April Showers Bring May Babies

No, I haven't had the baby yet.  The title of this post is the title of the baby shower my ward friends threw for me and another girl in the ward.  Cute, right?  The ward shower was last Thursday, April 26th.  It was really fun, and I felt so spoiled.  I am in such a great ward!  My friend who shared the baby shower with me actually had her baby the day before the shower, so she only came for a little bit.  We got to see her cute little boy, and it made me more aware of how soon I will be holding my own little baby boy.

I don't have pictures from the ward shower, but I think someone took a few so if I get any I'll add them to this post.

I had my first baby shower a few weeks ago during General Conference weekend with my side of the family.

It was held at my Grandma's house just a couple of blocks away from me.  My mom and cousin-in-law Desi threw the shower and did a great job!  The food was delicious, and the company was even better.

Spencer's family threw me a shower on April 14th in Bluffdale.  

Just like the other two showers, I had a great time and got some amazing gifts.  Our baby is going to be one stylish little boy!

As of today (May 3rd) I am 39 weeks along.  I got a cold a few days ago and that has been annoying, but other than that I am feeling great!  I haven't had any heartburn and am still comfortable when I sleep (except for this annoying cold and having to blow my nose every 5 minutes).  I'm still going to my Baby Bump Body Pump pregnancy class twice a week at the gym, though I have to admit it is much more difficult to motivate myself to get there in the mornings.  The exercise has just been so beneficial though, I don't want to break this great habit by missing even one class.  I have just told myself I will go every time unless I am in labor.  No excuses!

I am feeling more and more ready for the birth, but if it takes a while longer I will just continue to enjoy these last days of pregnancy.  I'd really like to kick this cold before labor begins, and it seems like the last couple of days I have been getting over the cold a little at a time.  Hopefully a few more days and I'll be back to normal.

Now that I've gotten a couple of blog posts out of the way, I am even more ready to get going on this new adventure!  There are still a few loose ends I'd like to tie up.  I have been preparing the garden area for planting and want to get at least some seeds in the ground before the birth.  And the last couple of days I've had a desire to paint the cabinets in our master bathroom.  I'm just so sick of painting, I don't know if that's going to happen.  But I am feeling a lot more prepared overall than I was just a week ago.  Who knows, maybe my next post will be about the arrival of our little guy!

Hole in the Rock

Last year we took a trip down to the Hole in the Rock trail, near Lake Powell, with one of Spencer's brothers and a few of his kids.  There are a couple of different trails you can take to see the famous "Hole in the Rock."  One is a fairly mild dirt road that leads to the top of the Hole in the Rock, or you can take an extremely rugged, off-road trail that closely follows the path taken by the pioneers who originally blazed the trail.  Of course, we took the extremely rugged route.  The whole point of the trip, after all, was to test the 4Runner's off-road capabilities.  And they were definitely tested.  The "road" (I use that term very loosely here) was super bumpy and slow and tooth-rattling.  We didn't really know what we were doing or how long the route would take, so we ended up only going about halfway that time, and I remember thinking that I would never need to attempt that trip again.

Fast forward to a year later and with me now 7 1/2 months pregnant, and we set off again to tackle the Hole in the Rock trail.  What?!?  I thought we weren't going to do this miserable trail ever again!  Oh well, this time we were much more prepared.  Spencer is part of an off-road internet forum community and many people on the site will plan off-road trips for other local enthusiasts.  One of the guys Spencer had met previously decided to plan a Hole in the Rock excursion.  He set up the whole itinerary, mapped the trail, found GPS coordinates, the works.  All we had to do was basically show up and try not to embarrass ourselves among these much more experienced off-road drivers.

I debated quite a bit before the trip about whether or not I should go along with Spencer.  I knew how bumpy the road could be, and I wasn't sure if it was such a good idea given my "condition."  But as the day drew near to depart, the weather forecast looked good, I was feeling great, and I really didn't want to spend 3 days and 3 nights by myself at home while Spencer was off having fun.  So it was decided.  We would leave together right after Spencer got off work on Thursday night and come back Sunday (this was March 22-25, I've just been procrastinating blogging about it because I knew it would end up being a LONG post).

The guy who put the whole trip together did a trip report on the off-road forum, which you can read here if you're really interested.  It's much more detailed than what I'm going to share.

The main group left Thursday afternoon, and we were planning on meeting up with them later that night at a campsite, but ended up missing the turnoff for the camp and just camped by ourselves and met the group Friday morning.

