a week in the heat

We took our first family road trip this summer and headed down to Arizona to visit Sam's family.

We loaded the car, packed a cooler full of snacks, and buckled in our sweet puppy (who just turned one and technically is not a puppy anymore) and headed south.

It took an entire day to get there, but we made good time even with our plethora of pit stops. Princess is such great traveler, she didn't give us any problems and there were times she was so quiet we almost forget that we'd brought her.

Since we left so early, we arrived just in time for dinner. We went out for Mexican food with Sam's parents and the Elmer grandparents, and then crashed. We were SO tired!

Lisa had planned Alexa's baby shower around our trip so I could attend, and she loved the baby blanket Connie had made and the ceramic elephant that Sam had picked out for their nursery. It was funny, we are both having boys and yet we showed up to the shower wearing the same color pink dress.

After the shower, Alexa took me to Buy Buy Baby and to the store Motherhood to get a new bathing suit. It was nice to have some bonding time.

Being able to spend Father's Day with Bob was great, especially because I'm pretty sure Sam hasn't been home for that holiday in awhile. We had Father's Day/Sunday Dinner with Jake and Alexa, and extended the Larsen tradition of holiday selfies.

Our Father's Day selfie

Mostly our visit was about the baby shower and chilling out, so we didn't have to many things on our to-do list while we were there. It was such a hot week, the highest we saw it get was 119 (I'm never complaining about 99 ever again!), because of this it meant Princess got walked before 6am every single day.

Some other highlights were getting a manicure with Lisa and Alexa, going to see Grease with the family on Classics night at the theatre, and going to visit Sam's other set of grandparents.

Coming back felt like it took so much longer, but we made it home in one piece despite the heat.

We have talked about making this trip an annual thing after the babies are both born so that they can spend time together. Hopefully next time it won't be 119 degrees next time!

what it means to be a man

I'm a hardcore feminist.

While many people will try to tell you what it means, to me it means that I support all women in their choices, if they have kids or choose not to have kids, or if they are working moms or stay-home moms, etc etc. I support women and the choices they make, even if they differ from the choices I make for myself. The hard part is that not every woman does this, so I often get the short end of the stick.

After finding out I was pregnant, I began to think about childcare arrangements. I plan on returning to work after maternity leave, and not many people agree with that choice. I was actually work-shamed for voicing that choice among a group of peers from church. I'm sure they didn't mean it the way it came off, but I was feeling some serious judgement because I wasn't planning on staying home. No feminism support there.

People have issues with the word 'feminist,' but I believe the fundamentals of feminist theory are important and both men and women should understand them.

As my unborn son grows and develops everyday, I think more and more about what it will be like raising a boy. Social media has been ablaze nonstop for the last year or so in regard to high-profile politicians and their opinions when it comes to women's rights. There is definitely a 'norm' in society that twists and shapes a lot of young men to believe specific things about women. For example, women's breast being acceptable to showcase in order to sell products but if a woman breastfeeds in public she can be shamed (by both men and women).

Today, I decided that I need to teach my son about women and why I am a feminist. I want my son to understand love, tolerance, and support and how it applies to everyone regardless of race, religion, gender, or sexuality.

One gender is not superior to others, neither is religion, race or sexuality.

I often hear boys tell each other to 'man up,' or to 'stop being a girl.'

Honestly, I believe it takes a lot to "be a man." But I also think that not every man can actually live up to what it means to really "be a man."

I know several "real men,"and I'm very fortunate that Charlie will have these amazing men to learn from as he grows up.

I hope that I can help my son grow into one of those men who changes the world because he understands love and tolerance.

Maybe my way of changing the world is showing my son how he can make a difference.

Maybe.

my favorite things

We recently got a blue ray player for free, and now we can watch our three blue ray/dvd combo. One of them is The Sound of Music, which got the song "My Favorite Things" stuck in my head.

Earlier today, one of the kiddos gave me a taffy taffy lei, and I started to eat all of the strawberry flavored taffies because they are my favorite. Then it got me thinking, what are some of my favorite sweets? Here is a brief short list.

1. Strawberry Laffy Taffy
2. Pink Nerds
3. Pink Starbursts
4. 100 Grand candy bars
5. Chocolate milk
6. Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal
7. Cocoa Puffs cereal
8. Raspberry jam (homemade by my daddy)
9. Dr. Pepper
10. Ben & Jerry's Half Baked ice cream

One of my newest favorite things is reading books aloud to my unborn son. I plan on reading the entire Harry Potter series to him this summer so that he enters this world with a familiar sense of appreciation for one of the single greatest book series in the world. Although favorite books might have to be another blog post when I have a chance to rank them.