Oregon Trip, 13 Weeks Along, Telling Fam & Friends, 14 Weeks Along

Oregon Trip

10/9: We left that morning. We stopped at Winnemucca because it was about 2 or 3 hundred miles until we reached a gas station or restaurant. We had nothing but snack foods that whole day. We played a really fun grape game challenge. We saw how many grapes we could fit in our mouths. John got 18 and I got some thing like 13. I was very gaggy, otherwise I could have fit more. The moral of this story is that John has a bigger mouth than I thought he did.... at about 9pm we stopped at this gas station. I had to urinate badly but the gas station looked dirty and sketchy. John encouraged me to come in with him anyway, cause he didn't want to leave me alone out in the car. So I went in with him, used the restroom and then left. We drove about 30 minutes when I realized I had left my purse in the bathroom at that sketchy gas station! The fear that pumped through my veins was indescribable. So we back tracked for the half hour to go back to the gas station. I prayed the whole way that my purse would be there, as well as everything in it. But John and I figured it wasn't likely. We finally got there, went into the bathroom I used and- it was gone! My purse was not in the bathroom where I left it. Then I went to the front desk and asked the clerk. He had it! And he gave it to me. I checked the contents when we got in the car, and it appeared that nothing had been taken. Phew! Maybe I had been too judgmental of that sketchy gas station after all! I was so so so happy. We lost about an hour's drive time and we were both pretty moody and tired, but we had good news with the purse!...It seemed like it took forever to find a motel or hotel in Oregon that evening. We finally found one on the side of the highway called "Whispering Pines." It was old and disgusting. The bed was hard, the room was cold. But we were exhausted and didn't know when or if we would find another one that was open. Long distance road-tripping is not John's favorite.

10/10: That morning we woke up and went to breakfast at Diamond Lake Junction. The food was amazing.

Yes, that pancake was as big as it looked. Neither In or John could finish it. It was so nice to have eggs and bacon. I haven't been able to use our oven or stove for so long, it seems!

Then we drove to Crater Lake. Didn't take too long from where we had been staying that night.When we entered the canyon we discovered it was covered in thick, strong smelling smoke. I didn't get a headache, gladly. We pulled up to the view point of Crater Lake and noticed that the lake itself was covered in smoke! We could barely see it or its cute little islands. We'll just say it's fog. Ha!

On our way down the canyon we got to see the most beautiful scenery; green trees with splashes of red, yellow and orange. Wish we could have taken some better pictures. John was especially enamored with the fall changing colors of the leaves.

These pictures don't do them justice.

We waited in traffic for about 30 minutes because this tree had fallen down

We eventually made it to the my bro's house! Apparently A had been sitting by the front window for us, anticipating our arrival.  We were so excited to see them! The kids had grown so much! We got to meet Thor their new dog, which John was extremely excited about. My sis in law made an awesome tortellini dinner (I had been craving a red sauce pasta for weeks!). S asked me to say the prayer, but John butted in and said "I'll say the prayer" and gave me a little wink. I knew something was up. It turned out to be really cute. In the prayer John said "Bless Heidi and S that their pregnancies will be safe." My bro immediately opened his eyes, looked at me and laughed. After the "amens" the secret was officially out! I think the kids had a hard time understanding what it meant, but my bro congratulated us. He was way excited for us. Later, when S and C got home, we told them too. S and I got to exchange pregnancy symptom stories.

Sweet, docile Thor

10/11: We slept in and then went to a gorgeous park with S and S and Thor. It was VERY green and very beautiful. Then John and I went to High Tide Café and there we had some scrumptious clam chowder.

We went to Bastillon beach and fell asleep. Then two more beaches with the my bro and his fam that were a lot less windy than Bastillon beach.

It was pretty cold. Some of the kids got their shoes wet, but I'd never want to actually get in the water!

Thor never seemed to mind S carrying him like this. Whenever she did it, he would just kind of go limp. He's a very loving, even tempered puppy.

The views were incredibly gorgeous. Oregon is so beautiful! But yes, I did edit these pics. The water wasn't quite that blue, but blue nonetheless. After the beaches, we went to Shark Bites Restaurant. I got shrimp tacos but could only stomach one of them, since I was so nauseated; I waited too long to eat. When A was asked what he wanted he said "What is John getting?" and got the same dish John got. And when John had to get up to use the restroom, A went with him. He was his little shadow. It was so so cute. And John didn't mind at all.  John started the lemon wedge challenge, and of course C and A were game. They all ate an entire lemon wedge!

He loved that pumpkin. Well I should say, he loved attacking it.

S, Thor and pumpkin in their front yard

10/12: We got ice cream at a local creamery.  Then we walked at another park with the dog and the kids. Again- beautiful greenery.

Then John and I went to a sushi restaurant called Tokyo Bistro. B had been raving about it. It was very good (and we made sure we only got cooked sushi, since I'm pregnant).

10/13: S took us to see their new house that they just made an offer on. It's a fun 70's house that they plan on remodeling. There's a pool in the side yard, a cool tree fort, and there's a lap pool inside the house. And B's favorite part is the 15 acre lot that goes with it! Beautiful forestry. We drove through part of it, but it was way too big to see the whole thing! So cool! We then visited B at the end of his shift. His medical office is newly remodeled and incredibly beautiful. He introduced us to his co-workers and gave us a tour. He also showed us a new device they had; a "pill" like camera that you can swallow and see the interior of your small intestines. ... Then it was time for the most exciting part of our trip. We drove into a town called Bandon and did some crabbing! It was so fun! And I couldn't believe how much fun John was having with it. He said "This is my kind of fishing." We got the nets and John and B had to get their fishing licenses (B paid for John's- so nice!) . In each net we put a raw large piece of chicken, tied in tight. Then we put the nets/cages down in the water while holding on to the rope. Ten minutes later we'd pull them up and see what we caught! We could only keep the crabs that were male and of a certain size. After a couple hours of fishing, B was able to keep one that he caught. John and I weren't able to keep any. It was super fun nonetheless. We loved it!

