33 weeks

We now have less then 50 days until the due date! I haven't taken any pictures lately because I am really just getting bigger and bigger! I think I have, or Jared has hit a growth spurt I feel him poking me in the ribs all the time and it doesn't feel good. But that's okay because that means that Jared is growing and that is good. We don't want him to stop now! I have my last doctor's appointment in Greeley on Monday and set up an appointment with a doctor here in Colorado Springs for the 14th so by the time I meet this new doctor we will be just one month away from having Jared. So I am really looking forward to that appointment and hope I like the doctor.

Once I reached 32 weeks I understood what all the people were talking about when they said that being pregnant was hard. I think pregnancy should just be 32 weeks! I am feeling way more tired, it could have something to do with the fact that I can never sleep for longer than 2 - 3 hours at a time now. If we go to bed at 10:30 I wake up at 12:30, 3:30 and 5:30. Everyone keeps telling me its to help me prepare for the baby and that is fine but I think I could have gotten it down around weeks 36 -40 not 32. Oh well. My feet have started swelling too. I am so thankful that this summer has been as mild as it has. Overall I still think I have had a really easy pregnancy and hope that the next 7 weeks or so go well.

Oh I also got my haircut. I was quite brave and had the lady give me bangs! Just a few, I think its called swoop or maybe slide? Anywho these pictures don't show it too well but I am really happy with the haircut. Its fun. Normally the bangs are straighter but it was really windy today. I haven't had bangs since middle school and they were definitely not this style. They were rock hard from all the hairspray I put in them to keep them puffy!

P.S. If anyone knows some cute "pregnancy poses" I would love to try them out, these are getting a bit boring and never turn out how I want them too but at least I was outside today!

Happy 5 years to us!

Today is our 5 year anniversary, 5 fantastic years of marriage. I love being married to Mark!

Saturday August 21, 2004

Here are some of the happenings/accomplishments/adventures of the last 5 wonderful years:
2 Bachelors degrees (BYU Idaho) and 1 Masters degree (AUC)
Lived overseas for 2 1/2 years or half of our marriage
Have visited 10 countries together
Filled up entire passports
Completed 32 weeks of pregnancy
Moved 6 times: Idaho, Utah, Egypt and Colorado
Ridden camels, elephants, planes, trains, boats, hot-air balloons and cars
Climbed mountains and pyramids
Scuba dived and snorkeled in Thailand and Egypt
Mark's first salaried, very own classroom teaching job
Fallen more and more in love
The list could go on and on! Its been wonderful. We are really looking forward to this next phase in our marriage. It has been wonderful to have all this time to enjoy each other and get to really know each other but we can't wait for Jared to join us.

I am so thankful for Mark. He still buys me flowers and opens doors for me and treats me like I am a princess. Being married to Mark has been so fun and really not difficult at all. He has accepted my near obsession with decorating for holidays, taken me on numerous weekly drives to see the fall leaves, forgiven me when I've thrown something somewhat important away because I can't stand clutter or helped when I want to re-organize things (another near obsession). He is always willing to help with dinner or chores when I ask him, I don't even have to ask a lot of the time! As my older sister put it "April, you won the marriage sweepstakes." I completely agree. Thanks for 5 amazing years Mark, I can't wait for the rest of them, forever and then some!

Mr. Spencer's Classroom

Here are some pictures of Mark's classroom. He likes the school and his classes just fine. He is pretty tired at the end of the day, kids are really draining especially somewhat needy 6th graders and having 27-30 of them. But he is doing great!

Mr. Spencer hard at work!

His really cool Egypt picture on Papyrus and to the left is all his storage.

The front of the room.

His word wall and Grades/Assignments Calendar

The back wall, it is a collapsible wall (but he doesn't hear the other classes) and the teacher next door is very nice. It is the math teacher on his team. We had her (Jen) and her husband over for dinner last week. They always open up the door on the right after school so they can talk about their students or Mark can get answers to his questions.

It is a really nice school, probably the best Middle School in the district, largely because the administration really does back up the teachers. Quite a few teachers we have talked to have mentioned that they will be really upset when the/if the principal leaves. We are just so happy that Mark got the job here!

I often go walking

What do you see when you take a walk?

This summer I have been taking many many walks. Last week I found this great park here in Colorado Springs that has an amazing view! I love seeing the mountains! Over where the trees start is a frisbee golf course so its funny to walk by and hear people yell,"Fore!" It really is a pretty walk and people are so friendly. In Greeley I walked with some great girls each morning so its nice that people here are friendly, I do miss the Greeley walking girls though. Each day I drop Mark off at school around 7:15 and then go take my walk its a great way to start the day. The Springs (look at me going local) are beautiful!

What a storm!

So I know that I talked about a couple of storms in Greeley this summer but yesterday we had a crazy storm here in Colorado Springs it was wild! There was so much hail and it was so cold outside. Around 6:45 we heard some thunder and then all "hail" (hahaha) broke out! Here are some crazy pictures. We just couldn't stop taking them.

From our entryway

I have never seen this much hail before.

The bark beneath our apartment.

It was an awesome storm and now we know what it will look like here after a short snow storm!