Adam's wedding Weekend

 I am finally getting around to documenting probably the most important event of this year (well besides the impending birth of my baby).  It is a good activity to do right now anyway.  I am doing a lot of sitting with my feet up lately.  My feet are KILLING me.  If I do an hour of housework I feel the same way I did after walking around Disneyland for an entire day.  I really hope my feet go back to normal after the baby comes because I really, really love cute shoes.  Anyway. My brother got married on May 24th!  It was a whirlwind weekend that flew by much too fast.  On Friday afternoon my most favorite cousin of all time, flew in and then later that evening the rest of my extended family arrived.  We had  a dinner at my Dad's house, made by Liz.  I am so glad she did pretty much all the work.  All I did was make a salad and leave a huge mess for her to clean up afterwards.  She made some delicious beef stroganoff and an even better cake.  We had so much fun visiting with everyone.  It has been a few years (since Grandma died) that everyone has been together like this.  I know my Mom appreciated that her siblings made the trip to come support my brother on his big day.

 My Aunt Karen bought her sisters leggings as a joke, to prove that leggings are actually pants.  (There is this current trend where adult women seem to think ugly leggings are 1. cute  and 2. count as pants.)  Although they actually looked pretty good in the leggings.

 In the morning, the girls went out to T.C. Eggingtons, where they threw me a little baby shower.  I got some pretty great gifts and I felt really spoiled.

 After brunch, we went out to my Mom's grave and laid some flowers.  I am so glad my Aunts had the thought to do this.  Truthfully I can't remember the last time I went out to her grave.  It is not a place that I like to revisit.  But I am glad we did because she was remembered and on her son's wedding day, I can't think of a better gift to her other than to know that we were thinking of her.  Thankfully the weather was very nice for the end of May, otherwise we would have not lasted long out there.  This memory is a much, much nicer memory than the one I have almost 14 years ago when it must have been about 115 degrees and the oppressive heat only added to the heaviness of our hearts.  Even still, I can't help but feel very solemn when I step foot on the Mesa Cemetery grounds.

After this, I had some rushing around to do being that I had 2 kids and myself to pretty up, as well as being the grooming police for Chelsey.  I even managed to make it to Payless to buy Chelsey some shoes so that she wouldn't wear her decrepit slip on loafers.  (more on that later)

What's Up These Dog Days of Summer

It's that time of year again.  Swimming is in full force.  Chloe is doing 2 swim teams again and Macie loves her life of swimming in the spare pool while Chloe practices.  And I CANNOT WAIT to not be pregnant anymore!  I made the sad, sad realization last week that this whole time I have been thinking my due date was July 12th, when it is in fact July 19th.  I feel like this pregnancy is groundhog day, making no progress to that elusive due date, and I swear I have been pregnant as long as an elephant.

This is the first time I have been this pregnant in the dead heat of the summer, and by golly, it's a doozy!
Finding clothes to wear when you are 35 weeks pregnant is already a challenge.  No longer is there the, "Hmmm, is this flattering?" concern. No, it is now, "hmmm...does this cover everything up that needs to be covered up?"  Which by the way, when it is 107 degrees outside, you don't really want to cover anything up.  But streaking is illegal. And also against my religion, so alas I must continue to wear clothes.  One of the added benefits of late pregnancy in extreme heat is that it makes your legs swollen and on fire!  I also have this super awesome, unexplainable rash on both of my shins that my Doctors just like to say thinks like, "Oh, that's weird."  (Although they don't usually say the word "weird" they use more Doctor-ly words like "interesting" or "unusual.")

I really shouldn't complain, I guess. I mean besides taking shots every day, things have been pretty smooth sailing and my complaints are pretty minor. But I'm so done.  I miss sleeping on my back.  I miss not waddling.  I miss being able to physically accomplish things like cleaning my whole house and making it the grocery store in one day. I miss wearing my high heels and feeling comfortable in clothes.  And why is it that pregnancy gives people the idea that they can say rude things about your body that they would never think to say if you weren't pregnant?  "Wow, you look huge...Are you sure you aren't carrying twins?...You are only THAT far along?...You look REALLY pregnant today."( All direct quotes. ) Thank you!

Well tomorrow is Father's Day and unfortunately I somehow injured my foot, which on top of my usual waddling, is making it even more impossible to get much done.  I would like to clean my house and make it to the grocery store but I walk about half as fast as I normally do.  It's too bad it is not Mother's Day, then I wouldn't feel bad making Don do everything.

Well I think I did a sufficient amount of complaining. So to end on a good note, we bought a new car! Well new to us.  A 2008 Ford Explorer.  So we will be saying goodbye to my Mazda soon, and I shall not miss it, although Chloe seems to be a little sentimental with the coming departure.  Chloe is also in the process of writing a book, which is oddly very similar to an Australian mermaid movie she has watched on Netflix several times.  But all great authors take their inspiration from somewhere I suppose.

