Keeping Busy

Shelby keeps me busy most of the time.  She tends to be rather needy and wants to be entertained and doing everything we are.  But she is sure cute, so we will keep her. :) 



Shelby loves to look at hanging objects and tells them lots of stories.

But I did manage to find some time for canning with my mother in law.  Last year she helped me make applesauce and peaches.  Since their apple tree went crazy again this year, we were lucky enough to get to make applesauce again. I am always rather proud of myself when I see all those quart jars lined up waiting to be put on the shelf.  We probably won't be here next fall, so hopefully I am capable of making applesauce by myself. :) I am grateful though for the opportunity to spend some time learning a new skill with my mother in law.

"To Save a Nation" by Larry Winborg

And last Friday night, we decided to take a stroll through the gallery walk. This is one of my favorite things that the downtown area does.  I had to go to it in college once for an assignment in my fine arts class and I have loved it ever since.  So we packed Shelby up in her stroller and headed downtown.  We saw some really cool origami and folded paper art.  We also ran into one of Jesse's old high school friends who happened to be one of my college friends.  This really is a small town. :)  We also got to hear some didgeridoo music (this reminded me of the worst date I ever went on) at one place.  It also helped that there were delicious treats at all the stores.  My favorite gallery is the Winborg Masterpieces.  I love their work.  One day I will own one. 

Shelby loved being out and about.  Unfortunately, she did not love being out and about in her stroller.  After the first store, she wanted out and Jesse had to carry her the rest of the time.  But she was happy facing outward and even fell asleep upright.  And Jesse got quite the workout.  He is such a trooper.  I will keep him too. :) 

Blessing, caves, and the zoo

I am a bit behind on some of our adventures.  Shelbs doesn't like to do any one thing for very long (including napping) so I don't get a lot of time to sit down and blog. 

On August 5th, we blessed Shelby in our ward.  It was such a special day.  Most of Jesse's family was able to make it ,which was really fun for us.  My parents, grandparents, and some of my siblings were also able to come.  Jesse gave her a beautiful blessing.  I was so grateful that I married a man of the priesthood who could do that for our little girl.  Jesse got emotional right from the beginning of the blessing, but he got a hold of himself enough to get out all the words.  Shelby was a doll in her dress.  It was the same dress that I was blessed in twenty something years earlier. :)  She also was wrapped in a shawl that her great great grandmother crocheted before she passed away to be used for our children's blessings.  It really was a special day. 

Since most of Jesse's family was in town, we had a little family reunion.  One of the days, Jesse played with his parent's bluegrass band at the Montpelier County Fair.  Some of the other families headed out to bear lake before the performance, but we were lucky to get ourselves out to the fairgrounds with no real incident in time for Jesse to perform.  Afterwards, we all headed out to Minnetonka Caves.  I had never been there before and really enjoyed it.  I did not enjoy the 444 steps that had to be climbed in the cave.  I was just shy of six weeks out from having Shelby and I definitely am not in very good shape yet.  But I really don't have anything to complain about because Jesse carried Shelby in her carseat the whole time. :)  We were heading to my parent's house straight from Montpelier, so we were loaded to the hilt with stuff for a long weekend.  We stopped off to eat at an Artic Circle in Montpelier and that is where Shelby had her first blow out as well as a major spit up/barf in the parking lot.  She went through several outfits during these experiences and we had to give her a wet wipe bath in the parking lot.  Nothing like a baby to keep life interesting.

And a couple of weeks ago we took Shelby to the Willow Park Zoo.  She slept through pretty much the whole experience, but we had fun.  We got there a few minutes before they were going to close the main gate.  We could take our time in the zoo, but that meant we had to go through the narrow turnstile exit with our gigantic stroller.  I wish I had taken a picture of Jesse squeezing through the turnstile with the stroller folded up, but my phone had been left in the stroller in the diaper bag, which made the stroller even bulkier to get through because it didn't fold up correctly.  :)

How it all went down

So unlike my previous post stated, June was not baby month.  Dear sweet Shelby decided to arrive on July 1st.  I may have jinxed myself by posting that I was going to have the baby in June. :)

This one is going to be a long post just as an FYI.

