The Last Date.

Well, hopefully not the last. But let's just say that I imagine they wont be in abundance in the near foreseeable future. The hospital bags are packed and I'm ready to rumble.

We have some friends here who have a little girl Jane's age and a 4 year old boy. They were nice enough to swap babysitting nights with us so that we could have a nice date before the baby makes her appearance. It was actually our first date in 6 months so it was HIGH time. It was quite strange to have both hands free and to not be on high alert at all times. (as it goes with a toddler in public)

Jeff held my hand and opened my door. He took pictures with me, where he mostly made silly faces, but then graciously decided to grant me the gift of one or two smiling pictures. He took a picture of me and my bump and insisted I don't pose with my hand on the top of my stomach because that bugs the living heck out of him. He bought me a nice dinner and made me eat shrimp and even a mussel! Those things are freakin weird and they smell like your face is right smack dab in the ocean. He told me he loved me and kissed me in the parking lot. And he woo'd me all over again. Heart eyes! At the end of the date I said "Thanks for taking me on a date, sweetie," and he replied with: "You're welcome. Thanks for being a date."

That made me laugh really hard. :)

I don't plan on getting this dressed up again during my pregnancy. Because I only have maternity PANTS and it is 90 degrees with no AC. So, yeah. Jeff's basketball shorts will be about as fancy as I get. That being said, I figured it was a good time to take a final bump pic at  38.5 weeks. Hand placement: Jeff approved.

After our date, we went to pick up jane. She was playing at the park with my friend Nikki and her cute kiddos. Nikki is the best by the way. She has offered to watch jane when I go into labor! This was one of the things I was most worried about: moving to a new country where I knew nobody and then trying to find someone I trust enough and that Jane loves enough to watch her while I'm in the hospital. Thank goodness for her and her willingness to serve us!

A date with my love, and then playing in the park with Jane and good friends. The weather was perfection. Barefeet, big smiles, and deep breaths of gratitude kind of weather. AH it makes me tingle with happiness just thinking about it. Watching Jane pick flowers as the sun sets. Watching her little face light up with joy as she runs over to me to present me with the flower she so carefully and deliberately picked "for you momma!"

It was a good little day. And as if it could get any better, I didn't have heart burn that night and slept through the whole night. It was like the cherry on top of an already delicious ice cream sundae. Except for maybe a strawberry because I like those more.

Coming Up With Titles Is the Hardest Part of Blogging. Easily.

Here is a day in the life post. As if I was some famous person who had a flock of people who actually cared about what a day in MY life looked like. What am I thinking? I do too have a flock. It's called my mother, my sister, and my grandmas.

I woke up to Jane crying an hour earlier than usual and thought "darn, nobody told her about daylight savings." I probably laid in bed for a few more minutes, pondering about what to feed her for breakfast....(ha just kidding. this day in the life will NOT be that detailed. you are welcome)

I finally got up and we started off the morning with an overly soggy diaper and some yogurt and a banana. She now insists on feeding herself with utensils. She doesn't really even care if there is food on the utensil before she shoves it into her mouth (with eagerness and pride). And even if there is food on the utensil to begin with, there is a good chance that on the journey from the bowl to the mouth, it gets flung onto another part of her body.
example:

Ok so we spent all morning playing with toys, reading books, taking a bath, getting dressed...shall i continue?

nah.

She went down for her nap, and I completed my insanity workout which I had intended to do before she woke up this morning but then, ya know, the daylight savings thing messed me up.

When she woke up from her nap, we ate black bean burritos and guacamole for lunch, took an hour to play with daddy (it's always better when he is home!) and before I knew it, it was time to feed her face again! She ate about 100 pomegranate seeds which made a reappearance later on when jeff was changing her diaper.

Meanwhile throughout the day, we made 3 trips to the laundromat. It was thrilling. On the third and final trip, Jane decided to take an hour long detour around our apartment complex. She looked so cute with her little pigtails and boots stomping through the leaves. I said to her "Are we on a walk getting some exercise?" and when she heard the word exercise, she started doing squats. Not even kidding. (she has observed a few of my "exercises" lately that apparently include squats...ha I about died laughing!)

^^ this is our front yard!!

Before this post gets too out of hand, I better mention that after the outdoors adventure, we went to dinner with some good friends and their 2 kids for fhe. We were celebrating my friend Melissa's birthday, who, in short, is a friend worth celebrating. It is so nice to live so close to her and to always have a fun friend to talk to while our children run rampant around the park. I am going to miss that! Anyways, her youngest is Jane's age and they are so cute together!

It was as if our three children held a secret meeting beforehand where they all decided they were going to behave like angels and let us adults function as actual adults. With adult conversation. I think baby poop only popped up into the conversation once, so I'd call that a whopping success.

The fact that we ended up with about 20 empty plates on our table afterwards also contributed to the successfulness... (it was all-you-can-eat so OBVIOUSLY!)

The day ended with jammies, teeth brushing, scriptures, and prayers...I think I'll skip the details because nobody wants to know what jane's jammies look like, oh and mostly because this post is already way too long.

August so far..

A few things.
I just was scrolling through some of my old blog posts and like, ALL of my posts start with the word "so" or "k so…"
wow. i am so exhaustingly creative.

I have managed to take a lot of pictures this month. Mostly random ones, but ones i want to share nonetheless. So I'm just gonna slap 'em all into one blog post instead of trying to think of more "creative" ideas for multiple different blog posts.

here are some random things pertaining to the month of august.

 I went on a shopping spree for jane- my first "big" one, and jeff will never get over it. He is having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that people aren't going to buy all her clothes for her like they did her first year.  (baby showers…etc) Because the cold hard truth is that after the first year, they have kinda lost their novelty. ha...

