Third and final!

I am so excited to be nearly in the third trimester! I'm not sure exactly why. Maybe it's because that means pregnancy will be over soon! Maybe it's because I will *soon* get back to my old body...or close to it. But more than likely it's because I want to see and hold my baby girl!
I feel her kick and squirm and more recently, hiccup! I want to watch her do all those things! I want to dress her up, give her baths, kiss her little fingers and toes, and feel her in my arms! I am so in love with her already and can't wait!

Is it weird to be excited about the delivery part? Don't get me wrong, I'm not excited for the pain and hours of misery I assume will come but I'm so excited for the excitement of it all! I'm already excited for the end of the summer and returning to Utah because it all means the day is inching closer. What day we can't be sure of but everyday is one day closer!

Here are a few pics for those people who enjoy watching me get fat:

Horay for the last and shortest trimester!!

My Marine Man

My husband is in LOVE with the ocean!! He seriously could and does spend hours and hours just swimming and floating on the water looking for anything and everything he can find in the deep blue. Felisha asked him yesterday what he loved more, going to the beach or going camping? For anyone who knows Jared in the slightest knows he would chose to be a mountain man 24/7 if he could but he actually had to stop and think about it. Camping won but not by much. I have to say, I like the beach but am kind of glad we don't live anywhere near one normally or my hubby would be MIA!

Here he is playing football in the water while holding his diving gear (he can only stop adventuring for so long).

We have been to the beach at least 5 or 6 times since moving to Florida and I'm pretty sure Jared has discovered something new to show me or tell me about every time he returns from his voyage in the waters! He has also convinced me to snorkel which I have never done (I'm slightly hydrophobic I think). I loved it! He has shown me how amazing the water can be and I am so happy I am married to a man that can teach and show me new things!
Here are just a few of the things J has caught while venturing in the ocean:
A lovely crab @ Boca Raton.A little fish that looked like it was dying and Jared tried to save it.A sand dollar that is almost completely whole!Yeah, a freakin' jelly fish!! Yikes!A lobster @ Key West that put up quite a fight. I actually participated with this one!

Jared or both of us have also seen pike fish, tuna, little colorful tropical fish, sea urchins, clam shells, Jared has collected so many pretty sea shells, and has seen a few sting rays that he has actually thought about catching, crazy guy! I actually think if he saw a shark he would swim TOWARDS it!

And this is typical Jared after a day of swimming and adventuring at an office BBQ hoovering down a 5 patty *with cheese burger! Sick!!

Crafty? Me?

If you know me you know I am not a very artsy/crafty kind of person. However, I am going to have a daughter and unless I want her to look like a total rag-a-muffin, homeless child, orphan, etc, etc (which I'm sure she still will sometimes) I decided I needed to learn the crafty mother way. So Mrs. Rindi taught myself, along with several other lovely wives here in FL, how to make "toppings" for our little girls head's, or ourselves in some cases. Here are my two products thus far. I am very proud and so was my teacher!Jared sporting said crafts with an uber creepy look on his face (typical)! And here are a couple pics for those people who would like to keep up on my fatness:
Just over 6 months now! Some days it feels like I have been pregnant FOREVER! And other days I can't believe I only have 3 (actually closer to 4 if ya wanna get technical) months until I get to hold and look at my baby girl!!

Adventures in cooking

I love to bake, cook, eat. Basically if it involves food I enjoy it! I actually missed cooking, not only for myself but for others, while I was sick. Lo and behold I arrive in sunny Florida feeling much better than the previous 4 months so I have been on a cooking spree! I began this baking binge with my sister, Meghan's, whole wheat bread recipe. The picture pretty much says it all but let's just say it was an oven I'd never used and I got distracted during "rise time!" I just laughed but kind of wanted to cry when I opened the oven door and saw this!

They were edible just not very pretty.

My second attempt I knew how to use the oven, I am now aware of Florida and it's lack of altitude and I had this cute little helper! It made a world of difference!

I love Meg's recipe (thanks again!) and so does Jared! The loaves turned out pretty and very soft!
After the first week here I realized how quickly bananas go bad and decided to whip up some banana bread. Well my 3 bad bananas turned into 11 somehow and I made 3 loaves with different toppings (plain, chocolate chip (which turned into chocolate smear), and brown sugar pecan. They were all made with whole wheat flour which made me feel a little less guilty as I shoveled in my 3rd piece of nutty deliciousness!

