A card carrying boy

5th birthdays are pretty special around here...and well, Kyler happens to be turning 5 in one hour! So today I packed up the kids and we headed to the library...Why?

Well, because at age 5 you can be an official card carrying member of the public library system. So, Kyler went to get his own card. Our friend Carrie was working, and I was so glad, because I had told Kyler that Carrie would be there to give him his card, so I was seriously hoping she would be working, phew she was!

Carrie let Kyler know that they now had cute new library cards...but Kyler wanted the standard library card that would fit into his wallet (yes, he did bring his wallet to the library)

He signed his name on his new card (my favorite part of the visit), safely tucked it into his wallet, and then promptly headed to the movie section to pick out a Thomas the Train movie.

He is quite proud of his new card, and well...so am I. Joely and Taran told stories of when they were finally five and could get their own cards. You know it may be simple, but I sure do love traditions! I hope that one day they will get their own kids excited for the day that they too turn five and can finally go to get their own library cards!

Found!

Both bikes have now been found! The police found Joely's bike tonight! Yeah Ivins Police department!

Conference

I still need to add Tarans picture, but its on Joels phone....

Anyhow, this year we had the honor of taking Joely and Taran to conference! I took Joely to the Saturday morning session and Joel took Taran to the Sunday afternoon session. It was so fun to be able to spend some time with our kids and let them hopefully get a little more out of conference.

Joely and I left from Draper two hours before the session, just to make sure we would be there on time...and with all the fun adventures we had (dont I always have those?) we barely made it, we were seated on the balcony on the LAST row! And I may have shown up with a few tears running down my face because I wasnt sure we would make it, and had shin splints for a few days from running so much in heals....aahh we love an adventure around here!

The one about bikes and toots

What a crazy few days its been around here!

To start with, poor Kyler has been feeling awful lately. But it's been a rather odd, he would be fine in the mornings, a little tired, but nothing too major. He'd say his tummy hurt and lay around a lot. Then by the afternoon, he would be on the ground curled up crying and then just as quick he would fall asleep. This happened for several nights in a row, and he fell asleep in various places, like the bathroom floor, doctors offices, waiting room, cars, the couch, every floor of our house, bench at church...etc etc.

We decided if t lasted on Monday we would bring him to the doctors, and needless to say Monday he did much better...then Tuesday afternoon it came back. So I rushed him to the Instacare, where he had this x-ray taken...all the black is air. He was filled with air...a compacted gas issue. I was relieved it was anything to do with the appendix. Needless to say as the night wore on, his condition got worse. The doctor informed me the if Kyler woke up crying again or had a fever I needed to immediatly get him to the emergency room to have a tube put into his intestines to release the gas (sounds painful)

Well, last night he did get worse But I was also dealing with 4 other kids who had some form of sore throat, chapped lips (yes Joely woke up with this), parlee waking up crying for me to hold her, or I was stuck nursing. So, with Joel being gone I just kept putting off going in until each crisis was delt with. Finally at 2:30 am when Kyler went to sleep, I told myself the next time he wakes up, we are heading into town...and to my luck he slept through the rest of the night.

Today was spent in much confusion, talking to doctors and trying to get Kyler to feel better. He wouldnt eat or drink. Luckily about 6 pm we had a break through and he is improving!

We spent the day making up 'poopy-tootie' songs to try and make passing gas and having a bowel movement seem like a 'cool' thing to do :-)

What a long couple of days!

Then to top it off Joely and Tarans bikes were stolen last night! The even rode them yesterday afternoon. ***update*** while typing this the police department called and they have located Tarans bike down by Amber Estates!

Parlee

I want to try and write a few things about each of my kids more often, just so that they are written down....So heres to our little spitfire Parlee.

I used to think that Kyler was quite possibly our hardest child....what was I thinking? Its 100% Parlee! However I will say that Kyler and Parlee were surely cut from the same cloth, there is never a dull moment with either of them around.

Parlee just gets into everything, and I mean EVERYTHING! The other day Joel said "maybe we need to buy her a new toy or something and then she will be entertained for at least a few days"....Funny thing is I HAD bought her something just that morning, and by the time Joel was home from work, she was already back to her same old routine!

Parlee draws on more things then ALL of my kids combined. I have bought so many magic erasers, Im actually surprised that we havent sanded our way through a wall yet with all the scrubbing we do removing her artwork!

