Life According to Instagram

1. What you get when you take education classes and have lots of lesson plans and ideas you don't want to get rid of. Time to organize...

2. Nicely organized papers.

3. Ry was obsessed with my Harry Potter 3D glasses and wore them the whole time at my apartment on Friday.

4. The pacifier clip/leash that I crocheted ALL BY MYSELF. I'm awesome, I know.

5. I love when I find a secret clearance item for ONE DOLLAR (hooded bath towel plus three washcloths).

6. My favorite popcorn. Ever. Try it.

7. I finally decided to give in to the Utah snow cone fetish. I think I'd rather have ice cream.

8. Cute baby girl clothes.

9. Cute hat that I got for 50 cents at The Children's Place Outlet in St. George.

1. Waiting at the doctor's office for my ultrasound. They had balloons and cookies just for me... or so I told myself.

2. Being pregnant means lots of snacks for me: water, string cheese, peanut butter crackers, and cookies.

3. Thank you, Costco, for bringing the wonderfulness of churros to Utah.

4. Clearance baby toy that plays music and head moves (Creepy? Maybe. We didn't realize the second part until we got home with it.).

5. The. Best. Grilled. Pineapples. Ever. Try them. The link is on my sidebar.

6. Pomegranate 7-Up in the summer? Yes, please. Thank you, Maceys.

7. Ry at the San Diego Safari Park (formerly known as the Wild Animal Park) back in May.

8. Jon brought home some beautiful roses to me after he got off work one day!

9. Fake flowers at Rumbi.

1. Go Orem Owlz! Love baseball and summertime. Miss my San Diego Padres though.

2. The clouds turned crazy colors as the sun was setting behind us.

3. Jon at the Birch Aquarium overlooking La Jolla Shores in San Diego back in February.

4. Jon in front of the Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. So sad that that was my last visit for probably a while.

5. Lego firefighter Ry and I found at Toys-R-Us.

6. Painted toes all ready for summer!

7. My other love: Pepsi. I try to drink the non-caffeinated kind for baby, but sometimes I just need the real thing!

8. Craving this right now. I make a whole wheat crust to make up for the fact that the rest of the pizza is super unhealthy: four cheese Alfredo sauce topped with an italian blend of cheeses. SO YUMMY!

9. Jon and I went hiking in Hobble Creek Canyon a few months ago. Not sure how I survived for so long, but I did.

1. Herriman Rodeo.

2. Three books I mysteriously received in the mail. Found out a few days later that my Mom sent them.

3. Waiting for Jon to finish work in Alpine. Love the houses up here!

4. Jon and I at Disneyland.

Random

I love looking at these pictures. I probably look at them at least five times a day.

Last week was awesome. I loved seeing my baby girl for the first time, and I wish I got another ultrasound before she arrives. Jon is getting used to the name Lyla (YAY!) and to the fact that we're having a girl. He's just a little worried though... that girls are more sensitive and delicate than boys. It'll be good for him though. He needs some more sensitivity in his life, right? I also bought some REALLY cute clothes at "Kid to Kid," a secondhand children's and maternity store. I wanted to get so much more, but I restrained myself so that Jon wouldn't flip out when I showed him all the clothes I bought (and how much I spent). Just you wait, Jon... You're in trouble now with two girls in the family. :)

We told our niece, Ryleigh, that we were going to name our little girl Ryleigh as well. She thought that was pretty funny. Then we told her we were kidding. She's been pretty funny about this pregnancy because, when I first told her Mom that we were expecting, Ry would not look me in the face the next day. She was acting embarrassed and shy. But she was pretty excited to hear that we are having a girl because "boys are mean."

I also got to see HARRY POTTER yesterday with Julianne. So fun! I'm glad she was able to go with me because I might have had to sneak off to see it by myself on opening weekend. I LOVED IT! And I cried more than I should probably admit. But I can't wait to see it again with Jon. Julianne and I saw it in 3D, so we got some sweet Harry Potter 3D glasses that are SO MUCH more comfortable than the normal 3D glasses you get for other movies. I hate those things. I somewhat wish we had paid the extra $1.50 to see it in 3D IMAX. That would have been pretty cool. Oh well...

