While I was on vacation, so was my blog!

Wow, I am so sorry for my extreme absence! I can't believe I haven't blogged for two weeks! That is the biggest lapse in my blog writing ever.

Thankfully, I have a good excuse. 10 of those days were spent in Oregon. Aaron, Ella and I drove up to Gleneden Beach, Oregon, to visit my beautiful sister and brother-in-law, who recently bought a fixer-upper two minutes from the beach. And no, that's not a two-minute drive...it's a two-minute WALK! My happiness for them outweighs my jealousy, but gosh, who wouldn't be jealous of that? :)

Ella and I at the beach near Lincoln City, Oregon.

After a couple days there, we headed inland to my in-laws' place in Canby, Oregon, where we spent six, fun-filled days, ending with a huge BBQ/baby shower get-together with family and friends. It was a perfect ending to a perfect week. Not to mention how exciting it was to officially announce our son's name to everybody (I will do that in a future post - the name reveal is worthy of its own post!) and how amazing it was for Aaron to feel the baby kick for the first time (also worthy of its own post!).

I guess I should update you all on where I'm at in this pregnancy. Today, I am 21 weeks 3 days pregnant! I am well into the second half of the pregnancy and still can't believe how fast time is flying. I still remember the emotions I felt when I got my first positive home pregnancy test. The sensations my entire body felt, shaking in utter excitement, disbelief and happiness. My heart feeling like it was going to explode from beating so fast. Tears of sheer happiness uncontrollably falling. That was one of the purest moments of my life. Nothing around me mattered. Knowing there was actually a baby inside of me, growing, was all I needed.  All of this still feels so fresh like it was yesterday, and really, time is going by so fast that it might as well be!

But, here I am, growing by the day (or so it seems!), feeling the baby kick more and more, and the disbelief is still there. I have a real live baby growing inside of me! I am so grateful. I am so happy.

And, now I am rambling. :)

I guess I'm just in good spirits. I'm typing this with a smile on my face. Not sure why, it's just there! I guess I'm just really starting to see how good my life is. Like, deep-in-the-gut, swelling-of-the-heart, shout-it-from-the-mountaintops, good!

I think a lot of why I feel so great today is because we received news that my father-in-law's scans revealed no new cancer. And, to top of that already great news, it looks as though an old cancer spot completely disappeared! With his cancer being so aggressive, the doctor's goal was to stop it from spreading, but for the chemo to completely erase cancer from his body? We couldn't have asked for more! God is so good!

Dan and Janice (my in-laws), Aaron, Ella and me at the world renowned Rose Gardens in Portland, Oregon.

I plan to post many more pictures sometime this week, along with my 20-week and 21-week pregnancy updates. I'll probably combine both weeks into one, though, because I don't think I'll be able to differentiate the two!