Boating

We are fortunate enough to have a dad that lets us take his boat out pretty much whenever we want. So we have taken it out the last two weekends. Lake trips are always fun but exhausting. Not to mention that I am always a little crispy and sore the next week. But we love it!

The first weekend we went with my brother, his friend Cole, and my Cousin Travis and his girlfriend Emily. It was nice to be with family for the day and get to see my cousin Travis.

I like Oliver's face in this...

Cody and Travis wakeboarding and kneeboarding side by side. Always entertaining.
Travis and Emily

Chad wakeboarding

Me Kneeboarding...I was thinking this would be better than kneeboarding but ended up making more sore. Go figure.

And our driver for the day.

We also took the boat out this last weekend with Chad's brother Jake, cousin Tyler and Co-worker and friend Jason.

Here is Jason and his friend.

Oliver sporting his new life jacket. Safety first. He is actually a good swimmer but just in case he ever decided to jump while the boat was going we figured it would come in handy.

And our driver for this trip. Chad does an awesome job taking care of the boat and I am always more relaxed when he is driving. I had to drive when he wanted to wakeboard and it isn't as easy as it looks. There is a lot to pay attention to.

Of course I didn't get a picture of Chad and I. I was a little pre-occupied making sure we didn't crash, etc.

Life happens

I really have missed blogging lately but for some reason it just hasn't been happening as often as it should or as often as I would like it to. But I am just resolving to do it! That's my motto, just do it (thanks Nike). It seems that like blogging a lot of other things get put on the back burner when you are pregnant. For example: cooking (I honestly can't remember the last time I cooked), cleaning (smelly toilets aren't good for over-sensitive stomachs), shaving your legs (Ugg...I hated this before I got pregnant and for some reason I hate it even more now), doing much of anything besides sitting on the couch.

Thankfully I am gaining more and more energy back. So I managed to cook once in the last two weeks...that's an accomplishment, let me tell you. I cleaned the kitchen AND did a load of laundry in one night last night. I shaved my legs this morning. And I plan on taking my dog on a walk after work, folding said laundry from last night and vaccuming. Let's see if my to do list actually gets done. I have high hopes.

With that said, I only have a handful of events to blog about in the last month.

First, my work had a summer party a few weeks ago. Here is our clan. Apparently we were really NOT photogenic that day. I am really just posting these because I laughed really hard when I saw them.

I especially like Cody's face in this one...

In other news...our beloved cat Cleo died a month ago. She was getting pretty old and it was her time. But she was the only cat left from our two kittens that we got over 10 years ago. So my little sister was pretty sad to say the least. She ADORES cats and Cleo was really another family member. So to help curb the pain a little my mom decided we should add another cat to the family. Introducing Whiskers...

Oliver and Cleo hated each other (OK Cleo hated Oliver because he always tried to chase her. Oliver LOVED chasing Cleo). So to avoid this phenomenon of cats hating dogs I wanted Oliver and Whiskers to meet ASAP. It was hilarious really. I don't think either one of them knew what the other one was or why it was there. Whiskers was pretty tense and Oliver just wanted to sniff and play this intersting new thing. I had to hold on to him for dear life so he wouldn't pumel her. Eventually they got so close their noses were touching and Oliver licked Whiskers in the face a couple times. So they aren't officially friend yet but they definitely don't hate each other either. Mission accomplished.

Isn't he cute? Never mind my lack of makeup and gross hair. Oliver's cuteness makes up for both of us.

Spring Creations

I've already posted a lot about our garden but I had one more thing I just couldnt' resist posting. Watermelon vines tend to take over EVERYTHING in site. They weave together and grow very large. Because of this, I hadn't even noticed the baby watermelon's growing until Friday afternoon. I was thrilled to say the least. Watermelon is one of my favorite fruits and I can't wait until they are full grown. Aren't these guys just the cutest?

You know what else is cute? This little guy/girl...

I must say that I am more partial towards that latter. Afterall, this creation is growing INSIDE of me, so it defnitely has the upper hand on the baby watermelons.

