no pics yet...

but I'm sure I'll inundate this site w/them once I have that little USB cable back...

Still at the in-laws. Have spent a bunch of time just hanging out and playing games with everybody. Melinda's boyfriend Jon is great w/my kids- he's always up for playing with them, and teasing them, and he has such patience with them. They watch for him every day. "Is Jon coming over with Melinda? When will he be done with work?" I think he's trying out for favorite uncle status, to go along with Melinda's title of favorite aunt ;).

Got word a few days ago that #5 boy is here- hooray for Sloan! Josh and Brooks' baby was the #5 grandson born *this year* to my in-laws. That brings their grandchildren up to 10, 8 of which are boys! LOL, we're going to have some wild family reunions in about 3 years.

And I have to write a 'hooray for M' at this point. She's a wonderful girl, so full of energy and creativity. She has to be tough, to get on with all her brothers, but she's still so sweet and kind to Myles. Every time she's near him, she's asking to hold him. And he'll look up at her and grin for a few minutes. She'd hold him forever, I think, but he fusses because he likes to be able to move and kick now. I'm so proud of her.

j

Christmas toys

Okay, so Christmas was laid back and fun this year. I love that part the best- the relaxing after it's over part LOL. Jared made pull-apart bread Christmas Eve, then got up Christmas morning and put it in to bake. We eat breakfast before we open presents [tradition we borrowed from Jared's family], so the kids are full of something healthy. They'll be snacking on candy, and fudge, and wassail, and cookies, -- all the lovely holiday treats that are mandatory for celebrating this season-- for the rest of the day. While it was baking, he took a nap under the tree, and that's where the kids found him when they snuck up the stairs. Thank goodness they slept in 'till 7:30am! That was my favorite present this year...

Opened presents- Frosty the Reindeer brought 7-up for the kids [tradition we borrowed from my family ;)]. Frosty is our 'white-elephant' gift giver. My grandpa always got presents from Cousin R, who supposedly lived out in the Uintah Mountains somewhere. One year Cousin R sent him a tiger suit; another year he got a box full of cans with the labels removed. And when we were little, Frosty the Reindeer came to our house with funny presents for us kids. Since we've grown up, there are a lot of funny present-givers: the tricky gnome came one year, Frosty the Reindeer shows up at my house every year, and some of the other reindeer got into the game this year [with some help from Alyson]: Comet, Dancer, Blitzen, and Dasher were all givers of fun presents. Dasher gave me some partially used sticker sheets. ;) This is another favorite tradition [although in my mind, only the favorite activities get repeated and become traditions, so technically *all* our traditions are my favorites LOL]. I love how creative people are, and how there isn't a rule about how many presents we can give/get this way, and also how much fun it is to open these and see what inexpensive little jokes we can come up with. Many times they're things already on hand, like those sticker sheets, or something that already belongs to that person that was 'borrowed' without asking LOL, or an item found at the Salvation Army. Never anything that costs a lot of money, and always funny in a nice way.

So after lunch, we headed over to my parents' house. Joy and my dad were sick, and stayed in their rooms the whole time we were there :(, but we got to visit with my mom, and Burke's family, Kyle, and Alyson. H and my nephew Tyler are the same age, and both are tough little boys. They wrestled and fought [mostly play-fighting], and behaved a lot like little puppies do. And W & M played with Alyson and Kyle, and for a little while, with the grown-ups. Burke has a game called "Settlers of Catan" which requires strategy- these kinds of games are always big in my family. And I fed Myles about 800 times yesterday. Didn't have a place I could lay him down, and the kids kept waking him up when he did fall asleep, so he ate and ate and ate... But he slept all night last night, and took a great nap this morning, too. It's all good!

M lost one of her Christmas presents this morning- she got nail polish from Santa, with my caveat: only use it in the bathroom. Yeah. Already on her walls, and so I confiscated it. And she was pouting and yelling how awful and not fair her life is [which is funny now, but wasn't then]. I finally sat down with her and asked her this: "If your friend came over and painted fingernail polish on the bedroom walls, would you EVER ask your friend to come over again?" she answered "NO." "So," says I, "when you do this to our house, you lose your nail polish. And you get to stay in your room. " arrrrgh. Definitely a blessing to find enough calm to discuss this without yelling or losing my temper.

Gametime- we scored a few games this year. Burke's family got ours to give presents to, and they gave us Clue jr and Scrabble jr. I think that the clue jr is more complicated than the regular Clue, but it's different, and kind of fun. Scrabble jr we're playing tonight [H has to take his nap, and wanted us to wait for him]. Oh, then W got Mousetrap from Santa. It's fun, but long, so we may end up tweaking the rules so it moves faster. ;)

and I'm hiding in the craft room with small and hungry baby for a bit of quiet time
j

one more happy event

He's never been all that impressed with binkies. He'd take the soothie [given at the hospital] if he was desperate for something to suck on, but spit out any other binkies we offered him. Now that he's found his thumb, however, he has completely lost interest in his binky. But he's pretty good, especially for an almost 3 month old, at finding that thumb. Reminds me of Shel Silverstein's poem, "Thumbs."
Oh the thumb-sucker's thumb
May look wrinkled and wet
And withered, and white as the snow,
But the taste of a thumb
Is the sweetest taste yet
[As only we thumb-suckers know].

j

I'm a caribbean!

Went to Temple Square in SLC on Thursday. Love the lights, and watching my kids run. They tried to get lost a few times, but we found them anyway...

Learned some new things about Santa this week: H told me he has a purple beard that shoots out cotton candy. While we were talking about the North Pole, W informed our family that Santa lives in a castle. Otherwise, he says, where would the elves stay?

And this is my 'Caribbean.' As in "Pirates of the..." H came in to see me, demanding that I take a picture of him dressed [in his words] as a caribbean. The eyepatch is a sticker, and the snotty nose is courtesy of this week's cold.

Last random bit of info today: Lunch. I had grilled cheese, an apple, and some hot cocoa. H had a toasted PB&J sandwich [apparently this melts the PB], pickles, some of my apple, and a taste of my hot cocoa. Luckily Jared was home, as getting pickles out of the jar is NOT my job! Hate the smell, hate the taste, only buy them because everybody else in this house thinks they *must* have them. blech!!!

Happy Christmakwanzaahanakkuh!

or for the less politically correct, Merry Christmas ;)

O Christmas tree

Monday we went and picked out a tree. W and M were running and slipping through the lot, crying "I found the PERFECT one!" But we settled on one, and got it into the car, and home in one piece.

Myles was less than thrilled with the whole car thing- he loves being outside, but detests his carseat. He screamed all the way to the tree lot, quietly looked around while we searched for that elusive 'perfect tree', then screamed the whole ride back. He wore himself out, and missed watching the kids decorate the tree.

It looks lovely, doesn't it? LOL, the kids put ornaments on the front, but the sides and back are quite bare! And that's okay. I'm learning to let go of perfection here ;). But I still have a small box of ornaments, and I think I'll fill in some of the blank spots while they're at school today.

Last, just a cute pic of the sleeping baby. He's quite happy to sit in the high chair now, which allows him to be with everybody. I'm always afraid if I set him down on the floor that somebody will step on him. He'd rather I hold him all the time, but he'll settle for the chair, which is next to the tree right now. The little twinkly lights fascinate him.

We're supposed to be visiting Temple Square up in SLC tonight. My brother and his family are in town for Christmas, and arranged for tickets to a movie up there, and we'll be taking in the lights beforehand.

This is our gingerbread house. Remember the sunday school song about the wise man and the foolish man? [the wise man built his house upon a rock, the foolish man built upon the sand] We didn't build on a solid foundation [table's a bit wobbly], and there was an earthquake [someone bumped the table]. But it tasted pretty good!
And the kids ate all the "extra" candy, just to help us out with cleaning up after ;)
I knew ahead of time, though, that I'd want the kids to do it my way, and not make a mess, so I asked Jared if he would supervise. Then, Myles was hungry [he's ALWAYS hungry], so I ended up feeding him while they were making this lovely and unique residence. I figured if I came in after they finished, I could admire it and not be all anal about the mess they made. Jared laughed at me- said I'll never overcome my "problem" with messes if I avoid messy situations. *I* told him this IS my way of overcoming LOL. Plus I kind of like being sensitive to messes- I enjoy having a nice orderly home. But I don't want the kids missing out on the fun of gingerbread house making [or other messy activities] because I can't stand chaos. Okay enough angst ;)
and on a completely unrelated note, I’ve been enjoying a bit of holiday cheer. I just uploaded a bunch of Christmas CDs to my ipod, and I’m enjoying the constant stream of music. *humming*
j

baby of record

Yesterday we christened Myles- he's now a "baby of record." Meaning, he's officially on the records of our church. But it was neat to have so much family here for that. Jared spoke the prayer over him, and both his father and mine assisted. My grandfather also stood with them- we gave him my grandfather's name as his middle name- and I wasn't expecting him to come. He's doing all right, but doesn't travel well, and so it was extra special to have him present to hear us name Myles after him. After the service, we headed home for a feast and some family time. And thankfully the roads were clear for everybody to drive home. We did get an inch or so late last night.

