California Trip Shutterfly Book

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how to survive Arizona's summer weather while pregnant

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Many people have asked me how I am surviving pregnancy in the absurdly warm weather.

This is how I do it:

1. I use the air conditioner

2. I take cold showers. I think I have only taken 1 hot shower since arriving.

3. I go to the pool almost every day.

4. Wherever I am in the house, I try to bring along our portable fan

5. I eat lots and lots of ice cream. Blue Bell recently had a sale and let's just say there wasn't much room in our freezer for much else. Except otter pops - because that is another secret to successful cooling.

6. Sometimes I just spray water on myself and then go sit under/by a fan

7. I avoid cooking hot meals (mmmmm...cereal)

8. Brian occasionally makes me ice packs - like last night. I snuggled with an ice pack until I fell asleep.

9. I always try to park in the shade even if it means walking further to my destination

10. I spend a lot of time out of the house at places with great air conditioning (ie the grocery store, Sam's Club, the library, etc)

11. Water - drink it up!

12. I wear lots of deodorant... because despite all of these measures, it is still hot.

Today I saw something that made me so excited! The weather is cooling down (for the moment)! Check it out... We're going to be in the 90's by next week! That is another way to survive:

13. I try to remember that the winter is going to be heavenly.

34 weeks! And... welcome to baby girl's room :)

Well hello there internet world! I apologize for being a little (or a lot) neglectful of the blog. I guess I've had some different priorities the last little while. Don't worry though, I am feeling more committed again! Especially now that I am miles and miles away from dear friends and family.

I might get teary about that sometimes. I blame it on pregnancy hormones.

Anyhoo (anywho?)...

We are finally feeling settled in! It was quite the move and I am 100% serious when I say I never want to move again until we are out of dental school. Thanks to the incredible help of my mother-in-law and brother-in-law, we were able to make it out of our old apartment on schedule and head down to the valley of death. Ok, it is not the valley of death. But when I walk outside and I immediately begin to sweat like a pig perspire, I wish I was back in good ol' Utah - or anywhere that gets below 90 degrees at night. 

Minus the heat, I really, really like it here! It is so much greener and landscaped than I was expecting! There are flowers, trees, bushes, and even grass almost everywhere you look! I have no idea how much the city shells out for water, but I imagine it is a pretty penny. 

We upgraded a bit and moved into a 2 bedroom apartment (pictures of that to come). I love that it A. has air conditioning B. has new paint/carpet C. is in the corner of the complex so we have some privacy D. It has a pool/gym/etc and E. It has air conditioning (that deserves double gratitude). It's a great place to live and only 2.5 miles from campus so Brian can bike there in less than 20 minutes. 

Oh yeah, and we have palm trees. I'm a sucker for palm trees!

Now, call me crazy, but I really think that Glendale feels a bit like southern California. Not the weather, but the landscaping, houses, etc. If I pretend that the ocean isn't far, sometimes I can fool myself.

While Brian is away for pretty much the entire day, I am trying to make some new friends before I am chained to the apartment with an infant. Don't get me wrong, I am beyond excited for her to make her debut, but I am realistic enough to know that new moms do not socialize too much. Too busy trying to keep a wee one fed and happy! That said, I've met some really great people already and am excited to meet more!

All right, enough updating. On to the pictures!

34 weeks - taken this morning after swimming. Along with what I see when I look down!

Side note: I was swimming at a new friend's house this morning and I asked one of the little girls if she knew what my name was. She said, "Oh yeah! Your name is 'Belly'!" Haha :)

And... introducing the "project." I won't go into detail about why it has been such a project, let's just say there were some setbacks. But, the room is well on its way to completion!

We painted the walls (gray... or actually "timberwolf" or something like that), put up molding around the ceiling (thanks to our tape job not working as well as hoped), painted the molding, put together the crib and cube shelf, put up curtains, made tissue paper pom poms, found a rug & other decoration, etc.

What's left to do:

Find a reasonably priced rocking chair/recliner

Paint the bookshelves white and hang them

Decide if we need a dresser/buy a dresser if we do

Hang all the artwork we have for the walls

Decide if we want (mesh) crib bumpers or a crib skirt or a mobile

Probably more.

It's been a lot of fun. Now I like to sit in there and just think about a little baby being in there.

It's crazy!

I can't believe I'm going to be a mom! And SOON! 

Time to pack the hospital bag...

