The Rose Diary: Family and the Fourth

Josh made an observation about my demeanor the other day that has really stuck with me and made me think about how blessed we've been and our current situation.

"You are your happiest self, but all the time."

And I feel very much like my happiest self, all the time.

The last couple of months in Rexburg were rough. They were rough on my body, they were rough on my mind, and they were rough on mine and Josh's relationship. I was on the very sick side for the first trimester of my pregnancy, felt like I had no idea what I was doing, and watched my productivity level go from an average 7.5 to a 3- all while working a very high-demand job and trying to finish the semester to get my degree.

Eventually it just became a constant spiral of feeling negative all the time- holding myself to standards I couldn't meet, yet working myself into the ground, and constantly worrying, "What am I going to do?"

Then we got to Minnesota.

And I began to feel lighter.

I stopped feeling so much pressure and weight, and decided that I could afford to give myself a little bit of a break. And that this short amount of time we have before baby girl gets here is precious- not because of her absence necessarily, but in terms of preparation. I want to make sure I put as much effort as possible into preparing myself for motherhood (as much as you can prepare yourself for something you've never experienced before, and can't really fully anticipate how it will change your life.)

Since being here, one of the things that I feel most grateful for is Josh's family and extended family.

They are a wonderful group of people who have been so loving and accepting of me, and taught me a lot about what is important in life and in families.

Being able to spend so much time with them, soaking up every ounce of summer, and have so much support has made me appreciate my own family that much more (and miss them like crazy) and look forward to the addition being made to mine and Josh's family.

It's just happiness really.

And so, here are some pictures of time spent with the family and our super fun 4th of July that we spent with them.

Josh's Grandma, Barbara and Great Grandbaby, Juniper.

Just some fun family time on Sunday at Grandma's after dinner.

The ONLY bad thing about 4th of July was experiencing what it's like to be producing 2x the amount of blood as a normal human being in a state that considers the mosquito to be it's state bird.

6 bites on one foot.

But everything else made up for that!

Swimming, BBQ, fireworks from Wisconsin, homemade ice cream...