Finally, a Favorite Photo Friday

I'm way overdue to post one of these. We were cleaning our room yesterday and I found this one. LOVE IT! It's from our trip to Lagoon this past August.

I know many of you are eager for an update and our school/work situation. I have been working on an epic update post for the last couple of days. I'll post it as soon as I get it finished.

Good things:
-Cramming six bodies (one of which is extremely pregnant) into a photo booth.
-A working printer/scanner!! (I've got to post that story here.)
-Christmas pants that are becoming too loose.

Introducing The Baby Boy

As many of you know, we have a new addition to our family. He arrived on September 10, 2010 at 6:44 am. He was 7lbs and 20" long. Here are the pictures that were taken just before we left the hospital. Enjoy. :)

Favorite Photo Friday

And I wonder why it is that sometimes we seem to get nowhere... :D This is 'Lashes in early February.

Details :)

I've edited the previous post to add some details for those of you with inquiring minds. :D

Favorite Photo Friday -- Special Edition

Ok, ok...I know. It's been over a week since I posted anything new on my blog. Plus, I forgot to post a picture for last Friday's Favorite Photo Friday. If I post a special favorite photo today, will you forgive me??



















So, am I forgiven for my scatter-brainedness now?


Edit to add details :D :

Thanks! :D

I saw my doctor on Thursday and we got this little sneak peek. I'm ten weeks today (Saturday) and due Sept. 18.

We're about 95% sure this is our caboose...and if it's a girl about 99% sure. PrincessBug has been asking for a sister for years (and we've kind of had a feeling that there is supposed to be another girl coming). We've joked for a long time that we'd give her one more chance to come and if she didn't then she'd have to figure out how to get here on her own because we'd be done. :) So, think pink!! (Though healty is our #1 wish. We'll happily take another blue, though I'd wonder where the pink vibes we've felt have been coming from.)

I've been feeling pretty well. I can tell you though that having a baby at 35 is a lot different than having a baby at 32. I've been really, really tired. I never get really throw up sick, but I have had a perpetual stomach ache between the nausea of needing to eat and the indigestion and heartburn of having eaten. I'm kinda looking forward to that part ending. :) So, other than that and the occasional muscle cramp or round ligament twang, we're doing well. (And, developing a baby bump remarkably fast with this one.)

Favorite Photo Friday

I'm WAAAAY overdue to post another picture for Favorite Photo Friday. Sorry! So, here it is.



The kiddos were just monkeying around, making funny faces for my camera last January. I provided a small amount of coaching and snapped this funny picture of one of the most famous monkeying around poses there is. It makes me giggle when I see it.

I'm Drawing a Blank

Usually when I sit down to blog, I have a distinct topic in mind. Not so at the moment. As I sit here reviewing the events of my day/week, I am undecided about what I should share.

I could tell you about cleaning the bedroom that Sunshine Boy & Bob share. It still isn't done, but it's amazing how much better it is in there. Any discussion of that topic would have to include my complete and total frustration with the overall state of my house and my apparent inability to get my kids to embrace cleaning. I welcome any insights anyone wants to share there.

I could tell you about the library book (my library book) that got knocked off the kitchen table, smashed up against our sliding glass door and left to soak up condensation. The end result is that I had to buy the book for twice the cost of what it would have been to buy it online or from any of the big bookstore chains. It's a very good thing that I really, really, liked the book. It's too bad that now my copy of the book has wrinkly water damaged pages. :P Of course, this discussion wouldn't be complete without a review of the book. I'll try really hard to do that properly tomorrow. In the meantime, the title is Three Cups of Tea. It's awesome.

I could tell you about chasing all over the valley to try to locate the specific toys my kids want for Christmas while they were still on sale for a super price. But, that is just kinda boring. (By the way, if anyone happens to spot a Chihuahua Webkinz for a good price, let me know.)

I think I will tell you that probably the highlight of my day was going to visit a family friend who has some mad chiropractic skills. I haven't been this in alignment months. Of course, I'm already trying to slip back out. :( I'm just praying that this helps get rid of the terrible numbness I've had in my left hand. And that, my dear readers, is an entirely different blog post in and of itself.

I'll stop rambling now and try to think about a better topic (with book review) for tomorrow.

Favorite Photo Friday

Pictures of our family in our Halloween costumes are typically among my favorites. This year's picture is no exception. :D Our family has had a "theme" to our costumes from the time Princess Bug turned one (her second Halloween) until the present. This year I had to get creative to pull us together into an overall theme because Princess Bug had a definite plan for what she wanted to be. This just might have been the last year I'll get them all to agree to a group costume. *Sniff*

Here we are as "Our Favorite Magicians."


