"i'd thank my lucky stars"

Eric and I took a field trip over to the Tri-Cities yesterday.

I now firmly believe that baseball is the most American sport.

From the hotdogs, to the anthem, to the Boy Scouts everywhere, to the crowd singing along with Lee Greenwood, to the complimentary post-game fireworks. I think I felt more patriotic than on the 4th of July.

Here's a photo recap:

In real life, Eric's head is not twice the size of mine.
That's why I've agreed to have his babies. 

Eric's not a fan of this photo. But, it shows that we indulged in an American staple while watching an American past-time. Nevermind that the hotdogs were reportedly "Hebrew International." That's besides the point.

 

This was an awesome spot to have put a ball field. It is north of the river and overlooks the cities. It was beautiful.

Mmmm. Huckleberry ice cream during the 7th inning. 

The Tri-City Dust Devils pulled out a 7-0 victory. And we got to see some great fireworks. 

I failed to mention that Grandpa Lee sent us away from California with more than an appreciation for great fruit. He sent us home with treasures, including this electric guitar for Eric. While in Tri-Cities Eric bought an amp at a good deal from a guy. So, even though we got home at 11:30pm, he had to test it out. 

And that's the recap. It was a nice little date. We've now been to a football, basketball, hockey and baseball game. What's next? (Besides me receiving a nomination for "Best Wife Ever.") 

Faces

I made Morgan come to Pendleton to pick up some DVDs she wanted to borrow. I also made her be my lunch date. She brought me and baby treats (sorry Eric, she doesn't like you I guess) from Peru. A neat leather like bracelet, a rock from the top of Machu Picchu and a really cute llama finger puppet for the babester. She also made me a yellow and green hat similar to the one she's pictured in. I returned the favor by making her hug the big cowboy boot outside the Chamber. It was nice to see Morgan and be able to catch up a little bit. And thanks for the many gifts! 

And here's the huz. I can't remember the last time he shaved. And this was taken two days ago. He's a cutie pie! 

Oh, and I really am hesitant to put these next two photos up, because what girl likes to put a side profile pic of their whole body up online? But I thought I would. Not quite a baby bump I guess, but I've only gained 1/2 pound so I can't just be putting on fat, either. Hopefully it'll become more distinguishable in the next couple of weeks. And sorry, about my missing head. It's hard working with self-timers.

6 Weeks

17 weeks

Well, I am off now. I got a new 'Fit & Firm Pregnancy' exercise DVD I want to give a whirl, plus we're headed to Tri-Cities this afternoon for some minor league baseball & fireworks. 

Have an all-American weekend! 

Cannonballs

Yesterday was another routine doctor's appointment. 

I was weighed.

I was measured. 

I was found wanting
...

to eat. 

And we heard our babushka's heart rate going nice and strong. 

We also scheduled our next ultrasound for August 31st. 

So make your final guesses now

Boy or Girl

?

But arguably the best thing about yesterday's appointment? Mr. T (aka my baby doctor) officially okay'd cannonballs in pools, lakes and other watery venues. No hot tubs, not water slides, but this mama can still do cannonballs! 

Oh the simple things. 

I had to ask after scowls and scolding from my baby daddy during last week's Lougee Family pool parties

(I accidentally typed "poop parties" there and thought about leaving it, hahaha)

 at the hotel during the reunion. 

And yes, I know you're still highly anticipating Vacation Part II: Lougee Lovefest. 

That might not happen for a few more days. Sorry! 

Vacation Part I: California Dreamin'

Today is our first day back home in the Herm. That means one thing - laundry. So, in between loads I'll try and get you caught up on our last 11 days. 

Wednesday after work, we headed down to Prineville, Oregon. About 3 1/2 hours from Hermiston. It was a gorgeous evening. 

So excited to be on vacay! 

The next morning we left bright and early and continued south. There wasn't a highway we encountered that didn't have a "road construction ahead" sign. But, I jumped outta the van and had Eric snap this shot - we were supposed to be following a pilot car through a construction zone. Oops. 

At a pit stop in a very long day of driving 713 miles, Eric had to hug a palm tree. That hippie.

We finally arrived at my Grandpa Lee's in Porterville at about 10pm and promptly hit the sack.
The next morning we woke up and Grandpa took us to the Sequoia National Forest. We went from 500 feet elevation to somewhere around 6,500 feet in elevation. The road we took was very narrow, full of switchbacks and not at all the kind of road a pregnant person who is prone to motion sickness would ideally take. In fact, halfway up the mountain I requested a brief stop in which I lost my entire breakfast. 

