Recent(ish) Happenings

Well, after we got back from our trip we had a chaotic couple of days packing, cleaning, and loading our uhaul. We had finished most of the packing before our trip, but we still had some of the kitchen left and some odds and ends.

Ben and Sydney had us over for a really good dinner on Wednesday night (May 28) and we played a final round of sequence before we left to finish our packing and cleaning. They beat us. We made a last visit to campus to forward our mail and to stop by our work places to say goodbye.

Spencer and the advisors in the office he worked in.

On Thursday Ben and Sydney came over to help us load up our Uhaul Pod. They are angels! Friday morning we checked out with our landlady and hit the road! Goodbye Provo! It was a little bit sad to be leaving, but we both knew that our time there was done. It's time for bigger and better things, and but we'll always have special memories of our time together in Provo.

All the space we had for our stuff. :) Besides our car. 

Yay, boys! 

They were so awesome, and packed way more into that thing than I thought was possible. 

That weekend we drove through Minneapolis. We spent an afternoon swimming at the Y with AnnaMarie and her kids. Katie was thrilled to bring Spencer over to the big pool and race him. Jane and I had fun playing in the kiddie area together. And AnnaMarie managed the boys. :) We visited with Michael and Caroline and all of those kids, too. Then we made our way down to Josh and Katy's house. It's fun that we have so much family in the twin cities now! Sunday was Collin's baby blessing, so we stayed for that. It was so fun to meet him and get some sweet baby snuggles.

Hannah loves Spencer. 

We finally drove the rest of the way to Michigan and had a few days to relax there. Since then, we've managed to keep busy not doing much. We spent a week and a half in Minneapolis. Spencer went on a trip to the boundary waters with Michael and Caroline and some others. I would have gone if I wasn't nearly 7 months pregnant. I stayed with AnnaMarie for part of the week and then with Katy for part of the week. It was fun. Then Spencer and I stayed at Michael and Caroline's for a few days to babysit their kids so Caroline could go to Europe with her family!! We had fun. Sophie was heartbroken when Caroline left (after just being gone camping for a week), "It's just not fair! I NEVER get to go to Europe!!" We had a fun week, and Michael was home in the evenings, so it wasn't too bad having all 4 of the kids. Plus, Ryan is a great helper and Hannah is such an easy baby.

Dad had fun showing Spencer all the cool camping gear he could bring to the boundary waters. 

We had lunch with Dad and AnnaMarie and Tyler one day. 

Jane and I had a lot of fun together. 

AnnaMarie and I went to the Children's museum in Minneapolis one day. 

Carrina chasing bubbles at the park. 

Collin lounging at the park. 

I love this chunky boy. :) And that's the blanket I made him!

We took the Moore kids to a nature conservatory one day. Hannah loved this snake. 

Sophie and a vertebrae.

One of my favorite pictures ever! 

Sometime in there Caroline took some Maternity pictures for me, too! :)

What else have we been up to? We have been to Mount Pleasant (where CMU is located) a few times. We found an apartment (yay!) and will move in on August 1st! I am really excited about it. I've had a couple of doctors' appointments up there, too. I really like the clinic there much better than the one I was at in Utah, so that's good. Spencer did all the things he needed to do for loans and enrolling at CMU. We bought him a new computer and we bought me a new (refurbished) Dyson vacuum. We've also been tracking down other furniture things we'll need in our new apartment. Lots of preparation stuff for the baby to come and for the final part of our move.

We've been fishing a few times and have gone to the beach once or twice. There has been quite a bit of rain this summer and the water temperatures have been pretty chilly, so there have been a lot of at-home days, too. One Saturday my friend Alan (from high school) and his girlfriend came up to Grand Haven and we hung out together! That was so fun to see them. We went to the fireworks in downtown Grand Haven for the 4th of July. And then we spent a couple of days tearing out the kitchen here! It's being remodeled. I did my best to be as helpful as I could, but Spencer was the real helper. :) Brigham is in swim and water polo, so we've been to a few of his meets and matches.

One day we found dozens of these tiny toads in the driveway! 

At the beach during beach survival. 

We watched Brigham's team play soccer. 

Fishing on Potawatomi Lake. We didn't catch anything. 

But we tried really hard.  

We each caught a tiny fish one night by a river. We let them go. 

Downtown for the 4th of July Fireworks. 

It was bright. 

Tearing out the floor. 

We spent a lot of time pulling out those staples. Our hands all hurt by the end of the day. 

I have been working on my application to CMU's physical therapy program! I take the GRE in 2 days, so I've also been studying for that. So, yeah. We've been doing lots of things, but not much at the same time.

The pregnancy is going well still. I have been super uncomfortable the last couple of weeks, and I'm afraid that it's only going to get worse. My tailbone and back get really sore if I sit or stand for too long (church is torture). And on top of that, if I'm sitting down not reclined, I get all squished because my belly is too big. Luckily, there are some good things about the third trimester. I can feel her move several times a day, and I can tell that she is getting stronger. If I balance something on my belly (it's make a convenient shelf when I'm sitting on the couch), I can see it wobble back and forth as she kicks. The doctor says she's head down, and sometimes I can feel little body parts squashed against my stomach. I like to try to guess what they are. I think it's usually her shoulder or her bum. My very favorite thing is when Spencer can feel her move. It always makes me smile. I'm feeling almost ready for this pregnancy to be over so I can meet her and hold her and kiss her, but not quite. I am hoping that she won't come early, because we're moving into our apartment just one month before her due date and I need some time to unpack and set up the nursery and get organized! The whole "nesting" process has been pretty impossible so far and this momma is getting anxious.

Yesterday at the beach. 32 weeks and 4 days.

That sums up the last couple of months. :)

Note: I still have 3 or 4 posts to add about France, but they'll show up under this one. I have been backdating them to May, when we were there. So look out for those if you want to read about the rest of our trip.