March - Month 7!!!!

March was such a fun month! We started the month out by wrapping up everything for the Gilbert Temple.  We lucked out and got tickets to actually be in the temple for the dedication and got even luckier by attending the last session so we were able to see President Monson & President Eyring leave the temple.  They were so cute and friendly.  

We were towards the beginning of the line and were able to sit in a sealing room.  They fit 1800 people in the temple per session. 

The biggest change at our house this month was that we found a new home for Rocky, our turtle.  It's very weird to not have him in his spot in front of the window.  We have had him the whole time we have been in Arizona, but it was time to make a change because we knew he was going to be neglected once that baby comes.  I was able to find a science teacher at my school that wanted him, so Mike spent a morning bringing everything over and teaching the teacher how to take care of him.  

Not only did we both have spring break (on different weeks - boo!), but we also had visitors during Mike's spring break.  My Uncle Russ and his family came down from Blanding for their spring break and we got to see them a few times.  We even got to attend the Gilbert Temple for the first time with Russ & Rebecca.  That weekend we got to have the kids come over for a sleepover so Russ & Rebecca could clean their condo without the kids around.  We love those kids!  They are the sweetest/best kids I've ever known.

Next up was St. Patrick's Day.  We are trying to get better at actually celebrating holiday's. :)  So Mike made Irish soda bread and we bought Irish cheddar cheese and made delicious Irish cheese sandwiches.

Pregnancy Update:  My belly is growing, which means my baby is growing!  Yay!  The months of January & February were such a relief that I wasn't sick, but they were the months that my stomach muscles were adjusting to all they were going to have to carry around.  I had a few rough days where I was in quite a bit of pain and had to move very slow.  In March, things really started to get better and I started to feel like my body had accepted what I was doing to it. :)  I went to visit Grandma Pat in Yuma over my Spring Break and we spent a little time shopping.  It was nice to get a few more maternity clothes.  

The best part of March was that I found my Dr.!!!!!  So I have this amazing OB that I found about a year and half ago and he has been so good to us and is one of the main reasons we finally have this baby.  However, we knew he was very unhappy at the practice he was working at, but he had told us that he was going to stay there for about another year and that we could follow him when he left.  Then I got a call at the end of February that he had quit!  I thought my world was over.  My hormonal self did not handle it well and started thinking of all sorts of crazy alternatives, but lucky for me I have a calm husband that told me to just sit tight and see if he shows up. I may or may not have spent some time everyday internet stalking him, but it paid off because I found him towards the end of March and was able to set up an appointment for mid-April.  What a relief!  

30 weeks

3/4 of the way there!

The 6th Month - February

February was a fabulous and busy month!  I felt great all month!  I was able to enjoy my expanding belly and my moving baby a lot.  There weren't really any notable things that happened other than that with the pregnancy this month, except that we are getting closer to her coming and so excited!

21 weeks

24 weeks

Our whole month was comsumed up by the Gilbert Temple Cultural Celebration.  This is what the church does the night before a temple dedication to involve the youth that live in the temple district.  The Gilbert Temple serves 26 stakes, so we have 12,000 youth participating in this event! We were asked to be the "Stake Food Specialists" for our stake.  This basically meant feeding 250 youth during two all day practices and having snacks for their evening practices.  To make it nice and complicated, they didn't allow any open flames or other cooking gear.  They said we could warm food, but they weren't really enough electrical outlets to do that.  So we got creative.  Some of the meals we did were muffins, cold cereal bar, Little Caesars pizza, breakfast burritos, and Chipotle burritos.  It was crazy, but we survived.

Panorama of the practice field.  I'm not sure if this pictures gives the sight of 12,000 teenagers dancing together justice.  It was an incredible sight!

This is a picture of one of the screens they had, but it was still awesome to be so close to the Pres. Eyring and Pres. Monson.  It was really amazing seeing 12,000 teenagers get so excited to see two old men. :)

We thought we were going to luck out and not have rain, which would have been a miracle since the forecast had been 100% chance of rain all day.  However, right as the prophet pulled up in his car a half hour before the performance it began to pour and didn't stop until an hour after the performance was over.  This was particularly interesting since the kids were actually performing in a water retention basin.  By the time the performance was over they were dancing in at least an inch or two of water.  

I have never been so wet and cold in my whole life!  Talk about "soaked to the bone."

If you're interested here is a link to the Cultural Celebration: