37 weeks!!

And I quote:

Your baby "is now clinically mature and ready to be born."

HALLELUJAH!!!!!!!!! 

That is wonderful news. This is part in the recipe that says "remove from oven and cool on wire rack," and let's be serious, we could really just skip that step and scarf. But apparently our baby likes to follow directions, so she's in there cooling her jets and getting pumped to make her grand entrance.

Sorry I wear the same clothes in every picture...

Our appointments are every week. Our appointment last Tuesday was swell, I'm measuring 36 which is  spot on. The midwife that we met with made us nervous that the babe wasn't moving enough, so we panicked and went back the next day and did a non-stress test, where they just put a monitor on my tummy and we get to listen to her heart beat for 20 minutes and a little chart spits out of the machine. The lady came in and said that little Penelope is just perfect. Huzzah!

Baby Shower

This post is dedicated to Michelle.

Friend Heather threw me a baby shower! Thank heavens, because babies are exPENsive. And we didn't have any clothes.

Here's the invite:

It's a diaper. :)

I don't really have any friends, so all the old ladies that I work with were invited. They are very friendly, and can spend a lot more money on baby things than me. Convenient, eh?

One of the ladies asked me last week or so to put together a list of all the things I didn't have. She said that I had to put things on there even if they were expensive and I didn't plan on receiving them. So I did. It was fun. And I got a large number of things on that list!

We had it at Applebee's because there was plenty of parking and I didn't have to try and figure out how I was going to seat 15 old ladies with hip problems in my little apartment. Thank heaven. That was a stroke of genius from whoever suggested it.

PLEASE excuse the double chin(s).

 The lady on the very front right is named Cookie. Really! That's her name!

It's a wee little baby cradle. An old lady cut them, I folded and glued. And then we stuffed them full of Hershey kisses and  tulle.

Little things

Here are some things that are awesome.

 Nope, you're not looking at Pinterest or some other website that has pictures of awesome hair, that's the back of my very own personal head! I picked a sock that had no brother and made a sock bun. And I put it on my head.

 Obviously, these are my lovely toes. I went with Heather (my roommate who came to our wedding) to get our toes done at the local beauty school for TWELVE SMACKERS. And the girl who did my toes was Brazilian. She used her own Brazilian fingernail polish on my toes, and gave me a flower on the Biggies. ("Be young!!!")

 Samuel went to Island Park with one of his friends to pal around for a few days before said friend moves to Texas. And he picked me flowers before he left. Because he likes me.

THIS is a wall decal. I automatically think of Fat Head commercials when I say that. The idea is that they stick on your wall and make everything wonderful. But these don't really stick on our wall. We might glue them there.

We got rear ended like, 8 months ago, and they shattered our passengers side tail light assembly. We didn't really care til we got pulled over last week and the nice policeman let us off with a friendly warning. (Probably a first in the Rexburg police force.) It lit a fire under Sam and we ordered a replacement online. It came today. The brownies were brought over by a neighbor. They are made out of beans. BEANS. Bean brownies.

Home Improvement

Well, in case you hadn't noticed, this last week was a pretty long one. Saturday came for me as a very welcome relief from work, from setting an alarm, from wearing work-appropriate clothes, from having to look together, etc. I slept in until TEN O' CLOCK for cryin' out loud. I don't remember the last time I did that. But I really liked it.

Sam and I went down to the big city to do a little shopping for our new little apartment and to eat Red Robin. These pictures actually don't show hardly anything that we bought, because we haven't hung any of it up yet. But stay tuned.

Sam has become quite the handyman these days. We snagged this dresser for FREE and it was minus several handles and the left middle drawer had no slat to sit on, so it just fell through into the bottom drawer. But Sam fixed it up quite nicely. 

Funny story: I got this crib for free also from work using Accolade points that I earn just for doing my job. Sam and I were really gung-ho about putting it together, but then we got to a step that just wasn't possible because the blasted legs were WRONG. The hole in the top was drilled 2 inches too low on 2 of the 4 legs. We were outraged. Sam called the company to get new posts, and the girl told him that because we didn't have any warranty or receipt information, that we would have to fork over $45 for new legs. So after steaming over that for 3 weeks or so, Sam called the company again ready to make some demands. Sweet British Cynthia answered the phone and kindly helped us reassemble our crib in the right way, and magically, every piece was manufactured perfectly.

I made this blanket with my own two hands. A nice old lady at work taught me how to crochet, and so I single stitched two skeins of pink yarn together, added tassels, and hung it on our crib. I'm busting my buttons just looking at it.

 

My curtains! I've had a hard time with these puppies. They didn't turn out quite as I envisioned, but thanks to A LOT of positive feedback from Sam, I don't think I'll burn them and rip the rod from the wall. I tied them with twine and I think I'll hot glue a little sunflower or something on the tie.

Sam bought me the bag of my dreams this Saturday. I think I tricked him into it by saying that we can use it as a diaper bag, but the more I look at it, I just don't think it's going to happen. Also, thanks again to Jenna for the ULTRA comfy maternity dress.

This might be my favorite improvement to our house. I got this shelving for free from work as well, and we've turned a little closet in our kitchen into a bonified pantry. I love it. 

And last, but certainly not least, is Sam's Burnin' Love Burger at Red Robin on Saturday. It came with a whole jalepeno pepper speared right on top of it. It was quite a sight.

Our NEW apartment!!!

This is the view in the summers from up the street and down the street from the temple. It's a beautiful sight.

This is our kitchen. We love how open it is. You can see to your right the front door and right next to the front door is a pantry where we are planning on keeping food storage. 

This is our hallway. As you walk down the hallway to your right you will see our bathroom which is across from our very own washer and dryer! Then further back on the right will be our babies room and to the left is our room.

I must say Megan did a great job with those curtains! This view is if you were standing almost in the hallway facing the kitchen. The front door is to your left. 

This is our living room. You can't see all the space we have in there (sorry) but it's a decent amount. Also that big couch is the sectional the previous renters left us. It's pretty sweet. 

This is our bathroom. We love it. 

Here is our babies room. (we had problems setting up the crib. The manufactures apparently made one of the ends holes an inch away from where it should be so we can't connect the end's to the side rail. 

Here is another view of the babies room

Here is our bedroom!

Another angle

I like how the room angles off like that

Our super big closet. The babies closet is the same size.

SO we have a lot of work still to get our house decorated with pictures and such, but thus far we love this apartment. It's big and spacious and the AC works great. We are very pleased to call this place home.

Dallas

From May 4th - May 11th Megan and I visited my family in Texas. This was a super fun trip and Megan was finally able to meet my Dad, Stepmom, Brother, Sister and extended family.

Here are some photos!

Megan and I with my Grandpa

Us on the field

These are the "worst" seats in Cowboy stadium

On the field

This TV costed at 40 million dollars. 

on the field

We got to check out the locker room

The newest players of the Dallas Cowboys! 

They told us that each locker costs $9,000 - $10,000

My twin sister Carolyn

Carolyn at the press conference 

Cowboy's stadium

This is the view from where my dad has his seats

Dad, Megan, and Shari

Carolyn and Megan at Ranger stadium

Megan and I at the Rangers Game

My dad has 2 sets of seats at the Rangers stadium. My sister and my dad were sitting across from us during the game.

Texas beat the Red Sox! 

The outfield

Other than touring the Cowboy stadium and going to a Rangers game, we saw the new Jackie Robinson movie which was really good. We also ate a ton - I gained 7 pounds.

Although the trip was fantastic we are very happy to be home.

Me, My brother Joey, and Carolyn