Nesting

Justin calls it nesting.  I call it wanting to have somewhere to sit in the basement.  Either way, about a month and a half ago, I decided it was time for us make our downstairs the main family room.  There were several cascading effects of this decision: We would need a new couch to put upstairs so that we can move the comfy, red, movie-watching couch downstairs, and we would need to paint the basement--including the ceiling.  It turns out that painting the ceiling is a very un-gratifying task.  I know because I did it entirely by myself.  (I should point out that while I was painting the ceiling--and the rest of the basement--Justin was stuck behind the furnace in the laundry room installing a new outlet so we can mount the TV to the wall downstairs--yet another of those cascading effects.  Anyway, I realized very quickly that safety goggles and some type of covering for my hair would be essential.  When Colton saw how cool I looked, he wanted to get in on the action as well.  

Yes, I was painting at 7.5 months pregnant.

Colton really liked working with the roller.  (Sorry, I guess I should have rotated the picture before uploading it...) 

Nothing like painting with a two-year-old.  It was serious mother-son bonding. (And someday I'll get around to rotating this picture.)

At some point in the future, I will post pictures of the finished product.  Right now we're still waiting for the new couch to arrive.  They gave us a 4-12 week window.  So it should arrive sometime between now and Christmas...

A doozy

They say that you have weird dreams when you are pregnant.  I have weird dreams even when I'm not pregnant, but last night's was a real doozy.  I dreamt that we were watching my belly move (which is a common occurence these days) and marveling at how weird it is that there is a living thing inside me.  As we are watching, we see a little hand stick out.  And then I thought, "Hey wait!  I shouldn't be able to see an actual hand sticking out."  Then I looked down and realized that the baby had ripped a hole through my belly so as to be able to stick his hand out.  It was kind of gross looking--blood and guts and everything.  So I showed Justin (in the dream), who almost passed out at the sight of it.  We decided that we should probably go to the doctor considering the baby was starting to emerge of his own accord, but I realized I didn't have my phone with me, and I didn't know the doctor's phone number.  So we decided to drive to my parents' house to get my phone (we were living in a strange alternate universe where Provo and Arlington were somehow combined).  When we finally got my phone, we called the doctor, but she wasn't listening as I tried to explain there was a big hole in my belly with the baby's hand sticking out.  She kept asking about contractions--but I wasn't having any.  I think it was about at this point that Colton came bounding in saying "Me awake!" so I didn't get to see the exciting conclusion.  Pity.

Anyone out there good at interpreting dreams?  My personal take: I'm soooooooooo ready to have this baby!!

Ultimate Super Birthday Cake

I know Justin's birthday was a long time ago...September 2 to be precise (there seems to have been some confusion about that among certain members of my family who were using the anniversary of the restoration of the priesthood (May 15) as a way of remembering his birthday, so I thought I'd clarify).

Since we were going to be on vacation with the Piersons on his magical day, Jen and I decided that we should join forces to create a fourteen-layer cake-of-a-lifetime.  Here's  what we came up with:

Jen and I both made a cake and baked it into seven pancake-thick layers.

Then we made a delicious chocolate glaze to smother over each layer.

It took both of us to do all the layering and smothering.

It was getting pretty tall...

...and tasting pretty darn delicious.

However, it wasn't much to look at, so we decided to add an outside layer of chocolate-cream cheese buttercream frosting.

That looks better.

We forgot to bring any candles with us, so we had to use a flashlight.  It's amazing how he was able to blow it out.

And then we cut into it.  Yum.  No, double yum....to the max.

Happy Birthday Justin!

Big Walk (Part II)

I know I already posted about this, but Jen shared her pictures of the day with me, and I couldn't resist passing them along to my adoring public.

In case you forgot I was pregnant, refer to bowling ball above. (That was a month ago...I've grown and inch a week since then...)

Much better action shot than I got of Justin and Colton running "fast like McQueen."

I'm pretty sure that Matt was trying to imitate Colton's run.  Either that or he was returning to his primate roots.  Kind of hard to tell which...

We made it to the "ba-ba ba"  (That is Colton's version of waterfall.  Now--a month later--it has at least developed to "wa-wa ba."  Progress.)

Pure happiness.

After playing in the water, his shorts were a little wet...so he got to enjoy Oreos in his undies at the end of the hike.  

Big Walk

Over Labor Day, we decided it was time to introduce Colton to hiking.  We were in the Shenandoahs with the fabulous Piersons, so it seemed like a good Sunday activity to get outside and enjoy the beauties of nature.  For some reason, rather than telling him that we were going on "a hike," we told him that we were going on a "big walk."  I'm not sure why we didn't just call it a hike.  But that is not the point here.  The point is that Colton was a super hiker, or big walker--whatever you want to call it.  He spent the first mile forcing Justin to jog with him "fast like McQueen" (or "bast mean" as this phrase would sound to the average human ear).  This picture doesn't really do justice to the fact that they were moving at quite a clip (especially compared to 7-months-pregnant me).

Despite how much Colton loves running, the highlight of this particular big walk was the little pool full of gravel at the bottom of the waterfall.  

Grab two handfuls of gravel.

Pull back...

Release!

Sheer delight to watch all those little rocks go plop, plop, plop in the water.

Then he realized it was fun to get in the water himself...

Smile! (He's figured out that he should make a face when we say to smile.  At least this time it wasn't his sour face.)

Sadly, getting his feet all wet led to some pretty nasty blisters--and that was the end of him going fast like McQueen.  On the other hand, it was the beginning of a great bicep workout for Justin who got to carry him the rest of the way...