An Excellent way to spend an Afternoon

girls asleep

spaghetti and chocolate milk

Star Wars

making cards

Yep, that's the way to be.
p.s. this was tuesday.

Sandwiches at Le Jardin

Congratulations to Morgan
for completing her bachelor's degree in
Medical Laboratory Sciences
from University of Utah.

We were all invited to a luncheon in her honor.


The cake was exceptionally tasty. Don't tell, but I ate all of my piece and half of Brenda's. Let's say Brenda's half was for the baby.


And who could resist the opportunity for some random candid shots...

We had other pictures in which Megan was not covering my face, but I have to say, my largish belly was quite unflattering-looking in these particular pictures, so I opted to share only the one when Megan was on my lap.

I was not exactly privy to the goings-on in these next two pictures, but I have been sworn to my duty of posting them. So, here for all your viewing pleasure, is every cell phone of every person in our group.


And here is every ring of every person in our group.

And on that odd ending note,

Congratulations again, Morgan!

When it Rains...

use an umbrella

or just play inside

A Playdate for the Masses

When Chris and I were very first married, we were in the University 52nd Ward in Logan. It was a pretty unique experience--everyone in the ward was basically exactly the same, being in the early years of marriage, still attending college, with perhaps only one young child if any. We had two amazing bishops in a row, and we were able to make some life-long friends. (I hope! Don't leave me now!)

We were in the ward from when we got married--the first time we attended was only three days after the wedding--until Jane was five months old. All told, about a year and a half. We have been in three other wards since, but I still have more friends from that one ward than I do from all the others combined. I'll keep working on that in our current ward. ;)

Anyway...to my point. Four of us who were in the 52nd ward together, four years ago, all got together on Monday for a playdate in Logan. Between us all, there were NINE kids four and under. It was an adventure.

Chris randomly opted to skip work that day and come to Logan with us. It was nice to have someone to play with the kids for a while so us moms could just sit and talk. Thanks, Chris!


We determined that that many small children really wasn't the best idea to take to a restaurant, so we bought pizza for lunch instead. Worked well.


So...those are just about all the pictures that I got because, honestly, we were there to talk. Nothing can perk up a week like having a good conversation with other adults! I didn't think about my camera so much while we were there.

We did have some time towards the end, though. Chris had left to go out to lunch with some former coworkers and the girls and I had about fifteen minutes to hang out after everyone left before he came back. Megan has learned a new trick with her tongue. She's constantly flipping it over now.


Don't mind the pizza still on her face.

Jane was highly opposed to me taking pictures. This is her yelling at me to put the camera down.


And this is her running away when I didn't.


Thanks, ladies, for a perfect morning. Congrats to Erin on the new job and house, congrats to Liz on the new job and good luck with the baby!, and good luck to Tannie on the job hunt. It was wonderful talking to all of you!!

Wigged Vampires

I've had a few posts in mind over this last week, but then Blogger had its random cessation of all service with no apparent explanation...and I'm just now getting down to writing all those things in my head. Mostly that means this post will be one of those "cover it all, all at once" things that I hate trying to edit in my blog books. Oh, well. I'm only in June of 2010 in my current editing, so this post won't show up for editing for a long time yet.

With the exception of one single outfit, I bought my first real baby thing for #3.


My mom came across this cradle through her day care trainings and showed it to me. I really liked the idea of it and the reviews were all very good, so I bought one. It's more contained and set at an angle, which (according to the reviews) helps with babies who like to be held while they sleep and also babies with reflux. It's small enough to move around from room to room, and the whole thing collapses so it's easy to transport to other houses for sleepovers or even just naps. It rocks and fits between the wall and my bed. And it's cute. I'm looking forward to using it. And looking forward even more so to the cute little boy that gets to sleep in it.

We don't really need much baby stuff, hence why we haven't really purchased anything this time around. We do not, however, possess many baby clothes that are appropriate for a BOY...which leaves me with a question. Is it kosher to have a baby shower for a third child, considering that HE is a different gender than both our previous children? Or is that just greedy? Thoughts? I do only need clothes, nothing else, but that's an expense that can add up really quickly...

Speaking of babies, my sister Lisa just found out that she is pregnant with twins, most likely identical. Yay!


In our present family situation, we have determined that it is much more fun to go to the park with Dad than just with Mom. He actually plays along. Don't worry, I'll do better come August...


Of course, swings are always good, no matter who you're with.


Especially if you bring along a handful of peanut butter and jelly sandwich.


