Who would've thought?

So several exciting things have happened in the last month and I decided that it was time to stop relishing the freedom and get my act together. So here's what's been going on in the Ellis household as of late:

1. Shannon is officially engaged. She is marrying a guy she met at BYU named Travis Adams. He is a good guy who is from California and he served his mission in Ogden. I tried finding a picture of her ring that I could post, but nothing could quite do it justice. Suffice it to say it is a ring that only Shannon could wear. All the diamonds in the ring probably equals out to about 4 karats. It is quite the site to behold. I'll see if I can get her to send me a picture that I can post. The big day is on the 25th of July, two weeks after the baby is due. It will be a really exciting summer!

2. Not only did I successfully complete my student teaching, and my ESL practicum, but I graduated! I wasn't really too keen on walking at graduation, but then I devised a plan to get my parents out here for the occasion. Not only was my plan successful, but I got to spend an entire week with both my parents and grandparents. It made the whole event worth it. It has been realistic for me to push aside how much I miss my family whenever I can't be with them. The week that my parents were here however, I just loved having a mom and a dad again. I miss them so much. It was nice having my mom here during a time when I am trying to adapt and prepare for so many physical, mental, and emotional changes in our home. It was so fun to have my dad out here, see him having fun and smiling all the time rather than bending over a laptop most of the time (there was a little bit of that, but not much:)). So, I am still doing everything in my power to get them to move out here. We'll see how that goes, but I think things are working in my favor with Shannon getting married, McKay headed to BYU-I in the fall, and grandchild numero uno due in a little less than nine weeks.

Okay story time. So, I borrowed a black cap and gown from my mom's friend Patty who had graduated from BYU Idaho just the year before. I thought it was a sweet deal because I could slide out of paying the $45 for something that I would only wear once and probably never want to look at again because of haunting maternity memories. The night before graduation I had a nightmare that everyone else was in a blue cap and gown instead of black and that everyone else had green and yellow tassles instead of white ones (nightmares have seemed to be a regular occurance during the latter part of this pregnancy - I just get too darn hot at night!). I woke up all in a panic and then fell back asleep chuckling and feeling relieved that it was just a dream.

The next day we showed up a graduation and sure enough, everyone was in a blue cap and gown instead of black. I guess they'd decided to change it this year (although I have no idea why, that's just what I heard). Anyway, my tassle was the right color, but needless to say I got a few funny stares from people who were wondering what the heck I was doing. Whenever someone would ask about it I just told them they didn't have maternity sizes in the blue.

Despite the color catastrophe they gave me my diploma (or the holder for it) anyway. I was super excited and it will probably now be a new running family joke for the next 20 years of my life. What can I say? I am here to entertain.

3. We got a crib and dresser for the baby!

As a graduation present, my grandfather decided that he wanted to splurge on his first great-granddaughter and get her some bedroom furniture. I was trying to stick on the conservative side in terms of cost. However, because my mom and grandma came along for the trip, we ended up getting something a little more...to my tastes? It is so beautiful!4. We got our gardens all planted!

Yay for planting season. Joe and I both love this time of year! Joe has been so giddy about all the veggies we planted, literally checking on them everynight and investing a great deal of time and effort into the perfect watering system to keep them adequately hydrated. My flowers turned out better than I could've hoped and I'm excited to see the bulbs and seeds my mom and I planted while she was out here come up! What a wonderful time of year!

5. Our little girl is getting bigger and bigger everyday.

After taking these pictures Joe and I were in consensus that they just don't do the belly justice. For some reason it just doesn't look as big as I feel (as is probably only natural).

Well that is about it for now. Life is good. We are very happy and getting more and more excited for the arrival of our little girl every day.