Baby Showers and Birthdays

I feel so lucky to live close enough to family to make weekend trips. One of those was the beginning of the month to see Sydney's high school musical and also for my Viv and Ondalynn and Mom to put on a baby shower for me. It was great to see Oregon friends again. They were so generous. 

I just love that I'm letting Seth and Tiffany do the work and I'm just chillin. 

The crew right before Sydney's musical

Then a few weeks later, two of my ministering sisters put on a baby shower for me here and I was floored that a dozen people came! I've only been in this ward for a few months. And many stayed for 2 hours. And then I received more gifts from those that couldn't make it. Can I get a hashtag #seriouslysoblessed ;) But really, the generosity of people is amazing. Makes me want to be better. Unfortunately we were having such a good time that I only got these pictures later. 

And here's some random tidbits from the month. 

Packing in that reading time before baby comes. 

We made a ton of recipes from the How Not To Die Cookbook like these amazing French toast. 

So fun to talk to Bree on Mother's Day. She is doing great on her mission!

Squeezing in last minute temple trips before baby and before they close for renovations in August. 

Trying our hand at watermelon juice

Austin is the best. This is what I found when I was about 100 pages from finishing Middlemarch. 

Memorial Day parade

This was our spot for lunch on Memorial Day. We listened to the 3 in 30 podcast from The American Moms about how to celebrate these holidays with more meaning. It really added a lot to the day. 

And then we did a little walking in the area.

And I cut my hair! Feels good. 

The rest of the month was filled up with mine and Austin's birthday. Both days were pretty chill. We got lunch, ice cream, talked with family, etc. I realized that both Austin and I aren't the gift giving type. And we're usually last minute planners. I got Austin a waterproof cover for his backpack for those rainy days and reflective tape. Yes, this is exactly what he wanted. Well I felt like I was celebrating my birthday with gifts all month from all the gifts from baby showers plus this rocker and stroller. We're going to be using both a lot here real soon. On my birthday we went to the food truck where they had Moroccan food set up. And we got to try some for free if we agreed to do a small interview for this local TV show. Anything for free food, right? The food was AMAZING. I could eat it every day. 

Afterwards, I had the thought to stop by the local bookshop. I was praying that morning that I could help someone out that day. I can tend to get self absorbed when it's my birthday. I stopped by and found the book Wonder. It was on the owner's disability fiction section. I looked at the price knowing I could get something a lot cheaper at Amazon but went ahead and bought it. What really happened is it opened up a conversation with the owner about disability since she was born with one. She talked about how important this book is but doesn't want to see the movie because the visual triggers it brings up when she was bullied at a young age. I got to know her a little bit better and asked her how she got the shop and what she loved reading this year. The whole experience was to what I wanted to feel when I read the book This is Where You Belong. I kept thinking that buying local helps the community and you actually appreciate where you live more. I know that I wouldn't have gotten that type of experience just buying it off Amazon. I decided to make it a yearly tradition to buy something local to help someone out and get to know that person better. 

On Austin's birthday

Almost 35 weeks

Two weeks later trying out the Moroccan food.  

Almost 37 weeks

I love this print that I got for my birthday last year. I've been looking at this print for a while and to have this become a reality in a few short weeks is amazing to me. I wouldn't have thought it would happen so soon. And don't you love that other quote on the ledge? It's an inside joke between Austin and I. It's the best. 

Things I don't want to forget: while I was at mutual the night before my birthday, Austin goes to Lowe's, uses his gift card to buy this slab of wood and makes me Kubb. It's a fun outdoor game and something I can't wait to use now that it's nice outside. No matter what I tell him for gift ideas, he always comes up with something to make me. That's just him to a T. 

Love this rocker!

Slick ride! Our baby is going to be riding in style. 

As an extension of my birthday, the next day we went to a Mariners' game for Mormon night. We even got spiffy hats. That's why you can see a sea of white in these sections because Mormons and their cheap seats. It was a fun game!

Love making memories with this guy! I've been trying to look for the picture that was smashed together when Austin was at a Mariners' game and I was at a Chicago White Sox's game back in 2012. We both had our pictures taken separately and Austin put them together. You better believe that it was Austin's idea to do the smashed picture thing.  It actually looks legit. I need to hunt it down but glad we got to sit next to each other this time instead of being thousands of miles apart.