We reached a place called Bulch Park and were finally able to explore some of the mammoth trees. Here is Grandpa's trusty Buick next to a fallen Sequoia that you can climb all around and in. 

Eric followed my surprisingly limber grandfather down into the tree. I was still feeling shaky and didn't trust myself to leap down 8 feet into an ancient sequoia tree. This sounds like the beginning of a book I read in the sixth grade... 

Oh, you know, just me by a tree... GIANT! 

The inside of previously mentioned fallen tree. 

Mr. Lougee with 'Lady Alice.' 

Me with Grandpa Lee by one of two beautiful little lakes. 

We took a short hike to these old Indian baths and grinding stones. The Indians ground out holes of various sizes to both bathe in as well as use to grind up various foods and nuts. 

Apparently these rocks have magical powers to bring out the Indian Warrior in you, randomly.

This is Eric entering a tree in which a couple actually lived for many years. Check out the junk in that trunk!

We finished Friday off with a swim in Grandpa's pool and a BBQ - including some of the best corn on the cob I've ever had, as well as vanilla ice cream with freshly picked strawberries. The produce in California is amazing. Really. 

Saturday, we were able to attend the Fresno Temple with Grandpa. It was a really special experience and I appreciated the opportunity to share it with two important and admirable men in my life. 

Saturday, we had another BBQ featuring amazing tri-tip steak, more corn on the cob and delicious potato salad. I also gorged myself on the biggest blackberries I've ever seen! Then Eric and I hit up HP7 Part 2 while the old folks tucked themselves into bed. 

We left Sunday after attending Sacrament Meeting, in which my Grandpa was released as 2nd Counselor in the Bishopric and called as 1st Counselor. We were also able to be there when the Stake President set him apart, and that was neat. We changed our clothes, hit the road and about 30 miles down the highway, we spotted a flea market of some kind. We pulled off and discovered it was this big spanish market. We stayed for an hour, just taking in sites and sounds. 

Fresh fruit.

I tried to convince him to buy a cowboy hat, but he shyfully refused. Bummer, cuz I think he's totally pulling off the reggae, cowboy look. 

I got a churro. 

Eric ate intestine tacos. He's gross. 

 We continued north until we reached Castle Sprags State Park in Northern California. We registered and were then informed that a mother bear and cub have been in and out of the park. Peaceful dreams! 

We chose what we thought was a quaint quiet camp spot. But really it was infested with ferocious, human eating mosquitos. Eric must've gotten 15 bites while setting up the tent.   

Matchy matchy!  

It was a beautiful area, right by Mt. Shasta. 

In the little town nearby, we spotted a cool old "California Theatre." 

Then we caught a few, very few zzzz's as I was terrified of being ripped out of my tent by an angry momma bear - and in the middle of the night a tree came crashing down just above our campsite.

Stay tuned for Part II: Lougee Lovefest

Womb Propaganda

Okay, we are still on vacation, but I thought I'd let you in on the latest development. 

We learned, that as we are in our 16th week of pregnancy, our baby has likely developed his/her ears and can hear voices, sounds, etc. 

Immediately upon learning this, Eric went to work educating our unborn child. First, he told him/her that they were to be a duck fan. Second, he tried to insist that University of Oregon was the best school. I quickly corrected that notion with the reminder that God's University itself, was indeed, the best school. 

We went shooting with the cousins, aunt and uncles yesterday. I was especially excited about the .38 special revolver and enjoyed sitting by the firing line just feeling the shots shake my whole body, Eric is concerned that perhaps our little one will now be born deaf. 

And this morning I've been playing music especially tailored to develop my child's great taste in music. On the spin table this morning? The Black Keys, Etta James, Florence + The Machine and She & Him. 

Any other suggestions for in-the-womb brain washing? 

While you're thinking, I'm going to get back to vacation. It's been de-light-ful! 

Year Gone By

In a frenzy of catching up on apartment cleaning, auto maintenance, laundry, church and visiting with our long-lost Lougee relatives (Eric's fam has been gone forever - traveling - oh the life of a school teacher!), I forgot to mark a special weekend in our little household.

This last weekend marked a year since our little courtship really began - at a Train concert. I can still remember opening the front door to my apartment and getting all fluttery inside because he was more handsome than I remembered from the Branch activity where we first met.