Then there was the craving that had to be satisfied! I crave pretzels! Not just any pretzels. I'm talking mall pretzels that are salty, buttery, and scrumptious. And they HAVE to have the HOT cheese for dipping otherwise the whole thing is ca put! Well for some odd reason, that is completely unknown to me, Florida doesn't have a Pretzel Time or anything remotely close within a 50 mile radius! So the ladies (fellow Floridian wives) and I decided a baking session would be our best bet! We found a promising recipe that included ingredients we already mostly had and began this new cooking adventure.

Pretzel dough is quite tough to knead and dries out quickly, just FYI.

Again we had cute little helpers that wanted to help make the "snakes!"

Pretzel dough also shrinks back pretty quickly so ya gotta get the "snakes" pretty long. Brynn, Tommy, and a little someone named Michelle liked to steal pieces of dough!

My craving was satisfied! But now I just want to make them again!

These babies were enjoyed by all, as you can see.

To recap: I heart food and everything involved with it. I just wish I had all the ingredients and all the know how already to make anything and everything I desired!

Half way

It feels good and surreal to be half way through pregnancy. On one hand I still have to remind myself regularly that I am pregnant. On the other hand being so sick at the beginning made it drag on and on for what seemed like forever! So here I am just over 20 weeks and I already want to hold our baby girl but I am savoring this time Jared and I have while it's still just us.
Pictures make blogging better so here's to half way!

The news

We have had a lot going on! Between packing, cleaning, and last minute shopping trips, driving 48 hours straight and shopping several times in our new town for the summer there hasn't been much time for anything except...RELAXING!! We have been super busy but when we can stop we do. We've been exploring our new summer home town, going to the beach, and swimming at our very convenient apartment pool! I am LOVING Florida so far and hope that love sticks through the mucky weather time.

Brynn after napping somewhere along the drive. Doesn't she look happy??

We arrived in Florida to our new place on Monday which was my birthday, best gift was being DONE driving! We were all really wiped out but got moved in and settled pretty quickly. I love our apartment complex and the area. Our apartment is really nice but it doesn't quite feel like home yet, that shouldn't take long.

Feeding our neighborhood ducks, they are a little freaky and come right up close and hiss!At Fort Lauderdale Beach! Lots of fun but man we are white!

Now the exciting news that concludes my last post. We went to my 20 week ultrasound (I was still only 18 weeks). Everything was normal except our little one is not so little, measuring a little on the big side, yikes! Anyway they had a little trouble determining the gender because our baby was being private and the cord was between the legs. However after much deliberation they concluded our baby is 95% likely a GIRL!!!! Honestly I was a little surprised and Jared was a little bummed (that punk) but it all started sinking in and we started getting really excited soon after! Jared got me beautiful pink flowers and a card that night to reassure me that he was very excited for our baby girl, whom Brynnie (our pretend daughter for now) has affectionately named "Baby Princess!" (Jared was also the first to come home with a little pink sleeper).

We are SO excited for the summer adventures and even more excited about our Baby Princess!

I am a chubby bunny

Has anyone played this camping game favorite? I will give you a brief run down of the rules: You put one marshmallow in your mouth and declare aloud, "I am a chubby bunny." Then the next few people participating do the same until it's back to you and you stuff another large, fluffy, mallow in your pie hole. Around and around you go until you have 7 in your mouth, you're trying not to gag, and yelling out, "I AM a chuubby mbuunny!!" (The game usually ends with marshmallow flying out your nose and mouth into the campfire while you try not to fall in from laughing so hard!)

Well the title is just about how I feel right now...chubby (and I thought the bunny part was appropriate what with Easter and all). I am 17 weeks along now and just feel fat. Don't get me wrong I am SO happy to be pregnant and I know I am only going to get fatter but I had to vent a little!

Also people, we are finding out the gender of our little one in one week!! Please make a guess (poll to the right) and leave me a comment if you wish. I am curious to find out what the consensus is! Now for the much *cough* anticipated belly pics!

Week 11: This was in the midst of the sickness. At this point it was very hard to even get dressed, let alone stand up straight and smile for the camera. I'd lost a few pounds also.

From week 11 to 15 nothing much happened. A lot of laying in bed and throwing up, I only really got dressed for my doc's appointment..
Week 16 I suddenly have a very pronounced belly! (Please ignore the crap in the background, we do attempt to clean.)
Week 17: I feel chubby but happy. The Chubby Bunny!