Beach parks are my favorite

Hey ladies.  Hope you have all been having a wonderful summer.  Paul and I have been trying to get out to the close beaches and parks to enjoy walks in this wonderful weather we have been having!  Paul worked 14 days straight, some of those being 12+ hour days.  He continued to take good care of me, making sure I was eating well during that whole time.  I sure do love that man!  

We had a midwife appointment this morning and everything went really well.  I am measuring at 18+ weeks (I am 19 weeks tomorrow), baby's heartbeat was 138-142, and baby loves to hug my left hip right by the uterine artery.  My belly popped out tuesday morning.  I really didn't look pregnant when I had regular clothes on and then I woke up and there was a belly there!  Becca it is crazy, the farther I get in this pregnancy the more things that just click from what you wrote when you were pregnant with Hailey.  When everyone tells me how tiny my belly is I feel like saying "but I feel huge!"

I read this book called Food Rules, I can't remember if I referenced it before but I loved it.  Lots of simple food rules, ones that make you think before eating store bought junk, and make you think about how the western diet is the worst one around.  I love rule 57, and it has actually kept me from snacking on cookies and chips after dinner.  Oh, I am not hungry enough for fruits and veggies so I probably am just bored and want a snack.  Yup, I am usually just bored. 

My dear friend got married 2.5 weeks ago and her reception was 2 weeks ago.  It was beautiful, lots of family was there.  It's crazy because we have known each other since 6th grade and called each other best friends forever, yet I knew almost no one there.  And there were probably 150 people there. I went with my parents and we stayed 3 hours for all the normal wedding activities and then bounced out when the dancing begun. I am definitely not a dancer. :)

We just celebrated my MIL's birthday and I gave her some watercolor stuff, so I only figured it was suiting to water color her card.  I have missed doing crafts and it was fun to have an excuse to get all my stuff out! 

I went and got a mani/pedi with Sara the day before she climbed a mountain for her wedding.  Let's just say manicures were not meant for nurses.  This is what my nails looked like two days after getting them done...The pedicure on the other hand still looks amazing with no chips and it has been almost 3 weeks now!  

My mom make me a mini latte since I am trying to drink no caffiene during this pregnancy.  It was in a mini shot glass from starbucks, I loved it! 

The morning of the wedding reception I went to the farmers market with my dad in Moses Lake.  We got lots of fresh corn, bean, watermelon, cantelope, blueberries, aaaaand fresh donuts!  It was so fun.  I wish I made the time to go the the farmers market over here but the one in Auburn is on Sundays, and it never works out with my schedule and church. 

Pop absolutely loves Eamon, his only great grandchild currently.  I am so glad they just moved close enough to be able to visit on a regular basis.  

Those blackberries were picked in the schoolyard near our house.  I absolutely love fresh sun warmed blackberries. They actually remind me of the Oregon Coast because growing up that is the only place we ever got to pick blackberries while going on a walk down to the beach.  

Do you see those flower next my my grandpa?!  They make me want a garden with a ton of flowers...one where someone else does all the upkeep though.  Jennifer has been my aunts friend since 2nd grade and her and her husband go visit my grandpa and take him flowers or coffee and so forth. :) 

Paul and I celebrated my birthday a week early by going out to my favorite Pho place and then going to the Asian grocery store afterwards.  Then we headed to Redondo to watch the sunset and drink our awesome Asian drinks. :)  If Paul and I do have to move for his job there are so many things I will miss about western washington, which is funny because I didn't want to move here to begin with.  

My belly bump is always crazy first thing in the morning.  Eric always comes and keeps me company as I lay in bed on my days off.  

Paul drove north of Seattle to get me these awesome Macarons.  I had never had them before and yes, they are as good as people make them out to be.  There is a place in Kent that sells them, but it didn't have near as good of reviews, but now that I have had good ones I want to get some there and compare. 

I made a gender reveal banner with my silhouette for a friends friends party.  I don't think we are going to have a party or do anything special, though we are pretty stoked to have our ultrasound, which is currently scheduled for August 28th. 

Eric decided I needed help as I was quickly trying to fold the laundry that would wrinkle before I rushed out the door for church.  Silly boy.  Then after church I came home and made chocolate chip cookies.  I had never made this recipe before and they were amazing.  They are soft and doughy when fully cooked which is my favorite for chocolate chip.  

Do you see that obnoxious orange shirt?  That is what I have to wear at work for the "go live" of our computer program Epic.  I go around and help nurses who are struggling through the program.  It's fun to not have my own set of patients! 

On Monday I was supposed to work a 16 hour shift.  They sent me home at 3:30 on standby and called me back into work by 7pm and I had to work till 11.  I drove almost 100 miles round trip to and from work on monday and worked 12 hours. I was so tired and grumpy by the end of the day!  

Yesterday I had my yearly retraining for work and the building was so over airconditioned.  I went outside on my lunch break and basked in the sun.  Those awesome jeans are actually jeggins Becca let me borrow, thanks again!  Also at my retraining we had to put out a fake fire with a fake fire extinguisher, it was kinda fun! 

I was tired after work yesterday.  Paul had been off and was sweet to offer to drive me to and from work because I only got 6 hours of sleep thanks to not getting home till after midnight since I got called back into work.  I drove myself but told him I would really appreciate it if he made dinner.  When I got home we laid on the couch and watched Seinfeld and he could tell I was super sleepy.  I didn't want to nap but it was inevitable.  He told me to take a 15 minute power nap.  So I did, and when I woke up he had chicken burgers ready for dinner for us.  What a good man. Then he drove us to Redondo where we took a nice walk along the water and then sat and watched people fish, one lady caught her first pink salmon and she was so excited.  I had Paul take a quick silhouette of me, and by quick I mean I stood there for 5 seconds while he snapped 5 pictures hoping one was good because there were so many people around I didn't want to be the crazy pregnant lady standing in front of the water. 

And that's all for now.  I am off today and tomorrow and then I have to work 4 days.  Friday is my birthday, and I will be 25, quarter of a century, seems so weird!  Hopefully I have an easy day at work since I wasn't able to get it off!