Omaha Trip, etc.

I'm loving summer! The weather's perfect and Matt's 100% free for a couple weeks. I've been trying to think of fun things for us to do so Matt feels like he had some fun this summer (not that he's hard to entertain), but being almost eight months pregnant and having to go to work is a little limiting. Kayaking and rock climbing would be a blast, but I'm pretty sure since I can barely tie my shoes I wouldn't be able to scale a wall.

But despite the growing belly, we've managed to have some fun. Here's a recap of our time since Matt took Boards.

But with only 12 days left until Matt starts rotations, I think we need to take the game plan up a notch. :) Maybe paddle boats at Gray's Lake, a BBQ or two, quality pool time, bonfires, hiking at Ledges State Park, and I've been thinking that old school night games like Kick the Can and Capture the Flag would be awesome. (You know your deep down ten year old self is dying to play.) Anybody have ideas of other fun stuff we could do?

Favorite Quotes

I'm a quote girl. I love good quotes. So I figured I might as well post some of my favorites on our blog where I can easily access them. (This is totally all for me, but if you like them too—great.)

Here's a couple of my favorites on topics that I always should be—but most often am not—working on:

"Be one who nurtures and who builds. Be one who has an understanding and a forgiving heart, who looks for the best in people. Leave people better than you found them."

Marvin J. Ashton, “The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword,” Ensign, May 1992, 18.

"Real charity is not something you give away; it is something that you acquire and make a part of yourself. And when the virtue of charity becomes implanted in your heart, you are never the same again. It makes the thought of being a basher repulsive.

"Perhaps the greatest charity comes when we are kind to each other, when we don’t judge or categorize someone else, when we simply give each other the benefit of the doubt or remain quiet. Charity is accepting someone’s differences, weaknesses, and shortcomings; having patience with someone who has let us down; or resisting the impulse to become offended when someone doesn’t handle something the way we might have hoped. Charity is refusing to take advantage of another’s weakness and being willing to forgive someone who has hurt us. Charity is expecting the best of each other.

"None of us need one more person bashing or pointing out where we have failed or fallen short. Most of us are already well aware of the areas in which we are weak. What each of us does need is family, friends, employers, and brothers and sisters who support us, who have the patience to teach us, who believe in us, and who believe we’re trying to do the best we can, in spite of our weaknesses. What ever happened to giving each other the benefit of the doubt? What ever happened to hoping that another person would succeed or achieve? What ever happened to rooting for each other?"

Marvin J. Ashton, “The Tongue Can Be a Sharp Sword,” Ensign, May 1992, 18

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed.

“[The fact is] most putts don’t drop. Most beef is tough. Most children grow up to be just people. Most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration. Most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. …

“Life is like an old-time rail journey—delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed.

“The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride” (“Big Rock Candy Mountains,” Deseret News, 12 June 1973, A4).

Gordon B. Hinckley, “A Conversation with Single Adults,” Ensign, Mar. 1997, 58

Finished!

Matt took boards yesterday! Woo-hoo! He'd been studying for them for months, and this summer he went into turbo mode studying like a mad-man. He studied at home for the most part, and there were times he didn't go outside at all for three or four days at a time! C-RAZY!

But now they're over, and the fun times can begin.

Who wants to party with us?

32 Weeks

And I thought I had a belly here!
Matt pretending to be pregnant (he's sticking out his belly).

Less than two months left! If we're lucky, there will only be one more belly picture! It's gone by so fast—I just hope the last bit goes by as quick.

A few noteworthy happenings in the last four weeks:

• At one of my doctors appointments the doctor heard that the baby had an irregular heartbeat. Even though 90% of the time it's a condition that the baby will outgrow by the time she is born, a Fetal ECHO was scheduled for the next week. Matt and I weren't super concerned about it, but knowing that there was a possibility that our baby could have a heart defect, we couldn't help but worry a little bit. As it turns out, everything looked totally normal during the ECHO. The baby didn't have any irregular heartbeats at the time, and the specialist assured us that it's not a problem at all.
• At the time of the ECHO the baby was head down. But she's moving around so much that who knows how she's positioned now. :)
• At one appointment the doctor voluntarily told me (I didn't ask about it or anything!) that my weight gain couldn't be more perfect than it's been and that I'm not gaining too much or too little. I could have kissed her! I've heard of the rude things other doctors sometimes say, so I feel pretty lucky that no one's given a big hit to my self-esteem--yet. (Better knock on wood or at the next appointment I'll get called a fatty.)
• My belly is measuring a little bit small, but the doctor said it's not significant enough to be a concern.
• Matt and I are totally clueless about a name. We thought we were getting closer and closer to deciding, but now we're not so sure.
• I'm still feeling good, but sleeping is getting interesting. I usually start out in our bed—then go to the couch—and sometimes go back to the bed again. (Can't wait until I can sleep on my stomach again!)

My Life

Ten days from now Matt will be taking boards! (I'm super excited!) His life the last couple months has been pretty lame, but here's what I've been doing:(For some reason I had this crazy idea that after the baby's born, it'll be super inconvenient to run to the store all the time. So now we have not two--but three--huge boxes of dishwasher soap in our cupboard. Why? I don't know...)
...maternity clothes, shoes, baby items, etc. (Within a week I bought five different pair of black shoes from five different stores {since my feet had "outgrown" all my black shoes}. I've since returned them all because I didn't like them. Now I'm sporting my black sandals from high school. It's stylin'. Really stylin'. ;))

Scared to Death

6:00 a.m. Monday
I tromped into the bathroom, flipped on the light, and screamed my lungs out.

Running really, REALLY fast across the floor was a ginormous one of these:
(I hope you appreciate the picture because it really grossed me out looking this up on Google.)

Matt loved getting out of bed and killing it for me. (I've since purchased spider traps.)

Midnight Tuesday
(This one really freaked me out. No joke.)

I fell asleep on the couch last night, and ya know when you can kind of sense that there's movement going on around you, I must have realized that and opened my eyes. Still half asleep, I saw someone right in front of me and screamed like a maniac. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was later told that I started curling up in a ball, too.

The cause of my distress:(No, it wasn't totally dark—a lamp was on—so I don’t even have that as an excuse for overreacting.)

He was about to go to bed and had come to lay his head next to me for a minute. Sweet. Too bad it had the opposite effect.

It took Matt saying, "Erin, it's just me." a few times before I started calming down. Seconds later I burst into tears. (I have no idea why...)

Matt tries to scare me a lot. He's usually pretty good at it, but this one tops them all.

{I guess we now know that if somebody ever breaks in, I'll just scream and curl up in the fetal position. So much for thinking I'm tough. :)}