Holding Myself Back

Being pregnant is an interesting experience. Often I find myself saying, I can't do that or I can't eat that because I'm pregnant. While I want to have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy baby, sometimes I find pregnancy is an excuse to hold myself back.

Over the course of the last few weeks I have found myself stepping out of fearfulness and living my life more fully. We've gone hiking a few times, stand up paddle boarding, jet skiing, and we participated in a session at the temple.

Through these experiences I have learned that life is to be enjoyed and it is so much sweeter when we don't hold ourselves back. Having something to look forward too really brightens a day or a week.

I Love To See The Temple

I love going to the temple! In fact, I don't really mind the 2 hour drive (each way) to get there, it gives Andy and I a chance to just talk. I love the peace I feel when I am in the house of the Lord. I enjoy the sweet spirit that is felt within these holy walls. I can't help but feel uplifted and renewed each time I visit the temple.

The Portland Temple.

Thursday Thought

It's been awhile since I shared a Thursday Thought and I think it's time that I start doing that again. The thought for this week is this:

“No plan. No objective. No goal. The road to anywhere is the road to nowhere, and the road to nowhere leads to dreams sacrificed, opportunities squandered, and a life unfulfilled” (Thomas S. Monson, in Conference Report, Oct. 1976, p. 73; or Ensign, Nov. 1976, p. 51).

If you know me well, you know that I am very goal oriented. I have a hard time sitting down and relaxing. There is always something that needs to be done and I can't stop until everything is finished. I find that in staying active and busy I am happy, motivated, and driven. I find fulfillment in accomplishing my goals; whether they be daily, weekly, monthly, or lifetime goals.

What are your goals, dreams, ambitions? How do you plan to reach them?

Weekend In Review: Hiking, Paddle Boarding & Game Night

Whoever said moving was easy, well they were right. The moving part is easy, it's the deep cleaning, painting, projects, and putting stuff away that's the hard part. We officially have one clean room in our house- by clean I mean up to mine and Andy's standards of clean, we're neat freaks.

Most week nights are spent working on the house. We are trying to get everything situated before our little one arrives, only nine more weeks. It's crazy how fast the time has flown by.

We relish the weekends and are trying to make the most of them while we are still childless. We aren't quite sure how a baby is going to change our routine of playing on the weekends.

Friday

Friday night we went hiking up Spencer Butte with our friends Josh and Cassie, it was their first time up the butte. Hiking is starting to get harder for me, I get winded easier and have to take more frequent breaks. Being outside in nature though is one of those things that just helps me to relax and refocus- it was so good to get out!

Me and Andy - The straps on my pack make my bump look bigger.

Smoky sunset.

We reached the top of the butte as the sun was sinking. Aside from all of the smoke from the wildfires, the view was pretty awesome!

Saturday

One of the things that has been on my bucket list for some time was to go stand up paddle boarding. I have toyed with the idea of going paddle boarding while pregnant for some time but wasn't sure if it was "safe." Recently, a fellow pregnant blogger that I follow went paddle boarding and that was what made me decide it was time.

We woke up early Saturday morning, threw on our swimming suits, packed a picnic lunch and headed to the Leaburg Dam to go paddle boarding. When we first got into the water, it was really cold. I was scared of falling off my board and taking a swim. Luckily that didn't happen, although we did have one close call, when Andy decided it would be fun to make some waves.

Andy.

An XL life jacket was the only size that would fit over the bump.

Me and Andy.

Success!

Stand up paddle boarding was a blast! We paddled up the river quite a ways and took in the beautiful scenery. Someday, we would like to invest in our own boards-- it was that fun!

Afterward we enjoyed our picnic lunch and took a stroll through the neighboring fish hatchery. We saw a lot of rainbow trout and some humongous sturgeon.

Joy!

Chillin'

Giddy up fishy!

Yee haw!

Sunday

Sunday we went to church. The lessons and spirit that were in the meetings were wonderful! I love going to church! I love feeling uplifted, motivated and inspired to do better and be better!

After church we headed to our friend's Dani and Donny's to eat dinner and play board games. It was a blast! We're so glad we have good friends!

Sneak Peek

Here is a little sneak peek at our little one. Can't wait to find out if it's a boy or a girl!

Baby.

Peace Mom!

During this particular ultrasound the baby yawned on the monitor, it was really neat to see that!

Life Update, Weekend In Review & Hiking The Thurston Hills

I have a little bit more time as of late to blog. The lumber industry has recently taken a dive, rumor is that it's due to the upcoming election. As a result, I am on layoff status- this may end up being a blessing in disguise for us.

We closed on our first home about a week and a half ago and things have been crazy! Lots of painting, small fixes, and deep cleaning going on here. Nothing like finding cat hair in your freezer and oven or sand in your cupboards. We hope to have things where we want them in the next couple of weeks. In the meantime, everything is literally everywhere.

Friday

We grabbed a bite to eat and spent the evening at the hardware store picking out paint samples-- it's what married people do for date night.

Saturday

My aunt and uncle were passing thought town on a Spider (motorcycle) adventure and stopped by to say hi, it was really good to see them.

After they left, Andy and I went back to the hardware store with a huge shopping list. We came home with all kinds of fun stuff for projects. We hung up a few new lights and started taping rooms off to paint.

Sunday

We went to our new ward for the first time. One of the things I love about the church is that it is the same no matter where you go. People were friendly, we are hoping to make some new friends soon. One couple in our ward lives down the road from us, they were very sweet and brought us some cinnamon rolls. I honestly can't remember the last time I had a cinnamon roll, they know the way to make a pregnant lady happy!

Monday

We did some serious painting in the bathroom, it looks so good! We just need to make a few touch ups and hang all of the fixtures back up. I'm getting excited to have one room done!

We went hiking up in the Thurston Hills in the afternoon. The trail isn't groomed, so it took a little while for us to find the trail head. The hike was beautiful! Lots of green! We loved standing out on the cliffs and looking out over the valleys.

Lush and green.

Andy & I.

Made it to the top!

Yahoo!

Baby made it too!

As we were coming down from the trail head we could hear a strange noise. Andy asked me what I thought it was and I said, "It sounds like someone is skateboarding." My guess was way wrong, it was definitely not someone skateboarding! As we came around the bend we could see a small cloud of smoke. Andy said, "That's either someone's house or the forest is on fire."

It was a wildfire. We watched the firetrucks, news crew, and helicopter arrive. It was sad to see the forest burn but at the same time it was really neat to watch the helicopter bring in water and dump it on the fire. We got sprinkled on a few times. The news crew interviewed Andy but they didn't put him on the air, he was a little disappointed.

Camera Man.

For some reason, danger seems to follow us. We are really glad we choose to hike on the other hill and not the one that caught fire. We are counting our blessings over here.