Down the drain

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So it has been a pretty crazy week for us.  Scratch that, our lives are always pretty crazy and I know it’s only going to intensify in the years to come, let’s say it’s been unusual and expensive.  For the last few weeks we have been working on projects around the house and I will talk about all of that in another post, this post is specifically about the last 7 days.  My neighbor (who just bought the place about a month ago with his pregnant wife who is due the first part of November) knocked on my door and asked me if we were having any problems with water leaking (we share a wall).  I said no…all while racing through my brain to see if any of the projects we’ve been doing over the last few weeks could have affected the water pipes, still the answer was no.  He said there was water seeping into his garage where the wall and the floor meet which is also the wall we share.  So after looking around in his garage and checking out our garage which was completely dry, he called the HOA.  The HOA being the wonderfully helpful people they are (insert sarcasm) said that since it is within the walls it is the homeowners responsibility.  So our neighbor calls a plumber to come check it out.  The next day he tells me the plumber said he has a leak in his water main and shut off his water and will come back to fix it.  This brings us to last Monday…our neighbor calls and asks us if his plumber can look around in our garage on Tuesday morning to check things out.  Justin was having some problems with his car so we had already planned to drop his car off at the auto shop that morning, he was going to drive me in my car to work and then use my car for the day.  So we told him yes, the plumber could come in the morning before we left, he was scheduled to be here at 8:30 am.  We go to bed, around midnight a loud crash wakes Justin up, scares the dog so he jumps into our bed and I wake up.  Justin gets up to see what the crash was, turns out the shelving unit that was over the washer and dryer decided it had too much weight on it and choose that moment to collapse.  So half asleep we unload everything off the shelves and go back to bed.  I fall asleep pretty quickly but then wake up around 3:30 am since the TV is on, I look over and Justin is awake and starts talking about an earthquake that happened a few hours ago and “did I feel it?” Ummmm no, I was sleeping.  I guess it happened right as he was starting to fall back asleep and it jarred him awake again and that was it, he was up, watching TV. A few hours later we get ready for work and we’re sitting on the couch waiting for the plumber to come.  We started going though the mail we had on the table and saw a recall notice for our dishwasher, great another thing to fix.  8:30am rolls around…8:45…9:00…no plumber, and we need to get going. So we leave our garage clicker with our neighbor and drop Justin’s car off at the auto shop, he takes me to work then drives home to check on the status of the plumber before heading into the office.  When he gets home, the plumber had arrived, checked things out, blew air through the water main to see if he could detect the leak and determined that it is nothing on our side so he no longer needs access to our garage. Great! Justin walks back through our garage to leave for work and happens to glance over at our water heater (that was perfectly dry) on the opposite side of the garage and sees water leaking out.  He grabs the plumber next door and asks him about it.  The plumber says well it looks like the bottom of it is corroded and is leaking.  Is this a bizarre coincidence or is it a result of him blowing air through the water main?  We’ll never know… So Justin calls around to get some quotes and ends up having Bill Howe (…because we know HOWE...) come out to replace our water heater.  Which ends up costing us $1010 and Apollo decided to go into attack mode and bite the guy’s ankle, luckily he was wearing some heavy duty boots so no damage was done, but he was not too happy about it and almost left.  In the middle of all this the auto shop calls and says Justin’s radiator needs to be replaced (which was another $500) and the plumber digs up a hole outside of our neighbors garage that was filled with water.  Justin told him to stop since the leak was outside the walls it should be the HOA’s responsibility.   Being the awesome neighbor Justin is, he calls the HOA on our neighbors behalf and tells them they need to come out and look at this.  They tried to give him the “it’s within the walls, so it’s the homeowners responsibility” runaround and he (I’m sure very calmly) said “I am standing here looking at a hole filled with water OUTSIDE of the home”, they quickly sent someone out right away and agreed that it is their responsibility and would have their plumber out to fix it the next day.  So Justin basically saved our neighbor thousands of dollars he would have had to pay the other plumber.  After the new water heater was installed (which we now call Darth Vader since it is all black and shiny) Justin picked me up from work and we went to Dixieline to get some heavy duty anchors to rehang the shelving unit that collapsed, picked up his car and went home.  He never made it into his office.  So in 24 hours we had a shelving unit collapse, sleepless night complete with an earthquake, dishwasher recall, crazy dog, radiator & water heater replaced, dealing with plumbers, HOA, water leaks and $1500 down the drain.  It was a rough day…

