Hawaii Trip!!!

Baby Nelson is starting to get bigger more quickly lately! Not only that, but he seems to like being extremely active. I only started feeling him move about two weeks ago, but now he is not shy at all about making himself known! Kevin's been able to feel him move quite a few times now too, and that is pretty neat. He seems to like Kevin's voice (as well as drums... seems like any good beats get him moving around). A group of native dancers did a performance at Magrath Elementary last week, and he moved around almost the entire time the drums were going - at least ten minutes straight. Either the vibrations irritate him, or else he's going to be a little drummer. I guess we'll see.

Kevin and I were sitting at home trying to decide what to do over the Easter break--- so I started looking up flight prices online. We found a good deal to Hawaii, and Kevin found out that one of his best friends, who is going to school at BYU Hawaii, was moving back to Utah the week after Easter break. We decided to book it! So three days later, we were on a flight to Oahu! The week was amazing! The weather was great, and the island was beautiful! It was the first larger vacation we have ever been on together, as it never worked out for us to go there for our honeymoon (Waterton was slightly less exciting). Better late than never though!

We purposely cut off the belly portion of my swimming suit :) Sorry!

Waikiki beach at sunset.

This is in the Tongan chief hut display at the Polynesian Cultural Center.

Uh-oh. There's the belly shot.
This is a large model of the boats that the islanders used to travel way back when... now students from BYU Hawaii use it to travel from island to island once every year.

This is from the Polynesian Center's Boat Show (Maybe Tonga??) doing the Hakka (spelling?)

Here is the fish that Kevin caught when he went reef fishing with Mike.

"Silver-man" - a street performer along Waikiki Beach

A statue of Lehi blessing Nephi at the Hawaii Temple.

"Under Construction" - The Hawaii Temple.

Us enjoying a sunset on our last night in Hawaii!

Kevin's friend Mike, and his wife, Erika, on the beach.

Baby Nelson

At 20 weeks of pregnancy, we finally had our ultrasound! It was such a neat experience. I was so glad that Kevin could come with me to see our baby for the first time! He was a feisty little guy for the ultrasound though! He flipped and rolled and moved all over, and I couldn't feel a thing (although I am feeling lots of little pokes and flips less than one week after!) Everything is definitely seeming more real now. They didn't let us know what the baby's sex was at the ultrasound appointment, but our ultrasound technician told us she knew almost instantly after placing the ultrasound machine on my belly, and from what we could see on the ultrasound pictures, it definitely looked like a boy to us too. I did get this confirmed by my doctor, Dr. Steed, on Wednesday though. It's much more fun now that we can start imagining what our little boy is going to be like. He may look remotely like an alien (see the picture where it shows his head face-on), but we think he is a pretty cute little guy. If anyone has any inspirational ideas on what boy names would be cute, let us know, because we aren't agreeing on many so far.

We are just getting ready to head to HAWAII this weekend for the Easter break! Finally! We have been saving up to go on some kind of a nice vacation for a long time, and things never seem to work out for us to go. It looks like I will also finally be able to meet Kevin's good friend, Mike, who is just finishing his schooling at BYU Hawaii this year. Him and his wife are going to show us around the island and take us to the Polynesian Cultural Center while we are there. It has been interesting finding summer clothes that will fit me while we are there! I seem to have exploded over night, and have noticed that, since Wednesday, people are starting to look at my stomach before they look at my face. I guess I will have to get used to that.

Expecting!

The months seemed to fly by this winter for us, and we are already at spring!!!! (thank goodness!) Too bad the forecast called for flurries this week.

Lots of exciting things have been happening our way since January, the most exciting of which is that we are expecting an addition to our family around August 20th! That makes me 18 weeks along right now! Just about half way there! What makes it even more special is that our baby will have two cousins born in the same year as it on the Bennett side. Deanna and Dave Gunderson had their new baby girl, Keira, a few weeks ago, and Kim and Mark are expecting as well! Kim is due the week after I am. We'll see who has theirs first!

Deanna's looking pretty good for just having a baby! Check out Keira's dark eyes.

Papa and Nana Bennett with baby Keira.

Kim and baby Keira taking a nap!

Kevin and I haven't met Keira yet, but we hope to over the Easter break.

So far my pregnancy has been pretty much unnoticeable. I have only been nauseous a few times, and it only lasted temporarily. I have been a little more sleepy though, and am trying to keep my energy up as I teach my last month in Magrath Elementary. As far as a baby bump, I'm still fitting into most of my old clothes, with the exception of a few pairs of pants and skirts that were slightly too small before anyways. The clothes are all just fitting more tightly now. So far the only people commenting on noticing my bump are those that already knew I was pregnant, so I guess that means that I must still just look like I am putting on weight to those that don't know. It's been a fun ride so far though. Kim hasn't had it quite as easy as me on the nausea side of things, so I always feel guilty when I talk to her about how she's feeling. I'm sure that any future pregnancies might surprise me though, and I will have my chance to feel the worst of it.

Our ultrasound is booked for April 6th, which will be extremely exciting. We are still deciding whether to find out what we are having (meaning, I have decided, but now Kevin is trying to convince me that we should keep it a surprise, even though it was his idea to find out when I asked him a month ago... so I'm thinking that we will find out...). I will definitely put pictures up as we get closer to the due date.

This is me just after waking up from a nap, and Kevin having convinced me that it would be a good idea to take a picture of my stomach... Not a pretty picture, but at least it give you an idea of what I'm talking about when I say that my clothes are fitting a bit tighter than before. This was at week 16, and I really haven't gotten too much bigger since then. It just looks like I've had a few too many donuts that day.

Calving season has started, and it adds a lot of excitement around the farm. Many of the nieces and nephews go out with Uncle Jimmy to check the cows. Kevin's been taking the night shift fairly often, and he has had a few miracles, and a few that didn't make it. Yesterday he came home with a really neat story. One of his co-workers got their truck stuck near the calving pens, so he was on his way to help him out of the mud. On his way he decided to randomly check the cows. As he drove up, he saw that one cow had just finished giving birth. The calf, however, still had the birth sack over its head and was suffocating. Kevin was able to break the sack and save the calf. By the time he got to his co-worker's truck, it was already out of the mud, so we figure it was more than just coincidence that he happened upon the calf yesterday.

As far as practicum goes, I have enjoyed every bit of it. All of the students and all of the teachers have welcomed me into the school and have made my teaching experience wonderful. I look forward to going every day, and already know it will be hard to leave. It is an exceptional school, and I would happily take a job there in the future if the timing was right. I'm hoping at least to sub there for May and June, and then again after Christmas as I try to work up my hours to get my permanent teaching certificate.