One Year Anniversary and Babymoon to San Diego

Mark and I headed off to San Diego last week to celebrate our one year anniversary and to have one last hurrah just the two of us before baby comes. 

Look who we ran into at the gate we were departing from! My dad pulled in the plane we'd be taking out. What dumb luck we have! We ran into my dad almost exactly a year ago in the airport on our way to Minnesota for Thanksgiving. It's always a treat. 

10-10! We made it! It's hard to believe it's been an entire year since we were married. It went so fast. I've loved every minute, there hasn't been one moment of regret. Mark is such an amazing man and I feel so grateful and honored to be married to him. He has already begun changing me into a better version of myself. I love our differences because I am constantly learning from him. He is such a kind, generous, genuine, thoughtful, loyal man. He is so caring and considerate of me. He has a thirst for knowledge and learning. He is a hard worker. He can be very purposeful and nostalgic. He loves me for who I am. 

Marriage has brought to our lives so much more purpose and a deep sense of contentment and commitment to each other as we have made decisions and pushed forward into the future and begun to learn to work together. It has taught us to be a little more humble, selfless, forgiving of each other, and more aware of the choices we make. 

What I have been most grateful for is the sealing power of the temple that allows us to be sealed as a couple forever. I remember right after we were sealed a year ago, I felt a special added measure of the endowment of God's power and Spirit as I knew He approved of our union. Nothing was sweeter than the feeling of knowing we had made correct decisions in our lives to get us to that point. 

We both have said how much unspeakable joy comes from the institution of marriage and living to be loyal and faithful to one person. I believe and have experienced for myself now, that the reason we are here on earth is partly to be organized into families because it is where we learn and progress the most. 

We went to the USS Midway, a decommissioned ship in the bay of San Diego. This is a fighter plane Mark's uncle flew. 

This is a map of Baghdad, the last time the USS Midway was used was in Desert Storm. The operation was planned and executed from this ship. It caused me to wonder what my dad thought about bombing the city he was born in. 

Computer control room

Mark being flight boss on the bridge. These doorways and the ship itself brought back so many memories of my 6 weeks on the USNS Mercy. 

View from the bridge 

These simple dials controlled the ship's speed

We ate lunch on the bay....these cute little birds surrounded us all through our meal. 

San Diego Zoo! 

Yeah that panda had the right idea! 

The actual size of a polar bear on his hind legs....yikes!

We were laughing that we seem to do a lot of family activities that people would do with their kids. Either we're still kids at heart, or we're parents in training!

Oceanside beach sunset...we sat on a bench on the beach and ate tacos to the last rays of the sun. 

Our last day we met up with Tara and Chris and family at Huntington beach to play for the day. We also met up with our friends Lance and Jessica Tolman. And later went out to dinner with everybody and with our friends Aaron and Whitney Johnson. 

Love this face....I've loved having instant nephews! 

Demolition Mode

We've been in demolition mode for the past few weeks getting our house into tip top shape before baby comes. Mark has been quite the amazing working man. He is hard at work during the day and then comes home to work on our house projects. I'm so grateful to call this fix-it guy mine. 

Garage project: Mark coated our garage floor with a protective sealant. 

Floor Project (still in progress): We ripped up the old linoleum and carpet and Mark put in new laminate wood floors. The precision he took to cut the wood and place it was incredible. Nothing is getting past this floor! 

Nothing like having all of your appliances in one room easy access

Christmas in August

Mark last week finally got to use his Christmas gift from last year...a gift certificate for flight hours with my dad. He told me I'd never be able to get him a gift that good again. Mmmm we'll see:). But him and my dad had a great time flying to Bear Lake and back.

Dad getting the plane ready 

                            

Flying over mountains to Bear Lake

Loving his life!

Performing a stall mid-air. Yes, those propeller blades are not moving! Yikes!

Beeebeeee - 18 weeks

Wow the last three months have been quite the ride. We found out I was pregnant first week of May. It took a little bit for it to really set in. It didn't feel real because nothing too out of the ordinary changed for those first few weeks. And then, it ALL changed. The nausea and the 'barf-scapades' as I call it, set in hard. Whoever created the term morning sickness was either a man or not pregnant. It has been an all day, every day event, it doesn't matter what time of day it is.

And even though men play a very minor part in the whole pregnancy process:), they definitely get just as much of a pregnancy experience as women...this is my belief at least. Mark had maybe 3 cooked meals in three months time. The house was a disaster zone, and I hardly was out of bed and away from the TV if I wasn't at work. And of course he's had the privilege of listening to my constant whining. I asked him how many times I told him "Im sooooo nauseous" and he said so many times he'd lost count in the thousands. We finally decided on a new word. I hate the word nauseous. We coined it instead feeling 'gollygopped'...that was a Mark.

TV has been the most amazing thing! And those that know me know I don't watch a whole lot of TV, but nothing has kept my mind off the nausea quite like being glued to the boob tube. I feel like reality TV stars have become my new social life. I kind of quit going out with people because nothing kills a social moment like barf breath and being silent, mostly because it took all the energy I possessed to deal with the nausea, I didn't say much for a few months.

But NOW....I'm starting to feel much better, and I finally have a brain to actually think about having a new addition to our family. Mark and I couldn't be more excited about Baby Boy Ostebo!! We're getting a baby room ready and finishing odds and ends on our house that we won't get to after baby. I don't think there is any way to feel REALLY ready for a baby, I think we just have to dive in and take it as it comes. We've talked about different ways we want to parent, hopes and dreams we have for the baby. But mostly I just think we'll try our best to give this baby a good, normal life and to provide for his basic needs. And of course love him as much as we are capable in the process!

Lake Powell

Playing a little bit of catch up...first week of June we were in Lake Powell with my family.