Happy Halloween!

It's been a little longer between posts this time, and we apologize. We've got pictures all ready to be uploaded, but Jessi has become so exhausted lately that nothing is getting done! Welcome to motherhood, I'm guessing! Our friend, Kari, threw Jessi a shower on the 25th, so here are some pics of the fun.

There's a photo of Kari (for those of you who haven't met her, she is my best friend up here in Butte) and the Diaper Cake that our friend Sonya made for us - adorable!

Nadie Dijo Que Seria Facil...

Translated from Spanish means "Nobody said it would be easy", and boy, is that true!!! As we start counting down instead of counting up, Lily is getting stronger and stronger. Jessi thinks she's "resistance training". Lily will push a foot out and hold it like she's trying to stretch and make more space. It is quite painful at times, but we're thrilled that she's strong.

Mike made us cheese fondue to eat during conference sessions last week, so we thought we'd include a picture of our feast (and of Mike taking good care of his preggy wife).

Crap - I got tagged.

8 things I'm passionate about:
1. This pregnancy
2. My Michael
3. Music
4. Staying out of debt
5. Phaankuchens
6. Order (things HAVE to be in order)
7. My family and the things they do with their lives
8. Cows

8 words/phrases I use often:
1. What (not always used as a question, sometimes it’s a warning)
2. That’s for sure
3. Hey
4. LQTM (I may not say it but I type it a ton!)
5. Hmmm…
6. Shut it!
7. I had … (Mike says I use those two words improperly several times a day)
8. I’m hungry

8 things I want to do before I die:
1. Have this baby
2. Go on a couples mission with Mike
3. Finish the cabin quilt
4. Learn to ski
5. Finish my bachelors degree
6. Have a summer home in Spain
7. Learn to speak Spanish
8. Learn to understand pig latin

8 things I've learned in the past:
1. This too will pass.
2. Fear is an idea, and ideas come and go if we don’t attach danger to them.
3. To include the Lord in all our decisions.
4.You can’t change someone, but you can change how you act and react to them.
5. Sometimes it’s better not to answer right away.
6.I can trust in my own validity – I don’t need approval from the outside.
7. I can choose peace over power.
8. Family members only offer advice because they love me, and want me to be happy and successful.

8 things I currently want/need:
1. A Belly Bandit (check out their website!)
2. The Twilight series
3. A Toyota Sienna
4. Laser hair removal
5. A nap
6. For Lily to come during Thanksgiving break
7. To graduate in the weeks following Lily’s birth
8. Mike to quit his job and focus on school

8 places I want to see/visit:
1. Spain
2. Hawaii
3. Thailand
4. Canada
5. The East coast
6. Just about anywhere in Europe
7. Mount Rushmore
8. Brazil

8 people I tag:
1. Cameron
2.John
3. Beth
4. Tammy
5. Jen
6. Shelye

AND THEN I GOT TAGGED AGAIN...

The rules are list six quirks about yourself, and then leave a note for 6 friends on their blog to tag them! My six people are: Sam, Bethany, Tammy, Shelye, Beth and Jen.

These are quirks – so of course they’ll make me seem a bit weird.
1. I don’t like the cord that is around the hood of sweatshirts, so I pull them out of every sweatshirt I get.
2. I don’t like people to breathe on me – it makes me feel like I can’t breathe “good” air.
3. My rugs and furniture HAVE to be parallel to the walls.
4. When I find bugs in the house, first they scare me, and then they make me mad. Then they die.
5. When I’m reading a book, I tune out the world so spectacularly that I can’t hear Mike when he talks to me. (Or anyone, for that matter.)
6. When I sing songs to myself, I can’t help but wiggle my hips. Mike noticed the other day and laughed, so I tried to sing without “dancing” and I couldn’t!

Greedy, Greedy Makes a Hungry Puppy! 30 Weeks.

It has been two weeks since we've posted because we have been so exhausted traveling! The 20th was Mike's brother's wedding (congratulations Hal and Sam!!!) so we drove down to Utah for the weekend. It was beautiful and really fun to be there. Here are a few pictures from the weekend - Jessi, Jessi, and more Jessi, plus all of us "quilters" who were able to make it to the reception (everyone else did a much better job on their quilt squares than I did, but I got to be in the picture anyways). We loved seeing family, and we miss you all when we're so far away.

Jessi's Adventure to the IF Temple

Here's Jessi at 28 weeks.

Yesterday was our Stake Temple trip. Mike decided he wouldn't be able to go because of the amount of homework he's been saddled with, but Jessi had already agreed to carpool with 3 women, so she headed out for Idaho Falls with them at 6:30 in the morning. The trip was uneventful until we got within 20 miles of Dubois. (Side note, Jessi never knows how to pronounce this correctly. Her french training tells her to leave the *S* silent and say "do-bwah", but somehow that never seems right.) Anyway, we were just outside of Dubois when Jessi's rear passenger tire blew at 80 mph. Luckily, it didn't effect the steering and we were able to pull to the side of the road. We jumped out of the car and were so blessed when the stake patriarch pulled up behind us and helped up put our spare "donut" on. We slowly made our way to IF, and got to the Temple in just enough time to make our stake's session. After we had lunch, we decided to stop at Les Schwab to change out the tire. Jessi had a feeling to ask the mechanic what it would cost to replace her "donut" with a full size spare, but decided it wasn't necessary. Bad idea. We headed back to Montana, and about 50 miles outside of Butte, that same rear passenger tire (the BRAND NEW TIRE) blew out. Again at 80 mph. Again, we were able to pull over to the side of the road with no incident. This time we ladies were sure we would have to change the tire ourselves, considering we had a late start back and thought everyone had already gotten back to Butte. The Lord was on our side when not 30 seconds later, 3 members of the Butte 1st ward pulled over and helped us change our tire. They even followed us the rest of the way back to Butte to make sure we made it ok. We were so glad that we prayed for safety before we left Butte, and before we left Idaho Falls, because things could've been so much worse. What did Jessi learn from this experience? Fly. :)

27 Weeks

This week we are going to start childbirth classes. Jessi's excited because she heard there are door prizes (hooray for free diapers!). She's also gotten really, really needy for Mike's time and attention, and at least this is one evening during the week that he is all hers! Trust us when we say, Jessi doesn't like to be needy and Mike doesn't like to be needed constantly, so this is shaping out to be a big emotional rollercoaster for both of us. Notice Jessi looks sad in the first picture? Because Mike didn't let her fix her hair before he snapped the picture. Yes, it is a digital camera, and yes, we could have deleted it and taken a hundred other photos, but we thought you should see the kind of crazy that Mike is having to live with right now (and probably for the next 3 months).

A New Grill for Michael

For Labor Day we bought Mike a new grill. We found out over the summer that our charcoal grill is against the rules in our apartment complex. So we gave that grill to our next door neighbors. Yes, in the same complex. Really, we were just fishing for any excuse to buy a new grill. Enjoy the charcoal grill, Nic and Kari!