Jack in the Box tacos...

I am craving 2 greasy Jack In The Box tacos like a mutha' right this very second but Nooooooooo, the nearest one has to be over 2 hours away and of course if we were to drive all the way there I would end up not wanting it one we got within one mile of the drive thru. Someone send me a JITB taco please. Thank you.

Strong heartbeat...

How can I not love this man?

*For those of you who have asked and are still wondering what/who "Honig" is, it is my name for Dean. It means "honey" in German and it's what I call him out loud 99% of the time. I only verbally call him his real name when I'm mad or frustrated at him.*

Honig and I went to our OB appt today and saw our favorite midwife and asked her a barrage of questions which she lovingly answered and it turns out I didn't have to get my blood drawn like we thought I would. We were supposed to do an AFP test today but she said my levels might not be completely accurate because I'm just under 16 weeks along so we'll be going back in 2 weeks to have that blood draw to make sure it's uber accurate timing-wise. But the BEST part of the appointment was that we heard our little peanut's heartbeat and it was LOUD and STRONG! We've only heard it once before at 11 weeks and she had to search for a little while to find it that time and it was quick and faint but now she only had to search for 3 or 4 seconds and whoa nelly, I think everyone in the entire hallway and waiting room heard the heartbeat from the get go. Honig was standing there holding my hand and we both were smiling like a bunch of goons listening to our little miracle inside me and loving every second of it. Our midwife said that it sounded strong and healthy and was right on track and that was all we needed to hear.

~

We think we're having a boy. No reason behind it, we both are just thinking boy. We'll find out in a month!

Wisconnie...

Dean and I and our friends Brett and Amy went yonder north 2 and a half hours to go canoeing on the beautiful Wisconsin River over the 4th of July weekend and I just thought I'd share some pictures with you crazy kids...

Honig and I all jazzed up and ready to go.

Mr. Man setting up our tent.

He does love to chop wood whenever he has an excuse.

Amy and I taking a time out from swatting mosquitoes for a 2 second photo op.

Notice the Citronella (ok, it's actually OFF brand) candle I'm holding. I was DONE with the mosquitoes. They only came out in the evening and early morning. We all but bathed in bug spray the next morning.

Brett and Amy eating their dinner and ours was just getting started. Honig and I did tinfoil dinners but apparently an hour and a half is too long to cook those. They were absolutely charred and practically unedible so we made brats to replace our ash filled dinners.

Amy holding her first smoke bomb. Brett and Amy are from California where it is illegal to even own fireworks so they were like kids on crack once they started doing the fireworks we all bought. It was hilarious to watch.

I don't even know what he is doing in that picture.

No, I do not have a ring of green mold around my hairline. It was a glow in the dark necklace I was wearing.

After getting there Friday evening and eating and doing fireworks, Saturday moring we were rearing and ready to go once our canoes got there.

Awww, first time canoers but you would have never known it.

Honig was all about the paddling and I was all about the navigating and looking for turtles and fish.

Brett and Amy basking in canoey goodness.

Just in case you were wondering what the back of Amy's and my neck look like...

So some point throughout our first day on the river, apparently the earth decided it wanted to move 20 million miles closer to the sun within a couple of hours and melt the flesh off our skin. I think we all got a little heat exhaustion and we couldn't find a shady camping spot because there were a lot of other people on the river for the 4th of July weekend and the shady spots were all taken, so we settled for an island that had a sandy knoll on top. Dean and Brett were brilliant and strung a rain fly between our tents to provide shade. If you look at the left side of the white tent right next to the side of it, you'll see me laying down in the shade and I pretty much stayed there for 3 hours to make my body cool down. I was afraid our little peanut was boiling inside of me so I was a shade lizard until the sun went down.

Loves.

Our peanuts' first canoeing trip. I was 14 weeks along in that picture.

The view from our camp site.

It was so hot during heat exhaustion day and continued throughout the night that one of the streams that we dragged our canoes up seriously dried up during the night so Dean and Brett had to carry our canoes across the island to the closest part of the river. We canoed until noon and then the lady we rented the canoes from came and picked us up and drove us back to the car so we could head on home.

We were all exhausted by the end of our trip from the heat. Just an example of "exhausted face."

Can you tell I was a little too hot and ready to get in an air conditioned car?

~

With the heat set aside, we had an AWESOME time and would do it again in a heart beat (hopefully with a couple degrees cooler weather).

Theater etiquette...