Jon finishes the fire academy in less than a month, and I couldn't be more excited!!!! I feel like I hardly get to see him these days, and it'll be nice to have more time together as we prepare for our little girl's arrival. I'm so proud of how far he has come, and I look forward to the day we leave Utah County for good (two more semesters!!!!).

It's a.....

GIRL!!!!!

The ultrasound tech kind of did a quick overview of the baby to get a sense of where everything was, and I thought I saw boy parts when she showed this view the first time (it was a very quick view). Then when she was measuring the femur bone, I knew it was a girl before she got to that part. She did some more measuring before coming back to the bum and telling us that "100% it's a girl." Everything looks good as far as the baby is concerned. She's healthy and has all the working organs. The placenta is in a good spot. My due date is accurate, so far. It was fun watching her little heartbeat beating (and hearing it again!). We also caught a glimpse of her moving a little bit. I guess the "kicks" i have been feeling have been her arms since she is head down right now shaped like a little "C," with her feet up by my belly. She must find this position comfy because I hardly ever feel her moving much on the left side of me. Now that I know where her little body is, I can maybe find her heartbeat with Jon's stethoscope. I've been trying to find it the last week because I read that around now you can hear the heartbeat through a stethoscope, but I haven't had much luck.

Some of my favorite girl names are: Abigail, Chloe, Eliza, Emma, Kaylee, Kylie, Leah, Lily, Olivia, Sophia....

but my all time favorite, and the one I really hope Jon will learn to love is....

Lyla Lee Arndt

I kind of love it. I feel like I need a really girly name to make up for the fact that Arndt is such a manly name (it's German- what a surprise). So I think watching "August Rush" over and over again until Jon loves the name too will have to be my strategy for now. Otherwise, Kylie or Kaylee would probably be my next pick (and I think Jon doesn't care for those either).

Baby Poll & Fun

For the like one or two of you that read this, I put a poll on the side of my blog... Guess what my baby will be! 12 more days until I find out! YAY!

Also, Jon and I have decided to go here:

in late August or early September. I'm pretty excited. Jon's parents own a timeshare, and so we get to stay there for FREE! I can't wait to sit in the pool every day and hit up the outlets to buy baby some clothes! And eat lots of good food. YUMMMM.

Herriman Rodeo

A few weeks ago, Jon and I joined my sister's family at the Herriman Rodeo. I missed out on most of the rodeo because I stood in line for food for like an hour. Awesome, right? Then I stood in line for another 20 minutes for the bathroom. It would have been worth it to just leave and get food/go to the bathroom and then come back. Oh well... it was still fun. Jon and I don't do much these days since I don't get to see him enough. And when I do, he is too tired to do much (I'm the same way too though). So it was nice to get out one night.

I took some videos of the Hide Racing, which I've never seen before... But I found one that's a little better than mine from that night:

Unfortunately, I didn't get videos of the two guys who rode the hide from underneath accidentally (AKA dirt all over them). It was pretty funny to watch though.

Best Week Ever...

Or pretty close to it.

I just had a doctor's appointment today in which I was able to schedule my ultrasound!!!

Woohoo for July 11th! It will be a good week because (1) I get to start the week off by finding out the gender of our baby (hopefully s/he will cooperate), and (2) Harry Potter 7 Part 2 comes out that Friday (the 15th)!! Please, do not laugh at my nerdy excitement over this because I know all of you love HP too. I just don't know when I'll get to see the movie though because I totally forgot that Jon and I can't do what we did for movie #6 and see it at 8AM on Friday (he has work and school allllll day). Boo! Oh well. I might have to wait a while this time or see it by myself...

Anyways, back to the doctor's appointment. The doc said the baby's heartbeat sounded really healthy... I'm on track with weight gain (woohoo!)... and the uterus is in the right place/size. From my very first appointment at 10 weeks, I've only gained about 2 pounds. I'm not for sure on how much I weighed right before I was pregnant, but I'd estimate only 4-5 pounds of total weight gain so far. I know the numbers will start growing much faster in the upcoming weeks/months, but I just hope I can stay at a good, healthy pace that's right for the baby and myself.

