Soccer!

Beach Trip

I haven't been to the beach since my attempt to surf in 2007. And before that, I'm not quite sure when I last embarrassed myself in a swimsuit.

But Friday we were invited to go to a beach at an almost local (took half and hour to get there) State Park. Here are some of our pictures.

Most are of Emma because she's such a water baby. And I had to watch her the closest, she got the most pictures taken. Click on the collage to see those pictures bigger.

Pictures for Nathan with More to Come

One day I kept Jeremy occupied with constructive destructiveness.
It was wonderful. This occupied him for over an hour.
The wall-paper didn't need to come down yet since we haven't even picked out paint for the stairs area yet, but he had a great time, he felt like he was helping, and he got to channel his destructive energy into something good.

I took this picture a couple nights ago.
Megan of late has been sneaking out of bed to get books to read.
I love that she does this! It reminds me of me!
Except I didn't have to sneak out because my bed's headboard had a built in bookshelf and so all I had to sneak was a flashlight!

A friend told us about a great rummage sale put on by a local church. We went to check it out and came home with a bucket full of Lincoln Logs for $2, a wooden snake (Jeremy insisted we buy it for Emma) for 10 cents, and a couple bracelets for 50 cents. It was a pretty good rummage sale and they had an almost new changing table that I thought about getting. But after going home and measuring I found we didn't have room.

I'll post soon some pictures of us at the beach!
We went with the kids I babysit and their mom.

Toilet Help

So. . .I have a new toilet sitting in my van. Anyone want to come over and get it out for me?

Anyone?

[crickets chirruping]

I didn't think so.

Fabulous Fathers

I kind of avoided writing about Father's Day. I knew I wouldn't make it through the post without crying. And while I know I'm going to cry and the tears have already started, I feel bad that I haven't written about Nathan or my dad.

Both are amazing men and I need to tell them just how much they mean to me. This is a difficult thing to express though, because each day I learn that they mean more to me than I knew.



Nathan works so hard for us. He is a terrific father and husband. He plays with the kids, playing all the games I'm not up for--wrestling, "pile on the bunny," underdogs. . . .

He is doing dental school because dentistry is a great family career. He doesn't have to work every day from 9 to 5 once his practice is really going.

He goes without so his family can have.

He is putting himself through the hell of officer training. (Today I found out he has to be exposed to tear gas, thank goodness it isn't anything worse. I also found out that one of the new enlisted guys died during the physical training test. Scary.)

As I watch him with our kids it makes me happy. He loves them and is so good with them. He keeps me not just sane, but helps me keep my temper more level.

Every day he is gone I realize just how much I depend upon him to feel safe and happy. The kids can feel his absence and really miss him, too. Today, Emma started jabbering and saying, "Dada. Dada. Dada."

Nathan is the keeper of the fun. He is the one that knows how to have fun and spearheads it. It's always his idea to go mini golfing or bowling, or camping. Nathan is the one to plan our great family vacations and when I see the work he puts into just planning the vacation, I get tired.

Nathan, you are the best and I love you! I'm sorry your Father's Day was spent so far from us. We miss you.

There is so much more I could say, but the words aren't coming. Right now they are still all emotions. But I love you much.



Dad. I can't think of a time when you weren't there for me when I needed you. Not ever. I can't think of a time when you haven't been there for any of us kids or mom. I watch you with us and stand amazed at your ability to love, your patience with us crazy people, and the wonderful job you do in taking care of us. There have been so many times in my life that I can think of--little and big--that show me the love you have for us.

You've always supported us in so many ways: taking on extra jobs like the newspaper route that killed your good sleep habits, the drivers education job that easily could have killed you, all the coaching positions, both in schools and neighborhood teams, the list could go on for a while. None of these things were easy and at the time, I had no idea.

I remember going on the paper route with you and thinking it was the coolest thing ever. I remember feeling so special that you would let me go with you and help. Now I feel special that you got up at 2 AM over and over to wrap papers and deliver them, just so we could go to college and have family vacations.