This year I made up an advent calendar, of activities centered around Christmas, for us to do each day. And I have to say we've not done everything on the days I'd planned, but that's okay. I'm being flexible! Plus, since moving to Utah, I've discovered a few things unique to this area for us to participate in. The Festival of Trees: people decorate wreaths or Christmas trees, then donate them to the Festival, and other people buy them; the money goes to Primary Children's Hospital to cover care for children without insurance. This was awesome- I didn't take pictures, but it was a great experience for the kids. Another experience I've yet to have elsewhere is visiting Temple Square in SLC. Every year they light the entire grounds of the temple with lights. There are also creches all over, and they pipe music [Mormon Tabernacle Choir, of course!] so the whole experience is centered around Jesus Christ and his birth. I love the special calmness we feel there. Even with so many people around us, it is quiet and solemn. Also up in SLC, they put on free concerts in a building next to the temple.

Another Christmas activity that I started this year focused on gift-giving. I have a stash of presents for birthday parties, etc. that I stock whenever I run across a good sale. And this year, I decided I would have my kids shop for each other in this stash, and anything they picked out would be a dollar. [of course, most of the stuff in the stash is a little more expensive than that, but not by much] A few advantages: no trip to the mall/store with 4 kids in tow, limited selection, no worries about siblings peeking at their purchases. And their shopping is done- no fussing, or fighting, or picking out an extravagantly expensive toy. I know this won't last, but I'm enjoying every minute while it does!

Oooh, better go- I have two screaming kids. Well, H is screaming because he was sent to his room. He was caught raiding the chocolate Advent calendar. But Myles just woke up screaming hungry. Yeah, we never feed him LOL.

Merry Christmas
j

chubby babies

Went to the doctor's office last Wed [29 Nov] for Myles' 2 month checkup. He's a whopping 11 pounds 6 oz. Looks like he might be catching up to his cousins! He was pretty happy until the nurse gave him his shots. I'm glad to report his lungs are quite healthy and strong... Of course, by the time we got home he was sleeping soundly LOL.
And we all went to the Festival of the trees Friday. Well, all but Jared, who was playing with the Logan First Responders in [of all places] Logan. It was good, though. We walked up and down a few of the aisles, saw the Hello Christmas tree [decorated w/5-inch tall Hello Kitty dolls], the tree decorated with felt gingerbread men that were sewn to look like cookies, the tree with tied flies [for fly fishing] suspended in little glass jars... it was all cool. We watched some groovy tap dancers, and got pretzels and popcorn for the drive home. Myles, bless his pointy little chin, slept the entire time we were there, waking up as I put him back into his carseat. I wish I'd brought my camera, but I'll remember next year!
Stopped at my parents' house Saturday- Dad's looking pretty good, and his incision is healing great. But the bandage is off now, and I can see how big it is- about 6 inches long. He had surgery to insert a teflon pad between one of the nerves in his jaw and a vein that had wrapped around the nerve. Every time blood pumped through that vein, it would push against the nerve, and the pain got bad enough it hurt to even brush his teeth. whew. I'm grateful he made it through the surgery okay, and that it seems to be helping.
We also had a work Christmas party on Saturday night. They had pinatas for the kids, wonderful food, and a gingerbread house kit and Advent calendar for each family to take home. My kids had a blast running around, playing tag, and hide-and-seek. And they scored big on the candy- it's like Halloween again ;)

fa la la la la

So far H is doing well- 2 accidents, one this morning [didn't quite make it to the toilet in time] and once at the child-care while I was exercising [too busy playing, didn't make it to the toilet again]. But he's great at home, and I'm so glad this is going well. I do realize it won't all be smooth. It's just I remember how much worse it was with W, and how it became a power struggle. So I'm enjoying this time because it is more relaxed.
And Myles slept 8 hours last night again. He's smiling when he makes eye contact now, and cooing when he's happy. I love little babies!

totally random funny letter: from the university where Jared got his PhD. While he was there, he concurrently enrolled at another local university and also got a MPH [Master's in Public Health]. So, his PhD program sent him a letter a few weeks back about an exciting opportunity: he can, through their distance education program, get a Master's in Public Health without leaving his job! oh gee, sign me right up for that one. It was good for a chuckle though!

oh- we got a new car to replace our old trusty Mazda. The transmission is going, again, and would cost more than the Mazda's worth to replace it. We got a little Ford Focus, manual transmission [which I like more than automatic]. I've driven it a few times, and it is a lot like driving an Escort- Ford used to make those, and I learned how to drive a stick-shift in one. So we have a shiny new car in our driveway ;).

j

random lists

It's sleeting today, and I've decided I'm glad I live today, and have a car with a heater to take me shopping. So in the spirit of thankfulness, here's my list of good things:

• warm soup for dinner [and having the leftovers for lunch]
• homemade bread- Jared made this batch, using my Grandma Giles' recipe, and it is yummy!
• laundry fresh from the dryer- and that I have a washer and dryer so I can do the laundry. Can you imagine trying to wash and dry clothes in the winter by hand? blech.
• music on the radio ;)
• a cute little baby who slept 7 hours last night!
• chocolate [always makes the list lol]
• disposable diapers
• Walmart, where I can buy new underwear for potty-training H, and treats to bribe him with

yep, we're starting the potty-training thing. H has been bugging me for Scooby-doo underwear, which can only be worn by boys who use the toilet, and not by boys who wear diapers. And he's gotten into trouble a few times because he pulls his diaper off and pees somewhere. His response, when asked why he would do this, is that he's a big boy now, and they don't wear diapers. We're obviously at the point where it's either underwear or duct taping the diaper. And I'd rather try to potty-train him first LOL.

Wish us luck!
j

Thanksgiving

So: we planned to be in Nevada for Thanksgiving, but Jared had a work exercise scheduled this week, and couldn't leave the state. Lucky for us my parents were willing to share their dinner LOL. My mom made her now famous rolls. They are death to a low-carb diet [not that I'm dumb enough to try one since I *love* carbs]. I made Jared's special pie- cherry chocolate- and had *way* too much fun with the crust. Also made a lemon pie, and tarts w/pudding filling for the kids. W picked out the flavor, and he and Alyson mixed the pudding up and put it into the tart crusts. And I tried out a new recipe for cranberry sauce. Never been a fan of it, but this recipe changed my mind:

1 pkg fresh cranberries

1 cup sugar

1/4 c plus 2 Tbsp water

1 clementine sliced in half, then sliced paper-thin

mix all ingredients together, then bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer 15 minutes.

This sauce was excellent alone, and also pretty good with the turkey and stuffing my mom made.

Spent time w/my uncle Scott, my Grandpa, and also my fam-John, Melissa, Rachael, Kyle, Alyson, Joy, and my parents. We got there early, and my kids hung out w/Alyson while I cooked with Joy, and fed Myles. Jared got to fiddle w/the upstairs bathroom sink- he's awesome at fixing things, and never complains when he gets drafted. ;) gotta love a man with tools!

Dinner was excellent. Turkey, mashed potatoes & gravy [both from scratch], rolls, stuffing, sweet potatoes, fruit salad, deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something... Then there were the pies: pumpkin, cherry-chocolate, & lemon; the tarts; and ice cream or whipped cream to accompany them. Yummy!

Melissa brought Rummikub, and we played that for a bit. I brought 'Cars' and 'Curious George' for us to watch after dinner. And the kids played a challenging game of Scrabble. Alyson had the dictionary out- did you know 'gox' is actually a word? Yup. We hung out 'till late, and the kids all fell asleep in the car on the drive home. Mmmmmm. Love the food, and the family time, and the reminder of how much I have to be thankful for every day.

j

Family

Went on a hike this weekend, up to Ensign Peak. It was windy, and a bit cold, but we all bundled up- even Myles- and were fine. Notice M has 2 missing teeth ;) she wiggled one out on Monday, and the other one out Tuesday. The kids ran around a lot, and got muddy, and had a great time. We saw 3 does, and heard a bunch of chukar. Jared was a bit peeved about the chukar- he hunted Thursday and found no sign of the beastly little birds. Then to hear them while we were hiking, well, it was quite annoying.