Parlee LOVES to sing and anything musical, and she especially loves performing such songs in front of a captivated home audience. SO far she shows the most promise of inheriting some of Joels talent (however I think my non-msical genes are far more dominate in most of the kids) Parlee seems to really catch onto the keys that somegs are song in, and even though she doesnt say the words I have identified several songs just from how she sings them. Her favorites are "Do as Im doing, Follow Follow Me", "Popcorn Popping", "Elmo's World", and "Clean-Up".

Parlee seems to have a love/hate relationship with Keegan. She really does love him, and if he makes the tiniest peep, she is always the first to go running saying "Im coming Keegan". She obsessively holds his hands, even when she is taking a nap by him, she will sleep holding his hands, and she love to give (rather force) his pacifier into his mouth....On the flip side, those same hands that are being lovingly held, have also been bit many times. She also cant adjust to me holding him, and has the worlds loudest scream or more accurately a Pteradactyl squeal that pierces the eardrums. She screams sometimes when I hold or nurse him because she wants to be held instead and screams "No, hold me mom". Its both sad and quite frankly rather annoying too. I try to spend time during naps just holding and comforting her, if only us moms had multiple arms and laps!

We love Parlee and all the excitement she brings into our home!

2 months

Its funny how two months can fly by and yet also seem like forever too.

I'm amazed that Keeg's is already two months old and growing so well. He smiles and coo's at us. He brightens our lives each day, he makes all the misery of being pregnant so worth it (though I dont want to experience being pregnant again). It sad to already see him grow out of some of his clothes, and I wonder why time has to move so quickly...I want to just enjoy this new little one for longer. Yet at the same time it seems like Keegan has been a part of our family forever, its hard for me to even think of him not being there, not being the little brother. Time is such a funny thing, but mainly Im just glad he's ours!!!

It's really happening

We are getting an addition on our house! Yeah!

So far, all wires have been ran underground instead of above ground like they were before, the tramp and swing set have been ripped out (with many tears from Kyler) some trees out back have been removed, with tears to begin with...and well after days of trying to remove a nasty big trees stump, the tears have turned to some cussing in our heads :-)

Concrete was supposed to be poured this week, but I think this week will be put on hold as Joels uncle Terry is going to pass away probably today, so Travis (who is helping us build the house and Terry's son) is going to need to spend much needed time with family this week! But hopefully next week we will be back in the swing of things :-)

Keegans Blessing

So, I just started working on baby books, and realized that we never even bought Parlee and baby book! I know what terrible parents we are! Anyhow, Joel is huge about keeping a baby book, he is always asking if Ive written in them lately. I'll say that I havent but that Ive written stuff on my blog. Joel when then say something like a blog isnt the only place you should record stuff...well Im here to say Im so glad I have a blog and Im going to be a lot better about recording stuff here, and not worrying about if I have a picture to add or not, because today I was about to go back over the last 3 years and find dates, stories and facts to update baby books! How great is that! Thank you blog!!!


Anyhow, to keep with updating things and archiving, Keegan was blessed Sunday August 7th, the day after Tarans blessing...wow doing two big events and two seperate luncheons within 2 days with only a 2 week old baby was a lot!!! But it all turned out great, we had a lot of family come to the blessing, Joel gave a really nice blessing and then we all came back to our house for lunch, it was very casual and nice! Keegan actually slept during the entire luncheon!

Keegans blessing was the first blessing that Joel said he was seriously worried about the baby crying during the blessing. Keegan cries alot, he just like to nurse and sleep :-) But needless to say he did well, he didnt cry once during the blessing, but he didnt make it all the way through sacrament, he was crying by the end :-)

Tarans baptism

On Saturday August 6th Taran was baptism a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints...Taran has been looking forward to this day for a LONG time! In fact he was supposed to be baptized on July 10th, but we worried that we could have a small baby right then and decided to move it back one month so that we could do it on the same weekend that the babies blessing would be (of course we figured we would have at least a month old baby by then). For the last few months Taran would say things like "so mom and dad, do you want to talk to me about my baptism?" you could tell he just was so excited that he was always hoping we would have something new to tell him to prepare him....The night before he wanted Joel to practice how to hold his arms, over and over again, of course Parlee and Kyler also wanted to pretend that they were being baptized too.

His baptism was great, it was the same day as Mason Abbots in our ward, so we had our family and his there. After we went to the park to eat, we invited the Abbotts to come with us and also the Maxwells were there. It was nice to have some friends there for Taran!

my little boy

I just cant get enough of this sweet little boy!

