And because I love my husband

No, I didn't write my husband a poem too...what do you people think I am, a machine?! (Just kidding, honey! I love you!) As per hubby's request, I am posting some pictures from our recent trip to Montana. (Or Ontana if you are G.)

Here is G posing with his horse who he adamantly maintained shared his name. I thought that was rather convenient, given all the horses in the world and all of the possible names that those horses might have had. Here is B and his bro shooting off a homemade rocket thing that B built out of PVC pipe and a water bottle. At first I was less than thrilled with the notion, but it turned out to be pretty darn cool. (Don't worry, for those of you that know my husband's history with explosive devices, it just used water and compressed air.) Looking good with the horses. My mother-in-law found her 2 middle children's 20 year old chairs from when they were tiny. G and his uncle decided they needed to sit in them together. Hanging out with Dad.
G loved hiking!! He really does take after his DAD.
What is a trip to Montana without being a cowboy?
Ok, I know everyone has one of these, but look at this buffalo walking in front of our car as we are leaving Yellowstone. AMAZING.

As another side note, the city we go to is the tiniest town I have ever been to in my life. I told my sister about it and this is how our conversation went:

Me: "Yeah, the town is like a block with 5 stores."

Her: "Seriously?"

Me: "Let's put it this way, it makes Benson, AZ look like a thriving metropolis."

Her: "Oh my gosh."

Me: "Oh yeah, Benson is HOPPING."

Her: "Wow."

It will be fun when she can come and have her mind blown.

To waste time

I know, I know. Why am I re-doing our blog header when I will just have to change it in a few months anyway? Because I know I should be doing something else, obviously. This leads to a special ode that I would like to write to a dearly, long desired love I have recently been reminded of.

Ode to Mountain Fresh Tide

Oh Mountain Fresh Tide, that I put my clothes in,

I would wear you to church if you wouldn't burn my skin.

I love the way you smell, so fresh and so clean,

as though you've never been where a toddler has been.

But why do you spurn me with your extravagant cost?

Even with coupons, all hope is lost.

Someday I will have you, I'll sniff deeply with my nose,

then I'll wash all my laundry and roll in my clean clothes.

Until then, however, I guess Kirkland will do,

though when I wash my clothes at my in-law's I will pine for you.

The End.

Favorite comment of this pregnancy so far...

So I sat next to a lady in Primary today who is also pregnant. Our conversation went like this:

Me: "So when are you due?"

Her: "In 6 weeks but I'll have her in 3."

Me: "Oh?"

Her: "Our babies always come early."

Me: "Oh. That must be nice."

Her: "When are you due?"

Me: "October."

Her: "We're about the same size! (pause) Ha ha, just kidding."

Me: "Ha ha."

Gotta love it. 

Blah.

How many numerous words, phrases, lexicons, characters, and idioms, can one singular, solitary, unique, individual person insert, add, inlay, inject, and interpose to increase, boost, augment, inflate, multiply, and proliferate the length, span and duration of a document, manuscript, paper, or report? 

Ask my dissertation. 

 

I swear these really happened

Last night as I was tucking G in for bed

 

Me: (Giving him a hug) "Hey buddy."

G: "Hello, my darling."

Today as we were picking and eating peas

Me: "How are your peas? Are they good?"

G: "You bet your sweet bippy!"

This latter comment was especially amusing as he usually fights us about 1. him not being a bippy and 2. his not having a bippy. Apparently I have one, however. 

I hate titles

I really hate creating titles for things--probably because I really stink at it. Seriously, the title is my least favorite part of writing anything, so you can imagine how hard it is for me to title all of my posts. Well, it seems that little G has inherited my aversion to titles. Yesterday we painted with water colors for an hour or so. Later we showed Daddy the pictures and asked little G what they were called. His answer? "Circle, blue, swirl, orange, etc." 

Excellent titles, son. You do take after me in some ways. 

Blood draw wishes

The conversation G and I had on the way home from doing my glucose test at the hospital: 

G: Maybe I can get my blood drawn. 

Me: Oh, you want your blood drawn? (Not wanting to freak him out by telling him it hurts...) Well the only reason that Mommy had to have her blood drawn is because I have a baby in my tummy and we want to make sure that everything is ok for the baby. You don't have a baby in your tummy so we don't have to have your blood drawn. 

G: Oh. Well maybe when I get older I can have a baby in my tummy too. 

