Weekend Away, 4th of July, and more Belly Photos

As usual, lots has been happening and I feel like I never have enough time to blog! Here are some photos over the last couple weeks...

 Heath and I at his sister's, Renae, wedding. I had the flu that weekend so I felt pretty sick but managed to drag myself there. Like Heath's hair cut?

Here is our little 4th of July party we had at our friend Julie's house. I was in Sydney for a work conference last month and we went to the Costco that opened up there, which is where I purchased the 24 pack of Dr. Pepper!!! I paid $30, which is outrageous in America, but when we pay $2.50 for one can here, I feel like I got a bargain. It was gone in less than a week!

 Julie is Australian but got in the American spirit and make red and blue Gatorade ice cubes with Sprite. It was very festive and yummy!

 Heath and I booked a weekend away down the Gold Coast for our anniversary. Our anniversary isn't until July 18th but since Heath was on school holidays last week, we decided to go a little early.

 28 weeks!

 We went goofy golfing..

 We really had no plans while we were there so we decided to take a trip down memory lane and visit the 5 houses his family lived in when they first moved to Queensland.

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 A pipe line he used to play on as a kid. As you can see, it stretches for a long while and at the end of it there is a creek. Heath and his friends used to play at this creek often. There is a rope swing there and his friend (best man) David got his leg tangled up in the rope somehow and was dangling there with his head under water. Heath swam over and held his head above water for the next few minutes while another friend cut him down. Heath continually reminds David that he saved his life!

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 Every year for our anniversary, we try and find a new mexican place and try it out (when we went on our first date in America, we went to Costa Vida so mexican is now the tradition).This place was called the Aztec and it was crap! It sucks how it looks like it would taste authentic and then you eat it and the flavors are all wrong. We'll have to keep looking..

 We decided to go for a walk on the beach our last morning there.

There have been massive king tides at this particular beach, which is why the sand is eroded (pushed up like a wall).

We drove back to Brisbane in time for Heath to play footy Saturday afternoon. I haven't been to many games this year and I was really bad and didn't take much photos but this is him after the game...he's pretty upset because they lost by 10 goals.

I've been working like crazy the last couple weeks, training my replacement and getting things sorted before I go on maternity leave (7 weeks to go!!). Heath has been getting a few teaching contracts here and there. The contract he is doing right now is full time Math teacher! He works at a pretty rough high school....Math is probably one of the most hated subjects and it's mandatory so the students have not been easy on him. But we're grateful he has a job!

Baby boy has been kicking so much lately! It's so fun to feel his little hands and feet moving across my stomach. Heath enjoys it more now because he is able to feel it as well. I can't believe I'm 29 weeks this week! It's gone by quick but I am ready for him to be here already!

27th Birthday and Baby Update

I'm very behind on updating my blog but it's been a busy couple weeks! Heath's birthday was a couple weeks ago...he's 27 and pretty upset about getting old and getting further away from his prime (no longer can play professional AFL because he's too "old") so I had to make his day very special! So we started the day out right by having french toast with ice cream!

We both worked all day and meant to go out to dinner that night but couldn't decide on a restaurant so I decided to make chimichangas, which is one of Heath's favorite mexican dishes.

We had some friends over that night to watch State of Origin (it's like the Superbowl of rugby). He guessed to have the Queensland team win by 8 points and they won by 8 points! I don't know if he's just lucky or psychic. 

 Saturday, I threw a party for him in our backyard. We borrowed our friend Matt's blow up projector screen and had Sing Star challenges. We also had a fire and s'mores and hot chocolate!

Our niece Layla's birthday was that day as well so they celebrated their birthday together.

Now for the baby update: I feel like I am getting huge! Baby boy is kicking all the time and it's so fun for me to physically feel him now all the time. Here's a belly photo for you, Mom and sisters! 

Boy or Girl?

Well, the Gender Party was a success and a lot of fun! Heath and I were so surprised to see blue balloons come out because we were both convinced it was a girl! To top off the day, Heath got to feel baby boy kick that night (Heath thinks its a sign that the baby wants to show him he wants to play football).

Thank you to my sister-in-law Hope for taking these cute pictures!

Enjoy the video! (Thanks Matt and Jade!)

18 Weeks

Thought I would post an 18 week photo for my sisters and mom who keep asking to see my bump! Well here it is! I feel like I've just "popped" out in the last couple weeks and people are starting to notice now that I'm pregnant, not just  fat around the middle.

I am continuing to work, which I keep telling myself is a blessing....I guess I have good days and bad days so I just need to suck it up!

Heath won a trip to London through work so he leaves tomorrow for 1 week...this is the longest we've been away from each other since we've been married! I am all for him going and really excited for him but now that it's here I'm really sad! I guess I'm more sad because I have my 20 week scan while he is away, which I could of rescheduled for the next week so he could be there but Heath is so impatient and couldn't wait so I'm keeping it the same date.

But we decided to do something different to find out the sex of the baby...I'm going to have the doctor put the gender in an envelope (won't have him tell us at the appointment) and then we are going to have a "Sex Party" (not what it sounds like!) with all friends and family so we can all find out the gender at the same time. So I will give the envelope to one of Heath's sisters and they will put a bunch of colored helium balloons in a box (pink for girl, blue for boy) and then we'll open the box at the party (saw it on Pinterest). We will record it and show it to my family so they can feel apart of it too! This way, essentially Heath and I find out at the same time!