These are things you are still doing for your family. You flew with me to Ricks and USU. You and mom flew to Utah so I wouldn't have to travel alone with the kids while Nathan and his dad drove the moving van. You are doing it again in just a few days so that once again, I don't have to be alone as I travel with the kids all the way to Texas.

Then there are the other things that I still remember: A Beatles Anthology CD set I found on my bed-for no reason at all. No note, nothing. But I knew it was from you. A cheap ticket to the Dallas airport so I could see Janeen off as she left for her mission. You did everything you could to get me (financially) into USU. You've always supported me when I was too scared to tryout for something, helping me to believe in myself and my abilities.

You are a great example to me, Laurie, and Daniel. We are lucky to be your kids. Thank you for being our dad.

Since Nathan Has Been Gone . . .

I've never seen Raman Noodles disappear so quickly. Seriously, I think the last time I ate them more than twice in one week was when I was in college, and then only the first couple years.

House Pictures: Before and After

Here are a few before and after pictures of the house. Some of the pictures are from before we moved in because we forgot to take pictures of it empty. Now we still have a lot of work to do, even in these rooms that we've worked on. In the dining room for instance, we are going to recover the chairs; in the living room there's stuff everywhere sitting in places other than where they will end up; in Jeremy and Emma's room there's still some work to do there with touching up paint and whatnot.

Jeremy and Emma's room before (complete with previous owner's stuff).



During the process of getting the laminate off the floor.


Laminate off, now on to wood sanding, polishing, and polyurethane.


And the (nearly) end result. We still need to put dressers in and clothes, books, etc. We're leaving the funky light because it isn't nearly as bad as the rest of them.


Dinning room before.


Process of getting wallpaper off.


Painted, carpet removed, wood sanded, stained, and polyurethaned.

Nasty curtains down, ones that match wall colors up.
Living room. You can see where we left the carpet, Nathan and our friend Ryan did that.



Living room before.

Living room front windows and walls after.



Our room which we haven't done much with other than take down those pink drapes and that pink light. Without them the nasty pink haze is gone.

To Show Papa What's Been Going On

At least a little bit anyway. Here are Emma's one year pictures that I picked up the day after Nathan left for San Antonio. The last one of her 1 year pictures had to be Photo Shopped because it's a 10x10 and I couldn't fit the whole thing in the scanner. Obviously, Nathan is better at Photo Shop than I am, sorry about the line down one side.



And here's Emma enjoying some noodles. They are indeed quite yummy in her tummy.
Check out her hair. I'm pretty sure it was bath time after this. Bath time seems to be more and more often now that she's discovered her love of patting her head while eating. I love that phase that all my kids seem to go through at this age.



Over the next couple days I'll focus on pictures of either Megan or Jeremy, post those, then do the same with the other. Just so Nathan can see the fun. We love you and miss you!!

Eventful and Early, But Everyone is Still Alive and Not Burned to a Crisp

This morning started with the two E's. Eventful and the dreaded Early. Around 6ish I heard a strange sound and dragged my bottom out of bed to investigate. I walked into the bathroom because that's where I could hear it best. Still I could tell it wasn't coming from my house anywhere.

So I looked out the window and after a couple seconds I saw huge sparks and flames jutting out from a pole connected to wires which were connected to our house. After a few seconds they went down and then after a few more seconds came up again. I of course freaked out because overreaction is my middle name.

I went downstairs and remembered that we don't have a phone book yet and that I took down the paper the previous home owner had left for us with all emergency numbers and important non-emergency numbers. Great. So I went to the blessed internet and found the correct number and called the fire department's non-emergency line (Nathan, I know you're so grateful that this time I didn't use 911, huh?).

A couple minutes later I saw a cop car out there and an officer was checking it out. He said the fire department had already been out to see it and that a covering for something was broken and every time the rain splashed it, that's when the sparks flew. A crew was scheduled to come repair it in an hour and we weren't expected to lose power. Yay!