Chad and I are soooo excited to be having our first baby. It wasn't necessarily planned but we were ready to start our family so we were thrilled to find out. I am about 14 weeks along right now and we had our first Dr. Appt last Tuesday. The nurse/midwife said everything was looking really good and we got to see our baby for the first time. It was a humbling/amazing/overwhelming experience that neither Chad or I will ever forget. Going to the doctors appointment I thought I was only about 11 weeks but judging from the size of the baby, the nurse/midwife said I was about 13 weeks. So that puts my due date at December 28th! Possibly a Christmas baby, we shall see.

I was sick for the first few weeks after finding out but the last few weeks haven't been too bad. I still have my occasional wave of nausea that comes out of nowhere but that doesn't happen too often. As long as I keep my body well fed I am fine. I do feel tired as well but that is starting to go away too.

We still don't know if it is a boy or girl and probably won't find out for another month or so. But we are slowly preparing ourselves for this change and it is going very well. We certainly have even more to look forward to this Christmas.

Growing garden

Growing a garden has been really fullfilling. It is amazing to see something grow from a tiny seed to a towering plant or a delicious vegtable. God's creations really are amazing. Here are some before and after pictures to see how much everything has grown. The before set were taken on April 27th, so about a month and half after the garden had been planted. The after or present pictures were just taken on June 4th.

Here is the first garden box containing: Swiss Chard(front of picture), two tomato plants(one cherry, one large) and a pepper plant(He is hiding behind the tomato plant on the left side of the picture).

Here's the after. Everything got so big! I knew tomato plants could get out of control but I definitely wasn't expecting this. And strangely the cherry tomato plant got almost twice as big as the regular tomato plant.
Here is the pepper plant. So far we have two peppers growing(not pictured) that I can find. Sometimes they hide and all the sudden I notice it one day and it's huge. So who knows, there might be more.

Cherry tomatoes: some are almost ripe enough to pick. I am planning on making homemade spaghetti sauce as soon as I pick some of those babies!

And the swiss chard. I love the way this looks and it definitely produces A LOT, but I probably won't plant it again because I just don't use it enough. But it really got a lot bigger than I thought it would.

It's monsterous!

Here is the second garden box. From left to right or bottom of pic to top of pic it contains: Peas, Spinach, Carrots and Onions.

I have already picked a few onions. I think they might be pearl onions because they are still pretty small but were almost on top of the surface and looked ready to pick. And maybe this is just me, but the top of the onion, the green part that grows above ground are green onions. I had no clue that is how green onions grew. Did you know that? But they are sooo delicious. I love onions!

The peas are one of the prettiest plants to me. They grew so nice and uniform up the "ladders" we created for them. I just picked some peas last night and they are so sweet straight from the pod. Chad will most likely eat most of the ones I picked before I can cook with them but that's ok.

The spinach really produced a lot too...maybe all lettuce does? I already have used a lot of the spinach as well. It's so fullfilling to cook with the ingredients that you have grown yourself.

Lastly, the Watermelon and strawberrie we planted in a little section of dirt my mom had that was empty. These were the only two things we grew out of the boxes we made.

The watermelon vines of course are growing out of control, but that's normal. As you can see in the picture above we started with about 6 seperate plants and now we have taken 4 out and there are only 2 left but still plenty of vines.

The strawberries didnt' do as good as I hoped they would. About a third of the plants died before they even started producing. I think that was due to an ant infestation. And the ones that have produced tend to give really small strawberries and they aren't very sweet even when they are really ripe. And sadly it looks like more plants are dying too. I am not sure what the cause is but oh well. I have had such good luck other than those. And it has still been fun to see them grow even if the outcome wasn't exactly what I wanted.

I am so proud of my garden! And I really love taking care of it. I am afraid that sometimes it has been neglected but it's still going strong. I should especially thank my mom because she has helped out a lot as well. She waters for me sometimes and also does a lot of weeding. So thanks mom!

And really I recommend you plant a garden! Even a small one is fun to watch grow.