 ...it was so much fun though.

 Here is a picture of us being so reverent in church.


So i don't know how to transition into this but uhm...we went on a beautiful hike to helen hunt falls.

 obligatory family picture.

classic- accidental selfie.

This cute emma girl was staying with us. She comes downstairs wearing this shirt and I'm like brb I gotta change. 2 minutes later and BAM- twins.

 We climbed those dangerously steep rocks. for awhile because…they were steep. It was so cute because when jane saw me up there, she got all nervous and a pathetic whimper turned into a very concerned cry for her mother. She was legitimately worried about me. When i got back down she was all smiles. it was so cute!

we love hiking!

The same day, Jeff woke up and decided jane needed multiple pairs of shoes because "all the other babies at church her age are wearing shoes!" I never have bothered buying them for her because jeff always has said they are a waste, so i was really surprised when he decided we needed to buy her shoes. And would you look at this little diva?

My good friend had her baby and I got to hold him for a looong time and i was in heaven. Jeff did too, and this was the first newborn he has held since jane. tear.

OH MY GOSH! Maybe the best part of august. Jeff did THE cutest thing for me and it was so romantic. he made up a little scavenger hunt with like 12 different clues around the house, using my favorite candies. i said: "wow jeff…you really DO have a romantic bone in your body!" and he said "yeah…maybe one or two. but i think they are the tiny little bones in your ear"
Anyways, he made me so happy! and he came up with it all on his own. gold star for him.

The next night we set up a tent in the backyard. (my mom's backyard, we are living there for the next week. no we didn't suddenly get rich and buy a house) My husband made a fire pit so we could roast marshmallows and hot dogs! It was so fun :)

Little secret. We didn't even end up sleeping in the tent. When the time came, we were like…umm our nice warm bed is right here. Why leave?

Jane has been a cuddle bug lately and its making all my dreams come true.

Sometimes I wear make up. Sometimes I curl my hair. But due to the rarity of BOTH of those things happening on the same day, a family picture was necessary.

Yesterday, one of my very best friends gave a talk in church before she leaves for her mission. Hannah and I have been friends for SO long and have been through a lot together. Occasionally, you meet a person and you instantly love them and you instantly KNOW they are very much supposed to be apart of your life. That has always been Hannah for me. I have never had a friendship quite like the one I have with her and I wouldn't trade it for the world. She is a bright ray of sunshine, personified. TRULY! And the love I have for her is overwhelming! I'm really going to miss that Hannah. 

Last but not least, Jeff and I have been married for two years! We celebrated on saturday by going out to dinner and talking about our favorite memories that we have made together. Turns out there is a lot of them! I love this man. He really is amazing.

Oh and if you are interested, here is the video i made for our 2nd anniversary :)

america's day, weekend.

the 4th of july! oh just hearing that phrase can make a person go weak in the knees thinking of barbecues and family time and a perfect summer night that goes until way past your baby's bedtime.

and this year's certainly did not disappoint. the very best part was that i could spend it with my MIA husband. summer sales are stealing him from me this summer. also, summer sales, i generally loathe you.

anyways, he had the whole weekend off and we acted like newly engaged lovebirds all weekend because we were so giddy to be able to spend so much time together.

we went to my aunt and uncle's house for most of the day and we played volleyball games, soccer games, basketball games, and card games, PERFECT. did i mention they have the perfect backyard that lends itself to all of these activities plus more?

and it isn't the fourth of july without stained lips from an endless amount of popsicles.

hamburgers,  hotdogs, and a fruit salad (who kinda stole the show) topped off the night. oh wait. homemade ice cream and warm homemade chocolate chip cookies actually topped off the night. as it should be.

it makes me deliriously happy that the 4th of july is basically the only holiday where my husband is all for dressing festively. our country is awesome, and we loved representing it by wearing its colors.

the 4th of july, as usual was a magical day. and i was grateful to spend it with my husband, especially as i remembered back to last year when he was gone for army training and i was left with one very cute, and festively dressed, one month old. it's good to be all together.

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The day after the 4th was just as eventful. Jeff and i woke up early to do 'the incline'. if you don't know what that is, consider yourself lucky. it's just basically some crazy stairs that go straight up a mountain for a mile and a half. no matter how good of shape you are in, it will kill ya! but we did it together because jeff never had done it. as i suspected, he was waiting for me most of the time as i took breaks to quench my thirst and burning legs.

(bottom)

 (top)

after that we hiked down the trail and it was wonderful to be on a date with my husband. i kinda like him. and he enjoyed himself overall even though when i pointed out the incline from far away (which just looks like a VERY steep trail that goes all the way up a mountain) he said "NO i don't want that."...."do they have a train that we can ride up instead?".... "last night i dreamt i ran a  marathon so I'm really tired this morning and i can't do that"....ya, he was quite resistant but i was even more persistent.

 ^^ awesome views

^^ even more of an awesome view ;)

did i mention i did this beast while 9 weeks pregnant? not too shabby....

how's that for an announcement?


later that day, my grandparents came. this is a big stinking deal, seeing as they have been in AFRICA for the past year and a half. it was one of the most joyous reunions. and we could finally take a 4 generation picture!! TA-DA!!

(jane threw up right after this picture. two thumbs up)

that night, we kind of repeated what we did on the 4th of july. volleyball, soccer, basketball, food, the only difference was that instead of ice cream we made s'mores over the fire pit. oh ya, they have a fire pit in their backyard too, because- they have everything.

ya, it was a perfect weekend. and it will be a swift smack in the face when jeff has to go back to work tomorrow...BOO HOO HOO.