The weeks leading up to my due date were full of stress and impatient waiting.  I was big, uncomfortable, and tired of being at work.  I just wanted that baby to come.  I didn't really feel like I was having contractions and every doctors appointment left me with the same result of only being slightly dilated.  I was seriously beginning to think this baby would never come and I would be pregnant forever because my body sure didn't seem to be getting ready to have a baby.

My due date came and went.  That was an emotional day because I was sure that I wouldn't still be pregnant by my due date and definitely not after.  I had a doctor appointment the day after my due date and still no progress.  My doctor said that since I was delivering at the University of Utah hospital, I would have to call and see if a doctor there would be willing to induce me.  She wasn't sure if anyone would because I was not their patient.  If I couldn't find a doctor to induce me there, she would induce me at 41 weeks up in Logan. 

I left that appointment stressed out and in tears.  How was I ever going to find a doctor to induce me?  It took that whole day to get my records sent to the University Hospital and to find out if a doctor was willing.  It turned out that Dr. Erin Clark was willing to if I would come in the next day for an appointment.  So I got that appointment scheduled, told my work I would not be coming in the next day, and made plans to spend the weekend in Salt Lake at my Aunt Terry's house and hopefully not come back to Logan without a baby.

My appointment was on a Friday with Dr. Clark.  It just so happened that most of my family was going to be in the Salt Lake area that weekend since they were all coming home for the Fourth of July.  Jesse and I packed up for our stay in Salt Lake and made plans to visit Rob and Jolie, Jeff and Karla, and Dasi.  The appointment went really great.  We really liked Dr. Clark and it turned out that she is Karla's doctor as well.  Dr. Clark said I was actually dilated to a 3 and that she felt comfortable inducing me that weekend since I had some blood pressure problems.  It was such a relief for her to say that she would induce me that weekend!  She told me to call labor and delivery at 7:00 AM the next morning to make sure there was space for me to be induced at 7:30 AM. 

Friday night was so much fun to just hang out with family.  It helped me not get too nervous about the next morning.  My siblings were all excited for me and told us to keep them up to date with how things were going the next day.

Saturday morning dawned bright and early.  Jesse and I got all packed up and were ready to have a baby.  We called the hospital as we were driving from my Aunt Terry's house.  The hospital said that they were full and to call back in an hour.  I was distressed by that, but Jesse assured me everything would be okay.  We were still hungry even though we had some breakfast at Terry's, so we went to a grocery store up by the hospital and got some more food. We ate our donuts, fruit, and milk up at a picnic bench by the "This is the Place" monument.  That was a nice moment to have with Jesse and I in the quiet of the morning.  It was so peaceful and beautiful.  At 8, we called the hospital again and they told us to call back at 10 and they would be able to tell us when we could come in.  Again, that was disappointing.  Since we had so much time to kill, we headed back to Terry's house where I took a nap to distract myself.  At 10, the hospital said we could come in at noon.  Finally, this was going to happen!  I called my mom and told her the plan so she could get packed up and drive to Salt Lake.

I was so nervous and anxious as we drove to the hospital.  Being induced was a little bit scary to me.  But it was nice to have Jesse there with me the whole time.  After getting checked in and shown to my room, it was about 1:00 pm when they got the IV started with the Pitocin.  It was definitely a surreal feeling to be sitting in that hospital room knowing that I would be having a baby sometime in the near future.  At 4:00pm they came in and broke my water to help speed things up.  Up until then, I couldn't feel the contractions, but I definitely became uncomfortable after they broke my water.

Jesse was smart enough to bring some movies for us to watch and so that is how I passed the time.  The hospital staff had assured me that one of the benefits of being at this hospital is that they had an anesthesiologist dedicated to labor and delivery so I wouldn't have to wait very long once I wanted my epidural.  I wanted to really know what contractions felt like so for the next baby I would know what I was experiencing.  I waited another couple of hours before I decided that I was done with the pain.  Unfortunately, the anesthesiologist was involved in a C-section and would not be available for a while.  I ended up waiting an hour and a half after I asked for the epidural.  That was some difficult waiting.  The staff brought me in a rocking chair, which didn't really help me deal with the pain, but it was nice to be out of the bed for a while. 