Me: Uhh...well...only girls can have babies in their tummies and only Mommies. That is what makes you a Mommy, you are a girl that has a baby. You are a boy and boys are Daddies. So you will be a Daddy like your Daddy. 

G: (Disappointed) Oh. 

Me: But maybe someday you can have your blood drawn for something else, if you're really lucky. 

G: (Happily) YEAH!

I guess. 

Sad Socks

Today I made one of the more depressing purchases of my life and paid $30+ for socks. SOCKS people--one pair! Not even cute socks, mind you, ugly grandma socks. That's right, today I bought my very first pair of compression socks. Never mind all of the other wonderful things that come with pregnancy, my body has decided that I need a good case of varicose veins to boot. So in an attempt to help my poor, bulging, aching, black and blue legs, we took a trip to the medical supply store and found that there are all kinds of these horrible socks. They have athletic ones and thigh highs, work socks and (my personal favorite) hose that are made with a special pregnant belly section so they look like this:

So I decided, "Hey, If I'm getting grandma socks I might as well get the ones with the cool

 looking box." You know, those are the ones that have a title like, "supportive elegance" and "beautiful comfort" and have an attractive career woman on them. I went over to look at the prices and guess how much they were? $75-$100. Why, you may ask? Well, they do have the word elegance in them (also the salesperson said they are machine washable whereas the others were not). 

At this point I decided that I had to resign myself to plain old "grandma support" which resulted in my absolute favorite part--the choosing of the style and color. I somehow declined the full on maternity hose based on the fact that 1. hose are uncomfortable normally, and 2. it is 100 degrees outside, and also decided that thigh highs were a bit much (they showed a sexy looking woman in lingerie on the front of the box for that one, hah!). So I settled on a pair of knee high socks. It was of great concern to the salesperson that I have the color that I wanted. Now I ask you--at what point would it really matter what color I got these ugly socks in? I asked for hot pink but apparently they only come in  black, white, and nude. 

Well to make a short story long (which I now have done) I am wearing the ugly nude, knee high socks right now and you know what? I kind of like them. Turns out I accidentally bought a pair that was open toed so that I can wear my flip flops without everyone even noticing I have them on (feel the sarcasm). But really, I sort of feel like a pregnant dancer wearing very ugly leg warmers. 

The end. 

California Trip Part II

I am currently frustrated out of my mind with my dissertation which means...more blogging! YEAH! So here are some pictures from Disneyland, California Adventure, and Universal Studios. As an FYI, little G had me print some of these out and tape them to his wall so he can look at them all the time. Isn't that cute?

With Grandma at the Entrance to Disneyland

Please ignore my outfit and overall appearance. I'm pregnant--what do you expect?At Mr. Toad's wild ride.
As soon as we saw Buzz, both boys HAD to stand in line for a picture. It's not often you get three super-heros together.

Watching the parade...

Ahh, the infamous "hat incident." He did not want his name on his hat, but this was one area where I wasn't going to let him win. All I could think was: 1. I'm paying 10 dollars for this silly hat and the name embroidery is FREE, and 2. someday he will wish he had his name on it and say, "Mom, why didn't you put my name on my Mickey Mouse ears? And then I would strangle him. One time-out and chocolate chip granola bar later, we had his name on it.

(Oh and the white blurred out part is a woman who stepped in front of my camera while I was taking a picture. She was the only person who unintentionally acted rudely and actually expressed remorse after doing so. Amazing!)

Driving bumper cars with Dad--he wouldn't let Dad do anything so they mainly drove in a small circle.
I wish I could have captured the look of pure delight on his face. Here we are watching the electric light parade.
These were the 3-D glasses for the Bug's Life movie. Awesome, huh?
Our hotel was literally across the street from the front entrance so we walked back and forth for naps, lunch, etc. I would definitely stay there again.
Here we are at Universal Studios meeting his idol.
My cute boys sporting their new Disneyland shirts.

California Trip--San Diego

For the first couple days of our trip we visited Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. Both were a lot of fun. Here are a few pictures from both:

Riding the rides with Dad and Grandma
(As an interesting side note--both Sea World and Universal Studios basically stated that expectant mothers shouldn't ride anything. I rode rides just like these at Disneyland. Go figure.)
Watching the Pandas at the Zoo
This one was so close to the bars, just chillin' and eating his breakfast. It was awesome.
Don't I have cute boys?
All of the animals at the zoo were pretty good about staying close by so that they were easy to see. If you haven't been to this zoo, it is awesome. I would highly recommend it.