Here's our group near the beginning of the trail on Friday morning.

Side note:  All of the camping on this trip was real camping - no running water, no showers, and no toilets.  I was quite proud of myself for being able to camp this way for 3 nights while pregnant.  And I was quite grateful that I didn't have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  Really, quite grateful.

To illustrate just how rugged the trail is, let me just point out that we drove the trail all day Friday, from about 10 am to around 8 or 9 pm when we finally arrived at the end of the trail, and the distance we covered was less than 30 miles.  We did stop for lunch and went on a couple of short hikes to break up the monotony, but still, it was a treacherous road and the pace was s l o w.

This is where we turned around last year, about halfway along the trail.

Here's a great overlook on top of grey mesa where you can see part of Lake Powell.

The slow pace actually proved to be quite an advantage for me, because I was able to get out and walk alongside the trail during most of the really bumpy sections.  Walking was much more comfortable than the constant jostling back and forth and up and down on those uneven rocks that made up the trail.

Anyway, we got to the end of the trail well after dark, set up camp, and sat around the fire for a little while before heading to bed.

The next day (Saturday) we hiked down more of the trail that the pioneers took (which is much too dangerous for vehicles to attempt now),

The beginning of the walking trail at our campsite.

Can you imagine bringing wagons up this rocky hill?

packed up camp, and headed back the way we came in.  We were able to go at a much more relaxed pace today because we were going to camp along the trail this time instead of doing the whole trail in a day.  This gave us more time for hikes along the way.

One of the more adventurous hikes, where we had to traverse over a shallow slot canyon with pools of stagnant water underneath us.

Spencer and I are enjoying the view from one of the hikes we took.

The rock formations were so beautiful.

Spencer is taking a break on one of the longer, steeper hikes.

We set up camp that evening along the trail, had a relaxing dinner around the fire, and on Sunday morning we finished up the trail and the group went their separate ways home again.

Once we made it back to pavement, we decided to go with a couple of other drivers to see some old Indian ruins.

I guess we hadn't done enough driving for the weekend, because we also decided to tag along and drive an extra hour to visit Natural Bridges National Monument.

If you look closely you can see an arch in the middle of the picture.  This whole area was down below the horizon line, so if you just drive past you wouldn't even know it was there.

Here I am at one of the overlooks.  I'm holding my hat on so the wind doesn't blow it away.  It was windy.

 I am so glad I decided to go on the trip.  We had a lot of fun together, and it felt good to be out of the house and doing something fun.  Now that we've completed the ENTIRE trail, I don't know if we will feel the need to do it ever again.  But it is a great experience to have.

2011 Jolley Outdoor Games

This is a video my brother put together for last year's Jolley Family Outdoor Games competition.  We hold the Outdoor Games every year over Memorial Day weekend.  He did a great job with the video, and managed to finish it just in time to get us all pumped up about this year's Games which will be held in less than two months.
  

Pony Express Trail

A couple of weekends ago Spencer and I (and the dog) took a drive down the old Pony Express Trail.  If I remember correctly, it starts somewhere west of Eagle Mountain and winds south around western Utah until ending near Delta.   It's a fairly well-maintained dirt road, about 4-5 hours from start to finish.  If you want to know more about the trail itself, click here.

Spencer recently had the 4Runner re-geared.  I don't know exactly what that means, but it has something to do with compensating for the bigger tires he put on so we can maintain better gas mileage and power ratio.  I think.  Anyway, they needed to be broken in a bit, so we figured this would be a fun way to do it.

We stopped at a couple of monuments and ruins of Pony Express stations along the way.

We drove through a big herd of deer and saw some wild mustangs.  I didn't get a picture of the mustangs unfortunately.

After finishing the trail, we kept going on down to Fillmore to visit my parents for a little while, and then it was back home (on the freeway this time) to Pleasant Grove.  Overall, a very nice day trip.

I figured this would be a good indicator to see if I could handle an extreme off road trip while 7 1/2 months pregnant.  The Pony Express Trail went off without a hitch, so the following weekend we packed up and hit the road for Hole in the Rock.  The Pony Express Trail may as well have been a paved interstate compared to the trail for Hole in the Rock.  But that will be its own post, so stay tuned!

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I love Relief Society!  A few weeks ago my ward held a Relief Society activity where we learned how to make safe, natural cleaners for our homes.  I learned a bunch of helpful tips on keeping things clean around the house while avoiding some of the dangerous chemicals found in store-bought cleaners.

