Jam Day 2010

My dad and stepmom make jam twice a year, strawberry in the Spring, raspberry at the end of Summer/beginning of Fall. This year, Lish and I joined them.

Lish was so excited. He had never made jam before and homemade jam is DELICIOUS, so maybe that's why he was so excited...?? I don't really know. Anywho, he showed his excitement by making something in lieu of jam day.

"Jam Day 2010"

"Holler!"

(Sorry for the blurry pictures. They were taken on a phone. And yes, that is a picture of Lish there.)

Yep, that's my husband! I just love him!

And Jam Day 2010 turned out to be a huge success! We made about 75 jars worth of delicious, scrumptious, mouth-watering raspberry jam.

100 Days!

I noticed on my little ticker to the right there that I only have 100 days until my due date. Or estimated due date. The date I was given. YAY! Lish and I are so excited to be parents. To raise little junior or juniorette into the dorkiest cool person ever!

Let me give a little update on how my pregnancy has been going, for those of you who care. It's been great! I always hear these horror stories about pregnancy and how it's so hard to keep food down some days, or how a person can't function because she's so tired, or about how hard it is to exercise or sleep. Thankfully, I haven't really had a problem in any of those categories. Sure, I was tired and nauseous during the first trimester. And sure my belly has been expanding in the second trimester, so finding comfortable positions to sleep is more challenging, but I haven't had a huge problem. For being pregnant, I'm feeling pretty darn good.

About a month or two ago, I actually felt healthier than I did a year ago. Thanks to my work schedule, I don't have to be into work until 11. Do you know what this means? I get to sleep until 8 every day, wake up and exercise, take time getting ready for the day and actually sit down to eat a healthy breakfast. It's pretty much amazing.

Don't get me wrong, some days aren't so great. But I really don't feel like I have room to complain. I know there are others who have had it so much worse and I just feel lucky to be doing as well as I have been so far. And I'm sorry if this came off as bragging.

Anyway, here is the latest picture of me and our little one, taken last Wednesday. My bump is getting bigger! And it's harder to lean forward. Gets in my way! I can't wait to get our home ready for and meet this little baby!(Hm, I seem to have a problem with sticking my butt out. Stupid sway back! I always got in trouble for that in ballet.)

Going Back

I've realized that I haven't written at all about the trip we took earlier this month out to California. Shame on me.

So, we went to California earlier this month (in case you hadn't caught that) to visit Lish's dad and stepmom. It was absolutely lovely! So lovely in fact, that I didn't take one single picture. Not one. Who am I and what have I become? Honestly.

We didn't even do much while we were out there. That's what I love about those vacations. It's a perfect time to enjoy each other and relax, which is exactly what we did. We went to the gym, laid by the pool, went out for ice cream, had a couple of delicious homemade meals, played games, went to a movie, went shopping and slept. Like I said, lovely!

The day we went out shopping we actually hit a couple of adorable baby shops. I loved looking at the baby gear and was getting excited to start getting our baby stuff together. (Yeah, we still haven't done a thing.) Then Bev, my stepmother-in-law, told me she wanted to buy us a couple things for the baby and to go ahead and pick something or a few things out. I started panicking. I needed everything, so where was I supposed to start? After my head almost exploded (but not really) I finally picked out some swaddling blankets and a warm sleeper. Both necessities. I felt very satisfied with my choices and so grateful to Bev for getting those things for us and the baby.

It was a wonderful vacation and we're so glad we got to go out to visit them! Thanks for all you do Mitch and Bev!

Life is Worth Celebrating

I was spoiled this past week. We had a friend (Jared) coming into town from Tallahassee last Wednesday and he's here until Tuesday, so part of his visit was over my birthday. I was a little bummed about this at first, I'm not gonna lie. I told my sister that I blame my parents for the way I feel birthdays should be spent: being spoiled. My parents were always really good at making sure that our birthday was OUR day. We could do whatever we wanted (as long as we went to school), choose our favorite meal for dinner, our favorite cake for wishing, and we got spoiled with presents. It was always really fun.

Anyway, I was a little sad that it wouldn't be just me and Lish or just me with my family on my birthday. I especially wanted something special since this is my last birthday as a non-mom. I know, such a bratty attitude! Don't worry, I got over it. Well, I'm sitting at work on Tuesday, talking to my sister to make the time go faster, when she looks up behind me and says, "Oh, hi!" Lish came walking down the hall and I was so confused. He doesn't just come in like that since it's a half hour commute for me to get to work, so I didn't know what was going on.

"I'm taking you out for an early birthday dinner! I thought we'd go to the top of the Joseph Smith Building because you said a while ago that you wanted to eat there."

He is such a smart man! Dinner was fabulous and it was so nice to have that alone time with my husband and to be out and about with him. It was a wonderful night!Then on Thursday, my sister came up to me at work and said, "Whitney, I forgot my lunch today so do you mind coming downstairs with me to get something to eat?" My computer was being really awful that morning, so I was behind on my work and told her to give me 5 minutes, which probably turned into 15. But I finally finished what I was working on and headed down with her, thinking I'd just be gone for 5 minutes at the most. We walked outside and my mom was there getting some balloons out of her van. Courtney yelled "Mom!" to get her attention, and she turned around and yelled, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!" She and Courtney had planned to kidnap me for lunch and I had no idea! My mom had gotten me balloons, a little cake and a birthday present with a sweet card. It was so much fun to spend time with those girls!

Friday was my actual birthday, yes, Friday the 13th. It was a great day! I woke up with Lish singing to me, then had some yummy coffee cake for breakfast, or something similar to coffee cake, that Karen had made. I went into work a little early so I could leave early. My dad took me and Courtney out for lunch and we ate in the shade by Temple Square. Troy and his girlfriend Beth stopped by to wish me a happy birthday too. After I got off work, I headed down to pick up Karen and Scott and we headed down to Provo to meet up with Lish and Jared. We got to walk around BYU's campus, which was fun because I hadn't done that since I graduated. Then we went to the Brick Oven for dinner, which was delicious! And we went to get ice cream afterward at the creamery. It was such a wonderful way to spend the day!

This wasn't really for my birthday, but it was something I had wanted to do since we moved back out. Saturday we headed up to the Hogle Zoo. I got to see penguins and the one year old elephant! We had a blast seeing the animals and enjoying the time outside.Thank you to my wonderful husband and my amazing family for making my birthday so unbelievable! I really didn't deserve all I was given and am so blessed to have you in my life! I think it's been a great start to the 25th year of my life!

Jaclyn's Wedding & Jackson Hole

One of my cousins got married this past weekend and we had the opportunity to hitch a ride up with my dad to attend her wedding. We were going to head up to the cabin afterwards, but decided against it when we found out that was where the newlyweds would be honeymooning. So instead we headed over to Jackson Hole. It was beautiful and such a fun weekend! Again, I have lots of pictures, so I'll let them speak for themselves.