dang raccoons

We just found out the other day that our neighbors have 5 raccoons living in their bushes/trees.  They've been trying to get a hold of the people to come pick them up, but haven't had luck getting them to.  So, we took matters into our own hands.  Clay borrowed some traps from a guy at work and set them up last night.  Everyone was gone and I had come downstairs to the kitchen and heard really weird noises.  I looked out the window and saw raccoons coming into our yard. We caught one!!! Clay was pulling into the garage at the time and I was freaking out, afraid to open our back door.  Well, we put the cage in our trunk and headed for the park.  We dropped it off there and hopefully we'll catch the rest of them.  Oh boy, do they ever freak me out.  I am no big city girl, but I'm no country girl and I've never seen raccoons until here in Washington so go ahead, make fun of me :) They are just ugly little things.

20 weeks

This definitely is not the most flattering picture of my belly.  I was in fact, very lazy this day, but it was on the 20 week mark and I didn't want to put off taking a picture later.  

I purposely had Clay cut my head off. I highly doubt I had my makeup or hair done, and since it's really the belly you look at, hey, why not leave my head shot out :)  I've definitely felt the baby kick, or at least have stronger "flutters", which is just crazy! It makes it more real knowing that something is growing inside of me. 

whale watching

Last year Clay and I went whale watching for our anniversary.  It was a gorgeous day, however, we didn't get to see any whales.  Because of this, they gave us "fluke" passes, letting us come back whenever, with no expiration date.  Anyway, seeing how I didn't do too well even on a plane, I decided to let Quinn take my pass.  So Clay and Quinn went this last weekend.  They were lucky enough to see whales...well, at least the fins of the Minke whales.  Clay was the only one who got to see dolphins, so at least it was a worthwhile trip for them.

They went in the evening this time and Clay captured this beautiful sunset!  Once the boat started heading back in, the captain warned everyone that it was going to get rough, so they might want to get inside.  Well, Clay being himself, went to the very front and all of a sudden there comes this huge wave and pounds Clay and Quinn all over.  They were soaked!  Lucky Clay - he got this twice, so he was soaking wet when he got home.  Glad they could have a good time though.  Maybe someday we'll go on a cruise and be able to see whales and dolphins that way :) I'm just fine with that idea.

my day for venting

Wow, I don't think I've posted this soon after another post...I have been lacking.  I suppose today I just feel like "complaining".  I'll post how our weekend in Nevada went this last weekend once I get pictures, but for now, you can choose to hear me sulk in my misery.  I have been soaking my legs in freezing cold water ever since we got back Sunday night and oh boy, I really don't like the cold even more!  I think I got sick from this weekend and from my sunburn because I have felt like I've gotten the chills, even in 110 degree weather, and I've been nauseous like I was in my first trimester.  Luckily, the soaking has been helping, but I will have an extremely tacky sun tan as a strip down the front of my legs. I also think I was very dehydrated as I almost passed out twice in Nevada - once in the mall while shopping for cute boy clothes, and the second - while on the plane flying out of Vegas.  Um, I think I need to drink more water. Yeah.  I knew I haven't been anyway while being pregnant, so I guess being out in that heat for 4+ hours was the last straw pulled. 

Yesterday, for the first time, I saw what it meant when they say pregnant women get swollen feet.  I don't think this heat is helping me any.  They aren't that bad, but I can see the difference as they are looking more like cankles :S Ugh.  So, in all reality, I guess I don't have that much to complain about...it definitely could get worse.  This pregnancy has treated me very well so far.  I realize that when carrying a boy, it's all out in front - at least for now - so I don't look all that fat...yet. I'll get a picture up here soon because I'm at 20 weeks...HALF WAY baby!!!

Oh, and the last thing...I'm bummed about missing this...

The social event of the year...Cassia County Fair and Rodeo!  I know I haven't even been for a few years, but it's still a part of my roots.  It's always so nice to run into old friends and make new ones, eat the best maple bars, be out in the sun watching the parade, go to the concerts, and just make new memories! Clay has never experienced it, so hopefully one day he will (maybe next year :), but no one knows how great it really is unless you're part of the B-Town Mafia!!!

It's a . . .

The ultrasound we had on Friday pretty much was 

as self-explanatory as this is :D

I was praying that the baby would cooperate so we wouldn't have to wait longer to find out the gender, and within the first five minutes, we got a look at the bum and sure enough, there "it" was!  Clay was betting the whole time that it was a boy, and I suppose I was just being stubborn and went against him and voted for a girl.  Looks like I really lost this bet.  I'm definitely fine with the outcome.  Either way would have been great for our families.  On the Fenton side, Clay's siblings are all boys, his mom was the only girl, there's only one girl (I believe) in his dad's family, etc. etc. etc.  In my family, there's two girls out of eight kids, but two boys and four girls for grandchildren.  So, I wanted a girl for the Fenton's sake, and a boy for the Byington's, so either way, it's a win-win.  What am I saying? 

I don't care...I'm just SO happy we're having a baby!

weeklong 4th of july

My sister and her lovely family came up to visit for the 4th of July weekend! I was so super excited to have family come up here because it had been 6 months since we've had visitors. Janelle, Tom, and Shay flew in Wednesday night and after that, the schedule was jam packed full of F-U-N!

Thursday we headed out for Northwest Trek, which is like a miniature Yellowstone Park and a Zoo.  We took a bus/tram, whatever you call it, around the park, and some of the animals were right on the roadside!  Shay definitely had a blast seeing all the animals.