In other pregnancy news, I have been having a hard time sleeping some nights (a lot of them) because my hips and knees will start hurting. I've always had a hard time sleeping- I'd usually wake up at least once to get up to go to the bathroom. Now I'm waking up 2-4 times (usually having to go to the bathroom each time). But it's harder to fall back asleep because of the pains I'm having. I asked the doc about it, and he pretty much gave me the same suggestions that I've read/heard about from others. Too bad most of the them are just temporary pain relievers (hot pad, Tylenol, warm bath, etc.). I guess I'll be buying a body pillow to see if that works (there will be NO extra space in our bed with that!).

I'm not positive, but I think I feel the baby when I work out. I just feel some pressure down there, so I don't know if the baby is just enjoying the work out with me or what. Haha. But, otherwise, I haven't felt him/her moving around a lot yet.

Oh, and if anyone wants to buy me this amazing jogging stroller, then I'll love you forever:

Don't worry, it's only like $500 without the second seat (it's another $90 for that). But it's pretty cool...

I've been looking at strollers a lot lately, and I think I've decided on one:

Or this color:

Can you tell I like green?

I personally like the brighter green better.... Have to see if Jon's okay with it too. It looks less manly than the darker one (I want gender neutral baby gear).

Also, I'm kind of thinking of trying cloth diapering... I would have never even considered it if it weren't for the fact that they have disposable (and flushable!!) liners for them. It's worth a shot... saving money and the world all in one... makes me feel good about myself and my baby's bum will feel nice from the soft organic fabrics.

An Announcement

Sometime in the middle/end of March, I found out that I was pregnant. I knew it before I even took a test because I could tell my body was changing already. Weeks 6 through maybe 8, I was very fatigued all the time. I also had VERY strong food aversions. I did not want to eat turkey at all (and I love turkey!). We usually use ground turkey instead of beef because it's healthier, but the smell of ground turkey just grossed me out too much to deal with it anymore. However, I have been very lucky with morning sickness. I'd say there has been little to none. MAYBE once a week, I would feel like I needed to throw up, and I would, and that would be that. I was fine the rest of the day. I mostly hated the fact that NOTHING ever sounded good to me. For a little while, all I wanted to eat was fruit and other healthy options (weird... but good!). But I am grateful that I have been part of the 25% (or less?) of women who don't really get morning sickness. Oh, and that 24-hour flu that I had last week was really the flu, but I'm sure it was somewhat worse because of the pregnancy. That was the only day during this first trimester that I was not able to keep a single solid food down.

Now some of the feelings I've had throughout this time: anxiety and stress. Even though I had already known deep down that I was pregnant before I took a test, I still about had an anxiety attack when I saw the two lines. I didn't think it would happen so fast. I made a deal with Jon that we would start "trying" to have kids in February... or, in other words, stop "not trying" and take things as they come. We were in the mindset that "if it happened, then it happened," but we wouldn't stress over it if it didn't happen right away. Jon and I had started running together because he was getting ready for the fire academy, and I wanted to lose some weight before I actually got pregnant. Not long after we started training for a 10K (maybe two weeks in), I realized that I just couldn't run and keep up with him. I knew something was different.

Since Jon and I don't have health insurance, I knew we had to apply to Medicaid right away. Well, you probably aren't surprised that the government is a mess to deal with and made me very stressed out. When I first talked to them for my "interview" (you pretty much tell them everything that you just filled out on your application online again... so dumb), the guy told me that we might not qualify because we had too much in assets. We had a decent amount of money in the bank (not enough to pay for a baby though!) from our tax return. Also, the car my grandma gave us was still fairly new (very low mileage, a few years old, and in very good shape), so it is probably worth a decent amount of money. Jon didn't have a job at the time though, so how could we not qualify? The money in the bank wouldn't last us long. I was getting upset as I was put on hold while he figured everything out. Thankfully, he came back on and said it would all work out. Then I just had to bring in proof of the pregnancy, my birth certificate, and bank statements. Well, about a month later, I was denied. Then the stress came on even worse because if we had to pay for the baby, it would have to be done by credit card (for the most part). And Jon probably wouldn't be able to go to the paramedic program at all because we'd have absolutely no extra money for it. Well, turns out they lost my proof of pregnancy, and Jon was nice enough to call them to work it all out (he was only on hold for 45+ minutes). This time we faxed them our copy of the doctor's note. And about a week later, I was approved and so much more relieved. Either way, I knew all would work out okay because I figured this baby was meant to be because s/he came so fast.