The next day the HOA plumber comes out shuts off all the water on our street and finds the leak which ends up being underneath the foundation of our neighbors garage.  Poor people, they just bought the place!  Over the next few days the concrete is pulled up, the leak is fixed and concrete is re-poured.  Problem solved.

Over the weekend, Justin had a guys trip planned to Lake Mead and I was able to get some things done around the house and relax a bit.  Come Monday morning, we were feeling refreshed and ready to start a new week.  I had a good, productive day at work and came home to take Apollo on a nice long walk since I was feeling good.  I had the leash in one hand and my iPhone in the other.  I quickly learned that money is not the only thing that can go down the drain in a moments notice, as I was walking on the sidewalk, I dropped my phone and it bounced off the curb and into the storm drain. gone. In a matter of seconds.  I stopped and thought did that really just happen?  I couldn’t believe that of all the places along the sidewalk I could have dropped my phone and it would have landed in the street, it had to happen right by the storm drain.  After I realizing that it really did happen, at 25 weeks preggo, I am laying on the side of the curb looking down the storm drain (Apollo was helping me look too) to see if I could see my phone.  Nothing.  Then I thought to myself, even if I did see it, what are you going to do, it’s not like I am going to reach in there and fish it out along with all the other disgusting things that are down there and no matter how many sanitary wipes I would use to clean it I couldn’t bring myself to use it.  So I got up and stood there for a minute, thinking, hoping it would materialize somewhere.  My phone is gone.  The thing is it is so much more to me than just a phone, it is my life organizer, gone.  So we walk the rest of he way home and I am in shock, I don’t know if I should cry from frustration or laugh.  I ended up laughing.  When Justin got home we drove back to the storm drain and used his phone to call mine to see if we could hear it.  He even took the heavy metal manhole cover off and stuck his head down looking & listening for my phone, all the while I am telling him that even if he finds it there is no way I am going to use it after where it has been.  With no luck we took a trip to the Verizon store and they ordered me a new phone, luckily it was insured, but it still cost me $170. It should be here by the time I get home from work tomorrow.  If we can survive the last 7 days we’ve had I think I can survive 24 hours without a phone.

Yes, I know these things happen in life, but do they ALL have to happen in one week??? Thanks for listening to me vent, I hope you got a chuckle or two from my story, I know there will come a day when we can look back on this and laugh, but tonight somebody please have a glass of wine for me, I really need it!

And to all the whales and other sea life, I am really sorry I didn’t mean to dump my phone down the drain.

What did it teach me

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I have been meaning to do a post on photography for a while now and the perfect opportunity for me to do so has come up.  Before I get into it, here’s a little background.

If you know me well you know that I have always loved taking pictures.  It is my favorite way of documenting memories. I have boxes and albums full of photos that are probably among my most treasured possessions. If we ever had to evacuate our house (which we did have to a few years ago) the photos are at the top of my list of things to take.  Thankfully now that we are in the digital age, it is not such a space consuming hobby anymore, but I do have to make sure the digital files are all backed up!

A few years ago in Apollo’s dog training class I met a woman (and her adorable yellow lab), her husband was in the Navy and was deployed at that time.  She was taking pictures during the class so she could send them to him overseas so he could see the progress their dog was making.  She had a Canon Rebel and I was ohhing and ahhing over her camera and we started talking photography.  She told me about a online class she was taking called Snapshots of a Good Life and how amazing the instructor, Karen Russell, was.  So when I got home I googled Karen Russell and found out all about the class.  Not only does she teach a fantastic class she also has a blog where she shares her family memories, tells funny stories and teaches us a few things here and there.  I started following her blog and even though I’ve never met her or anyone in her family, I feel like I know them (at least what she shares online).  Karen’s teaching style is all about how to achieve a great photo straight out of the camera, which is exactly what I want to do since I am not that skilled in the editing department. I love her pictures and immediately decided I wanted to take her class but was waiting and saving up to get a professional camera.