The LO is from a crop I went to Saturday- took Myles with me, but still managed to finish a few pages. This one is of the 3 youngest cousins in the tub.

j

More fun stuff

Myles is still playing 'stuff my face.' I've been feeding him [seriously] for 30 minutes. And I stopped to burp him, and he's screaming because he is convinced I want to starve him!
It's a nightly thing- we'll put the kids to bed, and 5 minutes later they are screeching at each other and at us, tattling. Sometimes it is funny. Other times [like tonight] it is quite annoying. Especially when we know H is out of bed, because he's asking Jared something, and W is screaming, over and over again, "DAD!!!! H's out of bed!!!" If we ignore it, it will go away. right?!?
On a cheerier note, I had a nice long nap today! I was feeling a bit off, but scraped myself together and went to church w/the family. And it was good to be reminded of God's love for me, and some of the blessings I have been taking for granted lately. It amazes me how much happier I feel when I'm rested LOL.
Last the best: I went to a crop yesterday [Myles came for part of it], and got a few pages, some cards, and a ton of visiting done. Love to talk w/other women! And I love that my dh encourages me to go, and doesn't ever complain about the time I'm away, or how hard it is to watch the kids when I'm gone. He's the best!

games

So at the beginning of Sept, I got interested in watching the Colts play football. Mostly because their first game was against the Giants, and the Manning brothers got to play against one another. And I haven't been able to watch the games firsthand- they're on Sundays, and I never have time with church and kids to sit down that day. But they're the only undefeated team in the NFL now, and I'm wondering if they'll win the Superbowl in 2007. I usually follow the Cowboys, and their track record is less than stellar this season. Not so fun to watch your team lose.
The big game at our house right now is 'Go Fish.' H and I play this pretty much every day. It's a pretty cooperative effort though- we leave our cards face-up on the floor and I give him hints about what he should ask for ;). Myles is playing 'feed my face' all day. Ang had her baby Oct 26th, and he was 9 pounds 8 ounces. I think Myles wants to catch up to his cousin or something LOL. I'd like to play 'let mommy sleep' but nobody else wants to play with me...

j

oh halloween

Here's the crew; Myles stayed w/me and helped hand out candy. And he loved every minute...

ahh, sleep

Myles slept 7 hours last night. GOOD boy! ;) And I'm exercising again, more quickly than I had expected, but it helps w/the recovery.

j

naps

Bless his little heart, Myles slept from 10:30pm to 4:30am last night! And you would think that I'd be extra-rested today. But I was feeling a bit tired, and with H already down for a nap, I decided I would lay down as well. When Myles started crying because he was hungry, I almost couldn't get out of bed I was so tired LOL. And, poor little thing, it took me about 10 minutes to get myself out of bed to feed him! *sigh* I love little babies, except at night...

And these are our pumpkins- we got them all carved, then had no candles to put inside, so Jared used his super spotlight to illuminate them for pictures. Love that he's so creative ;).

W's pumpkin is winking, M's pumpkin is the bat on the pumpkin, H carved [with lots of help from Jared] the skeleton, and I did the pumpkin w/the hands. I was too tired last night to enjoy it much, but in retrospect, it was a lot of fun ;)

And today H and Myles and I went to Walmart to get candles to light up the pumpkins.

Happy Halloween!

oh, just had to share this- went to the dentist Oct 6 after almost 11 years avoiding him. And gee, I had a few cavities! Oh, and a root canal, too. So the next 3 Fridays I spent in the dental chair, having my root canal done [2 trips], and a temporary crown put on [1 trip]. Next week I'll get my permanent crown put on, oh joy of joys ;). Last Friday, when he was getting ready to give me a shot before they began working on that temp crown, the dentist asked "aren't you sore there?" meaning the lower left side of my jaw where all this work is taking place. I'm not really sore there, no, so I said as much. Then he replies, "because you've got a big bruise there. I guess that's not surprising, since you've been in here so often!" And yeah, 3 weeks in a row is rather a lot, I guess. Thankfully, this dentist is pretty cool. And his techs are gentle and nice- the last time I was at the dentist's office, I swear the tech was trying to extract my teeth with the floss! And she asked me, "Don't you ever brush back here?!?" Well, actually, since there is maybe a millimeter between my back teeth and the back of my mouth, NO. I can't manage to get a toothbrush back there. I flossed it every day, though. But that experience didn't encourage me to visit again soon, then we were in college and poor, and I could always find something else to buy with any extra money we had. But now that we have insurance, and I'm not pregnant anymore, I've run out of excuses to avoid the dentist.

j

perspective

I'm sitting at my computer, feeling sorry for myself, because my dh called and asked which evening would be best for him to work late. Huh? With 4 kids, one a 17-day old baby??? None! was my first response, especially after he had drill this past weekend, and left me alone w/all those kids. But that was hardly helpful. And since he was calling at 5:30pm, 90 minutes after he was supposed to be leaving work, I figured why not tonight, since he's going to miss most of it anyway. Yep, I am wallowing in self-pity right now.

Then, as I'm checking email, I stumble across a link to the Army's new ad, with their new slogan, "Army Strong." [tried to link here, but wasn't working, so if you want to watch, go to photobucket and search 'army strong'] And I'm reminded of all that my dh is doing to serve our country, and all he does for me as well. Like getting up w/that new baby at 4:30am and feeding him so I could sleep in. Or leaving me his cellphone, since mine has mysteriously disappeared, because he isn't comfortable w/me not having a phone. And that's just this week. So, no more pity party for me. Guess I'll have to be grateful instead. LOL, boy that sounded great, didn't it?!? Seriously, it was a good reminder of all the things I am blessed to have in my life.

j

photography

Had a challenge on a blog I regularly visit to create a LO that tells the story of my relationship with photos and/or my camera. And I don't think I'll be scrapping about this anytime soon [my spare bits of time are eaten up by meal prep, overseeing kids, and brief checks of email]. But it sparked some thoughts I wanted to record.

I love having a digital camera- w/the film one I had previously, I went through rolls and ROLLS of film, because somebody told me [and I found it to be true] that the best way to take a good picture was to take LOTS of pictures. So having a digital camera makes this much less wasteful overall. Plus I don't have to stop and change film! And although I seldom keep all the pics I take, and never print them all, I can see that I'm improving as I get used to how my camera works. I'm much better at shooting stills than action. I have an action setting on my camera, but seldom remember to change to that when I'm in the middle of snapping pictures. And I wish I had a camera that would take a zoom lens; mine cannot zoom in close enough to get decent shots when I go to soccer games, or other events where I'm sitting far away.

I think my favorite photos are of my kids. Especially the candid ones, although they're harder to capture. I posted one of Myles with a new 'do ;) aren't I mean LOL?!? Poor kid was screaming because he was hungry, and I'm snapping photos... But I love the array of expressions I can capture when my subject is not aware of me.

and it's off to bed again- gotta sleep when the little munchkin sleeps

j

Wow- pictures!

Okay, so the first pic is Myles on the day he was born, under an oxygen hood, with lots of little sensors to tell us about his heart rate, breathing, and oxygen saturation level in his bloodstream. Second pic is Myles in the transport bed they took him up to LDS Hospital in. I thought it rather looked like a display case...

Third pic is up at LDS Hospital in the NICU- pod 2- under an oxy hood again; more monitors, plus the chest tube. That's in his left side, so you can't see it.

Fourth pic is still LDS Hospital NICU- pod 8 now- they discontinued the IV feed, but left in the shunt so they could give him his antibiotics w/out poking him again. When we sat him up to burp him, he'd go after the blue part of the IV like a fish after a lure ;).

And fifth pic is Myles at home, sleeping, after a good feed and a diaper change. He still curls up like this when we hold him :) SO glad he's home and healthy. God is good.

j

random bits

A totally random thing happened Sunday. Jared's cousin's husband went to sleep and never woke up. Still don't know what the cause of death was- waiting for further autopsy results, but wow. At 37, to be gone without any warning, or any explanation, leaving a widow and 4 kids behind- it's crazy. The funeral was today. My heart aches for them.

Okay, so on to happier subjects: the baby is coming ;). Tomorrow, that is! We're all getting excited, but I'm torn- I haven't been sleeping well because of the squirming of this little one. But it won't be better when he comes because he'll be wanting food [the nerve, LOL] at all hours of the day and night. And a friend of mine was complaining about the difficulties of her 1-year-old yesterday, and I had to remind myself that they don't come out crawling and grabbing and getting into things all over the house. They work up to it slowly! And I really am excited for this little one. I'm even packed for the hospital already LOL. Plus Jared's taking me out tonight for dinner, which will be great :). I can eat WAY too much, in anticipation for tomorrow. Can't eat breakfast because I might throw up during surgery. Will be IN surgery for lunch, so will miss that, too. Then I'll be on liquids for at least a day after the surgery. Which means, all in all, that this meal tonight has to last me until SUNDAY!!!!!!!!! oh, but they'll let me suck ice chips after the surgery. Like that's gonna fill me up!
j

A LOL moment

We've been running around this morning with errands- working out, grocery store, dr's office [everything is fine baby-wise], visited a friend- and got home in time to eat lunch. I sat H down at the table with his pb&j sandwich, glass of milk, and some fruit snacks. Gotta love his choices- classic and easy to make! Anyway, I headed into the computer to balance my checkbook quickly, and got a phone call. Took a few minutes, but not too long, then I finished w/the computer. I went out to the kitchen and found H's dishes cleaned off, but no H. Okay.... And there weren't any odd or startling noises coming from anywhere either. I walked downstairs, thinking he'd turned on a movie, but the TV was off, and his bedroom door was shut. So I peeked in, and he was in his bed, w/the blankets up around him, fast asleep!!! He always makes such a fuss [for him] about taking a nap, yet here he is all tucked in, without me ever saying anything!
I would have taken a picture, but the sheet was over his head...

j

busy busy!

