CA trip part 5

Sunday was our last day at my parents'. Timothy seemed to be feeling much better. He ate breakfast, and kept it down. I kept him in his PJs until 10:00 am. We had a reshoot at 10:00. I decided I liked another family picture as well.

I also got this one off my family's website from Saturday's shoot.

We all got ready for pictures, took pictures, and then ate lunch (except Scott, who wasn't feeling well now) before going to church at 1:00. Dave had to work until 5:00, but the rest of us went to church. But not everyone was able to stay. Becca and Scott were both sick. Timothy was apparently not completely back to normal because he fell asleep halfway through sacrament meeting. Hali went from person to person during the meeting, and at some point ended up with Tina, John and Elizabeth in front of us (we took up more than one row). Hali looked down at Timothy, pointed and signed "asleep". She's very observant, and communicates pretty well for a 13 month old. We woke him up to go to Primary and luckily he went without a struggle. David was having a hard time though. A teacher brought him to us. We weren't in Sunday school because Mike was being ordained an Elder. I can't believe his getting close to going on a mission. So after the ordination Aaron went to Primary with David. The sick people went home, and Sara, Mike and I watched Hali. David wouldn't go to his class so Aaron brought him to High Priest Group, which my Dad teaches. If the kids ever don't want to go to Primary we give them a choice: either primary or our class. The stipulation is that in our class they don't get to play, eat snacks or draw (which is what they usually do during sacrament meeting), but they have to sit and listen. David still chose to go with Aaron. Aaron said David could actually follow some of the lesson, knew they were talking about Joseph Smith, and even answered a question. It was good to talk to a few people there at church. The ward has changed a lot since I left home.

After church we had dinner, and just enjoyed being with family. I did last minute laundry and took a few pictures.

Sara setting the table for dinner

Timothy and Grandpa

Tina, John and Elizabeth

David and Timothy, with Mike, Tina, John and Elizabeth

We finished off the cake and ice cream from the day before. As the kids went to bed we packed up our stuff, and got ready to head out in the morning. Then we played a few more games with the family and went to bed.

Monday morning we got up early and loaded up the van. We said goodbye to those who were up. Elizabeth had gotten sick overnight, and David was complaining that his stomach hurt. So we brought along a few ziplock bags just in case, and kept the wipes handy. Luckily David didn't ever need them. Unfortunately Timothy did. He's been airsick once before. But never car sick. Well going through the mountains in Northern CA upset his stomach, so this is what he looked like for part of the trip home.

It drained him enough that he took a nap at 10:30 am! But then he was back to normal. So we stopped for lunch at Burger King (we still had free stuff from our last visit). I'm glad Timothy didn't eat any of his burger, because the mountains in OR affected him too. David also took a nap around 1:00. I was continuously dozing off. I felt bad that Aaron was driving for so long with no one to talk to. What made the trip bearable is that we didn't try to limit the number of movies they watched. We put up the DVD player as soon as we got in the van and they watched probably 6 movies. It kept us all sane.

David still didn't want his picture taken, so this was all I got of him

We got home in time to put the kids to bed. David had school the next day, so we tried to have a normal evening. Aaron and I unpacked some, but left most of it for the next day.

CA trip part 4

Friday was another relax at home day. The only plans we had for the day were to make pizza for lunch and go to the new Indiana Jones movie. So Mike and I headed out to the store to get stuff for pizza and buy movie tickets. It was a little cooler that day, but the boys still wanted to play in the water. Timothy spent most of the time huddled under a towel though. Sara volunteered to stay home and watch the kids since she was planning to see Indiana Jones with TJ. The rest of us kids (and spouses) - 11 in all- went to the movie. We enjoyed it. We got home in time to make a quick dinner and put the kids to bed. The went to bed late just about every night. Timothy was falling asleep during dinner once again, so we just put him to bed. Then we stayed up playing card games.

