...how many people have died in the last few days.

First it was Ed McMahon, then Farrah Fawcett and Micheal Jackson in the same day. And now it is Billy Mays today. Crazyness! Such is life though. I hope they all rest in peace!

...Dave is going to be a daddy!

Today is Father's Day! Dave is going to be a dad in about 2 1/2 months. It is almost unbelievable! If this little one wasn't kicking me right now, I don't know that I would even be able to fathom it.

I hope Dave will have a good day. (Even though he got his present on Mother's Day - I just couldn't keep it from him. I HAVE to wait to buy gifts!)

Next year will be even better, because the baby will be here to celebrate with his/her dad. :)

Happy Father's Day, Dave!

...I am still awake

It is 3:11 am and I am still awake. I am feeling tired though, so I think I will be able to sleep soon. I only took a 2 hour nap this morning after getting up at 5 am - so I am not sure why I am not more tired.

At least I was able to work on my homework again. That is a good thing. :)

Well, I am going to go try to fall asleep. Hope you are all sleeping well.

...my busy week ahead

Well, this is going to be a very very busy week for me. Here is a rundown:

Monday is my dad's birthday (not sure if we are doing anything though) and I have my 30 week doctor's appointment.
Tuesday we have an ultrasound. We might be going out to a new bowling place in Oakdale for their grand opening.
Wednesday I am having dinner with Suzie.
Thursday I am having happy hour with KC, Angie, and Daryl.
Friday we are going to the Twins game for the Kent Hrbek bobblehead with Eric.
Saturday we are attending a get together with a bunch of people Dave used to go to church with - it should be interesting.
Sunday is Father's Day.

It is a good thing that most of this stuff is in the evening, so I have much of the day to rest. :)

...I have a car seat base in my car

Today Dave and I went to class on how to install a car seat properly. We are both really glad we did it, because we learned a lot of valuable information that we would not otherwise have learned.

It is really crazy that there is a car seat base installed in my car now. It seems like we are really far away from having this baby, but we are only about 11 weeks out now. That is nuts!

...my flight from L.A. isn't until 12:20 am tomorrow

I am ready to go home. I decided it really isn't very fun to travel without my husband, Dave. The first few days were nice, because I had someone to do stuff with while my mom was working (Thanks Aunt Cheryl!).

Once we got to L.A., there wasn't a lot of stuff for me to do (I had seen all of the sites I wanted to see last time I was here) while mom was working. I spent A LOT of time in the hotel working on homework. At least we got to go out to Pink's Hot Dogs on Monday....that was something I wanted my mom to experience.

Today, I don't have to check out of our hotel until 3 pm, which is nice. Mom gets off work at like 4 pm or so. I am in charge of packing (which is done) and getting the stuff to the car. The rest of the day I am going to work on homework, rest and read. After my mom gets done working, we are going to go to Chinatown for dinner and a little shopping (mostly looking). Then it is off to drop off the car by 10 pm and to the airport for our early flight tomorrow.

I will be very happy to get home tomorrow, even though I won't get to see Dave until about 3 pm. It will be a nice evening. We will be going to to the chiropractor and then to dinner. I will probably spend the majority of the day sleeping. :)

Not much else to say right now.

...I just paid a quarter to use the bathroom...

...in a shopping center here in L.A. I remember when I was here before that I would have to pay at a gas station or a fast food restaurant, but I never expected to have to pay in a shopping area in a downtown business building. Weird! Oh well...at least I had a quarter on me. :)

...how far along they are on the Hoover Dam bridge

I had a chance to drive out to the Hoover Dam with my aunt while I was in Vegas. I have been to the dam several times, but this time I only wanted to see how far along they were on the building of the bypass bridge. We saw this bridge for the first time in January and they were pretty far...it is amazing how much farther they have gotten in such a short period of time.

The bridge on June 5, 2009.

January 2009

The Hoover Dam bridge in January, 2009.

...there is such a thing as the World's Largest Thermometer

This is the World's Largest Thermometer. I really can't believe there is something like this in the world, although, who would have thought there would be the largest ball of twine and stuff. It was ok. We stopped to take a look on our drive to LA from Vegas. It is located in Baker, CA (in case you want to take a look).

...I got to see Valley of Fire!!

Here are some photos from my excersion to Valley of Fire State Park near Las Vegas. It was a beautiful day...only like in the 80s, which was helpful, because we had a long day of walking and climbing the rocks.

Mom and I sitting on a rock we climbed.

Rocks at Valley of Fire

Uncle Doug, Daisy the dog, Me and Aunt Cheryl on the rocks.

Elephant Rock - it looks like an elephant, doesn't it?!?

Mom and I at the entrance sign to the Valley of Fire. What a great day!

...I am in L.A.

My mom and I drove from Las Vegas to L.A. yesterday. We had a good time, though it was a long drive. We stopped to see the World's Largest Thermometer, which was fun.

