Some Things Just Aren't Meant to Be

Last week marks the third week we didn't go geocaching. We didn't even try actually. The first week, the reference desk was closed. The next week, we checked out the unit early but at the last minute our friends who we were going to go with called and said one of them wasn't feeling well enough to go running all over town; we did dinner and a board game with them instead.

That was fun and probably honestly my favorite dates involve making dinner and playing board games (especially in NOT my own kitchen =P). I guess everyone has their personal fall back date and even though it might get routine, it works for them. And I guess at least this is one I can keep up relatively well even after the baby comes, so that's good. :)

The night after our date with our friends, I managed probably the most graceful event of my life. I fell off the bed and dislocated my toe. It was actually so comical at the time that I actually look back on the event fondly. =P

I had it taped all last week and it's mostly better, but I can't wear anything but flip flops and because I'm pregnant and prone to swelling, I can't manage on my feet for extended periods of time. So, we didn't even bother putting geocaching on the calendar.

If anyone else tries geocaching, let me know how it goes. In the meantime, does anyone else have any fall back dates that they always seem to end up doing?

The Green Ball of Happy

So I promised to post about dates. Well this week it was my week to plan. It didn't work out very well but it was a good date all the same.

The plan was to go geocaching. We can rent GPS units at the library on campus so on Friday afternoon I set about putting together a list of geocache locations to try. For some reason, I had a REALLY hard time doing that. It was hot as usual and I was pretty tired. I didn't want to do any caches that required a terrible amount of bushwhacking to get to but the ones around the city just didn't sound very entertaining. Eventually I put together my list and went to take a nap.

We left at about 5:30 only to find out the Science reference desk was closed so we couldn't check out the GPS. About this point, I felt pretty defeated and wanted to go home and take another nap and eat something.

Unfortunately, home had no food and we really didn't have much money so at that point I was upset because we were clearly going to starve to death.

In the end, our "date" turned into a search for decent fruit (This is Utah in the summer, WHY is it so hard to find ripe peaches!?) and then in an attempt to get my blood sugar back up we gave up hope of saving money and got dinner at McDonald's. Then we went to Target to get frozen fruit to make smoothies. The frozen fruit was too expensive but we found a really yummy pineapple instead. We just wandered around the store to kill time and at the toy section, I picked up a big green ball from the display.

It was the most pointless purchase ever but Andrew said I looked so happy holding the ball that he wanted to get it for me.

So now we have the green ball of happy. It sits in our living room and reminds me of that date that never was, but in the end was everything. :)

Stuffs That I Don't Know What to Call it.

It's just a general update of my otherwise boring life. We did find out the gender and we're having a girl. I guess having a gender and a name to call her by (besides Baby Powell) helps to stop the feeling of this baby just being an imaginary friend.

I went and looked at baby clothes on Saturday and then stopped. I think the only reason I went in the first place was because the baby store was air conditioned. I had to stop because I chose to go into the Baby Gap...which is very much my style...and very much NOT my price range. =P

We're very excited to be having a girl though.

Since the last time I wrote, Andrew and I have successfully been on 1 date. Not quite what I was aiming for, but its a start. We went to the temple. Andrew had a talk to give so it was a good motivation to get us there. Bonus, the temple is air conditioned.

See what my life has been reduced to??? Chasing air conditioning.

I think for our date next week we are going to make ice cream. I checked out a book from the library (which also has air conditioning, the library, not the book) with all kinds of recipes. We don't have an ice cream maker but we can rent one from the BYU outdoor center or I found a technique online that doesn't require a machine...just a lot of time because you have to pull it out of the freezer every 30 minutes and stir it up. We'll see, it'll be fun.

I'm past the halfway point of my pregnancy. It passed without a lot of fanfare. We went to JCW's and split a hamburger and onion rings. I told Andrew we were having a half a hamburger each because it was halfway day...but really its because it was cheaper that way, lets be honest. =P

Now I'm stuck in this really weird state where I'm excited that I'm halfway, and also freaked out, and also annoyed. I'm kind of an obsessive planner...I like to plan everything because it makes me feel like I have something to do. When it comes to things like babies, there is only so much I can do before there isn't anything else to do. It's a lot of waiting...and it isn't very fun for me.

Not to say I want this little one to come right now, that's where my conflict of emotions comes in. I'm a little freaked out that I've only got a few more months of just me and Andrew. Don't get me wrong, I'm super excited to take our daughter on camping trips and hiking trips and do everything with her that Andrew and I do together. It's not as if we do a lot of jumping out of airplanes and other stuff that you can't do with kids, it's just...I feel like all the same I need to be making the most of this time with Andrew.

So basically I'm stuck in this weird limbo.

But I'm doing my best TRYING to keep myself busy in the meantime. I can't really craft anything for the baby even because I have no sewing machine/no money for fabric or anything. (knitting and crochet are RIGHT out...we don't go there) =P Instead I'm using the baby as an excuse to do the spring cleaning I've been meaning to do since last year. Andrew helped me last night and now the nook in our bedroom is neat and tidy and our living room is a mess with all the stuff we're giving to DI.

I'm also trying to get us back in the habit of FHE. It was hard to do with just two people so we kinda sorta stopped somewhere along the line. Thanks to our sunbeams, who think the answer to everything is "Jesus" (it was a picture of a bird in a nest!) and if that isn't right, the answer must be "Jesus Smith"...I'm determined to hold proper family home evenings when this child gets here.

So there is the update of stuffs that I don't know what to call it.

That One Time I Did Really Well at Something...and then Didn't.

