Just got the pictures

So, I should have posted this last week, but I had no pictures and it just wasn't the same without them. My cousin posted them on her blog, so I took them to put on here. They came to visit and it was SO much fun. I can't wait to have them again.

OK, this picture is actually really funny. Why? Well, look to the left of the picture... see 4 choking 9... ya, apparently when he tattles on her, it isn't just to get her in trouble. What a stinker she is. I guess you could say she can hold her own! All the other kids are just pleasantly hanging around waiting for their turn, how nice.

Here is Marc taking my cousins sons on a ride. They were so excited. I loved it.

This is my very favorite picture—4 and my cousin's youngest

Just having a hay day!

Shoes, Sisters, First Egg, Homecoming and Halloween Party

Marc left on a cattle drive early Friday and the kids had school off so it was just me and the four kids until 5 pm when 13 left to his campout, and then it was just me and the three kids. I had taken 17 out earlier that day while my sister Jessie had the other three kids. She had had a bad night and so I thought it would cheer her up to go spend money! (smile) We went out only to purchase shoes for her dress but we found a great store and bought some other things for her. We had a lot of fun and I think she got her mind off it.

We got done and came back to Jessie's and we had pizza! Jessie was so sweet to have us over. Daniel and Tynelle and kids came too. I had to take a bit of a break to run 17 to go sing with the Chamber Singers at the Homecoming Game, but we came back for more fun.

My sister Kirsten and her new and incredible boyfriend came down for the weekend and met up with us at Jessie's. Then they came home with me and my kids to sleep over (Jeremy in the guest bedroom upstairs and Kirsten with 17 downstairs). We had popcorn and watched "Ghost Town." I love that movie. In the morning we had sausage gravy over biscuits for breakfast. But, before breakfast I was able to spend a little time talking with Jeremy before Kirsten was up. He wrote a little note for her and hid it in her shoe for her to find later—so romantic. He is such a good guy, I am so happy for Kirsten.

9 went out in the morning and found our first egg. We didn't think we would get eggs until October so this was exciting. As you can see in the pictures of 9 with the first egg, he was very excited. Throughout the morning he kept making "nests" to put it in. (smile) After 9 got the egg I guess he wanted to go back and check for more but, this time the chickens were out of the coup and he forgot to close the gate so five of the six chickens escaped. Jeremy ran right out to help me catch them and put them back in. It was pretty funny. Too bad Kirsten didn't get to see that! He's a real "catch!" Ha!



17 was asked to her high school's homecoming dance! This is her first one. She got asked by a really cute kid here in our stake. He seemed like a lot of fun when he came to pick her up. I was impressed with his outgoing personality. I could tell that she was going to have a blast... and turns out she did! She said there were 20 people in their group and they were all a lot of fun to be with. I promised everyone that I would post pictures of her. I did her hair. We were shooting for the hairstyle that Taylor Swift sports in her music video for "Love Story." I think we came close. She wore the dress that she actually got to wear to Aaron and Chelsea's wedding. She bought some jewelry and a really cool clutch at this little store called "Grin and Wear It." It really topped off the dress and she looked like a princess—as always!







That same night was my mom's infamous family Halloween Party at her house. Last year it was held at a church and just was not as fun. This year she had a little earlier so it was warmer and it was back to the good old fun! We did wagon rides, blacksmithing, hotdog and marshmallow roast, potluck, costume prizes and candy hunt. It was a lot of fun. My kids had a blast! Marc was on a cattle drive so he was unable to be there. I hate to admit it but, I was actually fine with him being gone because he doesn't like to stay as long as I do and we stayed until the 10:30 pm and the kids we begging to stay longer! Cute! 4 dressed up as cinderella, 13 was a sad clown, 9 didn't want to dress up because he just couldn't find the right costume (later we were at least able to get a picture of him with Aaron's wig on) and me, well, let's just say, I looked HILARIOUS! I didn't know what to dress up like and this is what I came up with. And yes, I got the comments, of "you look like you are about to pop!," "Are you due in a few weeks?" and my favorite one, because I know Rochelle with get a laugh, "Are you having twins?" Anyway, I had fun, really fun!!!!

my sad clown...
The mad scientist creates the perfect woman

Snow White and her Prince

Tynelle and her kids—I did her scary death make-up

my little princess, Cinderella

The crowd gathering

On the hayride

Cinderella and her grandpa

Some of the crowd with the fire in the background

"Hi, I'm uncle Brad."

