A Week of Ecstasy

How else can I describe the pure joy of spending an entire week with Aaronhead? He's been complaining mightily that I haven't posted anything about him, so I figured I'd better get this up ASAP.

As I mentioned before, Aaron is getting ready to leave for his mission in Chile here in a month. Since Jon & I will be unable to attend his farewell due to the soon-to-arrive baby, his parents were kind enough to fly Aaron out here (after a week in Charlotte with Scott and Mary).

We picked him up on Saturday and then proceeded to spend the afternoon playing Starcraft and Doom in the nice, cool basement. And by "we played Doom" I mean that Jon & Aaron played, while I ran around the map, generally lost, and unwittingly took all the ammunition.

I feel like I should apologize to Aaron for being such a lame hostess. Jon had to work Monday through Wednesday, which left me & Aaron home to entertain each other. Let's just put it this way--I'm a homebody naturally, so add exhaustion and 25 pounds of baby-related weight and I pretty much never feel like running around town. Thus, Aaron got to do exciting things like go grocery shopping and help me cook. For the record, he makes an excellent chicken curry.

Actually, the real reason we wanted Aaron out here was for free labor. Thursday morning Jon put both of us to work elevating the shed in our backyard. My job was to sit on the other end of the lever and hold up the shed. Good thing I'm a fat cow and can do this with ease (at least until I had to stand back up).

That afternoon we actually did something fun--a "hike" to Kilgore Falls. It was a really nice day for it--not too hot, and not too crowded. We had a delicious lunch, made by yours truly, and then braved the water.

It was cold. Really, really cold. As in I thought it might send me into contractions. Aaron was the bravest (or stupidest) and got in up to his neck. I made it almost that far, but couldn't keep my balance thanks to my protruding belly. Jon, however, didn't want to get his hair wet and thus ventured no further than his waist.

Before we left, we decided to "hike" up to the top of the falls. It was a nice view, so I asked Aaron to take a picture of me & Jon on top of the falls. Of course, on the way over to Jon, I totally turfed it in front of everyone. Did you know that rocks are extremely slippery when covered in algae? Yeah, so did I. I didn't even get any awesome bruises to make it worth it.

We spent Friday cleaning the house in anticipation of the Bloods' arrival. I now know we can semi-comfortably fit at least 7 extra people in this house and have enough hot water for them to shower. I also now know that it's possible to go through 6 rolls of toilet paper in less than 48 hours.

As this was our first 4th of July out here, Jon & I had no idea what we were doing. Our celebrations consisted of driving to some random middle school, hunting down parking spots, and then spending 20 minutes watching fireworks while Jacob kept us informed of how bored he was. We'll do better next year.

On Saturday, everyone (except me) headed to D.C. The baby wasn't happy about me running around D.C. in March, so I could just imagine how much fun it would be at almost 38 weeks. So I got to do some chores and shopping while the Bloods had a good time seeing the sites. They got home just as I was about to die of boredom. For dinner we ordered Papa John's for the kids and then Mom & Dad Blood took me & Jon to Red Lobster (and it was FABULOUS). I haven't dared step on the bathroom scale after that meal.

We actually got everyone to church on time, which ended up being unnecessary as no one from our ward was there on time (at least not in Primary). My favorite part of the day was when they tried to introduce Jacob & Joanna as my nephew and niece (not to mention how Jacob was totally non-responsive to the chorister's attempts to make him smile). Just for the record--I was officially released from Primary and Activity Days. I knew it was coming, but I was still surprised at how sad I was. I really like teaching Primary (and I really don't like going to Relief Society. Sorry). But this is the only way things will work with a newborn.

Sadly, the Bloods had to leave on the 6.5 hour drive right after lunch. We'll see some of them in a month for the baby blessing, and some at Christmas, but we had to say goodbye to Aaron for two years. It's going to be strange to not have him there at Christmas, but he's going to be a great missionary. I promised to send him cookies, although Jon later informed me that we would just make Marah send him cookies since shipping would be cheaper for her (and it would impress her roommates that she was already sending stuff to missionaries).

And so it's back to just me & Jon again, at least until my mom & Beth come out in two weeks to "watch" me until the baby shows up, according to Marah.

In closing, I'll leave you with the results of my weekly calendar after the Bloodlings got ahold of it:
(In case you can't read it, let's just say I have a semi-annual terrorist convention to attend this Wednesday, followed by duckling hunting on Saturday).