Finally around 8:30pm, the anesthesiologist came.  I was so happy to see her even though I was terrified of getting the epidural.  And of course when, she told me to sit very still so she could put in the needle, it was at the peak of a contraction.  I think because of nerves, I got very cold and started shaking while she was prepping me for the epidural.  So it was definitely hard to sit still.  I was thinking that I was going to get some relief from the pain now, but I was wrong.  It took about 45 minutes for me to start feeling the epidural.  The nurse had me shift to my side to help speed things up,but that didn't really work.  My mom got to the hospital at about 9:15pm when my epidural was starting to work.  She and Jesse left to go get him some dinner.  Sadly, about 15 minutes after they left, I started feeling the contractions again and it just kept getting worse and worse.  I kept hitting my button to give me extra medicine, but that didn't do anything.  Since my mom and Jesse thought that I was fine, they took a while getting food and didn't come back until 10:30pm.  I was in a lot of pain at that point and the nurse had paged the anesthesiologist to come back and re dose me.  Finally around 11:30 pm they got the dose right and I couldn't feel the pain anymore. 

When my mom and Jesse had come back from getting food, my mom brought in a visitor that Kemais had insisted should come see me.  Jeff and Karla had brought Kemais back a golden cat with a waving arm from San Francisco earlier that summer.  Kemais felt that I needed that cat to visit me in the hospital, so that is what my mother brought in with her and plopped on a table near my bed.  It actually was pretty funny to watch that cat wave at me since I was in a lot of pain and it was a good distraction while I waited for the epidural to get working correctly. :)

At midnight, my mom left and told me to get some rest because it was going to be a long night.  I still was only dilated to about a 5 so I had quite a ways to go.  Jesse spent the night in the room with me on a fold out couch thing.  Around 1:00 AM a nurse came in and woke me up to say that Shelby's heart rate was dropping and they believed it was because of the Pitocin.  They put me on oxygen and stopped the Pitocin drip.  Every hour for the next six hours they came in and rolled me to my other side to help keep Shelby's heart rate up.  Finally around 7:00 AM they took the oxygen off.  But, they decided they weren't getting a good enough reading of the contractions from the external monitors strapped to my belly, so they inserted an internal monitor.  I had so many cords and tubes hooked up to me at that point.  They said there was only about one other thing I could be hooked up to before I had it all. :)

The staff kept checking my dilation and noticed that Shelby's head was slightly turned to the right.  They tried multiple times to turn her head, but she kept moving it back.  Also, because they stopped the Pitocin my contractions were not as strong as they would have liked, but they didn't dare increase them because of Shelby's heart rate.  Shelby hadn't descended as much as she should have because of the decreased contraction strength and her turned head, which meant I had to do more work when it came time to push.

Also, a random side note:  I had a faulty bed.  It was off balance for some reason.  So every time the doctors sat on the end of my bed to check my dilation, the bed would rock down a couple of inches.  It was really annoying by the end of it all.

Around 8:30AM, they decided I was ready to start pushing.  Shelby's heart rate was dropping again, so they put me back on oxygen.  Also, in order to help her heart rate, I had an unusual way to push.  The doctors had me lay on my side until a contraction began.  Then, with their help, they flipped me onto my back and I had to do a sit up to get in position. When I was done pushing I laid back on my back and they rolled me back onto my side to wait for the next contraction.  That whole process was very exhausting.  They had started out having me do the sit up from the side and push while laying on my side, but I couldn't figure out how to push efficiently that way, so they switched to the method I just described. 

My mom came back to the hospital around 9:45 AM.  I hadn't originally planned on having her be in the room, but at that point, I was so exhausted from pushing it was a relief to have her there.  I pushed another 45 minutes and the doctors decided that it was time for Dr. Clark to come in.  Unfortunately, she was still 10 minutes away.  So they had me roll back over to my side and wait.  It seemed like Shelby would be squished in there while we waited, but all was well.  Dr. Clark arrived and a few more short pushes and Shelby arrived in the world at 10:46 AM on July 1st, 2012.  She came out with a giant pout on her face, which I don't blame her because I was in labor for 22 hours and pushed for 2 of those.

Jesse cut the cord and they cleaned her up a bit and plopped her on my chest.  It was so incredible to see and hold her.  It truly is a miracle to have a baby.  After a minute or so, the nurses quickly took her away and I could see a bunch of nurses and the pediatrician surrounding her. Then they called for more pediatricians.  Turned out that Shelby was a bit lethargic and wasn't really crying like they wanted her to, but after a few minutes she started wailing and all was fine.  I was a bit concerned though looking over and seeing about 10 people around her working on her.  Since I had to push so much she was pretty cone headed, but that went down after a day.  Shelby was a small petite thing weighing 7lbs 0 oz and measuring 18 inches.  However, I think she was more like 19 1/2 in because they were trying to account for her cone head and kept moving the measuring tape down her forehead.  :)

It was an incredible experience that I still can hardly believe I went through.  Labor is not as scary as I imagined it, but it was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  Also, recovery is way worse than I imagined it would be.  But it is all worth it to have a precious little baby. 