Jared made salsa last night, and applesauce, and finished up the grapes we got from Uncle Ken. One big box of them, and we got about 13 quarts' worth of grape juice! I was supervising (because that's about all I'm good for at this point), and managed to make 14 cards. Haven't tried out the grape juice yet, but the salsa he made is excellent! Even if it does give me heartburn right now...

And there is a rather nasty item in my downstairs freezer, just as a warning to anybody that might visit in the near future. I've never had mice in my garden before, but this year they've been attacking our tomatoes. So Jared set some traps and caught a bunch of them. And now there are little dead furry bodies (in a ziplock bag, thankfully) in the freezer. Jared's saving them for work. He can use the dead mice as props for a practice exercise, and it will be more realistic for his team. LOL, gotta love his job!

10 more days until we see our new baby! I'm trying to be patient, but I am so ready to be DONE with the pregnancy part! Not that I'm ready for the constantly interrupted sleep that will come once he's here. I'm just trying to find things I can do besides watch TV- make cards, get some LOs for my scrapbook done, anything I can sit down to do. Which, by the way, does NOT include cooking or cleaning. Gee, I sure feel bad about that LOL!

j

football and hunting

Jared's been hunting or fishing at least once every week this month. I guess he figured he better fit this in before the baby comes [13 days now], since there won't be much time for it after. But it's all good! And I've been following football lately- not that I'm a huge fan, since most of the NFL games are Sunday, and I don't have time to watch football [or anything else] that day! But I keep track of who wins, and watch the college football games when I can. Have to watch BYU, because I graduated from there. But I also follow the U of U, and Notre Dame, just because.

Got a good amount of scrapping done last Saturday, and lots more visiting. I love going to crops! I'm torn, though: I can't sit for too long while I'm pregnant, but once the baby's here, I won't be able to sit because I'll be caring for him!

Oh, and the kids struck again. H was climbing on the entertainment center [no this is not an approved activity], and knocked the TV onto the floor. Gee, it broke. And while I'd love to go without a TV forever, I have a hard time holding onto my sanity without it. Sad, yes. I wasn't in a huge hurry to replace it; I wanted the kids to notice it was gone. But we now have a TV again, and I'm getting a bit of breathing time *big sigh*.

And the political candidates are beginning to show up- we had one drop a flyer off at our house today. I always feel obligated to *know* who I'm voting for and what they believe in. But it's a bit of work to find any information about who's running, etc. I had to download a 997-page document from the State of Utah just to figure out which district(s) I get to vote in. There's one district for the US Senate, another for US House, a third for Utah Senate, one for Utah House, the school district, the district representative for the State board of education, and it goes on. The newspapers list all the candidates who are currently running for a seat anywhere in the state, but they don't tell you which districts represent you either. Argh! And then there's some candidates who don't bother to put anything up on a website, which means I don't know what they believe in and how they would vote if elected. It is HARD work to be a responsible citizen LOL.

I'm still working on scrapbooking. I cannot sit on my chair for more than about 30 minutes, so I'll get up and walk around, or sit on the couch and read for a break. It's actually helped me design better pages. I guess all those breaks recharge my brain ;).

j

visits

Thursday we left right after M and W went to school, and drove down to see Emily and her kids, who are staying w/Mom and Dad. I got to sit and visit, and H got to play with L, and it was good.

Friday Jared canned a bunch of peaches [his dad brought a huge box of them over to our house- thanks!]. I wasn't any help with them, since standing is bad and sitting on a hard bench is almost as bad. So I went down to see Joy's soccer game. Sadly, her team lost, but Joy played well! She had some awesome saves, and one cool block on a goal attempt- Go Joy!!

And I got a bit of excitement on the way home- one of the tires on the mazda shredded! It was making a weird bumping sound, so I slowed down, luckily, and was able to stop when small tire pieces began to fly up from the front of the car LOL. And a Highway Patrol car pulled up behind me when I stopped, and the officer changed the tire for me [hooray for HP ;)]. Of course, the spare tire was low on air [recommended 60psi and had 15psi], but after I stopped and filled it up, I made it home with no other incidents. Now I'm just hoping that I'll be able to stop in at the crop that was planned today!

j

emotional day

So today was Grandmother's funeral. It wasn't a surprise, because we've been expecting her passing since we found out she had terminal leukemia. But it was difficult to say goodbye. She would have been pleased with the service, I think, although quite embarrassed by all the wonderful [and true] things people said about her. My mom cannot remember her mother ever losing her temper. Ever. I wish my children could say that about me.

I loved hearing my Aunt Joyce talk about her parents' courtship, and their marriage. My grandpa is 2 years older than my grandmother, and they dated all her senior year. But she was determined to be a nurse, and had been accepted into the program at the Salt Lake General Hospital. At the time, if you were training to be a nurse, they would kick you out if you got married. So grandpa waited for her for almost 4 years while she finished her training and qualified as an RN. And then they married. I remember as a young child thinking how *nice* they were to each other- it was obvious that they loved and respected each other. I think of them whenever I hear the word "cherish."

And now I'm teary again.

j

school

School started yesterday! Aaaah. H and I spent some time together, just the two of us, and it was nice! Peaceful, and quiet, and relaxed. M and W are in school all day, which gives me a lot of one-on-one time with H. And countdown until the newest baby gets here: 4 weeeks 3 days. Oh my, time goes quickly! But we're mostly ready- have all the baby stuff unpacked and in his room, except for a bed (which will be upstairs once I ask Jared to get it out). I have given away or donated all baby things that are for girls, all the wrong season clothes (newborn summer stuff, since it will be fall here), and I have a few boxes for maternity clothes I'm anxious to pass on to other pregnant people ;). Slowly I am seeing less "stuff" around, which I like.

And grandma died early Sunday morning. She was diagnosed w/terminal leukemia at the beginning of spring, and we were told she had 4-6 weeks to live. Well, we had her almost 3 times that long, and it's still a bit of a wrench. But there was plenty of time to plan her funeral, and finish anything she'd left unfinished. I sat the kids down, and told them after church. W cried. He knew she was dying (we talked about it when we first found out), but it is still difficult for him to deal with death. M and H were sad, but not as deeply affected as was W. Funeral is planned for Saturday. I worry a bit about my grandpa- I wonder how he'll do, without grandma there. After all these years together, to lose her, I don't know how that feels. But health-wise he is doing much better, and he'll be staying with my parents, so they can care for him. At least he won't be alone.

*sigh* j

thumb smashing 101

So Friday last week I finally took W to see the dr about that smashed thumb. Why did I wait? Well, it didn't seem all that serious, and Jared was sure he'd be fine soon, and I haven't had to deal w/a smashed digit before. However, some things I have learned:

• too much pressure for too long under the nail, and you'll lose that nail
• you can prevent or postpone the loss of a nail by going to the dr's office and letting them melt a tiny hole in the nail, releasing the blood (and the pressure)
• releasing said pressure removes pain
• NOT releasing pressure causes nerves to be pinched, loss of feeling in that digit, possible tissue damage; infection and/or gangrene (in extreme cases) can set in
• when digit has been swollen for a week, not healing, there's a good chance of a fracture in that digit.

Luckily, W's thumb was not fractured or broken, which fact amazed both the nurse and dr who saw him. There was a lot of blood pooled under his nail, though. When the dr melted that tiny hole, the blood was under such pressure that it squirted out- about 2 teaspoons' worth of blood! Yechy. And he's on an antibiotic for 5 days to prevent any infection from occurring.

I have a new nephew- Nate & Caitlin had a baby boy on Sunday, named him Saxon Nathan after his daddy. Haven't seen him yet, but will probably go up this week or next to get acquainted.