Can't wait to find out what we're having!!!

Catch Up

My sister, Kimberlee's blog inspired me to start my blog back up again! So much has been going on in the last few months, I feel like I haven't had time to sit down and write about everything (or I've just felt too sick to).

I am 16 weeks pregnant now, along with my sister Kim who shares the same due date with me....so here is a quick recap of the last couple months:

The first 7-12 weeks of pregnancy were not fun ones for me! And in the middle of that, Heath and I planned a trip to Japan (we booked this trip before we found out I was preggers). Japan was great though, even with all the frequent trips to the bathroom! My only regret is that I could not fully enjoy all the great and different Japanese food....I was pretty picky and would only eat fried rice (which isn't even Japanese, its Chinese) and yaki soba (noodles, cabbage, and soy sauce).

Heath planned EVERYTHING. Since he served his mission in Japan and also visited frequently after his mission while working for the Aussie airline Jetstar, he knew all the good places to visit and stay. We visited 5 different cities in 2 weeks. We went to Disney Sea, the snow (1998 Winter Olympics were held there), temples (including LDS temple), and different areas of Heath's mission. Here are a few good pictures of the overall trip...

Since being back from Japan, we have both been busy working all the time! I am still working full time at my job, which has been very busy and demanding, but I am so grateful to have a job. Heath is working at Amart All Sports still and getting a few shifts substitute teaching at the Royal Brisbane Children's Hospital. He teaches sick children and their siblings in groups, and for those who are too sick to attend class, he will do one-on-one classes. It has been very eye opening for him...it's definitely a job I couldn't do! He comes home and tells me about his students and I just cry! But he enjoys it for the most part.

After the 12 week mark, I have started to get over my morning sickness and get my energy back. I am still traveling for work, which has been a struggle for me. When I have to fly to my 2 regional stores, my day will start at 5am and get home after 8pm. But, again, I am so grateful to have a job and don't know what I would be doing with myself if I wasn't working!

I haven't really had any cravings but the other week I was on a hunt for tamales! Australia has very limited Mexican food, and tamales is one of those delicacies they do not sell, or even have the products to make tamales. So I've been eating lots of tacos, burritos, and fajitas. I am not normally a milk person but I love cereal and chocolate milk right now! I usually have a glass of chocolate milk every night before bed.

I had a doctor's appointment today and the doctor asked if I wanted to hear the heart beat....HECK YES!! For me, being pregnant hasn't really hit me yet. I just feel like I'm sick all the time for no reason so to hear the heart beat of that little person inside of me makes it all real and worth it! She put the monitor on my stomach and you could hear the heart straight away, beating fast! The doctor said the baby is most likely awake and moving around. I was able to put a visual in my head of this little person swimming around inside of me, having a nice time in my belly. We have a scan in 2 weeks, where we'll find out the sex!! We are way too excited and can't wait to find out what we are having.

Well, that's my pregnancy update. I will try to be more diligent and post more often with pictures! For now, here is a picture I took a couple weeks ago....not quite a belly yet but I am feeling very bloated these days!

Home Sweet Home

Welcome to our new home in Acacia Ridge, Queensland! It is an older house but I like to say it has character. The rooms and kitchen are newly painted and we are so happy to be in our own place!

We have a cute little garden on the side of our house and with all the rain we've been having in the last couple weeks, these little beauties just popped right up!
The is our lounge room and the first room you walk into when you enter the house.
Heath's sister, Renae, was moving at the same time and getting rid of some furniture, which included the book shelves! We have minimal furniture so we were happy to take these for free!
This is the dining room
And the kitchen, which is right of the dining room. We finally have a kitchen with a dishwasher which surprisingly enough we still don't use! I guess when it's just 2 people living here, it's just easier to wash them by hand then waste water and wash a few dishes. Maybe I've just been washing dishes by hand for too long!
Back door to our...
Backyard! In the left hand corner you will see a clothes line, which is standard in a Queensland house, as most people do not have dryers. Lucky for us, I found a bargain at a yard sale and scored us one for $30! No more hanging the clothes on the line.
Newly renovated bathroom.
Our favorite room by far...the Theatre Room.

And last but not least, our bedroom. The white box on the wall is our air-conditioning unit. Air-conditioning was a prerequisite while we were house shopping and all the rooms have air-conditioning units (thank goodness!) which, again, is not a standard in a Queensland house. I don't know how people build houses here and not have ducted air-conditioning! Guess the Aussies are really "green" here.
And here is our old TV, which Heath said we couldn't get rid of when we upgraded so it ended up in our room. Now, the cricket is on 24/7...Joy!
We also have one other room but I have not posted pictures because it has become the "I don't know where to put this" room. We have a spare bed, couches, clothes, shoes, vacuum, picture frames, etc. so I might post pictures at a later date when it actually looks like a room.

Heath and I lived in a tiny unit when we first got married (and when I say tiny, I mean it consisted of a bed room, which flowed into another room crammed with couches and a sink for a kitchen). We lived in this unit for 8 months in which after we moved to his sister's house, Jade, to save money while he finished school. We have been living at that house for almost 2 years. Although we had our own space in the downstairs part of the house, there is nothing like being in your own place!