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.

They Must be My Children

The first story is not like me but it is funny.

So I am big enough that I hate to bend over.  I am always asking my kids to pick things up for me. Many times I am given the stink eye. I tell them to try it with a huge belly. Well Sunday no kids were around and there was a raisin on the floor. I didn't want it stepped on but I didn't want to bend over. So I used my toes to pick it up and drop it on the stool (the garbage can wasn't nearby). I thought to myself "I should throw that away soon or one of the kids might see it and eat it." Of course soon in my mind was within 10 minutes because I was busy. A short time later the kids come running upstairs. Braden spots the raisin (which is at his eye level) and pops it into his mouth before I have a chance to say anything. All I could do was laugh. I never told him it had been on the ground and between my toes. It would have only made him mad and he had already chewed and swallowed it.

Yesterday the kids were supposed to be picking up the basement. It was the requirement to go to Island Park later that day. There was definitely an option of staying home since I am stuck home. Anyways, like normal there was constant fighting, shouting, and screaming about who was doing more and who's mess it was. Then there was a different type of screaming and all 3 kids come running upstairs. They tell me there is a spider downstairs. Kelsey is crying and tells me Macy pushed her into the spider. Now Macy had done the same thing to Braden the day before. Her punishment for being mean was to kill the spider herself and clean it up. I thought it was brilliant because then I didn't have to trek down and back up the stairs and I didn't have to pretend to be brave and kill the spider. I go back to getting ready for the day. Soon I hear blood curdling screams and thudding of feet coming for my room. In panicked voices they start to tell me what happened hat is when I noticed that each of them had a ziploc bag on each hand and Macy had a wad of toilet paper. I had to stifle my laugh at how silly the whole situation was and how silly their "gloves" were. The bags were so they didn't touch the spider. The second set of screaming came because Kelsey had somehow knocked the spider on the ground and they couldn't find it. Why Kelsey and not Macy we will never know. The bad part is I still wound up going downstairs and picking up the spider. I found the spider on the ground dead. They were just too scared to move the toy it fell under.

Summertime

The basement is finished and everyone is all situated. Moving everyone's room was almost as painful as moving. The girls accumulated so much stuff. They have also roomed together ever since they were little so dividing everything was a task. But it is done and I am tired.

Maybe it wasn't the moving that wore me out. Maybe I am tired from all our summer fun. In the past 2 weeks we have been to the Salt Lake Seven Peaks, the Provo Seven Peaks, Lagoon (including Lagoon-a-beach), and swimming at Grandma Bonnie's. It has been quite warm so we had to cool off somehow. Then there was the fourth of July festivities. We went to Park City for their parade. It was too crowded for my taste and the kids were disappointed because the parade did not allow candy to be thrown. After it was time for more pool time at a friend's condo up at the Canyons. We made it down to the valley to watch the Sandy City fireworks. We had awesome seats for the show and had a lot of fun with my sister and her family, my parents, and Brian's sister and daughter. Then last night Brian had friends from his LDS fraternity over for dinner.  There were about 12 adults and 18 kids. Right as everyone was getting ready to leave a munchkin pulled over a glass drink dispenser which sent glass shards flying everywhere. Needless to say I was mopping my floor last night at about 10:30 PM. Maybe that is why I am tired. Then again it could be because I am pregnant and am in the final countdown, 2 weeks 4 days.

I wonder what other fun we can pack in before the baby comes and school gets started again, which is also 2 weeks and 4 days away. My squeaky wheel hasn't been squeaky enough to get moved to a different school track. Maybe I should focus on seeing what baby stuff I have and need instead of how much fun I can have. Nah! That stuff will magically get done and a name will miraculously pop into my head.

Happy Summer Everyone!

My Mom Burned my Homework. I Promise.

The final week of school went out with a bang. Kelsey brought home her pirate map and wanted the edges browned to make it look old. The morning she was to take it back to school I lit the match and went to work. Things quickly got out of hand and the paper was soon on fire. Blowing on it only made it worse so the only thing I could think of doing (because I was in the kitchen) was stick it on the faucet. Now I had a burnt, soaking project. Of course Kelsey was eating breakfast and watched it all happen. She was soon in tears at the mess I created. Macy was panicking believing that I was going to burn down the house. I convinced Kelsey that the map was still good enough and that I would need to let it dry. I was coming over to school that day for Macy's class party so I would bring it then. She was soothed and it all turned out in the end.