And there are 6 days until school starts. 5 1/2 weeks until baby comes. Whew!

j

14 days

Yeehaw! 2 more weeks until my kids are in school! They're as excited as I am for school to start, but for different reasons. W's class includes 3 girls (LOL he's already a ladies' man) who are good friends of his- 2 of them live on our street. M has a friend in her class, and her playmate across the street is in the class next door, plus she gets to stay all day and bring her lunch (her words).
The fishing trip was a success. Although I got a bit of a scare- Jared called me to tell me they weren't affected by the forest fire (me- WHAT forest fire?!?!), and they thought they could still fish Loon Creek if they swung north, as the fire was blocking the south ingress. I'm thinking why on EARTH would you volunteer to fish closer to a forest fire? But they're big people, they don't need me to nag them. As it was, they decided against that (thankfully), and stayed on the east fork of the Salmon instead. Nobody got hooked or hurt on the trip. W's thumb got smashed in the car door (wind blew the door shut), but that was on the way home, so doesn't count! And it sounds like W had an awesome time, so we'll likely be planning more of these trips.
Loved seeing Melinda for the few days she visited us. It's always nice to have visitors ;)
Let's see, my favorite quote this week was from M, "When my baby teeth grow up,..." She does know she'll be losing her baby teeth- she's already gotten 2 permanent ones in.
And on the name front- we have not quite 7 weeks left, and still no real choices for names. M has submitted a few more: Cotton (thanks Melissa), Sillies, and Tickle. Some rejects from Jared's Louis L'Amour novels: Landry, Chantry, Bowdrie (sound weird w/our last name), Bendigo, Cain, KinRing, Barnabas (not nice to do that to a little baby). *sigh* I promise he won't be going home from the hospital as "baby boy Gailey" though.

j

just for fun

Try out this test, and see how you do- it gets easier with practice LOL. But I do have to say, I think we studied states in 4th and 5th grade. Not 3rd.

http://www.pibmug.com/files/map_test.swf

*sigh* Our printer has died. Well, no, it hasn't died, it just chews up paper. Or prints so the last 2 inches of each line are strung out and blurry. Or jams itself for no obvious reason halfway through a document. So it's no longer working. I have tried resetting it, but nothing changes. And I cannot take it apart, because for some mysterious reason the screws are stripped. To my knowledge, nobody has taken it apart since we bought it. *BIG sigh* I really don't want to have to buy another printer, but...

And I am finally going down to the school to see which teachers will have W and M this year. *18* more days until school starts- hooray!

For today, my list of favorite things:

1. Fresh squash from our garden. Still craving them steamed with butter and s&p, even after having them almost daily for a month. Oh, and tomatoes- I am SO anticipating the big Beefsteak ones, once they ripen!
2. Getting to exercise without feeling pain in my hip. Hooray for PT ;)
3. Having a talented soccer player for a sister, so I can go watch her games.
4. The cool breeze that blows through my south windows, cooling my house and saving me money (so I can afford to replace that @&%! printer)
5. Looking at my scrapbooks with H, and seeing how he's grown in one year.
6. Hearing "Sure, Mom!" from M when I ask her to do me a favor.
7. Having a good chat with two of my neighbors about kids, and husbands, and life.
8. My family *happy sigh*

j

Less whining, more cheese?

So yesterday's post was a bit whiny. But today is a lovely day, with a cool breeze and quiet kids. Isn't it amazing what a good night's sleep will do? Plus seeing my 'little' sister play some awesome soccer- WTG Joy! I took all three kids to her game, and had to LOL because while they were quite excited about seeing her, every time she had the ball their attention was elsewhere. They were swinging from tree limbs, plucking and throwing grass at each other, playing tag, and keeping active. And drinking my water- M drank half the bottle by herself (a liter-sized bottle), and W and H made serious dents in the other half. It was hot, but I was a little worried, not knowing if or where there was a bathroom!
And the picture is from the Burch family reunion- Jared giving our kids a ride and pretending to catch and tickle them.
Every so often, I feel we're doing something right.

j

PT

I've been to the physical therapist twice now, for nerve problems in my right hip/leg. Of course it is pregnancy-related [isn't everything in my life right now LOL?]. But this is the first pg I have been offered the option of PT to help me out. I loved the massage- nice quiet dark room, with me resting and nothing hurting at all... And the exercises I've been doing have helped a lot. Partly because I am finally able to *do* something about this, but mostly because they're easing the tension on those pinched nerves, and removing the cause of the pain.

In other news, Jared and his dad are taking W with them on a fishing trip to Idaho! They leave Wednesday, and get back late Saturday night. I cannot believe I have a son old enough to go on overnight fishing trips LOL.

And Melinda is coming to visit this week! Hooray! I love visitors LOL.

Oh, one more thing. Rather annoying, and sad, but almost funny too. I had a playdate at my house Thursday last week. And the moms who came, while friends of mine, normally visit me about a specific Church thing. So I'm not used to thinking about inviting other people over when they come. But this was just a playdate, not Church-related at all. And my neighbor across the street (who I like, but she works f/t and I never know when she's home) was mad because I didn't invite her and her kids over. I found this out after Church on Sunday, so I apologized. Because she's right to be upset about it- I should have invited her! Anyway, she totally blew me off. That's the sad part. The almost funny part is that apparently she's been angry with me about something else that happened back in January. And she didn't say anything this whole time, just brought it up as one more 'I don't want to listen to you because you're a bad person' comment after my apology. ?? Why would you NOT say something if it bothered you that badly? And the annoying part is that her daughter and W are friends, and probably won't get to play together anymore because she's angry with me and won't want her kids associating with mine. *sigh* I did my best to make it right- I apologized for leaving her out. So I'm trying hard not to dwell on it, and obsess about what I could have said to MAKE her forgive me. Waste of time, trying to force someone else to do something!

Just remembered- Grandma and Grandpa are both home together again. We were expecting the rehab (Grandpa got a hip replaced) to last through the end of September. But he's strong-willed, and determined to be with Grandma, so he progressed rapidly. Grandma sleeps a lot, and she has a pretty deep cough right now that they're treating with antibiotics. But she's cheerful, and not in any pain. And I'm sure she feels a lot better just having Grandpa home with her again.

No rain today, so it is hot and yucky. But the house is cooler, and we're going to the library for new books and movies, so I think I'll survive.

j

Crawdad fishing

Definitely something I've never done before, and not exactly on my "oh gee, I'd love to try this" list. But fun, nonetheless! Went up to Strawberry Reservoir yesterday after lunch, and hung out with some neighbors of ours who were up there camping. I sort of wanted to come (not sure I'd have any fun, and pretty sure I'd be uncomfortable, but wanting to spend some time with our family and these friends). So, instead of packing up and camping there, which I know Jared and the kids really wanted to do, we did a day trip. It's about 2 hours to drive there, but it was worth it. This is how you fish for crawdads (or crayfish): First, get a raw chicken drumstick or two. Tie a piece of string around the bone, and cut the string about 30 feet long. Anchor it to a stake or big rock, then throw the bone out into the shallows. Wait about 10 minutes, then wade carefully out toward it with a net. As you pick up the string, hold the net under the chicken, and catch the crawdads.

:( and I forgot my camera for this. LOL, we had 5 or 6 baited strings out in the water, and the kids ran from string to string, yelling and splashing, taking turns (not always willingly) with the net. We caught 5 or 6 bucket-fuls of them- the 5 gallon buckets. But they're so small, and we just cooked the tails, so that netted us about 5 quarts worth of meat. Still, boiled with butter and a bit of fresh garlic, they were delicious. And the kids loved playing in the water!

I was uncomfortable, but that happens pretty much everywhere now. 9 more weeks and counting! Still no name picked out, although plenty of suggestions- thank you all! Rascal was the latest from M. H likes John, but since H's middle name is Jonathan, I doubt we'll use John. Too close. And I love both Luke and Tyler but somebody else used them first... *sigh* And I'm not really interested in anything highly unusual like Phineas. So... Max, Tristan, Ian, Brandon, Gus (from W), Thomas, Alexander, Zachary, Spencer ... *sigh*

And I'm going to find somewhere to put up my swelling ankles. bleck.

nightmares

I realize that nightmares are subjective- based on the things that frighten or upset or frustrate one the most. But I woke up this morning crying because of this! I dreamed that my kids kept getting boxes out and unpacking them, or taking the mattresses off their beds and the sheets off their mattresses. And every time I stopped one, the other two were into something new. I kid you not, I was so frustrated I think I may have been screaming LOL. I woke myself up, and was halfway out of bed to go yell at the boys, when I realized it was a dream. Then I had to hide myself away to regain my composure. Ack!
And now I'm laughing, remembering this. Because, getting things out and making a mess isn't a normal person's nightmare. But then, who wants to be normal?!

j

pics from trip

Well, this is M with her new dress- she loves frilly feminine things, but LOL she's just as apt to be climbing trees in them as she is to be playing princess! Which is why we have strict rules about what clothes can be play-clothes ;) She got some money, which she always loves (trips to the candy store!), and a stuffed penguin from W, and a journal from H. She's always writing stories, and drawing pictures to go with them. When we left she was making up a new one centered around the penguin.