I will be 14 weeks tomorrow. Jon and I just barely told our families and close friends yesterday. We (or I) wanted to wait until we heard the heartbeat, which we got to do this past Tuesday. I would be lying if I said I wasn't scared because I am. However, I know all will be well, and I'm excited to finally have that little baby that I have dreamed about since high school (I have always wanted to be a wife and a mother). We should be able to find out the sex of the baby sometime in July. I can't wait!

Fire Academy, etc.

Jon came home from his official first day of class last night. He sat in class for a while, listening to lectures. Later, they got their turnout gear and practiced putting it on. Eventually, they started to time them. Jon says they probably did this about 30 times, with shortening the time limit each time. If someone was over the time limit, then they would all have to do an exercise (pushups, sit ups, etc.). Jon was pretty tired, but he was never one to go over the time limit! So now he has to practice getting all his gear on in under 45 seconds (boots, pants, coat, hood, helmet, and gloves). I think he's really enjoying the academy so far, but it is a lot of hard work (both mentally and physically). We'll see what he thinks of the academy after his 1.5 hours of P.T. he has to do on Saturday....

Anyways, yesterday I woke up feeling pretty sick. I threw up twice before even eating any breakfast. I thought I was good to go afterwards and tried eating a fruit bar and some crackers. Well, I was definitely NOT okay because I couldn't keep that down. Anyways, the whole day I felt pretty miserable, and, if I tried to eat even just two crackers when I thought I was doing better, then it just came right back up. It must have been a 24-hr flu because I'm feeling SO much better today (I've eaten and NOT thrown up). Plus, I think I had a mild fever, which has definitely gone away. Jon was so sweet to get me some medicine, popsicles, soda, and jell-o last night, so I could at least put something in my mouth and reduce the fever. Later that evening, after we were already asleep, I woke up to Jon touching my face. I was so confused because I was thinking, "I'm sick and you're waking me up?!" I turned to him and asked if everything was okay. He said, "yes." Then he proceeded to grab my hand and just held it. I was totally confused at what was going on, and then realized that he was probably not fully awake or aware of what he was doing. I asked him about it this morning, and he said he didn't remember it at all. It is something that definitely made us giggle because this seems to happen every once in a while... he does/says weird things in the middle of the night, and then totally doesn't know what I'm talking about the next morning.

Hello, Blog. Part 4

Okay, this will be the last post of my travels (and everything else I've been behind with)...

We left off on Wednesday in Julian.......

Thursday: Disneyland! I was so excited to go. I seriously feel like a kid every time I go. Jon doesn't understand my love for it one bit because he has hated the other two times we've gone (the only two times he's ever been). There's just something about it though. My family had annual passes growing up, so we went often as kids. I was soooo scared of all the big rides (except Splash Mountain.... how the heck did I ever get on that one when I was scared of Thunder Mountain and the Matterhorn??? I can understand Space Mountain, except my sister described it much different/scarier from what it really is.). Anyways..... we got there about a half hour after it opened, and we didn't get into the parking garage, so I thought for sure it was super busy already. But NOPE! It was the PERFECT day! I was so happy. We were able to go on all the rides we wanted to WITHOUT fastpasses (although, we got some anyways). There was not a single wait longer than 20 minutes. We got on all the big rides (except Splash Mountain- my fave!!!!! It was closed... and I didn't get to go on it last time we went either!!! :( I was pretty sad about that.). The best part of the day for Jon was when we went to the Golden Horseshoe Saloon and watched Bill Hill and the Hillbillies. I had never watched any of the shows they've had in there before, so this was a first for me. I knew Jon would love it though because he is really into bluegrass music (WHYYYYYY?!?!). They were very funny and entertaining though, even if it wasn't my taste of music. Later, I ruined the whole day for Jon by going on It's A Small World (I hate that ride, but I figured he needed to experience it ONCE in his life. hahaha).

First ride of the day! Space Mountain. :)

Indiana Jones! Funny thing: every time we got off the ride, it broke down! We lucked out both times.

