Laid-back summer

We've been spoiled with summer-like weather for quite some time now, so it's hard to believe that my favorite season officially arrived a mere nine days ago. Matt and I have enjoyed a lovely, laid-back summer so far and plan to fully bask in its perfection for the next few months. Did I mention it's my favorite season?

The last couple weeks have been full of fabulous summer activities including playing at the pool, attending BBQ's, eating popsicles, and sitting on the porch sipping ice-cold lemonade with friends. I've been having so much fun, in fact, that I didn't even bother to whip out the camera for 90 percent of it. Sometimes it's nice to just enjoy life without documenting it, you know? (And other times, my camera is too much fun and you'll have a hard time prying it from my fingers. But even then, I've been trying to train myself to just take a few pictures and then turn the camera off. Anyway, back to the post at hand...) I did bring our old point-and-shoot along for some pool time last week, though. It was our first visit to the base pool and it felt so, so good to be in the water!

The camera also managed to find its way out of my purse for a quick snapshot of my friend Kaley's table settings at a Saturday lunch party. She is the queen of all hostesses and was my favorite person ever when she brought out a dessert of incredibly delicious organic berries with whipped cream. You know how I love my summer fruit.

Meanwhile, our first big summer weekend starts tonight and we are so excited! Matt gets both Friday and Monday off for the 4th, so we're headed South for some quality friend, family and beach time. I hope you all have a fun holiday weekend!

Happy Independence Day!

Well, hello there

Look what decided to show up -- a real live, unmistakable baby bump!

After months of playing peek-a-boo and hide-and-seek, my baby bump decided to stick around for good a few weeks ago. It's been so fun to finally look pregnant!  This picture was taken at 28 weeks, so my belly has another 11 days of growth on it today. I have a feeling it will be 11 times as big by the time the baby comes. We have just over 10 weeks to go and it's so exciting! Now that we're a couple weeks into the third trimester, I figured a little pregnancy update is in order.

Baby Boy:

Our little guy is doing great! I had a detailed ultrasound yesterday and loved getting to watch him move around in there for so long. All fingers and toes are accounted for and everything seems to be working the way it should! He's weighs about 3 pounds and is measuring a week taller (in his femur bone) than his due date and other measurements. His head is down low and he's apparently nice and stretched out in there, which I assumed from the way he loves to kick my ribs. The ultrasound tech let me peak at him in 3D but he was too cuddled up against the placenta to get any good pictures and too stubborn to move his face. An active, strong-willed little cuddler? I'll keep him for sure.

Baby Names:

Everyone always asks about this so I thought I'd toss it out there. We like traditional boy names, which makes things hard because we come from big families that also like traditional boy names. That means a lot of the names that would otherwise be on our top-ten list are already taken, and we don't want to name our baby after just one uncle. We do have a clear favorite and a handful of lesser-loved-but-still-great backups, but we can't commit to anything until we meet our baby. So, until then, the discussion is tabled and we refer to him as "Baby," "Baby Boy," "Little Guy," or whatever else comes to mind at the time. We definitely can't wait to meet him and give him a real name!

Movement:

He moves around non-stop when he's awake! Unfortunately, his awake times don't tend to agree with my sleep times but I'm still in that blissful love-to-feel-my-baby state so I don't mind (well, except for when he practices punts on my ribs at 2 a.m. ... I do mind a little bit then). He also provides shows for the outside world if they're so inclined to stare at my belly for a few minutes. It's rather entertaining.

Cravings:

Fruit and dessert, but again, I can't really chalk that up to pregnancy because I crave those all the time--baby or not! Although, eating an entire cantaloupe in one sitting certainly wasn't normal before I had a baby in my belly. Now I can't get enough of the yummy summer berries and melons! Meanwhile, I do my best to keep treats out of our home and just eat them when we're at friends houses, on a date, etc., because I've apparently lost all self control when it comes to dessert portion sizes. Matt broke the rules last week and brought home two cartons of Dreyer's S'mores Ice Cream, which is a heavenly limited edition flavor that is really hard to come by. The first carton was gone in less than two days, so I had to take drastic measures to ensure the second carton's survival:

Duct-taped shut and hidden in the back of the freezer. So far it's working.