Little House on the Prairie Fan

Double Trouble Toil and Bubble... something like that!

13 and Uncle Jeff?

13 with my Uncle Jeff's mask!

9 the evil scientist

Aaron the "Master Carver"
will be auctioning off one of his pumpkin carvings
at a local Harvest Festival!

I really missed a lot of the people who weren't there though. I tried to get a few pics of others besides my siblings so you could see a little of what you missed. Hope we can get everyone there next year!

My life is a sitcom!!

What do a clock, spatula, ladle, glucose, liquid handsoap and blood have in common??

My day so far.

I am seriously laughing right now because it is just well... funny. I am not complaining here, I am laughing, it is seriously just hilarious and it could be a sitcom that I would watch and laugh my guts out. Let me 'splain:

4 went to bed at 10pm last night after a bath, popcorn and a movie—all routine, so she should sleep well, right? Wrong? (Apparently.) She woke up at 11pm and I was able to settle her down by 11:30 to sleep again. Then at 12:27am (I have a clock that shines up on the ceiling so in big red letters I could see clearly what time it was.) she woke again but, was ready to wake up. What! No, seriously, she wanted a drink and "People" which is her favorite movie lately—those "little people" movies for kids. Anyway, I some how talked her out of that and was able to settle her down again by about 1am. So me and my awkward pregnant contracting belly waddle ourselves back to my room like a drunk person running into my doorway (no, really I did) and plop into my bed. How do you plop when your are pregnant? You just lean over and let your belly lead the way. Anyways, at 2:28am 4 decided it was time to come sleep in Mom and Dad's bed. She didn't sleep. She laid still but didn't close her eyes. Then at 4:30 am when 17 cam in to wake up Dad so he could get her to Road (yes we are getting closer to the license) by 5:45 am, 4 decided it was high time to be up and running around. Hence, the reason I have been up since 4:30am. Because a four-year-old girl who has been up all night is not about to give up now—it's party time. So began my day.

I got both the younger kids ready for school and then headed out to my Doctor's appointment. Yahoo 30 weeks! So I go in to get weighed and they ask me if I took my glucose test three weeks ago when I was in last. I, at this point, am trying to stay calm and ask, "Hmmm?" Anyway, long story short, apparently someone at the lab decided that since my blood sample wasn't in a lavender tube that they would just throw it away! OK, all you women who have been pregnant before—this is is something you all remember. The horrible 10oz. of orange drink you have to drink within five minutes and then an hour later have your blood drawn—ya, that one. Apparently I get to do that again!!! Baaah! I HATE having my blood drawn!! Anyway, so with that on my mind I talk to my doctor about why I am having Braxton Hicks so often and proceed to explain the stresses at home. And guess what he tells me in a nutshell, "Sell your house and move." Tee heee!!!! We both laughed! And I believe some of you understand why he would suggest that...

So then I go to the grocery store and get a few things for the upcoming weekend. The store I go to usually has these great clearance items and I some things that really brightened my day and helped me forget the whole having-to-get-my-blood-drawn-again thing. And one of the good deals was liquid hand soap for dirt cheap, like 75% off the original price so I was all over that one and got the only two gallons that were there.

Then I even splurged and stopped by Wendy's and picked up crispy chicken deluxe value meal. Mmmmmm, it was delicious and I was savoring every bite as I hurried home to make sure I was there on time to get 4 on the bus. And what do you know, I pulled into the drive just moments before the bus pulled up. Ahhh, perfect timing. As 4 gets off the bus I hand her my soda and notice that she has a different pair of pants on. I think to myself, "Hmm, she must have had an accident. Oh well, no biggy. Ahhh life is good, I remembered a change of clothes for her and I just had a yummy chicken sandwich."