Friday, our friend was so kind to watch Shay while we all went to watch Eclipse!!!  It was simply amazing :)  Janelle got her and me Team Jacob shirts so it made the whole thing that much better to go watch. ha ha ha  We went for lunch at BJ's after that, came home and crashed, then took them out for some seafood here in the great northwest at Duke's.

Saturday, the sky cleared up so we headed for the beach!  We drove the couple hours to Ocean Shores to play on the beach and the skies were perfect!  It was a little chilly, but the water was surprisingly warm, at least just for wading in it.  Later on, we rented scooters and drove along the beach which was a blast!  I think the guys had way too much fun with those things.  We went to dinner that night at the Spaghetti Factory which was so much fun once again.  

Sunday, we went to church, came home, then headed for Seattle/Burien.  Tom's Aunt and Uncle live there and let us come party for the 4th with them on the waterfront at their gorgeous home!  Well, needless to say, we were the only ones there that didn't drink, and Aunt Andrea was so kind as to have a cooler of water and pop for us.  People started showing up and someone brought jello in these little plastic cups in the colors and formed a flag out of it!  I had to get one of those, they looked so cute!  Well, Andrea warned us that they were alcoholic. :( Bummer.  BUT, there were other ones with mini marshmallows in them that weren't.  Tom didn't get the memo when she told us that, so Clay and I got some and started eating them.  Tom just had this disgusted look on his face, like "what are you guys doing? um, you know there's alcohol in that!"  We just played along saying that the marshmallows counter acted the alcohol or something so it was all good.  Ha, we sure got him. Anyway, it was fun to just lounge around.  Janelle and I were getting cold though so we went inside for a little bit before the fireworks.  I, however, ended up falling asleep through the whole show, which Janelle did too, so I missed the whole 4th of July fireworks show :(  I guess that's what you get when you're pregnant.

We stayed the night there and woke up Monday morning and got ready to go in to Seattle.  Tom and Janelle wanted the ferry adventure, so we parked in West Seattle and took the water taxi over into downtown.  We spent quite some time in Pike's Place, ate some delicious cherries, had lunch at Ivar's, took the bus to the Space Needle, and let Shay ride some of the carnival rides.  So we were trying to get back on the bus so we would make it early enough for the water taxi ride, but caught the bus on the wrong side of the street and started going north again.  We finally realized what we were doing, got off, and had to wait another 15ish minutes to catch the southbound bus, and we caught the same bus with this jerk of a driver that we had earlier.  We missed the water taxi by like 10 minutes, so we just lounged around for 40 minutes while Janelle and Tom went to take more of the Seattle life in.  We got back to Andrea's, ate dinner, and Janelle said bye to Tom as he was flying home that morning and she was staying a couple extra days.  

Tuesday through Thursday was just so nice to be able to relax and chill with my sister!  It seems like the only times we have had together were only for a day or so.  We were able to take Shay to the Tacoma Zoo, do a couple of crafts, and head out to the South Center Mall in Tukwila before she flew out.  It was so nice to spend some extra time with her!  I owe it all to Clay (and Tom for letting me keep her) for letting us be lazy while he slaved away keeping the house clean and doing the dishes.  LOVE YOU BABE!!!

It was such an awesome time spending it with the Lungrens!  Can't wait to see you back up here when baby Fenton arrives :D  Thanks for coming!

hoppin' on the bandwagon

Sometimes I feel like such a horrible wife because of my lack of preparation, especially this Father's Day.  As a little girl, I used to hide notes under my parents' pillows or my siblings for their birthdays or some other special occasion.  I loved celebrating those times and holidays.  Now, it seems like I'm such a slacker when it comes to getting ready for a holiday or even sending off birthday cards.  So, obviously I blew it for Clay on Father's Day (at least at the beginning).  I did get to make him a card at least ;)  We also made candy leis for a Relief Society activity to hand out at church so Clay got one of those.  Well, I suppose the part of the day that made him excited was to change his Facebook status (ha ha ha) and say that he was "officially going to be a daddy!".  So yes, that day has come!

I'm finally about through with my first trimester and I think I've been lucky, most of the time.  I was subbing as much as I could because I knew something would happen and I would have zero energy so it hit mid-May and I was as good as a rug on the floor.  I was nauseous 24/7 and felt like it would be better to just throw up, but it would get worse when I didn't eat anything, and obviously nothing sounded good to me so I was always feeling sick.  That's about how this last month has been, but slowly I'm getting my energy back and can eat a little bit more.  It's funny because when we went to Idaho we went out to dinner with our friends and one of them announced that they were pregnant, so I waited a couple minutes and said that I had news too.  They instantly guessed that I was pregnant too so I said "yes"!  And then I told them the truth.  Well, I guess I really hadn't lied because I was pregnant at that time! Also, my MIL asked me on Mother's Day if I was really a "mother" yet and I told her no (which was SO hard to lie to her), but in reality I was :)  Anyway, it's been so hard to keep this secret so if any of you have asked me if I was prego and I lied, oops, sorry!  So here's our latest ultrasound, well, only one so far.  I'm only mid 12 weeks so I still have plenty a ways to go.  It was so fun though to see that little being that's inside me! I'll admit I teared up at the beginning :) but the little thing was such a squirmer and kicking everywhere - it was so cute!!!

So this has been our recent adventure, seeing how I haven't posted in quite some time, but for a wonderful reason :) ha ha Oh, and about the bandwagon, I sure am hoppin' on with a bunch of you so let's party together!