Over Labor Day weekend, Matt and I went with the band down to Pleasanton, CA for the Scottish Festival there.  I was excited as I'd never been, and it is supposed to be a huge games.

Initially, I was planning on working Thursday and just leaving a few hours early to take the company car back and finish packing.  However, by the time Wednesday evening/Thursday morning rolled around, I was feeling slightly overwhelmed at getting everything done.  Mostly because I only found out on Wednesday what time we had to leave on Friday :p  Fortunately, work only had one project going, so they didn't need me, and I took the day off to get ready.

I contemplated not sleeping at all, but we did end up sleeping for about three hours before getting up and finishing packing and driving to Bountiful.  We left at about 2:40am from Payson in order to be in Bountiful to meet the band and be ready to go at 4am.  Ugh.  Matt's parents were kind enough to watch Mocha for us, and I took her over there Thursday evening.  They also came and fed the bird and the cat at our house.  Yay for family who live closeby :)

Wasatch is pretty cool in that they rent vehicles to take on trips.  There were six of us in our minivan.  And, even though it was a Chrysler Town and Country - it was pretty decked out.  I had to pull out the manual to figure out what all of the buttons on the steering wheel were and to figure out how to make the air control work right for the back.  Only thing was we had satellite radio, but not satellite navigation :)  Also cool about Wasatch is that they not only give you the directions to where you're going, but they list who is in which vehicle and phone numbers so you can get in touch with the other cars in your group to schedule things like food and potty breaks :)

Our drive down was pretty unexciting.  Matt took first shift, and refused to let me sleep so I could help keep him awake.  When Kim took over, I tried to doze off, but we ended up chatting with Janna about babies and stuff.  Needless to say, I didn't sleep one bit on the drive there.  We stayed at the Hyatt Place in Dublin, CA, and it was pretty sweet.  Apparently pretty sweet accommodations are also the norm.  This band is great ;)  Wasatch does a "flash practice" when they get to the hotel, but since Ross was flying in, it took awhile before flash happened.  It was pretty chilly Friday night as well, so I snapped a few pics when the drummers started flash and went back upstairs to relax.  Okay, I really got snagged by Kylene and met some more people in the band and chatted for a long while before making it back upstairs, but still....

Funny story - apparently the band got kicked out of the parking lot by the complex security.  The hotel manager apparently was pretty upset about that and had a little chat with them.  Oh well, it just meant we got to go to dinner 5 minutes earlier.  We went with Kylene, Dan, Mike, Nick, and Callin to a Chinese place just down the road.  It was pretty good.  Although, I'm not really a Chinese fan.  After dinner, it was mandatory that we stop by The Happy Mantis Lounge to make an appearance at Glitter Fest.  We stayed long enough to get some drinks and chat for a minute before heading back to our room.




After we left Glitter Fest - the snares decided they needed to play even more.  (Umm, yeah, they did that before flash too - I don't quite understand it :)) This worked out perfectly for me as I was dead tired.  I took a nice hot shower and got ready for bed.  I was just about done when Matt got back home and we could finally sleep :)

I have been quite lucky this pregnancy.  I haven't had a lick of morning sickness.  My feet and ankles didn't swell until about 22 weeks.  Even with that, it's still warm outside, so I can just wear flip flops.  I've been gaining weight on track.  I haven't swelled up all over.  In fact, my shadow still has a waist! :)  This past week I did begin experiencing frequent heartburn, but it has been mild. (Just constant :p) But! It has been two days since I've had to deal with it.  (That being the same time I was about ready to go buy something for it.)  My biggest complaints are aches and pains that I'm sure would subside if I kept excersizing now.  I've thought about looking into prenatal yoga, actually.  Swimming was great until I no longer fit in my swimming suit.... I haven't dared don my bikini yet and I can't bring myself to purchase a maternity suit.  I really ought to do something, though.  My back, hips, shoulders, and neck don't really appreciate my current lifestyle and bodily changes combined.  It's nice to feel good while pregnant, because there are many people who don't have this luxury.  Only other downside is lack of clothes to wear :\  I ordered two new maternity shirts, so I have a couple more short-sleeved options, but finding maternity clothes to cover garments is a huge challenge. Blasted high neckline....  That could be one of the reasons I look forward to Fall - I can wear the long-sleeved shirts I ordered ages ago :)

In other news, we painted the nursery.  In 1 1/2 weeks we can put the vinyl up.  We have no furniture because I can't purchase anything until after we have showers (:p), so that's a wee bit annoying.  Really, it could have used a second coat, but I was too tired to paint more.  I do love the color, which is nice since I found it via Pinterest.  I think I'll do curtains to help bring out the accent color (purple) since we didn't do an actual accent wall.  We shall see, though.

Also, Matt starts grad school soon.  It will be interesting for awhile.  He's going to have to quit pipe bands altogether since Thursday seems to be the universal rehearsal evening.  Poor Mocha is going to be so left alone on Tuesdays and Thursdays now.  (Okay, she's already alone on Thursdays.) 

I just look forward to November.  After elections, I go back to editing (okay, I'm not all that excited for that prospect), then I'm taking maternity leave beginning Thanksgiving (assuming she doesn't come early).  Matt's going to take pretty much the same amount of time off of work, so he'll only have to go to school through the end of the semester.  In January, I'm only going to work part-time, and I'm going to stay home on Tuesdays and Thursdays since Matt is gone all day those days.  I look forward to being able to go do fun stuff in the community and whatnot on those days.  For example, I'm already planning on taking advantage of Thanksgiving Point's $2 Tuesdays next year.  Camile - I vote you and Charlie join us :)  Even though I can't quit work entirely, it will be nice to have a few days to pretend I can spend time with my little girl.

Anyway, that's really about it. Things are still going well, and we'll go back to the doctor on Sept. 7th.  I'm currently 25 weeks, which is a little crazy.  More crazy is I have to do the primary program a month before - and I just don't want to think about that lol  I'm working like crazy.  It's a long drive to Draper, but I really enjoy it.  Plus, I need to accrue all the OT I can get.  It's nice to have extra money right now :)

Today was the first day Matt felt the baby move!

We were snuggling and Matt had his arm around me, and she kicked.  I asked if he felt that.

"Yeah."

"That was her."

"Jerk."

lol

Last night, she was super active for 45-60 minutes while I was at work.  My friend Ashlee was sitting with me and I asked if she wanted to feel.  After about 10 seconds, she gave a good kick - it was exciting, and also the first time some other than me has feel the baby kick.  Quite exciting! Although I did feel bad that Matt wasn't the first to feel her.  I'm kind of glad she decided to kick Daddy this morning ;)

Here are the pictures from our 20 week ultrasound.

Yay for holidays!  We had an awfully busy 4th this year, it seemed like.  We started the day, as usual, with the Provo parade.  Mariona and Myron's families came up for the holiday, so I hung out with them to watch the parade.  We were also joined by Carol and Joannie and some of their children.  Good times.  Oh, and Mocha of course was there :)

Devan returned home from his mission to León, Mexico on Monday, July 2nd.  Lucky for me, he was scheduled to arrive around 8:45pm, and I got out of work (in Draper) at 8pm.  I got to the airport as the rest of the family was arriving.  I forgot my camera, so all of my pics were on my phone and not the best, but here are a few of the happy occasion.