I did make up for it that week with attending her class reader's theater and killing it with my video making skills for Macy's third grade talent show. Her and her friends made a music video titled Chicago Girls (the title came from the Disney Channel's show Shake It Up). Here's their poster.

Other school stuff. I hate year round school. Macy has enough girls around her age that she plays with to fill a soccer team roster. Kelsey has at least 5 friends that are walking distance. They are not on the same schedule as any of them. I did not move out here to continually set up play dates and drive my kids all over so they could be friends (which is so important to them). The other bad part is that they are off the month of December. How am I to do Christmas shopping with 4 kids at home, a husband that doesn't get home early most nights of the week and no one in the neighborhood to do trades because their kids are all at school? The other kicker is 3 out of the 4 tracks start on July 25. Baby brother's due date is July 25.  I might end up a stressed basket case needing serious intervention if I can't get the most popular track (the one that starts later in August). I put in for a schedule change noting my due date but so far my pleadings have gone unanswered. I might just have to personally present my case and throw in the idea I have heard that there are 200 out of boundary classmates that are not forced to take the least popular schedules. I am a little heated and bugged right now about this. Maybe I will just try for a charter school and have a traditional school schedule since they are not with friends anyways.

So what is Braden up to? Well he has gotten past his Super Mario addiction. He rarely plays it anymore. He watched Rise of the Guardians almost everyday the final few weeks of school while I was exercising. Now that the girls are out of school he seldom plays with friends because he thinks they want to play with all day. As the end of school came nearer he started this new thing. Everyday he would ask:
"Do Macy and Kelsey have school tomorrow?"
My answer would depend on the day of the week and his excitement would depend upon if it was Saturday or Sunday the next day. Then he would ask:
"Does dad have to go to work tomorrow?"
See above for his reaction. Then he would ask:
"Do we have to go to church tomorrow?"
This was asked every single day and sometimes multiple times. He still does this routine even though the girls are out of school. It drives them nuts. Macy has started answering the school question with "not for another 3 weeks." Really it is 5 weeks but who is counting.

It's a Bird, It's a Plane, It's a ...

When I backed out of the garage today Braden tells me there is a bird in the garage. Of course I dismiss the comment thinking I didn't see anything fly in there or if I did miss seeing it I would have to shoo it out when I got back. When I got home and opened the garage, out waddles a duck. Thinking back I do remember hearing a quack sound while walking out to the car but it was faint and I dismissed that too. I wasn't expecting a duck because we don't have water extremely close to us. I thought he was talking about something like a sparrow or robin. At our last house we had a hummingbird get stuck in our garage and Brian had to help it out of the garage because it stayed too high to find the exit.

I did point out to Braden that the bird was a duck. I guess we haven't been to farms or ponds enough for him to know what a duck is. I did not get too deep and explain that technically he was correct by calling it a bird.

A few fun pictures

In these past 2 months we celebrated Braden and Macy's birthdays. I am a lame mom and don't throw friend parties every year. Lucky for me it was an off year for both Braden and Macy. Next year I might not be so happy. By the way, we only took video of Macy's birthday and I haven't taken the time to capture any still shots from it.

 Here is bubba's dinosaur cake. I had a little too much fun.

Brian gave Braden a remote control boat. Both were super excited. However, Brian played with it the most in the pool in St George.

 Easter fun. Macy doesn't want her picture taken and Braden is hard at work.

 Braden's masterpiece.

 Easter morning. The girls wanted their hair chopped right after dying Easter eggs.

 The girls were off-track in April so we took a trip to St. George. It was our first time seeing Uncle Russ's new vacation home. It was awesome. It had 4 tree houses and a pool heated to 89 degrees. I even got in when the air temperature was only 72.

Boys and their rocks.

 Here is my Top Gun on board the USS Midway. This was the type of plane Maverick flew so Brian had to have his picture by it. Take my breathe away baby!

I picture of me in a cockpit. There are so many things in this world that blow my mind. Aircraft carriers are one of them, along with the military.

Coronado. One of the only pregnancy pictures I don't mind.

In a Large Nutshell

I have a blog? Who knew. So much has been happening and some of it worth blogging about but lately I would rather stalk/read facebook updates or catch up on blogs. I don't even put status updates on my facebook page so my blog shouldn't feel too neglected.

I just checked and my last post was almost 2 months ago. Sorry Jeff for leaving you in the dark about our life. Jeff is my brother on a mission for the LDS church. He can read blogs so I thought my posts could count as my letters to him. Guess that means I am a terrible letter writer too. Just ask my sister, Emily. I don't think she received one letter from me the whole 18 months she was gone. I do love them and I hope I show it in other ways.

