Independence from Altus for a few days

We're back home again from our last trip as a family of three, and we had a great time. We stayed at Chris and Stacy's house--they were so gracious to let us stay last minute and for so long. :) They live on base and they just moved in last week--they were so quick in getting it ready for guests. We got there Thursday late afternoon and stopped at Target--I know I've mentioned countless times before how much I love that store, but I MUST say it again. I LOVE TARGET. We bought another outfit for Eva--how can I resist when it's $3.99? Obviously, I can't. I got some pajama pants for the hospital...we just had a good time being in there. At least, I did. Oh, and we bought Eva this way cute toddler-sized papasan that folds out. It's pink and just her size, and she LOVED it when we let her try it out in the store. I know we're probably spoiling her when Leighton is born, but I just want to make sure she feels special. I'm having mixed feelings about it not being just us and Eva anymore. Will it be as much fun? She's just so fun these days, and I hope that doesn't change. Anyway.

We had a hard time deciding on where to eat for dinner, for some reason. Sometimes we are just way indecisive. We ended up at Papa Johns--the best pizza ever. Mostly because of the delicious butter garlic sauce. Mmm. It was (I think) the first time I have ever walked into a pizza place like that, ordered, and sat there and waited. They just had a bench to sit on--no tables or anything--and we just listened to the employees talking and making pizza while trying to keep Eva from running back there to help them. We got the white pizza with a ricotta-garlic topping, and it was so yummy. We ate the whole pizza in the car (just a medium, not a large or anything!) and then stopped at Sonic to get a shake before heading to Chris and Stacy's. We stayed up late talking that night, of course, and then went to bed.

The 4th of July! One of my top 3 favorite holidays, I think. I have such great memories of this holiday, and this one did not disappoint. We started the day just relaxing at the house.

We waited for the babies to nap and went to Walmart to grocery shop sometime in the afternoon. We went swimming at the Nazi-style pool. We weren't allowed in the big pool with Eva--or anyone under the age of 4--so we sat in the kids pool. Just as we sat down in the few inches of water (NOT quite enough to cool off my huge pregnant sweaty body in the hot weather!), they blew the whistle for adult swim. The few feet of space was flooded with everyone over the age of 4 there, and it got un-fun for the rest of the time. Andrew and Chris got to go down the water slide twice before they blew the whistle again--this time for lightning. The pool closed and we went home a little bummed about the experience. But oh well. We had a delicious dinner of grilled chicken, fruit salad, and twice-baked potatoes. After stuffing ourselves, we walked over to the Freedom Festival at Sheppard AFB.

My first order of business, after taking a slightly blurry family picture in front of the F-16 Thunderbird,

was to get a funnel cake. It cost $5 and I waited in line for an hour to get it, but I got it. No regrets. I love funnel cakes.

I got it just in time for the firework show. We sat on a blanket and watched them. Even better then the fireworks was watching Eva watch the fireworks. She loved it. I wanted to take a picture to remember how cute she looked, and she and Andrew were not too pleased with the flash in their eyes.

We got home late (after 11:30, I think) and fell asleep promptly.

Saturday we had some errands to run--another stop at Target and to Best Buy. Our video camera hasn't been working, so we were taking it to get fixed. REALLY bad timing, because it will take 2-6 weeks to get it back. Yeah--right when we have a monumental even to film. I was NOT happy about that. So hopefully we can get one to borrow somewhere, because I am bound and determined to film the moment when Eva meets her new little brother on Wednesday afternoon. At Target we bought a nice baby papasan vibrating bouncer chair. The one we used with Eva was bought at a consignment sale and it just wasn't quite worth keeping in the move. Our new one is way nice and I'm excited to put the little guy in it. And of course, we had to get a couple more kids outfits and other miscellaneous things. Can't leave that store without stuff. We ate lunch at Carl's Jr. and got a yummy green burrito. When we got home I crashed and took a couple hour nap. I was feeling crampy and gross all day--contractions? I have no idea. Luckily, it stopped later that night. And although I normally HATE taking naps, I felt much better after that. We went to a different swimming pool and had a much better time. We were finally allowed to put Eva in her little floatie--it's not allowed at our base pool. She only stayed in it for a minute, but oh well. The water felt really good. And Andrew got some good diving board jumps.

That night we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner, where I took some cute pictures of Eva in the rocking chairs. I want to buy one of those so bad, someday. I'll post those picture tomorrow. We had apple pie and ice cream for dessert back at home and stayed up late talking again--with Chris and Stacy, Kara and Clay, and Sarah. I just love hanging out with those friends!

Today we went to church, and another miracle--Eva sat almost all the way through sacrament meeting! It was strange to think that it was my last church day for a while, my last one pregnant for a long while, and our last one with one child forever. Weird. I went to Relief Society with Kara and Sarah, and it was just nice to sit with my girlfriends and listen to a lesson. Normally I hate the word "girlfriend," but I'm too lazy to think of something else. We had a lunch with eveyrone--the boys made chicken and dumpling soup. I tasted the best juice in the world: Welch's White Grape Peach. I am SO buying some of that tomorrow. We sat around and talked for a couple more hours, had brownies and ice cream for dessert, and then we reluctantly came back home to Altus. It was an awesome weekend, and a good last trip. At least for a couple weeks until I'm so cooped up I can't stand it, and I make Andrew take me up there again. Thank heavens for friends close by!