A New Year and a bigger belly

I can hardly believe that it's the end of January. That means I'm about 5 weeks away from my due date. Crazy! The time has actually gone by really fast - but I've been told the last month is the longest one so hopefully I'll have time to get everything together before he comes. We - that is Tim and his dad - painted the baby's room this last weekend and will be putting on a second coat of paint this weekend. I'll post pics when it's all done - but it's looking so good! I'm really excited. I'm also looking forward to not being pregnant. I know that might be hard to believe for some of you who might have loved being pregnant or think that getting that much attention would be fabulous, but I think I may feel this way because I'm tired of hearing statements such as:

• "Wow, you sure are popping today!" - I've heard that at least once a day for the past 7 months...it's starting to get a little old.
• "Are you sure you only have one in there?" - word to the wise: never say this to a pregnant woman unless you are looking to add a name to your list of mortal enemies.
• "When are you due? ...Oh you still have a ways to go!!" - I actually had one random lady in the grocery store say that she certainly didn't get as big as I was until a week before she was due...thank you!
• "I hope you're getting the black beans and not the refried beans." - ok, so this was only said to me once when I was standing in line at Rubios - but it goes to show that there are many self-proclaimed doctors in the world who take it upon themselves to give you unsolicited and frankly, unwanted advice.

And then I'm looking forward to these simple pleasures when I'm not pregnant:

• Running - I am actually envious of runners passing by no matter how tired or out of breath they look.
• Playing sports - oh how I miss them
• Sleeping on my back
• Bending over to pick something up without having to spread my legs several feet apart
• Having more energy
• Not having to go to the bathroom every 30 min.
• Getting up without grunting
• Not being out of breath from a simple exercise or walk
• Getting in and out of the car without dread

It will most likely take a little time before I can do all of these but I'm sure the thought of this list will help me get through labor.

Anywho, enough about pregnancy. A little summary of the holidays...

We spent Thanksgiving up in Utah where we had a blast with Tim's family. We went hiking, ice fishing (man that was cold) and played a lot of Settlers and Wacky Six and ate and ate and ate. It was so fun to see everyone including my brother Will and his family who just moved to St. George - it's so great that they are so much closer and in a much warmer climate than Buffalo, NY. Will + ledge = crazy cool moves

Fun in St. George

Hiking in the snow...brrr - this is why we live in San Diego

Tim and his brother, Kia, making Snow Angels

A week after Thanksgiving, I flew back up to Utah for my good friend, Ashley's, wedding. The whole gang of my BYU roommates (pre-mission) also came so it made for a very fun time. We went to Temple Square, saw the movie on Joseph Smith's life, and we ate and ate and ate.

The Nativity in the reflection pool at Temple Square

Outside Mt. Timpanogas Temple with the girls

Fun before the wedding

Then we spent Christmas in San Diego and had a great time with my family as well as Tim's grandparents and brother and we ate and ate and ate. The kids did such a great job for the Nativity on Christmas Eve. So cute!

Eric loved his cool shepherd turban

Then for New Years, we watched the ball drop at Spencer and Kim's house and watched it live in New York so it was really 9 pm our time when we celebrated which was perfect since 9:30 has become Tim's and my bed time. We ate a lot then too. So I guess we shouldn't be surprised to see my belly look the way it does...

Joshua's on his way! :)