So back to bed I went.

Fast forward a couple hours and I'm in bed searching for the red of my alarm clock. Can't find it. The power is out. I check my watch. 9 AM. The kids I babysit are probably at my door wondering where I am. Great. Not too bad though, it was apparently only out for about an hour and came on about 15 minutes after I got up.

T- Minus and Counting

I went to sleep at 2:30 AM. Got up at 3:15. Got the kids in the car at 3:45. Picked up one of Nathan's school friends at 4:00. Dropped Nathan and his friend off at the airport at 4:45. Drove home. Made a little breakfast. Made bread (thank you bread machine) to take to Church for Sacrament. Watched the kids drop off to sleep on the living room floor. Picked each one up and carried them to my bed. Got in the bed. Slept from 7:15 to 8:30 (I think). Got up and went to Church at 9.

I'm tired.

I'm exhausted.

And I miss Nathan already.


For those of you who don't know, Nathan is in Officer Training for the Army for the next 6 weeks. The first three of those weeks I will be home with three kids by myself, pregnant, and babysitting three kids one or two times a week from 9 AM to 3 PM. I've already cried and had a pity party. More pity parties are on the calender if you'd like to join.

Jerie, how in the world have you survived? Your husband has been in his Training for months now. I would have gone nuts if I were you. You are truely the world's Super Woman.

I love you, Nathan. Miss you.

Due Date

I've had a lot of people ask me about the due date. So far it's December 12th. We'll see if the doctor will let us deliver a week early, though. So that would be December 5th, one day after Megan's birthday. My brother's birthday and my birthday are two weeks apart and we still had to do shared parties once in a while. I wasn't fond of it. I hope my kids think it's cool. At least for a while.

Protect Your Earwax

Today Megan and I were walking in a parking lot that had some construction going on and it was a little loud. Megan's poor ears are very sensitive to any loud noise other than her own. As we were walking toward the store at the other end Megan quickly dropped my hand, covered her ears, and yelled, "Cover your earwax!"

I laughed so hard. I don't think that she realized she said something funny at first, but when I couldn't stop laughing, she caught on and said it again.

Funny kid.

Dear Aunt Flo. . .

Dear Aunt Flo,

I thought I'd write you to see how you've been. It's been a while since we last visited and although I can't honestly say I miss having you around, when I first knew you weren't making your usual visit, I realized just how comforting your presence can be. Cramps and all.

I must say at first I was frustrated by your decision not to come, but now I am 100% okay with it. I decided to be more positive with your surprise lack of visitation this time around. I guess I'll see you next year, right? I mean, sometime in January is when I'll be expecting you to make your general return. And if you don't mind, do you think you could avoid any lengthy vacations for a while? I mean, I know one more after this one is in the books, but could you just put it off a bit? And next time, could we schedule it? I mean, just one quick chat about when you can take off and be gone for a while would be great, instead of this SURPRISE! stuff again. Don't get me wrong, I love surprises, but your kind of SURPRISE! just isn't one that is easy on me.

Do you realize Megan might be sharing a birthday because of your decision to split for a while? Yep. Early December is going to be a busy time for us with you being gone and all that. You know, we had plans. Big plans. Your next vacation was going to be so cool! And you went and ruined it. But like I said, I'm fine with you being gone, just a little disappointed that our supreme nerdiness of an induction on 10/10/10 didn't work out. I guess I should explain how this nerdiness is so supreme, since you may not be familiar with binary or good sci-fi literature. In the book Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy a super computer is built to answer the question: What is the purpose to life, the universe, and everything? The computer comes up with the answer 42. In binary 101010 is 42.

Aunt Flo, do you see why this was so cool? But alas, it is going to be someone else's supreme cool nerdiness and not ours. And that's ok. We'll have a party that day or something.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. Have a good vacation and I'll see you next year some time. Cramps and all.