Saturday it was raining a little bit. We headed out to see Eva and Dave's place. They now rent a house, and we hadn't seen it yet. The boys didn't want to leave, but we had family pictures to take so we headed back and fed the boys a snack and then got them dressed. Uncle Mike taught Timothy how to pop his collar. Then Mike put his sunglasses and hat on Timothy and took a picture. Isn't he cool?All the girls wore pink shirts. I wore the same shirt I wore on Tuesday. I think somewhere in between my belly popped out. There's no hiding it anymore. I fed the kids before they got dressed to avoid messy shirts for pictures. But Timothy couldn't resist the strawberries on the table, and proceeded to make a mess of his shirt. I got enough out to look good in the pictures. But it needed to be washed for Sunday. David had been avoiding the camera all week, but somehow we convinced him to sit for the pictures. (Maybe it was the quarter we promised him). Timothy gave us a little more trouble. Dave set up his camera and Kristy pushed the buttons, and tried to get all of the kids' attention.

We took some family pictures too. We'll have to have Dave email them to us. The camera wasn't at the right resolution for the large group, so we had a re-shoot Sunday morning, and we got those pictures uploaded. Here's my favorite.


David's favorite thing to do was watch Uncle Aaron play games on his laptop.


This kept David occupied while we were getting ready for pictures. Luckily he thinks Mr. Fancy Pants is only at Grammy's house!

Hali before we fixed her hair for pictures.

But back to Saturday. After pictures we had a BBQ lunch then our combined birthday party. We celebrated 4 birthdays: mine, David's, Elizabeth's and Tina's. Timothy also got his birthday presents early. They had me go first, and surprise - there were a few things for me - new maternity tops- but they spoiled me with unexpected baby gifts. I now have enough clothes to dress Amy for about a month. I forget how many clothes babies go through. The boys got a few toys as well. Mike had already brought out the science experiments earlier in the week, but they also got new DVDs- Fox and the Hound (1 and 2) and Peter Pan from Eva. They got a couple of racing toys, new swim suits, and bubble toys. After presents we had cake and ice cream.

Later the boys went outside to play with the new bubble toys. It was so cute. I ran inside to get my camera, but gave up when I found out that Timothy had just thrown up outside. Poor kid. I'm glad it was outside. Aaron washed it off, and I took Timothy inside to change his clothes. He threw up again, but this time he knew it was coming, told me so, and we made it to the toilet in time! What a great age. We decided to settle down and watch a movie. Timothy chose Peter Pan. He wasn't really interested though. I left for a minute and Timothy called out for me, and we ran to the bathroom again. He told me he didn't want to watch the movie anymore. He finally decided he wanted to lay down on the bed with me. So we went back to our room, he laid on the mattress on the floor, and by the time I got his blanket on him he was asleep. It was only 6:00, but he was obviously not feeling well. First Mike and then Timothy.

We ate dinner without him. When he woke up we gave him a Pedialyte ice pop. He didn't keep that down either. So even with a late 1 1/2 hour nap he went right to bed at the same time as David. That night was more playing with the babies. We then watched the original Italian Job. Well some watched it, some fell asleep, and some played card games. I was in the sleeping category.

I have one or two more posts about our trip. Then I'll get back to real life.

CA trip part 3

First I have to add to my addendum - I seriously have a hard time remembering things. Aaron reminded me that after David told his joke Timothy had to chime in too and said, "I have a brain." We were all laughing at David's joke, and since this came out of no where we laughed even more. Then Timothy got mad and shouted, "It's not funny. I still have a brain." Where does he come up with this stuff?

So Wednesday was pretty laid back. It was an usually windy day. Tina had to work so she dropped of Elizabeth and Becca and I got to play with her all day. Tina typically works 2 or 3 days a week. Becca then watches both cousins. It is so cute to see how they interact. They steal each other's binkies, and push each other in the doll stroller. Elizabeth is a mama's girl. And has a hard time when she leaves. She warms up to Becca soon after Tina leaves, but she didn't want me to hold her at all at first. Hali is usually pretty independent, but when Becca is holding Elizabeth, suddenly Hali wants to be held too. Becca wasn't feeling well, so I let her rest on the couch while the boys and I played with the girls. David really wanted to help them, but Elizabeth didn't want hugs, and they didn't want him to pick them up. I don't blame them. Hali and Elizabeth love to be together. So when Elizabeth finally let me hold her Hali wanted to be on my lap too. It was a lot of fun.

Me and my nieces chillin' on the couch

Mike had a job interview so he got a hair cut. He took a nap because he wasn't feeling well. He went to the interview (they were looking for a more permanent person, so he didn't take the job), but was feel sick when he got back. That was not fun. Poor Mike.

