Belly Update

Well I am in the middle of my 34th week of pregnancy and still feeling good. For those who can't remember or who simply don't want to have to do the math, that is in the middle of my 8th month. Everything is still going well with the pregnancy and I feel really good, except for not being able to bend like I would like. Other than that, really no complaints. Here's a pic so you can get a visual on how big the belly is getting.


Last week Carter and I went to Oak Glen with Clarice, home of the famous "Mile-High Apple Pie" that Justin got a couple years ago. It was a nice cold day (about 50 degrees) up in the mountains and we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We ate lunch, went to the petting zoo, and sampled apples and cider. It was really fun and Carter loved it. When it was time to go he kept saying, "No, mom. Not go home yet."


Saturday we actually got RAIN for the first time in a long time. It wasn't much but it was very well-received. It was quite blustery around here for a couple days; fall-like enough to make me whip out my fall decorations, lite and pumpkin candle, and make some delicious pumpkin bread. So on Saturday we let Carter play outside in the rain with the "Coombella". He was so excited about that.


Sunday was my last day as the Laurel advisor. I have a new calling as the Primary secretary. Though I will miss my girls, I was ready to move to something different and I am excited to be working with these new ladies. I haven't ever been in a presidency, so that's been new. This Sunday will be my first time doing all my new stuff alone. Luckily I have until then to figure out what all that entails.

New Shoes

So Carter really needed some new shoes so after stake conference last night, Spence and I went to Target to check them out. We picked out a pair of super-cute blue ones that look like skate shoes. Also this week, I had bought him a new pair of "church shoes" at Walmart- just basic brown ones to go with anything. Anyway, I thought he'd be totally pumped about his new shoes like he has in the past, so we got dressed for church and I said, "Okay, let's put on your new church shoes!" I whipped them out of the closet and we put some socks on then...oh man... For no apparent reason he was NOT happy about his new shoes. He started kicking and saying, "NO! I no like em! I take em off!"
So what do you do in that situation? I did what any kind and understanding mother would have done- I forced them on his little feet and made him walk around in them, crying for like 10 minutes. Spencer had gone to the stake center early for a meeting, so we called him and I let Carter tell him about his new shoes, thinking that maybe that would help...it didn't. Another 5 minutes later he was still unhappy about them. Finally I completely ignored him and then after that he was totally fine. He even said in the car, "I likey new shoes!"
So anyway, later on I wanted to try on the new blue ones previously mentioned and luckily he was distracted by a movie, so he didn't fight me. But once he ran around in them for like 5 minutes- same story- didn't like them. Sat down and wanted to take them off. This time daddy let him win. We put them back on when we went for a walk this evening and on our walk, there's a horse that Carter likes to look at. The owners of the horse were outside and we totally friendly and asked us if we wanted to come see the horse, so we did. They haven't put in any lawn yet so the whole place is just dirt and while we talked to the couple, Carter was having a great time running around. So anyway, his new blue shoes are completely filthy now. I guess they have to be broken in sometime or another but it just makes me so sad that they look like hand-me-down's when really, we bought them last night. So this has been our saga with the new shoes.

Our Home

Mom's been wanting me to put a few pictures of recent decorations on my blog so that she could see what it looks like since I've updated it a bit. So, here they are!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Carter was being a goofball on the way to go camping and made this up, himself. Spence and I thought it was pretty funny and luckily, got to record it. He won't do this anymore because he says it's, "Too loud". I think it scares him when Spence and I do it. The sound is a bit off, but you still get the idea. Enjoy!

Family Update

Well Carter is finally making the transition from crib to toddler bed and is doing pretty well with it so far. We were going to get him a twin-sized bed that can be stacked into bunk beds for later use, but I found this toddler bed, completely by accident, at a garage sale on Saturday for $10- mattress and all. So we are deferring the expense of bunk beds until later and using this. Spence assembled it for him on Saturday and he was SO excited. He just laid down in it and then sat up and looked at me and said, "Bankie, pease". So I went and got his blankie and pillow and he just laid there for like 10 minutes. It was pretty cute. So today is the first day he's actually slept in it, though. Actually, right now, he is napping and I hope he'll nap as long as he normally does. We'll see how it goes.

