California

Ryan and I were lucky enough to have a little vacation this last weekend. We went to California to visit my Grandma Betty. We were there from Thursday to Monday night. It rained quite a bit while we were there but the weather felt great to us (Grandma kept the heater on the whole time we were there). We came home to snow and temps. in the 20's and 30's so 60 degrees felt like heaven to us. Because of the rain we didn't get to do a whole lot of sightseeing but we did get to relax and spend time with family. We got to see my Uncle Johnny and Aunt Joan, my cousin Tommy (I haven't seen them in about 13 years) and his son Isaiah (his wife was home with their sick little girl), and my cousin Larissa and her husband Jon and their daughter Shayla. It was so fun to see everyone! We also got to go to the Huntington Library/Art Gallery/Gardens. Ryan and I are so grateful to have been able to have so much wonderful support and love from our family! Here are some pictures from the trip:

With Grandma Betty (my Mom's mom)

My cousin Tommy, his son Isaiah, my Uncle Johnny, and my Aunt Joan with me and Ryan (hopefully it won't be another 13 years before we see them again!)

Heathers (me and a tree heather) in the Huntington Gardens

Ryan hiding in the bamboo forest

The Japanese Garden at Huntington

There was a section about childbirth in the exhibit about how science has changed throughout the years. I just had to pose by it!

Heather next to the exhibit of first edition Shakespeare books in the Huntington Library

A first edition of Shakespeare's collected works. How cool!

Heather playing in Grandma Betty's backyard on the same swing set my mom played on when she was little. Trust me, this was an awkward thing to do at 7 months pregnant!

Just a Quick Update

I just wanted to give a quick update about what is going on in our lives.

Ryan has officially finished all 9 applications to grad school programs. Now, we wait. And wait and wait. We should hopefully be hearing back from all of the schools sometime from mid-March to mid-April. This will be a crazy spring for us! Ryan has applied to schools in the following states: Washington, Oregon, Kentucky, Iowa, North Carolina (2), New Jersey, Tennessee, and Arizona. We will be moving this summer so he can start in the fall.

I am now about 29 weeks pregnant and feeling large. I wake up every morning to find that my belly button is smaller and my stretch marks are bigger. Yay! I saw the doctor today and she says everything looks great and the baby is healthy. He is very wiggly and tends to prefer the right side of my belly. I often feel squishy on the left while my right side is bulging with little feet and hands. I'm really starting to feel a need to prepare for labor and for welcoming this baby. 11 weeks to go!

Next week Ryan and I are headed to California to visit my grandma. This will be the first "real" vacation we have taken since our honeymoon. "Real" meaning that we are going just for fun, not because it is a holiday, and we don't have to drive! Plus, Idaho and Utah really don't count as vacation destinations to me. We are excited to do some sightseeing and relaxing, and visit with family and enjoy the sunshine!

By the way, I really need some good books to read (preferably something I can pick up at the library) so if you have any suggestions for me, let me know!

A Mother's Love is the Greatest Love of All

We had quite a week! My mom came to visit on Tuesday and stayed until Friday night. It is always so wonderful to see her. We spend a lot of time just hanging out together which was nice because I know we both crave all the girl talk we can get. We also got to use her Costco card and stock up on some things we need. I printed off all the pictures from my digital camera since we have been married. Over 300 total! I now have no excuse to wait on all the scrapbooking I need to do. On New Year's Eve the three of us went out to dinner and stayed up until midnight (we barely made it). Card games are way more fun when you are beyond tired! New Year's Day we went to downtown Salt Lake to see the lights on Temple Square. It was freezing but really beautiful. It was so hard to say goodbye to my mom. My heart is a little tender still about her leaving but I am so excited that I only have to wait another 12 weeks until she comes back with my whole family to see our baby! It was fun to have my mom here while I am still pregnant. She got to feel the baby kicking and watch my tummy wiggle. I have a very VERY wiggly baby, so I wasn't surprised. Here are a few pictures from her visit. I won't share too many because I'm sure she wants to post some on her new blog.





By the way, Ryan and I are super excited because we are now the proud owners of a travel system (car seat and stroller) and a crib! Woo hoo! We set up our crib yesterday and we discovered that we need to get rid of a lot of stuff if we want room for a baby and we also realized that this baby is coming sooner than we think! Yay!