Family

This summer has been a little bit weird for me.

I'm used to summers at the lake and in a tent with my family.

This summer has been a lot of work, a lot of loneliness, and a lot of change. I haven't seen my family since my sister's wedding in June and I seriously miss them so much. They are some of my best friends and it's so lonely not having them around. Matt has been so wonderful this summer working so hard to earn money for our growing family. Besides the change in my usual summer routine, pregnancy has been weird this summer with my body changing and realizing how much is going to change in just a few short months. 

Now I'm not hear to throw a pity party, I just wanted to emphasize how much it meant this past week to have my grandparents out here. They came out for their yearly tradition of going to education week but I was so grateful that they put so much effort into spending time with us. They took such good care of us and it was so nice to have a little bit of home and family out here.

I am so grateful for the close relationship that I have with my grandmother and the good conversations we were able to have this past week and throughout my life. She is always so understanding and her opinion is so valuable for me.

Thankfully, I get to see the rest of my family this weekend for a labor day boating and camping trip. I am so excited to see them again and have a little taste of my usual (and favorite) summer activity. 

Crazy Month

Well July basically just flew by for us! One minute I was thinking how weird of a fourth of July it was not being on the lake and with my family and then the next thing I know we are rushing around running our end of the month errands before August 1st hits.

Highlights of the month include going back to California for Evan and Carmen's wedding. It was such a special experience to be their for their sealing in the San Diego temple and being able to see their daughter, Tiffany, sealed to them. I am continually grateful to have such amazing in-laws who are so good to me.

I was also blessed to be able to start working at Smith's this month and I am grateful that I can help with some of the baby costs.

This month was also a little emotionally rough. We went in for our routine four-week Doctor's appointment and my heart dropped as the Doctor discussed the results of our anatomy scan early this month. He told us that they found Choroid Plexus Cysts on the baby's brain and while this usually means nothing, it can sometimes be an indicator of Down Syndrome. He told us that we weren't high risk for DS and that they saw no other indicators but I couldn't help but worry. They had me take a blood test to screen for DS and I finally heard back today that everything came back normal! I cannot describe to you the sense of relief hearing that gave me.

This month also brought a change to our family's future plans. Originally the plan was for Matt to finish up his degree in Psychology in December and for me to start online school and finish my degree that way. We have since though, with a lot of thought and prayer, decided that Matt is going to change his degree to animation and that I will push through and finish my Graphic Design degree at BYU. This plan has brought so much comfort to me and I know for sure that it is what is best for our family.