Summer updates!

Welcome to the third trimester! On this next Saturday I will be 30 weeks along. I am getting more and more excited everyday for this little girl to come into our lives. She kicks so hard now and this past week was the first time that I think I felt her hiccup. If the baby was born now she has over a 90% survival rate. This is great news.

Other fun things going on lately...

I had a bridal shower for my friend Anne who is getting married later this month. It was so much fun to see some of my high school friends. I am so excited for Anne. I think she is marrying a great guy and I couldn't be happier for her.

Have you seen a cuter group of girls?! I haven't...

Back row: Jenny Neff, Mindy Dunn, Lindsey Bauman (holding Bailey), Lisa Margetts, Tracy Robbins, me, Katie Wixom, Andrea Sorenson.

Front row: Katie Plewe, Anne Johansen (soon to be Durham!), Liz Call, Brooke McGavin

Here is Anne opening some presents. You know she loves this!

Cute Liz

Tracy and me

Lisa, Andrea, and Katie

Lindsey, Mindy, and baby Bailey

Anne, Jenny, Katie, and Brooke

Thanks Liz and Tracy for throwing a great shower!

I had to put this in here. A couple Sundays ago we had dinner at the Chipman's. It was such a great meal. Steak with a creamy blue cheese sauce, homemade potato salad, asparagus. But Laura, my mother-in-law, made one my favorite desserts... Shaum Torte. I seriously am in love with this. She made 2 different versions. One is chocolate with raspberries and the other is the original with strawberries. My dream come true. I wish I could eat it again right now.

Also, Dan surprised me with the best day ever on Saturday, June 26th. He said we were going up the canyon so he could go on a hike. I would just wait for him and spend time outside reading a book and relaxing while he was gone. I wasn't really looking forward to have him go on some hike by himself and kind of put up a fight about it, but I realized it would be good to get up in the cool air and spend time outside. So I decided to go. We got ready early in the morning. We packed a backpack with granola bars, breakfast bars, water, and fruit so we could eat it up there. While driving up Big Cottonwood Canyon he pulled into Silver Fork Lodge. He said the trail should be close but wasn't sure where it was so he wanted to ask someone inside. We went into the restaurant and then he says to the host, "2 for breakfast please." I was so surprised. I don't know why I didn't think of this, but I really was shocked! We had such a delicious breakfast out on the patio. The atmosphere was perfect: sunny, birds happily flying around, cool temperature, beautiful landscape. After breakfast he said we were still going to find the hike area. So we kept driving up the canyon and then he stopped at Silver Fork Lake. Once again, I was surprised. I was so happy because we could walk around the lake together and it was something that I could do and wouldn't be too hard for me. I had the best time...

I love this picture.

We walked around the lake twice. It felt so good to breathe the fresh air and be up in the mountains again. As we got to the car, Dan said we should put the backpack in the trunk. As I open the trunk... what was inside?... 2 pillows that I really wanted for our bed. I had told him about it a couple weeks prior when I found them online and showed it to him as we were sitting on the couch. I can't believe that apparently he made a solid memory of them and bought them for me! Look how cute they look (they are the flower ones)...

It doesn't end yet. We picked up a changing table for the nursery and Dan carried the heavy thing all by himself up to our 3rd floor apartment. As we opened the door, I saw a DVD on the ground. It said "Hey baby." Dan encoded the ultrasound from VHS to DVD! I haven't been able to watch the ultrasound because we don't have a VHS player. I was so excited to see it. He put music with it too so it is much more fun to watch. It made me cry to watch the video.

I just feel so blessed to have Dan in my life. He is so nice to me and planned this whole day even when I was being a grouch about him hiking alone. He is one of the most patient people I know. He takes care of me and has been so sweet through all of the funny adventures of pregnancy. I am one lucky girl.

For the 4th of July we went up to Bear Lake. My camera ran out of batteries so unfortunately I didn't get any pictures. :( But it was a great time. There was a smaller group than we usually have, but it was wonderful to be up there again. It makes me realize how much I missed it when we were living away. Summer holiday's just aren't the same without Bear Lake. It was pretty good weather, but very windy so it didn't make much for boating. I didn't mind too much though since I'm not too focused on skiing this season. But even though it was windy, we still made our own fun. On Saturday morning we went on the Limber Pine Trail. We also spent time on the dock and a little bit on the boat. We played a great game of Scum on Sunday night, followed by watching the neighbor's illegal fireworks from the porch, and then star gazed.

On Monday the 5th after driving home, we had a picnic with the Chipman's and then watched Scott's T-ball game. He did such a great job. We were quite the large cheering crowd too. My camera turned on for one second and I caught this picture of him.

After the game, we went to Mark and Mary's house. They kids enjoyed sparklers, and we had delicious homemade ice cream that Mary made. The best part of the evening was when all the kids were playing with Dan and Eric. It was so entertaining for all of us to watch. It was like Dan and Eric were their animals. The kids were ridding around on their backs, being thrown around, boxing and wrestling with them. We laughed a lot.

It has been some good times so far this summer.