The Jeep Wave (and other funny stories)

If you have ever owned a Jeep (wrangler), scratch that, if you have ever driven a Jeep then you might know about a little thing called "the Jeep wave". Ok, at least that's what I call it. It is a requirement if you own a Jeep to do the "Jeep wave" whenever you see or pass another Jeep driver on the road. If you don't then you look like a jerk for not recriprocating a friendy gesture. It's more of a lift of the hand off the steering wheel and a slight a wave of the fingers than an actual wave.

I have driven a Jeep off and on since my junior year in high school, so going on 6 years now. And I noticed this phenomenon probably a week after I started driving it. Apparently it's just a universal knowledge that you catch on too. I do it just because people get really annoyed if you don't. It's kind of second nature now. Chad is probably more diligent than I am with the Jeep wave. Sometimes I miss a Jeep passing us and Chad will say "didn't you see that Jeep wave? It's ok I waved for you." Oh thank the heavens, i think. What would I have done it you HADN'T seen that Jeep? I would have looked like a total jerk.

Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating a little, but not much, I promise. Jeep drivers take their cars very seriously. (Chad is no exception. He calls the Jeep his second lover and he will most likely kill me when he reads this. :-) So why the explanation on the Jeep wave and the seriousness of Jeep owners? Well let me tell you about an experience that we had this weekend with the Jeep. It is totally real, not making it up. This will help you non-Jeep owners understand just how much Jeep owners love their Jeeps.

So Chad and I took Oliver out for a little ride in the Jeep this weekend. It was the first day we had the top off so it felt like Summer. (Summer is not officially here until our hard top is safely deposited in one of our parent's garages) So we loaded in the Jeep and took off to find a pretty place to take Oliver for a walk. Not too long after we left our house we saw another Jeep going the opposite direction as us and of course we Jeep waved each other.

So we noticed that we needed gas and flipped a U turn to get to the gas station we had passed not too long ago. Well guess who was at the gas station? The Jeep we had Jeep waved less than 5 minutes ago. Of course we just happened to be at the same gas station as he went to. We were parked about 2 pumps away from him. So he noticed us as well and yelled over "aren't you that Jeep I just passed?" Chad told him yes and we all laughed. Hahaha so funny. Well he finished pumping his gas and Chad is just about done too. This guy walks over to us and engages us in a conversation about...take a guess...Jeeps. He complements ours, Chad asks what lift he has, etc. Well we are ready to go, but not this guy. He wants to keep talking and talking and talking. He tells us about his 4X4 club and wants to give us the website and darn he wishes he had a flyer for us but he left them at home. I am really surprised he didn't ask for our number because he was coming on a little strong. But not to worry, Oliver barked at him and gave him a good scare so he didn't get too close to the Jeep throughout the conversation. The one time I am glad we can't get Oliver's barking at strangers under control. Plus this guy was a little creepy looking. I am totally not judging but a little hick/white trash/wife beater wearing kind of guy.

So finally Chad says ok well we gotta go and FINALLY the guy leaves and goes back to his own car.

Moral of the story? Jeep owners are are obsessive, sometimes creepy and a little annoying at times (this of course excludes us and any other normal Jeep owners that are reading this post). Oh and something else I am considering is NOT doing the Jeep wave so that other people know I am not interested in joining their Jeep clubs or becoming their best friend. Or possibly we could disguise our Jeep somehow to not look like a Jeep? (I don't think Chad would go for that.)

Oh and another funny thing that happened as we pulled out of the parking lot was Oliver almost jumped out of the Jeep. He jumped on Chad's lap and was a little overzealous with his jump. Luckily Chad was paying attention and caught him, but I think Oliver was so scared he might have peed his pants a little. I think I was so scared I might have....not really but it was scary. Oliver got a good talking to and now is banished to the back seat with his leash secured tightly so he would have no way of falling out even if he wanted to. Oh Oliver.

Month of May

Blog...It's been too long. I'm sorry. I have really missed you. I have missed writing my innermost feeling and concerns on your pages. I have missed posting pictures of my terribly exciting life (ok mostly of my dog). And mostly I think Chad is getting tired of being my outlet for my thought so I have FINALLY resorted to become a blogger again.