But for your entertainment I have a funny story, today I drove through Conrads car wash, and part way through the car wash, my car just stopped on the track, it stopped right when this big blue sheet like thing was over my windshield, so I didnt dare try to put it into drive and try to drive down the track a bit, for fear that the small car in front of me was stopped on the track ahead. needless to say the large white medical van behind me hit into the back of me, and the truck behind him hit into him....a worker came over and I had to roll down my window, which ended up soaking me, because the sprayers where still on, and he had me drive throw the rest of the way with my window down....the funny thing is they didnt even offer to refund my money, offer my a free wash or anything, they never even asked if my car was dented. I guess one of my wheels went off the track. The guy in the van came up to me after and said that his wheel went off to and they had to guide him trough too. odd huh? ...I did go and ask them for at least another free wash, because my car was still looking cruddy because they turned the dryers off

Keegan

We are loving our time with the newest member of our family! How lucky are we to be blessed with another sweet baby in our family, nothing is better then a new baby!

He is loved (WAY TOO MUCH), I feel like he is constantly being mauled. I have to ask the kids to leave him alone sometimes. He is always being kissed. He has even been dropped (by Parlee who picked him up and dropped him on the floor before we even noticed...and he never even cried, that's a fifth baby for you!)

He has a name

He has a name, and its not just cute baby :-)
it's

Keegan Joel Stout

Never a dull moment

Thats my motto at our home!

As if having a baby isn't enough excitment in our home, we like to step things up a bit!

Last night when my mom was visiting, and we were cleaning up from dinner that a neighbor brought....the kids were out side playing while we got dessert ready, and Parlee came inside screaming with blood pouring (not an understatement) down her face.

She must have fallen and hit the bench out front and ended up with a nice little gash in her forehead! Luckily my mom was here, so Joel and I quickly loaded up Parlee and headed to Instacare (Yes, Joel was mad that I didnt just stay home, but honestly I couldnt just sit at home)

We called Instacare and told them we were on our way, so that we wouldnt have to wait around. They got us right in and put a jell on her cut to numb her instead of a shot....at this point Parlee was happy go lucky and I was kind of a wreck. After about 20 minutes they came in to tell us that they were going to burrito wrap her up and have a nurse and Joel hold her down while the Dr. stitched her up. They told us that all the kids freak out and perhaps I should leave. I told them I would leave if I needed too, but Parlee was doing fine at the moment so I would stay in.

The wrapped Parlee up...and she did fine, we talked to her and told her she was such a big girl, she stayed perfectly still.

The Doctor put the first stitch in and Palree said "ow" in the cutest quietest voice ever. We all had to smile...then on the next stitch she said it again..it was so quite and so darned cute, the doctor and nurse where totally smiling and commenting about her. So then I figured I would get out my cell phone and take a picture, when i took the picture Parlee said 'Cheese" and thats wen everyone lost it, we were all laughing at her. It was so unexpected! Im so glad I was there instead of home worrying about her.

Parlee has done great ever since, she hasnt complained once! Her stitches come out next Wednesday, she has 5 of them.

It's a.....

It's a BOY!

He was born last night at 9:30pm
9 lbs 8 oz
No name yet :-)

No baby still

Cake, castor oil and patience :-)

At this point I figure I can have chocolate cake for breakfast right? Honestly who is going to tell someone as pregnant as me to have something else...Im kind of thinking if I ate nothing but cake, no one would say anything either :-)

My midwife appointment today went something like this... Im measuring at 41 and a half weeks. I will be seeing the midwife again in a couple of days to see if anything has progressed. Starting Friday she will as she said 'be more aggressive' about getting this baby here YEAH! because we are starting to get concerned, and so was she...so hopefully for real this time the baby should be coming soon. She did say that everything looked like I wouldnt make it to the Friday appointment, which is not like her to say. However I have thought many times I wouldnt make it to this point :-)

My past week went something like this....I knew the baby would be coming last week...I mean really how could it not? Or so I thought. I dont care about dates or anything like that, its all the signs that make it so frustrating. Like loosing the plug weeks ago, and having 4 kids that are born within 1 1/2 weeks after that....seems pretty good odds to bank on the fact that the baby would be born within a week and a half right? Being dilated to a 5...I mean seriously! The baby dropping, so low that its hard to walk. Contractions galore. My measurement all pointing to the 4th of July, not to mention I NEVER measure big EVER! In fact Ive never measured more then 38 weeks before....I dont know I guess all of that made me pretty convinced this baby would be here. But its not.