My husband being the attentive person that he is got me a Canon Rebel for our anniversary 2 years ago (or maybe he was tired of hearing me talk about this class!) I  signed up right away and it has changed my view of photography.  I highly recommend  this class for anyone at any level of skill to take.  Here are some of the things I’ve learned:

  • I learned how to get out of the auto mode and take pictures in manual mode.
  • I learned what all the icons mean and what all the buttons do on my camera.
  • I learned how to use the exposure triangle (aperture, shutter speed & ISO) to create a properly exposed photo.
  • I learned how to take pictures in low light settings.
  • I learned the importance of lighting and how to create catchlights that make the eyes sparkle.
  • I learned that photography is not just about a perfectly posed photo, but a way to capture the story as it unfolds.
  • I learned about depth of field.
  • I learned how to use my focus points.
  • I learned how to create pretty bokeh.
  • I learned how to achieve that blurred background so your main subject pops in the photo.
  • And I learned so, so much more…

The last week of class Karen turns it over to Erin Cobb, who is another great photographer with a blog of her own.  Erin designed a tutorial called Clean Color that teaches all about the editing process.  I love her editing style and was so excited to learn that as well.  Unfortunately for me, the timing of that part of class was when I had my surgery, so I never finished the last week.  Someday I have promised myself that I will take the time to download her tutorial and learn (yes, I realize I am saying this as my life is only going to get busier with a newborn on his way…that is why I said someday…)

This now brings me to the point of this post.  Karen sent out an email to all her past students asking them to share a photo and something important they learned in class then post it on their blogs, facebook, pinterest, etc… and then link it to her blog.  I tried really, really hard to narrow it down to just one, I have so many favorite photos I’ve taken and so many things I’ve learned that I couldn’t do it, so I have two.

As with anything else, practice makes perfect.  My dog and my husband are pretty tired of being my subjects, so it’s a good thing I am growing a new subject at the moment and starting January you will see LOTS of photos of him 🙂

Why Me?

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During the time leading up to our IVF and during the process, there were so many emotions swirling around me bouncing back and forth between excitement, frustration and fear of the unknown.  I had a continuous stream of disappointment for the 2.5 years before and I was convinced that it (IVF) was not going to work and we were going to end up being that couple with no kids, forever.  Which meant we would need to find a new group of friends, you know, the kind of people you can call up at a moments notice to get together without having to think about childcare.  I felt myself starting to dread the family events, don’t get me wrong, I LOVE both sides of our family and enjoy spending time with them, but…it was hard fielding the “so what have you been up too” kind of questions and I got so tired of talking about work because if I didn’t talk about work then I would be forced to talk about our all consuming fertility struggles which resulted in a huge headache because it took everything in me to keep myself from completely losing it and crying from frustration. So it was just easier not to talk about it at all.  When other family members bring their babies to family events it becomes the focus point, which is great, that’s how it should be.  Families grow by making more babies and it is a wonderful thing…except when you can’t have a baby and so desperately want to and it kills you to see the joy in your grandparents or parents eyes when they light up at the sight of a baby and you can’t give that to them.

I spent so much time trying to figure out what my purpose was, I was trying to figure out how I was going to make some kind of change in my life if we didn’t have kids since I was not happy just going to work every day, coming home walking the dog, making dinner, going to bed and then waking up and doing it all over again for the rest.of.my.life.  I guess you could call it an identity crisis, I was depressed at times and clueless to who I was.  It was hard…really hard.  And during that time we did not tell anyone what we were going through, I did not want anyone feeling bad about talking to us about their kids or making their pregnancy announcements or feeling awkward about inviting me to their baby shower or kids birthday parties, we really truly were happy for those people and wanted to celebrate these special times with them.

