Tidbits

I don't take many pictures (or I never get around to uploading them) of things that don't involve my kids.  I also don't blog too much about things they aren't involved in.  So I'm thinking once a month or so I'll just post a little of the random stuff that's more about Josh and I.

First off, we celebrated our anniversary!  Josh took me to the Melting Pot and we had a good time.  We had Ethan with us but he was decent.  Awake, but mostly content.  I liked it a lot but Josh wouldn't give it 5 stars.  Only Ruth's Chris gets 5 stars.  It was nice to be able to get out alone-ish so soon after having a baby.  Next year is 5 years....what will we do?

Josh had his Birthday.  We used our bounce back passes at Lagoon, split up the kids, and went out ALONE!  First time kid free since Ethan was born.  It was fun.  It was so hot when we first got there, but luckily within an hour huge black clouds came rolling in.  After ten minutes of rain it cleared up a little and was twenty degrees cooler.  We went out to dinner with Josh's mom and grandparents on his actual birthday.  

Our TV broke.  On the 4th it turned off suddenly and we thought Josh hit the power button accidentally.  Well it wouldn't turn back on.  We thought it was the remote because out kids have practically ate it multiple times.  Turns out there really aren't buttons on our TV.  There is a weird way to turn it on, but I don't think it's ever worked.  We had a repair guy come out and the board is fried.  So after two years we've had to say goodbye.  It isn't worth it to replace the board when it's not too much more to buy a new one.

I started running again!  Does this need any explanation?  I've ran a few miles and hope to get my endurance up quickly.  I do need to go to the chiropractor though.  There is something out in my lower back that I can't pop or stretch back into place.  

There are a few other things that have happened, like Ethan's baby blessing and Elli make dirt angels, but those deserve their own posts.

Put me in Summer and I'll be a...happy snowman!

Okay, yes I'm totally quoting Frozen.  I'm still making sure Michael only watches it once every other day.  Since he saw it twice on Sunday he has to take a break from it until Thursday.  He normally watches it every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday.  You can imagine how frustrated he was this morning, luckily his days are a little confused since yesterday was a holiday, but tomorrow might be a nightmare.

So I've taken some ridiculously adorable pictures of my kids lately, but I haven't uploaded them.  I could right now, and leave you with some fun, cute posts, but the thought of getting up right now and moving away from my fan is killing me.

Like most of my neighbors, my AC is not currently working, and won't be until Friday.  You can imagine how joyful I am about this when it's over 90 degrees outside.  Seriously, I'm about ready to punch our contractor.  Mostly because there was enough coolant in the AC for it to work until Saturday.  Of course no one responds to anything that happens on a Saturday, or on a holiday weekend.  So now we have to wait until Friday.

Seriously though, put a 9 month pregnant me in summer and I'll be a puddle.  I never want to be pregnant in the summer again.  Josh once said we can't have all of our kids birthdays in the winter, imagine how expensive that would be with Christmas.  I just don't care anymore, I never want to be more than 5 months pregnant in May ever again.

I'll stop my rant now.

To cool off yesterday we took the kids to 7 peaks.  Michael loved the water slides just as much as he did last year.  Elli probably would have done better but the water in the kiddie area was freezing.  We ended up sitting in the wave pool for a good hour.  No complaints here!  Michael was asking to go to the pool today, so being the clever mom I am I filled up the tub with cold water and let them go to town.  I read out loud to them as they splashed each other and got all wrinkly.  It was so relaxing for all of us I think we'll do it again tomorrow.  Then probably the next day and the next.  At least until Friday when the AC works again!

Random Tidbits

So there are a lot of things going on in our lives that just don't seem like enough to write a whole post about.  Actually, I'm just being lazy.

Josh graduated last Friday!  Instead of walking we decided to go to Tucano's, and he loved it!  Then we went and saw the new Captain America.  People keep asking if he's sad he didn't walk, and I don't think he is.  Honestly, he just wanted to be done and not think about it.  On top of that he's been so busy lately with his senior project that he didn't have much time to think about ordering anything.  We're so glad he's done!

Instead of homework we spend our nights doing yard work.  We have a lot to do.  We're really annoyed at our builder right now because they did a horrible final grade on our yard and then they took down our stake, so we have no idea where our property line is.  We have to fill out warranty stuff to get them to come put a stake up....when they are building 4 houses down the street and are here every day.

We attempted potty training Michael again, but it didn't work.  He would hold it on the potty and then as soon as we put his underwear back on he would pee.  We bribed him with everything imaginable.  Including Grandpas truck, a trip to Lowe's, a candy cane, and his Easter candy.  All at once, and nothing worked.  After a few major meltdowns we decided maybe it isn't quite time.  He also seems to be scared of the potty, or at least he is now.

