Babymoon a little late :)

Hi there- Remember me?! I'm back and I have about a million pictures in this post so consider yourself warned! 

Back in August, Steve and I went to British Columbia for a second honeymoon/five year anniversary/babymoon extravaganza. We spent the first couple of days with Steve's relatives and stayed with his Grandma and Grandpa Ursaki. We were fortunate to pack a lot of activities into a couple of days with his relatives.  I hadn't met all his Canadian relatives so it was great to meet some and spend more time with the others. We played several games of extremely competitive Bocce Ball. I am proud to say that Steve's Grandma and I beat Steve and his Grandpa! 

We also got to meet baby Adam- just a few days old! He is so precious 

Steve and his cousin Dave went on this crazy hike the Grouse Grind which is like miles of climbing up stone steps- I didn't go thank goodness! They had a great time and I think they had a better time since I didn't go- ha!

Steve's Uncle Len took us and Dave on a tour of Vancouver one afternoon. We got some delicious Indian food and then went out for a bike ride around Stanley Park. Stanley Park is like the Central Park of Vancouver. It is HUGE and really beautiful. We rented bikes and spend a few hours riding around the seawall and exploring different parts of the park. 

This is Grandma and Grandpa Ursaki's backyard- they kept saying how disappointing their garden had been that year- Steve and I thought it was a beautiful oasis- Isn't it lovely?

From Vancouver, we took off on our own up the Sunshine Coast north of Vancouver. It is full of cute beachy towns that are chock full of bed and breakfasts and beautiful scenery. On our way up the coast we stopped at a sandcastle building competition and here are just a couple of the works of art we saw...

I had never seen a bald eagle before this trip- We saw tons of them and they really are cool looking creatures. They are also really good at posing for pictures- they stay in the same spot for long periods of time and change positions frequently to give you a really good look :) 

We stayed in a cute bed and breakfast- the Beacon B and B. This place was own by some of the most eccentric people I've ever met by far. We stayed for a couple of days with them and enjoyed it. They definitely made Powell River BC an unforgettable place for us!

Another Bald Eagle

We took a Zodiak boat tour of the Desolation Sound. It was a breathtakingly beautiful place with glacier carved mountains and low hanging clouds. I loved this boat tour!

We got to see some seals from afar on this trip the tour guides don't like to spook them by getting too close- from our vantage point without a camera or binoculars we couldn't really see them clearly- they kind of looked like rocks 

Our Zodiac tour left from Lund, BC. I felt particularly fond of this teeny tiny town just because of the name!

Some more of the scenery in Powell River

The biggest, grossest slug I've ever seen in my whole life- These guys were everywhere! 

One of the amazingly delightful breakfasts served by our hosts- ham, asparagus and mushrooms served over poached eggs and toast. YUM!

After we finished up in Powell River, we drove south to Egmont, BC and stayed in a lovely hotel there. We had a nice room with a private balcony, from which you could see the ocean. We had a raccoon try to get into our room a couple of times- this little critter was not shy at all. He would climb up the tree next to our balcony and try to jump onto the balcony! Steve would get mad at me every time I squealed because it scared the raccoon away but this thing was seriously so unafraid of us it made me more scared of him!

We took a hike to see the largest salt water rapids in North America- the Skookumchuck Narrows. Skookumchuck means "strong water" or "strong flow" in the native language. Let me tell you- this place is aptly named! Twice a day- each time the tides change this place gets crazy! These pictures really don't do them justice. It was definitely one of the coolest things we saw on our trip. It doesn't hurt that Steve really latched on to the word Skookumchuck and referred to EVERYTHING for the rest of the week as "____ Skookumchuck". He felt like it was a universal word that could be used in any situation. I thought he was a little crazy and pretty cute too :)

We went sea kayaking one day and had a fun time looking at the sea life and trying to figure out how to maneuver our kayaks- those things weren't easy to steer! Steve also had a seal pop up out of the water like 5 feet from where he was paddling- this seal followed our group around for a while and was pretty cute when he poked his little head out of the water

These last few pictures were after our special anniversary dinner. We ate at the restaurant at our hotel and had delicious meals- like to die for food! We enjoyed the view from our table outside overlooking the mountains and ocean. This vacation was so great for us. I'm so happy we were able to get away just the two of us and make fun happy memories in a new place. I love you Steve!!! 

It's a ...................

 BOY!!!!

 

Yep. We are having a baby boy!!!! I have almost NO experience with boys big or little because I have four sisters but- can't wait to learn. I'm excited our other kids will have a big brother and every one says that boys are harder in the early years but way easier in the teenage years. I think I can handle that :) Steve is thrilled because he's been calling our baby a 'he' or 'him' or 'his' since day 1. This combined with the fact that he won a bet with me about 'triumphal' being a real word, has made him think that he's right "all of the time". PSHHHHHH He wishes!

