4th of July Celebrations

For the 4th of July, we drove to Austin to visit Joseph's family. His brother and sister-in-law from Utah came to visit as well. We went to the neighborhood 4th of July parade and later went to the fireworks show. We also went bowling (Joseph beat me pretty good) and swimming. We spent lots of time eating great food and playing games. The weather was perfect in Austin. It wasn't too hot or too humid. Here are some highlights:

Cupcakes I made for the celebration

Made red, white, and blue ones!

Joseph and I waiting for the fireworks to start

And because I realized I never showed a picture from Joseph's graduation back in April, here you go. He graduated with honors and I am so proud of him. His parents came up for the graduation and we got to meet many of his professors.

Joseph with some of his Chemical Engineering friends

Walking across the stage. We've been waiting for this moment for many years!

After the ceremony.

Lastly, we're officially in the last trimester of the pregnancy! Baby is doing well and kicking a lot. I had a doctor's appointment this afternoon and all looked good. We're working on getting ready for her arrival. We couldn't be more excited to welcome a little one into our family!

Here I am at 28 weeks.

Drills, Cakes, and Baby

Joseph got a drill last Christmas but we had no reason to use it until now. We got some curtains and needed to hang some curtain rods. Here's Joseph using a drill. He felt like a real man.

 I've been working slowly but surely on making some cool things for our baby. This is one I finished last week. It's a crib mobile. I doubt our baby will like it very much but I think it is fun. It was pretty easy to make and cheap too. Just used some ribbon, a wooden hoop, and felt.

 We celebrated Father's Day with some friends from Church. It was fun to have a reason to decorate a cake again. It tasted pretty good too. We had dinner at a friend's house and then played some fun games like Farkle.

For those who care, here's an update on the baby/me. There is definitely no way to hide the fact that I have a baby inside me. No longer can I squeeze through small areas. I forget that I can't just "suck it in" and pass through small/narrow areas. My current cravings include Kool-Aid (I know, not the healthiest thing in the world. I try to limit it to one glass a day) and crackers. We've gone through so many Ritz Cracker boxes since we've moved to Texas. Our baby has a tendency to keep me up at night so my day often consists of a nap. Other than the normal aches and discomfort, I've been feeling alright. Hoping our baby stays healthy and strong for another few months!

Lessons Learned

We've learned a few things about Texas since we moved here. In case any of you have the strong desire to move to Texas, let me offer some helpful advice.

1) Even if you have gone through the hassle of changing your married name over two years ago, Texas doesn't care. You still need to prove you're married when you want to get a Texas driver's license. Even if you have a new Social Security card and a current license with your married name on it. So bring your marriage certificate with you wherever you go.
2) You need to have your car registered in Texas BEFORE getting your driver's license. AND... you cannot do both of these at the same office so be prepared to drive four lights down to the tax office only after waiting in the DMV line for an hour.
3) The DMV is so small that the line goes outside. You'd think that in the hottest state, they would think about this when building DMVs. Thankfully they put some chairs inside for pregnant women.
4) The GPS doesn't work the best in Texas because of frontage roads. The GPS gets very confused, which means you get confused. Now, you could pay to update your GPS but it's doubtful that will help.
5) Mosquitoes come out in full force roughly 6-7 days after a rain storm. They like to hang out by the front door. Buy Cutter Mosquito repellant BEFORE this happens or else you have dozens of mosquitoes inside your house.
6) Always carry an umbrella with you. Random storms come when you least expect them, or at least at an outdoor volleyball tournament where there is one tree in the entire park.
7) In Texas, you can either enroll in a driver's education class or be "Parent-Taught." This fully explains why Texas drivers are crazy. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Enroll your children in drivers education for my sanity please.
8) Buy the energy efficient, room-darkening curtains. The price at the store makes you think twice. But then when you hang them, you realize how useful they really are.

You can tell what we've been up to based on the lessons we've learned. Good luck if you decide to move to Texas anytime soon.

Happenings of May

We continue to settle down in Lake Jackson. We like the town. When we asked some teenagers at our church what they do for fun, their first answer was "Go to Walmart." So obviously, the town lacks some sources of quality entertainment. But, we can still have lots of fun. Joseph and I went to the beach last weekend and enjoyed just sitting on the sand, watching the waves come in. The town is getting a Texas Roadhouse, which opens sometime this month. I'm very excited to go there! We also found a fun park on Saturday.

For Memorial Day, we drove to Austin and enjoyed seeing Joseph's brother and his family. We met our nephew, Oliver and were there for his baby blessing. He's about five months old and we had fun playing with him and his big brother, Caleb.