Other than talking to my (wonderful, loving, supporting) husband as a release, I also turned to a journal.  It was not a consistent thing, but when I felt like I needed to get things off my chest and sort my emotions I would write them down.  They ranged from pure venting, to prayers, to listing the things I had to be grateful for and anything in between.  It really helped me.  Once I found out we were pregnant I stopped.  I think since I started this blog I figured it would replace that.  And I do plan to be honest and truthful about things here and will eventually post more about our journey to get to this point.  But sometimes my thoughts can be pretty random and if I posted them here them you all would think I was crazy!  🙂  Lately I’ve been feeling that urge to start writing in my journal again (don’t worry I won’t give up the blog).  So I got it out and started reading through the pages.  One of my entries had an email print out attached to it that was sent to me by Justin’s Aunt last December.  It was a daily devotional from Truth for Life and it was called ‘Why Do My Prayers Go Unanswered?‘  During any busy time (it was almost Christmas!) any emails I receive that require any lengthy reading, extra work or any kind of deep thought just sit in my inbox until I have time to do it, so I didn’t read it right away…But I didn’t delete it, because the subject Why Do My Prayers Go Unanswered? was right up my alley and I desperately wanted the answer to that question. God knows I prayed many desperate prayers to him over the years and the big question I had was ‘Why Me?‘ I know God has his reasons for the way things happen, but I so so fixated on why, what was his reason, and if not kids then what, what do I do with myself?? When I had time to sit down and read the email and think about what it was saying, I loved it, it gave me a sense of peace which was what I needed at that time, I printed it up and wrote about it in my journal that night. I love how God is always there even when you feel like he’s not.  Here’s the devotional:

Why Do My Prayers Go Unanswered?

Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you;
therefore he will rise up to show you compassion.
For the Lord is a God of justice.
Blessed are all who wait for him!
~Isaiah 30:18

God often delays in answering prayer. We have several instances of this in the Bible. Jacob did not get the blessing from the angel until near the dawn of day-he had to wrestle all night for it. The poor woman of Syrophoenicia received no answer for a long while. Paul asked the Lord three times for “a thorn . . . in the flesh” * to be taken from him, and he received no assurance that it would be removed, but instead a promise that God’s grace would be sufficient for him.

If you have been knocking at the gate of mercy and have received no answer, shall I tell you why the mighty Maker has not opened the door and let you in?

Our Father has personal reasons for keeping us waiting. Sometimes it is to show His power and His sovereignty, so that we may learn that God has a right to give or to withhold.

More often the delay is for our benefit. You are perhaps kept waiting in order that your desires may be more fervent. God knows that delay will quicken and increase desire, and that if He keeps you waiting, you will see your need more clearly and will seek more diligently, and that you will treasure the mercy all the more on account of the wait.

There may also be something wrong in you that needs to be removed before the joy of the Lord is given. Perhaps your views of the gospel plan are confused, or you may be relying upon yourself instead of trusting simply and entirely in the Lord Jesus. Or God makes you wait for a while so that He may display the riches of His grace more abundantly in the end.

Your prayers are all filed in heaven, and if not immediately answered they are certainly not forgotten, but in a little while they will be fulfilled to your delight and satisfaction. Do not allow despair to make you silent, but continue to present your requests to God.

*…because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me ~2 Corinthians 12:7

Who knows why we had to go this route to start a family…but I do know that I wanted it more now then when we first started. I even had the thought that I have had such a great life growing up and to this point never really had to deal with any major pain or suffering so this was a lesson to me so I can mature and grow in other ways.  Whatever the reason this process has strengthened my relationship with Christ and maybe that was the reason itself.

One day while shopping this sign caught my eye and it made me think about this, so I bought it and it is hanging in my house as a reminder.

God didn’t promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, nor sun without rain. 
But he did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears and light for the way.

No matter what you are going through in life God’s grace can carry you through.

Aunt Lee if you are reading this, thank you for sending me that email!  You sent it for a different purpose, little did you know that God was using it in other ways 🙂

XO

6 Years

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6 years ago today I married my best friend!
It was a magical day in San Diego
We were surrounded by our family
and our friends.
There were a lot of laughs
some tears of joy
and lots of dancing!
It seems like 6 years has flown by,
our lives are about to change pretty drastically, and I can’t wait!
There’s no one else I would want to be on this journey with.