Aaron spent time reading his book when he wasn't playing with the kids. He inflated some bouncing balls that my mom had bought. The boys had fun bouncing around on the them. We eventually told them they had to go outside with them.





In the video you can hear Timothy telling me that I had to tell the girls to stop playing with the stereo.

Aaron and Aaron (my BIL) and Scott set up the speaker system after Scott got home from school. Mike would have helped, but he was sick. At some point during the day we were playing outside with the kids. Timothy went inside for something and later returned to the backyard. I went inside to get a glass of water and found a huge mess. I knew it was Timothy. He had dumped a box of foam peanuts all over the floor. I called him inside and asked him to help me clean it up. "But I was trying to make a pond." Whatever.

Since Tina was working the next day as well she stayed the night with Elizabeth. She was going to sleep in Mike's room, but since he was sick they stayed on the couch. Eva came over too and we had fun playing games and hanging out with my nieces. They go to bed a lot later than my boys.

The girls entertaining us

Adorable Elizabeth
(I should have fixed the red-eye first - oops)

Thursday was another great day. Aaron and I made plans to go to the Sacramento temple (in Rancho Cordova). We knew my sister Sara and our Kristy were coming down from Idaho. Their ride was going on to the bay area, so they wanted to drop Sara and Kristy off in Sacramento. The timing was perfect. We went to our session and then met them at a gas station after they ate lunch. We stopped for a little shopping and then went back to my parents'. The original idea was to have Mike be in charge of the boys and Becca in charge of the girls. That way Becca wouldn't have to watch all four of them. However Mike was still sick. So my boys watched a movie, played outside and watched another movie. Whatever helps Becca get through the day is fine with me.

That afternoon we chatted a lot with Sara and Kristy and caught up on their lives. We had to clear the kitchen while my mom did some tutoring, so Aaron took David for a bike ride and I played Marbleworks with Timothy.

does anyone else remember having these?

They entertained the boys a lot, but they had to be in our boys so "the babies" didn't put the marbles in their mouths.

After dinner we went to Scott's Spring band concert. Mike (who was feeling better finally), Kristy, Sara, Aaron, David, Timothy and I went. Scott plays the trumpet, and is section leader. He didn't have a solo in that performance though. It was amazing to hear the difference between the beginning and advanced bands. It was also great to see my band (and color guard) teacher (Mrs. H*) up there conducting the youngest of my siblings. Scott is off to high school next year, and it will the first year with no R* kids at TCK in almost 30 years. The second to last number featured the percussion. Timothy didn't like how loud it was and had Grammy cover his ears. While his ears were covered during the last number he fell asleep. I guess it was bed time. Aaron took the boys, Sara and Kristy back and I stayed with Mike, and Mom to wait for Scott, and to say hi to Mrs. H*. We got ice cream on the way home. that's a tradition after a concert in our family. But instead of getting a cone for Scott, we got a few half-gallons at the store and brought them home to share. I think we watched the rest of Batman Begins after the boys were asleep.

part 2 addendum

Mike would get after me if I didn't include the hilarious jokes my kids told on the way home. My sister Eva is famous for the joke, "What's the difference between a cow?"
"One of it's hind legs is the same."

David thought it was funny and then added his own, "And the other one is different". OK so we thought it was funny.

My kids love to tell knock-knock jokes, even though they don't make any sense. So Mike taught David this one:
Knock-knock
Who's there?
Interrupting cow.
Interrupting cow ...
Moo

Get it? They interrupt before you get to say "who". Well David took it an ran with it. He told the joke over and over using interrupting lion, tiger, basically anything that roars.

Speaking of roaring - the Burger King toy that came in the kids' meal was a box that a giant bug pops out of of. The boys kept opening theirs at each other and roaring. Since when do ants roar?

