Life Goes On...

Life seems to go really fast when I see that it has been 2 months since the last post.  I was going to at least post something monthly this year.

The biggest news comes from Brian's corner of the world.  At the end of January he was asked to be 2nd counselor in the bishopric.  He was a little nervous but he has really stepped up to the task.  He has only nodded off briefly on the stand once. The final test is will be next Sunday when he has to conduct in Sacrament meeting for the first time.  I am not worried.  He is a natural when presenting and his testimony is strong and always comes out eloquently.

His other news came this past week.  He was asked to move from his corporate position at work to be president of the Utah division of Woodside Homes.  Again he is nervous but he is excited about this assignment.  I know he will knock it out of the park.  He is so talented and dedicated that he does well at everything he does.

I wish I had some funny stories.  I am sure there were some funny moments but nothing comes to mind.  I even downloaded pictures to try to jog my memory.  I guess they have been pushed out of my mind because I have felt a little overwhelmed lately, from my own doing.  Might be time to step back and try to re-prioritize.

At the end of January the kids were off-track so we did a couple of fun excursions.  We made a trip to the Provo City Center Temple open house.  We visited the ice castles in Midway.  They were cool but it was definitely freezing even with proper gear.  We met up with Emily at Ogden's Treehouse Museum.

Kelsey played volleyball and took ski lessons while off-track. Macy just finished up the last of her 3 cheer competitions.  I guess she is going to tryout for a competitive team next year. Brian took Macy, Kelsey and Braden up skiing twice.  They all seem to enjoy it.  Braden doesn't really last a full day yet so he might not get another trip this year.

Tanner found his bike from last year.  He decided to bring it in the house and prefers to ride it in here despite the nice weather and a fenced in backyard.  He has continued his antics.  He dumped a full bottle of shampoo in the tub for the bubbles.  He has continued to color on the walls with pen, crayons and pencils.  One pen drawing was so big and deep that the magic eraser wasn't working.  Brian had to paint over it this weekend.  He also thinks he is big enough to walk to school by himself.  One morning I heard the front door open.  I didn't rush to check on him because he usually digs in my front flower beds.  When I went to see and bring him back inside, he was gone.  I looked all around the house, in the house in the window wells and at the neighbor's house.  Nowhere.  I grabbed my cell and started to make my way to the busy street.  On my way my cell phone rang.  It was my neighbor that worked at the elementary school.  She informed me that Tanner was in the office at school.  I guess he had heard all the kids at recess and made a beeline for them.  Braden was at recess and found him.  He had walked the whole way barefoot and threw a tantrum when I brought him home.  The next day he told me he was going to go to school.  I told him no and watched him very closely that day.

 Tanner as a box troll.  Kelsey's creative idea.  She made a box for herself and Tanner.

 

As for me I spent our tax refund on new patio furniture.  The gas fire pit and the jumbo umbrella are not out yet.  But below is a picture of my new table. We lounged on it today in the beautiful sunshine. I got my vegetable garden ready and planted my peas, lettuce, spinach, carrots and onions.  I just looked and some are starting to sprout.  I hope to get raspberry plants in soon.  Brian and I spent a Saturday finishing up my front yard project.  I weeded everything, put Preen down and then we spread mulch over everything.  Hopefully the mulch is thick enough.  I have a few plants I need to buy and plant to finish the front and replace a couple from last fall that didn't make it.  If you can't tell I am excited for the nice weather.

 These are the kids Valentine boxes from this year.

Kelsey's - Sniffle's cage

Macy's - Valentine monster

Braden's - Monster sack he made in school

Updates

 2 days after my last post Tanner went in for his 9 month check up (which was almost a month late).  He doesn't look it but he has thinned a bit from all his moving.  He was 20 lbs 4 oz.  His height came in at 29 3/4 in.  He is a very flexible kid in that some days he can go with only one nap and still be happy.  His nap times are never at the same time, but he is okay with that.  Sometimes they are close to the same general time frame.  He likes to go to bed at 8:30 still but we push that a lot too.  He is one happy monster.

 Braden still cannot get enough of his brother.  He hasn't stopped kissing Tanner.  The most annoying sound in the world is a constant, repetitive kissing sound.  I have to tell Braden to stop kissing Tanner and to leave Tanner alone.  Tanner has started to push him away.  I think he wants some space.  At least he loves him.