Our ward held a yard sale today--before the massive thunderstorm and downpour--and Chris took the opportunity to test out a new hairstyle.


Um...I vote no. In case you're wondering.

And last but not least, I'm beginning to wonder if we have a vampire in the house. Megan was trying to climb onto Jane's bed, and Jane was highly opposed. She made her opposition quite clear.


That is the result of Jane's teeth on Megan's neck. Impressive, huh?

Ups and Downs

The downside of mothering...

super nasty poopy diapers

SCREAMING children in Sacrament meeting
--the entire time

being woken up early

children who won't eat anything,
except maybe cookies

The upside of mothering...

a pan of Rice Krispie treats just for me

not preparing any meal the entire day

a picture of "zappers, or something like that" drawn just for me

time to work on the puzzle while watching Lord of the Rings


(trust me, those piles denote serious progress, even if you can't tell!)

and truly hilarious moments, like this one:

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sorry it's a little shaky. I was laughing too hard while holding the camera.

Solutions

We have a lot of blocks. Those blocks are kept in the living room, both so we have some kid entertainment in the living room and so they don't get mixed in with all the other toys in the playroom because, let's be honest, that would be a huge pain to clean up every day.

Well, the blocks sit right next to the end table for the couch. The end table on which was sitting a large glass of apple juice.

Notice the was in that sentence? Want to guess where the juice went?

I don't know about you, but individually cleaning a couple hundred very sticky blocks did not sound like fun. I opted instead for the quick wash method:


I think the girls had fun, and the blocks are all clean. Yay for minimal work on my part.

Megan has been looking a little shaggy lately in the bangs area. I'm not worried about her having bangs like I was with Jane--Jane inherited my cowlick right in the middle of her forehead, meaning that bangs of any kind pretty much end up looking ridiculous, no matter how they are styled in the beginning. Megan doesn't have that problem, so I broke out the scissors yesterday for her first-ever haircut.

It's kind of hard to see because her hair is such a fair color--and because she wouldn't look at me so I could take a decent picture--but she went from this:



to this:


Yay for visible eyes! At least, her hair isn't in the way anymore...

Our excuse

If you've driven past my house lately, you may have noticed the length of our lawn.


No, we weren't going for the "abandoned" look like our house had this time last year. Nor were we just being lazy and avoiding mowing the lawn. Rather, we were avoiding this.


Our good friend Canadian Thistle has returned with a vengeance this year. We attempted several times last year to rid our lawn of this particular noxious weed, and we started early this year trying to prevent its overtaking the grass as much as possible.

It didn't work.


We forestalled on mowing the lawn as long as we possibly could while trying to figure out what to do with the thistle. After many comments, jokes, and even offers from the ward to mow for us, Chris finally broke out the mower and took care of it himself, despite the thistle.

I have to say, it does look much nicer now. Even if it's still infested.


You can even see the pretty flowers that are finally blooming.


And a random funny picture I found on the camera...


I left to use the bathroom and Megan just about lost her mind, apparently. Chris couldn't get her to respond to him at all, so he just took a mid-meltdown picture instead. Ha.

Megan has become much more opinionated of late...she's even learned a few new words: "mine" and "let go!" Yeah, that last one is really fun when screamed at the top of her lungs during a prayer at church.

Speaking of church, Megan did give us a good laugh last Sunday. It would seem that she now associates the word "Amen" with being done. Every time someone said Amen during Sacrament meeting, Megan would get all excited and dive for her shoes, jacket, the diaper bag, or whatever was closest that we needed to take home. Every time. Which means it was pretty much a constant thing because it was fast and testimony meeting.

My Aversion

I have an aversion to eating. I just can't/don't/won't eat anymore.

It's not a food aversion. Sure, there are some pretty standard things that I just won't eat when I'm pregnant, like chicken, but that's not really a problem. I just don't buy it and then it's not in the house to gross me out. I can deal with food aversions.

It's not a matter of cooking, either. In the beginning, I could eat just fine as long as the food was put in front of me. That's why our eating out bill always goes up during the first trimester. As long as someone else prepared it, I'm all set. That gets better, though, and I haven't really had a problem with cooking once I get into the second trimester. So it's not cooking.

It's eating. Putting food in my mouth, chewing, swallowing...I just don't want to. Ever. No matter what it is. I can cook to my heart's content. I just doesn't make it off my plate.

Take today for example. My two favorite meals of all time. Spaghetti for lunch. Hamburger steak and rice for dinner.

