Dear husband

Dear husband,

Thank you for biting off the rotten part of the apple before giving it to me.

Thank you for playing me Bohnanza for the thousandth time because you know how much I love it.

Thank you for rubbing my stomach when I don't feel good.
Thank you for being the driver because I'm horrible with directions.

Thank you for talking to our baby every day.

Thank you for making a blue print of our apartment because you know how anxious I am to move in and decorate our home.

Thank you for letting me pick out the ice cream flavor at the store.

Thank you for going on walks with the baby and I.

Thank you for killing every spider I find.

Thank you for being willing to paint my toenails ever since my bump has gotten in the way.

Thank you for always waiting patiently for me to get ready.

Thank you for being money conscientious.

Thank you for popping my back every single day.

Thank you for playing with my hair cause you know how much I love it.

Thank you for being a hard worker and going to school for our family.

Thank you for being my best friend.

Thank you for encouraging me to start an Etsy shop and complimenting my work, always.

Thank you for always trusting my taste in decor.
Thank you for being the designated trash emptier.

Thank you for making me laugh daily.

Thank you for loving me unconditionally.

Thank you for making everything that is important to me important to you.

Thank you for always grilling my turkey burgers for me.

Thank you for folding the laundry.

Thank you for being aware of my feelings.

Thank you ahead of time for changing all of the dirty diapers ;).

Thank you for coming with me to all my doctor appointments.

Thank you for reading books to our baby.

Thank you for helping me with all my ongoing projects.

Thank you for being the best.

xoxo, your wife

Happy Birthday America!

This fourth of July was spent in Vancouver with Scott's parents. It was a fun weekend filled with many block parties, delicious food, friends, family, games, and fireworks. What more could you ask for?

I loved that the fourth of July fell on a Friday because it made the weekend feel so much longer.

Scott and I have recently become obsessed with the card game called 'Bohnanza.' Side-note, we ordered it off Amazon on a week day and received it in the mail the next morning! Gotta love Amazon Prime, and my sister for letting us use her account ;). We probably played it about 10 times this past weekend, I highly recommend it!

Here in Vancouver the firework shows are not only on the 4th but the day before as well. They are pretty crazy...great, but crazy. When I say crazy I'm saying that you are literally about 20 yards from where they light them off and there is a continuous explosion of fireworks from start to finish. By the end of the show you can hardly see from all the smoke. There is also a chance that one of the fireworks will fall over and fly into the crowd, which has happened and did happen this year. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous to watch the firework shows. I didn't want the fireworks to be too loud for the baby! Scott convinced me that the baby would be fine, and that he is swimming in amniotic fluid so the noise would be very faint.
I still covered my stomach with lots of blankets, just to be safe ;).

Last year Scott and I came up with (what we thought) a funny patriotic photo, so this year we thought we should top it and incorporate our little baby.

This was all Scott's idea, he thought it would be the funniest thing to wrap a flag around my baby bump. To my surprise, I actually really love this photo!

Oh you know, just draping the flag casually on the shoulder, compliments of Velenti

The baby loves to be kissed by his daddy

Can you guess who thought of this photo? Haha "guns, motorcycles, and sexy women"

Happy Birthday America, we love celebrating you!

30 weeks

How far along? 30 weeks!!!

How big is baby? As big as a butternut squash (17 in & 3.1 lbs)

Total weight gain/loss: About 18 lbs.

Maternity clothes? Mostly just dresses, maxi skirts have been my best friend!

Sleep: Good, but it has gotten harder for me to fall asleep and have been getting restless leg only on my left leg some nights, I think it's from laying on my side

Best moment this week: Baby shower invites went out! And as always I love his movements and his kicks that are getting way stronger. Also, we found an apartment! I can now imagine where the baby's nursery will be :)

Movement: I felt and saw him having the hiccups in church this past week, Scott thought it was so funny seeing my belly jolt every 10 seconds

Food cravings: Ice cream! I could always go for a soft serve at Ikea, I don't know why but their vanilla ice cream is da-bomb

Food Aversions: Nothing 

Gender: BOY

Labor Signs: No.

