Toes? What are those?

Helloooooo all. Welcome back. It's been awhile. Let's start out with a pregnancy picture. I thought I'd give you a dose of what I've been seeing these days. . .

Okay, so...that was a lie. This picture involves some leaning... 

What I'm ACTUALLY seeing a lot more of these days looks a little more like this: 

Ha! About a month ago I hit the point where, in the shower, I feel like washing my belly is a whole separate endeavor. But, really. All the sudden, it's like having a new extremity. It doesn't take forever to wash that belly of mine...but, it's longer than it's ever taken before!

We're going on week 33, people. This is the real deal. 

Actually, one of our relatives down the street has been my pregnancy buddy. She had a little girl just last week, and I keep saying to Matthew how insanely weird it is that one day you can be pregnant, and, the next, BOOM--you have a baby! 

I've never really found it weird before...but, seriously, I went and visited her the night before she had the baby. Just another pregnant lady, just like me. And then--SHABAM. She and her hubby become madres and padres, just like that (visualize me snapping my fingers here, just to emphasize the point).

   

That might not seem like a weird thing to you...but, I've mentioned how crazy it is to me to my mister at LEAST once every day for the past week and a half. Also, I hope you enjoy the watermarks on the above pictures. They are courtesy of, well, the internet :) 

This last weekend the mister and I had the chance to go and visit my family for the weekend. Unfortunately, I did about the worst job of taking pictures that I think I've ever done. I have a feeling that will change when I get a phone that takes decent pictures....Anywho...here is a picture someone else took while entering my beautiful state for you to feast your eyes on:

mmmmm, Colorado. 

Our trip involved many a game with my parents and Justin (namely, Phase Ten, Rage, Quiddler, Cribbage, and GinRummy), a few delicious meals (namely a Mexican restaurant whose name I can't remember, Rueben sandwiches at Culver's, my mama's delicious all-natural (said with an accent)--Ninja made juice, Justin's hot wings, and my padres famous French toast), thrifting, watching both the first and second planet of the apes movies (which were uber good, by the way), a wonderful visit to our neighbors Lin and Cathy (wherein they gave us THE most adorable baby clothes, and...well, basically threw us a baby shower with how many boxes filled with adorableness they had for us; they are honestly too good to us. I have sure missed them!), many a walk to the park with those dogs I love so much, and a beautiful wedding of one of my dearest friends, Amy Clow. 

It was a quick trip, but oh so wonderful. 

During the thrifting, we found a few treasures. I believe the one my mister was most excited about was (drum roll please) . . . . . 

 . . . . . . . 

 . . . . . . . 

A longboard. 

Boom. $10. 

He.could.not.be.happier. 

haha, to give you some background: We went long-boarding the day we got engaged and have been dying to go again ever since. However, between pregnancy, and us not actually owning longboards, it just hasn't happened. 

But, yesterday, I got on my bike while he road the longboard and we went on a trip to the park. This picture is actually from a bikeride a few months ago, (due to, again, my current case of slacking in the picture taking arena), however, we both wore helmets....so, it might as well have been yesterday. 

If you are looking for an example of how to properly wear a helmet, I would probably direct your eyes to the left half of this picture, rather than the right. 

Not to fret, since purchasing our new, BEAUTIFUL bikes on my birthday this year, we have since acquired two fully functional, fitting helmets...one of which I wore far more properly than is depicted in the picture above ;) 

Helmets, seatbelts, and flossing. The three things I've never done consistently life until marrying Matthew. 

• Helmets: never. 
• Seatbelts: pretty much only when I was driving. 
• Flossing: umm...I don't even know.

You may wonder how I've survived this long. I don't. But, I sure am glad I've got this guy around to help make sure I survive a lot longer yet. I mean, look at that face. Sheesh! :) 

Anywho...so, we took the longboard and bike to the park, and literally, just rode around for about an hour. It was like being a kid again. We just went up and down hills over and over again. My advice for the day: marry someone (if you haven't already) that you can ride around in circles with at the park. If you don't like riding around, well, start. Who doesn't like bikes, longboards, or things with wheels anyways? Don't you have a soul?? 

Umm...okay. This is the point in a blog post where I should say something like, "But, I digress" 

Instead, I'll just say....life is great! I love my husband! He's the best! Oh....and we're having a baby...still! :D 

He likes to kick me. Let's hope he grows out of that. 

And so begins week 30 :)

Yes siree--our little guy is growing and growing; we sure do love him!

As far as pregnancy goes, we keep waiting for me to go crazy or for things to get insanely uncomfortable. I've been very blessed to have minimal side effects (i.e. morning sickness, soreness, etc...) The worst of it is back pain after long days at work. Which, really, everybody can get.

Well, I guess I take that back; sleeping has gotten harder and harder. And, when I don't sleep--the mister also doesn't sleep, sadly enough. So, we wake up some mornings not very well rested.

But, really, that's the worst of it; we've been super blessed. 

A few weeks back, we were able to take a trip to Oregon to visit Matthew's family. That sweetheart of mine was so thoughtful to ask me regularly during the drive--"you sure you don't need to stop?", and, "you doing okay?" 

Matthew drove the ENTIRE way (there and back). For those of you who don't know this about me....I sleep in cars. Like, marathon sleep. haha, for this reason, I may not be the best person to roadtrip with. My mom used to joke with me, because, literally, we would drive to the grocery store (which was about two minutes from our house), and I could be out cold by the time we pulled into the parking lot. 

Anywho...here are a few gems from our trip. We went hiking in Silver Falls (GORGEOUS, by the way), went camping with Matthew's family, had some AWESOME finds thrifting with Matthew's mom, and just enjoyed time hanging out at the house with family, playing games and watching movies. Here are a few pictures from the trip...

I actually saved this picture on my computer as hunky.jpg. haha. I suppose the view isn't bad either. Seriously, the hike was GORGEOUS.

I mean, right? On my first visit to Oregon, way back when, I commented to Matthew (on another hike), "seriously--even your rocks are pretty!" Which, is actually true--because they're covered in this deep green color of moss that looks awesome. . . 

On the camping trip, which was uber fun. Tin foils dinners, uno, rock stacking, campfire, chit-chatting, and berry picking. . . . 

Matthew never understood why I pay so much for fruits and berries when he grew up picking them for free in Oregon. I didn't really understand this until I saw our campsite, which was COMPLETELY surrounded by blackberries. MMMMM! 

Lyn, Hailey, Matthew, and I's rock city.

Hunky husband again, only, this time, with a sophisticated look of concentration on his face. This rock stacking is serious business, people :)

Don't fret--they're aiming to hit that little island rock, rather than some unsuspecting animal :)

A street sign we felt the need flip the car around for and take a picture of.

ha, Matthew and I went through some of his old boxes of schoolwork and memorabilia. 

He didn't grow up in a liberal state at all; ha! I about died when I saw this.