Happy birthday, Steve!

August 20 is Steve's birthday. In honor of this special day, I decided to make a German chocolate cake from scratch for the first time. I found a recipe online and was a little nervous about whether it would meet his expectations. Well, I was successful! After the first bite, he said it was really good, and he has eaten more since then! I'd have to agree that although I'm not a big fan of this kind of cake, it was delicious. Not the most beautiful looking, but it's what's inside that counts...right??? I guess we'll have to keep watching Cake Boss so I can get better at cake decorating. :)

One year ago...

August 22, 2009 - Steve and I had been dating for 18 months. We ventured up Kenosha Pass for a picnic. The rock we had picnicked on a year before was already occupied, so we hiked up a ways. Steve kept saying, "We'll come back to this spot if we don't find something better." We finally found a nice grassy area with a couple rocks to sit on. We enjoyed our lovely picnic lunch and then headed back towards the water to hike back down. After a little bit, Steve said, "Do you think you can get out to that rock?" and pointed to a rock in the middle of the stream. As soon as we were both on the rock, Steve handed me our backpack. He took something out of his pocket and got down on his knee. As soon as I realized what was happening, he asked, "Will you marry me?" with a beautiful ring in his hand. I, of course, said Yes! We then sat on the rock for awhile and talked. He told me all of the planning that had gone into the special moment...asking my dad when they were visiting at the end of June (I later found out that my whole family knew he was proposing that day.), talking to people about engagement rings, buying the ring on his own, and finding the perfect spot. We took a couple rocks with us as a reminder of our special spot.

August 22, 2010 - We ventured back up Kenosha Pass for another picnic. I wasn't sure if I would be able to hike up to our spot, but I made it. It took a bit to find "our rock." The water is flowing differently, trees have fallen/grown, etc. But we're pretty sure we found the special place. Of course, we took more pictures and grabbed a couple more rocks. I'm glad we have our own special spot to visit. I'm pretty sure that we are the only ones who have gotten engaged on that particular rock. I love you, Steve!

25 weeks pregnant

Miscellaneous Ramblings at 23 weeks

Sitting here on my couch looking out our windows at the beautiful mountains. I should be getting ready for the day and packing for our trip to Nebraska, but the couch is pretty comfy right now. I can't believe I'm over halfway through my pregnancy. The time has flown by! One thing I'm relishing right now is that it's mid-August, and I'm not having to prep a classroom for the new school year. It's a little odd, but I'm okay with it. I'm looking forward to subbing. It will be fun to have the experiences at different schools and see different classrooms.

Shelby can be very active sometimes. Steve got to feel his first real kicks the other night. He thought it was pretty cool. Luckily, the movements are not keeping me awake at night yet. We had a doctor's appointment on August 6. The heartbeat was at 140 bpm. We need to figure out when we're going to take childbirth classes and a tour of the hospital. The hospital we'll be at has a variety of dates offered; we just need to decide which ones work best for us.

A couple weeks ago, Steve and I went on a 3 hour hike on a trail just south of town. It was a pretty easy trail with some beautiful views. We were even lucky enough to see some bighorn sheep. They were right by the trail and were obviously used to having people around.

Steve and I are heading to Nebraska sometime this afternoon for the weekend. We'll be celebrating my mom's birthday, going to Platte River State Park (an old family favorite), spending time at the Cass County Fair, and going to a baby shower thrown by my aunts on my dad's side of the family. It will be a busy but fun weekend. It will also be Steve's first time in Nebraska in the summer. We'll see what he thinks of high humidity.

I made a car seat cover similar to this one this week. My top has a white background with orange, brown, blue, and green polka dots. The bottom layer is brown with cream polka dots. It was pretty easy to put together and will be great to use! I also bought some fabric for making Christmas stockings which is my next project. I'm hoping to get as much done for Christmas as I can before Shelby comes. I don't think I'll want to take a 2-week-old shopping for Christmas presents.

This is a picture of a sunset seen out of our living room windows sometime recently. Definitely an image of God at work in our world.