CA trip part 2: SF trip

Tuesday we headed out to the bay area. Mike came with us. I neglected to mention that we rented Enchanted Monday night and we had fun watching it and laughing. We had to return the movie on our way out. We left late enough to miss most of the traffic. There was still traffic in Silicon Valley, and we had our first frustration with AAA's directions. We didn't have a map of SF and thought it would be a good idea. So we had a stop over in Dublin to pick up maps at a AAA travel office (the one near my parents' was in the wrong direction). I find it hilarious (but frustrating at the time) that AAA gave us the wrong directions to their own travel office. There wasn't even an address in the directions. We called the 1-800 number and got an address. That was confusing because the office buildings were in a cluster. We were looking for 4640. We found 4000, and then 4100, and 4160 and 4140. It seemed like there was no order. The addresses seemed to increase as we got closer to the freeway, but that would mean the office was on the oppoiste side of the freeway. We went over there, but it was a different street altogether. We tried to call the travel office - there was no answer. We could leave a message, but how was that going to help us? We called the 1-800 number again, and she tried to get us connected to the office. The first live person said "let me transfer you" and put me on hold, eventually I got a voice mail, and I audibly said "This is ridiculous." Apparently the lady from the 1-800 number was still on the line and said to not hang up and that she would try again. At this point we had wasted 20 minutes, and almost 5 minutes on the phone. We found the stupid office on our own, and I hung up. The directions said to make a U-turn at the first light, we should have gone to the next light and made a left hand turn into the shopping center. That was not fun.

The next frustration came when our exit didn't exist. (My dad said they renamed the exit 10 years ago!!!) We got stuck going the wrong way taking us further from our destination. So we got off the highway and had to navigate a new route to the Exploratorium. They are way too many one way streets in SF!!!! We eventually got there an hour later that we had planned. Luckily there is free parking, however it was really busy. There were a ton of school kids there for field trips. Since it was already 11:00 we decided to eat part of our lunch before we went in, so we could just enjoy a few hours before stopping to eat. Just as we got the kids out of the van and to the back where the food was, Timothy threw up. My first thought was "I'm so glad he wasn't in the van." Then I made sure he was OK and cleaned him up a bit. We had to eat avoiding the vomit on the ground.

Soon enough we headed inside. We were grateful for our Museum membership. It got us in for free. Mike could get in for the student price, but they just let him in - cool deal! They had a lot of fun exploring. Eventually I ran around with David and met up with Aaron Mike and Timothy later. I'm starting to feel more pregnant. My fingers got really swollen and throbbing after a few hours of walking around. We went out side and ate the rest of our lunch while the kids played on the columns and by the pond. I got to rest and my hands were feeling better. Then we went back inside and David and Aaron explored together while I stuck with Mike and Timothy. It was much less crowded by then. Mike enjoyed showing the kids all of the experiments. He wanted to explain how and why everything worked, but it was crowded, noisy, and most of it would go over their heads. Mike got a kick out of the one that gives you a little shock. We had Timothy put his fingers on the metal plates and had about 15 volts going through him. "Doesn't that hurt?" Mike asked. "Yes", Timothy replied. But he didn't wince or move his fingers. Crazy kid! I tried to sit more often so I could keep the swelling down and it worked. Especially since Timothy liked to stay in one place a lot longer than David. David moves from one to the next very quickly. Toward the end David got lost. We each thought the other was watching him. Aaron and Mike went into the gift shop and I was across the aisle with Timothy. When he didn't see me 10 feet away he went looking for us. Aaron found him 5 minutes later. He was a little scared, and crying. Here are some pictures at the Exploratorium.

The other kid jumped in the way of the picture at the last second (Do I look pregnant yet?)

This was their favorite place: The magnetic iron filings.

Outside by the columns. It was a little chilly and windy.

The pond with seagulls, ducks and a heron.

After we finished up at the Exploratorium we headed to see my best friend Noelle. I hadn't seen her since her wedding almost 2 years ago, and she hadn't seen the boys or Aaron for 4 years (in other words she hadn't even met Timothy). She is a first grade teacher, and has an adorable 5 month old named Elizabeth. They call her Izzy. We got a tour of her beautiful little house. With a large yard, especially for the bay area. She had a school fundraiser to attend that evening, so we caught up with her as soon as she got home from work and left just before she had to leave. Her Izzy is beautiful and is about the same size as my niece Elizabeth (who is 12 months old). It's always fun to visit with Noelle. We always pick up right where we left off!

Man she got heavy after a while

Together again!

Timothy playing in her front yard!

Her beautiful house

We stopped in at Burger King for dinner. The kids loved that, since we rarely do fast food. They got crowns, and enjoyed their meal. Aaron and Mike got free stuff with the Indiana Jones promotion they are doing. We thought leaving after 7:00 would help us avoid traffic, but it was still really bad for about 30 minutes. It might have something to do with the windy conditions. Timothy fell asleep on the way home, but was generally cooperative when we got back and the boys went to bed soon after.

