halfway.

no, these pictures have absolutely nothing to do with this post. 

they're merely extras i found from our new hampshire/vermont trip a few weeks ago.

we are halfway through this week. yes! i've said it before but i still think the same thing all the time - it's so weird how the moments or even a day can feel like it passes by sooo slowly. but really, after a week is over or another month passes, it seems like it flew by and i can hardly believe it. (like june, for example.....that's 1/3 of our summer basically already gone! what??!)

we are headed to sunny (and HOT - 112 degrees anyone? hello pool and air conditioned hotel room!) st. george this weekend. we'll be spending a day in vegas too. we thought about just staying in vegas the whole time, but the thought of all that heat and me waddling around the strip with swollen legs and feet and the smoke and awesome people just didn't sound incredibly appealing at this moment in my life.

so just a day in vegas and time to see a show and eat at a buffet sounds just about right.

happy hump day, friends.

i hope your wednesday is nice to you.

heartache.

sometimes i come across stories about pregnancy or birth or babies. anything on that subject, and i usually either really want to read it or really don't want to read it. it's a touchy subject for me right now. 

today i read this blog post, not knowing what i was about to read. and as much as i didn't want to keep reading it because i could feel the tears welling up, i couldn't not read it. it was so heartfelt and sweet mixed with the sad and unthinkable.

my heart is breaking for them today.

literally, my heart is hurting.

hits close to home, although i can't even put myself in their shoes.

i can't even imagine.

praying for them.

happenings.

Jae took me on a coldstone date like the good husband that he is 

 and we got my favorite to share - cake batter ice cream with brownies and fudge. mmmmmmmmmm.

our yard is finally looking decent (mostly thanks to Jae). 

not good. but decent.

(we still need all new grass...)

our pack 'n play came in the mail and i set it up all by myself!

(yes, it literally took me & my pregnant brain over an hour to do it. whatevs.)

 i started making this wreath about 6 months ago.

i finally finished it and hung it on our door. don't look too closely - i'm no crafter!

but hey, i'm just impressed it's finally done and up.

 snagged these two sweet vases at a garage sale for $4 total. nice.

one of three books i'm currently reading.

interesting reading, for sure!

we finally got these pictures we brought back from China hung up. one had shattered glass from the trip home, so we got the glass replaced and got them hung. it's not quite finished - we plan to get a shelf to put in the middle there and will add a couple more things. but at least they're finally up!

(our office is asian-themed. that new red/black vase i just got? going in here too!)

so many projects, so little time.

by the way, have i mentioned that two of our couple friends from our neighborhood are also expecting their first babies this year? (us in october, one in november, one in december. how fun!)
we went on a tri-couple date this past weekend....got some good pizza, our first shaved ice of the season, and made a fire to roast s'mores to end the night.
did i remember to bring my camera??
yes!
did i take even one single picture the whole night??
nope. sure didn't.
fail.

scenes from our fathers day weekend.

we started our father's day weekend by celebrating Jae's moms birthday at Joy Luck.

we ended it with a tired pup who collapsed on the bed with her bum cupped perfectly in my bra.

it was pretty hilarious.

Karen and most of her boys. good lookin bunch.

Grandpa got to sit at the kids table & loved every minute, i'm sure :)

Jae made fire. in his church socks.

Milo the watermelon fiend.

how adorable is he with his crossed legs and watermelon?

caught Zo in the act of the beginnings of a yawn.

papa got 23 tickets to a Bee's game. i wonder who he's going to take....?

quick snap of the bump - 23+ weeks

Zack less than thrilled about his mess of a s'more.

perfectly roasted mallow.

reeses s'more

my mom whipped our her rarely seen tetherball skills. i think the grandkids were impressed.

baby girl's gift to her daddy. i guess she couldn't find another bag quick enough so she wrapped it in a VS bag! (present below...)

i am so grateful for the wonderful men in my life. 
i love you all so much!

my dad. i am such a daddy's girl. always have been. he's always been such a good example to me of a humble, grateful, giving, loving, caring, hard working husband and father who's always willing to go the extra mile when any of us need anything. don't know what i'd do without him.

my brothers-in-law. they all became part of our family when i was still pretty young, so they've always been like real brothers to me. they've helped raise me and teased me and treated me just like older brothers would. they're amazing husbands and fathers in their own families and i'm so grateful for the great bunch of guys we got lucky to have in our family.

my father-in-law. although he lives across the country and we don't see or talk to him as often as we should, i appreciate the good qualities he's passed on to his boys and example he's given to them of what it means to be a good dad.

and my Jae. he's a father to our sweet pup, and she loves him so much. obviously a dog and a baby are two totally different things, but i get a little glimpse what it'll be like when our baby girl comes and the amazing dad and friend he's going to be for her. as it gets closer and closer, i seriously can hardly wait. it's something i'm looking forward to more than anything about our baby girl's arrival. 

construction zone.

