It's a sure sign of summer when the grass starts getting dryer and the AC never turns off. And it's a sure sign you're 7 months prego when the household temperature at night can never go higher than 65 without a serious meltdown.

Summer's going well so far for us. Michael's as busy as ever with work. He's been gone what seems like 24-7 this past week, but he seems to be keeping optimistic and energetic, even with all this hot work he's having to do. I think he likes the thrill of making the money and selling all the jobs he has. He's doing well and we're both so grateful he has the work and the health to do it. This is the time of year we make our money, so Michael really stays committed to gettin' to it and being a good employee. Even if it means he has to skip some family functions. This week we had my dad's family reunion up in East Canyon, and unfortunately, Michael couldn't make it, but I was able to go with the rest of my family. I was even brave enough to go swimming--in a maternity swimming suit, no less. Scary, but good for me to do, I think. It forced me to put my vanity aside, which I'm getting more and more practice with these days.

I've been surprised, and perhaps a little confounded, with how busy my summer life has been so far. Summer always seems to be a busy time for us, but this year it's naturally more so with the baby coming and all. Lots of projects to take care of around the house and yard. Yard maintenance, especially with our rental house, has taken up a lot of time. Finding people to rent our place next door has been time consuming. Family functions are also time consuming as everyone in my family tends to congregate a lot during the summer months. And what's really sucked my time is all the work I've gotten from side jobs. I was hoping to get a little extra money this summer to just keep me going, but I wasn't sure how I was going to do it. The Lord ended up blessing me with more than enough opportunities to keep busy and make some extra money this summer. I've been reading scholarship applications for the Utah State Higher Office of Education, and I've also been going to Weber State to help read and score GED essays, along with some other essays that are written for tests given in the testing center there. I've enjoyed both, as time consuming as they've been. I hope in the future I can continue to find these little jobs to keep me feeling productive, at least when it comes to earning a little money and staying active intellectually and socially.

Michael and I went to a childbirth class last week. It was fun sharing the experience with Michael, even though we already knew a lot of it. It proved informative and it affirmed once again to me that I have a lot ahead of me for the rest of this year. The more I learn about all this motherhood stuff, the more anxiety, and excitement, builds. I can't wait to see my baby girl Andalyn's face and to put all I'm learning into practice.

This week is another busy week. It's our third anniversary on Tuesday, our family's going boating, we're going up to Park City for a few days with Michael's family, Michael's family is throwing me a shower, we're getting some work done in our rental house basement, we're trying to get the baby room project going, and we're working. And plenty more!

Until then....