Oh, and I finally picked a video to post. So this is from Monday, but I had to include it. This is Hali, moving around like a pro (she's been walking since she was 9 months old) and talking gibberish!

CA trip part 1

The drive down to CA went pretty well. We had thought about leaving Friday evening and staying with friends in OR, but the thought of getting stuck in traffic was enough to keep us home and head out early on Saturday morning. About halfway there the kids were getting cranky. We knew we still had a long drive ahead. Luckily they settled down and eventually took naps at 5:00 pm. Not ideal, but oh well what can you do?

They entertained themselves for a while. They drew pictures, and played "I spy" games. But then we broke out the DVD player. They had one movie before lunch and one after lunch. And another one some time later. The one who had the hardest time with the trip was me. Remember how I was sick a few days before we left? Well I got over the fever chills and aches, but the sore throat got worse. Somewhere on the trip I lost my voice. I noticed, when I was trying to sing along to the radio, and couldn't sing anything high than about a B-flat. So I coughed and sucked on throat lozenges the entire trip. And I got really tired of sitting too. It was nice to get out and walk around, but everywhere we stopped it was 100 degrees outside, and I am NOT exaggerating.

I am just so glad we had the van. It was nice to have so much room. We even had enough room to take the bike and scooter for the boys. I didn't have to have tons of things at my feet. It was very nice.

We got to my parents' house and unloaded the van. I tried to whisper "hi" to everyone. We let the kids run around a bit before we made them go to bed. Two of my sisters (Eva and Tina) hung out at the house waiting for us, but had to leave soon after we go there. The first night was really hot because the A/C was acting weird, and our window was stuck shut. We figured out how to open it in the morning. The second night was much better with the window open, and by the third night the A/C was working right. We were just glad to have a room. Scott gave up his room and spent the 10 nights in a tent in the back yard.

Our first full day was Sunday. It was Stake Conference for my parents, so I got to see a lot of people I knew, although I couldn't talk to them because I had no voice. The kids did well considering they just sat through Stake Conference at home 4 weeks earlier. We got there early and squeezed into a side bench, while my parents sat in the back row of the chapel (much easier for my dad to get in and out). It was a warm day, so we mostly just let the kids run around outside and chilled in the shade. David wanted to pick the oranges that were still high in the tree from the winter crop. I can't imagine they would taste good. The summer crop were already growing. Becca's little girl Hali entertained us all. We had a great dinner (I'm still trying to remember what it was though).

Monday uncle Aaron, my mom and youngest brother Scott had to go to work and school. That left Uncle Mike, Aunt Becca, Hali and Grandpa to hang out with us. We let the boys go crazy with the water guns. It was chilly in the morning, but plenty warm by the afternoon. They loved playing with Hali and having a new movie collection to choose from. Aaron had brought a book to read, and spent most of his free time reading - something he never gets to do for fun. I think I took a nap just about every day. That is mostly because my sore throat kept me up at night. I kept a cup of water by my bed and drank it all night, which subsequently led to a few trips to the bathroom every night.

My parents did a little remodeling recently. They were forced to tear up the carpet after the washing machine flooded the hall and living room carpet. So after they got a new washer and dryer, they refinished the hardwood floors. Homeowners insurance comes in handy sometimes.
Since they were fixing they floors my dad decided to redo the lighting and rearrange the entire living room. The built in bookshelves had to go, so there are still plenty of things in boxes in the garage. They moved the media center from the East side to the South side, and so the speaker system had to be rewired. An experienced electrician came and spent a couple of hours explaining to Aaron, my BIL Aaron, and my brothers Mike and Scott how to do the lighting and rewiring. The lighting never got done, but with my BIL Aaron and Scott crawling under the house and my Aaron in the living room eventually the stereo system was working. I don't think that got done until Wednesday though. Now I'm getting ahead of my self. So here are a few pictures from Monday. More to come in another post.

My adorable niece Hali

Timothy attempting to squirt the big water gun

Gotta love all that hair at 13 months old!

The boys love the water, the sun and the back yard

Cousins hanging out!