Top row: Me as Madame Mim, Lashes as Alec (Presto the Magician's Rabbit), and Renaissance Man as Merlin. Bottom row: Princess Bug as Elphaba from Wicked, Bob as Presto the Magician, and Sunshine Boy as Harry Potter.

While I have you all here, I want to share a really cool story about Sunshine Boy's scarf. The Wednesday morning before Halloween I was at "Crafty Ladies", which is group of ladies from my ward that get together every other week for a couple of hours to visit and work on whatever craft projects we have going on. I was using the time to work on our Halloween costumes. I mentioned that the costume shops wanted $20 for Harry Potter scarves, so I was going to sew my own from scraps of felt left over from previous years' costumes. My friend, Teri, volunteered to make one for Sunshine Boy instead. She is very fast at knitting and crocheting and told me flat out that she could have a scarf finished before I could. So, after "Crafty Ladies" was finished for the day, we made a run to Wallyworld to pick up some yarn.

Would you believe she crocheted the entire scarf and had it back to us by Friday afternoon? Would you believe she would have had it to me even sooner, but she got sick on Wednesday night? Sunshine Boy was ecstatic about his scarf. It was just the perfect touch to his costume (along with the homemade light up wand that RM made for him) and it made him feel so special to know it had been made just for him. In fact, he's still wearing it around. I don't think I could get him to put it away into the costume bucket even if I wanted to. :)

A few funnies from my day...

1. Bob asked me a question today. I don't even remember what the question was, just that I didn't know the answer. So, I told him I didn't know. His reply, "But you're a mommy. Mommies know everything!"

2. We were in the car running an errand. Bob pipes up from the back of the van that he needs to go to the bathroom. Of course we're on the freeway and there is not a bathroom anywhere to be had. I told him just to do his very best to hold it and I would find a bathroom as quickly as I could. Princess Bug and Sunshine Boy were eager to help. They encouraged Bob to think about deserts. A few minutes later I hear Bob say, "My deserts are all fading away."

3. Coming home from Grandma's house we passed a house with a sign out front. We pass this sign fairly often.
Princess Bug: "I saw a sign that says 'Suing Alligators'".
Me: "You mean Sewing Alterations?"

4. Bob is helping Grandpa pick tomatoes in the garden. They picked on with an unusual shape. Bob says, "Grandpa, this one looks like a bum."

Can you see it?

The angle of the light outside is changing. It's especially noticeable in the mornings. It's getting me excited. It means fall is coming!

Fall is my favorite season of all for a bunch of different reasons. It's not too hot or too cold; it's sweater weather. The days aren't too short. I love the fall leaves in all their colors and shapes and the shadows cast by the sun. For me it's a time of family and fun and promises of holidays to come.

As much as I am looking forward to fall, I'm a bit ambivalent about the end of summer.

This year I was chaffing for summer to begin for my kids. (I was SO done with carpooling and schedules and looking forward to our vacation.) Now I am antsy for the kids to go back. They are getting restless, bored, lazy, and contentious. They need a little time away from each other and I'm longing to go grocery shopping by myself.

But, the kids' return to school also marks RM's return to classes as well. And, this year I'm just not ready. We've had a lot of fun going places and doing things as a family this summer, but we've also spent a lot of time sick. There have been lots of projects big and small that just haven't happened. There are also loose ends to tie up and not a lot of time to do it in. Work has projects that need completing, in addition to messes to be fixed after having had a fire. Classes have not yet begun, but RM already has TA responsibilities at school. Everyone wants his time.

The bright side is that this will be our last year. Come May we will be finished with the Masters degree. Then we'll take a bit of a break before going back for the PhD. I was thinking that this year might not be quite as hectic as others, because he had a year to finish a (busy) semester's worth of work. But, it's starting to look like I was mistaken. (RM has been appointed head TA this year. Apparently everyone else is up to their eyeballs in PhD prep and is unavailable. *Sigh*) One more year. We can see the end from here. We can do this.

In the meantime I'll keep watching the angle of the light chance, feeling the temperature drop, and listening for the sound of leaves crunching under foot...

Some years it sneaks up on me.

As I sat down at the computer a few minutes ago, I noticed my niece's Facebook status wishing her brother a happy birthday tomorrow. "Wait", I thought, "that means..." and as I looked over at my calendar, I experienced that little stomach sinking confirmation.