Birthdays and Babies

June is baby month.  And I am pretty excited about that.  Hard to believe that the time is almost here that our cute little girl will arrive.

Since the last update, I also turned 28.  I am now officially older than my mother was when she had her first child.  That was some sort of mental milestone that I had set for myself somewhere along the way.  It seemed like I was doomed if I didn't have my first child by the time I was 27.  But...that is irrational and I think we will be just fine. :)

My husband made my birthday incredibly special because he cleaned the house, had his mom make a delicious chocolate cake, put up a birthday sign, and surprised me with sandals and flowers.  

However, he thought Texas Road House would be the best place to take me for dinner.  Two years earlier, he went there for his birthday and we discovered that they make you ride a saddle in order to claim your birthday ice cream.  I wanted no part of that.  He claims he forgot they did this.

As we pulled into the parking lot, I reminded him of this Texas Road House tradition and how I wanted no part of it.  The only way I was going inside was if he promised not to tell anyone it was my birthday.  He assured me he could keep the secret and off we went to eat some delicious rolls.  

I kid you not, no more than 30 seconds after walking in, Jesse is telling the hostess that it is my birthday.  I wanted to kill him because we had just discussed how he would NOT do that very thing.  He sheepishly grins at me and tells me that he couldn't lie to them when they asked why we had come.

I stewed about having to get on that stupid saddle all dinner long.  I came up with all kinds of escape plans and excuses as to why a 8 month preggo girl should not climb up on that saddle.  The waiter was faster than my planning and as soon as our meal was through out came that dreaded saddle.  

So up I went and turned a lovely shade of pink.  I thought I might kill myself getting off, but managed to get back to my seat unharmed, ice cream in hand.  Jesse was so pleased with the situation that he forgot to get a picture.  However,  I will not forget this.  I informed him that I will be bringing this incident up for the rest of our lives in order to get my way. :)

And last night I dropped my phone (not an uncommon occurrence).  This time it did not revive.  Sadly it has gone the way of the world.  Today was my first whole day in years that I have not had a cell phone.  I am a little worried about how much I missed it and kept trying to check it.  Now I am trying to balance out my  compulsive need to research new phones with the desire to be reconnected to the world.  Also, baby month is not exactly the time to be without a phone.  Jesse was worried all day that I would go into labor and not be able to call him. :) So hopefully I will make a decision quick. 

Where we've been...

So I kinda of fell off the face of the blogging sphere. 

Namely because we have been trying to have a baby for what seems like forever (all actuality it was just under a year and a half). 

So between the craziness of infertility (thank you Clomid and Dexamethasone) and the obsession with basal body temperatures, nothing else seemed all that exciting in our lives that was worth blogging about and I for sure wasn't going to talk about trying to have a baby until I was good and ready. 

Now months later, I am nearing the end of pregnancy and still haven't posted because well...I got out of the habit.  

And looking back there have been some blog worthy moments.  So for all those interested, sit back and enjoy this one giant post about everything we have been up to for the last several months. :) 

All Things Baby Related

To me anyways, this is the most interesting and exciting thing that has been going on for us.  Therefore, it gets to be numero uno in the giant post.  That way, if you get tired of reading, you at least got the basics on due date, what am I having, was I sick, yada yada yada...

My due date is currently June 27th, which makes me about 30 1/2 weeks right now.  However, in the first trimester they moved my due date back a week.  Deep in my heart I believe that my original due date of June 21st is more correct.  We shall see.  Of course, I was also sure we were having a boy and I was dead wrong on that one.  So with my luck, I won't deliver until July.    

I haven't really been into the taking weekly pictures or getting weekly updates on how big my baby girl is.  Sometimes, I even lose track of how many weeks I am and have to count them up.  So these pics may be the only ones to be taken of me during this first pregnancy.  And I am pretty okay with that because I feel the size of a small baby manatee (despite everyone telling me that I am quite small for being this far along).  You'd be shocked how much I weigh these days (I know I am every time I go to the doctor) so I will spare you that. 