I've tried to hurry the baby along, I took Kohosh, and herb that now if I smell I throw up, it did nothing. In fact the other day Joely opened up the bottle in the car the other day, and I had to pull the car over to toss my cookies for about 5 minutes!

I've gone on tons of walk (even though it is hard to walk) I've even googled this 'labor' inducing walk that has you walk with one foot on the curb and one on the road. I tried that the other night (at midnight to avoid hopefully anyone seeing) It was ridiculous and still no baby.

I've get on the ellipticle almost ever day, I jumped on the trampoline (no that wasnt tremors you felt from an earthquake, it was just me)...no baby.

On Saturday, I broke down and tried Castor oil....and a LOT of it! I started with a Tbs...nothing happened. So an hour later I tried some more, and then more. Nothing happened. So we went to bed.....I woke up at 1:30 and it was working! I had way hard contractions and of course the diarreaha. Wow, that stuff is crazy! But after 9 hours of misery, I still had no baby!

So, we have changed our prayers, to pray for patience! As I guess there really isnt anything else we can do. Though I have to admit, I am getting a little nervous, I try not to, but this is really wearing on my mind, and Joels too. We both have dark circles under our eyes from lack of sleep...since Im up most nights with contractions.


Also this week, I went to sacrament to hear the girls camp talks. I was delighted and surprised that when the Bishop saw me, he called me up to bear my testimony too. I think thats the best way to give a talk, there's no time to be nervous, or no stressing about it all week. Its kind of what you see is what you get, I gotta admit, thats a nice way to go!

Well, here's to patience, and of course hoping that this baby comes!

today

No baby, but dialated to a five today!

This and That

What a fun week we have had (at least when Im not crying because Im still pregnant).


We celebrated the 4th yesterday (complete with a insurance claim). We all dressed in something red, white or clue, except Joel who wore green (party pooper). We started the day out with Joels family. For lunch we headed to Pizza Factory with all the crew that was here in town. All the kids were obsessed with the darned quarter candy machines in the little waiting area. Have I mentioned I hate those darned machines. Anyhow Kyler is beyond obsessed with them, he packs a quarter in his pocket where ever we go "just in case" we find a quarter machine. The kids had exausted all the quarters by the time we were seated, except one quarter that I kept in my purse for Kyler to use at the end if he was good in the restraunt. Needless to say at the end, he got his quarter, and started to run out to our car, knowing their were more quarters out there. Well, he beat us to the car and threw open the excursion door and completely dented the car next to us!....Needless to say thats where the insurance claim comes in. Luckily its already all taken care of, and we waited around to talk to the people who owned to car, just so that we could appologize and get everything figured out.
Later we had a BBQ at my grandparents house, then Joel took the older kids to Vernon Werthen park to see the fireworks, I stayed with Parlee to watch them from my grandparents house. Parlee loved, loved, loved the fireworks. She kept yelling "more" after each firework and saying "I love it" over and over again. It really was funny! She viewed ALL the fireworks from the 'seat' my belly makes. Nope she didnt sit on my lap, she perched herself right on my belly for the full half hour (how did that not push the baby out?)

The 3rd was Parlee's 2nd birthday! She had a fun birthday, having grandma and grandpa stout and uncle Aaron over for dinner, cake and icecream. She loved being sang too, and was so cute about blowing out her candles. She blew them out so daintily (is that a real word). Kyler was too cute and wrapped up one of his train toys for her for her birthday, he was so proud of that!

Saturday: We took off to Zions to try and get my mind off things, he went to the temple of Sinawava and played around the river. We also took the kids to a rock and gem store, they got to pick out some rocks, and then we bought three geodes for the kids to crack open after Parlees birthday the next day (The geodes where a huge hit!), (hee hee no pun intended).

Other things we've done this week: went to Judd's for breadsticks and ate them at Greene Gate Village, that sure brings back memories of 6th grade! Checked out the new carousel they are putting in at city center. Watched more movies then we should admit too (its just too hot) Saw 17 miracles at the theaters. Oh and my favorite thing ever (I swear at this point it was cooler then getting a diamond necklace!) Joel bought me a giant bag of the little pebble ice from Iceberg! Yum! I am obsessed with eating ice when I am pregnant, so he went and got me my own huge bag of perfect little ice! I love it! Im not even joking, I cant think of a more perfect present then a bag of ice right now!!!

big belly

Just a few of the pictures that Amber took of me the other night.