Jae and i had the pleasure of waking up to the loud sounds of this a couple mornings ago:

{yes, i took this through the window so you get the nice screen effect.}

they're building a new house right next door to us, which is all great and dandy and hasn't really been too much of a problem for us, i suppose, except when they brought this concrete truck in with all it's loudness and back-up beeps you can hear a mile away and started working at 5:15 AM.

are you even kidding me right now??!

yes, i called the city, confirmed the city's sound ordinance is 6AM, and then kindly told them how early they were there working that morning. they said they'd send someone to have a chat with the contractor.

since then, i haven't seen (or heard) them there working until after i leave for work, which is 6:30-6:45ish.

darn right.

they're also working on developing the 10+ empty acres behind our house, so it's only the very beginning of a summer of construction surrounding us. not sure how i feel about that.

in other news, it's the weekend!!!!!!!

and father's day weekend, at that!

great time for bbq'ing, swimming, working & playing outside, spending time with family.

and taking naps?

yes, and taking naps.

i cannot wait.

 {Jae like to practice holding a baby by holding Zo like this. basically she hates every second of it.}

happy weekend to you all 

and 

happy father's day to all the awesome dads out there :)

thoughts on pregnancy {pt. tres}.

 {hello awkward pictures. thank goodness (for your sake's) 

i'm not trying to be some sort of fashion blogger, eh?}

*this nasal inflammation 24/7 is getting old. i'm not sick (which i'm not complaining about!) and i don't have allergies (which i'm also most definitely not complaining about!) but my nose is just stuffy and annoying all.the.time.

*i had a cute older lady ask me in church this last week if i was about 6 or 7 months along. i told her, nope, i'm just 5.5 and big. no worries! just big. i tried not to let it get to me too much, cuz really, she's a really cute old lady and i like her.

*i'm pretty much full-time in some sort of maternity wear or at least leggings of some kind 7 days a week, at this point. i wore a regular pair of pants last week, and not only did i have the elastic holding the button part together, but i couldn't even pull my zipper up one tiny centimeter. yes, it was a good day to be wearing an extra long shirt!

*i have hypothyroidism, which means i tend to be cold and sleepy a lot of the time regularly. it's pretty normal for women who get pregnant to have to up their dose to keep up with everything going on during pregnancy. i was doing ok during my first trimester, but at my last appointment, we checked my levels again, and had to up my dose from 125 mcgs to 150 mcgs. i've been feeling a bit better for the last couple of weeks, but i'm starting to get extra tired again. it's hard to differentiate between just normal pregnancy tired and low thyroid tired. we'll check it again in a few weeks so we'll see if i'm low again.

*i do feel like i definitely don't sleep so well anymore. (and yes - i know - only to get worse and more uncomfortable the bigger i get). i am normally a total belly sleeper, so since that option is now out, i just switch back and forth from side to side all night long. and my hips are hurting! it's not terrible yet, but i wake up most every time i need to switch to the other side. which makes for getting good sleep not the easiest.

*the nursery is coming along! Jae (with the help of his brother, Jordan) finished up the beadboard and baseboards. now we just have to put the finishing pieces along the top of it and paint it. we still have the dang spare bed in there, so we need to get that out asap, and then we'll have a lot more room to get stuff where they need to be. we got a super cute blanket at home goods the other night that will go perfectly in there, i think, and i'm super excited about it!

*we also may or may not have bought a super cute winter full-body cozy little outfit that's all white and has a hood with little ears on it! and the inside of the hood is light green striped! well! what did you expect us to do??? not buy it?!

*basically everything and anything makes me cry. a little pup running on the side of the road all by himself, clearly not close to home. songs on the radio. any random stories about babies, good or bad. just thinking about the whole birthing experience. Jae not calling me after so many hours (when i know he's busy working....). seeing the sweet babies in the ICU at work. thinking about coming back to work after baby girl is here. seeing firsthand how weird it is that our belly buttons change when pregnant (ok so this doesn't so much make me cry, but it definitely gives me anxiety and weirds me out. don't tell me i'm the only one!).

*this past weekend was a HOT one (ok, june, let's act a little less like august ok?) and the non-air conditioned house of ours got up to about 77. it was still bearable, with the fans going almost constantly, and the window open at night. but i think that air conditioning unit is starting to call our names.

*i think we've pretty much narrowed our list of names down to 2 or 3 top picks. still not sure about middle names, though. we'll see how we feel in another couple of months.

*it is pretty uncomfortable to do any bending over anymore. like i had a whole to-do list for (mostly) myself this past weekend, and one of the top things was to clean the dang tub. it just gets so dirty so easily! but then i thought about how i basically have to be bent over most the time and scrubbing.....well let's just say the tub didn't get cleaned and i'm thinking of any way i can possibly bribe Jae so that he'll do it.

*popsicles have become a new best friend (i've always like them, but i really like them lately). i have a feeling i'll be eating my weight in pace's popsicles by the end of the summer.

