Getting Repaired

Many of you have asked about how our master suite construction project is coming along. (Suite sounds so much more elegant...but truly, our bedroom and bathroom are just normal sized!) Slowly, but surely as all construction projects go. Currently, John is working on the bathroom and almost ready to start tiling. The new tub is in and the shower is almost done. We were excited to discover that the layout of our new bathroom actually gives us more space. (awesome design work my dear) The previous tub took up a ton of room in the bathroom and the shower was pushed so far over, we had very limited walk space between the counter top and the shower. Not only do we have a larger shower now (with two shower heads I might add), but more walking room!


Another thing getting repaired at our house is my kankle. Yes, it looks like a kankle because it has swollen so badly after I fell yesterday in my neighbors yard. See...

I really need to get the brace back on it, but I need to re-ice it first to try and get the swelling down. The fall probably would not have caused any damage if I hadn't been pregnant, but alas, my lovely ligaments are getting ready for the baby to deliver, so my ankle gets to suffer the consequences! Just for you guys, I hobbled up the stairs to take pictures of the bathroom so I could blog a new post.

Pregnancy Life

I am now just a few weeks shy of delivering this baby, although I must say unlike the last couple of times, I think I'm good just leaving her where she's at for now. We just have way too many fun things planned for the month of October to be interrupted! Luckily my pregnancy is going well and I only have a few unpleasant issues.

One of the more interesting side affects of my pregnancy are the vivid dreams. They start from the moment I become pregnant. I am fortunate to remember some of my dreams when I'm not pregnant, but they are usually somewhat blurry and only last in my memory for a few moments before flitting away back into dreamland. Not so with my pregnant dreams. Since I wake up numerous times throughout the night, I am in a dream world of sorts because everything seems so real and I can remember some of the dreams even months afterward.

This has been especially nice since my dad's death. He is in my dreams quite frequently, so it is now the only time I get to hear his voice and talk to him. I find it very peaceful and uplifting to have these few brief moments with him. In my dream last night, we were all together as a family again. I am so thankful for this small blessing and hope that somehow these dreams might be able to continue after the pregnancy ends.

I need to start getting out all the baby clothes and washing them soon so I won't be unprepared like I was with Alicia. When she came 3 weeks early, my sweet mother-in-law washed all of the baby clothes and blankets because they were still boxed up! Poor John had to pack my suitcase while I was in labor...it was hilarious trying to watch him figure out what I needed while I tried to remember how to breathe through the pain. I will make sure and get packed up ahead of time, but then it's a pain having to trip over a suitcase in the bedroom while waiting. On second thought John, I may have you pack for me again :)

My "Ginket"

Natalie has successfully moved over into the purple room with Alicia, and she's finally conquered sleeping in a big bed. Only one problem - the cute pink baby blanket Natalie has attached herself to over the last year or so was supposed to stay back in the pink room for the new baby. This was not acceptable to Natalie, who still loves her "ginket" very much, so I had to go out today and buy a new pink blanket for the baby. I think I better leave it hidden until the baby comes around so Natalie doesn't think it's her blanket too!

Halloween is coming!!

I have a friend who absolutely adores Halloween and the month of October, so she has all of us lined up to make some cute crafts and is even planning a dress-up party for the adults. Her excitement is addicting, and now I'm looking forward to the holiday season.

We made these this morning...so, so easy, especially since her husband gets free wood from work and had them all cut and sanded for us already. We simply painted the blocks orange, stained them, then hammered in the nails and added cute leaves. As one of my friends hammered away at her nail, she said doing craft work should not involve working up a sweat! I had to agree with her. However, the craft turned out so cute in the end, it was worth the hard work.

An Eventful Weekend

On Friday we had some friends over for a BBQ dinner. I am sad that BBQs are coming to an end as the summer winds down. Anyway, John pulled out his Kestrel falcon to show our friends and while Kimberly was passing the bird back to John, he got loose and flew away. John tried to get him to come down, but rather than attempting to attack the tasty live bait in John's trap, the bird decided to fly off and find his own meal. I don't blame him actually, but he did have to weather out the thunderstorm on his own tonight. Bet he was wishing he had his confining bird house at that point.