Some thoughts from that night:

1. I miss my callouses on my feet, the other day I had a pedicure with two of my friends, all my yucky looking callouses were removed. While taking these pictures I was walking around bare foot most of the time and I realized that I quite miss those callouses!



2.Im a wimp! By the end of taking pictures I was so tired! I actually had to sit down after almost each picture once Joel got there.

3. I have no creative eye for pictures! I was amazed at things Amber would say or do, and thought to myself I'd never have thought of that.




4. I think photo editing is so cool! The picture of my laying down with my eyes closed...well I really like that picture and I think its super cool that my sleeve is FAKE! serious when I went to put my arm above my head my sleeve was showing my garments and of course my ever so cute arm pits, and Amber told me not to worry about it. Sure enough when the pictures came back I miraculously had a sleeve that looked a little longer...I consider that up their with magic :-)

my not so informative appointment

So, here is what I know.....I am measuring at 39 weeks. I am dialated to a 3, I am starting to efface, the cervical ring is softening and last Friday I lost my mucous plug...

However, though i feel like Im on my final week, she kept saying things like "well that could mean your with a few days" followed by something else and she'd respond "I think you may be 2 weeks out"...so I guess that means I could have a baby sooner or later....well I could have told you that :-) I feel like I walked away with nothing. I know that no one can predict when a baby is coming, but to hear, with in 48 hours followed by 2 weeks, seemed a little confusing.

She did say that my pubic bone was not in the right place (I knew that), she suggested this resistance stretch and then she suggested something else that she thinks works....she started explaining that what she would do and the red lights were flashing in my head....IT WAS THE CROTCH KICK!!!!! (Im sure many of you remember that one from Parlee) I told her NO WAY! It was funny she looked at me all surprised? I told her she did that to me two times last time and it hurt so bad, she then proceeded to tell me that no one has ever complained about it before (really?). Needless to say there is NO WAY i will ever have the kick to the pubic bone done to me EVER again!!! Anyhow, I guess the position of my pubic bone makes it difficult for the baby to move down and progress (cruddy).

Oh yeah, also when I went to my appointment, I walked in, and she has a wood floor. I stepped on the floor and totally slipped. I caught myself before completely falling on the ground. However, I did pull a groin muscle! Just what I needed :-)

Names

I think after enough stress we have finally narrowed down...or let me re-state that, we have finally decided on some names that we both like.....which is very difficult. It seems like I will love a name and Joel laughs at it, or he suggests a name and I cant stand it. However, we have picked a boy name and 2 possible girl names we both like. We still dont have any middle names picked out, its hard also choosing family names that sound alright with first names. I really think the naming of a baby is quite difficult.

So do you want to hear the names we have thought of? Well guess what Im not telling :-) I've always had a hard time when people make comments and dont like names you've chose, so we usually figure its best to keep things under wraps until baby is born. I remember letting the cat out of the bag to a few people last time, when we had chosen Parlee for a girl name, the response was never favorable :-) Of course even after she was born there was an abundant amount of "Did you say Carly, or Charlie" or "Like Parley P. Pratt? but hes a boy?" Yup, just like Parley P. Pratt, thats who she was named after! I still love her name!!!

Hopefully, soon we will meet our new little baby! I go in later for an appointment and I'll write down what she says.

Later

my predictions

If I had to make a prediction, I'd bet that this is the final week I'll be looking like this. I used to think the 4th of July sounded to early, but now I just don't think I'll be pregnant by then.

Also isn't this picture cute? I'm so un-photogentic, but somehow my friend Amber can make anyone look good in a picture.

another appointment

yesterday I went into my midwife and Im measuring 38 weeks. Which still puts me on track for the 4th of July.

Girls Campity

For those who wondered....I survived girls camp!...and to the second most asked question, No I did not have a baby at camp and scare a whole generation of girls from ever having their own babies :-)

Girls camp went better then I ever thought. It was a GREAT, AWESOME, PRACTICALLY PERFECT IN EVERY WAY, kind of camp, and I did better then I thought I would have (granted, I was like a bump on the log, but I survived)

Shelyce and I decided to head up to camp on Monday, with all the girls' stuff, the tents and of course our families. Im so glad we did this, we got a chance to take our kids out paddle boating, roast marshmellows and have fun. We also got camp all set up for the girls to come up on Tuesday. Another thing we noticed was that there was a million gnats up there (not exaggerating) so we were a able to call some leaders and send word to pack bug spray!!!