After uncle Scott got home from school, the swim trunks came out and my boys attacked with no mercy. Scott, don't you think you should have changed your clothes first?

watch out Scott

don't look away, or he'll get you!

This shot included Becca's beautiful garden

Shooting with your eyes closed? If you click on the picture you can see a stream of water coming at Timothy.


Me and Mike hanging out on the couch. Not a great picture, but oh well.

I was going to add a video, but my computer is doing weird things, and I can get my programs to work. I wanted to preview the videos, to pick which one, but I can't get it to run the video. So I'll have to add them to another post.

We're back

We are back from our vacation. We had a fabulous time. The drive there and back was mostly uneventful. We are trying to put our house back in order, so I have many blog posts coming, when I get a chance.

farewell

We are off to CA tomorrow. Wish us luck with the long drive. But it should be 8 days of fun in the sun. I'll have access to the internet, but who knows if I'll have the time to blog or read blogs. So until next time.....

More fun things and some not so fun

I rarely get sick. I get a few colds a year, but nothing major. My throat has been sore for a couple of days. Last night My head started throbbing, I could feel it was getting a little hot. Then my back started aching and then my neck and arms. I was coming down with something. It started about 7:00 so after I got the the boys to bed (which was fairly easy, David is very helpful when I tell him I'm not feeling well), I vegged out on the couch. I left the dinner dishes in the sink, and waited for Aaron to get home. I fell asleep while he finished up some things on the computer and then we went to bed. I didn't sleep very well with my aches and sore throat, but I woke up at 5:30 am and couldn't go back to sleep. Aaron's alarm went off just after 6:00 and I got up too. Timothy was up soon after that and David too. I actually felt a lot better than I had last night, but still not up to par. I made some scrambled eggs for breakfast, and then sent Aaron off to take his boards. I showered, and let the boys draw - they both love it right now. At some point I fell back asleep on my bed. I woke up again at 8:00 and then had the boys get ready for the day. I was glad I didn't have to worry about a lunch for David.

We dropped off David at school and I crashed again after we got home. Until Timothy woke me up with his whining about wanting to play a computer game. I realized that I should let him play earlier since we were picking David up early. Today was David's well child check-up (the one I had to reschedule). I had a lunch ready for him when I picked him up. We got home with 10 minutes to spare, so we walked down to the office. It was a good visit. David is still in the 85th percentile. 52 lbs! I didn't know he was that big! 46 1/2 inches tall. No major concerns. David told Dr. R* about everything from going to CA next week, to having a baby sister, and spending the summer in ID. I talked with her about visiting the baby in the hospital, and she said whoever was on call the morning after the birth would see the baby. That works for me. By the time we were done with the appointment I was feeling much better almost back to normal.

The weather today was perfect. I didn't need a jacket, the sun was shining. Two days ago we were having hot chocolate for snack to warm up, and today we BBQ'ed some hamburgers and ate dinner outside. Beautiful.

Aaron thought the first 3 sections of the exam were pretty good. Section 4 was tough, and the next 3 were a blur. So who knows how he'll do. And he gets to do more tomorrow! On the way home the brakes started squealing. (I'm so glad we have a van now!) Aaron stopped by the auto supply store and bought new brake pads. He got out the jacks and had them fixed within an hour! What a guy! He said he was glad he helped Edwin do that to his car last year. He said it was much easier the second time around.

Yesterday was my grandmother's birthday. She has always been Grandma B to us. The B stands for Blondie - which was her nickname growing up. She is now 86. She lives in Montana, and I hardly get to see her. I do hope she had a fabulous birthday. I'll always remember her teaching me the tricks of doing a crossword puzzle. She was always working in her fabulous garden. She used to sew all the time, and made me a beautiful quilt for my 18th birthday. It is one of the three quilts we have on our bed. (We probably won't need all three anymore!) Happy birthday Grandma B!!!

reasons to be happy

1. I'm sending happy thoughts and prayers to Valerie and Christian all day today!!!

2. Four more days until I see my family.

3. The baby is moving around enough that Aaron can feel her move. The boys haven't felt her move yet, even though they've tried. Her movement is everyday, but still random.

4. I get to go to a volunteer reception tomorrow. Just for helping out in David's class once a month. So many other parents do so much more. I'm glad I get to be included.

