Less than a month to go!!!

At my last doctors appointment, she informed me that she would be inducing me on July 27th if Jack has not come any earlier! This is very exciting news and I am so ready to meet the newest member of my family (not really though, as I'm still trying to get all of his stuff together and organized, but I will for sure be by the 27th)! Yesterday Sarah and my mom threw my an amazing baby shower and I got so much cute new stuff for Jack! It was very nice of them and I really appreciate everyone who came! I know people are busy, so it was really nice of them to take the time to come! I have already been given so much support for Ethan, and I know Jack will also be so loved! It makes me even more excited to bring him into the world, knowing he will have such great examples and a support system around him! We are a very lucky family! I will post a picture of me with my giant belly soon, but I wanted to post this so because I'm so excited that I'm in my last month!

7 Month Vacation!

I know it sounds like I went on a seven month long vacation based on the title of this blog, but really we went on a little family vacation now that I am seven months pregnant! We figured we wouldn't have much time to go on a vacation this summer with Jack's imminent arrival, so we decided to head up to my grandma's cabin in Wyoming for a week! It is such an amazing place and so relaxing! There are four-wheelers and things like that to ride. Of course I couldn't ride them, but Ethan had a blast going out with his daddy and the other boys. It rained a little bit there, and was a little chilly, but mostly it was really nice to escape the heat and be outside! Everyone in my family except my dad, Sarah, Gary, and Aiden went, and PJ's friend Zach came up too! It was so fun just hanging out! It's hard to explain the cabin to someone who's never been there, but it is one of my favorite places in the world and I think anyone who has ever been there feels the same way!
We came home Friday in time to go see Joel McHale at A-brave-anal Hall! He was hilarious and my crush on him has only grown! Yesterday we were blessed to be able to go and watch as Kevin and Michelle Lacy got sealed in the temple! It is always so wonderful to be in the temple, but it was even better watching our friends get sealed to each other for eternity! They are such great people, and we felt honored to be invited to be a part of such a special day for them! Tomorrow it's back to normal life again, which means PJ will be at school and work this week, boo! But I so appreciate the nice break this past week was, now I am one week closer to having this baby, and being at the cabin made the week go by so much faster! Thanks to my awesome grandma for letting us go, and to my family and Zach for coming with!

Here are a few random pictures of Ethan playing around at the Treehouse Museum in Ogden and with our cat Gob! Ethan loves animals of all kinds and luckily our cat Gob (pronounced Jobe) is really mellow and really likes kids. He lets Ethan pet him and hold him, he's actually more like a little dog! It's nice because Ethan gets really excited about it and will bring his toys out to share with Gob! Also, since I am done with school, I've had more time to take Ethan out to do some fun things! We've been to the park, the museum, walked down to the Three Little Monkeys, and we're headed up to Park City later today! Two weeks ago Ethan came to a doctors appointment with me and he was so good (though he does get a little nervous that they're going to hurt his momma) that we went to the treehouse museum right afterward as a reward! Normally the museum is kind of crowded, but on this day there was pretty much no one else there! It was so fun because Ethan just got to run aorund and play with everything without having to wait ten minutes for a turn. He always wants to ride on the big firetruck, but it's always so popular that it's usually covered with bigger kids. This day he got to play for a long time and her really enjoyed it! With the arrival of this next boy, it's so important to me to let Ethan know he is still so important to us, so days like this, where we get to have lots of one-on-one time are so important to me! I'm grateful I get to have this time to play with Ethan and prepare him for his little brother over the next couple of months (though I am starting to get incredibly uncomfortable, so I will be happy when this pregnancy is over!

Graduation 2009!!!

Yesterday, after a long two years of studying and writing what felt like a million papers, I officially graduated with a Masters of Science in American Studies! I wasn't even sure I was going to walk for graduation, but my dad wanted me to, so I did, and I am really glad I chose to! My family, PJ's parents and sister (and her boyfriend), and Zach Bosch all came and watched, which was very nice of all of them! It was nice to have a little cheering section for me when I walked up to be hooded and receive my diploma! When I first arrived at the field house to get in line with the other graduates, I saw Dr. Jeannie Thomas, who headed my thesis chair, and she walked up and gave me a hug and said congratulations! She has helped me so much throughout my graduate career and she is my hero, so it was cool to have her congratulate me! They had all the graduates walk through campus down to the Spectrum, which was kind of cool, but I wore the wrong shoes for it (I had a big old blister on my foot after it was finished). As we walked into the spectrum, all the teachers there with PHDs stood on either side of the hall and clapped for us; it was pretty cool, they really went out of there way to make sure it felt like a big day for us! The ceremony was long, and I was pretty sure I was going to pass out because my pregnancy and sitting so close to everybody was making me so hot, but it was fine. I got to sit by some friends of mine from grad school, so it made the less interesting parts of the ceremony go by quickly! After the ceremony, I went and posed for pictures with my family. Ethan ran and gave me the biggest hug, and kept on saying, "Good job Momma!" He was pretty excited about my hat, and wanted to wear it for a bit! My family took me out to eat at Maddox to celebrate, which was very kind of them! I really appreciated everyone who has supported me throughout everything, and to my family especially for driving all the way up to Logan to watch me graduate! It was a long, but fun day, and I cannot really believe that I now have a Masters Degree. Thanks again to everyone who has supported me, so that I could get this done!

