading out. Love late check outs.

Steph is an A+ driver and as we were pulling out of the parking garage, she forgot that we were parked next to a huge cement column and rammed into it. I almost wet myself. It was hilarious and thank goodness we weren’t driving her husband’s much nicer car.

We had a blast and hopefully we can keep doing sister trips! I love my sissy.

Preston Rodeo

 

Dan loves rodeos. Really loves rodeos. He loves cowboys, horses, small towns, carhartts, etc. I’m fairly positive he was a hard core cowboy in another life. His favorite place in the world is Yellowstone and he always fantasizes about having a cabin or ranch some day. He would love to be a real cowboy and I’m sure he would be amazing at it. Maybe someday…

But he loves going to rodeos and we have already been to several this year. A few months ago, we wrote down all the dates and locations of all the rodeos around us and so far we have been to West Haven, Ogden, Evanston and now Preston. We missed a few big ones because we were in Yellowstone but so far we have gotten a lot in. We went to the Ogden rodeo last Monday and it was pretty awesome. It was HUGE and there were tons of people and tons of really good rodeo-people (what are they called anyway, contestants?) And the people watching was pure entertainment. On Saturday we drove up to Logan for the afternoon to reminisce about our time there.

I absolutely adore Logan and USU and we walked around campus and it just made me so happy. It was such a weird feeling to remember my time there and part of my wished I was still in the middle of it! It is such a beautiful place and I had so much fun during the 4 years that I spent there. We took a picture on the “A” but you can’t really see it too well.

Above is a pic of me at almost 19 weeks along. Not too  big yet but my belly is definitely starting to poke out a lot and I’m getting chunkier for sure. I’m praying I won’t gain too much besides the belly region but I’m trying to enjoy it and not worry too much! Luckily I lost about 22 pounds right before I got pregnant so all my clothes were really big and now they still fit me! I’ll be buying maternity stuff soon enough I’m sure. Speaking of being careful about not gaining too much weight…

We had to hit up Aggie Ice cream and it didn’t disappoint! I love that place and sitting in there reminded me of my math class in the Nutrition building. I would stay after and get lunch at Aggie ice cream and I loved it. I usually had a pulled pork sandwich with fritos and it was something like $3. Not too shabby.

We also stopped by Al’s Sporting Goods which Dan loves. We spent a lot of nights wandering around that place when we lived in Logan and we got a few things that were on sale. We had some Cafe Rio for dinner (I have been wanting that for a long time and it was awesome) then we headed to Preston for the rodeo. I believe this is the 3rd time Dan and I have gone to the parade and rodeo together (I went once with friends before I was married) and I think we will try to do it as much as we can!

We found a shady spot to check out the parade and enjoyed the small town fun. The parade is so lame but I love it. There are tons of people and kids everywhere and it’s just a great atmosphere. The highlight of the parade is usually a huge Gossner’s food truck where they had out free chocolate milk (so amazing) but they didn’t do it this year! Tragic.

Some of the parade pics. These pictures are all from Dan’s phone so they aren’t too great.

Seriously loved the Star Wars people in the parade. Totally random but they do not mess around when it comes to Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker.

 

We headed to the rodeo and barely got in on time because the line was HUGE. We had amazing seats though but the stadium seating is so tight! Everyone is crammed in and Dan’s knees didn’t even fit so he kept hitting the people in front of him. Whoops. Still fun though and the place was sold out! It is one of the biggest rodeos in the country and it was awesome.

We had a blast and it was such a fun summertime activity. Check out Dan’s sweet cowboy shirt purchased from Reams. That place is serious about cowboy clothes. Dan and I have tons of fun together and he is so great to take care of me especially now that I’m pregnant. He is always telling me to sit down or holding everything or getting me whatever I need. I just love him and can’t wait for the fun in our future!

Rodeo, Garden and Yellowstone

Lots of updates to post and I’m doing them all at once! First of all, we went to the Evanston Rodeo a few weeks ago and it was FREEZING. It is always colder up there, but that day was just insane and we almost froze to death. We weren’t super prepared because I didn’t realize how cold it was until we got to West Jordan so we borrowed stuff from Dan’s parents.

The rodeo was still fun and Dan can never get enough rodeo so it was a good time.

My garden is thriving! It’s insanely huge and everything I planted has done well. I harvested quite a few peas and they were really good. I will plant more peas next year and also trellis them. The parsley and cilantro was insane and I didn’t know what to do with it so I froze some and hopefully can use it for salsa later! My zucchini is huge and my onions are a few feet tall as well. We have had tons of lettuce and spinach all the time too! I have loved it and I can’t wait for fresh tomatoes!

We had our annual Yellowstone trip with the Hill family last week. This year we camped and had 3 trailers and a few tents. Almost the entire family was there for 2 days (except for Joe in Bulgaria and Ben was still in Mongolia). A total of 27 people with 3 more on the way by the end of the year! 13 kids 10 and under made for constant entertainment. Yee haw.

Setting up Mark and Carrie’s tent.

We stayed at a campground in Yellowstone this year and we were right by the river. We spent one day playing in the river. It was cold but fun!

Some of my adorable nieces and nephews. They were tons of fun and there was always someone doing something hilarious, crying, or arguing over something. I loved it.

My Sarah. She is like my little stalker. She always sits with me and I just adore her. She is the tiniest little girl but has a huge personality and we just love each other. Can’t get enough of her. We took this same picture but I had sunglasses on and she wanted another picture without my sunglasses.

We had lunch at Old Faithful and we parked ourselves by one of the walkways and enjoyed lunch.

This picture is so stinkin cute. Matt (the first kid) is obsessed with grandpa and was sitting on his stomach and then Mia, Addy and Sarah decided to join in on the fun. They are so dang adorable.

Dan and I rockin our matching wolf shirts (from our Labor day trip last year) at Yellowstone lake. Those wolf shirts summoned the wolves again this year and we saw some SWEET stuff!

Some of the kids played in Yellowstone Lake. The water was freezing and it was windy! I don’t understand how they can do that!

Some of the family at the falls.

A better view of the wolf shirts. You are welcome. I’m about 15 weeks along here and you can’t tell too much except that I just look a little chunky in the waist area!

We found an awesome area to have dinner and Julie busted out their camp chef and roasted some hot dogs. Julie is due at the end of July with a girl, and Carrie (just to the right of Julie) is due at the end of September with a boy!

Enjoying dinner in the forest. There were signs everywhere saying the trails around there were closed because of bears. Awesome. Luckily we didn’t lose any children to the bears.

There were some deer right by our dinner. Dave got really close to them.

The kids had a blast roaming around the forest and there was a huge dead tree that they loved climbing on and jumping off of. There were only a few minor casualties after this picture.

We had a blast in Yellowstone with the whole fam and Dan and are pumped to go back again over Labor day together. It will just be us and we had to go back after having a great time last year. It’s so gorgeous there and we saw a ton of animals including a pack of wolves hunting a huge herd of elk! It was so incredible to see them splitting up the herd and chasing them around. We also saw a bunch of bears! It was awesome.

Finally, we had a 16 week doctor appointment yesterday and my doctor does ultrasounds at every appointment so he can tell the gender. He was almost positive it is a… BOY!!! The umbilical cord was all wrapped up so he looked for a while, but he said he was pretty sure it was a boy. So things could possibly change, but we are super excited! I have no idea what to do with a boy, but I can’t wait!! Dan is just excited he will have a permanent friend to take camping and play with and a slave to mow his lawn. He is crazy.