5. I love our new mini-van, and tomorrow the driver's side mirror is going to be replaced (it got broken while they were detailing it, so obviously they are going to fix it for free). They are also putting a stain guard on the cloth seats, also a freebie they threw in!

6. Aaron's vacation started today - he got home at 4:30. Well he has a meeting tonight, and tomorrow. Tomorrow he'll be studying a little bit. STEP 3 is on Thursday and Friday. But then we are heading out of town.

7. We are going to have a "heat wave" this week. It's supposed to get up into the upper 80's and maybe even hit 90! I miss the too hot heat in CA, arrive as it cools off down there, and the rain returns here.

8. Next time I do laundry it won't cost me a thing!

9. The kids are finally asleep.

Happy Mother's Day

I want to wish all the mother's out there a Happy Mother's Day. I am very blessed to have a wonderful mother and a wonderful MIL! I have learned so much from both of them. I am so excited that in less than a week I will get to see my mom! I realized this week, that most of my family has never seen me with a pregnant belly. I was able to announce that I was expecting both David and Timothy in person, however I wasn't showing at all that early. My sister Sara saw me the week before I had David, and my sister Tina was there in Provo during that pregnancy, but other than that, my side of the family hasn't seen me with a big belly, only in pictures. I'm not looking forward to the drive, but it will be much more enjoyable with a larger vehicle. I won't have tons of things packed around my feet! We'll have plenty of room for luggage, and to bring home a few presents ;)
I got to drive it for the first time today. I've been to nervous, and didn't even have time to switch the carseats. I love how it drives! This isn't our van, just a picture from the website, but, that's what it looks like, silver color and all.

Since Aaron is on call today we celebrated Mother's Day yesterday. Well, actually Aaron gave me his presents Friday night. He got me this book, and I've enjoyed the first 1 1/2 chapters so far. He also found this beautiful figurine a a little shop nearby.

Isn't it fabulous?!!!!

We had our primary temple trip yesterday. I left Aaron home so he could study for STEP 3 in peace. The activity went really well, and I think I'm the only mom who forgot to bring the camera! It was fun for the kids to eat lunch on the lawn of the stake center next door. Although there was minimal parking due to a stake activity at the stake center and various weddings at the temple. Sorry! We then went into the temple waiting room to listen to Sister Smith (the temple matron's assistant). She was a little behind schedule so Solomon (one of our 9 year olds) gave his prepared background information on the temple. Then the kids listened to Sister Smith, we took pictures outside, walked around the temple and ended up at the "Primary tree", planted about 5 or 6 years ago by some primary children. We then had a closing prayer and ate ice cream sandwiches and popsicles. I hope the other families enjoyed it as much as we did.

I had to rush out of there to get David to a birthday party. Timothy fell asleep on the way back. David was not happy that there was a little traffic and he was late, even though I had already told them he would be late. When we dropped off David they were just going outside to start the games. He really didn't miss anything. When Timothy and I got home, Aaron had gotten tired of studying and had cleaned the house!

We had a surprise visit from Valerie and Christian. They showed up at our door after attending a Pug festival nearby. They had brought their little pug Maddie, and had fun with the other 1,000 pugs at the event. It was fun to see them for a few minutes before they headed home and we went to pick up David. We finally put the carseats in the van permanently and after we finally convinced David he had to leave the party, we headed to Costco, to try out our new membership. Yes, we've finally joined a warehouse club. It actually saved us money on our car - it's a long story. So we checked it out and bought a few things. We got home pretty late, but Aaron still made a fabulous dinner. His own version of chicken cordon bleu and baked potatoes. Right after dinner it was bed time for the kids. But it was a great mother's day, even a day early.

We will have to celebrate Father's Day early as well, since I realized that Aaron will be in El Salvador on Father's Day.

So I hope all you moms have a fabulous Mother's day, and we are sending special thoughts and prayers for those of you wanting to become mothers! And some really soon we hope!!!

new obsession

Have you guys heard of Pandora radio? You can choose any type of music and create your own radio station. You decide which songs you like, and it picks songs it thinks you will like. Aaron told me about it months ago, but I've been playing around with it this afternoon. It's great. After to listening to a few songs I'll say "yea" or "nay" to them. No commercials and you get to hear the whole songs, no DJ talking through the music. And with the volume at a normal setting I can almost block out the kids' whining. Almost.