W holding one of the three fish that the kids caught last week- even with the head and tail cut off, and the insides pulled out, I bet it weighs 4 pounds! Pretty good-sized for a trout. And pretty exciting for a kid to reel in something this big! I heard all about it several times, from different people LOL. We cooked up two of them, and they were delicious.

Although H got a little bone stuck in his throat, and it scratched him, and we heard about it all the rest of that night, and most of the day after. Every time he'd remember he swallowed a bone, he'd cough and cry and clutch his throat dramatically, "it HURTS," he would whimper.
I was much more sympathetic the night it happened; by the end of the next day, it was 'yeah, whatever.' Now swallowing a scratchy bone is definitely traumatic, but H was pretty good at getting a lot of sympathy and attention out of it. Grandma even gave him ice cream, to make his throat feel better LOL.
It's funny, but the house stays much calmer when there's only two kids home. I noticed that last week, but am aware of it more this week. And since it has been scorching outside these past few days, even with it raining yesterday and today, the boys and I went touring model homes. W was especially enthusiastic about them; he picked out which rooms the kids could sleep in, and where the baby would stay, and what we'd do if people came to visit us. H found all the best hiding spots, and would jump out laughing when I called him. *sigh* the houses all had central air, and it was lovely to wander about and admire the decorating. Some was definitely cool, like the under-the-stairs play house for kids painted to resemble the beach. Some was, well, interesting, like the basketball cushion-things hung on a boy's bedroom wall with black bounce marks. But I got some great ideas, and had fun admiring most of the rooms. W wanted to visit more of them; I may have to scout around for more developments, if it will occupy him LOL!

j

happy days

So I have a daughter who is now officially six. wow. And she had a challenging birthday- we drove out to Gailey's, spent an hour or two recuperating, ordered pizza (because that's what she wanted for her birthday dinner), and sat around for another hour before we had cake and ice cream and gave her presents. LOL, of course she was all about getting into the pool, and there wasn't anybody to go in with her (no way for me- still recovering from that drive, thank you!). Jared left his swimsuit at home, Mom said okay but not by myself, and Dad had a meeting. Ergo, no swimming in the pool for M. Sprinklers were on, so she settled, but kept coming inside just to check if we'd changed our minds. Then it was 'happy birthday to you' (H started singing that to her as soon as we sat down to dinner LOL), and an ice-cream cake, and opening cards and presents. Which almost made up for the denial of pool privileges. Poor child!
Jared and Dad took all the kids fishing today, up to the breeding stock pool for a trophy fish pond that some friends own. So the fish they'll be catching are big and fat, and plentiful. Perfect for kids (and adults too)! And I'm really enjoying the opportunity to do nothing ;)
will post pics later
j

snails & vampires

So, all my kids are still alive, and I'm marginally sane, which means we have survived yet another week without Jared. LOL, not that I *like* it when he's gone, but I'm always glad when things go smoothly. And, in keeping with one of my New Year's Resolutions, I completed 5 (yes, that is FIVE) scrapbook pages this week. Pretty darn good, for me! They're all of the Utah State Fair in 2005- 46 pictures I took there LOL- so some of the pages are more crowded than others. Mostly I'm happy with the LOs, but I'm using a lot of patterned papers, so I'm trying to get used to how busy some of the pages look. This one is blurry, but you get the idea!
Latest funny quote from H- on Sunday, as Jared was putting him to bed, "Dad, if I find any vampires in my room, I will kick them." Alrighty, then, we'll let you handle that!
And we're leaving today to pick up W, and leave M, at my in-laws' house. I missed W, but it was nice to have 2 to look after instead of 3.
Oh, I heard the door slam shut this morning about 6am. I got up to look (was already awake, darn pregnancy anyway) and M had gone into the backyard to look for snails. I remember having a conversation with her about what times were best to find the little critters, and I think I mentioned early mornings or after dark at night. But honestly, 6AM?!?! It appears to be worth it for her- she found 17 this morning. I watched her for a bit, and she was "letting them go" (her phrase, not mine) by pushing them through the chain link fence to the Water District's lawn. LOL, they'll find their way back to our garden by tonight. In other news, she has given H permission to squish the snails she plays with after she is done with them. Hooray!
And I have all the squash my little heart desires! *sigh* sometimes life is all about those tiny details.
j

Whew- long day today. Family reunion started w/breakfast, went until 3pm or so. Jared had a youth trip to help prepare for, and spent the morning shopping for food to feed 200 people. SO glad we didn't have to pay that bill (over $4000)!! We drove over to the reunion in 2 cars- Melinda took the boys and me, Quinn and Angela took M. Spent a lot of time just sitting and visiting with Jared's relatives. W spent the entire time there hanging with Hartley's 8yo boy down at the creek. They quite hit it off! M played Bocci for almost 2 hours, following the guys around and chatting them all up. H was the only one of my kids to participate in the kid activities they had planned- searching a wading pool filled w/sawdust for candy and coins, and blowing bubbles. We skipped out for an hour to visit Nate and Caitlyn, then dropped back in for lunch. W and M made bead bracelets, which broke, but they had a good time! LOL, H filled up his plate, sat down on a blanket on the lawn, and dozed off for his afternoon nap. Jared showed up for lunch, and had a chance to catch up w/his cousins, etc. Then it was load up the car, drive home, and get W off for a week-long visit to Grandpa and Grandma's house. Bittersweet to see him old enough (and trustworthy enough) to send away for a week. But cool to give him the chance for that time w/them, and nice to have one less child home while Jared's off on this 4-day youth activity next week.
And I'm rearranging my scrapbooking table again, trying to rid myself of the extra stuff that seems to pile up when I'm not looking. Jeans to mend, Jared's box of stuff from home, newly rented DVDs, a book of kid projects to do in our together time, old license plates, a ball of crochet thread, Yeah. Not junk, but homeless stuff.

*sigh* and I'm tired out.

j

4th of July celebrations

Spending time with family- one of our family reunion activities. I don't know that they figured out who won the game, since H was mixing the tiles up and messing up the game! But they had fun playing around. LOL, we had 3 reunions this week- two on Jared's side, and one on mine. And it was neat to see some of my cousins again. We've been lucky to have kids for mine to play with so far. The kids keep each other busy, playing games and running around. LOL, they don't waste time getting acquainted!
And watching Jared light the fireworks is always interesting. He has a small welding torch he uses as the lighter, and has as much fun playing with that as the kids do watching the fireworks go off! M wanted to keep all the spent fireworks she found, because they looked 'cool.' Too bad her mom is so mean, and made her throw them away instead!
Then there is the new grill Jared got for Father's Day. Yes I realize it is July now, but he wasn't here on Father's Day, and I didn't want to pick out the grill without him- for starters, should I get a gas or charcoal grill? Then what size, and which features are most important... So he picked it out (charcoal, and fairly large LOL). It works pretty good! We've cooked (HE cooks, I prepare the food) fish, chicken, and steaks on it, as well as veggies. *sigh* I love grilled food!

j

today

Today I am enjoying:

• a package of milk chocolate m&m's all to myself
• getting a good workout in today (hence the lack of guilt over the m&m's)
• taking care of some overdue paperwork, finally!
• having a wonderful dh who backs me up when I need it- I love him!
• and the beautiful ultrasound pics of my baby boy *sigh!*

Trying to remember good things seems to bring them to my attention. And I enjoy that so much more than focusing on the bad things that happen every day.

j

my happiness

Although it is easy to forget when they run around the house and tease each other instead of finishing their jobs.

Had some smiling issues with M- she either looks stoned (as she does here) or in pain. LOL, but it will make a great story later, even if the pic is less than perfect!

Off to swim lessons

<3 j

big day!

Saturday was a great day in many ways for us- H turned 3, and Jared got home from his 3 week business trip to Chicago!
Jared was just promoted to Major- nice, and the raise is nice too. Way to go, honey!!
And I'm managing with 3 kids home all day since school let out. When we have family scripture study (just one page, everybody reads a little bit), we all get along pretty well. When we miss, I hear a constant stream of "Mom!!! He called me a name! Mom!!! She hit me!" aaargh.
I've tried to keep the big activities to one a day; we have swim lessons MWF, and karate Wed nights, go to the pool at least once a week, and the library once a week. Mostly I'm trying to wear them out so they have no more energy to fight with each other LOL. There's still a lot of slow, lazy time that they can hang out in the little wading pool, or build things in the backyard, or play with snails LOL.
As far as H's birthday- his birthday dinner was homemade mac-n-cheese with watermelon and grapes. He got a cake, and ice cream in cones (definitely a must for summertime). M gave him crayons, and W gave him some pellets that grow into sea creatures when you add water to them. He also got some trains and tracks to play with them on. One of the train cars has a foghorn, which makes a noise, but I tried it out before I bought it to make sure it wasn't a LOUD sound LOL! That has been the biggest hit so far. And he's done a great job sharing with his brother and sister.
On another subject, I've decided that black forest ham is the best. I love the flavor (no, don't spoil it by telling me HOW they get that flavor!), which is good, because I'm craving it lately.