One tip that I was anxious to try right away was how to make your own laundry detergent.  Here are some great reasons to try this out:

1 - It's SO cheap!  Much cheaper than buying detergent, trust me!

2 - No extra fillers, dyes, perfumes, etc., and safe for the environment.

3 - It works!  Clothes are clean and fresh every time.

So now that I've convinced you to try it yourself, here is what you need:

2 bars of Fels Naptha
3 cups Borax
3 cups washing soda

These can all be found in the laundry detergent aisle of any grocery store.  I got mine at Winco I think.  The Borax and washing soda boxes will last for several batches of detergent.

Grate the Fels Naptha bars like you would a block of cheese.  I used the fine side of a cheese grater so the pieces would be nice and small.  I've heard that if the chunks are too big, they can clump up on your clothes and not rinse off all the way.  Once the bars are grated, mix everything up in your container and VOILA!  You're all set!

I used an empty tin can from our food storage (one of the big ones, #10 I think?) and it was just the right size for this recipe.  I also wrote the recipe on the lid so that it will be easy to make again when I run out.

If you look closely at the top of the lid you can see the amount needed for a load of laundry.  4 tablespoons is all you need for a full load in a regular washing machine, and just 2 tablespoons in a high efficiency machine.

There are a bunch of recipes for homemade laundry detergent that you can find online.  Most are pretty similar to this one with just a few minor changes.  Some add Oxi-Clean, others add regular baking soda along with washing soda.  I liked this one because it is nice and simple, and it works well.  You can also make liquid laundry detergent, but I heard that liquid detergents are harder on machines than powdered detergents.  For babies and people with sensitive skin, you can replace the Fels Naptha bars with Ivory soap.  I haven't tried this yet, but I probably will at some point.

If you end up trying out this recipe or one like it, let me know how it works for you!

bawk bawk bawk ba-GAWK!!!

Our little chickens laid their first egg today.  In fact, they laid their first THREE eggs today!  I found the first one this morning, on top of their coop.  It was cracked and a little frozen, so it must have been laid overnight since they like to roost on the roof of their coop most nights.

We got lucky with the second egg of the day.  Spencer was home for lunch and we both heard one of the hens outside making some major racket.  Sure enough, when we peeked out she was sitting in a box that I put on top of their coop this morning after finding the first egg.  She hopped out of the box after a minute and we immediately went out to check for an egg.  BINGO!

We were not expecting eggs yet because most people say chickens need at least 12 hours of light each day in order to lay.  We have installed a light in the coop to increase their daylight hours, but haven't gotten around to installing the timer and turning it on yet.  I guess these little ladies were ready anyway!

After finding the first good egg in the box, Spencer went back to work and I ran a few errands.  When I got back home I went out to put fresh pine shavings in the coop and found another egg!  This one was mixed up in the pine shavings in their coop, next to the box we put in there for them to lay in.  So three eggs in one day.  Only one of them ended up in a laying box, but overall I'm pretty satisfied!  We'll have to figure out how to get them to lay all their eggs in the laying boxes from now on.

On Being Pregnant

I love being pregnant.  I love everything about it.  I love getting bigger, feeling the baby kick, and even all the little pregnancy symptoms that might seem to be a little "inconvenient."  I attribute this great love for my pregnant self to the fact that for a while there, I didn't think it was going to happen.  In fact, I had come to an acceptance of it not happening, and had even moved on from the sadness of it all.

So now that I am lucky enough for it to happen anyway, I am taking full advantage!  I have lost track of the number of books I have read in the last few months about pregnancy, childbirth, and infant care.  Here are just a few that happened to be floating around in my living room today.

I've read books from the library, free pregnancy/parent magazines from the women's center, and online articles.  I am learning A LOT about pregnancy and childbirth.  And one bit of knowledge that I have appreciated the most, and that appears in most of the books I've read, is that I can control quite a bit about how I feel and how I handle this new experience.  And the things I choose to do now can benefit the baby and myself in the coming months.  Right now I am focusing on a healthy diet and good exercise.

