Hiking, Happiness, and Shamu

As of March 14, I will be 31 weeks along, which is kind of scary. I'm happy that school is nearing its end and I will be done forever and ever! But I am nervous about what hitting 40 weeks will entail. Birth, becoming a mom, medical bills, etc. That's a lot of big stuff all at once. Luckily, school is keeping me so busy that I don't really have a lot of time to worry about it, and hopefully in the 3 weeks between graduating and my due date I'll be able to find lots to do to continue to keep myself busy.

I'm not sure how other people take these pictures without
making their feet look so ridiculously puny... 

Out of nowhere, I got huge. I mean, I guess I'm still not gigantic or anything, but everyone now is making the comments like "Whoa! Your pregnant!" Yes, yes I am. I have been since August... but now I look pregnant... and FEEL pregnant. My rib has been popping in and out of place consistently for the last few weeks, it feels kind of bruised... but there isn't really anything I can do but keep popping it back in place. I'm having more trouble bending over to put on my shoes or pick things up, and I'm running out of shirts that are long and loose enough to cover my stomach. My lungs are useless these days. (The altitude doesn't help!) and my nose has been stuffy for a month now. Sometimes when I blow my nose my eyes get kind of spotty, and I see stars, my doctor said that it's nothing to worry about, but I now understand those cartoons!

This past week has been mostly just getting through school, but we did have some highlights. One is that it warmed up! I don't know how long it will last, and I don't trust Utah enough to start claiming that it is Spring, but it has been warm for THREE days now! AND the sun came out! I am in heaven! It was warm enough that on Sunday, Ryan and I were able to go on a hike! Most of the cool hiking spots are closed for the Winter still, so we just went to Rock Canyon, which is pretty close. Also, I am in no condition to go on any crazy hikes. I haven't exercised for 7 months, except walking from my car to campus and back, which definitely counts. Also, as I mentioned earlier, my lungs are pretty much useless these days, so we had to go slow, and we couldn't go far, but it has been ages since it has been warm enough or since I've felt good enough to go explore outside. So, we made it happen, and it was great. :)

We are very mature around here. ;)

Another fun story, which I actually should have written a few weeks ago, but forgot, is about flirting. :) One of my previous professors was having a Flirting 101 seminar type thing on campus a few weeks ago. I wasn't going to go at first, but she was one of my very favorite professors and she is so fun and has no filter and I just knew that Ryan would love her. On the flier it said that non-married AND married students should come, so I decided that we should do that for our date night! It was so fun! My very favorite part was when she was telling all the students that winking works, and then she told everyone to wink at her. I didn't, because if you know me, you probably know that I can NOT wink. Not even a little bit. I don't know how I ever captured Ryan's heart! Ryan, on the other hand, is an expert at winking. He's an expert flirt, but he only ever flirts with me (lucky me!), or old ladies. So, anyways, my professor asks everyone to practice their best wink, and we are sitting in the 2nd row, right in the middle, and she notices Ryan's expert wink. So she tells him that he has a great wink! (It's true!) and makes him stand up and wink at everyone so they can see what a good wink looks like. It was so funny, and luckily Ryan doesn't get embarrassed, so he did a great job. Another lucky thing is that I didn't have to stand up because I have this embarrassing talent of blushing not only for myself, but for other people, and my face was SO red. I'm a sympathy blusher, and if I had been in Ryan's place, I would have been so embarrassed! But he's perfect, so he gave a perfect wink, didn't blush one bit, and my face lit on fire. The end.

Just look at him! You can tell that he is an expert at flirting! I really don't know how I ever got him!

I think that's all I have to share from my week. Here are a couple of things that I read or watched this week that I think will help you to be happier. :)

This is a TED talk by Shawn Achor. He wrote the book "The Happiness Advantage," I've never finished it but it's super fascinating. His TED talk is super interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXy__kBVq1M

Here is a funny article on how to train your husband. I decided to wait and use it on my children, I figure relationships work better when you are both honest and communicate with each other, rather than manipulating and training, but if you feel differently, here is something you could try out. :)
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/fashion/25love.html

And here is a sweet poem by Emily Dickinson that I heard in church on Sunday:

They might not need me—yet they might—

I’ll let my Heart be just in sight—

A smile so small as mine might be

Precisely their necessity—