Symptoms:

As you know, the first trimester and first month of the second trimester were zero fun. I turned a corner around 18-ish weeks, though, and it just got better from there. Weeks 20-28 were so lovely. I felt awesome and had plenty of energy. At 29.5 weeks, I'm still feeling pretty great overall but have definitely started the downhill slope. I'm slowly having less energy, more ligament pain, and just becoming more uncomfortable. It's really not that bad yet, but I told Matt it's good mental practice for when we age because I feel like I'm 90-years-old watching my body slowly fall apart as I'm able to do less and less. And yet I just barely told my friend Tarin that I love being pregnant. I never thought I'd be one of those girls that says that, but I did--and I meant it. I mean, I love being not pregnant more, but I definitely love being pregnant. It is the neatest thing and worth every little discomfort.

Random Milestone:

I just barely had a stranger say something about my pregnancy for the first time last week and it made my day. We were picking up paint at Home Depot and a random 30-ish guy walked by and asked nonchalantly, "Painting the nursery?" A stranger's acknowledgement of my baby bump legitimized it somehow and I smiled all the way home.

Not-so-Random Milestone:

Matt's first Father's Day! Well, pre-Father's Day. I'm sure next year's celebration will feel much different with a little guy running (no pressure, Baby) around. Still, Matt's the cutest pre-daddy -- he loves to sing and talk to the baby and feel him kick, is reading all he can about new babies, and has been awesome with getting baby things and setting up the nursery -- so he definitely deserved a party. On Father's Day, I made a delicious brunch with Kneader's-style french toast and gifted Matt a funny-yet-informative baby book for dads and an "I love my dad" onesie for the baby to wear next Father's Day. I also wrapped up an official post-it-note "I.O.U." for a grill, because when I went to Home Depot to buy it, I realized there was no way for it to fit in our car and we'd have to order it online instead. I.O.U.'s still count, right?

Lastly, while we're on the subject of Matt, I just have to share one quick story from the other night. We were cuddled up on the couch talking about baby things and life in general, when Matt sweetly touched my face and said, "You know, I have never been more attracted to you." At 29 weeks pregnant and after spending the day in gauchos and a t-shirt with my hair in a ponytail and nothing more than mascara on my face, that was certainly not something I expected to hear. Matt then elaborated with some of the sweetest comments about how beautiful he thinks I am, how he's loved seeing me grow as a mom even just to this point, and how excited he is for our future. I'm pretty positive I married the world's most perfect man, and I am so grateful to be starting this little family with him.

Happiest anniversary date

Two weeks ago, Matt took the day off work and we headed South for an anniversary date at the Happiest Place on Earth. Since it might just be our last visit to Disneyland before the baby comes (I was 26.5 weeks pregnant at the time and refuse to go during the busy summer season), we indulged in all the Disney treats magic that our hearts desired.
It was a perfect day!

The new Little Mermaid ride -- Ariel's Undersea Adventure, if you want to get technical -- had just opened the weekend before so the line was crazy all day. We decided to knock it out of the way first thing and enjoyed our 90 minutes in line with the cutest nuns ever. The ride itself was really cute and brought back memories of stealing my Lori Mama's copy of A Little Mermaid a million times before it was officially released and happily playing with my Eric and Ariel wedding barbies. Those were the good ol' days.

The highlight of our anniversary date at Disneyland was eating lunch at the Blue Bayou. You know, the restaurant inside Pirates of the Caribbean that looks like this from the boats:

I've wanted to eat there since I was a little girl (again with the childhood memories, right?), but it's not exactly cheap so Matt and I have been saving it for a special occasion. We made our reservation weeks in advance and were so excited when 1:30 rolled around and we were escorted to our table. The atmosphere was every bit as cool as we had anticipated, the service was excellent, and our Monte Cristo was delicious! It was such a great lunch date.

Naturally, we rode Pirates immediately after lunch and then kept with the theme by exploring the Pirates' Lair (Tom Sawyer Island) before heading back to California Adventure for a few more rides.

As we were heading back up Main Street, we gave into the tempting aroma of freshly baked waffle cones and stopped into Gibson Girl's Ice Cream Parlor for a yummy treat. (And while I'm confessing, we also ate a churro later during fireworks. I told you we indulged.)

Another highlight of the day was my new personal record on Buzz! Definitely worthy of a celebratory picture.

We grabbed gumbo and clam chowder in a bread bowl as a late dinner while we waited for the fireworks show to start. If you can't tell, this is our favorite go-to meal at Disneyland.

And last but certainly not least, we sat and cuddled and enjoyed watching the fireworks over the castle. It was a sweet ending to a wonderful day!