Tuesday everyone else came up as our families headed back home. Tuesday we had the oppertunity to go sailing (which I have always wanted to do, but felt that perhaps I was a little to prego to be trying sailing out, so I watched from the shore of New Castle resevoir). That night we had the Goochs come up and talk to us about 'Enduring to the End' Chantra Gooch grew up in Cambodia and lived on the killing fields for 4 years. Her story made everyone crying (expept some 1st years who were a little to young to really get it). We then stayed up late to do those 'color personality' tests. I was surprised to see how much I had changed from when I was a teenager. As a teen I was always VERY red, with yellow 2nd and pretty much no white or blue. Now I am still red first but surprisingly blue was almost tied with my red. I only had a few yellow and 2 (could have been no) white. I guess Im not as fun or spontanious (yellow), and Im still not a peacemaker (white)....didnt surprise me :-)


Wednesday: Joel and Will showed up to take the girls pn their hike, the leaders (except Natalie) all stayed behind. We latter met them at the end of their hike at the lake with paddle boats. I think everyone had such a blast on the paddle boats! For me a 'memorable' (I say that very loosly) moment was when Joel and Will decided to take the paddle out. Now as a rule, they fit 4 people, the 2 heaviest up front. SO i figured if they were going out, I jump in the back. We got in and the boys started paddling and we were going no where fast! I weighed too much! I laughed so much, I know Im pregnant, but come on! So I had to climb up and sit between the two of them so that we could move. I know the girls got a huge kick out of that....as many moms have already told me that this was one of the first stories they heard.
Later we did our skits, which turned out so funny...all of them!

Thursday: We (not me on this one) made a volleyball court for the Gublers (the property we were staying at) Now granted this was a project I thought up, I went up to the property, took pictures, we planned it out, and yet I NEVER imagined it would have turned out as fabulous as it did. The girls cleared the ground, removed bushes, trees and anything in the way. the court was marked with 2x4's along the perimeter which were dug into the ground then painted white. The whole thing just looked super!

Then the Bishopric came up, we played a fun game called Faith Factor, which was intense and fun, we had dinner and then went on our Faith Walk which had different leaders talking to the girls at different locations. It ended with a blind folded ropes course. We concluded back at the pavilion where the Bishopric could talk to us. During the time that the Bishop started to talk, the winds came up, tents began to collapse (one was totaled beyond repair). Needless to say their was quick decisions being made as it was 9:30 a night and it was concluded to take down camp and get off the mountain. I was told to call Joel and get him up there right now. I called him, he was on a walk with the kids, he quickly got home, changed the kids into their PJs, drove them to his parents house in town, fueled up and drove up to us. In the meantime we completely torn down camp in about an hour, the wind was crazy it rained a few times, and we did this mostly all by lantern and flashlight! We got most the leaders and girls off the mountain with only a few of us remaining to clean up, pack the trailer and wrap things up. This was the only time that I seriously over exerted myself and I paid for it the next day....but their really wasnt anything else that could be done. I knew I was going to hurt, but I also knew that camp had to come down NOW! It was cute Rhonda our Bishops wife came up to me and said you know this probably wont put you into labor, but it will put you into a lot of pain. Prophetic words! However I would have done it the same if I did it again, and by Saturday I felt fine again.

We did miss our testimony meeting with all the chaos, but we rescheduled that for this Wednesday.

All in all. It was a great camp. Im am seriously sad to think that I may not be able to be at camp next year!!! I wonder if I could sneek inside Joelys bags next year, because it will be her first year....dont 'greenies' bring their moms? I'll have to look into that :-)

Todays midwife update....

Joel have been feeling for awhile now that the due date if off, In Joel decided to put an exact date on it, he was thinking we were two weeks off, making the due date July 4th. I couldnt agree more, and not because I wan tthe baby to come sooner (which I do). But because everything just felt wrong, when you get to the end, their are just signs that happen at certain points in your pregnancy, and everything was pointing to the date being wrong....truth be told weve been concerned about the date from the very beginning, but we never had an ultrasound to confirm anything....

So today I had an appointment and Joel said I had to let Liz know of our concern. So I went in and told her. She measured me and sure enough I measured at 36 weeks (I never measure ahead)...thats make the date July 4th!

Also my Iron levels were awesome...and 11.5. But I really have worked hard to keep those levels up!

And last but not least...I lost weight (thanks to throwing up) and weigh less then Joel again. Phew!