I reach into the trunk of the car to start unloading groceries. I pick up the plastic bad that contains the two gallons of soap and I feel a splash on my really cute heeled sandals that I got at Payless for $1.50. I look down and it is orange and thick, and there is more of it coming from the bag I am holding. I look in the bag and realize that one of the bottles is missing its lid and about half of it is gone. I check in the car to see if that is where it spilled and I see the lid so I try to put the lid on, well, apparently the bad could handle the pressure of the lid and spring a bigger hole and the half gallon of soap proceeded to pour out on the driveway and onto my feet and the side of the car! I quickly set it down and run in to get some towels. I run back out (in my heels and pregnant, mind you) and realize that there is just too much soap to clean up with some towels and I realize that there is still a lot of the soap in the bag and I sure as heck am not going to let my good deal go completely to waste. So I run (if you can call it that at this point) and get a ladle and a spatula. I started to ladle the soap from the bag into the open container and because of my awkwardness and instability at a half kneel I keep missing and the orange soap continues to slither down the sides of the bottle. I start to laugh out loud there in my driveway trying to scrape up the sides so I can salvage what soap I can. I think maybe I may have been able to scrape up about two cups of soap out of the bag—I am feeling pretty good about myself. So then I take the two bottles of soap into the kitchen sink. I am just so disappointed about how much soap there is on the driveway and think I can't re-use that to wash our hands, but then I smartly decide that I can use it to wash the cars! So I took out a tupperware container and scrape up a pint of soap off the driveway with my nifty spatula. I was pretty proud of myself, so maybe only one cup of my liquid handsoap was wasted, mm hm, I am good.

And guess what the happy ending is to this sitcom...

4 feel asleep on the couch while I was cleaning up the mess.

Lifting my Heart

OK, so I had a good talk with my mom yesterday. My spirits are lifted and I think that yesterday began a new step. My mom said I have to write down all the good things I can think of, so I thought I would put them on my blog:

1- I have four fantastic children and one on the way
2- My husband is incredible and handsome
3- I love the gospel
4- I always have prayer
5- My family loves me
6- I canned pickles yesterday
7- I cleaned the top of my dresser yesterday
8- I cleaned out my junk drawer yesterday
9- I got ready this morning before 4's bus came
10- I have almost all my design work done and 4 won't even be home for another hour
11- I have design work to do
12- I am having fun writing these positive things down
13- I found a really awesome song on Pandora and bought it on iTunes today because it was only 99¢
14- Then I found it on Youtube so I could share it with you all
15- I cooked the hamburger meat for tacos yesterday so I wouldn't have to cook it today and dinner would be quick and easy
16- My mom brought over her bottled tomato soup yesterday so I get to do that for dinner one night
17- My brother and sister-in-law gave me their bounce house!!!!!!
18- My family all live close right now, pretty much
19- My brother-in-law said he will be coming here to visit soon
20- We got a new horse
21- We are keeping our two baby goats, and they are so much fun
22- I have good and thoughtful friends
23- My youngest sister is coming to visit this weekend and bringing her awesome boyfriend
24- My mom's Halloween party is this weekend and that is always a blast
25- I only have ten weeks left before I get to see our baby girls face!

here is a picture of me at 30 weeks
26- I LOVE LIFE!!!!

OK, that is enough to put you all through. But, I do hope you got a chuckle out of some of them. It is funny what can make moms happy, isn't it.

















I wanted to post this link for this song sung by Kenneth Cope called "Come To Jesus"

I think I liked it because it reminded me that I am not doing this on my own and that I really do need to rely on Him more than I have been. Anyway, hope it cheers up your day or lifts your heart.

Mr. Twist-R, Braxton Hicks, and helpers

We got a new horse, Mr. TwistR! I know, I can't believe it either. We have a regular farm over here! Two horses, three goats and six chickens!

9 and 13 came with us to look at the horse that we found on KSL. Well, that was our first mistake... you don't go to pick out an animal you might not want and bring your kids along, because, of course, you will end up getting it just because they can't live without it.

He is a cutie though. And I say cutie for many reasons, but, the biggest reason is because he is so small! Ya, Marc was a little disappointed when he saw his size. He is a young two year old and we hope he will grow a bit. We all came up with the name. We thought "Twister" was good because of how his spots twist together, kind of like a twist icecream cone. Then we added "Mister" just because it was fun.

This horse is going to be a team training project for both Marc and 13. They started on him yesterday. One of the reasons we got him is because he had some good training under him already—he'd been ridden a handful of times, had a bridle a few times, and had his feet trimmer. But, the biggest selling point for me was his disposition. He is calm and doesn't mind the kids around, or on him, at all. You'll see in the pictures that we put 9 and 4 on him already! Pretty amazing for a two-year-old gelding. I think more than anything though, it is going to be a great experience for 13 to train a horse with his dad. I am very excited to see how it all turns out.