Waiting for Bill Hill and the Hillbillies show to start...

Not a very cute picture.........

Had to get a picture of Jon in front of the "Disneyland Fire Department." Maybe next time, I'll take one during the day when you can actually see everything.

Friday: We went to the World Famous San Diego Zoo with my Mom and Ry! It had been a while since I'd been there, so it was fun to see all the new stuff they built/are building. Ry was a real pill that day though, so we didn't stay long and get to see much.

We took the sky buckets across to the other side of the park (which we wanted to do the opposite way since the back of the park is downhill, and you have to walk uphill to the front of the park... but Ry was a pill that day, remember?).

This polar bear was showing off. I've never seen them come so close before, but you could tell he loved all the attention!

I've never seen the pandas so close before either. They are usually hiding because they like the quiet.

Baby gorilla.

Saturday: Jon got up early to go on a hike with my Dad. My Dad loves hiking, but he doesn't get to do it much anymore without any kids at home. So he was very excited to have Jon to go hiking with him. I took them up to Ramona and dropped them off.... and it was a very interesting day for Jon. Haha. He thought my Dad was going to die/have a heart attack/etc. They hadn't gotten very far into the hike, and I guess my Dad was struggling already. My Dad's legs got so weak during the last bit of the hike that he decided to go down the hill by sliding on his butt. Haha. He eventually sent Jon to go ahead to the Lake Poway food area to buy him a Diet Coke and try to call us to come pick them up. Jon took some pictures while they were up there....

You can see the ocean in this one.

We drove back on the next Monday. The weather was horrendous in Utah. I'm just glad we got through Cedar City and those passes before they closed the I-15. But we probably added at least an hour to our drive because of the weather. It got bad again near Nephi, which I hate because we were getting SO CLOSE to Provo, but we had to slow down again due to the snow.

What we've been up to since then: Jon has been finishing up his online classes this semester. He got accepted to the Fire Academy for the summer semester (starts May 7th!). He also got a job mowing lawns for rich people in Alpine, Cedar Hills, PG, AF, etc. We are lucky because his boss was okay with Jon getting off early MWF for the academy and finishing in August, when (hopefully) he'll be starting the Paramedic program. I really have not been doing much other than babysitting Ryleigh and Young Women's. My younger brother gets home from his mission next week!!! I'm headed to San Diego (without Jon this time) for his homecoming talk on Mother's Day. Jon and I are thinking of heading to St. George next weekend for some alone time/break from Utah County before he starts up his never-ending school, where we will never be able to go ANYWHERE (he has classes on Saturdays too).

Hello, Blog. Part 3

After spending a week in our own apartment, we packed up again and headed to my parent's house in San Diego for my 25th birthday! A few weeks earlier, my sister asked if it would be okay if we took Ryleigh with us since she was going to be off track then (she's in year-round school). So as soon as my sister dropped Ry off at our place, we took off. But first... this is what we woke up to the morning we left:

Lovely, right? NOT. I was so happy to going to warm, sunny San Diego!

This was Ry right before we got on the freeway—she was freezing.

Ry did pretty well on the ride, considering we didn't stop as much as I thought we would with her. She was so excited to see Las Vegas because she hears stories about how she was born there. The weather was also pretty good once we got away from Northern Utah.... all the way until sometime after Barstow/before the San Bernardino area. We stopped for dinner in Barstow, and, as we were driving further and further South, the grey clouds in the distance got closer and closer...

This photo doesn't even do the clouds justice. It was crazy as we got closer. It started to sprinkle, then rain, then downpour. Unfortunately, we were in the worst of the storm during the big downgrade from the desert into the San Bernardino valley. I was pretty freaked out because that hill is so scary at night without rain... The rain was so bad that our wipers were on the highest setting, and it was still hard to see. Plus, we were hitting traffic (although, most of the traffic was leaving San Bernardino/LA instead of going into it). Luckily, Ry slept through all of this, so she didn't stress me out even more (she can do that sometimes).

Once we got away from the LA traffic, we had a smooth ride the rest of the way. The next day, Jon and I just relaxed at my parent's place since I had the next week packed with fun things to do!

The following day was my 25th birthday! My Mom made my favorite, Chicken Cordon Bleu, for dinner and ordered a Baskin Robbins' ice cream cake. Yum!

