Yellowstone

In July I went to the Davis family reunion on my mom's side of the family at Island Park and Yellowstone. It was my first time visiting Yellowstone and it won't be the last because I still have much more I need to see at the park.

Entering Yellowstone with my sister's family.

A friendly bison we saw while driving.

Old Faithful

Alaska

These wild flowers grow all over the state. This picture of Eagle River Valley, where Niel grew up, was taken from titty-top mountain.

Niel and his dad found this half-frozen lake high up in the mountain near Kenai.

Off in the distance you can see Denali

Niel's house is down there somewhere. The big red-roofed building is where he went to elementary school.

Eagle River, the river Niel's hometown was named after

Symphony Lake

Schurig Men

I want to go to Alaska now. What about you?

Gone Fishin'

What is a trip to Alaska without fishing? Niel caught five or six King Salmon while fishing with his dad at Montana Creek. Have I mentioned how much I love salmon? Unfortunately Mr. Schurig failed to bring home any fish. Can you believe that? One of our friends felt bad for me and gave me one of their salmon they got from Alaska during their trip this summer.

Doesn't he look cute in his fishing gear? Those boot things are called hip waders (I just learned this). Apparently his hip waders leaked while fishing and his socks and pants got all wet.

Niel's Dad reeling in a fish

Alaskan Grown

One thing you may not know about Niel is that he was raised in Eagle River Alaska, a suburb of Anchorage. He was able to take a trip home to Alaska this summer for the first time in seven years. The pregnant woman (me) didn't make the cut for the camp outs and hikes that were planned. I hope to make it to Alaska one of these days to see where Niel grew up. He took lots of pictures with his iPhone while on his trip.

His house. Doesn't this look exactly how you would picture a home in Alaska to look like? I thought so.

Here is one of the many walls of Niel's home adorned with stuffed, dead, animals. Weird, I know.

Below is Niel's back yard. Not to be mistaken for a forrest. I told Niel that his back yard looks more mountainous than the site of our last camping trip at Mt. Charleston outside of Las Vegas.

This is the beginning of a wonderful series of Alaksa posts. I know your excited.

Offer Accepted!

After eight months of looking for a home we finally had an offer ACCEPTED! I thought this day would never come as we have been in countless bidding wars. We've been outbid by cash offers, investors, and everyone else it seemed. There were times when we were competing with over fifteen offers! Even though it has been fun looking for a home it has also been frustrating at times. The real estate market was hit really bad in Vegas and most of the homes on the market are short sales and foreclosures. Yes, it is a great time to buy a house in Vegas but there is a lot of competition, especially for the homes in our price range.

This home is in a gated neighborhood about five minutes from Niel's work. It is the fifth home in this particular neighborhood that we have offered on. There are a few neighborhoods that we stalk consistently, and we actually spotted this house long before it ever went on the market. We noticed it was vacant about 4 months ago, and waited patiently for it to be released by the bank. It seems like fate now that all the other homes didn't work out, because this one is our favorite. Do you want to know what the best part about this house is? It has a pool and a spa! I'm looking forward to hosting many pool parties!

Now that we have it under contract, it becomes the hurry-up-and-wait game. Everything moves so slowly in real estate, especially when dealing with a Freddie Mac house. Our chances of being moved in before baby arrives are slim. We will cross our fingers though, because I would love to bring home our baby girl to this house!

31 Weeks

Still feeling not too shabby although the third trimester has already been the hardest. At about 28 weeks my back started hurting a lot, especially in the night. I am finding it very hard to sleep and stay asleep. It seems my pregnancy makes my existing back problems worse (no surprise).

I had to take the three hour glucose test because my first test results were high. Luckily, the first test was a false positive but my doctor told me the three out of four results were borderline. I will have to watch myself carefully in future pregnancies.

At my 31 week checkup my doctor told me I was measuring big and that she thinks I am going to have a big baby. Thanks to my husband who was a 10.6 lb. pound baby. I wanted to cry. In fact I did cry that night. I don't think I'm made to birth big babies. My doctor will monitor me closely and may induce me up to a week early if needed. If I don't have the baby by my due date she will induce me or do a scheduled C-section. To be honest I am scared silly of childbirth and try not to think about it too much. I try to focus on how excited I am to meet our little girl!

4th of July

We did the 4th of July right by attending two barbecues. The first was on Saturday at Greg and Mollie's house. Unfortunately I don't have any pictures. On Saturday night we thought we'd catch one of the firework shows in the city. We picked the show in North Las Vegas (bad choice). We saw more thugs there than when we lived in the ghetto in SoCal. As we were looking for a space to park we noticed people walking away from where the festivities were taking place. We got out of the car and started walking towards the park when a lady informed us there were gunshots followed by a stampede of frightened observers. We ended up watching the firework show from the hood of our car. This experience solidified our decision to not live in North Las Vegas. No offense if you live there.

On the 4th of July we barbecued and did fireworks with our friends Marlene and Spencer and their family. They had a delicious dinner followed by some fireworks.

Norah and Aubrey

Niel very intrigued by his sparkler
Spencer and his brother in law preparing for our class-A firework show

Afterwards Niel and I watched the fireworks from the hill behind our house of the whole city.

Wedding Day!

This was the day we had all been waiting for! Camille and Bryan-high school sweethearts of seven years finally tied the knot! I can remember some of our first adventures hanging out with Bryan and his friends. It has been fun watching Camille and Bryan get to this point. The wedding was held outdoors in Cle Elum, Washington. Everything was beautiful; the setting, the ceremony, and especially the bride!

Notice her cute orange shoes. Orange has been her favorite color since high school.

Camille's dad walking her down the isle

Meet the new Mr. & Mrs. Camille and Bryan Jones!

She looked gorgeous.

Kellie and I are both pregnant and due only three months apart!

Mallory & me

Mallory and her BF, Doug, David, Stephen, Lisa, Kellie and me.

It was great to see high school friends I hadn't seen in a long time. I also saw old teachers, mentors, and family friends I hadn't seen since high school. The wedding was lots of fun! Congratulations to Camille and Bryan! Enjoy your life together!