My mom is working during the day today, Tuesday and Wednesday. We leave on Thursday at 12:20 am.

Today, I helped my mom bring some stuff to work and then we had breakfast. I went back to the hotel and took a much needed nap. Then I went to get lunch. Tonight we are going to get a hot dog for dinner at Pink's in Hollywood. It is a really famous place - I went there twice last time I was in town, but mom didn't get a chance to go, so we are going tonight. Yes!!! (I will post a picture soon.)

Not much else to say right now. Have a great day!

...I am awake right now

I am having the worst time sleeping in the last couple of days. I know it is from traveling, but it still sucks. I have gotten about 6 hours of sleep during the last two nights. Oh well.

Well, I am in Las Vegas. I love Las Vegas! It is one of the places we have visited a lot since Dave and I started dating. This is my 7th visit in the last 9 years. We were just here in January. It is pretty crazy.

I am staying with my aunt and uncle this trip, which is going to be nice. They have a very cute dog. I will post pictures soon.

I don't know what I on today's agenda, except taking my mom to work, taking the dog for at least one walk and trying to take a nap. Otherwise we will see where the wind takes us. :)

...I can't sleep

I have been having a hard time sleeping through the night on and off during the second trimester of my pregnancy. Last night I was up for an hour in the middle of the night for example.

Tonight, however, I know why I can't sleep. I am too excited about my trip tomorrow (or later today)! I always seem to either sleep poorly or barely at all the night before a trip. I think it has to do with the excitement, the anticipation and the worry that I will forget something.

It is 3:18 am and I am still wide awake. Luckily, this has given me some time to work on homework for my summer online course, Medical Terminology.

I don't think I will get to sleep until Dave wakes up and goes to work at this point. He will be up in two hours. We will see though...hopefully I am very wrong and will start feeling tired soon. I am glad that I don't travel tomorrow until 9:40 pm, so I have most of the day to relax and get some sleep.

I do have a few errands to run in the morning and would like to get some work done at my parents' house. We will have to see how much sleep I will actually get before getting on the plane tomorrow night.

...I am starting a Blog!

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a few weeks now. I have been reading a few blogs for awhile and thought it might be fun to do one myself. I am not sure who will want to read it, but it might be fun to keep my family and friends up-to-date on my life.

Let's see, where to begin? I guess at the beginning...my name is Amanda and I am 29 years old. I have been married to my wonderful husband, David, for 5 years and 8 months. We have been together for over 9 years already - it is hard to believe. I am pregnant with our first child, who is due on August 24th. We are very excited about our new addition and you will probably read a lot about it in the coming posts.

My husband and I live in a townhouse in a quiet suburb. Right now the house if feeling a bit cramped and will continue to be until we settle in with the new little one. We have no pets, but I love my parents' dog and cat (and my brother's cat too) and see them often. We live about 5 miles from my parents' home and about 20 minutes from David's parents'. Dave and I both have one sibling; I have a younger brother named David and he has a younger sister named Vicki. My grandparents (on my dad's side) also live near us. My grandfather on my mom's side lives in Wisconsin and my grandmother on that side lives near Dave's parents.

I lost my job almost 2 years ago and with the support of my husband, decided to go back to school full time. I was attending University of Wisconsin - River Falls until the summer semester. After becoming pregnant, I decided that I needed to go to school closer to home (I was driving 2 hours round trip to get to school) and to get a degree that would take less time and guarantee me a job. I was studying Chemistry and hoping to become a high school teacher, but that was going to take forever; so now I am studying Medical Laboratory Technology. I always liked the lab part of Chemistry and think the medical field will always be a big employer. (At least I hope it will continue to be.)

Some of my hobbies include; reading, traveling and hanging out with friends and family. I LOVE traveling and try to do it as often as possible. My husband also has a travel bug...I would say that his is even bigger than mine is. So far this year, we have travelled to Las Vegas and northern MN. I am actually leaving on a trip to Las Vegas and Los Angeles tomorrow night (more on that later). We have one more trip planned for this year...to Wisconsin Dells.

I love to read! My favorite author right now is Nora Roberts. My favorite series is Harry Potter - I am re-reading all of the books again for the like 10th time or something. I am on book 5 of the series, but thinking about a break to read "My Sister's Keeper." I want to finish book 5 of Harry Potter before the 6th movie comes out on July 15th. I enjoy watching the movies, but find them to be too different from the book and sometimes that makes them disappointing. I am NOT going to read the 6th book until after I see the movie for this reason...plus the 6th book is my favorite of the series.

Hanging out with friends and family is also a joy of my life. I LOVE my friends (who doesn't though)! Dave and I have a few very close friends who we spend most of our time with. You will probably read about them from time to time as you follow my blog.

Since this is a new thing for me (blogging), I am not sure where this blog is going to go or how often I will even write. I think that is more than enough for today. Have a great day!