24 Weeks...

So, I guess I am technically 6 months pregnant today! I cannot believe how quickly this is going by. When I woke up yesterday, it was one of those days when I felt stretched to the max again. It seems like once every few weeks, I have a day where I feel like I grew a ton overnight and I feel really full all day long....except that I'm still hungry all the time!


If your former innie is now an outie, welcome to the club. Almost every expectant mom's pregnant belly button pops at some point as her swelling uterus pushes on everything in its path. Things should return to normal after delivery, though your navel (and some other parts of your body) might look a bit, well, stretched. Just think of it as one more badge of honor that only moms get to wear. As for your baby, she's about eight and a half inches long and one and a half pounds, gaining steadily at a rate of six ounces per week. Much of that weight comes from accumulating baby fat, as well as from growing organs, bones, and muscle. By now, that fabulous face is almost fully formed, complete with eyelashes, eyebrows, and hair. Is your baby a brunette, a blond, or a redhead? Actually, right now her locks are white since there's no pigment yet.
-whattoexpect.com


My belly button hasn't popped yet, but it's definitely stretching out and becoming flatter. I have a major innie, anyway, so if it ever pops, I'll be surprised.

Huzz and I got back on Tuesday from 5 days in the Seattle area with his parents and his brother (Erik) and his wife, Julie. For the weekend, we drove out to the Port Townsend area and stayed in a condo there.

It was really pretty, and I especially liked the incredibly tall pine trees that the northwest showed off.

Scott and Paula

Erik and Julie
Us

I was happy to get back to cool Colorado because it was out-of-control hot in Seattle! They are having really warm weather right now (in the upper 90's) and with the humidity, I was a little bit miserable.

When I woke up this morning at Mom and Dad's, it was 50 degrees outside. Fifty. It's a little too chilly, but it's better than boiling hot.

Thank you for hosting us, Erik and Julie! Next time we come visit you, we'll have the little peanut with us!

Alaskan Cruise: June 08

Yes, I am still blogging about June...it was a busy month! After our time in Colorado, we headed to Seattle, where we met up with Stephen's parents and his brother, Erik, and his wife, Julie. Remember them from Seattle in March? Well, we all met up there to go on an Alaskan cruise to celebrate Mom and Dad Bruce's 35th wedding anniversary and Mom's birthday -- a monumental one. :)

Here is my really cute husband and I on the boat, watching Seattle go by.

Here is the rest of the crew: Paula, Scott, Julie, Erik

We left on Saturday afternoon and sailed through the night and all of the next day and night. We first arrived in Juneau.

Here is the beautiful town of Juneau. It sits nestled between the gorgeous mountains and the peaceful water.

Stephen and I had signed up to go ziplining in Juneau. So, we headed to the excursion bus. The bus took us to a boat, which took us across the waterway and to this cabin, where we got all our gear on.

Stephen is excited!!!

I am also excited. I get a little giddy when I get to wear repelling gear and ropes. It is so much fun!

Here is a video of Stephen zipping one of the longest zips on the tour. This one was over 500 feet long! There were a total of 9 zips and two skywalks. This was our favorite excursion we went on. And it was treasured time, since we had planned on ziplining in Costa Rica on our honeymoon, but couldn't go, due to all the rain.

This is Stephen, repelling down from the final platform.

We went to one of the specialty restaurants one night to celebrate Mom's birthday. It was an Italian restaurant and the waitstaff sang with Italian accents and a lovely mustache. Erik and Julie, singing Happy Birthday
Our second stop on the cruise was Skagway. The whole family went on a train ride up into the mountains. We saw amazing scenery and marveled at His creation.

Erik and Julie on the train

Check this out!

You can see the back of the train - we were in the first car

I loved this beautiful valley

Another day, we stayed on the cruise boat, but it took us into Tracy Arm Fjord, where we saw this huge glacier! Look how blue it is! The cliffs and water and fog reminded us of Lord of the Rings.

We saw many of these waterfalls, dropping into the water. See all of the ice chunks? There were some bigger chunks (icebergs) that had a beautiful blue hue to them.

We also had a couple of other excursions. We also stopped in Ketchikan, where us and Erik and Julie went canoeing and 4-wheeling in Jeeps. That was a blast! We all had a chance to drive and the trails were more bumpy than we had expected!

Our final stop was in Victoria. We were there, just long enough to go on a Pub Tour of 3 different pubs. That was just a fun and relaxing excursion. We arrived back on the boat late at night and the next morning, arrived back in Seattle.

We had so much fun with our family! We are so glad we were able to go on this trip before we left.

Seattle

Last week, Stephen and I flew to Seattle to see his brother, Erik and his wife, Julie. I had never been to Seattle before, so I loved seeing all the sites that everyone else had been to several times! We went to the Space Needle, the famous Pike Place Market, went on a Boeing tour (where Erik and Julie work), the Museum of Music, and Julie and I did some shopping damage, of course. One night, my cousin Aaron and his wife, Meghan were able to come over and Erik cooked for all of us. Stephen was excited to see Debo, the dog he and Erik adopted when they lived in Denver. Here are some pictures from our awesome trip.

Erik, Julie, Kyle (peeking), Stephen and Me

The famous counter where they throw the fish

You can see there were a lot of people waiting to see them throw SOMETHING!

People, people everywhere

So much fresh and locally grown produce

The original Starbucks! There was a little band playing music right outside. We didn't go in and get coffee because it was jam-packed full of people. Coffee is coffee, right?

Us

Debo

Stephen (opening more wine), Erik, and my cousin Aaron

Erik, plating the dinner he made: steak, wrapped in bacon, asparagus (also wrapped in bacon - is bacon ever not tasty?), broccolini, and fingerling potatoes

Out on the town one night - is Kyle always peeking?

This is the building that is the "hospital" on Grey's Anatomy - cool, huh?

At the top of the Space Needle - it was really windy and cold, so of course this venture outside was followed by hot chocolate inside

Views


Downtown view from the Space Needle

We had a great time! I can't wait to make it back there again. Thanks, Erik and Julie for so much fun.