There's a Talk for That

Having a rough week. I mean truly horrible. A lot of bad days, major expenses, stresses, setbacks, and the like. That's why I love the Mormon Messages on YouTube. No matter what you face or how overwhelmed you feel, there is a message meant for you that's free and will uplift the soul. Try finding an iphone app that can do that. (Actually, there might be one. Anyone know?)

One of my favorites from a dear former Apostle:

3 Years Strong

To my Samuel,

 I love you, best friend.
We've had 3 fantastic years of you and me.

I can't wait for little Alexis to join the fun.

We're planning a nice dinner to our favorite La Jolla Groves tonight and maybe a free night at Sundance this weekend if anything is open (love the perks of the job). 

Dear Baby

Sorry for all the chocolate I eat. It's probably not good for you. I bet you wish you got more vegetables. You won't feel that way forever, so I should probably relish it while I can. Tell you what, I'll do that if you move the hand (or foot or elbow or whatever it is) away from my bladder.

Love,
Mama

Dog Days

This is a very random post.

Here we are in the last month of summer. How did that happen? Also, it has gotten very hot lately. Thank goodness it's not also very humid or the nights would be miserable.

Sam and I subbed for the 3 year-old class at church today and survived. It's funny that I was so worried about the lesson plan, when really it was 40 minutes of coloring with teaching the lesson of "Heavenly Father is happy when we learn to say 'I'm sorry' and 'I forgive'" in tiny doses. It applied well when a few colors were stolen from the crayon pile. They were pretty cute and surprisingly understanding. In 3 years it will be our baby running out of class to show us her drawings and the new Primary hymn she learned.

But right now she's moving into my sides and my ribs, and for the first time it's starting to hurt. I think she's finally running out of room.

I took a surprisingly comfortable 3 hour nap today. No shame.

Med school applications have me on edge lately and I'm not even the one applying! In so many ways, I'm just trying to get through this month.

Nothing like starting the "longest" trimester in the dog days of summer.

The Home Stretch

I can't believe I'm into my 3rd trimester! Didn't I just find out I was pregnant yesterday? Sometimes it feels like I've been pregnant forever, and other times I can't believe how fast this is going.

I brought back a bunch of adorable, loaned maternity clothes (THANK YOU Jennifer!) from the trip and spent Monday storing away everything that no longer fits. I mean it, everything: shirts, skirts, pants, dresses, you name it. I'll put them back for motivation after she comes, but until then I love being able to to walk to my closet and know that I can wear anything in it!

Back from Vacation: Part 2

After an already packed weekend, we left for the beach on Saturday morning. We had torrential rain all the way down, which was both unusual and sort of depressing, plus rain all day Sunday, but the sky cleared and we had gorgeous weather for the rest of the week.

  Thanks to my sister, I did have a maternity swimsuit to wear.

 

While still in manuscript form, my mom's book has been bound into several copies, so just about all of us spent the week reading through and doing lots of discussing. Let me tell you, it is a fantastic story.

We did a lot of fighting over this little one too.

There's no denying that she was the center of attention this year!

Why yes, those are burgers the size of a man's head! Ross and Sam decided this was the year to challenge a Jetty Giant each. I'll spare you the gory details, but here's how it went down:

Feeling motivated. 

Making progress.

Slowing way down.

The cold sting of defeat. After the one hour time limit, they managed to finish all but the bun (which was actually a whole loaf of bread).

But they made up for it by digging an enormous tunnel...

..and then crawling through it...

...and destroying it.

There were also movies, card games, ice cream nights, more reading, relaxing at the pool, dinner out at our favorite beach-side and harbor-side restaurants, playing with kiddos, sunset walks on the beach - basically perfection.

Last night at the beach.

Goodbye until next year!

After getting back to Georgia, we had dinner with Sam's family and older brother who was back in town from the Middle East, then were lulled to sleep that night by the sweet sound of cicadas and crickets outside our bedroom window.

I was NOT happy to leave. In fact, I may or may not have had an emotional breakdown as our plane took off for Utah. Every year it just gets harder. I want so much to live near family and call the South my home again.

Also, flying is terrible now. The ugly truth about air travel while pregnant: 

Ankles become nonexistent.

After getting a surprise work holiday today for Pioneer Day, I've been happily unpacking lots of adorable baby things and loaned maternity clothes and looking forward to the fall. Since I have her arrival to look forward to and prepare for, it makes the slow end of summer so much easier.

Back from Vacation: Part 1

Minus a few hiccups (and more than a few hiccups in baby girl's case), the last week and a half has been a dream come true. We flew into Georgia last Thursday night. Our bag was lost in Atlanta as all the baggage from our flight was mixed up in Denver, and I ended up wearing the same outfit I came in for my baby shower the next day, but it all worked out.

After getting in, we went straight to the movie theater for a double feature of Harry Potter 7 Part 1 & 2 with Sam's family. It was a lot of sitting, but really cool to have the first part fresh in my mind for the midnight showing of Part 2, which more than lived up to my expectations. It was amazing! All the cheering and clapping throughout the theater also made it much more exciting. It really was a great way to end the series.

We then got home at 2:30 am. That was a long day.

Friday was my baby shower that some wonderful friends of our family threw for me. It felt a lot like a reunion and I loved seeing so many familiar faces! I cried when I walked in, because it was so beautiful and evident that so much work had gone in. They planned a Shabby Chic/Antique theme down to the last detail.

Baby rattle cupcakes!

Jennifer with my new precious niece (and baby girl's future best friend), Elise.

 With Stephanie and Carson!

So many cute clothes! This girl already has a better wardrobe than me!

All the Wilcox girls.

My wonderful hostesses. Thank you Laree, Cindy, and Michelle for all your hard work! It was a wonderful afternoon and I feel so blessed for all the love that baby girl is being welcomed into.

That night we went with Sam's family to the Braves game, which also happened to be their 10,000th franchise win. We loved getting to do the tomahawk chop and cheer for our Braves live for the first time in many years.

 Go Braves!

 

More about our vacation and our week at the beach to come!