 

The ultrasound revealed a healthy baby boy whom they estimate to be in the 95th percentile for weight! Yikes! I also have placenta previa which is a relatively common condition that means I will have to have a c-section unless the placenta moves out of the way. So far we haven't had any luck with it moving. I really wanted to have a natural birth but I'm not sure if that's in the cards for me this time. They said they will check again at 28 weeks to see if it's moved. If it hasn't odds are it won't. We are hoping it will move but I've been thinking of the positives of this condition- here's my list...

1. I get more ultrasounds than your average pregnant woman

2. I will get paid longer if I have to have a c-section

3. I get to pick the birthdate of my son

4. (I'm still working on four but I'm sure it exsists)

 

I'm still feeling great- I find the worst symptom I'm experiencing are the crazy ups and downs of hormone shifts! I keep getting caught off guard and not realizing what/how I'm feeling until I've been cranky for a day or two. If I make sure I'm exercising and staying active I do a lot better than when I don't, so I'm trying really hard to stay on top of that bit. I still crave protien way more than sweets... I would take a rotisserie chicken over ice cream {almost} any day. I looked in my lunch box today and realized that I had brought a peanut butter and honey sandwich, apple and peanut butter, nut protien bar and cashew-almond clusters, carrots and a cheese stick..(Don't worry I didn't eat all of it but I bring tons of food just in case my blood sugar drops to a crazy level!) I just laughed at the amount of peanut butter/nuts that were in my lunch. Ha.

 

 Here are some 'belly' pictures, though I still feel like I'm in the inbetween stage where people look at me and wonder "hmmm did she just gain a few pounds or....?"

Although the other day, we ran into an acquaintance of Steve's at a work party, and he said "Hi" and immediately said something like "So is this your first or do you have others at home?" Steve and I were both taken a little aback by that because people aren't typically so blunt about asking those types of question to near complete strangers, but hopefully that means I'm actually starting to look preggers.

This is at 21 weeks

19 weeks

 

 

The money shot.... There's really no question in our minds if the sonographer was right. The picture speaks for itself eh?

Santa Fe Reunion

We drove straight from Lake Powell to Santa Fe, NM to hang out my family. We stopped at the four corners monument which we found out is actually not and the four corners of the states and is a highly commercialized setup! It might have been a little anticlimactic, and we may have paid about $2 per picture we took BUT we have been in four places at once. How many people can say that- besides the 28000000 other people who have taken their picture in the exact same spot?

The landscape from southern Utah to Santa Fe is really really drab, however the sunset was pretty incredible!

We did a little bit of touring around Santa Fe before my family arrived. We took a really long bike ride from our hotel to the downtown area where we saw this old church and walked around some really cool art galleries. 

My family decided that we would all meet in the middle for our reunion this year so we rented this really nice cabin up in the mountains to spend the fourth of July weekend. We got to see a lot of our favorite little man Andrew and our favorite little lady, Genevieve. It was fun to play games and eat good food and enjoy good company. 

The cabin was right by this nice little stretch of private river, therefore, Steve went fishing every day! He loved being able to have a river ten minutes away from him!

Steve was excited to see Baby G again- look at how precious she is

Look at this awesome cabin we stayed in!

June 2012

This summer FLEW by! I loved the break from work and the chance to rest because I was soooooo tired all of the time; Like a tired that I've never experienced in my life- Ever. I got a new bike which was very I was very excited about. We went on an 'easy' trail with 'gentle' uphill grades (well so said the review online). Really it was an incredibly steep hill and a rocky looking trail! It was kind of a bust of bike ride for me because I'm terrified of mountain biking. We had a good view of the valley though :)

A huge fire broke out in Fort Collins about 45 minutes away from us. This is the cloud of smoke that we saw for weeks. Surprisingly enough, the smoke didn't effect us much because it mostly blew north and east. 

I wanted to take some of the extra time I had this summer and try new culinary experiences... this is a picture of one of the experiments- Ratatouille. It really looks beautiful eh? However, the recipe I used was seriously lacking in flavor and a major disappointment! I need the recipe that was used in the movie I guess :)

Culinary Adventure #2: Coconut Souffle, topped with a dark chocolate coconut sauce. This was the opposite of disappointment, pure culinary delight!

At the end of June we headed off for Lake Powell. All of Steve's family minus Mike, Erin and family were there and so were the family friends the Mays and Steve's canadian relatives joined us on the boat! Three of us were preggers and there were more small children than there ever have been when we've gone to Lake Powell so it was a bit of a different trip but we all still had a great time. It was weird not to be able to get out behind the boat at all but I got a sweet tan and read a lot! Worst part of the trip: Steve biffing it doing a wakeboard trick having temporary memory loss and giving himself a concussion... Best part of the trip: Steve's little sis, Annie, got engaged officially to Joey. It was fun to get to see them right after he proposed! And you read that right everyone, my kids get to have an 'Uncle Joey' just like the Tanners did on Full House!

The happily engaged couple!