Reflections....

So, we're back from McCall. I had heard from several sources that you should go on at least one getaway (just the two of you) before your baby comes. I must say that I whole-heartedly agree. Our trip to McCall was perfect. You're probably thinking, "Didn't you just come back from a week-long vacation in Lake Powell and 10 days in Washington D.C.?" Yes...and while both of those vacations were fun, they weren't exactly relaxing. It was so nice to be able to spend five days with just Jordan. We did a whole lot of relaxing, napping, talking, watching movies, and cruising the lake on the patio boat. I had kind of a weird moment while there. We were taking a nap, and Jordan was cuddling me. All of a sudden I realized that everything is going to change within the next six weeks. We aren't going to be just 'Jordan and Laura' anymore. We are going to be 'Jordan and Laura and the baby'. I have to admit that there was a real sadness for me as I realized how different things are going to be. How can I possibly love another person as much as I love Jordan? Jordan and I are so close....is having a baby going to be a huge strain on our relationship, or will it bring us closer? I understand that at this point I can't comprehend the love that I'm going to feel for my little girl, and I am so excited to meet her. But, if I'm being honest, I'm feeling a little apprehensive. Am I crazy for feeling this way? How has the addition of children changed your marriage?

Washington D.C.

We just got back from a 10-day trip to Washington D.C. with Jordan's family. Jordan's uncle Laird, and aunt Vicki, put us up for the entire 10 days.  We stayed at their beautiful home in Great Falls for the first 7 days, then headed down to their lake house on Lake Anna for the last 3 days.  We saw so many cool things and had a great time. While it was so fun to be with Jordan's family, the trip was pretty physically taxing for me. I definitely need to go back to D.C. when I'm not 7 months pregnant so I can truly appreciate the things we saw. Here are the 28-week and 32-week pregnant shots.

28 weeks

32 weeks-I can't believe that I'm due in less than 7 weeks now. August 11th isn't coming fast enough.  So, this is going to be an uncharacteristically long post due to the many pictures we took.  Feel free to stop reading at any point.

Gettysburg:

Great Falls Park:  Falls on the Potomac River near Laird and Vicki's house.

Dulles Air and Space Museum:

Due to my current pregnant state, I was unable do all the walking required to see the sights.  I spent a lot of time in this wheelchair.  When we were at the Museum of Natural History, a little girl walked up to me and said, "Are you old?"  When I told her I wasn't old she asked, "Then why are you in that chair?"  Her mom was horrified.  I thought it was funny.  

National Zoo:  One of the few zoos in the world that has a Giant Panda.  So cute!

Museum of Natural History:  We spent most of one day here.  We also wanted to see the Holocaust Museum, but we were unable to get tickets.  Next time.

Monument Night Tour:  Laird took us on the coolest monument/memorial tour by night.  It was so cool to see all the monuments lit up.  Our first stop was 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue-aka the White House

The Washington Monument is HUGE!

The Korean War monument was one of my favorites.  The soldiers were lit up, and it almost felt like they were alive.

The Lincoln Memorial:  This was my favorite thing I saw.  They had the entire Gettysburg Address etched in stone.  The memorial was much bigger than I thought it would be.

The Iwo Jima Monument:

Monticello:  Thomas Jefferson was such an interesting man.  The architecture at Monticello is one of a kind.

Laird and Vicki's lake house.  

Laura and Jordan's lake house.  We found this run-down shanty near Lake Anna and decided to take a redneck "honeymoon" shot.  Maybe we'll buy the place and fix it up....

Our 15-passenger van that we rode around in the entire trip.  It was so fun to be all together.

The National's Baseball Game:  Our last night in D.C. we decided to go see the Washington National's game.  Like any good mom, I fed my baby a hot dog, diet coke, dippin' dots, and nachos with extra cheese sauce.  Nutritious.  It went into extra innings, so we didn't get home until 12:30.  We had to wake up at 4:00 the next morning to make our flight, so we were all pretty tired.  

The Baseball Crew

What a great trip!  Jordan and I are headed to McCall, Idaho for a week to stay in his parent's condo, so I'll post about that when I get home.

The End of So Many Good Things..

Today marks the end of my first year of work as a Speech-Language Pathologist.  I can't believe how fast the school year went.  My first year went so well and I loved the work I did, however, I'm feeling very happy about the fact that I won't be working again until November 2nd.  Wahoo!  Unfortunately, today is also the day that Erin and the kids went home (sob).  It has been so fun having those little munchkins around.  I hate that they live so far away!  Luckily, we'll probably see them again this fall.  While they were here, Jordan and I took Abbie and Landon to ride the Front Runner.  Landon thought he'd died and gone to heaven to be riding on a real 'choo choo'.  We also went to see 'Up', to the castle park in Kaysville, swimming at the Rec Center, and to Arctic Circle multiple times.  

On the Front Runner


At Castle Park in Kaysville

Cute baby Noah--I decided I might as well add a few Lake Powell pics while I'm posting.


The kids had a great time splashing everyone in their kiddie pool.

Lastly, a bunch of creeps with their skeezy mustaches.

I Love My Family!!

Is there anything better than being together with family? I say not. My brother Mike is halfway through a 4-year oral surgery residency in Minnesota, so my family hasn't been all together since Steve and Kalli's wedding two years ago. Even then, we were only together for 24 hours, because that was all the time that Mike was allowed to take off. Well, a week ago everyone flew into town for a week-long Lake Powell trip including Mike and Erin (and their kids Abbie, Landon, and Noah) and Steve and Kalli from Boston. I got to meet my cute, six-month-old nephew, Noah, for the first time. It was so fun to be together as a family at Powell. Given my current pregnant state, I wasn't able to participate in the boating activities. I still had a great time though. It was so nice to just float in the water and take some of the pressure off my back. The sciatica is back in full force for my last trimester. Oh well, you can do anything for 2 months, right? I can't believe that I am 30 weeks pregnant. I would like to say that the time has flown, but it really hasn't. While I was in Lake Powell, my belly went through another growth spurt. I REALLY look pregnant now. Luckily I have only 5 more days of work--oh the joys of working in the public schools! There are so many pictures that I want to post from the last week, but I'll try to contain myself. While there were a lot of cute Lake Powell pictures, the ones that I'm interested in posting are of a photo shoot we had the day everyone came into town. I'm not thrilled that we had family pictures taken while I am seven months pregnant, but I guess it's hard to get pictures without somebody being pregnant. I took one for the team this time.

Who knows when we'll all be together again. Love you guys!