My Birthday Weekend!

Last Wednesday (June 30th) I turned 26. I thought it was going to be a pretty uneventful day, as I went to work, and Devin to class with a test on Thursday he had to study for. The morning went by, and at my usual lunch break time, I was startled when I saw Devin poke his head around the corner of my desk! He NEVER comes into my office, so this was big! He had balloons and my absolute favorite Jimmy John's sandwich! We drove to a park and had a picnic in his truck (it was too hot outside, and I needed the A/C!).

When we got to the park he pulled out this bag of all my favorite junk food: BBQ chips, sour patch kids, pringles, and Einstein Bagels!
Like I said before, Devin had a big test to prepare for the next day, so I was shocked when I came home and saw all of my presents wrapped nicely waiting for me, along with a delicious homemade cake. He got me some more of my favorite candy...

And the BIGGEST present of all was a new video camera for our new little family to be! We talked about purchasing one when we first found out I was pregnant, but have not mentioned it since, due to all of the other expenses that are coming along with this baby. I was TOTALLY surprised, and am so glad we will have a video camera to start making our own home videos :)

Here is the amazing cake Devin made; chocolate caramel cake with whip cream and heath bits on top! SO YUMMY!

My sweet DAD sent a nice package that arrived right on my birthday (that's hard to time right). He got me some beautiful jewelery: 2 sets of pearl earrings with a matching pearl necklace...another bracelet and necklace set (I'm wearing the bracelet in the above pictures)...and a cute accessorie for my hair. Way to go Dad...I love them!

The next day, I got a package from my in-laws. MORE CANDY!! Also some smelly good stuff for the bathroom, a candle, and some money for us to do something fun! Thanks Mom and Dad Tranter!
This is the only picture we got from 4th of July. We watched fireworks with some other people from church, it was your typical firework show, but this time I had a baby bouncing around inside to the loud noises of the fireworks. Its was funny!

Monday, I had work off, and Devin had school off...so we decided to have another date in the city. We are really trying to do things that would be hard to do with a baby/kid. So we thought that an architectural boat tour of Chicago would be a great way to put my birthday money to use! We have wanted to do this since we moved here, and finally made it happen. It was very interesting, and was a great way to see views of the city that you don't get from anywhere else, but on a boat.

Our boat before we boarded.

Waiting to depart Navy Pier...it was H.O.T!

We went for a speed boat ride on Lake Michigan to start our our 75 minute tour. We got splashed SO BAD because the waves were so choppy, and the wind so windy....but oh the water felt so good!!

From Lake Michigan of the end of Navy Pier and the city behind it.

Our tour guide Mike

Devin's favorite building (featured in my last post as well)

The middle building in the background is the Willis Tower (formerly known as the Sears Tower). They added the spire on top to ensure the building would remain the tallest in the world after another building was built in the middle east a few years back. I didn't know spires counted towards the height.

I forget what he said about this building, but it was interesting and obviously deserved a picture :)

After the tour we headed to a really cute burger joint we have heard about. Oh the fries tasted so good!

And to cool myself off (it's embarrassing the amount of sweat that came out of my body) we stopped in the 7-eleven and got an extra large slurpee...we haven't had one since Utah, and it made us so happy!

We got back to Lake Bluff with a few hours of daylight left, so we went for a bike ride to finish the day. It was really pretty out, and felt so good! I love biking with Devin, and our bike rides together are numbered with the coming of this baby in a little over a month! We will have to take turns for a while: I watch the baby while he goes and vice versa. So, as I said before, it was really great to be on a ride with Devin!

And now reality has hit, the work day is in progress, and Devin and I both have lists of things we each need to tackle today in preparation for all the changes coming in the very near future. We are in the process of moving from our small 1 bedroom to a bigger place, and have finally found one that will work for our budget and our liking! More details to come on that, but it looks like we will be moving a few miles south on August 1st (that's right...10 days before due date! Oh the adventures of life!) We are so blessed to have found this place and that things are in motion of coming together...Thank you Heavenly Father!