Eleven years ago today our oldest daughter was stillborn at 24 weeks. We had known since a routine ultrasound at 18 weeks that she had a series of complications that made it unlikely that she would make it to full-term or ever take a breath. But, we were willing to put our faith in the Lord that things would turn out according to His will, and we prayed for a miracle.

In the years that have passed, I have truly come to peace with how things turned out. I know with all my heart that because of the set of complications she had, it really was best that she didn't linger in this world. I feel honored to be the mother of one so perfect that she was only required to "touch and go." I know that we will be reunited someday and that I will be privileged to truly get to know this precious little girl. For me, that is one of the most beautiful promises of the Resurrection of Christ.

There are times, sweet, sweet times, when I feel her near and I know that Heavenly Father is mindful of me.

In the days, weeks, months, and years since her passing, I have found a "new normal" where the grief of her loss isn't all consuming. Truth be told, I have reached a point in life where I can go for days, maybe even weeks, without thinking about her, and when I do it's without deep pain or tears. That is why it is not uncommon for her birthday to take me by surprise. But, it's at times like this when that shock of recognition overtakes me, that I really grieve and the tears flow.

Ups and Downs

Finally! I'm just gonna ignore the housework for a bit and get this camping trip blogged! :) Warning, this will be long!

It was definitely different than any other camping trip I've been on yet. Lots of struggles and cool stuff all rolled into one.

Our original plans were to spend the entire week of July 20th camping with RM's brothers' family. But, because we had all spent so much time sick earlier this summer, RM really couldn't take the extra time off work. So, we decided to go just Wednesday through Saturday. We made arrangements with RM's parents to borrow their camper trailer and truck for the trip. When RM drove the truck, he noticed that the steering was really loose. Feeling concerned, he spent Tuesday repairing the truck and we weren't able to pack the camper like we had hoped. We decided to get up extra early Wednesday to finish packing and get on the road.

Well, as we began to pack Wednesday morning, a pulley broke on the camper. The top would go neither up nor down. RM and his father went looking for a replacement pulley, while I did my best to pack the camper and bed of the truck. We weren't able to leave until just after lunch. I took the delay philosophically: there was simply some reason we weren't supposed to be on certain sections of road at certain times. We wound up eating dinner on the road (note that this is now two meals worth of food I have packed in our coolers that we haven't eaten while camping) and arriving just before dark. We set up camp super quickly and jumped right back into the truck to go into Escalante on an errand for RM's dad. It was past bedtime when we got back. Day one of our camping trip over, and we haven't been anywhere near the lake.

Thursday morning we noticed the truck had a flat tire! We ate a pancake breakfast (RM's brother's family had so much batter ready we didn't make our mix at all. Three meals to take back home now. :p ) and RM and the kids headed down to the lake. I stayed behind with 'Lashes to finish setting up camp. Of course they went with little or no sunblock and got nice and toasty. PrincessBug caught her first fish on this camping trip last year, so she was stoked and ready to get some more. SunshineBoy didn't catch any fish last year and has been of the opinion that fishing isn't really that fun. Well, that changed when he caught his first two fish this year. Now he gets it and is eager to go fishing again.

SunshineBoy and Bob holding his and PrincessBug's fish.

I finally made it down to the water in the afternoon and we took a family paddle around the lake.



Unfortunately, 'Lashes isn't very fond of his life jacket, so our excursion was rather short.

'Lashes holding some water plants off of PrincessBug's fishing pole. He doesn't like his life preserver. I wonder why?

Toward evening, RM and his brother put the spare tire on the truck. Shortly after that the camp host came around. He had a tire repair kit and we were able to repair the original tire. Yay! Then we followed RM's brother and their family to a secluded spot a bit up the road to go target shooting. It was a first for my kids.



Uncle C. and RM help the kids target shoot.

RM & 'Lashes with their earplugs.

The gun totin' mama.

After target shooting we headed back to camp for a dinner of freshly caught fish and taco soup. We told SunshineBoy that if he wanted to fish the next day he had to at least try one bite of fish. We're trying to teach the kids that the fish they catch need to be eaten (by someone) or it's wrong to take them from the lake. I even ate some fish to be a good example. But, it was no use. SunshineBoy wouldn't budge, he wouldn't eat even one bite. Mommy & Daddy got tough and SB didn't go fishing on Friday, just boating.

Friday morning RM wanted to go to Devil's Garden. However, when we tried to go, things got weird. The kids didn't want to go, they wanted to go to the lake. I felt grumpy about going. Breakfast took extra long and it was getting hot. Finally we abandoned the idea.