*i almost forgot - Jae felt baby girl move for the first time!!! we were just sitting on the couch and i felt her kicking a bit, but before i said anything to him, i just sat and watched my belly to see if it was enough movement that i thought he'd be able to feel it. i could see the movements just barely, so i figured he'd have to be able to feel that! so i put his hand on my stomach and he felt her kicking around probably 4 or 5 times. awesome! that, my friends, is what it's all about. (speaking of - i'm feeling her moving more and more. it's probably a combo of her getting bigger and me just better recognizing now what is her and what isn't, but i feel her pretty much every day at some point or another, and i LOVE it.)

*overall, i feel pretty good! just tired and somewhat uncomfortable 75% of the time and getting over-heated more and more. but good! just feeling happy and blessed that baby girl is doing good and growing!

not today, please.

i would rather be home, waking up to this mess (and this cute face) and having to clean that up again then be awake and at work.

 

sooo not ready for it to be monday already again. i'm just not ready!

richh.

we're eating this at work today:

what are you eating?

moo cows.

have i mentioned how much i love living in west bountiful and visiting our cow friends down the street when we go on walks?

because i really do love it.

and there are so many baby calves right now too!

{although yesterday, the big male cows kept trying to mount the lady cows....little risque for puppy eyes to see, ok cows? can we keep it clean?}

new england trip {may 2013}.

while our trip wasn't necessarily for happy, fun reasons (Jae's grandmother passed away, so we went for her funeral), we did have a good few days spent with family in the beautiful new hampshire and vermont.

the first two days, we stayed at Jae's dads house in new hampshire. Jae's sister and brother were also there, and we drove up to vermont together.

{sidenote: even after all these pictures below, Jae and i both left regretting we hadn't taken more pictures or gotten pictures of some of the things we missed. one thing in particular - Jae's grandpa is selling the amazing cabin on the lake. this may very well have been the last trip we all make to that place, and we didn't even get a picture of it or us with it or anything. or a group picture of everyone together. do you ever do that? of course, i got a picture of the food we ate, but i missed some of the important things. got to be better about that.}

i was walking in Jae's dads house, passing windows on my way downstairs, and saw a large turkey roaming around....weird.



DELICIOUS steak tip dinner complete with corn on the cob (which i admittidely ate most of) and salad.

and homemade strawberry rhubarb pie!

out front Jae's dads house. finally it stopped raining and wasn't so cold. 

in vermont, we stayed in a camper trailer type thing that his family rented for the week. we were only about 10 minutes away from his grandpa's cute little house that sits right on the beach of lake champlain. to say that place is beautiful is an understatement.

i've never met most of Jae's extended family (well actually, i've never met any of them..) so it was really awesome after 3 years of marriage to finally meet his grandpa, aunts, uncle, and cousin. they are all such sweet people.

i am so so happy things worked out with work so that we were able to fly back and be there for these few days. it was a true tender mercy.

backyard of Jae's grandpa's house, lake champlain, vermont

petting zoo right in town

that goat was about 3 weeks old and totally adorable

one of the neighbors on the way to the house at the lake - the guy is a bit obsessed with making birdhouses. he's covered all the surrounding trees in the swamp area next to his cabin with them. they're all brightly colored and it's kind of crazy but kind of really awesome, too.

after the funeral, we visited the grave site. she couldn't actually be buried that day because the ground was too wet, so they had to wait until it dried up a bit. i wasn't able to get a picture of the boys carrying her casket because the funeral home people wanted to get it out quickly and back to the funeral home, so we hardly knew they were even doing it until it was already done and gone. it had been really rainy the days leading up, but warmed up and was beautifully sunny the day of her service. how perfect.



Jae's mom, Karen (far right) with her siblings, Kristi, David, and Kay

one of the families favorite pasttimes at their grandparents house - ping pong. they played for a good couple of hours the last ngiht we were there.

baby Jack had a real liking to his great aunt Kay. she held him and he fell asleep real quick.

the service for his grandma was held at the local congregational church. besides all of us family, there were quite a few close friends of sweet miss Bernie that came to show their support and pay their respects. i never got to know her myself, but i can tell by all the stories and the family and friends she had that she was a great mom, grandma, and friend who kicked everyone's behinds in tennis. a few other things i've learned about grandma Bernie in the last few months - she was kind, happy, healthy, a lover of tennis, gardening, cooking, and being with her grandkids. she wasn't one to waste her life away - always having something to do to keep busy and keep her body strong. she ended up finding out she had end-stage liver cancer, and passed away just a few short days later. honestly, i think that's the best way things could have gone for her. like i said, i never got to meet her, but i feel like she would've hated being sick and having others have to care for her for a long period of time. i'm grateful for grandma Bernie and the life she led and example she was for her kids and grandkids. without her, i wouldn't have my Jae.

we love you, grandma Bernie.

you are and will always be missed.

xoxo.