Joseph looks like he is doing a ballet move with his foot pointed.

 Also, we found out the gender of our baby. So we went for our ultrasound and it was awesome to see the baby for the first time. I didn't have an ultrasound in the first trimester because there were no concerns with the baby. The ultrasound tech was pretty nice and explained a lot of things. Having taken anatomy at BYU, it was cool to see the vertebrae and different organs. The baby was is an odd position for the ultrasound so the tech pushed on my stomach a bunch to get the baby to move. But the baby is just like me, STUBBORN, and wouldn't move. The tech made her best guess and said our baby is most likely a little GIRL! I will believe it more when I actually see our baby this fall.

Her hands

Other than that, I finally don't fit into my normal clothes so I had to buy some maternity clothes. We have also felt the baby kick a bunch lately, which is always fun. She hates it when I lie on my back because she will kick non stop until I move. I think she feels crunched when I do that. I went shopping for baby clothes finally. One morning after going to a few garage sales and here is what I have:

I hit a jack pot at one place. The mom had a little girl and was selling all of her baby clothes. For about 30 dollars, I got over 40 outfits of all different sizes.

We bought this at Target right after we found out we're having a baby girl.

We're halfway there...

 This week celebrates the halfway mark until our baby comes...assuming it comes on time! We've heard the heartbeat several times now and it's strong and steady each time. The baby and I survived the long road trip to Texas as well. I met my new doctor this week in Texas and I really like him. The other doctors looked creepy in their pictures on the website so I went with the guy who didn't have a picture. Luckily, he doesn't look creepy in person. This pregnancy has been pretty easy compared to what it could have been. No complications so far! I'm keeping my fingers crossed the baby keeps it that way. The doctor said I'm a few pounds behind where I should be in weight gain. So I have some catch up to do in that area (I shouldn't have a problem with that. I bought ice cream the other day...). Here are some pictures of me lately.

The baby is about the length of a banana this week.

We have our first ultrasound tomorrow so hopefully we'll be able to find out the gender. Then we can stop calling the baby, "It."

Also, as a side note, Joseph started work on Monday. This was my version of his "First Day of Work" picture. He humored me. He had a great first few days and has already started working on his first project for the company. He has his own office, ordered his own business cards, and is getting a company credit card. So far, so good!

San Diego Zoo and Safari Park

Pictures are easier to describe what we did during these two days in San Diego.

A tiger who would open his eyes every now and then.

A hippo playing in the water.

Panda Bear. The Zoo sells paper made from Panda poo. But they only sold it in huge packs that cost an arm and a leg so no Panda Poo Paper for us.

Some kangaroos

We visited Balboa Park after the zoo and took some pictures. It was cool.

These animals loves just rolling over in the dirt and laying on their backs.

Mohawk Bird

For Joseph's entertainment, he built ketchup card houses. I'm sure he'll teach our children this wonderful skill in the future.

This elephant was in a corral with a trainer and was doing tricks. It laid down and got back up on command.

Safari Park from the tram ride.

The cheetah and dog walking back after they did their 100 yard dash.

The sleeping lion.

For some reason, my video of the cheetah run won't load. But, we got to see a cheetah run at full speed down this narrow field twice. The park does it once a day and it was awesome to watch! They are so quiet and quick. All in all, it was a great trip to San Diego and much needed vacation!

San Diego Part 2

On Tuesday, we went to the U.S.S. Midway Museum, on a harbor cruise, and to Seaport Village. Here are some highlights of the day.

Outside the USS Midway Museum

On the flight deck

Sitting inside a helicopter

Buckled in the helicopter seat

Sitting in a fighter jet

Our view from a restaurant where we ate lunch

The Coronado Bridge. It was built specially to withstand earthquakes. It actually shakes during earthquakes.

During our harbor cruise, the Navy Seals were doing some training so we got to see it. There is a helicopter in the middle of the picture. They were supposedly dropping Navy Seals into the water.

Joseph on the cruise. It was a little rainy and cold.

Look carefully and you'll see a dolphin fin right next to the boat. These people were part of a research/training group for the navy and were training the dolphin to detect missiles/enemy ships.

Sea Lion Landing

On Wednesday and Thursday, we went to San Diego Zoo and Safari Park. I'll post those pictures later. But Friday, we went to Old Town in San Diego, went snorkeling (or at least tried to), and went to a Padres (baseball) game.

The Church has a historic site to tell the story of the Mormon Battalion. We went on their tour and Joseph volunteered to dress up like a soldier.

The Padres game.

At our first baseball game ever! Now we feel like real Americans.