On our way down to the boat for another outing, I got a few pictures of some pretty wild flowers.





While I was taking pictures, I noticed the charm on my necklace was oddly tangled in the clasp and I made a mental note to have Quinton help me sort it out as soon as we got a chance. He was already on the boat when I got there, so I decided to wait a bit. When I got back to the camper, the charm was gone. I was devastated. I hunted up and down the trails, in the boat, near all the clumps of flowers I had stopped by, but with no luck.

Anyone familiar with my charm will know it was literally like looking for a needle in a haystack. You can see it around my neck, tangled in it's clasp, in the picture from target shooting. RM made the charm for me in a jewelry class he took before his mission, so I've had it for sixteen years or so. It's always been one of my very favorite pieces. It's unique and has always captured peoples' attention. Everyone always wanted to know what it was. It was described as a flute, a sword/knife, a stalactite, a needle, you name it. In reality it was just a cool shape made from a broom casting. I've been meaning to take a close up picture of it for months and just hadn't gotten around to it. For the rest of the trip I kept my eyes out, hoping beyond hope that it would show up, but it never did. Even now I'll reach for it, and it hurts every time I realize it's not there. Here's another picture. (Sorry for the poor quality, it's a tight crop from a much larger picture taken earlier this summer).

After lunch that day, RM took the big kids on a hike up to the Posey Lake overlook, while I got 'Lashes to take a nap. The quiet time in the trailer was really nice. My favorite part? The humming birds that would come buzzing around our camp. They have the most amazing high pitched thrum and they are so pretty. I wasn't able to get any pictures, but I found this picture by Greg Joder on the internet that should give you an idea of how beautiful they are.

The whole crew at the Posey Lake Overlook

After the hike, RM suggested going to Devil's Garden again. This time it just felt right. Everyone was happy and excited to go. So, we piled in the truck and headed out on the 40 minute drive to Devil's Garden. Devil's Garden is a really cool set of rock formations, called hoodoos. The worst of the heat was gone by the time we got there and we got there early enough to hike deeper into the formations than we've ever gone before. The kids thought the formations were cool, the multiple varieties of lizards interesting and the fine, soft sand a blast to play in.








On our way back to camp at dusk we came across a dog on the road. It would follow the truck, but run away each time we stopped, only to follow next to the truck again or run ahead of us. It took us three tries, but eventually RM was able to convince the dog to come near enough to us to let us pet it and get a look at the tags. Her name was Bernice and she lived in Kaysville! We picked her up and put her in the back of the truck, gave her some water and took her into town. We tried all the telephone numbers on her tags, but with no luck. No one in Escalante could give us any advice or had seen her owners, so we finally took her back to camp with us, after grabbing a pizza in town because it was going to be too late to eat dinner at camp. (Are you counting how many meals we've missed now?) Bernice was so sweet and well behaved. She spent the night bedded down in the back of the truck.



Saturday morning we packed up camp and got ready to leave. We took Bernice back into town asking around for her owners and leaving many more phone messages with the local sheriff, the BLM and US Forest Service, notes at gas stations, etc. with no luck.


We couldn't find anyone willing to care for Bernice until her owners found her. Not knowing what else to do, we decided to take Bernice back home with us. We figured that if we had to, we'd drive her to the address on her tag.

At the last minute I felt inspired to leave a note at the trail head near where we found Bernice.

Then, we headed for home over the dirt road between Escalante and Loa. About 8 miles out of Loa it began to rain. About 5 miles out of Loa is began to pour. All I could think about was poor Bernice in the bed of the truck getting drowned. We stopped the truck and RM and I got out to cover the bed of the truck with a tarp. We were soaked to the skin in seconds! But, we did manage to get Bernice and the gear covered up well enough to get us to a drier, less windy place where we could redo it better. We pulled into Scipio about 6pm to get gas and eat dinner (a meal we were supposed to eat at home :p). While I was waiting in line to order, my cell phone rang. It was Bernice's owners!! The lady on the phone was so emotional she couldn't speak and she had to hand the phone to her husband. They were still in Escalante and wouldn't be able to make it to us until very late, so we made arrangements for them to pick Bernice up at our house on their way home on Sunday. So, Bernice the dog had a sleep over at our house.

