Camping and waterskiing

A few weekends ago Chris and I went camping with some of our friends up Payson Canyon. We packed tin foil dinners and had smores and banana boats around the fire. Chris and I even slept out under the stars, it was so much fun! I was worried I'd have to wake Chris up to help me go to the bathroom in the middle of the night (you know...pregnant bladder), and we'd get eaten by bears or something. But I made it all the way until 7 am without having to go, so all was well!

Chris & Annalisa

Jen & Sam
(Jen is a photographer - all these photos are courtesy of her!)

Kelli & Jeremy

George & Ashley

Chris, Sam, George and Jeremy

Kelli and Annalisa

The next day we met Daniel and Julie at Utah Lake for some boating. I just watched, since I can't really waterski, but the boys had a great time! It was a perfect day!

Chris

Sam

Jeremy

24 Week Belly Pic

Okay, here's my cute pregnant story for the week. Chris really likes to talk to the baby and rub my belly to see if the baby's awake. I don't usually get to see Chris in the mornings before work, so when I walk in the door in the evening, the first thing he asks is "is the baby awake?" (Meaning, like is she moving right now?)

One day last week I had felt the baby rolling and kicking quite a bit in the morning, but in the afternoon while I was sitting in my chair at work I didn't feel much movement. So when I walked in the door that night and sat down on the couch next to Chris and he asked me if she was awake, I said I didn't think so. I told him I hadn't felt her move much for an hour or two, so I thought she was probably asleep. Chris put his hand on my belly anyway and bent down to talk to her. As soon as his hand was on my belly she let loose a HUGE kick, right where his hand was! It was so big, it shocked both of us and we started to laugh. So now our joke is that the baby knows her daddy already.

And occasionally, Chris is certain that the baby already loves her daddy more than her mommy. :)


Pregnancy Statistics
How far along? 24w1d
Gender: girl
Current Cravings: Ice cream sandwiches
Weight gain: +9 lbs
Best moment this week: actually seeing her kick
Belly button in or out: still in, but just baaaaarely!
Labor signs: just trying to keep my blood pressure down
What I miss: a few of my favorite summer shirts and jogging
What I'm looking forward to: ordering the crib this week!

Bicycles

Chris needs one of these to ride with the Bambina.Don't worry, we'll also get her one of these.

The Garden

Where we live there is really rocky soil. As in, if you try to dig a hole you will find more rocks than dirt. Big ones, too.

Last summer (the first summer in our house), I decided I wanted to attempt a mini garden. We don't really have a designated area for that in the backyard, but I found space in a planter and planted two tomato plants.

I watered them and watered them. I weeded them and weeded them. And they grew...but not very well. By the end of the season we had produced one single red tomato with a giant worm hole through it. It was pretty pathetic. And sad for my fragile, green-thumb-first-timer self esteem.

I decided to try again this year, only in pots. I did a bunch of research on container gardening and found out that tomatoes are supposed to grow really well when potted. I bought two tomato plants and some good potting soil and got to work on our back patio.

(I have bad aim with a watering can, as exhibited here.)

So far our tomato plants are looking pretty good. It's nice to be able to look right outside my kitchen window to see if they need water. They're getting really big, but no sign of tomatoes yet -- just blossoms. But I'm hoping that's just because we planted them late.

Chris is still skeptical.

Fingers crossed.

It's What Fun Is.

Last night after work Chris and I headed up to Lagoon to meet up with the rest of the Spencer family, who spent the day there. We had dinner with them and walked around and enjoyed the evening while the kids went on the rides. It was stinkin' hot until about 7:00, when it thankfully started to cool down. I even got to ride the train and the carousel -- which were baby-safe rides.

(You can see my belly! It's getting bigger!)

Here's a picture of me with my Hannah-Banana. A few days ago she got pushed off the top of a swingset by one of her friends and broke BOTH of her arms. But she was a happy camper yesterday, and still went on all the rides.


Notice the colors she chose for her casts? That's my girl! She's gonna be the perfect best friend to teach our baby how to be girly.

Three years down, forever to go

From our very first date...

...to the day we fell in love...

...from the day you put a ring on my finger...

...to the day we said "I do"...

...and all our days in between...

...I sure love you! Here's to three fantastic years and many more to come.

Dear Santa...

Does anyone else's husband have a hard time coming up with birthday and/or Christmas gift ideas? I'm throwing Chris a bone with this one today.

Behold. The item currently at #1 on my wishlist:

I saw this the other day when we were at Home Depot. Sometimes it feels like we live there. But on this particular occasion, we were back by the wood blinds when I stumbled upon it. Isn't it a beaut? It's basically an upright freezer chest with 8.8 cubic feet of glorious frozen space inside.

Why, oh why is a freezer on my wishlist, you ask? Oh, the possibilities! I got THIS recipe book for Christmas last year and I love it. However, I never have enough room in my freezer to really use it regularly. I love the idea of once-a-month cooking and freezing meals. I also love being able to buy frozen foods in bulk when I find a good sale.

In short, I think this freezer could actually save our family money. And the best part? Look how much it costs to run per year...

(This is Chris's biggest beef with buying a 2nd freezer. He let Utah Power haul away the old freezer we inherited with our house because it was a power hog.)

Thirty-nine dollars per year!?! I think I'm in love.