We even created a Sunday station with MoTab and Kenneth Cope type songs. It's great.

not too busy

With Aaron back to working a normal schedule we haven't been too busy. Tuesday was laundry day, and David stayed late at school. Aaron came home to sleep and I headed out with Timothy. We went to the store for cheese, and Timothy didn't want to come inside or cooperate at all. Finally I got the cheese and headed for the checkout counter. Then Timothy didn't want to leave the store. What is with that kid? After school got out we stayed and played on the playground for 45 minutes or so. When I gave the 3 minute warning the kids said "OK" and I said goodbye to a friend. In less than 30 second Timothy had disappeared. The kids had been playing near the portables, so I checked there - nope. Eventually I found him in the after-school day care playground on site. I figured the people in charge there would have sent him right out, but either they didn't notice a kid who didn't belong, or didn't seem to care that he was playing there. We went home after that.

After dinner Aaron had the kids make things out of toothpicks and marshmallows. Dad always has fun ideas. He got David to finally look at the camera.


The boys had a hard time going to sleep that night since they had slept in so late. Aaron and I played BANG! with Nathan and Amy and then chatted while Aaron finished up stuff for work.

Wednesday Aaron started his float call. He is on the Heme/Onc unit for one week, filling in for another intern that is taking his one week vacation. Unfortunately that intern was scheduled to be on call yesterday, so Aaron was on call Monday and then again on Wednesday. Thankfully that is a rare occurrence. He'll have to do it one more time in June. Aaron had to change his call schedule in June so he wouldn't miss 2 calls when he went to El Salvador. However the person he switched with had a conflict with the new schedule, so they are switching one more call night. That leaves Aaron with a Q6 and then a Q2, oh well.

Yesterday was a fairly normal day, just some shopping with Timothy and hanging out with the boys after school. I had a hard time convincing David to do his homework, but eventually he picked 3 activities. While David and I were doing homework Timothy was drawing at the table. Apparently he hadn't caught up on sleep, and we found him conked out on the table.
He wouldn't wake up even when we turned on a movie to watch.

The boys did get to see Aaron when we walked over to the hospital to bring him something. Luckily then boys went right to sleep and I had the whole evening to myself. Not that I was very productive.

Today I remembered that I was going to help out in David's class. Luckily I found someone to watch Timothy last minute. In David's class they were making something for Mother's Day. It was a surprise for the Moms and David didn't want me to see so he set up books all around his table, to hide his project. It was cute. I had a hard time convincing Timothy to come with me to pick up David. He really wanted to stay and play with Axle some more. Aaron is now sleeping and the kids aren't being a quiet as they were before. I need to engage them in something quiet. So I'd better go!

Baseball game

We all enjoyed the baseball game last night. But all for different reasons. David thought we were there to buy cotton candy from the cotton candy man. We eventually got some from the stand on the way back from one of our bathroom trips. Timothy kept asking where the mascot was. He was excited every time we spotted him. David wanted to see a homerun. He was lucky, we saw two! Timothy loved to dance to the music. David danced a little as well. I got to chat a little more with Timm and Megan, and watch most of the game. I tried to explain things to the boys, but they weren't that interested.

David is not cooperating with the camera these days. He doesn't want his picture taken. So this is about a good as it gets:

David ruined this shot too!

At least Timothy will smile for the camera!

Timothy "doing the funk"

Even with a late nap yesterday Timothy got very tired. David too was tired. They began asking to go home in the 5th inning. In the 7th inning they were getting really tired. They still danced during the 7th inning stretch. Timm Megan and Harrison even got on the big screen while they danced. I held out until the middle of the 8th and then agreed that it was late and if we wanted to beat traffic we'd have to leave soon. I tried to get a picture before we left, but they wouldn't have it.

By the time we got down to the main concourse it was 2 outs into the top of the 9th and the home team was winning. It's a good thing we left when we did. We got out without any traffic and home within a reasonable amount of time. The boys were very tired and within 15 minutes of getting home they were asleep. They still insisted on the normal bedtime routine (vitamins, jammies, brush teeth, prayers and books) They only got one short book though, and then they were out.

I was exhausted as well, and didn't stay up much longer. The boys slept soundly and didn't stir until 7:45!!! David woke up while I was in the shower at 8:00.