Sunday afternoon Bernice's owners came to pick her up. They have owned her for 11 years and she is a true member of their family. The thought of her lost in the desert made them sick. She had gotten spooked by some gunfire and run away from her owners Friday afternoon. They spent Friday night and all day Saturday looking for her. They finally found our note at the trail head. It had been rained on and sun faded. It was barely legible, but they had been able to make out my cell number by holding it up to the light. It was a wonderful blessing to find Bernice's owners and to get her back to her family. It was definitely a high note on which to end a camping trip that had had several ups and downs.

Pictures of 'Lashes

I finally managed to take some pictures of 'Lashes this morning. I really should have been taking a few every day so we could document the hives progression. Oh well. Here he is, hives day 3. These really aren't the pictures of 'Lashes that I planned to share first. They aren't very happy ones.







So, here are the ones I had planned to share first. Best to end on a high note. :P 'Lashes has decided that food should not only be eaten, it should be worn. It makes after meal clean up much more challenging. But, even dripping in Mac & Cheese he's cute. :D




Speaking of cheese, he's figuring out the whole picture taking thing. RM went to take 'Lashes' picture a few nights ago. When 'Lashes saw the camera pointed his way, he looked at Daddy and said, "Cheese!" Totally took us by surprise and made us giggle. Here's the cheesy photo in question.


Such a cutie! I can't wait for him to look more this this again.

Deja-vu with Someone New

January 2007 Bob had an allergic reaction to amoxicillin and spent several miserable, miserable days recovering from hives. January 2008, Bob had a serious allergic reaction to Omincef, called pseudo-serum sickness, and was nearly hospitalized. He spent a horrendously miserable week or more recovering from hives and swollen, painful joints.

July 2009, 'Lashes has had an allergic reaction to amoxicillin. Friday afternoon at the doctor's office we thought it was the standard hives reaction. But, this afternoon we noticed his joins beginning to swell. After taking him back into the doctor's office this afternoon, it looks to be pseudo-serum sickness. My poor baby boy is itchy and miserable. There's really nothing to do except watch to make sure it doesn't get worse (which would mean we misdiagnosed him and it could be a more serious allergic reaction) and give him benedryl and pain killers. The bright side is that we caught this earlier with 'Lashes, so hopefully he won't get as sick as Bob did.

I've been here and done this before, twice. I think three times is more than plenty, thanks.

Ain't technology grand?

I'm posting this from my moving minivan on RM's laptop. And, no, I'm not driving! ;) RM has access to a wireless broadband card through work. We're experimenting to see if it works where we're headed. We're in the middle of the mountains going to a tiny little town helping my brother-in-law's family move in. The things we do for employment. ;) They will be wanting internet here and we're hoping a card like this will work for them.

Other big news for the day. 'Lashes broke out in hives today. Seems he's allergic to amoxicillin just like Bob and me. *Sigh* Lucky us. At least we can be grateful that there are non-penicillin antibiotics available, right?

Oh Poop!...Or, what happens when virtual reality and the real world meet.

Anyone who saw my blog yesterday or early today knows that it began with the lovely Dots template offered by the nice folks at Blogger. There was much about the template I liked. The colors were great and there was something rather soothing about the roundness of it. However, I knew that I would be changing it as soon as I could. I had seen a 3 column layout on my sister-in-law's blog and I just knew that was for me. I just had to talk to her to find out where she got her backgrounds and the code to make the big changes.

In the meantime, I was content to add some more links, rearrange a few things, adding some gadget/widgets, and generally spend my morning working on my blog instead of doing the laundry. It was early afternoon when I got the information I was really wanting from my sister-in-law and I was really excited to get to work. Princess Bug and I were browsing new backgrounds when Sunshine Boy came running in yelling, "Mommy, 'Lashes just pooped on the table!"

Apparently, 'Lashes has developed a new fondness for taking his diaper off today. The first time we caught the situation before there were any serious consequences. The second time, not so lucky. Somehow he got the diaper off without any of us the wiser. I went into the front room to find 'Lashes standing on a craft table which is temporarily set up there. Sure enough, he left me a present on the table, on the chair he used to climb to the table, and on the tile in our kitchen/entry. I'm not sure by what miracle he missed the carpet and the basket of clean laundry someone tipped over, but I'm extremely grateful. Let's hear it for hard surfaces that clean easily and Lysol wipes. And, where was that child's mother?!

Oh, right. That would be me, the one obsessing at the computer. See, now didn't I tell you that if you saw me spending excessive amounts of time fiddling around with my blog to gently and firmly tell me to get out of my chair and join the real world? So, I guess the lesson learned today is that my blog doesn't have to be just the way I want it in it's first 48 hours of existence. It really is ok to add here and there for a long, long time to come.