New hair x two

Today was a fun day. Joely woke up bright and early to go down to our neighbors house for a fun haircut and color. She got a super cute a-line and had her died blonde. She came home and then later I went to the lady who does my hair and got my hair cut, died blonde, and had a bright orange feather added to my hair. I knew Joely would be jealous, so I purchased two and dropped Joely off later to have a feather added to her hair too. It was so fun to both get our hair done, and seeing how excited Joely has been with her hair all day has made my day! She has brushed and styled it so many different time today, its way cute! I feel like we are a bunch of rebels with our feathers :-) They sure are fun though.

a pictureless update

My camera is still not loading pictures onto my computer! Really frustrating...okay so I havent taken it in to get looked at, I just keep hoping it will magically start working...not working so far, I guess I need to take a different approach :-)

So Im doing a what we have been up to without pictures and maybe cooler posts will come later thing :-)

May 5-9: The first week of May brought a very surprising a last minute trip to Disneyland. It started like this, Monday night the kids were in bed and I told Joel that Kyler loves to tell me stories of when we went to Disneyland, only he really has never been there. Last time we went he stayed at my friends house. Tuesday morning, I was watching Playhouse Disney with Kyler and Parlee, Kyler tells me another story of when he went to Disneyland, I laughed and sent Joel a text telling him. Next thing I know Joel calls me up and says "Well then lets go" just like that. We knew we had to go in May as I am getting way to pregnant, so I looked at my planner and realized the ONLY weekend I could go was that weekend. I called some hotels, found one suite available that could accomadate our large family and booked it. Quickly made a banner (which is cute, darn pictures not loading) to surprise the other kids with when they got home from school, and a day a half later we were in Disneyland! Hows that for fast. We left bright and early Thursday and came home Monday. It was wonderful, fun, and oh so tiring for this big momma! Yes we spent mothers day at the Magic Kingdom!

May 13-14: Fathers and Sons campout. Always a fun time in our house! I love Father and Sons! I however did not feel up to doing anything grand with Joely and Parlee, but then a friend in the ward called us and we went out to eat and watched a movie with them...turned out to be a blast!

May 20-21: 4th and 5th year girls camp hike.

All of May: Various school performances and fun stuff. I have to say I LOVE being back at Red Mountain Elementary!

May 25: Last day of school and Joelys elementary graduation

May 25th-June 2nd: Right afters school go out, I loaded the kids up and we headed to Bryce Canyon for my cousin Chelsea's graduation (only 18 kids in her graduating class!!!). We drove over Cedar Mountain, which was still covered in snow, even though it was dirty snow and the kids were wearing shorts and sandals, we had to stop and run around in it. Spent a few days relaxing in Bryce, and relax we did! Then I packed the kids up again and we headed to SLC, where Joel was working. My uncle gave me directions for a VERY back route to SLC, so we could enjoy some scenery. It was fun. I love that there are so many places in my own state that I have never seen. I was glad I didnt break down though, because by back route road, I mean their was no cell phone service and the only towns we drove through Im sure had populations of less the 100 people. We ended up in SLC and stayed with Joels sister Juli. She lives in an OLD OLD OLD house in Draper. It was fantastic! The yard was like a forest, you'd never have guessed we were in a city. In fact their were so many trees, that they cant get internet and my cell phone wasnt receiving half of the calls! We were supposed to leave Monday or Tuesday morning to come home, but it was just so nice to be away that we stayed longer. In fact Id probably still be there, but I started to feel guilty that I was there and girls camp is so soon, so I came home to help wrap up girls camp preparations.

As for pregnancy: Im fat, Im tired, and I cant wait to be done....I think that sums that up :-) But I do think that feeling a baby kick from inside of you has got to be the coolest feeling ever! Crappy thing is, Ive always had a goal to weigh less then Joel even when Im pregnant, first 4 kids that worked...bummer thing is it didnt work this time! I've passed him up and I still have a month to go! Im not looking forward to getting this baby weight off, I think its going to be a lot harder!

So as usual, we are here and there and everywhere and enjoying the journey too!

house stuff

I cant believe I never documented all the house stuff we did a few months ago (Okay so we still are slowly working on some stuff)

But we did all new carpet and flooring throughout the whole house, which of course, due to water leaks made us have to replace a lot of the sub floor (so glad I dont do that stuff) Of course Parlee and Kyler were wanting to help with everything.