Carter's favorite game right now is hide and seek and he loves to hide from mommy. The other day Spence and I were playing with him and I hid him in our basket of dirty (I know, I know...) laundry. Had I not hinted to where he was, Spence might not have found him. It was a sweet spot, and now that's where Carter likes to hide.

And finally, here's a picture of "the belly" at 7 1/2 months. Everything's going really well and I am so lucky to still feel great- no aches and pains- nothing really to complain about. The only thing I have noticed lately is just that I'm a bit more tired during the day. I take care of that with a daily nap during nap time. So that's about it.



Gerrold has hired a new guy to work at Spencer's Allstate office, which has been nice and given Spencer more freedom to leave the office if he needs to or come home and get lunch occationally. It will still be a bit before he is completely caught up with everything going on there, but Spence says he's doing good so far.

That's pretty much all that's going on with us. I know its not for another month at least, but I'm excited for summer to wind down and to get on with some cooler weather. It's been blazing hot here every day and even though I really have enjoyed it, for the most part, it's getting a bit old. I'm ready for fall and Halloween and...(gulp) a new baby (but mostly, not to be so hot all the time).

Family Vacation Update

Well, we are back from our vacation and house-sitting. We had a really good time up in Utah and Idaho and the van was awesome to be in. We saw lots of family and covered a lot of area, including going to J&V's, Rexburg, Idaho Falls, Malad, Logan, Ogden, and back to J&V's. In Malad we went to the farm and got to see all the animals and Carter loved that. He always says, "Stinky piggys" now, instead of just piggys. At the reunion, he got his face painted and played non-stop at the park. He was pretty bushed by the end of the day. He was such a good boy in the car and slept a lot and watched movies. By the end of the trip, he was actually movied out, which I didn't know could happen, and was having me change the movie about every 1/2 hour. Spence and I got to listen to Harry Potter most of the time and we just finished the book like 2 days ago. It was awesome.



When we got back to Cali, we slept at our house one night then immediately went over to babysit the next day. It was so nice to have a pool in our back yard and Carter and I used it at least once every day, sometimes more. Yesterday was our first day back at our house and we are SO happy to be back in our own bed. We picked all of our grapes this morning and I knew we had a lot, but holy crud, we have a LOT of grapes. We have to figure out who to give them all to because there's no way we'll eat them all. They are really good, though, and are so pretty! Well, that's it for now!

This summer Carter and I have spent SO much time in our little pool, at the water park, and at our weekly ward swim parties. So much time, actually, that for the first time, literally, in years, my legs are not ghostly white. I've really had to work on tanning them and I've decided that they look a lot cuter with a little color.

This has been a ton of fun and Carter has really enjoyed swimming. He has also become obsessed with water guns and swords lately and loves to squirt mommy. I'm trying to teach him to float, but he wants nothing to do with it, and hits be on the head with both hands after every time I make him do it. He's doing well at blowing bubbles and putting his face in the water, though.

One word he's really struggling with is "swimsuit". I love the way he says it. It's something like, "Siswimit". It's funny cuz he's really so good at pronouncing new words. I can't get enough of it.

Our Burk family reunion in Malad, Idaho is this week and we'll get to see my mom and dad, brother and sister-in-law, and lots of other family as well. I am really excited. We are both really excited to take our first long road trip in the van. Should be a little more luxurious than the Escort.

Spencer and I are plugging our way through the 7th Harry Potter book together. We hope to get our hands on the book on CD before leaving on our road trip so I don't get carsick reading in the car.

That's pretty much the update of what's going on here. Oh, I taught Gospel Doctrine today and was basically terrified. Luckily the class was a bit smaller today, but some of the people in our class make some interesting comments and it's been known to get a bit contentious in there. I did manage to keep the class under control, though, and overall (as it always is), it turned out to be a good experience.