The spaghetti is in the fridge, completely untouched.

Dinner is still sitting here, despite the fact that everyone else is done and gone. Chris is out cleaning the garage while the girls play in the backyard. I'm still sitting at the table with a picked-at plate of rice next me. I didn't even attempt the hamburger or toast.

I'm not starving. I do manage to eat...enough to stay alive. I even have days when I actually eat complete meals more than once. Wow. But I do get pretty grumpy before that survival mode kicks in. I'm not very nice when I haven't eaten and the longer it takes me to eat the more not nice I get. Not fun...especially for my poor husband and daughters.

It just gets worse, too, the longer this pregnancy goes. The bigger this kid gets, the more he wants to eat. Go figure. That basically translates to me getting grumpier faster...

I don't have any fall-back foods, either. My previous fall-back foods have all failed me. Cold cereal goes soggy before I can get to it. Ketchup is not my friend. Tortillas have actually managed to go moldy in the fridge.

Hmmm.

2011 Good Dad and Husband Award...aka BYU Women's Conference

Chris wins the award this last week for letting me leave for three days and two nights so I could attend BYU Women's Conference. He took a day off of work and rearranged all his church meetings so they could happen at our house with the girls rather than at the church. He gets even more points for all the fun things he did with them while I was gone, like go to the park, out to lunch, and to the Children's Museum.

He was smart and dressed the girls in bright, matching clothes so they would be easier to keep track of at the museum.


I just have to comment here that my girls are already getting so close to being the same size, even though they are almost two years apart. I weighed them both yesterday and Jane only weighs three pounds more than Megan. Three pounds. That's not very much. No wonder I get tired so often holding Megan.

Anyway, here are some of my favorite pictures Chris took while they were playing.


You may not have guessed, but Dad dressed to match, too!


Now, there are some things that Dad will let you do that Mom wouldn't...if she had known.

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Don't tell Deborah. She'll probably get in trouble. Or get us in trouble. Shhh. Keep it a secret, ok?

Meanwhile, I was in Provo with my mom and sister Deborah.


During the general sessions in the Marriott Center, Mom had to wave at everyone. Just in case she ran into someone she knew later on, she could ask if they saw her waving at them.


It was really nice to be at the conference, with the Spirit so strong and so many uplifting speakers, including Virginia H. Pearce (Pres. Hinckley's daughter), Susan W. Tanner (former YW general president) and Elder David A. Bednar and his wife. I like hearing from the wives...it makes the general authorities seem more like real people.


To close, here are some of the main highlights of what was taught in the classes I attended. Hopefully they'll be enjoyable to you, too.


The theme of the conference was Alma 37:6-7, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Each class followed something related to that theme:

"Keep it small. Keep it simple. Give it time."

Prayer and temple attendance are not dramatic, sensational one-time experiences. They are life-time choices and commitments. Increased temple attendance may not change your difficult situations, but it will change you and your ability to handle challenges. Through prayer, our desires may not be answered how we expect, rather, they may be changed to better match the Lord's plan for us.

Looking back, we will find that we were always in the right place, at the right time, doing the right thing, if we are seeking to follow the Lord's will.

Our Heavenly Father did not send our current situations to punish us. We must do the best we can, then depend on the Lord to make up the difference.

Be realistic and find your enjoyment in sincere efforts, not in perfect results.

No one's life can be both faith-filled and stress-free.

Having children is not a lifestyle choice. It is a gospel choice.

The question of whether or not to work is the wrong question. The question is whether or not your path is aligned with what the Lord desires for you.

Prepare yourself to receive the Lord's message for you.

You develop deep and loving relationships by doing simple things together.

Let your children see you set goals, then see you succeed and celebrate or fail and begin again.

There is no magic wand to remove opposition. The Lord requires the effort and change only opposition can bring.

Studying your scriptures will give you answers to your questions as well as revelation you didn't know you needed. There will be isolated incidents of great revelation, and there will be even greater cumulative blessings from consistent and steady effort.


There are a lot more things I could share, but I should probably stop there. I have 44 pages of notes...that's a little much to blog.

In other minor highlights, we played the license plate game, as per trip tradition. I would like it known that we found 31 states, despite the fact that we only traveled to an adjacent county. I think that's pretty darn good. We also found 17 states just from looking at the name tags of conference attendees. Deborah saw one person she knew, Mom saw one person she knew three times, and I had four people recognize me--my mom's cousin, the RS president from my student stake, and two aides from the school where I taught. Good times.