Monday: We went to the Birch Aquarium in La Jolla. It was fun looking at all the sea creatures. There are definitely some weird things that live in the ocean! They also had a tide pool that overlooked La Jolla shores and where you can touch whatever you want inside! I touched a starfish, sea cucumber, and something like a soft sea urchin (I have no idea what it's called, but that's what it reminded me of). Ry was so scared to touch anything, until the worker asked if she wanted her to lift a starfish up higher for her to touch. So she finally touched it and was obsessed with touching it after that. But we couldn't get her to touch anything else.

Ry touching the starfish.

La Jolla Shores, where I have spent many summers in the past.

Jon looking at the beautiful ocean and beach. (He loves beaches too since he lived near many for two years on his mission.)

Seahorse

Tiny seahorses

Weird seahorses

Jellyfish

Jon and me in front of the big fish tank that had a shark (the shark is not pictured though)!

Afterwards, we went to La Jolla Shores to pick up some beach sand for my sister... Something for her house decorations (probably for Ry's bathroom since it's beach themed). Later, in the evening, Jon and I went to walk around Lake Poway. Unfortunately, we got there somewhat late (they close the parking lot at sunset), and we didn't want to get locked in, so we just walked a little ways around and then back.

Lake Poway


The beautiful Poway. I love this.

Tuesday: We went to Balboa Park because there are a few museums that are free on Tuesdays for San Diego residents. So we got to go to the San Diego Model Railroad Museum (totally weird- but gotta love those old men and their hobby). I can't even imagine ever putting together something so big and detailed. They had the deserts of Arizona and San Diego. The Pacific railroad with the ocean and surfers. There was even a McDonald's with a car going through the drive-thru. It was pretty crazy, and it's so cool that these guys just do it for fun (their volunteers). Then we went over to the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. I used to love this place as a kid, so I knew Ry would love it. They have tons of hands-on science experiments. I think Jon even had fun doing the experiments!

Ry has light up shoes (they're called Twinkle Toes)... so when she touched this, the electricity must have went through her and lit up her shoes without moving her feet!

I wanted to take Jon to the USS Midway sometime this week as well (I was trying to think of things Jon would enjoy doing in San Diego since I knew he wouldn't enjoy Disneyland), so my Mom drove us over there. She and Ry were going to just walk around at Seaport Village, while Jon and I toured the aircraft carrier, but Ry said she wanted to see the "big boat" too. It was a bit pricier than I thought (I was planning on bringing my student ID because I knew I could get discounts at all these places, but I must have left it back in our apartment), but my Mom was nice enough to pay for all of us.

Ry and Jon in front of the aircraft carrier.

It's a self-guided tour, so you can go in any order that you want. They give you headphones and a device that you enter in whatever number the exhibit is, and it will tell you about each part of the ship.


Jon in front of one of the planes with his headphones. :)


Jon in the ship's prison.


On the flight deck... Can I just say that Ry loves her Uncle Jon? They're best friends... or so she thinks. Haha.


Downtown San Diego from the carrier.


Coronado Bridge (I wanted to take Jon across that too, but maybe another time)!

Wednesday: We were going to go to Disneyland, but I decided that my feet were so tired from all the walking around we did on Tuesday that we would go Thursday instead. So we headed up to Julian in the mountains of San Diego, where it gets snow. Remember that storm that we drove through on the way down to San Diego? Well, Julian got their own storm and got some snow. I didn't expect much at all because I figured it wasn't the time of year when they would still be getting a lot, but I was completely wrong. Oh, and the reason I wanted to take Jon to Julian was because I wanted him to see some towns in San Diego that aren't actually in the city (the only hopes I have for us ever moving to San Diego would be in Ramona, which you drive through on the way to Julian). Anyways, Julian is a cute little town that makes all their money off of their apples and the snow in the winter. People love to go up there to eat apple pie and play in the snow. There's also some good hikes, which Jon and I were hoping to do... but like, I said, too much snow.

My apple pie a la mode (actually I got an apple berry or something like that).


A crazy sign that tells you where all the shops are.


Pretty much the main street in town that has a bunch of these little shops.

To be continued.....