3 Years = 3 Busaths

We celebrated our 3rd anniversary on Saturday, June 18th. We were on our way to Yellowstone (that's where we spent our honeymoon) and decided to stop at the Rexburg Temple to see if there were any brides out sharing our wedding day. (There weren't)
3 years ago:
We stopped and took some pictures.

And as you have guessed by now, we are having a baby! Here I am trying in vain to show a little pregnant belly. (I'm not really noticeably pregnant yet)

So we drove up to Yellowstone, and although it was chilly, we had a good time. Dogs are only allowed on the trails/boardwalks around Old Faithful - although people will be sure to give you dirty looks and mutter things like "There are signs all over the park that say No Dogs" (even though you're not the only one with a dog) - so that's where we went.

Now: (me looking oh-so-attractive)Then:

We got back to West Yellowstone with time to see a show at the Playmill where Christian is working this summer. We saw Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. (I had never seen it) The show was really fun, and the perfect ending to a perfect anniversary.

SOOOOO
The baby!!
We have known about this baby since the end of March, and it has been hard to keep it a secret what with the other pregnancies in the family. We told our families on Mother's Day and made it public at Girls Camp last week. We are excited to find out if we're having a boy or a girl - I have an appointment for July 26th! To answer everyone's favorite question (How have you been feeling?) I have been fine - I didn't have any morning sickness. I was a very picky eater, though, and was tired all the time. Those two short bouts with sickness you may have heard about were unrelated - one was food, and the other was an overactive gag reflex.

I have recently regained my energy and am happy to be keeping up with dishes and laundry and errands again. I've read that by now, the baby can hear what's going on, and you can get them used to sounds before they're even born. We're thinking about making the dog bark at me for a few minutes every night so the baby learns to sleep through it. Maybe I should bust out those bagpipes too. :o)

The baby is due December 7th and we are excited - but we'll be more excited when we know the sex, when I actually start looking pregnant and when we can feel the baby start to move. (Any day now!)

Megan's Summer Reading List:

1. Mansfield Park by Jane Austen - pretty much what you would expect from Jane Austen. Girl likes boy. Boy likes some other girl. In the end girl ends up with boy.... I guess I could be one of her characters because that pretty much describes my relationship with Chad.
   
2. Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky - not what I was expecting at all. Guy murders two women and then spends the next 600 pages feeling guilty and going crazy until he turns himself in.
   
3. Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe - Just barely started this book - the jury's still out.
   

It's Late But...

Tonight we mourn the loss of a beloved family pet. Tank passed away sometime today or last night. As I was cleaning up the house today, I noticed he was sitting in one corner of the tank and not really moving anywhere, but I thought nothing of it. Then I sat down tonight to play the piano and Chad pointed out that it looked like he was watching me play. He was in the exact same position I noticed him in earlier today. I reached in and touched him and he didn't move. I turned him upside down and his neck twitched a little so we thought he might be hanging by a thread. About half an hour later we were still trying to decide if he was dead or not, so I was slowly stretching out his head, and it pulled back into the shell. I definitely felt it pull out of my fingers. So again, we thought he might be barely alive. We called a 24 hour pet clinic, and took him over around 9:00pm. As we filled out the paperwork, they took him in the back and determined that he was, in fact, dead. The assistant said something about the corneal reflexes being the last thing to go and he didn't have any. Which I'm pretty sure is code for "I poked him in the eye, and he still didn't move." So, we took our little turtle home, set him up in a little cardboard box, buried him in the garden and sang Taps. We would have had him for 1 year as of July 24th. We have quite the pet graveyard going on, what with the baby bird, my little Pig-Pig and now Tank. Fish was flushed. But in 3 years, we have lost 4 little animals. Hopefully humans are a little more hearty....

We will miss you Tank!
When we first brought him home (about the size of a quarter):
Post-mortem:

(Other updates to follow tomorrow)

What's That...?

Random Pictures

Please note: This is the 4th post for today - make sure you catch them all!

Here are some random pictures from the last little while. (From my cell phone - sorry for bad quality)

These tulips finally bloomed and they were HUGE. They are all pretty much all wilted now, but our lilac bushes are finally showing signs of life.


I love these pink/white ones with the yellow center. If I had done my wedding in tulips, it would've been these.


I ran into one of the young women from my ward at Porter's on Saturday. She was telling me earlier about how she got her nails painted at this place in the mall. It sounded like fun (and I was ready for an excuse to spoil myself), so I convinced her to go with me and get manicures. My nail polish was called Princesses Rule. Obviously. It is probably most commonly sported by 5 year old girls, but I thought it was pretty. So - for my... 4th manicure ever. (senior prom, wedding, birthday with Mollie)


On Memorial Day we were bored and anxious to get out of the house, so we took Lady down to the river for a change of scenery. The river has flooded its banks because of all the rain and snow we've gotten, and is only supposed to rise even more before it starts to recede.

But that means the ducks and geese are enjoying the new giant puddle they have to float in.
Look at all of these goslings!!!



We were going to the Farmer's Market last Saturday when this drove by:



... Not something you see every day. Or maybe in Idaho, it is. When we stopped at a stoplight, we could hear them bleating. It made us giggle.

Lady took us for a ride the other day. It was nice to not have to drive.



And some gratuitous pictures of Lady sleeping/being cute.

Some Easter Pictures

The spread: glazed ham, green bean casserole, au gratin potatoes, rolls, jell-o and deviled eggs. I was particularly pleased with my deviled eggs because I had never made them before, and they tasted just like the way mom makes them.




There was only one casualty that weekend. I kept smelling something but couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Chad had moved the timer to a burner that hadn't quite cooled yet. Still functional though! And Chad's dad was able to get all of the melted plastic off the stove top - so no harm done!


Things I didn't get pictures of: playing disc golf at the park, dying Easter eggs, playing games after dinner.

Chad's Birthday in Pictures

I finally have some time and the required equipment to post pictures of the things that have passed us by.

Here are pictures of Chad's birthday:






(I made the third layer into cupcakes for Chad to share with a guy at work who loves German Chocolate cake)

Schoooool's Out... For... Ever?

A week ago today was the last day of school. It looks like I won't be going back to school in the fall for the first time in... 18 years. I'm kind of looking forward to it. And if we ever have a chance to travel, we can do it whenever we want - not during school vacations. I'm thinking a trip to Connecticut for the Big E is in my future - I have a standing date with a 3 foot long chocolate eclair.

In other news - that means it is FINALLY SUMMER!!!!! I have been dreaming about this moment for months now. Thankfully we have had some nice weather recently (though not today) and Lady and I have spent the days in and out of the house, laying in the yard (even getting a tiny bit sunburned!) and propping open all of the windows that aren't painted shut. I have already read my first book of the summer (Mansfield Park) and am looking for others. So far I mostly stick with Jane Austen and other Classics because sometimes "New York Times Bestsellers" are nothing I would ever buy. Any suggestions? (I'm not really into science fiction or fantasy.) I am armed and dangerous with a public library card.

I spent the last 3 days cleaning, doing dishes, washing laundry and putting it away. It feels good to finally have some housework under control for the first time in months. (Everything except the bathroom (and the yard) which are Chad's job)

Also - shortly after Chad's birthday, these items arrived in the mail. I guess senior discounts are closer than we think...