Pregnancy Symptoms: I have been getting hot a lot easier and it is definitely getting harder for me to shave my legs, what do I do once I can't even bend over to reach my legs??? I tried painting my toenails the other day, it was about the most difficult thing. The babe does NOT like me smashing him

Belly Button in or out? I would say it's flat right now, not in and not out...if that makes sense? It will be making it's way out pretty soon

What I miss: I'm pretty sure I have said this before, but I can't help but say that I miss laying on my stomach...and about 80% of my clothes!

What I am looking forward to: Setting up nursery!

Upcoming appointments/events:  July 17, just the usual check up. I got out of having to get the RH shot, thank you Scott for have O negative blood :). We are leaving to Mexico in a couple weeks with Scott's family so I am preparing myself for the heat!

Milestones: Hiccups from my little cub

I love my little baby bear!!!

Homemade goodness

Last year Scott and I took some homemade raspberry jam with us to school that my mom made. We loved being able to just pull a jar out of the freezer every time we ran out of jam, plus homemade jam is delicious. So we decided we wanted to make some of our own strawberry jam for this upcoming school year. 

My mom has always made homemade jam and I have always loved it, and I am so happy to be continuing the tradition. 

We used MCP pectin and followed the 'easy freezer jam' directions that came with it.

Neither Scott or I had a clue how many strawberries we needed let alone how many batches to do or how many jars are made with each batch. This is probably why we ended up with A LOT of extra strawberries :). So not only did we make strawberry jam but strawberry pie too.

 We were lucky to have my mother-in-law's food processor to chop the strawberries, otherwise it would have taken FOREVER!

Lots and lots of strawberries, the kitchen smelled divine.

My little homemaker :)

We ended up with a dozen jars of strawberry jam. I will say that we could not believe how much sugar we had to use for three batches, but the jam sure tastes great ;). We are pretty proud of ourselves! I look forward to making homemade jam again with my hubby when we run out in a couple years or so haha.

Hello third trimester!

I am so excited to be this far along, because at the end of this trimester I will have a sweet baby boy to hold and to love. I feel like I have been so behind on my blogging, so here are some fun happenings:

+Scott and I have been busy registering for our baby boy. I guess Scott wouldn't really consider this fun ;). But none the less we have spent a lot of time reading reviews and figuring out what brands are better. I had no idea how many brands there were!

+we bought a beautiful Moses bassinet off of craiglist that I am just itching to put our baby in, or even set up! I can't wait. (Hoping to move into an apartment soon)

+baby L's kicks are getting so strong and he moves around a lot! I don't know when he even sleeps. Yesterday at church he had the hiccups! 

+all the nursery bedding is almost done! My mom and I made the bed skirt and now we just need to make the bumpers.

+After Scott and I moved from Rexburg I decided I wanted to change our whole color scheme in our living room, I am known for changing my mind a lot. Anyways, I have been busy painting and buying new treasures for our home. Scott and I even reupholstered an old chair that we are very proud of!
+I just recently got a new canon camera which I am sooo excited about. I can't wait to start taking photos of our lil babes, I'm planning on taking the newborn photos!
+Scott and I just spent a week at Bear Lake with my dad's side for a family reunion which was such a fun trip. Scott won the whole Bocce tournament and I won the corn-hole toss tournament, we were both pretty surprised ;).
+After searching for a cute baby book we found the cutest one at Anthropology, we are going to start writing in it tonight :).
+We decided to make homemade strawberry jam last night, now we are set for several years! YUM!
+Every night baby L likes to cuddle with his dad and has been kicking daddy in the face a lot haha, we are both so excited for September.
+I am now visiting the doctor every two weeks, my next appointment is tomorrow. Scott has been the best husband/dad making it to each appointment with me.
+Scott and I are still apartment searching for somewhere to live in Forest Grove, we have two good options that we are applying for next week.
+Baby L's baby shower is coming up at the end of this month along with our maternity photo shoot with my favorite photographer, Sunny!

These are just some simple things that have been making me oh so happy!