Easter 2009!

This year was Ethan's third Easter and it was the first one I think he really enjoyed (or at least he got into)! On Saturday our neighborhood had an Easter egg hunt, and though Ethan was really grumpy when it started, he warmed right up to finding eggs and running round! That night we colored Easter eggs with Aiden, and Ethan loved that! We cracked a few eggs and Ethan knocked over one cup of dye, but he had a great time, and overall I think it could have gone much worse! Sunday morning we woke up to see what the Easter bunny had brought Ethan! He was very excited about his basket of stuff and we let him take a few of his things to church with us (like crayons and a couple of eggs). After church we ate brunch at Oakridge, where than got to meet the Easter bunny! Like with Santa, he was a little nervous at first, but warmed up to her after she gave him some candy. It's not very hard to win Ethan over! Then we went to Grandma and Grandpa Anderson's house for another Easter egg hunt My mom always goes all out for this, and Ethan got very soiled with candy and toys! While we were out looking for stuff, Aiden said, "This day just keeps getting better and better!" It was pretty funny! After the hunt, Ethan played with his new toys, we took a nap, ate food, and finally went home. Ethan keeps saying "more Easter," so though I don't think he understands at all what Easter really is about (he will say "Thank you Jesus" when we talk about it, but I know he doesn't know what he's thanking him for, maybe he thinks Jesus gave him all of the candy?), it was fun to watch him enjoy the day so much! I hope everyone had as wonderful an Easter as we did!

My Thesis Defense!

It has been awhile since I wrote a post and a few important things have happened in the meantime. First off, last Friday, I presented a miniature version of my thesis at the "Art of Gender in Everyday Life Conference" at Idaho State University. Since the conference was just in Pocatello, I drove up and back the same day I presented. This meant that I didn't get to go to as many panels as I would have liked, but it also saved us money on a hotel and I only had to find someone to watch Ethan for part of the day on Friday until PJ got home from work. The conference went well, the woman who planned the whole thing invited me back to next years, so I'm taking that as a good sign! The most important thing was that it got me prepared to defend my thesis the following Monday. I had turned in my final draft of my thesis to my committee two weeks earlier, as per the rules, and was just waiting to defend. It was driving me crazy and I was really freaking myself out over it. I had totally convinced myself that I would get to my defense and they would just tell me my paper was awful and I hadn't passed my defense. The Saturday and SUnday beforehand was General Conference, which was great, because listening to the prophet and apostles talk was very calming to me. It also helped put things into perspective that even if I didn't pass, things would still be okay. I was greatful for that to help me cope. Monday morning, I was still pretty nervous as I drove up to Logan, but I was also resigned to the fact that whatever was supposed to happen would. As it turns out, all my worrying was for nothing! My defense went amazing! When it started, my committe asked me to leave the room while they discussed my thesis (this is customary, but still really awful). Once they called me back in though, they just said they all loved my paper so I could relax and they just wanted to talk about how I came to write it. Once they said that, it was easy to sit and discuss everything! For those of you who don't know, I did my thesis on Disney Princesses and gender constructions. I owe a ton to Raschell Smith Peschke and Lara Steed Barenze because they both have worked as princesses for Disney and they let me interview them! My whole commitee loves the interviews and told me how unique they made my paper! It was something that was so kind of them to do and they for sure didn't have to, so I am eternally greatful to them! After my defense was over, I had to fill out a ton of paper work, but I don't really care because I was just so happy I passed! My dad was up at USU for Entreprenuer Week (he organized it and so came to oversee it), and he waited out on the QUAD for me to finish my defense, so he could see how I did! Having my dad there, acting all proud of me, was just the icing on the cake! It was so nice to have his support! Though I did work hard for this master's degree, there is no way I could have done it without help and support from my family! So thanks to everyone who has been there and helped me, and even just said an encouraging word to me about it! You are all awesome!