I have been extremely blessed in this pregnancy because I have never been sick.  I never got morning sickness or nauseous or threw up.  This blessing could perhaps be because I am meant to have more than one child and if I had a miserable pregnancy I may not have agreed to another.  But labor is yet to come and that could change the whole ball game. :)  I am starting to feel tiny feet in my ribs and sometimes I just can't breathe.  Also, my ankles swell to the size of grapefruits most days by the end of work.  But if those are my biggest complaints of pregnancy, than I got off easy. 

We have been busy getting ready for this sweet little girl to arrive.  Jesse is very excited and makes sure he talks to little Shelby every day.  But Jesse is also a big kid himself and thinks the best idea ever is to give my giant belly a raspberry. 

Here are some pics for those not close by of the preparations we are making for June:

Jesse putting together the crib

And the finished product.  Don't mind Jesse's guitar that had to find a new home under the crib. We are also still working on getting the mattress.

We were so lucky to inherit a TON of baby furniture from my Aunt who is finished having kids.  This changing table/dresser is one of such items.  Actually, all of these pictures are inherited items. :)

I love our pack n play where Shelby will sleep for the first little bit.  I made Jesse put it up because I wanted to see it.  Now he said he won't take it back down only to have to put it up again.  So it sits at the foot of our bed waiting for Shelbs to arrive. It makes me happy every time I see it. :)

Jesse's Birthday

Jesse turned 31 in December.  He may be embarrassed that I told people that, but he looks young still.  He often blows people's minds in his classes when they finally figure out that he is not 21 like them.

And because Jesse is so young at heart, he wanted a dump truck cake for his birthday.  I wish I had put up pictures of the alligator cake from last year, but I have no idea where those went.  So the dump truck will have to suffice for my culinary achievements.

  

Goodbye 80's couch

We finally got rid of the couch we inherited from Dasi's apartment when we got married.  By throwing a cover over the awesome 80's pattern and stuffing the bottom so it didn't sag it was acceptable for these past 2 1/2 years.  But it was time for it to go.  Hello red leather couch.

Jesse's parents helped us get rid of the old one.  It may or may not have fallen out of the truck in the middle of a busy intersection on its way to the DI.  And Jesse and I may or may not have taken a different route to the DI in our car because the couch looked precarious in the truck and we didn't want it to fall out and kill us.  Therefore, we were not there to help put couch back in truck in the middle of the intersection. 

My thesis won't go away

So I graduated TWO years ago this month from BYU with my Master's degree.  However, the drama of getting my thesis published has gone on until about a week ago.  After 1 1/2 years in review and two edits by Peter and I, my manuscript has been accepted for publication in the Leisure Sciences journal in July 2012.  Insert heavy sigh of relief.

But Peter said he still thinks I have a few more presentations left in this paper.  And he and Ramon sucked me in to presenting this past at the Intermountain Leisure Symposium this past February in Heber, UT.  A huge storm rolled in that week and I thought I was going to die on my drive through Parley's canyon to get home.  And I keep getting stalked in my email and cell phone by vendors at that conference.  Not alot of motivation to continue to accept these offers to present.  Jesse thinks deep in my heart I enjoy presenting and that is why I always say yes.  He may be right.

We got Netflix

Oh happy day.  I have been sucked in to watching TV shows on Netflix.  We watched all of the White Collar episodes again and are well on our way to re-watching all of the Psych episodes.  I discovered Numb3rs (which I love because I am a bit of nerd).  I have been referred to watch the Sherlock Holmes episodes because my family thinks Sherlock is just like my younger brother Kemais.  We also discovered Arrested Development.  Oh how that show warms my heart. How have I missed it all these years?

We sometimes do fun things at the University

This past Friday night we ventured onto the campus for two exciting events.  1) The observatory was open to the public.  We got to see Jupiter, Venus in its crescent phase, the Orion nebulous, and a really large telescope that we had to climb a tower to get to.  And the guides had these amazing green lasers that they would point things out in the night sky.  I may have to get Jesse one for his birthday.  They were pretty cool.  I think my Mother would also want one. :)

And then we headed over to the field house for the first annual milk crate stacking event.  It was pretty cool.  Check out this YouTube video they used to advertise it:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65yUkQZs180&noredirect=1

I think Jesse could have been good at it.  But we got there kind of late and there was a huge line.  And a really terrible band playing.  We had a good time watching people stack the crates.  We saw someone get to 20.  The record up to the point when we left was 25.  Pretty cool idea.