 His first boat ride.  He loved it.  He didn't mind the jacket and it didn't slow him down.  He crawled all over the boat and made sure to throw a ball in the water.

 Here he is helping drive the boat and wearing Uncle Jeff's baby hat.

 He is very good at making messes.

 Today he found a new place to play.  Yesterday he crawled into a shelf of the entertainment center.

He thought sitting in this bowl was great fun.

Enough about Tanner.  Here are more of our adventures.

 Enjoying the outside.

Swimming at Mike and Becky's on Memorial Day.

 We went to the Curiosity Museum at Thanksgiving Point for Grandma Wendy's birthday.  All the kids had a blast.

 Macy even promised to eat fruit and vegetables every day.

 We finished school for the year.  Kelsey's class had a volunteer come to their classroom on a regular basis to help them put together an opera.  They began working on it right after Halloween.  The kids came up with the subject, the story line and all their parts.  It was really cute.

 Braden finished up preschool.  Man has he grown up, mostly in good ways.

 But the "boyside" and goofiness is really starting to come out.  During his end of the year performance he was more easily distracted.

He had more fun being silly with his friend than singing the songs.

 We also had fun at our Stake Carnival.  Our friend's have done a spectacular job 2 years in a row.  I hope the next chairman can do as good a job.

So Where Do I Begin

I have taken a break from the computer. Not completely, but I have spent less time on it and more time doing other things like: feeding a baby, reading books, doing off-track things, blessing a baby, doing Halloween things, joining a gym, planning a birthday party and planning a baptism. In fact there has been so much craziness that I am groaning that Thanksgiving is here already. And Thanksgiving means decorating the house and lots of shopping (not that I hate shopping). It is just more work. I want to relax. I was able to do that last week but I don't think that will be the case this week, maybe the first couple of days so I plan to live it up.

Tanner has been growing like a weed, literally. At his 2 month check up he was 12 lbs 14 oz and 24.5 inches long meaning he fit 3 to 6 month clothes. His 4 month check up is coming up and he still appears to be ahead of the charts. I even think he has 2 bottom teeth on the way. It is hard to get a good look because a tongue and drool always gets in the way. He is an awesome kid, a bit of a cat napper in the day but a wonderful sleeper at night. He goes to bed between 8 and 9. Some nights he wakes up around 4:30 for a quick snack but last week he had several days in a row of waking up at 7:30 (there have also been a few other scattered all nighters in the past 2 months). I am hoping for a all night sleeper soon. Please knock on wood now that I have shared that piece of news.

He is quite the talker. He loves to jabber anyone's ear off. Kelsey can really get him going. He grunts and strains a lot when he needs to relieve his bowels or is unhappy with the situation, such as he wants to sleep or eat. The kids still can't get enough of him and Braden has shared 2 colds with him already. The boy cannot not stop kissing his brother or lightly rubbing his lips across Tanner's head. Braden does that same rubbing thing with his blanket. If Jeff is reading this, it is similar to the way you would sniff your shirt. Macy and Kelsey rush home from school and ask where Tanner is. Macy still acts like his mother. She likes to comfort him and rock/bounce him to sleep. Kelsey is true to her nature and likes to play, talk, and tickle him. He is quite ticklish.

Tanner is a drooler. He is a diaper Houdini meaning he seems to always manage to get pee out of his diaper. He still likes a clean diaper to poop in and because of the nature of the situation he has peed in his eye a couple of times. I have to always remember to throw a wipe or cloth over his boy parts when he is relieving himself. Like Kelsey and Braden, this week he had to have some prune juice in his formula. I hope it was a fluke thing and in a couple of days we won't have to worry about it. It appears to Brian and me that he may have some neck weakness so I will have to talk to the doctor about that. He also has eczema pretty bad on his head. I think I get it all cleared up and then the rash comes right back. The bad part is he is starting to figure out his hands and started scratching at it last night.

In his Ute gear at the Young Alumni Homecoming 5K - Brian was in charge this year (mid-Sept)

Braden is showing him how to play with the baby toys. (end of Sept)

 

I don't make my girls match but I made my boys match. Tanner's blessing day. (mid-Oct)

Glad someone forgot to tell me to stand straighter.

How I like to pass out.