Burgers and Beckham

Catching an LA Galaxy (MLS soccer) game in person has been on our to-do list for awhile and, thanks to severely discounted tickets, we finally checked it off last weekend. We also checked an item off our to-eat list by stopping at Umami Burger for a pre-game dinner. Umami has been featured on multiple "best burgers in America" lists and GQ Magazine actually gave the LA restaurant a nod for #1. Needless to say, Matt was pretty excited to see if the burgers would live up to the hype.

The burgers were pretty and unique and very delicious, as were the sweet potato fries. (The house ketchup? Not so much. And my family knows their ketchups.) I still think the best burgers in America are the ones barbecued in our own backyards, though! 

Then we were off to the Home Depot Center to watch some serious soccer! After a winter of covering high school soccer, it was so fun to see the real deal. It was a really intense game (including one goal in the 90th minute and another during stoppage time) and I loved that Matt was just as into it as I was! Not every American man can appreciate great soccer, you know.

Oh, and this is just David Beckham. No big deal. Matt got a kick out of his headband but I'm pretty sure Beckham can get away with whatever he pleases.

In other news, our date also included a little trip to Ikea to round up a few household items. I think I'm officially in the nesting stage. If being obsessed with finishing organizing and decorating your entire house as soon as possible so you can get to work on the nursery where you already have the crib and dresser set up counts as nesting, that is.

From 2nd to 1st!

Matt is officially a First Lieutenant in the United States Air Force! He reached his two-year mark since graduating from USAFA and commissioning as an officer at the end of May. Matt's group held a big promotion ceremony for all the new First Lieutenants a few days later, and Matt finally got to trade in his 2Lt  gold "butter" bars for 1Lt silver bars. His group chose to keep the ceremony low-key and therefore just wore the uniform of the day. I was kind of bummed about that because promotions are a big deal and service dress looks so much sharper and more professional than ABUs, but Matt was just happy to pin on his new rank. He rocks those ABUs anyway.

In other news regarding Matt's career, he recently PCA'd. PCA stands for "permanent change of assignment" and is not to be confused with PCS, which is a "permanent change of station." Matt is at Edwards for four years, so it will be two more before we PCS (move to another base). However, the Air Force wants their young officers to have diversified backgrounds, so it's common to PCA (change jobs at the same base) around the time you pin on First Lieutenant.

Still with me? Military acronyms can get rather confusing for those in the military world, let alone those outside of it. The moral of this story is that Matt had a dream first assignment working at NASA and in a fighter squadron as an engineer on a really awesome project for the F-16. I know he'll miss working with the F-16 (and flying in them!), but he was selected through a very competitive process for a special assignment and we feel so blessed that he's where he is now. Matt is loving his new position and I couldn't be more proud of him.

It's been an incredible first two years here at Edwards AFB. Here's to two more!

Good friends, good food

Our good friends Talon and Carolyn came out from Vegas for a super long weekend at the end of May. We got to have them and their sweet little Emery for five full days! It was great. The five of us stayed at Talon's parents' home in LA for part of the time and were spoiled with more delicious homemade meals and desserts than my pregnant belly probably needed. It was a pretty laid back visit, but we did have a few items on our must-do list. The first was to visit the Los Angeles Temple together. It's always so neat to share special experiences like that with people we love.

Another must for the weekend? A backyard BBQ, of course!

We also managed to squeeze in a rather intense game of mini-golf. Matt and I get pretty competitive in the name of good fun, and somehow ended up tying for first (at 13 under par!) after a long battle. Go figure.

Lastly, Talon's parents were kind enough to take us all out for sushi at their favorite local restaurant. My teriyaki chicken was fantastic and I'm told everything else was, too. We might have to go again in a few months so I can be more adventurous.

The menu was a bit less exciting once we brought our guests back to our home, but I did come through with some yummy mini cupcakes. I'm certainly not a gourmet chef, nor do I ever intend to be one, but you can always count on me for a sugary treat or few!

Party at the beach

What better way to welcome summer than a party at the beach? Two Saturdays ago, my sister Nicole was in town for her future sister-in-law Chelsea's LDS mission farewell, so Matt and I joined Coley and the Rozsa clan at Huntington Beach for a little celebration.

The weather was predicted to be around 70 degrees but we lucked out with a comfortable 80 degrees on the coast--perfect for a party! We spent hours playing beach volleyball, throwing the football, tossing the frisbee and just hanging out in the sun. Oh yeah, and eating yummy food like fresh watermelon, roasted hot dogs and, of course, s'mores. It was such a fun day!

At 25 weeks pregnant, I had to remember not to dive for any loose balls!

I'm so excited for another summer at the beach -- baby belly and all!