So there are some of the highlights of what we have been up to.  There will definitely be more things to come as we get closer to June!

Smells like Fall

I have noticed in the last week or two that it actually smells like fall now.  The air is getting cooler and has the smell of harvest.  I love this time of year.  I am not entirely sure when I started to love fall.  I have always loved the leaves and the way they turn colors right before your eyes.  I love the wheat when it turns gold in the fields and blows in the wind.  I love the sound of the combines and the potato diggers and the rain birds at night.  Garden produce is always better than what can be store bought.  And then there is always my family tradition of squash people and homemade donuts.  And let's not forget that I got married two years ago this coming October.  That has definitely created a special place in my heart for the fall. :)

But somehow fall snuck up on me this year.  Summer just flew by.  And since this week it officially became fall, then I suppose I better take a look back at the summer to do list and see how it turned out.

Some things definitely got done like reading, smores, canoeing, growing vegetables, and milkshakes from Charlie's.  But others didn't such as Disneyland (oh we tried so hard to get there), buying lemonade from children, and camping.  And while I hate leaving a list of things not done, we will still be in Logan next summer and will have another chance at some of these fun things.

We have definitely been busy this summer as we went to Sedona, AZ for Jesse's family reunion and Island Park for my family reunion.  We sometimes rode bikes, and hung out in Idaho and in Smithfield, and watched lots of TV on DVD (thank you Psych and White Collar) and movies (such a fan of Hastings).  We laughed and laughed and laughed, which I think is what makes life happy. 

There have been interesting things about the summer as well.  My job has stressed me out on a number of occasions and has been a trial at times to want to get up and go to work every day.  But I am grateful that I have a job with good benefits that allows Jesse to go to school and pursue his dream of becoming a doctor.  Jesse's car stereo was stolen out of his car, which is just lame.  But he has taken it well.  I have started and stopped my Jillian Michael's workout video numerous times this summer and have utterly failed the "get skinny this summer" dream.  But hey, sometimes that one is out of my control and I have to remember that it is okay to be fabulous and flawed.

The biggest blessing and burden in my life is that I was called to be my ward's relief society president just before Memorial weekend.  It has been an adventure trying to find the balance between Church, work, being a wife, my personal goals and dreams, and writing a paper to be published.  But it is incredible to watch the women of the Church serve and to have my heart changed as I learn to love others in a way I didn't know before.  I have seen the hand of my Heavenly Father as he helps me know the needs of those around me and how to run our ward.  It is truly humbling to be a tool in the Father's hands.  I hope that I am living up to the great responsibility that is mine.  I can see myself being shaped into the woman that I need to be to continue serving and to fulfil the promises made to me in my patriarchal blessing.  It is just sometimes scary and uncomfortable to make a change and allow myself to view the world in a new perspective.  But in the end it is ALWAYS worth it.  And I never look back and wish it away.

So here I am at the end of one season and beginning the next.  Wondering what the next three months will bring before it turns to winter.  There is always so much good to look forward to with the holidays, general conference, and the first snowfall of the year.  My faith is sure and I know that whatever comes will work for my good.      

To Do

Since it officially became summer this week, I decided that I had better make my traditional list of things I want to do during the summer.  If I don't make a list, it seems like I just waste the whole summer.  So a couple days ago while I was waiting for my quesadilla to cook, I came up with a few things. Here is my summer to do list in no particular order:

• Roast marshmallows and make smores
• Go camping
• Eat tinfoil dinners
• Get an icecream cone from Macey's
• Get my fortune told and make a penny with the machines at Magical Moon Toys
• Grow some vegetables
• Go to Disneyland
• Canoe or float a river
• Make Kool-aid popsicles
• Learn to make pasta carbonara (aka Boss-ta)
• Possible hike to the wind caves
• Read 10 books
• Watch fireworks
• Sleep on a tramp
• Buy lemonade from children
• Watch a movie outdoors

It is definitley an ambitious summer.  I will keep you posted on when I accomplish these items.  Hopefully I will remember to document it with a picture. :)