Last night Dean and I emerged from hibernating in our townhouse, and decided to get a little culture by taking in a movie, and what better way to get culture than by seeing The Hulk. We smuggled in our Mike and Ikes and Sour Patch Kids (heavens knows I will NEVER pay their 1,980,765% markup on candy at the theater but I will begrudginly pay any percentage markup on wonderful, buttery, golden movie popcorn) and we go to our theater and sit down down in the perfect seats and the previews start 1 minute later. Half of going to a movie for us is just for the previews. We love to get a quick 30 second teaser of what is going to be coming out in the next 5 years because it seems that that's about how long it is from the time you see the preview until the time it actually gets released in theaters. Anyways, our movie starts after watching previewy goodness and about 5 seconds in to it I have to whip my head to the right to glare at someone who isn't shutting up. Oh yeah, it turns out it's a little 5 or 6 year old boy that is sitting probably 7 seats away from me. The next hour and a half he must have been 'shushed' by myself and a guy sitting in front of us at least 15 times but do you think that this little kid ever lowered his voice? No. He did not. At all. And to top it off, he was sitting next to his dad and heaven forbid that his dad tell him to be quiet or take him out for not quieting down. The dad was too engrossed in the movie to even notice that his son was on everyone's nerves. And to top it off, the kid wasn't just whispering questions or exclamations, he was all but yelling them. "WHAT'S THAT?" "IS HE DEAD?" "IS HE DEAD NOW?" "IS THAT A BAD GUY DAD? DAD! I SAID IS THAT A BAD GUY?" "I WANT A DRINK!" "WHOA! THE HULK IS BIG!" "CAN I HAVE A HULK? DAD? DAD! I SAID CAN I HAVE A HULK?" At which point I was more into fantacizing about turning into a She-Hulk myself and going over to him and chucking him through the movie screen, through the concrete wall, and into the parking lot. I know everyone in the theater would have appreciated it, and I would have gotten a standing ovation and of course his dad wouldn't have even noticed that his son was gone. And I would have scored myself some free popcorn that was the kids'. We all win.

~

Now, for my 5 cardinal rules of theater attending:

1. If you have a child that is disruptive during a grown up movie, say something to them. I undestand if a kid is little and is watching Wall-E or Over the Hedge and being loud, but chances are that any movie I am in will not be little kid-ish. Threaten them within an inch of their life if you have to. Bind and gag them. Do what you have to. Just know that I did not pay to listen to someone do voice over commentary during the movie.
2. Do not answer your cell phone during a movie. Ever. Even if you think you're answering it very quietly to tell someone "I'm in a movie and I'll call you right back", the entire audience can hear you and the person on the other end of the line. Plus, your illuminated screen is brighter than you think and it draws attention.
3. Do not put your feet on the back of my chair. That'll earn you a whack on the foot.
4. Do not sit directly behind me or in the seat immediately next to me when the entire rest of the theater seats are empty. Would I come and sit right next to you on a bus when every other seat is open? No, no I would not.
5. Do not allow a group of more than 3 teenagers to sit together as that is a recipe for nonstop talk. I will come and sit inbetween them and spit in their popcorn to get them to scatter if it needs be.

~

Obey them. Or you will get the wrath of the She-Hulk.

Today was good...

Today was a good day. Nothing spectacular happened, but it was just a feel good day. We got up. Eventually showered (I'll die right along with Dean the day that I actually take a shower more than 30 minutes before church and don't go to church with wet hair pulled back). Went to church. Heard wonderful talks in sacrament that made us want to be better people. Dean taught a wonderful lesson about Alma and Amulek in Gospel Doctrine. I taught Young Women's and even though there were only 2 girls there today, it was an awesome non-stop participation lesson and we had so much fun. We went outside and sat on a blanket on the grass and enjoyed the sunny breeze and the girls had the best questions I've ever heard them pose in class. We even had to ask some members of our ward afterwards what the answer to a question was that I wasn't sure on so we all learned something. I love teaching lessons where the girls are genuinely involved and interested and are firing questions left and right like they were. Then Dean and I chitty chatted with friends for over an hour after church in the chapel, and then when I felt like my stomach was going to eat my intestines, it said it was time to go home and eat. So Dean made some delicious enchiladas and I had to eat other stuff while he was cooking to keep me from getting super sick because I had gone way too long without eating. But the enchiladas he made were delish! Then we just slugged around and watched the women's olympic gymnastic team trials on tv and read. And that has pretty much consisted of our day. It's been a good one. Now it's time to go to bed.

Beautiful sound...

Dean and I had our 3rd OB appt today, and we got to hear our little peanut's heartbeat for the first time and it was absolutely the most beautiful sound in the world!!! Its heart is beating at a normal and strong 160 beats per minute like it should be. It took the midwife a little bit of searching with the Doppler to find it and I got nervous for a few seconds because it seemed like it was taking longer than I thought it would, but as soon as she found it and we started hearing those beautiful "lub-dubs", I, of course, started tearing up and immediatly craned my neck so I could see Dean since I was laying down and smiled at him. He will even admit that he teared up a little too. So all is well with our peanut and we pray everyday that everything will continue to go just fine and we can welcome a happy and healthy peanut into our family by Jan 6th. We feel so blessed by Heavenly Father, and also feel so blessed that I have been feeling tons better. Some days are still hard but I feel like I am over the worst of the all day sickness and it's bearable now. I am sleeping at night and I have a selective appetite which is a lot better than when I had no appetite. Dean has been the most amazing husband and support through this and has taken phenomenal care of me when I haven't been able to function. He is my life.

Oh, and...

I PASSED BOARDS!!! Hallelujah!!! Now it's just another paperwork process of getting my state license and then it's time to be massagie-chelle.