We celebrated our anniversary this weekend by laying tile in our bathroom.  My how times have changed!  Love you babe!

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. ~ John 15:12

Chili Cook-Off

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Last Sunday was the 1 year anniversary since our church “launched” to the public!  To celebrate the occasion we had a good old fashioned Chili Cook-Off.  Justin was able to let his creative juices flow and make the 1st and 2nd place trophies.
We had a great turnout, Pastor Jason did a fantastic job with his message, and we had 20 crock pots filled with different “top secret” types of chili.  After the service was over we all went out to the park to start tasting and the kids tackled the bounce house.
We asked the local fire department to be the judges, however, they got a call and were not able to come at that time.  That’s okay, we appreciate all the hard work they do (especially in this awful heat wave we’ve been having!) So new judges were appointed and they went right to work, tasting and taking notes on each one.
After the judges had their samples of each, we let the masses loose
Halfway through the fire department showed up!
They were happy to be a part of the cook off and dove right in tasting the chili.
After everyone had their taste of the goods the winner was announced!
Then the firemen invited all the kids to come tour their firetruck.  We technically do not have kids yet, but didn’t want to miss out on the fun, so here’s the babies to be on the truckNot to be outdone by the preggo’s the boys had their fun too 🙂
We are truly blessed to be a part of such an incredible church and love all the special friendships we’ve acquired there.  I can’t wait for our little boy to join in on the fun!

Praise the Lord.  Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people. ~ Psalm 149:1

On the move

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Whew!! What a day…lately I feel like our schedules are completely out of control! Work has been really busy for both of us, and everything else has gone into overdrive. Sometimes it is a fun kind of busy like our trip to Vegas, and the 4 fun events we crammed into 2 days this weekend and I wouldn’t change a thing.  But this is also a time when all I want to do is relax, read books and enjoy some peace and quiet before the baby comes and that is just not happening, so we’re hanging on and taking it one day (sometimes one hour) at a time.

Today’s perk was my doctors appointment.  All is well, my blood pressure and weight gain are right on track.  We heard his strong and healthy heartbeat again.  In fact, I think he has taken a clue from our crazy schedules since he is on the move himself.  My OB had to keep moving the doppler around to keep up with him.  It is amazing the peace it gives me just hearing his heartbeat and knowing that all is well.

During my walks with Apollo I try to use that time to “relax” mentally and not think about everything that needs to be done at work, home or in a certain timeframe. Most of the time it doesn’t work, sometimes it does and at least the exercise and fresh air gives me a clear head, energy boost or a second wind to keep going.

Here’s a picture I snapped with my iPhone of a pretty sky on one of our walks. Doesn’t looking at that give you a sense of calm! Work with me here…I’m trying!

 

Baby Bump Goes to Vegas!

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Justin had a conference to go to in Las Vegas last week so we decided to make a trip out of it. We have some good friends who have a house out there and they let us “move in” for a few days. It was nice because we were able to enjoy the comforts of home that you can’t get in a hotel room, we were able to bring our dog with us and it was free! We broke up the drive by stopping to visit with my grandma and grandpa in Redlands. Grandpa and Justin picked up a pizza for lunch and we spent a few hours talking and telling stories. It is always so nice to see them! The rest of our drive went smoothly, we drove through a little rainstorm about 2 hours from Vegas.
When we adopted Apollo, I swear the paperwork that came with him got mixed up with another dogs paperwork because it said that he did not like riding in the car…I can assure you that is NOT true. There are times when we can’t get him out of the car when we get to our destination and end up leaving the door open so he can come inside when he realizes that the car ride is over.
When we arrived, we were greeted by our friends Davy & Deanna and we BBQed some steaks for dinner. The next morning after breakfast Davy & Deanna had to head back to San Diego and we spent the rest of the morning reading and relaxing. That afternoon we headed to the strip where we took baby’s first Vegas picture 🙂
Then we went to the Hofbrau House for a late lunch.
It brought back memories of our vacation to Germany for Oktoberfest.