Also, Macie is potty trained.  In her diaper.  She will be wearing her bathing suit and ask me for a diaper so she can go to the bathroom.  I suggest using the toilet, but no, she would much rather just go in her diaper.  Or hold it till the end of time, or till she gets a diaper, whichever comes first.  No clue how to solve this problem.

Macie also hates being told that she is funny.  She gets very offended.  She is also obsessed with understanding why people laugh.  I took the girls to a movie and anytime anyone laughed, Macie would be up in my face asking, "What's so funny? Why people laughing?"  She asked me this question about every 3 minutes for the entire movie.

Girls Trip

Last weekend a group of girlfriends and I went on a short weekend getaway to Strawberry, AZ.  I was (am) glad for any distractions to get me through this last month or so of pregnancy!  P.S. Having a baby in July was not one of my most brilliant plans.  I am HOT.  And most certainly not in the Megan Fox sorta way. I am talking hot like I considered taking everything out of my fridge, and sitting in it, sort of way.  But I digress.
Anyway, we had a really nice time.  We went out to eat at a local Italian joint, and I thoroughly enjoyed my spaghetti and meatballs, and homemade bleu cheese dressing.  We stayed up late (well I only made it until about 11 PM) eating, talking, and dancing, and in the morning we made a delicious breakfast of crepes and all the fixings.  Then we went for a short hike to Tonto national Bridge, and I just kept saying to myself that it was another one of my not so bright ideas, being that it was very plausible that I could fall, and I don't think my doctors would be very happy about that.  thankfully I did not fall.  After that, we went out to Chili's for lunch and headed back home.  Don did a fantastic job being Mr. Mom.  He even put the crib up while I was gone.  What a guy.... And Chloe called me about every hour and her greeting was usually something along these lines, "Oh Hi Mom! I need to tell you somethin'!"  I had a great little time.  And I loved reunited with my little family who always welcome me like a superstar.

I want to call your attention to the most ear shattering annoying videos on youtube.  Macie found these videos somehow, and she LOVES them.  I guess I just want to spread the pain, so enjoy!

Baby shower

I have some pretty amazing friends. They threw me a spectacular baby shower. I felt so spoiled and I was so excited that I got so many essentials and fun things, like my crib bedding!

 I brought Chloe along thinking she would be my right hand man, but she was too interested in playing with her friends, which was totally fine.  I had a great time and am so grateful for so many wonderful people in my life.

P.S. Last night we discovered 2 out of 3 of Chloe's fish died.  And it was a slightly tragic end to their short lives.  We found them smashed up against the fake rock in the aquarium.  Poor Chloe was so sad.
P.P.S Today is her last day of school.  She did not want to go today but would not tell me why. I finally got it out of her.  I guess yesterday they were given another student in their class to write something nice about.  She was given a boy that she says is mean.  she said she couldn't think of anything nice to say, so she wrote something like "He gets the right answers."  But she told me, "It's not true, he doesn't get the right answers."
And then she said she was afraid she was going to have to get up in front of the class today and tell everyone what she wrote about him.  I think more than having to "lie" in front of the class, she was more afraid of public speaking.  I hope she ends up having a good day.  I feel her pain, but I know that doing things you don't like, are just a part of life.  Speaking of  doing things I don't like...hooray! Today was the last day for 2 months that I had to get up to drive her to school!

Chloe Turns 7

 Chloe's long awaited birthday finally came and went. And it was a busy weekend. Friday she celebrated with her school class.  Then on Saturday night, her cousin came with us to Manuels.  The girls didn't eat any of their enchiladas, complaining they were too spicy, but when the fried ice cream came out, amazingly their appetites returned.  I was so exhausted from the busy day (I also had my baby shower), that I came home and fell asleep. Then I had to wake myself up to go to the grocery store at midnight so I could buy Chloe her requested strawberry shortcake.  Thankfully Saturday afternoon, Don went shopping for her gifts with Macie, while I attended my baby shower.  Chloe got a fish aquarium and 3 fish that she named Pinkie, Stripe, and Sunshine.  She also got a new bike.  Sunday morning I gave her a beautiful new dress to wear to church, and made her a happy face pancake.  After church my family came over for strawberry shortcake, as well as Paloma's family.  I had no time to make lunch, so we had dessert first, and then I finally got around to making Chloe mac and cheese, her requested dinner item.  And then Don left for Vegas, and we basically watched t.v. the rest of her birthday.  For a "low key" birthday, it didn't feel too low key!  But maybe that is because I have zilch energy these days and I have to talk myself into getting up off my couch multiple times a day. I think she had a good birthday, she deserved it. I sure love my Chloe.  I am so excited for school to be out (tomorrow!!) and I get her to myself. also, not having to drive her to school at 7:35 every morning is a very nice thought.

Chloe birthday