Montana

Every year we spend the 4th of July in Montana. B.'s parents own a house right on Flathead Lake (the most beautiful lake in the world) and I think, for his family, the 4th is more important than Christmas. All of the kids and grandkids come home and we spend the days swimming, boating, jetskiing, floating on innertubes and laying around in the sun. The nights are filled with s'mores, starry skies, and bonfires. It's pretty much heaven.

This year, we had a ton of people. My husband's family - his parents, sister and her three kids, brother and sister-in-law and their two kids, and random relatives and friends dropping by. My dad and his wife and their adopted kids also come along. My sister was there from LA and we invited other friends to make the trek up to Montana with us. Not to mention, each person seemed to have invited a relative, boyfriend, or friend who then brought their friend, relative or child..... So basically, a gaggle of people. Overall, everyone got along wonderfully. It was especially fun to see all of the kids (everyone seemed to bring at least 2-3) running around and playing in the lake. Of course, there is always some frustration (solely on my part) with the in-laws, but I don't think anyone notices but me and B., so it's just life, I guess.

This trip was missing my Micheladas during the day and glasses of wine in the evening. But I made up for it by floating my pregnant self around in a too-little innertube. Picture this - you couldn't tell I was wearing bikini bottoms because my belly filled the entire center of the tube. Funny.

For B. and I, the trip sparked the whole "Where Do We Want to Live" dream. Which basically means, "we can't live in LA that much longer, can we??" I posted about this before and how our dream is to relocate to Sonoma area. In that post, I said something along of the lines of relocating to MT wasn't an option due to the lack of opportunities, lack of diversity/culture, and dark, dreary winters. But, while we were there, while we were breathing in the fresh air, gazing at the sun-drenched mountains, and listening to birds singing, it's easy to be sucked in. We thought about how easy it would be. We could afford to live there without stretching ourselves. Without trying so hard. We could just breathe and be.

Of course, this line of thinking stressed me out. But what about our Plans? What about....What if...But.....AGH. But then I realized, I don't need to stress so much. I don't need to know what is coming next in life. The exciting thing is that we have options and dreams. And we, thankfully, share those dreams.

And so, today, I found myself excited by the vision of our life spreading out before me in a million tributaries. I'm not sure yet which we will choose, but I am going to try to be content to wait and see.

Waiting is a theme right now. I have four more months of this pregnancy and I am happy/excited to be waiting. Four months seems like nothing. Especially when I look at how planned out they are and how much I still have to do. July includes baby shopping, a trip from my Mom, and catching up on normal life. August includes a trip to Sacramento to see friends, a possible trip to Napa/Sonoma (chasing dreams), and our BABY SHOWER! September is jam-packed with baby classes (childbirth, hypnobirthing, baby care, breastfeeding) and prepping the nursery. And October? October is just about waiting and preparing to meet our son.

So I guess, waiting doesn't really sound that bad.