So here is my life in a 5 minute nutshell:

1. I have an alarm on my phone set for 10 PM because I am trying to go to bed earlier. Every night it chimes and instead of heading to my room I dismiss the reminder and still go to bed at 11:30. That alarm just went off.
2. I am reading Lord of the Rings and have had to re-check it out from the library two times (that is like 9 weeks that I have had the book) because I keep doing other things. I do like the story but I keep telling myself to just finish this one task then I can have some me time. I keep doing that until the kids come home or I waste my free time reading facebook or dumb internet articles.
3. My sister, Calee, and her husband were finally able to get an offer accepted to buy a home. I am their real estate agent and the market has been crazy. I think they were getting tired of looking at homes. I was worried we wouldn't find anything before the new baby came.
4. We still don't have a name for this little boy. I am feeling very round. By the end of the night I dread having to bend over to pick up the house and hate the stairs almost as much. The good thing is that in the morning I feel great and can get a lot accomplished. My only other complaint is that I can't stand clothing bottoms. My pants/skirts/garments are always sliding down because there are no more hips/waist. This is another reason I hate bending over because I always have to adjust when I stand back up. And no, I have not resorted to going around the house wearing nothing on my lower half.
5. The girls are almost done with another year of school (2 more weeks left). Both played soccer and the season is almost over too. They each have one more game. Braden was sad we didn't sign him up but he wasn't ready last fall. We told him next fall. The girls were both taking gymnastics and piano. Kelsey had a meltdown and want to quit everything. So we let her give up gymnastics. I am not sure what to do with her as she grows up. She can be so happy and nice but also the most negative, grudge holding girl. If you make her do something, she will hate it no matter what.
6. We are finishing the basement. It will be so nice to have it done. The sheet rock will go up next week. Once finished each child will have their own room, there will be a play room to house the mountains of toys, a family room to help alleviate the sound and chaos that abound in the main part of the house right now and there will be a second washer and dryer so Macy and Braden can do their own laundry. The laundry is what Braden is excited for. He even says they are going to wash their own clothes. Here's to hoping for the best. If you couldn't tell, the kids decided that it will be Macy and Braden in the basement. Originally it was going to be Kelsey and Macy. Not sure what happened but it doesn't bother me either way.
7. I am trying my hand at gardening again. It is going better than my attempts in AZ. The spinach did get burnt by Utah's crazy weather of one or two days of crazy warm weather followed by some really cold and rainy days. Everything else (peas, lettuce, carrots, green onion) seems to look good but only time will tell. The kids and I started some seeds inside (tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, basil). I hope to get those in the ground tomorrow or Saturday along with some store bought plants (spaghetti squash, zucchini, watermelon and pumpkin). I had to wait to put these plants in because I had to do some major work on a flower bed to make more room and I went out of town.
8. Speaking of out of town, last week I spent 5 days in San Diego. It was wonderful. Brian had a conference for work and I joined him. The conference was only 2 1/2 days but we extended our stay so we could vacation and count it as our anniversary. Brian was pretty much booked those 2 1/2 days so I vacationed myself. I thought I would do tons of lounging but instead I pulled a Brian was going non-stop. I wish I had been able to log the miles I walked because I know it was a lot. I walked all over the gas lamp district and Old Town. The next day I rented a car and went all around Balboa Park (I still did not see it all and I only made it to 1 of the 15 museums). That same day I hit Coronado. I took a snooze on the beach and tried to get my pregnant body comfortable on the sand so I could read my book. I determined the only way to get that done was with a lounge chair and I didn't have one so I walked around Coronado. It was nice to do whatever I wanted but by the end I was grateful to have someone to vacation with regularly. I was ready to start carrying on conversations with myself. There were so many things I saw and wanted to share them with someone. I even dined by myself because Brian's boss is a networking fool (which is a really good thing) and he had events booked for Brian and himself all night. He wanted to introduce Brian to people so that deals could be made. Brian wouldn't come back to the hotel until 10 PM at night. Once Brian was free, we went to: the USS Midway, Little Italy for dinner, a Padres game (as we were trying to buy tickets someone gave us $50 seats for free), traveled up to La Jolla to sit on the beach, saw Point Loma light house, and drove up to Del Mar. It was an action packed few days. I am so happy I was able to share some of it with Brian.
9. I am finishing this post and it is now 10:50. So again the alarm thing didn't work.