Healthy Diet

From day one of finding out I was pregnant, I improved my eating habits.  I wouldn't say I was a terrible eater before, but there's always room for improvement.  I am making a conscious effort to get more fruits and vegetables in my diet, and I am working on cutting out empty carbohydrates and replacing them with whole grains.  I am also trying to get more protein every day.  For me, eating more fruits and veggies is easy because I like fruits and veggies.  I also like meat, yogurt, cottage cheese, and other high protein foods, so it's not too hard to get more protein.  But whole grains, now that's a different story.  I love me some good old fashioned white bread from Grandma Sycamore.  And white rice.  And pasta.

So if you're like me and looking to increase whole grains in your diet, here are some tips.  Winco has great whole grain bread for a really great price (around $1.50 a loaf I think).  The brand is Cascade Pride, and they make a bunch of different whole grain breads.  Read the labels though, because not all "wheat" breads are whole grain.  My favorite is the 100% Stoneground Whole Wheat.  It makes great toast, grilled cheese sandwiches, and is good with chicken salad.  I don't love it for peanut butter and jelly though.


Here are some other whole grain foods worth trying out.

With the pasta, I make it with half whole grain noodles and half regular.  Using just the whole grain noodles is a little too much for me.  

The whole wheat tortillas are great for enchiladas.  Of course, if you put enough cheese and sauce on top, anything will taste good, right?  I haven't tried the tortillas for something simple like a quesadilla yet, so I'm not sure how they would work for that.  

I got the wild rice medley at Costco, and I think it makes a great side for chicken or another meat.  It's heartier than white rice and has a more earthy flavor.  The different textures of grains is nice too.  And you can make it in a rice cooker just like you would make regular white rice.  I don't know how it would work for something like fried rice.  I'll have to try it out one of these nights for dinner.  It's more expensive than white rice, but at least it's something worth eating.  White rice seems a little like a filler food. That's probably why we had so much of it when we were poor.  It's cheap, it fills you up, and it tastes good!  I don't like the taste of regular brown rice, so this wild rice mixture is a good alternative for me.

Exercise

This has been a tough one for me.  I've never really had the need to exercise, and that makes the motivation hard to come by.  Usually what happens is I go in little spurts of exercise activity.  When we were in Idaho, we joined a gym and I was really good about going on a regular basis.  We did a lot of rock climbing at the time too, so I was motivated to be stronger so climbing would be easier and more enjoyable.  When we moved, there was no more gym membership and not a lot of opportunities for climbing, so I slacked off.  Then for a while I found some exercise DVDs that I enjoyed and could fit into my schedule, but that didn't last long.  But I always imagined that if I ever got pregnant, I would be really diligent about getting in a good amount of exercise.  Then came the first trimester, and I had ZERO energy.  I felt like I couldn't walk the dog because since we live in the foothills, everything seemed too steep for the amount of energy I had.  I didn't want to do the exercise DVDs because they weren't designed for pregnancy and were too intense.

So for the first trimester I basically did nothing.  And starting the second trimester, while I did feel more energized than before, I still couldn't get myself going.  But for the last little while, I have miraculously found some inner motivation again.  I signed myself and Spencer up for memberships at the local rec. center, and I now go to a prenatal class every Tuesday and Thursday morning called Baby Bump Pump.  The instructor is great, I feel like I am really working hard every time I go, and it's all exercises that are safe for pregnancy.  It's working my muscles enough that I feel sore muscles afterward, but nothing feels strained or injured.  So far the class is pretty tiny too.  It's usually me and one or two other girls.  I feel like I have my own personal trainer that way.  I tried a beginning yoga class that I could do every Monday, but a lot of it was boring, I didn't like the instructor, and time seemed to drag on FOREVER.  My plan now is to go to my class every Tuesday and Thursday, and on the off days try to walk the dog or do some walking or cycling at the gym.

I am so thankful that Spencer is working hard and doing well with his office so I can stay home and dedicate my time to enjoying the pregnancy.  It's much easier to plan healthy meals and get into an exercise routine when I don't have to worry about lesson plans or annoying coworkers and don't have to spend 8 - 10 hours a day at school.

I am still trying to earn my keep around here though.  Read the next post to see how I'm helping around the house.

(Disclaimer:  While this post and the next one makes it sound like I am busy being productive all the time, keep in mind that I still spend way too much time on the computer, I watch a few episodes of my favorite sitcoms on Netflix every day, and I play games on my iPhone a little more than I should.  But the important thing is, I am trying to do something worthwhile every day.  Today's big accomplishments:  I walked the dog and I updated the blog.  Maybe later I'll do some vacuuming.  And that's good enough for me!)