With full stomachs, we walked around the strip and looked around the new casinos that we had not been to yet. It sure is fun to people watch in Vegas, there’s always something to see.

Early the next morning I dropped Justin off at Caesar’s Palace for the conference and I spent the day reading and working on the computer. Apollo was in full vacation mode sunbathing on the patio. The 100+ degree weather did not bother him one bit.
That evening Justin and I had reservations at the restaurant in the Eiffel Tower at the Paris hotel. Since it was Sunday evening and the Steelers were playing I met Justin at the sports bar in the Paris hotel to watch the game before we went to dinner.
The dinner was an early 6 year anniversary celebration. We had a table at a window overlooking the Bellagio and watched the water fountain show every 15 minutes.
The food was fantastic and dessert was even better! In fact we ended up with two desserts since one was on the house for our celebration. They know their way to a pregnant woman’s heart! Yum!
After dinner we walked to Caesar’s Palace where the some of the Young Advisors who were in town for the conference had a party at a suite. It was a pretty cool two story suite and turns out it is where they filmed part of the movie Rainman.

The next morning bright and early I dropped Justin off again at Caesar’s Palace for the conference and I set off to do a little bit of shopping. That evening we went to Justin’s company dinner at Caesar’s Palace (sorry I don’t have any pictures of that night). It was a really nice dinner and 4 of the men there were past presidents of the association and they each said a few words. It really showed that these people are passionate about what they do and truly care about the association. After the dinner the Young Advisors were having another event at the Shadow Bar so we stopped by there for a while before heading home.

On our last full day there Justin didn’t have to be at the conference until 3:15 pm so we finally had a chance to sleep in! We kept hearing on the news and our iPhone weather app that there was a storm coming…all day the clouds were building and building. We left the house to grab a late lunch before Justin had to be at the conference. When we left the wind was howling and as we drove away big fat rain drops slowly started coming down. We stopped at a sandwich place and I sat out on the patio with the dog while Justin went inside to order food. In a matter of two minutes the sky opened and the rain came pouring down like I’ve never seen it before. There was lightning and really really loud thunder, Apollo did not like it one bit, he was in my lap whimpering and shivering. So we ran back to the car in the flooded parking lot and ate lunch in the car. It then took us an hour to get to Caesar’s Palace and an hour and a half for me to get back to the house. There was so much flooding, accidents and debris on the freeways. And it all happened so fast, it gave me a new appreciation for the term “flash flood.” We both grew up in the desert and remember all the desert thunderstorms we loved growing up. I still do love them, but not when I have to drive in them! By the time I had to go back and pick up Justin the storm had passed but there was still flooding and debris on the roads. We picked up Italian food for dinner and layed low at the house watching movies. The following day we packed up and drove back to San Diego. It was a fun, relaxing, exhausting and exciting trip all in one.

To end this post here’s my 22 week belly 🙂

Oregon

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As promised, here are the highlights of our trip to Oregon.

We wanted to explore other areas of Oregon outside of my parents ranch, so we all piled in the truck and drove west to the coast.  Our first stop was Newport, OR.  It is a small fishing town with a ‘Main Street’ filled with shops, restaurants, art galleries and other small businesses.

After parking we found a brewery and had lunch.  Then we walked up and down main street peeking in the shops and art galleries.  We heard a commotion out on one of the docks so we went to see what was going on.

Seals.

We got an ice cream cone and made our way back to the truck and we found this in one of the shop doorways.

I have a love affair with labs, one day we will have one (or two).

We took a different way home and drove south a bit along the coast to Waldport and stopped at the beach.

Southern CA (namely San Diego!) has some of the most beautiful beaches, but Oregon’s coastline is not too shabby either.

Then heading east back to the ranch we really went on an adventure.  We ended up on a 1.5 lane, windy road through the country.  There was NOTHING around except lots and lots of trees and a river, it was a beautiful drive and a bit longer than we expected.

