San Diego Temple

While lots of the kiddos went to Legoland, at our 'reunion', a bunch of us adults went to the San Diego Temple. (To see my pictures of the temple itself, and pictures I took of my parents, go to my photo blog.)
After doing a session, we all wanted pictures out in front of it, so we clambered up and down the hill next to it, which is really the only place to get the entire temple in one shot.

My sister, Karen, took these of me and Dylan.

 And then Dylan took pictures of me and my sisters.

 And then he took pictures of me at 26 weeks pregnant.

...with Karen holding my baby bump? what? haha

20 Weeks...which was, yes, over 9 weeks ago.

Hey, better late than never, right?
Now that we finally have our computer up and going full-speed-ahead, I finally am uploading pictures and editing them.
These were pictures taken when I was 20 weeks along. And yesterday I was 29 weeks. So have no assumptions that I look anything like this still. My feet and legs are about twice as swollen as here, as are my arms, and my belly is growing and growing and growing! Meaning, Eloise is growing and growing and growing. Yay!

(whose belly is bigger? haha)

 

Whoa, BABY!

I had to imitate the cheesy heart-fingers-on-belly pictures I've seen. Yes, I love my baby girl, but holding my fingers in the shape of a heart over her just makes me laugh.

Life in Greenvull

That's right, you thought we were living in Greenville. You're wrong. It's Greenvull, according to the people who live here. Life is starting to flow pretty well. The first few days were hard with absolutely nowhere to sit, other than the futon (which doubled as our bed) and I felt a lot more homesick than I thought I would. But, it's a wonder what having furniture and things unpacked can do. Our home is really neat. It's 3 bedrooms and double the size of our last home. It's huge!!! Well, huge for us. It's also amazing because the sixth hole of the local public golf course is our backyard. I keep thinking that maybe I'll pull out my clubs at night and hit some....

but that is illegal. More importantly, though, it is too ridiculously humid out here to play. It's been almost 100 everyday with outrageous humidity. All this humidity and heat has introduced us to really weird new bugs that neither of us has ever seen before. Yesterday, I killed a bug that look like half bee half cricket. It was all black and we have no idea what it was. Whatever it was, it made Julie scream like a little girl and made me shout like a slightly older girl.

The town is fun. It's very much a college town. Lots of the stores have Pirates flags waving in them and have purple and "gold" all over them ("gold" meaning yellow). It seems like almost everyone we meet has some sort of ECU apparel on their person or on their cars. It's really fun, I think. I went to their bookstore, today, and it was huge how many different Pirates things they had. We are enjoying life here, so far, other than that Julie is not a big fan of this guy who she finds creepy....

 

Some Observations Driving Through the Country

My Mom and I have finally pulled into North Carolina. We're here at our hotel waiting for Julie's flight to come in so I can pick her up. Driving all the way from Salt Lake City, we have been through much of the country. We drove through Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. Here are some observations and highlights.

• I found out in Kearney, NE (pronounced Carney) that my Mom snores. Bad. 
• Wyoming looks the same from the start of 1-80 until you get to Nebraska. 
• I love miles and miles of cornfields. For whatever reason, it's beautiful to me. 
• We had to take the scenic route through Kansas because of flooding. It looked like Smallville in the Superman comics, still. Which was awesome. 
• Kansas City was ghastly hot. It was 114 degrees when we drove through it. And my Mom learned that it's difficult to take pictures with her phone, especially when the car is moving fast. You should see the pictures she took of "the Royals stadium." 
• Indiana and Kentucky both consider themselves to be the land of Lincoln. I'm going to have to give the nod to Indiana of the two because the Louisville Cardinals basketball stadium is named the KFC "YUM!" Center. Not even kidding. 
• West Virginia is one of the most scenic places to drive through in all of the world. It was comparable to Scotland and England to me. However, we were not aware that Huntington, WV is where Evangelicals flock to for their EFY-esque camps. There was not a single room open. We were the Mormons with no place in the inns for us. 
• I'm still very much a mama's boy. It was a grand time driving for 36 hours with her throughout this great country of ours. She makes me laugh lots and my parents have been awesome to me. 
• We were only in Virginia temporarily and it cost us a small fortune in tolls. But, it was pretty, as well. 
• North Carolina is going to be awesome. How could it not be? They have chocolate covered bacon shakes! 

Embracing Da Souf

I have a confession: I have NEVER, EVER had any desire to live in the South. When I think of the South I think of the Confederate Flag (which I compared to the Nazi swastika in an English paper), Jim Crowe laws, ridiculous humidity, burning crosses, Big Dan T from "O, Brother Where Art Thou?" and NASCAR. I do have to hand it to them that they have introduced Coke and Dr. Pepper into the world. However, those drinks are so deliciously addictive that they have single-handedly caused me to get fat (well, and not working out). I swore in my youthful ignorance I would never end up there.

However, life has humbled me and I have received fantastic opportunities from a college there. So, since I am moving down there, I am trying to get rid of all my old biases and have decided to have a good attitude about our move there. I want to keep an open mind, just like I hope people would do when moving to my beloved state of Utah (where most people think of polygamy and boredom). So, I have decided to try my best to make friends, enjoy the uniqueness of the experience and to be happy in the journey.

With that said, I hope you enjoy these clips.