When Things Settle Down a Bit...WAIT! THAT'S SUPPOSED TO BE NOW!

This is one quote that I found myself saying a lot this week! "I will find time for this or that when things settle down..." Well let me tell you sister...they won't! Now that the stress of Christmas is over, finals are done, homework is done, the house is in a-we'll say generally clean stage, visiting teaching is scheduled, laundry is going, dishes are done, Walker is in bed asleep and Jason is busy entertaining his brother, I can finally get some blogging going!
To start out where I should have: Hawaii was a blast! Many of you ask how is it that I was able to go in such a disheartening bikini body? Well, pregnant women are not supposed to fly after 36 weeks. The day we left Boise, I was 35 weeks and 36 when we came back. I had a doctor's note that said I could travel without restriction, but I was surprised that no one at the airline asked to see it.
I had no problem fitting into my bathing suit. It is a tankini that is usually a bit long to cover the midsection, and it did like to creep up my belly, but it wasn't anything a safety pin couldn't handle. Kauai really is beautiful! The whole island is like the North Shore of Oahu and made me feel right at home. The first day we were there, we tried taking a "stroll" down to the beach, but it ended up being a mosquito infested hike with mud and loose rocks. I managed to slip and scrape the top of my foot, but I was more concerned about the mosquitos. They LOVE to eat me alive. As far as I am concerned, they are one creation God could have done without.
The town of Hanalei was about a five minute drive from the timeshare and I love the feel of all the little local shops. Jason amused me by browsing in the Salvage Pearl Shop. They had an Australian pearl necklace priced at $35,000! These pearls were HUGE! Eat your hear out Betty Rubble-is all I have to say.
One of our days was spent beach hopping to all the 'gem' beaches. They are all pretty secluded and hard to get to, but they have good snorkeling and boogie boarding. Jason was proud of me for being a trooper on the hiking bit. To be honest, hiking is one thing that I would almost say I dispise, but I quite enjoyed hiking in and out of the beach areas. I must say, now that I think about it, I am really surprised I had the stamina to get through the day.
The biggest highlights of our trip I would have to say would be beach hopping, the hostel, Bubba's Burgers, driving up the Waimea Canyon (the Grand Canyon of the Pacific) and the helicopter ride....You heard me! Helicopter Ride! After all I did have that doctor's note that said I could fly! %80 of the island is only visable from the air, so I'll just say it was well worth it.
It was so good to come home to Walker. He was at Don and Mary's house for the week with his two cousins, Cade and Savannah. I think he liked staying there considering he barely made it two hours without asking to go back to Papa's house. Thank you so much Don and Mary for being so accommodating. I know Walker loves you guys.
Not even a full day back from Hawaii, my tests and vocal jurys caught up with me. I had a voice lesson that Sunday, Spanish test Monday after 8 hours of work, piano test and doctor appointment Tuesday, work Wednesday, vocal jury Thursday and work on Friday. Included in that was a take home final, 10 page essay and oh! jet lag to boot! Oddly enough my voice teacher said I appeared to be the most rested of her students. It's hard to think that all this was only a week ago.
For this week, we have had my family here for Christmas. Although Annie couldn't come, it was nice to be together. Christmas was a lot of fun. Walker finally figured it out this year, but we had to teach him that the presents under the tree weren't ALL for him. I really enjoyed watching his face light up over 'puppy' (a Scooby Doo stuffed animal Santa put in his stalking) and a Thomas Train.
Like I said, now that this is all past, I am thinking more and more about our little baby. Mostly how unprepared I feel. I have the nursurey all put together, but have yet to get the hospital bag and Walker's over night bag put together. I guess I know what I'm doing tomorrow. My anxiousness is growing. I can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl and I'm constantly running names through my head. Anyone have any last minute inputs for names? I've been moving slower and s-l-o-w-er and s--l--o--w--e--r, but mostly at night when I have overdone myself. I will most definitely be blogging more often (how could I do it less often, right?) and we will post soon about our new family member!