May was busy and so my blog was neglected. But never again will I go that long withough blogging (hopefully, no promises).

May brought a lot of change. Good change. Exciting change.

Modesto started to warm up. A little. Enough to plant some flowers and BBQ. I planted the flowers, Chad BBQed. Oliver watched and relished the sun. He loved to lay on the patio in the sun or really anywhere in the sun.

May also brought my college graduation. I have a Bachelor's degree. It feels...pretty dang good but also slightly less exciting now that it's over. I am sooo glad that I decided to walk. It helped give it a "real" feeling and a sort of closure.If nothing else comes out of the hard work I put into my bachelor's degree I am least proud to have the title and the knowledge that comes with it. I also hope to put that knowledge to good use. But that will come in time.

This is what Chad did during the rather long ceremony: take pictures of our adorable niece and nephew. Jill (Chad's sister) braved the ceremony with two children by herself. What a sister-in-law! And the children provided the entertainment for the sometimes boring parts. And he also managed to snap a picture of me waiting in line to get my diploma. You see that tiny antlike person in the middle of the picture. Thats me!

John Huntsman Jr. spoke in the opening ceremony for all of the 7,000+ graduates. It was a really inspiring speech. Then the individual schools (I was in the college of Humanities) broke off and hand the ceremonies where we got our diploma (holders).

I am so blessed with a wonderful family. My dad and stepmom traversed the 12 hour drive to come see me graduate! As well as my Mom, stepdad and Ariana. They too sacrifice a boring drive across Nevada to be with me for my special day.

Luckily my sister Nichole, sister-in-law Jill, my Grandma and Grandpa Hill and my Grandma Adams all live in Utah so they only made a small commute. But I was none the less happy to have them there!

And my wonderful husband. He has been such a support through my last few years of college. I think that many times a woman's education gets put on the backburner for important reasons such as family. And while the thought to put my school on hold and let Chad finish first might have crossed my mind a few times, he never would have let me. He knew how important it was for me to finish and was the one who always worked full time to support us and sometimes took classes as well so that I could work part time and attend school full time. I love my husband so much!

And after the ceremony we all (yes, moms, dads, steps and grandparents got together for me!) gathered at Nichole's house for some food and visiting. What a lovely family if I do say so myself.

May also brings my birthday. And a lot of years, like this one, my birthday falls on Memorial Day weekend so I get a nice long weekend to relax and enjoy my birthday. Yay for being 22! I got off work at 1 on Friday, which was my actual birthday. I left the office with a few balloons (which Oliver hated or was afraid of) and a Edible Arrangements that Chad had delivered. I've always wanted one. Then I went home and Chad and I took our exercised deprived dog on a much needed walk in the park. It was a beautiful day. That night Chad and I went to dinner with my dad, stepmom, brother and Bryan(sort of a brother figure?) at Outback. Of course I was not smart enough to get a picture.

Saturday was filled with sleeping in, running errands, meeting up with my best friend Blair from high school for a pedicure and a BBQ with some old friends from high school. Chad helped my stepdad put a new roof on their house all day. That night Chad and I went and saw Price of Persia. It was really good. Recommend it to anyone.

Sunday was filled with energized five years olds in Primary and then Sunday afternoon we drove up the cabin for a overnighter. We hadn't been in a few months and luckily there was still some snow to enjoy with the snowmobils.

So we took a long ride in jeans and snowboots and sweatshirts. The weather was beautiful and there was still a good 4 to 5 feet of snow once you got farther up the mountain. It was just Chad and I and my dad for this trip and it was just what the doctor ordered. The mountains are so relaxing and refreshing. The only downside was the fact that I could barely walk the day after our snowmobile trip. Every muscle in my body was sore. Maybe I should get in shape? Maybe.

Lastly, for your viewing pleasure: Oliver meets the windshield wipers on our drive home from the cabin. (Our drive took us about twice as long as it normally does because of all the Memorial day traffic. So this little video gave us a good break from the boredom and a really good laugh!)

Thanks May for being so good to us. Can't wait till you come again next year.