So on Saturday night I went into the hospital because I had been feeling really sick all day and feeling some pressure and pain. Because of my record of coming early the doctor suggested I go in if I ever felt like maybe I may be going into labor. Well, being that I had 10 1/2 weeks left to go, I didn't want to risk going into labor too early, so with the encouragement of my sister and mom, I went into the hospital to be checked. Well, we got there at 11pm and we were discharged 3am. It was a long night. They didn't really say anything. I was having contractions and it was very obvious on their monitors, so I guess they are just those stupid Braxton Hicks things. Man, they are sure wearing. They did all kinds of tests and I am not progressing in labor or anything so all is well. I guess it is better safe than sorry, so I guess it was good I went in, but I sure was tired. Anyway, I have the Braxton Hicks everyday all day, and it is a little something to get used to. So, sorry to anyone that I may be ornery to, I am just not my chipper self I guess. Man, this pregnancy is throwing me for a new one. Anyway, it was nice because we had some friends come over on Sunday and bring us dinner and stay with us to eat, then we had a fire afterwards and roasted marshmallows. It was nice and it cheered me up.

My mom and sister came and cleaned my house yesterday while I slept. Oh how nice to have helpers. My mom even took me to lunch! My family takes really good care of me. I love them so much. I am glad that they sacrifice so much time for me and my family! LOVE them! Thank you guys! And I even had some friends call me up and they want to go to lunch next Monday! Wahoo, a girl's lunch out. I am excited!

Of course, as I am typing this and seeing all the help I am receiving makes me realize that I must be moping around so everyone feels sorry for me. Oh, darn it. I am sorry. I will try to be better everyone, I promise.

But, until then, I'll enjoy the help! (smile)

Just deal with it!

OK, so I should just deal with it! But, today I just have to complain.

I can't do all this!!!!! Aaaaahhhh!!!!!!

9 and 4 are throwing me for a loop. Do they have to both get harder at the same time? I mean I have been told that you will see changes in FXS kids between ages 9 and 14, and that girls mature faster than boys but, come on.

Here are my simple requests:
1 - I would like to sleep at least a straight 5 - 6 hours at night with no interruptions from 4 (I mean for Pete's sake, I will have a baby in 2 1/2 months and I would like to at least have a month before I am up with two kids at night....)
2- I would like to sleep soundly (at least as soundly as a pregnant woman with restless legs and a baby kicking and rolling around inside can) without waiting and listening intently for the next set of ear piercing screams that come from 4's room and last for 10 - 40 minutes at each interval
3- Can someone please help me figure out why 4 is doing this? There really is no calming her--that is the hard part. Possible night terrors, or small seizures or hyperarousal and off-kilter routines the day before. (9 used to do this too, all the way up till 4 was about two years old--I enjoyed the small break)
4- I would love to have 9 do his homework without him covering my mouth telling me to be quiet, sticking his tongue out at me, folding his arms and continually telling me "no," falling apart every couple of minutes while doing the homework and then scribbling as dark as possible all over the answer he just wrote because I have to explain to him that it isn't the right answer.
5- And it is possible for 9 not to have an all out panic attack just because he has to read?

That is it, 5 requests--well, major requests. I can think of many more but, I don't want to seem too needy. (smile)

And seriously if this fly doesn't stop buzzing on my face and around my head while I am trying to type this, I think I will freak out right here and now!!! Baaaaaaahhhh!!! I hate flies! I mean, honestly, I am home all by myself--a million places for it to be but it has to buzz continuously around my face! Baaahhh! I am trying to swat it, but hey, apparently it knows what a large envelope can be used for...

GOT IT!

I feel so much better...

oh, and here I am at 29 weeks... Weeee!

Some girls want to be fairies...

mine wants to be a farrier!

I just get a kick out of this. 4 found a horse shoe that actually goes on our curtains. She loves it, and even slept with it last night and was crying this morning when she couldn't find it. She found my little tool set and I just had record her. Listen to what she says, it is quite funny.

Guess you had to be there!

So umm, where do I begin. I don't know... my family is just hyper, and so is Marc sometimes. So when he gets creative it gets funny. My mom had this doll car with the dolls sitting in it and Marc saw this as a funny thing and started re-enacting our first date. It was hilarious—it just spun off from there as we began using the dolls to re-enact various things—man, it was funny. Even Joel joined in with one of his famous roles. Joel got some good pics of the fun. As you can tell, I thought it was hilarious. So try to laugh, even though, to really enjoy this post you just had to be there!

Look at us all gathered around to watch the show. Maybe I can get Marc to perform for some of you at one of the talent shows...

See, it was funny!
(Whoa, I think I have a horse mouth, or maybe just really big teeth... hmmm...)

I mean, doesn't that just look like Marc and me? (smile)