<3 j

I did something today!!!

Yeah, I know, I "DO" things every day. But I have had this on my 'to-do' list for 3 years, almost, and I've finally finished it LOL. See, when I was scrapping in 2003, a lot of times I finished the page and left out the journaling. Mostly because I couldn't write anything intelligent while I was keeping an eye on my kids. So ever since then, I have occasionally gone back and added journaling to one or two pages. And now, the year 2003 is completely finished- pics are all attached, journaling is all written down, and whew! I can cross that off my list of things to do. Which leaves me in September of 2005 scrapbook wise. Hooray!
Of course, with this new little baby coming at the beginning of October, I'm trying to catch up quickly. Because I know it will be a long time before I'm able to sit for long periods of time to create layouts. And I like not having a huge backlog of photos- I enjoy being able to journal about things I remember, instead of hoping I wrote something down in a journal about it.

On a different subject, we had a wonderful visit with my family on Wednesday. We've been planning a sleepover with A since school got out, and got over there at last! My Mom was with her dad, and my Dad was in meetings, so we hung with Joy and A most of the evening. M wanted all the kids to sleep together (NOT a good idea). But she did get to sleep with A and Joy in Joy's room. And H and W slept in Kyle's old room. Thursday morning Grandma made everyone pancakes, and after the sun warmed up the backyard we all headed out there. We had squirt guns for everybody, and buckets of water to fill them up, plus some bubbles when they all got tired of squirting LOL. Got home Thursday night, and everybody was worn out- we got a GREAT night's sleep!
And we have another day and Jared will be back- Hallelujah!!

<3 j

today's funny

H decided a few days ago that one of my little scrapbooks (made for Christmas presents for parents/grandparents in 2003) would be his scriptures. Then he told us all that "Hacker stole my scriptures!" {Hacker is a cartoon bad guy on the PBS show Cyberchase} and "Hacker brought them back to me. He borrowed them." All this without us ever noticing their disappearance LOL!
M has some pets- snails- that she liberated from the garden. Most of the ones she finds, she handles and pokes and watches and feeds until they give up and die. Or, one of her brothers finds them and smashes them. Which is what Jared would do if he found them, but M still gets upset.
W has been helpful and cheerful the past few days. I think having another adult here really eased some of the frustration we were both feeling from Jared's TDY. He's currently fascinated with the A-Z mysteries at the library, and a show called "Fetch" on PBS. Looking at his baby pictures, I can see how much he's changed and grown, but it is still hard to understand how quickly it all happens.
Oh, and a bit of funny news- now that a day has passed, anyway! H got into the food downstairs and dumped an entire can of powdered hot chocolate on top of Cali's kennel. Then he got a salt container, opened it, and dumped a trail from the storage room into M's bedroom. I understand the chocolate- he licks it up and it tastes good. But salt?!? Anyway, the vacuum got a pretty good workout yesterday, and he was grounded to his room until supper. Poor picked on kid!

<3 j

fresh fruit

I've decided that the best thing to have in the summertime is fresh fruit- strawberries, melons, grapes, etc. Mmmmm! Had a lot of that yesterday at the family reunion. Love the juices dripping off my chin, and down my fingers, love the tart and sweet flavor on my tongue, love that my kids are in love with fruit, too. I don't remember being extra excited about reunions as a child- I liked seeing my cousins, and I always had fun, but for some reason I treasure them so much more now. I like being able to catch up on the news of the family- meeting new 'significant others' and catching up with how each family has grown and changed over the past year.

These past weeks have been full of growing experiences; Jared left on June 4, and he'll be back Saturday, so I was the lone RA (responsible adult), and not enjoying it too much. But Joy helped me out last week, staying a few days and distracting my kids. And Melinda came last Wednesday (when Joy went home), and goes home today (sob!). Having her here has meant I could take a 5 hour nap on Thursday- apparently I quite needed that LOL- and has diffused a lot of the tension that builds up when my kids and I are alone together. Really, it's a combination of too much mom and not enough dad! I keep telling Melinda I'm hiding her plane ticket home LOL. But Jared's enjoying his classes, and he'll be home Saturday, and we all survived to this point, so I imagine we'll be fine. It makes a huge difference having family to depend on, though. And there are swim lessons, and piano, and playing outside or at the pool, all of which keep the kids busy and happy. It's all good!

<3 j

ode to a plunger

So we replaced our old toilet plunger awhile back, and I was under strict instructions on the qualities to search for in the new one. I managed to get something fairly close, but it was at Target, and it was a "designer" model- Michael Graves, whatever that means. So I kept the receipt, hoping that I could return it (ewww, I know) if it didn't work well. Imagine my surprise, when I discovered that it works better than any other plunger I've ever had!!! Wow. And it has this nifty handle I won't even try to describe, except that the grip makes plunging much easier. LOL, and now that you're grossed out because of my obsession with plunging and toilets...

<3 j

doing?

So, I've been trying to fill in some of the events I missed scrapbooking about last year. Since half the year I was living as a guest in my parents' home, I didn't have access to a lot of my normal scrapbooking things: uploading and saving my pics to www.snapfish.com , most of my scrapping supplies, and my journal of events. Which meant that most of the scrapping I did during that extended visit was of things as they happened.
So I had no beginning of the year letter, but Easter, some gymnastic pictures, and W's birthday were done. And I skipped around a lot. Anyway, once I finished up 2004 (my first goal w/scrapbooking this year), I started to fill in the gaps in my 2005 scrapbook. These two LOs are from August 2005- we went over to Fallon for a visit, and for Angela's wedding. I got a bunch of photos of H and E playing together, with Melinda and I watching and laughing at their interactions. Then there are a bunch of pics from the reception after Quinn and Angela's wedding. I forgot my camera, so got no photos of us at the temple for the wedding itself (seems to be a recurring theme- did the same thing at Nate and Caitlin's too). And I'm still doing some skipping around- I have some 2006 LOs done- mostly it depends on what I'm interested in playing with at the time LOL.
And my list of "good things" for today:

• Blueberry Morning cereal. Yummy!
• I got up early enough to eat breakfast, and read my scriptures, and I remembered to take my prenatal pill. LOL, I'll finally get in the habit of that, and then my baby will be weaned, and I won't need to take it anymore! Story of my life...
• Kids got up cheerfully today, no arguments over breakfast (thankfully), and they're all outside playing nicely with each other. LOVE that.
• Beautiful smell and cool breeze coming in the windows- didn't rain last night, but it smells like summer.
• <3>
• waking up in a good mood today. I think this is the best of the bunch so far!

Hope you all have a great Sunday!

<3>

It's a ....

baby!! Went in for an ultrasound on Wed, and **HE** is strong and healthy and not at all ashamed to flaunt his stuff LOL. Yes, it is a boy. And yes, M was a bit upset at the news! LOL, the week before I had the ultrasound, W and M were discussing babies in the car. W told M if it was a girl, she'd sleep in M's room and cry at night and M would never get any sleep! So M decided she wanted a boy. But, when I assured her that the baby wouldn't be in anybody's room until it could sleep through the night, she changed her mind. And then we found out it was a boy, and she was disappointed. She'll get over it, I'm sure! She can always hang with her aunt if she needs girl time.

And I'm not really showing yet- unless you know I'm pg it just looks like I've gained about 10 pounds. Which I have, LOL! But everything is good- baby's healthy and strong, I'm healthy and strong, so no worries.

Kids are all out of school now. We have a few ideas for activities, but by and large they'll be banished outside to play with their friends I think LOL. Jared's off to Chicago for 3 weeks to study different aspects of microscope usage. He's looking forward to that, but I'm dreading the single parenthood aspect, as always. I'm praying for patience (and to hold onto my sanity) while he's gone. And I'm looking forward to the family reunions we get to attend this summer. It seems like such a treat (still) to live close enough to see our families on a regular basis!

<3 j

Memorial Day Weekend

Of course, we're gonna go camping- long weekend, good weather, access to the perfect campsite (Giles' north field). We got there, and Jared and the kids set up the tent. I sat in my new camping recliner, taking pictures, and keeping my feet up. It was fairly windy, so Jared needed lots of help holding down the tarp, and the tent, and fastening straps.
We built 2 fires- one in the fire pit for cooking in the dutch oven, and one regular fire for roasting marshmallows and keeping warm. I'm always a bit surprised when I can light a fire and keep it going! Jared took the kids for a walk along the Provo River, which is running high due to runoff from melting snow. While they were gone, I started the stew for dinner. The food always seems to taste better when we're outside. Even W, who is currently on a "I don't like meat" kick, managed to finish a bowl of it.
That night was warm, but terribly windy. I was sure, several times, that the tent was going to take off like a giant kite! It didn't seem to bother the kids at all, but I couldn't go to sleep. There was a cold front coming in, so we got the tent and sleeping bags packed up right after breakfast, then stopped by my grandparents' house for a quick visit. They seem to be doing okay- still tired, but in good spirits.