We also repainted the whole house...okay so this is where we are slacking, what is it about loosing momentum and not finishing a project. We joked that all the painting needed to be done before the baby came, which seemed far away, and now Im seriously wondering if we will make our deadline.

Joel also added baseboards throughout our house (we didnt have them before)

I must say, I am still so happy with all the changes! There is always more to be done, but Im happy with what has already been done!

4th and 5th year hike and ramblings

So my pictures still are not loading onto my computer, and Im too lazy to go and get it figured out, so I guess I'll keep postponing Disneyland pictures, and ramble on about other mindless stuff...

This past week has been such an odd week, for some reason my legs are acting so weak, Monday through Wednesday I was stuck on a self imposed bed rest, not because I wanted to be, but rather because I really didnt have much of a choice, my legs just didnt want to hold this fat body :-)

Friday brought on our overnight girls camp hike for the 4th and 5th year girls. We had planned to take the girls to Red Cliffs and go hike up to the waterfalls. We realized that everyone has probably been there a million times, but its not to hard, and its beautiful. Imagine our surprise when none of the girls had been there before.

The hike went wonderfully, I think everyone enjoyed it. We stopped by Krave on the way back to the Bishops house.

That night, we were planning on staying at the Bishops house, playing night games, having breakfast in the morning and then going home.

Night games were a blast, we had more leaders and girls show up to play games. Then we walked down to the park for some outdoor night games. We bought some glow sticks for the girls and then we played kick the can and sardines.

I'm guessing that my leg problem was not totally over, because while playing kick the can, I totally fell down. I mean an all-the-way-to-the-ground-fall. I'll I kept thinking was Im SO glad that its dark out and no one saw! I thought the fall wasnt too bad, it didnt bother me that night,(the pain came on the next day). But now its 3 days later and today is the first day i can walk normal on my leg. I hit my calf hard on the stairs as I fell down them (yes, I didnt just fall, I fell down stairs ;-)) So, I'm glad that I'm not walking like a hurt penguin (just a regular penguin now)

The whole hike night was such a blast, but my body just cant seem to handle anything anymore. I wonder at times if its because each pregnancy makes it a little harder on me, or is it my age? Either way, Im very much looking forward to having this baby on the outside and perhaps having my body back to myself. :-) I guess I dont share to well!

this just in.....

....no not a Disneyland post....I promise they will come (I just got my computer back today, so Im working on it)

....but this is new....

Parlee just went potty AND poopy on the toilet!

She had been going potty off and on for about 2 months now, but today she pooped. Yes as a mom I am proud!

Another Zions trip

While posting my recent trip to Zions, I found some pictures of a trip we made on Thanksgiving weekend...So I thought I'd put those in here too!





We went to Zions with a bunch of Joels family, okay let me restate that with a bunch of our nieces and nephews and actually not so many other adults. :-)

We drove around first and saw 2 different groups of mountain goats!





Then we decided to go hiking up to Weeping Rock. The ground was icy, very icy!

We started the hike noticing a huge group of people at the base of the first incline, then we noticed why there was such a huge group, the trail was covered in icy...thick ice! And everyone was slipping. Everyone still wanted to hike, so they and the kids all took off on the trail and Parlee and I stayed behind and took some pictures.




After a while people not from our group were returning from the same hike and coming over to me and saying little things like "wow, that group of yours sure had a close call"....and that would be it. Of course I was curious as to what in the world everyone was talking about....


...however before I found out the rest of that story, our group started returning. They decided to make their entrance down the large hill a dramatic one. The boys were all 'surfing' down the ice hill! It was so fun to see. Some of the younger kids (like mine) squatted down and slid down the hill. It really looked fun and scary. (scary because while they were gone, I saw 2 grown men do a serious fall on the ice, one guy laid their for almost five minutes, it was quite scary)






....Okay so I got a chance to find out what other people were talking about on their way back from the hike.... I guess when they were hiking they saw a large icicle fall in the trail ahead of them. So they tried to keep the group together and kept a watchful eye....Once they reached the end of the trail, Joely was standing a bit away from everyone, when a huge icicle fail. (the funny thing is, I actually heard the icicle from where I was at the base of the trail). When the icicle came down (and mind you it was about the size of Joely) it actually hit her on the head, luckily not square on. but she had a nasty headache and some sore shoulders for about a week! SCARY!

We ended by heading to the temple of Sinewava, ate some sandwiches and most everyone hiked up the trail..Joel, Parlee, Kyler and I stayed back at the car, we were freezing by then!