Visits

June became the month of visits for our family. First, Mark's parents came to Texas to watch Mark's nieces and nephews in Dallas while Rachelle and Brian went on a pioneer trek with the youth in their ward. Mark and I went up to Dallas that weekend to see his parents and help out with the kids. We spent a LOT of time in the pool. Here are a couple of pics:

Mark taking Emma "white-water rafting"

Hanging out in the pool

After Brian and Rachelle returned from their trip, we took Mark's parents back to Houston with us for a couple of days. It was a short visit with them, but we packed it full of fun. Evelyn and I got lost in the baby clothes at Kohls. They were too adorable to resist! We also got to visit the Genghis Khan exhibit at the Museum of Natural Science, and then we ate at one of our favorite BBQ places: Goode Co. If you're ever in Houston, it's a must!

At the Museum of Natural Science

Enjoying our root beer at the Goode Co.

A few days after Mark's parents left, my parents came to town. We had a great time showing them around Houston. My dad served his mission in the Houston, Austin, and San Antonio areas 35 years ago, and he had never been back to Houston since. We started the visit off with a trip to San Antonio to see "Wicked," which was one of the best shows I've seen. The music is just so fun! We also hit up the Galleria Mall, Goode Co., NASA, the beach, and the temple. My dad even found one of his old apartments that he lived in as a missionary. Good times!

The Alamo

The Riverwalk in San Antonio

I must say that Mark was looking pretty durn handsome in that shirt!

Shopping at the Galleria

Texas Longhorns at the NASA Space Center

The Beach

Loving how Baby takes the center stage in all my pictures lately!

The Temple

My mom always teases me about how I never cry when our visits are over, but I sure cried this time! It was such an enjoyable trip. I'm so glad we could have both sets of parents visit us. Thanks for making the trip guys! We loved seeing you, and hope we get to see you again soon!

Being Pregnant

After several requests, I broke down a took some pictures of myself at 26 weeks. When we went to Holland, I was at 19 weeks, and I just looked a little pudgy in all our pictures. It's amazing how much I've grown in 7 weeks! Anyway, here I am before I got pregnant:

Notice how flat my tummy is. Wow - I can't believe I was ever like that! Ok, now here is one at 19 weeks:

Definitely a little pudgy. Do you like how Mark focused the camera right on my belly? Yeah, I did too. And now, here I am at 26 weeks:

Yup, no doubts that I am going to have a baby, eh? Also, in memory of this occasion, I thought I would jot down some thoughts about being pregnant.

I love
- Feeling my baby move. I think we have a future gymnast on our hands. She moves so much! But I never get tired of it. I love feeling her wiggle around in there.
- Mark's excitement when he feels her move. He loves to come up and poke my belly to get the baby to move. Until recently, it's been hard for him to get to feel her move, because as soon as he would put his hand on my belly, she'd stop kicking! We may have a little tease on our hands too...
- Shopping for baby clothes and planning out the baby's room. I spend WAY too much time shopping around, but I sure have fun!
- The attention I get from Mark. He is so sweet to make sure that the baby and I are both ok. Not a day goes by that I don't get a text, email, or phone call asking how we're doing. The back rubs and foot rubs are awesome too.

I don't love
- Being fat. (I know, I'm supposed to.) The perks of working at a clothing store are cute clothes at a discount. Now I don't fit into those cute clothes, and what's the point of buying at a discount if they don't fit? Bah.
- Getting full before I want to. It seems like I always get full before I finish eating what I want.
- The aches and pains. I never knew I had body parts that could hurt like they do. However, the aches and pains do lead to those back and foot rubs that I like!
- Being tired. I feel like I always run out of energy before I run out of work or play.

I crave
- Fruit. Any fruit really, but especially strawberries, peaches, pears, and apples.
- Chocolate. In any way shape or form.
- Tomatoes. I can eat a whole tub of grape or cherry tomatoes by myself.
- Panda. Orange chicken and fried rice. It just does something for me.

I've noticed
- That I sleep better during the day. A nap on the couch is the best. I think it has something to do with the fact that I can lean up against the back of the couch when I sleep.
- I am definitely more warm blooded than before. I used to freeze when I walked into air-conditioned buildings, and now it feels so good!
- I've been going to the pool a LOT. There's nothing like the water to lift that baby weight off my belly. Feels SOOO good!
- My dreams are definitely weirder now. Almost every night I dream that Mark is leaving me. I wake up sobbing. It's just so ridiculous! I also dream that I get in fights with people. So funny, cause I am definitely not a fighter by nature.

STUPID car!

Update: After a half a day of pushing the shift lock override button with a screwdriver, my car decided to just fix itself. There haven't been any more problems. Yay! I love when my car decides to fix itself. Maybe it's not so stupid after all. :)

Mark and I have taken to calling anything we don't like "STUPID." For example, "STUPID traffic", "STUPID construction", "STUPID yappy dog..." The trick is to say "STUPID" with all the venom you can muster in your voice.

So, today I went out to the car to head for work. I turned the key, and the engine hummed to life. I pushed in the brake, pushed the button on the gear shift to move from "park" to "reverse". Nothing happened. The gear shift was stuck. I jiggled the steering wheel. Nothing. I jiggled the gear shift. Nada. I turned off the car and restarted. Nope. Once again to the steering wheel and gear shift. Not one thing. So I called Mark for more ideas. He had nothing. I called my neighbor for a ride. (Thanks Amber, for being such a good Samaritan!) I was 10 minutes late for work (thankfully no more than that!).

Mark picked me up after my shift was over and we drove home. We looked at the car again. Mark started the car. Once again, it hummed to life. He tried to shift it into reverse. Nothing. He jiggled the steering wheel and the gear shift. Nada. We tried to remove the cover for the shift lock override. 2 screwdrivers and a key later, it still won't budge. STUPID car!!!

Playing with Sand

A couple of weeks ago, Mark and I decided to go check out the 22nd annual Sandcastle competition on Galveston Island. After a 3 hour drive that should have only been an hour and a half, we finally made it. Traffic was HORRIBLE! I guess everyone had the same weekend idea that we did. :) The sandcastles, however, did not disappoint. We saw some really fun ones. After our traffic experience, I don't think we'll be going to the 23rd annual competition, but I'm glad we did it once.

Our Little Friend

One of the great things about having a house is doing yard work. I don't know about Mark, but I actually enjoy doing a little yard work - digging around in our flower beds, raking up leaves, taking care of our little garden. Something about having my own little patch of ground to take care of makes me feel good.

Last night I was getting rid of the dead leaves and pine needles in our flower beds. I reached down to pick up a pile of leaves, and something jumped at me. Scared me half to death - Mark heard me scream from clear inside the house! As soon as I was over my initial shock, I bent over to see what it was, and this little guy was just staring at me:


Isn't he so cute? (I happen to like frogs and lizards.) Mark and I named him Frogger. He wasn't scared of us at all. He let us pet him, pick him up, and even take multiple pictures. Now we just need to sight the bunnies that live in the empty lot next door and feed on our hibiscus flowers...