The next day, we did a round up!  The cows needed to be moved to a different field and doctored up as well.  So my parents, Justin and their neighbor Bob got on the 4 horses and I was on the mini cart/mule thingy…and got all the cattle into a corral from the field.

Then a few at a time went through the shoot where they were treated with a dewormer then out into another corral.

When they were all done, we all got back on the horses, mini cart/mule thingy and paraded the cows down the driveway to the field in front of the house.

Once the cows were safely in the field, we rode around on the horses for a bit.

View of the ranch.

There was a bit of a heat wave while we were up there. It got up to 90 degrees and it was too hot to spend much time outside so we spent the next day being lazy.  We read books, played games, napped, baked cookies and just hung out around the ranch.

The following day my dad and Justin went target shooting and my mom and I picked up her friend Vickie and we went to the U of O campus.

They have some beautiful buildings on campus that are filled with museums, the particular one we were going to was about the women of the west.

We wandered around for a while and then drove to a baby store that my mom had been wanting to go to.  I found a cute knit cap for baby boy 🙂  After some lunch we headed to the mall and went shopping for maternity clothes!  We all met up back at the ranch and went to dinner at the Dexter Lake Club.

If you’ve seen the movie Animal House, this is where they filmed the bar scene…

We had some of the best burgers (aside from In N Out) for dinner.  It was open mic night and their regular band started things off, then there were a variety of performers on the stage.  The last band we heard was a bit of a surprise since it was not what we were expecting at a redneck hole in the wall.  It was a pastor, his wife and their two daughters.  They sang worship songs (with a bit of a spin on some) and were quite a hit.

On our last full day there we had some fun doing a little photo shoot.  My parents got a new big tractor for them and a little tractor bike for baby boy.  So we rounded up all three tractors and had some fun.

Even Missy & Cody got in on the fun

All in all it was a fun trip.  It was nice to spend time with my parents and be out in the country with the animals.  We ate lots of good food and played rematch after rematch of the marble game. The future summers will be even more fun with baby boy to play around the ranch with!

Halfway!!

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I am 20 weeks preggo…halfway!  Wow that kind of flew by!  I am understanding now why people always say the 2nd trimester is the best.  Here’s why I am enjoying it:

I actually look like I am pregnant now and not just a little thick around the middle.
Other than a few minor aches and pains I feel great!
Shopping for new clothes is always fun and dressing up the belly is no different.
Random strangers smile at me in public.
I get more and more people stopping to let me go in front of them, holding doors open for me and even stopping traffic to let me cross the street.
There seems to be a magical aura that surrounds a pregnant woman that makes the world take notice and become happier people.
My inie belly button is becoming an outie.
I am no longer Michelle, everyone now calls me ‘Mama’.
I love the stories I am hearing from other seasoned mama’s.
If I can put a smile on someones face by simply walking into the grocery store, then I consider it a good day!

I am in awe of this little miracle growing inside me, especially when he starts moving around, stretching, kicking and swimming in my belly. I never tire of feeling that, even in the early morning hours before the sun comes up.   I love that Justin loves my belly and the excitement I see in him when he feels him kick or we talk about our future with our little boy.

Our lives are pretty crazy right now, we are trying to get some projects done around the house before we can really start creating a nursery as well as working full time.  On the weekends and evenings, we are meeting with contractors, picking out carpet, redoing a bathroom, moving electrical and painting, on top of our social, athletic and other weekly commitments.   Once all that is done then we can get a crib and dresser and start decorating, oh JOY!  In the middle of all this madness, baby boy keeps kicking away and reminding me to pause, smile, enjoy this time and be thankful for all that we have and all that will come…God is good.