C.A.L.I.F.O.R.N.I.A

Oh how I miss California.

Luckily, Brian and I got to go and visit! I scheduled myself at work in a way that allowed me about 8 days off in a row and we took off for an adventure! I love California, I love adventures and I love Brian - so it was a sure recipe for success.

We drove out to Yorba Linda for the first night and stayed with my awesome aunt, uncle and cousin (thanks again for letting us visit!!). They fed us the best dinner I've had in a long time and we really enjoyed catching up, hanging out with their dog (who snuck into my room that night and slept next to me), and getting thoroughly destroyed in ping-pong by Matt. Watch out Forrest Gump.

This is what I found when I looked over the side of my bed in the morning :)

Knotts Berry Farm the next day was just as fun as I remembered it. Even though we were there during the hottest week of the year (I know, poor planning), we were able to keep cool by repeatedly going on the water rides - we were soaked!

Next stop: Oceanside! We couldn't get enough of the beach, boogie boarding, playing in the sand, watching the surfers, looking for shells, and eating Starbursts (a great way to get the disgusting ocean taste out of your mouth btw). Ruby's, a restaurant out on the pier, was super delicious. If you're ever in Oceanside, I'd definitely recommend it!

mermaid!

We stopped by Balboa Park and Old Town on our way down to El Cajon. Old Town was one of my favorite parts of the trip. We bought some homemade flavored tortillas (strawberry, chocolate, and cinnamon) and then left for our (gross) hotel. Luckily, we spent little time at the hotel because we had a packed schedule! We went to the temple and did sealings, ate at the best pizza place in the world (BJ's), visited some places from my mission, and ended the day in La Jolla Cove. We hadn't planned out where we were staying that night very well... So we ended up camping in a trailer park! Hahaha. Good times. Minus the fact that we were too lazy to put up a tent and we woke up soaking wet. At least there were hot showers available!

Next day we went to Sea World! I'd never been before and it was super fun. Oh how I love polar bears and penguins :). And sharks!

Hey mom! This is what a beluga whale looks like :)

Then we were off to Pacific Beach where the waves were ferocious (at least to me). I may or may not have lost my swimming suit in one of the wave attacks. We showered off at the showers there and got ready in the car to go visit a family from my mission. We accidentally locked the keys in the trunk when were stopped on the side of the road trying to change our clothes and had to drop down the back seat unpack the suitcases until we found them. Good times.

At the Mormon Battalion in Old Town

It was so great to see the Tacon family! We visited and went out for some delicious Chinese food, went to church the next day after a scrumptious breakfast, and visited for a while afterwards. It was sad to leave again! But, we drove out to St. George and stayed with Brian's aunt and uncle's house for the night and then took off for Provo the next morning. It was quite the trip!

Haha.

It was so nice to be able to be distracted from all the stress and worry of the last few weeks. Don't know what I'm talking about? Click here.

So we're back in Utah and Brian is getting reved up for school! He started Monday and I am a little really really sad about that. Where did the summer go?

hiking up a waterfall

It has been a super fun last few days! I had to work on Memorial Day, had that very, very interesting trip to the dentist on Tuesday, and then we had family come to visit! Emily, Wayne, and their 4 kids came to UT as part of their vacation and we were so excited to see them. Tuesday night we had oh-so-delicious J-Dawgs, went rollie pollie hunting with the kids, and played games after they had gone to bed. Wednesday we had a picnic in the park and then hiked up Bridal Veil Falls. I couldn't believe that I hadn't gone up there yet and I've been living in UT for so long! It was absolutely beautiful. We managed to hike to the top... which meant climbing parts of the actual waterfall and getting really wet. It was awesome! The kids were such troopers too - didn't even complain. We got home, showered, and went and saw a movie at the dollar theater - the Dr. Suess one about not chopping down trees. I can't remember the name of it at the moment...

After the movie the kiddos came over to our apartment and we had a slumber party complete with cake, ice-cream, and Astro Boy. They are seriously adorable kids! It was great to meet little Lizzy - she's already 2 months old.

Addy and Paige loved having Brian take them down by the river to look for butterflies

Chris went on the hunt too



Rebecca and sweet Lizzy



Addy thought that putting the butterfly in the dorito bag was a good idea...

Brian decided that he wanted to get in the waterfall. Reminded me of this experience.



Chris and Rebecca




At the top!



I love these kids!