Camping at Massacre Rock

All winter long Zak has been hankering to get away, climb into those mountains, and go camping. He's been doing a compressed work week, in which he works an extra hour each day, and then gets every other Friday off of work. The first Friday we used to travel to Bear Lake for General Conference weekend with family. This last weekend he got to pack all of our gear in Beefy the 4Runner so we could venture south to Massacre Rock, near Pocatello. Most campsites are still closed until summer, but we gratefully found this state park named after a skirmish between the Native Americans and Oregon Trail travelers.

We hiked to some wagon ruts from the Oregon and California Trail. It rained quite a bit, but stopped long enough for us to put up our tent and have campfires Friday night and Saturday morning. Unfortunately, our strike-anywhere-matches were cheap and fell apart quickly, so we did have to run to the store 10 miles away for a lighter. Also, I appreciated the flushing toilets at the campground, even if we did have to walk a little way to reach the closed museum toilets. There were some beautiful views around the campground, which we got to enjoy along with the bike-riding scouts and celebratory Muslims from the local university. The very friendly state park ranger informed us of some strong winds likely to come during the night, so we chose a great spot nestled by boulders/mini mountains, perfect for climbing, with foot holes already created.

I'm still adjusting to sleeping as a pregnant woman, so I didn't have as many pillows as I would have liked to stuff under my waist and between my knees, but I'm learning. I've since prepared a personal and family packing list, so hopefully we'll have what we need next time we go, but all in all Zak and I had a wonderful weekend campout. We look forward to many adventures this summer for as long as I can travel, and then it's Baby Time!

Zak's close friend for life.

Handsome Husband!

 

Fishing in the snake

23 weeks pregnant, my jacket barely zips.

HooPorter Conference

A combination of General Conference, the Porters, and the Hoopers. Our Porter grandparents allowed us to come to the Bear Lake cabin, and we arranged to have some of Zak's family and my family come together to enjoy General Conference. Cohen let us jam to his new Pink Floyd record on Grandma Sue's record player, and later we enjoyed some games. I love looking out the window from above, and during this trip we could see the ice on top of the lake, and watch as day by day it diminished. I still wasn't about to step into it, though. Niki had just left on her mission, and her presence was definitely missed, but we had a great time, and the family even let me serve them jambalaya. Because my family has a clump of birthdays, we also celebrated with brownies. Sorry again, Dad, for messing up on your age. I know how old you are. Oh boy, sometimes I just don't think. Thanks again, Grandpa and Grandma for letting us come. I made sure we wrote in the books, and we had a great time.

Oh, my brother. I love your face.

Boy or Girl Baby

At my last doctor's appointment we scheduled the big ultrasound appointment, four weeks later. Amazingly, it timed perfectly to be on my birthday. We'd get to see our little Baby on the screen, make sure everything looked healthy, and find out if Baby is a boy or a girl.

They got us in first thing, and with a little extra ultrasound goo in my belly button, we were able to see our beautiful creation. It's so amazing to me how everything starts so small and simple, and cells grow, multiply, and specialize to become a beating heart, little arm bones, and working kidneys. One of my favorite parts was seeing the tiny mouth open and close a couple times, either to move around or yawn. The lady performing the ultrasound would explain, "Now, there are supposed to be three of those, and there are! The heart is supposed to move the blood right to left, and it does!" We were very relieved at the end of each sentence after the sudden anticipation.

This whole time Zak has been guessing Baby is a girl, and I had no maternal instincts about a boy or a girl. Most people when asked have guessed Baby is female, about one-third have guessed male. The lady gave us an 80 percent chance at first, then 90 percent, her highest guess, that Baby is female. Our little girl! Of course, she had her legs crossed like a lady, which made it more amusing. The woman had to try and wiggle Baby a couple times, "Wake up, Baby. Move around."

As my father-in-law always proclaims that I say, "Awww." That cute little button nose. Those sturdy arm bones. The tiny crossed legs. Thanks, again, Heavenly Father, for our Miracle.

About 17 weeks

At 19 weeks with my cousin's daughter

Niki Porter Mission Party

My sister-in-law, Niki, has been called to serve as an LDS missionary in the Cleveland Mission. She leaves April 3 to enter the Missionary Training Center before heading out to Ohio. She spoke in church about forgiveness through Christ's atonement, quoting many lessons learned through conversations with Dad. We had a great time gathering together, but unfortunately had to say goodbye. Zak is pretty close to Niki, and as he gave her that last hug, he realized it was the last time he'd see her for about 18 months.