I was just thinking the other day how I haven't been on a date with Andrew lately. Not a planned ahead date and that's what really makes the distinction in my mind. There have been a lot of road blocks thrown up that prevented that date, one of those happens to go by the name of "Baby Powell" (at least for right now) but if I really ever want to respect myself, I can't use that a real excuse right now. Maybe a few months down the road, but not now that I don't need a babysitter. =P

I'm trying to think of the last real date we went on. I think it was Thanksgiving Point back in June which admittedly is not that long ago. And it was really fun! But before that I can't honestly remember the last one before that. It could also be my lack of blogging, which has been the only way I keep up on life, that causes me to disremember what I've done recently.
I came across my journal the other night and the last time I wrote? June, 2012. What was that entry about? My wedding, because the last time I wrote in that journal was BEFORE my wedding. In 2010. So I guess in reality this post should be titled "Those many times when Jessica was good at something...and then wasn't."

*sigh*

But I didn't really want to write a pity story, even though this is turning into one. There are plenty of reasons that I haven't gone on a real date with Andrew lately-pregnancy, finals, no moneys, no A/C induced lethargy, etc. But they really are just excuses. Especially since I'm well into the second trimester and not tired anymore (the other reasons still apply...except finals, thank goodness).

No, in reality I just realized I haven't done something that is actually really important to me and so like a responsible adult, I'm writing my goals down and recommitting to them. If I don't post about a date once a week, however boring and lame, please feel free to call me out on facebook. Ok, make that 3 times a month...sometimes even our best laid plans go to puddles of goo and so I think I'm allowed at least 1 freebie a month.

Here's to re-commitment to one's goals.

Hmmm. Long Time and I'm Really Hot

I haven't written in forever and all I want to do is complain. I don't like how Utah is continually stuck under a ridge of high pressure. High pressure is evil! High pressure equals nothing but sunshine! Nothing but sunshine equals hot!!!

And I guess I'm with the rest of the western US when I start ranting about this considering it was 94 in Alaska. I don't know anything about Alaska really, but citing that always makes me feel cool. (No pun intended....because really, I am not cool at all, I'm really hot).

We tried to run away from the heat over the weekend by going up to the High Uintas Wilderness to go camping. We were not the only ones with the idea and we followed a LONG line of cars into the canyon. The campsites were all PACKED which is why I was glad we were backpacking. I was nervous about that too since the trailhead was packed but once we got to our destination we only shared the lake with about 4 other camping groups and we were the only ones on our side of the lake. It was REALLY nice, but I learned  a few things.

Backpacking is TOTALLY doable when you are pregnant, but there are a few things to remember. (This is probably going to be TMI, but I'm just being honest here)

1.) You have to stay hydrated...which means that when you have to pee every 5 minutes NORMALLY, it is not uncommon to have to pee every second. This can get annoying.
2.) Even if you DON'T have to pee, you will feel like you have to anyway because your pack will press on your bladder from one side, and your baby from the other. Once you go through the effort of taking off your pack, you'll be annoyed to find out you don't actually have to pee and all that work was for nothing.
3.) Once you put your pack back on, the whole cycle will start again. =P
4.) If you're going to hike to a lake, expect mosquitos. You'll probably shower in bug spray but inevitably (and understandably) you won't spray your butt. This will become painfully apparent the first time you have to take a bathroom break.

Now that I've probably scared everyone out of ever trying to backpack while pregnant, I'll tell you it was easily the best experience I have ever had in my life and totally worth it (especially since it was like 70 degrees). :) Coming back to the un-airconditioned house, was not the best experience that I've had in my life.

Also, make sure to remember your swimsuit. Or you'll end up swimming in your pajamas. =P

Nothing...

Surprisingly, I feel like I have less to write about these days. You would think it would be the opposite.

Still hardly any symptoms...but I'm practically in my second trimester so I've kind of given up looking for them. Cravings are all the same as they ever were and fish aside (which a lot of it I conveniently am not allowed to eat anyway) no aversions either...but who is really surprised at that? By the way...some old wives' tale says that craving spicy food indicates a boy...

What if you crave Thai food every day, even when you're not pregnant? Those poor old wives. They probably didn't have the plethora of delicious food available to us on every corner.

If you really want to talk about cravings though...I have a SERIOUS craving to go to Japan and eat food. The exchange rate is like 103 yen to the dollar (up from 79 to the dollar) so going now would be like a party of all things delicious.

I should probably stop talking about Thai food and Japan now...it's making me hungry.

I saw Star Trek. That was good.

I managed to make birthday dinner for Andrew on Saturday. I made blueberry pie and then was actually glad that Andrew decided he wanted fish instead of chicken pot pie because 1 double crust pie was about all I could handle. Fish only takes 10 minutes. And it was fresh enough that it didn't stink up the house...which is good because fish smell is gross.

That's about all there is to report. Just a quiet birthday at home.

Oh and also I'm really tired...so I fell asleep in the bathtub. My bathtub doesn't actually hold water very well so it was empty when I woke up. I think I bruised all my vertebrae. But I guess I can officially say I can sleep anywhere. =P

I Lied

Final grades are in and I got a B- in stats. That's even better than a C+ (in case you didn't know =P)

Also. I have the hiccups. grrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Also also, I was reading a couple posts back and I said that my finals would be done early. That was also a lie...I put off my last final until the last minute and was consequently left waiting in this:

For those who have never been to BYU, that was the line for the testing center from my office in the SWKT,  about halfway across campus. Andrew and I got into that line and it took 2 hours to get into the testing center. Rumor has it that the line at some point actually stretched all the way across campus to the JKB. Glad I wasn't at the end of THAT one.