Some crabs that John caught. None of them were big enough to keep though. That white object is the raw chicken. The crabs love them.

 That yellow thing B is holding is an official measuring device.

Whoa! B's catch.

This was the pier we crabbed on. Really nice people on either side of us.

John did touch the crabs

That was a male (you can tell by the shape of their tummies), but it wasn't big enough.

My favorite picture of John crabbing that day. He got really into it. The further they threw the cages out, the luckier they got.

All in the day of the life of a crabber.

Here's one of the seals. There were lots of them.

After that, we went to a creamery, had some cheese samples and got some yummy ice cream. When we got up to go, Thor was so tired, he wouldn't stand up from lying down. It was so cute... Then we went to Tony's crab shack and B bought us yummy seafood dinner. The cook there even cooked the crab that B caught and A ate it.

We watched Wonder Woman that night. Great movie!

10/14: We said our goodbye's and got on the road. It was pretty sad to go.

On our way home we made some stops. We weren't about to do it all in one day! We visited Redwood National Forest and then stayed the night at Lighthouse Inn. Pretty nice, and very clean, however the bed was hard, again. We ate at a seafood place by the beach. It was very good.

INCREDIBLE big beautiful trees. Some portions of the forest looked like a rainforest! The trees weren't as fat as the trees at Sequoiah's trees, but they were huge, nonetheless.

I dared John to climb this tree, cause it looked pretty easy. So he did cause he wanted to show off to me (or so he said) but the roots were slippery.

He fell. Sad but kind of funny. Don't ask me how I got a pic of it... John laughed it off though and he was fine.

We immediately pulled the car over when we came across a pack of wild elk. Luckily there was a fence in between us and them. Apparently you're not supposed to approach them, but we got a good view from a slight distance. They were beautiful and peaceful. I still don't understand how they carry those huge antlers on top of their heads.

John is a hobbit here

Half of tree trunk split in half. We drove right in between the two halves. John took a pic of the other half.

This is not a waterfall in the middle here. It's a white tree.

And we stopped at some beaches along the coast.

It was way too beautiful to not take pictures of each beach from every angle

No, John is not holding up that rock with his left hand.

10/15: We went on some more Redwood Trails and in California John insisted we stop at Round Table Pizza (that's no longer in Utah). It's his favorite. . We drove all the way to Reno Then we decided to stay at Circus Circus. It was only $44 and it reminded us of our childhoods.

10/16: We drove the rest of the way home.

13 Weeks Along

My baby is now three inches long, about the size of a sweet Georgia peach. His/her head makes up half of his/ her body size. The intestines completes its journey in the umbilical cord into baby's belly. The placenta is expanding; it weighs just an ounce now. Finger nails and downy hair on the body continue to make their appearance. His/her bones begin to harden and the genitals are starting to take on their gender's characteristics. The muscles of the chest wall are starting to develop. He or she is starting to practice little breathing movements. His/ her vocal cords are forming. 10-11-17

Telling Family & Friends

Since I'm now out of my first trimester, it's time to tell family and friends! I thought about waiting until the gender ultrasound, but just couldn't. I texted Steve and then he called me to congratulate us. . By the time S and I have our babes, there will be 13 grandchildren/ nieces and nephews on my side!...Lynda was probably our favorite to tell. We called her and Bob on speaker phone and she was sooooo excited! She said she had been praying for us, everyday, to be able to get pregnant. The funniest thing that Lynda told us in the phone call was- "John, Grandma just loves you. She said that if she had to marry any one of her grandsons it would be you." Hahahahaha! That made my day. Dorothy is so so funny! I see where John get his humor from. I think Dorothy was being serious though, which makes it even more funny. We miss her so much. We're going to try to go up there to Idaho to visit soon.  I wish we could have told all the ID fam about our pregnancy in person; it would have been much more fun.  .

14 Weeks Along

I'm still having some spotting, but the doc says that's normal for my specific situation. I'm still getting nauseous in the late afternoon and evening. My pregnancy belly is getting bigger. I can't believe how high I'm carrying this baby.  And I'm gaining weight in plenty other areas too; it doesn't help that my doctor won't let me do even mild exercise. It's nice to not have my migraines (for the most part) and my nausea has decreased somewhat. For the past couple days, I've been feeling these localized cramping feelings every once in a while. I keep wondering if it's the baby I'm feeling, even though I think it's way too early for that. I'm pretty sure he/she is very active, as was shown in our last ultrasound. John has been so helpful and supportive. I'm so glad to have him. He's working full time and doing school OVER full time, on top of all of my needs. He's been so great. I don't know how single moms do it.  On our Oregon trip, I had quite the craving for sour, fruity, chewy candy. So, I had A LOT of it on the road trip. S said that some Asian woman told her that if the mother is craving sour foods during pregnancy, it's a boy; and if she's craving spicy foods, it's a girl. Don't know if it applies to me though, because I have never liked spicy foods, ever. As for my baby and his/ her progress-  this week, he/she is trading in his/her jerky movements for fluid, more smooth moves. His/her neck is getting longer and his/her head more upright. He/she is about the size of a fist, but he/she is not shaped like one anymore. He/she is sprouting hair all over his/her body. It will keep him/her warm until he/she packs on some more pounds. His/her brain is growing rapidly. It develops into two distinct halves. He or she is starting to acquire reflexes. 10-18-17