Sunday was cold and windy. Nasty weather for a holiday weekend! Monday was supposed to be the same, but we just couldn't waste a day off inside, watching movies, so we packed up a lunch and headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon to find a hiking trail to explore. As you can see, we all had long pants and jackets, and it was a bit chilly, but we had a great hike. The runoff from melting snow added a bit of adventure- twice we had to cross streams of water that ran across the trail. They weren't too deep- maybe a foot at most- and there were plenty of large rocks to use as a footpath. We ended the hike when the trail became two logs set over a deep ravine with no other way around. Almost as soon as we started down, it began to snow. Just a little, and it was too warm to stick to anything, but it was nice to be heading back to a warm car. And that evening our neighbors invited us over for a BBQ- the kids played tag, and jumped on the trampoline. Of course, now that the holiday is over, and kids are in school 'till the end of this week, the weather has warmed right up!

<3 j

Nuisances

Well, at (almost) 21 weeks, I am remembering some of the little things that bug me about being pregnant.

• ankles and feet that swell up if I stand too long.
• a sciatic nerve that weakens my right leg- certain positions put too much pressure on it and it buckles. But I'm more aware of it now, as it recurs every pregnancy.
• heartburn.
• being too big for normal jeans, and too small for the maternity ones.
• remembering to take my prenatal pills.
• no more laying on my tummy, which happens to be my favorite lounging position.
• my changing center of balance.
• the pregnant waddle.
• eating more often, because there is less room in my stomach.
• shortness of breath, again because there is less room in my stomach.
• watching for blood clots- not that it's happened yet, but it is genetically probable, so I'm taking precautions.

But I also remember the heart-stopping feeling of little kicks and flutters, and realizing that there is a little person growing inside of me. I'm so glad this is the last time, and so grateful for the ones I already have, and feeling a bit anxious to see what this next one turns out like! And no, I don't want twins, Allison!

<3>

Scrapbooking

So I'm up to Christmas 2004 chronologically. I was also scrapping 2005, sometimes, as I got the pics developed. First LO has journaling about moving the tree, and the sprinkling of snow we got just in time for Christmas.











Second LO has journaling all over the first page, and under the "bad" tag on the second page. Basically goes through getting the kids up, opening stockings and presents, and the little saga of W's present from Melissa- he opened it early, because he said he didn't like the wrapping paper. Yeah, right. So Melissa took the present, but left a little box with the note and the 'You've been BAD' tag on it. The note was from Mrs. Claus and told W if he was good all day, he could open the box at dinnertime. Then, inside the box was another note telling him to look under the Christmas tree, and there was the present from Melissa!

There's also a note about the tags- Melissa worked for the Publications and Graphics Dept at a university, and every year they'd do something cool for the holidays. One year everybody got a bunch of different Christmas tags, like the 'You've been BAD' tag and others. LOL, the creativity amazes me! So I had to include that, just because it was cool! Oh, and both these LOs were made from page kits I got back in Iowa- thank you whoever made them!!! But that officially finishes up 2004. Hooray!

Anyway, I have a few LOs to do for the beginning of 2005- didn't take many pics, though, because I was too busy with the kids and trying to find a house and stuff. The middle of the year is mostly done- M's gymnastics, Easter, soccer, all the kids' birthdays, family reunions. The next big project will be all the weddings- Nate's, Melissa's, and Angela's. Then there's Thanksgiving, and Christmas, and a few other small things in there. And that will take me through 2005! Although, if I feel like scrapping stuff from this year, I probably will LOL.

So Jared leaves tomorrow for Wendover. Oh joy. He's gone until Thursday. And M doesn't have school this week, so she's bugging me at 8:30am to let her go to a friend's house. Ack! No, their moms would not appreciate that at ALL. Especially since one of them has a new baby, so she's lucky to get any sleep at all, and the other is an only child, and normally wakes up about 10am. Then there's M, who's up around 6:30am, bright and annoyingly cheerful to people who would prefer to sleep at that time LOL.

Sorry, bit of a pause- H was into the peanut butter. Luckily, it was just all over his hands and face, and not all over the kitchen as well. That boy is the sneakiest little kid I've had so far! Just helps himself- quietly- to whatever he thinks he should get! W and M will make noise when they're into things, and I can catch them because I hear them. But H is SO quiet, I never know what he's doing. LOL, I need a cow bell to put around his neck, then I'd hear him if he was in the house! Yesterday he got into my purse (in my room!), and had dumped out everything in the outside pockets, looking for gum. Luckily there wasn't any in there, because last time he found the gum, he ate it, and threw up later. And I had to clean it up, trying not to add anything to it, because Jared was in Moab, I think. SO not interested in repeating that, thank you!

Oh, and there's a nice cool breeze blowing today- not too sunny, and perfect for playing outside. We watch so much TV and so many movies during the winter, I feel like we need to take advantage of the great summer weather. And so I banish (wink) the kids to the backyard, and the mud holes and swingset, and their extensive imaginations.

Today is grocery day. W has a recipe he wants to try, and a whole list of ingredients I need to buy for it. I believe we'll stop and get lunch, and play at the park for a while.

I really do love summer!

<3 j

baptism

Wow, what handsome guys! This was taken yesterday, before W's baptism. Jared performed it, and all the family contributed something- music, or a talk, or praying. It was great to see W choose this, understanding what it means: making a promise to God to follow His commandments. The sun was out, but a cool breeze kept the day perfect for an outside picnic after. I was so grateful to have all the family there! My mom brought up a salad and her famous brownies, and my sister Melissa brought some delicious grapes and a vegetable tray. I made up a meat and cheese platter, Jared made rolls for sandwiches, and some chocolate chip cookies. I love being close to family, and having an excuse to invite them all over! LOL, we have 5 babies due this year in Jared's family, starting in August and going through December. So we had all sorts of lovely pregnant info to exchange!

And since all of Jared's brothers and sisters were there, we talked John into taking a Gailey family photo. Don't know when we'll all be together again; with six kids (5 w/spouses), and 5 grandchildren (10 by the end of 2006), it may be a year or two!

Today, everybody but me headed down to Nate and Caitlin's for church, and lunch afterwards. I had to stay and attend our church here- I was in charge of the women's meeting, and had nobody to pass it off to! But, that meant I visited w/family this morning before they left, then had a lovely, quiet afternoon by myself- which is the perfect Mother's Day present right now!

<3 j

big weekend

So this is from W's birthday party. Just us- I know, boring. Oh well! He wanted a velveteen rabbit (probably because he's recently read that story), and a few books; he also got a new lamp. And this weekend is his baptism- Saturday, May 13, at 11am.
Gearing up for that, and feeding everyone after, so I'm thinking I won't have much spare time this week. But things should go well, and I'm excited to be able to celebrate this with family.
M still tired and not feeling well. Hopefully everybody else is over this, and we won't have any sick kids on Saturday.
<3 j

good book

Read a book today- "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. It's written from the POV of an autistic boy. It sucked me in- like all good books do- and I was oblivious to everything outside of its pages.

Also, had a lovely visitor this weekend- Melinda, we miss you already! Melissa accused her of producing productivity wherever she went, and it certainly proved true here. I had a bunch of card kits to put together, and we managed to finish them all- 50 cards total! And that was just one afternoon of work. She babysat so Jared and I could go on a date (again, thank you!!), and went with me to see my sister's baby christened today. That was an especially nice treat, since it's a drill weekend (first of the month, you know!), which meant I was vastly outnumbered by my cute yet energetic offspring. Somehow, having another adult seems to dilute the impact of the chaos and clamor that surrounds my children. I know it has no impact on the level of agitation and noise, but it seems easier to cope.

And I found a lovely skirt to accomodate my growing belly: http://www.oldnavy.com/browse/product.do?cid=5868&pid=394292 . If I must be fat, (which somehow happens whenever I get pregnant LOL) at least I can do it in cute clothing!

Seeing my family is always good. Melissa's baby girl is adorable (of course!), and I love the name they gave her- Rachael Virginia. The service was a wonderful spiritual reminder of the incredible potential held within each precious baby born. And the words of her blessing were succinct and quite to the point. Had excellent food after, and visited with both families, and let the kids explore and run off some energy in the park. It was a beautiful day- a feast for the spirit and body. And I got a nap. Bliss!!

<3>