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever ~1 Chronicles 16:34

And here’s my 20 week belly 🙂

Waiting for the call

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Not only do I want to use this blog as a way to keep friends and family posted on what’s going on with us, but it is kind of going to be a journal for me.  Especially down the road when I start cataloging and documenting our baby’s life.  There are some things (details) that I don’t want to forget, so I plan to post them here from time to time.  One important day that I don’t want to forget was the day we found out we were pregnant, so here goes…

On the day of my pregnancy test my mom was in town.  First thing in the morning we went to my doctors office and they drew my blood.  We were chatting with the nurses and my mom had asked them when they thought they would call with the results.  The nurse said, we try to get all our phone calls done during the lunch hour and we usually call the pregnant ones first.  So with that all done, we went to the Corner Bakery for breakfast, then we did what girls do best, we went shopping!  We had a list of errands to run and places to shop at, one by one we checked them off the list.  I had my phone in my pocket on ring and vibrate and checked it every 5 minutes to make sure I didn’t miss a call.  Around lunchtime we were at DSW (my favorite shoe store), when we left we still had not heard anything.  We only had one place left to go…Babies R Us.  I had a baby shower to go to the following weekend and I was putting off getting the gift until I knew the results so I could either prepare myself to go in get a gift and leave OR my mom and I could look around at all the cute stuff.  We had not had lunch yet and by now it was about 1:30, so we decided to go to In and Out which was on the way to Babies R Us. Both of us kind of got quiet and I was mentally preparing myself for another negative result so I wouldn’t completely loose it when I got the call.  We sat outside and ate lunch. At this point Justin had started calling me and asking if I heard anything.  Finally after stalling long enough I said lets just go get this over with, so we go to Babies R Us.  I printed the registry from the kiosk and we wandered around while I looked at the registry to determine what I wanted to buy.  Once I figured it out, we had to walk across the store to the other side to get it and we ended up walking through all the baby furniture, cribs, dressers, rocking chairs, etc…I was literally smack dab in the middle of the store and my phone rang.  I honestly thought about not answering it, I held it staring at it for a few seconds before finally deciding to answer.  It was my favorite nurse and she said “Congratulations, you are pregnant!” I had to ask her to repeat herself to be sure I heard her right.  She assured me that my numbers came back well within the positive range and she wanted me to come back in two days for a repeat test to make sure the numbers were doubling.  After hanging up my mom and I hugged and we sat in the rocking chairs and cried for a few minutes.  I can only imagine what the sales man was thinking as he watched the whole scene.  Positive!! I am pregnant!  When I caught my breath I remembered why we were there and we set off to find the gift I was buying and my mom picked up a copy of ‘What to Expect When You are Expecting’.  As much as I wanted to linger around the store, I couldn’t wait to tell Justin and I didn’t want to tell him on the phone.  Luckily his office was about 10 minutes down the road, so we headed over there.  On the way, I am calling him to tell him that we are coming over so I can ‘show my mom his office’, he wasn’t picking up my calls.  We get there and all the doors into his office are locked and they change to codes often, so I had no idea what the new code was and couldn’t get in.  So I used the keypad outside the door to call into his office (also while I am simultaneously calling him on his cell phone) and he didn’t pick up, I called the admin desk and no one picked up.  I was getting frustrated and started knocking on the door, finally a lady opened it for me and I explained who I was and we set off to Justin’s office.  He was not there…no one was there.  I started thinking about it and realized it was a little after 3:00 on a Friday, which usually means happy hour.  So as we are pulling out of the parking lot Justin calls me, I explained that we were at his office and he confirmed my suspicions that he was at happy hour with the guys.  They knew that Justin was waiting for the results so they took him out for a drink to get his mind off of things.  I hung up without telling him because I really wanted to tell him in person.  He said he was on his way home, so we met him there. As I walked into the house I gave him a hug and told him we were pregnant!  He was thrilled!  It took some time to sink it and over the next few days I had to keep reminding myself that it was true.

The really special thing about that weekend was Sunday was Mothers Day. My mom was still in town and we all went to church.  At the end of the service the all the kids came in with roses and handed them out to all the mom’s.  Not everyone at church knew that we were pregnant yet, but one couple who did had their little boy give me a rose, it was a touching moment!  Justin also gave me a really sweet Mother’s Day card.  I was still in that surreal mode where I couldn’t believe I was actually celebrating Mother’s Day in a different way.  It was such a special, emotional weekend and I am so glad my mom was there to share it with us.