Presenting....

Ivory June Harrison

Born July 20, 2011 at 12:09 a.m.

5 pounds 7 ounces 18 inches long
And by way of announcement, let it be known that she will be going by her middle name. She is our little baby June bug. :)

Photos by Ashley Thalman- click here to visit her photo site

June's story to come soon!

Our home

Some More Pictures~

We took these yesterday. The ones of Buck and me together were a struggle and it shows. What? We had a make-shift tripod... But I post them unashamed. Masterpieces? Nope. But photos of us together at the end of our first pregnancy? Yes.

And then there are these:

So so handsome!

And these:

And THIS:

haha

 

Mt. Everest

Now that the time is close, I think a lot about labor and delivery. (okay, even before the time was ever close, I thought a lot about it) I've done my own personal search and journey and research and have gone to a birthing class and I know for sure now that if I am able to- I want that epidural. (I know we can't always have what we plan.) (and I also know this is some bizarrely racy topic amongst opinionated people and as I post this, I put my life in danger) (but these are not my points for writing this)

My point is that sometimes I find this part of me that really wants to try natural child birth- you know, to see if I could do it.

But then I realized that this part of me also resides within the part of me that wants to try and climb Mt. Everest all the way to the summit- you know, to see if I could do it. (people DIE trying to do this)

So.... maybe I'll just try and focus on getting somewhere practical, like BASE CAMP, if you know what I mean (only 17,388 ft as opposed to the top which is 29,035 ft.)

Oooorr, maybe I will just try and "hike the Y" here in Provo, if you know what I mean. That seems like challenge enough....

Yes. 

Or Maybe I will just take it one step at a time.

Full Term

Monday night Buck photographed a maternity shoot for us.  I'm pretty proud of the little photographer that he has become! Check these out- I didn't even really tell him what to do. (although I've taught him everything he knows ;) ) And besides, we raged out into our backyard and had roughly ten minutes to get these before it started to thunder and rain. So, Buck is pretty talented eh?

Here I am,  37 weeks.

Isn't Buck great?!

(And isn't our backyard great?!)

Thanks for viewing!

Today

This is what I saw this morning:

And so this is what happened:

Why am I in an empty kiddie pool you ask? Well, there are a few reasons.

1) I wanted to lay out and feel the sun.

2) I wanted to be in the water but- for obnoxious reasons that I wont go into- I can't really fill up this kiddie pool I got just yet. But alas, I was determined.

3) Even though there is no water in it, it still provided as a decent fortress against the many bugs that live in our wild backyard. It simply wasn't safe to be on a towel alone.

Problem was it doesn't stay open without water, so I had to shape myself like a starfish to hold up the walls.

Total time I lasted:

10 minutes.

Worth it?

No. 

Plus, a sick jumping spider hopped in and landed on me. So much for my fortress.

Well, it wasn't worth it, that is, until Buck came home on his lunch break and found me this way. He was entertained.

Rainbows

See. I told you my awesome prism window made my floor light up in colors every morning.

Surprising Steel Days

Steel Days. Who knew? Well, I guess every local in American Fork knew, but we're new, so it was news. ( you like all that "new"ness?) It all started on Friday when I tried to turn down 100 east and the road was closed. Why? Because there was a CARNIVAL on it. I was confused but hey, random street fairs are encouraged. Later that day my delightful elderly neighbors came over to bring us peas from their garden and informed me that it was the "steel days" weekend. Guess there was a steel plantation here...? Whatever, it made for some impromptu dates and I was excited.

Friday night we walked to the carnival and wandered around. Couldn't get a snow cone or cotton candy because they only took cash and couldn't ride the rides because, well, rusty middle of the street carnival rides probably aren't worth the risk at this point in pregnancy. So we enjoyed wandering and observing. Although, all the teenagers smoking and wearing short shorts made us anxious to have one of those one day. Guess we are old fuddy duddies.... (yeah, I said it)

yep. middle of the road

 Then on Saturday we were able to go to the local diner and have breakfast. We have a thing for local joints. We watched from the window as the parade got started. Random.

Yep. Swinging cows in as decor. Doesn't get better than this!

Then we escaped and went to the "early bird" special movie and saw "Super 8" and we really liked it. Also, we found this arcade game.

Then that afternoon we got to walk to the park and go see the antique car show that was also apart of the steel celebrations. We both picked a car out for each other titled "if you were an antique car you would be this one."

 This is the car I picked for Buck

Ah wooo gah!

And Buck picked this for me.

There is my 36 week belly in all its glory.

That night we were able to watch the firework show from our driveway. So many fireworks this July! We aren't even to pioneer day yet!

And aside from the fun we did a TON of stuff around the house and grocery shopping and all that stuff. Our yard work progression has been stalled by many thunderstorms so that is next. But now I'm getting into too much detail....

The point is, it was a busy weekend but we're excited for "Steel days" of randomness next year. What a gem of a city we found to live in. ;)

Also

 My cat does not do well in car rides. He freaks and tries to find solace in strange and unsafe places such as the dashboard...

 34 weeks

35 weeks.... and yes, this is an odd one, but it's all I have from that week, I was on my way to the pool and got distracted by this goofy hat. I guess I need a new one for this, the 36th week. But I don't why I now remember to document "the bump" when really all the photos seems to look the same, you know, that I'm really pregnant and all.

I went to a baby shower for Carrie. Which was good because she had her baby like three days later. (I'll have a photo of that later!)

And Buck and I got sushi (don't worry, I ate a cooked roll, this one was Buck's)

Sometimes I wear my mood ring as my wedding ring since my real one doesn't fit. Sometimes I forget to put on a ring at all and I look like a pregnant, unmarried teen.

And this is what I can see from one of windows. Middle of summer and we have a red tree. AND this window is a bunch of prisms and makes rainbows all over my floor every morning.

Hooray. For the red, white, and blue.

Just wanted to let anyone know, who may be concerned, that we are, indeed, still alive and well. The past couple of weeks have been pretty crazy and busy. Moving is a project, and moving into a home instead of an apartment is even more of a project. But a project we are grateful to have nonetheless. Needless to say our date nights have been eaten alive by the packing boxes and cleaning supplies. But hey, we get to spend a lot of time together still and we have been learning so much about life and taking new steps. So, good for us right?

And of course I have not done well at photographing. It's funny you know? Just because I do photography doesn't mean I take pictures of everything... and the ones I get when I'm out and about are usually with my little point-&-shoot. I'm not sure what that says about me.

At any rate- my parents came this weekend and it was great! So glad they could come! They helped us SO MUCH. And we also got to go to a 4th of July family celebration everyday with different relatives this weekend. I only got some savage photos from last night, however.

me and me mum

Children everywhere!

oooo, blurry glow-stick alien Buck photo

ooooo blurry and abstract sparkler photo. Nothing says "Happy independence day" quite like this. (and demon red eyes in the background...?)

And so. I'm 8 months pregnant and in pain. We never did go see any of the "real" firework shows (that seemed to happen for three nights in a row, good heavens Utah.) But while the "Stadium of Fire" was blasting their show, we were home, listening to Louis Armstrong sing "Blueberry Hill." And afterwards we walked to the abandoned baseball field and laid down in the black grass and watched the fireworks that all the neighbors were shooting off (thank you for legalizing aerial fireworks beehive state.)

There are a lot of changes still to come in life.
And more fireworks, seeing as the stands stay open all month thanks to Pioneer Day.