Saturday we began the massive room shuffle in preparation for the baby's arrival next month. Sadly, Natalie had a fever all day long, so it was a little more difficult transferring things while trying to hold her throughout the day. However, we got everything about half done and will finish up tomorrow.

Speaking of baby...after much discussion and debate, we have finally agreed on a name for our baby girl!! Megan it is with the middle name still to be determined.

Saturday night John and I had plans to go on a date to attend a Voice Male concert, but with Natalie's fever, we had to cancel the babysitter and he stayed home with the kids so I could attend. You can check out the group at http://www.voicemalemusic.com/ (since I don't know how to hook it up as an automatic link in my blog like some of my other tech-savy bloggers). The group started up at Utah State while John and I attended school there and enjoyed many of their performances in Logan, so it was good to see them perform again after so many years.

And lastly, while we were at the park tonight, the girls found a beetle stink bug and set up several obstacle courses for the poor guy to endure. We may have all girls, but they definitely do some boy-type things like playing with bugs!

Yellowstone Adventures

We made it back from our adventure to Yellowstone this weekend. We had a wonderful time and I even learned a few things.

1) Having highly active/energetic kids lends well to this type of vacation. We hiked them all over Yellowstone and they didn't complain! In fact, John and I are currently "the coolest parents ever for taking them to such a neat place!" We'll see how long the sentiment lasts.

2) Don't judge a cabin by it's outside. You may see this...



but really, you get this instead...




3) Never assume a hike is 2-year-old and 31 weeks pregnant-mom friendly. We were told by a park ranger that this hike would be the one of the easier options to view the falls in the canyon, so we decided Natalie and I would do that hike and later John and the older girls could do the other hikes while I camped out in the car during Natalie's nap.

View of the falls from the top

Halfway down, this is what we encountered...

Not all 300 stairs are pictured here

We decided we could do it anyway and resumed the hike, much to the delight of all the people passing us. It was funny hearing all of their comments such as, "Wow, you guys are brave." "Are you sure you want to finish this hike?" and my ultimate favorite, "Good luck with that" by a dude who was watching us start out at the top.

Proof of our insanity -


4) Bison are only interesting on day one of a Yellowstone adventure. After that, it's - "oh, it's just another bison on the side of the road."


5) Strollers are very handy for keeping curious two-year-olds out of dangerous hot spots.


6) Sometimes when our kids do embarrassing things, you just have to laugh because in the end, it really is funny.

One night we had just finished picking up our food in the cafeteria-style dining area near our cabin. As Alicia was taking her tray over to the cashier, she dumped her full glass of root beer onto the floor. John was a little frazzled, but we were able to flag down someone with a mop and quickly got a replacement tray for Alicia. Luckily her food had a cover on it, so none of it was destroyed by fizz.

After our meal was paid for, Kimberly started walking her tray over to the table when she conked her lemonade onto the floor too!! Eating was uneventful as everyone ate their yummy dinners, but of course...Natalie had to join the fun and dumped her drink onto the floor at the end. Poor John was not a happy camper - and all I could do was laugh and tell him how really funny the situation was. Thankfully, we had no more drink tipping experiences during the duration of our trip. Well, Kimberly did lose her water bottle over the edge of a cliff, but no one will notice, right?

Now to reward those of you who finished reading my lengthy novel entry, here are a few more pics:

Mammoth Hot Springs

Lake Yellowstone

Old Faithful

Another cool waterfall. There are a lot of waterfalls in Yellowstone!

More Mammoth Hot Springs

A Little Bit of Heavan - Move over Cinnabon

There is a cute little cafe in Layton called Sill's that has famous scones and sweet rolls. I have been dying to try them out for years. Their parking lot is always full on Saturday and Sunday mornings, so I decided to find out what all the hype is about and stopped there with Natalie on the way home from my OB appointment today.



This is what they brought out for Natalie and I to eat...






We were not disappointed! Now I need to get back over there and try their scones that looked just as heavenly. I'm thinking family breakfast there soon :)