Don't mind my really crazy hair, it was windy!

And I swear to you, that just as the band began playing this song, I had an inkling that this might really be the real deal.

It was a whirlwind romance, followed by a whirlwind wedding, marriage and now baby on the way, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.

The initial rush of new giddy love still gets this old ticker from time to time, but it's grown into a deeper, trusting, partnership that everyday I find myself more and more grateful for. Love you, D!

Read more about our first date by clicking here.

Consider this...

Consider this my official nomination of Eric D Lougee into the running for THE BEST husbando.

He's truly been a saint these past two months - when I say we're pregnant, it's true! This poor boy has had to spend many a night on the couch watching me moan and complain about nausea and barfing and tiredness when I'm sure he'd much rather us be out on the tennis court. And he never complains about me turning the apartment into a large freezer by blasting the AC. He just grabs a quilt. The list of his good deeds could go on for a while - so here's just a small example.

Yesterday I came home early from work - feeling pretty much like a worthless, pale, blob .... Eric, after working a full day and putting in 3 hours with school stuff, ran to the store for me. He picked me up the only thing that sounded like my stomach might keep it down - Campbell's Chicken & Dumpling Soup, minus the chicken, and some ginger ale. 

He came home, warmed up my soup, brought me some Tylenol and a single red rose. Isn't he sweet? 

And so, I officially nominate him for being The Best! 

Don't mind the tacky "Love U Longtime" signature. 

Independence

Our holiday weekend was spent doing very American things. 

We hit our pool Saturday for a quick cool-off in the 90+ degree heat.

We then snatched the two berry cobblers from the oven and headed over to our Ward Potluck, which was conveniently at the Church a very short walk away. 

Heavenly Father must still love me, because I had a day of reprieve from nausea/vomiting and actually had an appetite for all the delicious food and treats. And I kept it all down! Though, my stomach was clearly confused after a week of eating hardly anything to eating a whole plateful of actual food (not just broth, water and crackers) it grumbled at me the rest of the evening. We had a really good time getting to know some of our Church family better and sharing our news - we had people asking, "So when are you going to have a baby?" We replied, "January 6th." I also loved seeing my little Sunbeams in their natural element - sweaty, dirty, eating cupcakes and running around like crazy kids.

Eric was pretty ecstatic to get to eat good food that he didn't have to prepare for himself. The poor boy has clearly suffered from my weeks of nausea and inability to cook much of anything. Pictured here, enjoying authentic, homemade tamales. 

Sunday was Church and lots of relaxing. And another blessed day of no vomiting, though the nausea had returned. 

Eric worked Monday, the 4th of July, but he was able to meet up with me in Stanfield to take in the parade. 

While blistering in the sun (see the complete absence of clouds), we noticed a strange phenom happening. People were literally running up to the floats to get candy, they were standing halfway in the street ... it became hard to distinguish parade entries from parade "spectators." 

I loved this - Two Indian Princesses being driven around in a classic Ford Mustang by a Cowboy. 

When Eric got off work we trekked over to Umatilla to make use of the abandoned BBQ (The Lougees have been off galavanting around Utah for 12 days!) The grill master whipped up some simple, yet tasty hotdogs & hamburgers for me, Grandma McFadden and even a couple bites for Chloe. 

Eric's plate, featuring a new family tradition, "patriot jello" and potato salad. 

Chloe sat like this and watched us eat our ENTIRE meal. It wasn't annoying in the slightest. 

One of my favorite things about the 4th, SPARKLERS. Chloe barked at these, even after we put her in the house she insisted on barking. They weren't even noisy! Just one more reason I'm glad we chose a baby over a dog. 

After snagging some sno-cones from our new favorite place, The Tiki Hut, we cozied ourselves up on the lawn of the hospital and waited for the fireworks show. 

The fireworks show was okay, we were pretty tired (it was 10 o'clock, way past our bedtime) and we were very much distracted by the two accidental fires that ignited on the butte that they were shooting the fireworks off of. 

Then it was home and straight to bed. 

Yay for freedom! 

R.I.P

The last post was about birth. This blog post is about death. Dwight Eisenhower Lee. He lived a full 16 months. Yesterday his health took a nose dive south and when we woke up this morning we found that he had past. Death comes quickly but at least we know he is in a better place. Fish Heaven.