A Few That Were Missed

After going through the SD cards in our camera bag recently, I found a few pictures from earlier this summer that I failed to post on the monthly photo dumps, so I am going to post them now. Most of them are from a hike we took to Battle Creek Falls. Even though it is a relatively easy hike, I remember being really proud of myself because it was during the second trimester and I had been too sick to do any hiking (or exercising for that matter) for months before then. Plus, not only did we hike to the falls, we hiked quite a ways past the falls too! The other pictures are just from random nights/sunsets this summer. I think most of these were taken in June/July.

I love our beautiful Earth!

September Photo Dump

I can't believe September is over!! Why are the months suddenly going by so fast?? They need to slow down!!! I am getting more and more nervous about this baby coming, and I have been spending my days this month getting ready for just that, and also catching up on books and tv shows that I am behind on, because heaven knows I won't have nearly as much time for them after the baby is born. Jon finished working at 7 peaks as a Security Guard at the beginning of September so now he is just back to the 1 job in American Fork but that keeps him super busy by itself. He is also taking classes this semester so between work, school, and homework his schedule is extremely full from early morning to late at night! He is such a hard worker and I love him so much and I am so grateful to him for it. I feel like I have been bragging about him a lot lately in my posts but I honestly feel like the longer I am married to this amazing man, the more I am just gushing out my overflowing love for him all over the place and it's kind of impossible to hide. So that is what is going on with us, now onto the pictures:

This "baby bump shadow selfie" was taken on a date night to Trafalga. Since Jon worked at 7 peaks over the summer, he was able to get us in for free!

My mom, sister, nephew and I went raspberry picking one morning at a raspberry patch. I picked over 3 pounds and they were delicious! We ate most of them raw, just as they were, but I also used several to make a lemon raspberry bread. Yum! 

I definitely want to come back next year!

On a little trip up to Traverse Mountain to take advantage of a baby clothes sale at Carters.

We accidentally happened upon this Kebab shop in the food court at the Provo Town Centre and Jon just about died of happiness since he hasn't had one since his mission in Ireland! He immediately had to go and order one even though we had just eaten dinner. 

And by the way, he LOVED it. 

On a walk up to Bridal Veil Falls one Sunday evening.

That same night

We let Togo walk around the apartment while we clean out his tank once a week. He loves the exercise, but lately he has taken to trying to climb the furniture, and Jon!

Another beautiful sunset at the lake. 

Goodbye, September!

A Little Pregnancy Update

I totally planned to be one of those women who takes a picture every week of her pregnancy, but then that horrible morning sickness happened for 3 months and by the time it settled down enough that I could actually function again, I thought it would be lame to start 1/3 of the way into the pregnancy so it never happened. But I thought I should write at least 1 post about pregnancy before this little guy comes. Also, I haven't had a single official "this is what I look like right now" type of pregnancy picture taken of me this entire pregnancy. Just a few unintentional bump cameos here and there, so here you go:

I know, I'm huge. Not a very flattering picture of me and my hugeness, but there you have it.

Aside from the morning sickness (which I am thankful to say has lessened to only be in the mornings since a little into the second trimester) things are going pretty well. Not that pregnancy is a walk in the park for me--there have been a few stressful hiccups along the way, like not being able to do the glucose test because I can't keep that liquid down while I am trying to fast at the same time, or that I apparently have low platelet levels which the doctors are just keeping a close eye on. Sometimes I really feel like people only ask about/care about the baby and that they don't really care to know how I am doing, which can be a little frustrating. But those people will at least be happy to know that things are still looking right on track for baby! He is measuring perfectly and he kicks away all day (and night) for me. I am feeling pretty tired and a little anxious and nervous as the due date gets closer, but overall I am doing well. People are always asking me if I am sick of being pregnant and if I am ready for the baby to just come out already. I think my answer would be yes, but then I think about labor and delivery and decide the answer is no--he is more than welcome to keep on incubating in there as long as he wants to! I hope this doesn't sound like a complaining post. I'm trying to keep the negatives to a minimum and I'm not mentioning a lot of details because of that, but this blog is basically our family journal, so I don't want to leave out information just to make our lives seem flowery and perfect; I want to be honest. Still, I know I am lucky and that things definitely could be worse. I still have random hormonal moments--there have been a couple of times when Jon says something that makes me laugh, and then I keep laughing and then I am laughing so hard that I am crying, and then suddenly I'm not laughing at all, I'm just crying.

I always feel so humiliated when that happens, but I'm just grateful that the 2 or 3 times it has happened has been in the privacy of our home, with only Jon as a witness. Speaking of Jon, he has been such a help to me during this pregnancy, I don't know what I would do without him! From taking off work so that he can come to my appointments with me, to being there for me emotionally, or even physically when I literally need someone to lean on or help me get off of the couch. I don't feel like anyone else really understands me as well as he does and for that I am extremely blessed. He is going to be such a good Daddy!

Less than 1 month to go!

August Photo Dump

I know, over a month and I failed to blog again. I blame it on pregnancy. You can blame anything on pregnancy if you try hard enough, right? I don't know. I was doing a lot better during the first half of the second trimester, then towards the end I randomly lost all my energy and I've been having lazy days, every day. Not that the past month has been completely uneventful! In fact, something really big happened in August: I quit my job! I had been wanting to quit since June, actually, but I finally built up the courage to do it in August. I have been working with this same company for the past 6 years, and it was really a great experience and I made a lot of friends. But, especially in the last 2 years, things in the company really started to change and not necessarily for the better. I stuck with it because it was still a good job and I had slowly built up my pay to a decent wage and I didn't want to lose that. Still, starting in June several changes were made that were REALLY hard to deal with. An unreasonably large workload was dumped on me and I wasn't given a choice about it or even a raise to compensate for it. The managers and owners didn't care about the employees at all and we were getting treated pretty badly. It simply became too stressful to work there and it wasn't worth it. I stuck with it for an extra 2 1/2 months because I was planning on quitting in October anyway because of the baby, but it got to the point where I was coming home complaining or crying to Jon every night and we both prayed about it and decided that the best thing for us was no longer remaining with this company. So I quit! I put in my two weeks notice, and that was that! One month later, I can honestly say that I don't regret quitting, even though it was hard for me to leave a job I had been so loyal to for 6 years. I am so much happier now, and no more stressing about work for me! Now my only dilemma is finding ways to fill my days until Jon gets home from work and school. I sure do love him though, and appreciate all his love and support. He really is the best. He started going to UVU again in August as well, after having taken the summer off and he has really just been a champ about taking on the extra load of homework on top of his full time job.

Now onto the actual photo dump:

Finally took some Eagle Scout pictures for my youngest brother, Brigham. It has been over a year since he earned his Eagle.

This was at a girl's night with most of my sisters. Laykin LOOOVES dolls and babies, so whenever she sees Violet she gets so excited and has to "play" with her. Violet doesn't appreciate it quite as much.

This was that same night. Only missing my oldest sister, Danielle.

Out for a drive one night, we stopped to watch the lightning storm at sunset.

Obviously, I failed to capture the lightning. But it was still a pretty night!

Date night at the new Bean Museum at BYU. A lot of the displays were of animals killing or attacking one another, and eventually Jon started making up stories of why they were in those poses. This one made me laugh because Jon said, "The Hyena is just trying to help the Monkey into the tree!!"

Baby bump cameo! This is how I spend a lot of my days, reading. The newest book in one of my favorite series comes out in October so I am rereading the previous books again.

While on a walk with Sessely and her kiddos, I helped Britian climb his first tree. I think he really enjoyed it.