"Will they ever get out of my face?" I am pretty sure that is what Tanner asks all the time. (mid-Oct)

The beginning of sibling torture. Kelsey dressed him in glasses and leg warmers. (mid-Oct)

He is a TV addict. He will crane his neck trying to watch the TV. (late Oct)

A little big for the baby bath. (late Oct)

The drool monster. (mid-Nov)

Bidding My Time

Baby number 4 is set to arrive any day. If he isn't here by Friday, he will forced to make an entry. So what have I done the past week and a half to pass the time since he doesn't want to come early (my actual due date is the 25th)?

First of all I sent my family to Island Park for a family vacation. It was Grandma Carol and Grandpa Alan's Christmas present to the family. For some crazy reason the doctor wouldn't let me go. Brian packed up the kids Monday, July 15 (after he attended the first day of cub scout camp) and went to have fun. I am pretty sure he was worried the entire time that I would go into labor. It sounded like everyone had a great time. They went fishing, caught frogs, played in the hot tub (a lot), made s'mores, went on 4 wheeler rides, went horseback riding, and paddle boarded down Henry's Fork. I am not sure what was their favorite. I have heard horseback riding and paddle boarding the most so I would assume those were the favs. Because Island Park is near Yellowstone they took a day to visit the park. Old Faithful was a let down because they had to wait 40 minutes instead of the usual 20 and then it wasn't one of it's best presentations. They saw some big elk and bison but that was about it. I think the animals were few because it was a hot summer day and they didn't get there until noon and didn't stay too far into dusk. They called it a trip Friday night and arrived back home at 1 am. I have posted pictures that were on the camera. There were a lot more of all the fun but they are on Brian's phone still.

I didn't sit around and let them have all the fun but I didn't play the whole time either.  I cleaned out the garage including hosing it out. I was tired of black feet and it has been killing me since winter. I spent some time in my garden. I planted more seeds for the fall. And speaking of gardens I don't think I mentioned my garden at all this year. This has been the most successful garden I have ever planted and it has been fun to pick things and then eat them for dinner. We had a great crop of peas, lettuce, carrots and onions. Right now the beans are producing, the tomatoes are showing up and my spaghetti squash looks amazing. The cucumbers are not doing so well along with the watermelon, bell peppers and yellow squash. My excuse for some of those plants is the soil where they are planted isn't great. I am hoping the seeds I just planted will do well so we can have a bounteous fall. Hopefully the summer heat won't kill them before they get started.

This is not all the plants. Some of my other veggies are else where in the yard. It looked better when the pea plants were growing on the right and the lettuce and carrots filled in the other holes. I had to pull them out to plant new for the fall.

Back to what I did. After all that hard work it was time to play. There was girls night out with my friend Camie. We went to dinner, a movie and dessert. I went with my mom and sisters for a pedicure. I went in for a hair cut. Book club happened to be that week. And of course there was lots of shopping. With this shopping came a realization for me. I will have to get a job when my kids are grown so I don't spend all of our money. The only thing that slowed me down was I couldn't clothes shop yet. If that had been the case I might have been in some serious trouble. I spent an afternoon at the pool. I read. I finished my book from all the blog posts in 2008 to half of 2009 and got that sent away to be published. So far I have 2007 and 2008 done, only 4 more years to go. It is amazing what can be done when you have no time constraints, no meals to prepare or no one to find sitters for so you can make it to your appointments.

I am glad to have my family back in town. It was a little quiet around here and could easily get lonesome. I don't know how my Grandma Lue did it for so long or how my Grandma Bonnie still does it. Yes you see people but there are many hours by yourself.

Once they got back it was time to squeeze in the last bit of summer with the kiddos and get the house cleaned so I don't have to worry for awhile after baby comes. Tuesday the kids and I went swimming at their cousin's pool. Each took a friend. After it was a trip to Arctic Circle for some ice cream. Wednesday Brian had the day off. The kids had earned a movie from all their hard work this summer so we went to Despicable Me 2. We were the mean parents who wouldn't buy the over-priced, unhealthy popcorn and other treats. I am sure the kids will always remember that about us. That was about it for our Pioneer Day Celebration. Later that night we bribed our kids with ice cream. Macy and Kelsey have refused a father's blessing every school year. They have never had one. The thought was maybe if we could get them to agree just once then they would realize the blessings from it. Cross your fingers for next year or any time they have struggles. Thursday is here and I sent the girls to their first day of school. The baby still hasn't come despite all my attempts at jogging, walking, mopping, vacuuming, bathroom scrubbing and pineapple eating (I heard that one recently). Tomorrow he will come and he still has no name. I hope I am ready and I hope he has a name.