Elli is finally done teething for now, meaning she has been the happiest little thing ever!  We've missed her happy little self.  She has a doctors appointment this week, so we'll see if she's growing.  I weighed her on our scale a couple of weeks ago and she finally hit 20lbs, but now she's running everywhere and burning everything off.  We finally put her in 12-18 month clothes.  She's finally growing!  She's started saying more and more little words, like milk and Michael.

I'm 33 weeks pregnant!  All I can think is 4 more weeks and then I can go running and get this baby out.  I've had a lot of contractions lately.  Sunday night I had them consistently for a few hours.  I'm so excited to have another baby!  Or maybe I'm excited to not be pregnant anymore.  Either way, I'm happy we're getting there!  I have an appointment with my midwife on Friday, the last one at her clinic.  After that it's one home appointment and then I just wait for the baby.  Can you tell I'm getting excited?

The House

Since we close in a little over a week I thought I'd write a little bit about the house.  Or just show you a basic picture.

They have painted the stucco but I refuse to post a picture of it right now.  I'm told it's still wet and will dry the right color...right now it's green and brown instead of dark and light grey.  It honestly doesn't look that bad until you see the bright red front door.  Plus that little part up top is supposed to be bright red too.  Either it will dry the right colors or I will make them repaint the door so it doesn't look like Christmas puked on our house.

Here is our very, very dusty kitchen.  The only reason it isn't dusty anymore is because someone must have written something obscene in the dust and the main contractor rubbed it off and left a note not to write in the dust again.  The appliances are all in now so it does look a little more homey.  

So far everything with the building process has been okay.  There have been a few annoyances here and there, but none too bad.  Actually getting a mortgage has been a nightmare.  We've had to write up letter after letter and fax in countless things.  Like we had to write up a letter to explain why one of Josh's deposits and his pay stub were $18 off.  Apparently taking cash out of your account is subject to question.  Oh, and paying, yup paying, for a certificate that says we know how to make a budget and not spend money on unnecessary things.  Did I mention we had to pay for that certificate??

Never-ending sickness

You might be wondering why I post so sporadically.  Well, I'll enlighten you a little.  Let's go back a few weeks.  Oh, and don't read this if you can't handle puke or poop.

I reached the end of my first trimester, where I should be done with the morning sickness.  Well, I wasn't.  In fact it got worse, sooo much worse.  To the point where I couldn't keep anything down all day and had lost 5 lbs.  I know, I know, don't complain about losing weight.  See I would have no problem with losing weight in the first trimester, when you shouldn't gain any at all.  I do have a problem with losing weight when you should be gaining a pound every week or two.   

With some different vitamins we thought that got all cleared up, but it's not anymore. 

Then we get to Josh and the kids.  Just when I was starting to feel better Josh thought he had a little stomach bug, which turned into a monster of a stomach flu.  He was miserable all night, and I was very miserable the next morning when Michael puked all over the carpet.  We are going on day 5 of this stomach bug.  This bug isn't an ordinary bug.  See my kids on Sunday?  They were as happy as could be!  No stomach problems all night or that morning, or even through church.

Then we got home.  Yesterday I did three loads of pooped on or puked on clothes, sheets, mattress covers, pillow cases, and even pillows.  There was the baking soda I had to dump all over the carpet and vacuum up.  Plus the three baths. 

Today I've already washed one set of sheets and a bunch of blankets.  Then there are the six diapers and one bath.  Oh yeah, don't let me forget the poop on the carpet...that currently has a second pile of baking soda on it.  

The smells - even with baking soda, lots of laundry detergent, taking diapers out constantly, and a fancy glade candle that's almost gone after three days - are getting to me.  

So this is why I haven't been blogging.  I've either been horribly sick, or the kids have been keeping me constantly busy.

The Last Month...

Here's what we've been up to.

Going to the zoo.

Seeing Grandpa on Fathers Day.

Getting into the pantry and finding crackers while I'm feeding Elli.

 Going boating.

 And tubing.

 Running around the house and stealing keys.

 Sleeping in weird positions and with toys.

 Learning how to do chores...

 And applying it to the rest of the house.

We've also gone swimming in our pool a couple of times.  

Gone to 7 peaks a few times.

We both went wakeboarding, and I'm still awesome.

I've worked a lot, like last night was my fifth night in a row.

I've been doing Josh's genealogy since mine is pretty much complete.

We've seen my grandparents a lot.

Michael lost a shoe, but he's outgrown them anyways.

We've been made primary teachers.

We had our 3 year anniversary.

Josh had his 25th Birthday.

Elli's about two months away from crawling, she already pushes herself backwards and in circles.

I got a cold, then Elli did, I think Michael had it but he slept it off.

Michael slept from 5pm to 8am the next morning.

We are staying busy.  

I hope to blog a little bit more than I have been.  Life really has been crazy the last few weeks.  Since Josh hasn't had homework we take advantage of every opportunity we have to do fun stuff with the kids.  I'm no longer in training so I'm working a lot more.  I get the feeling that in the fall this blog will be a lot more interesting.  For now, thanks for reading!

Little Miracles

It's no secret things have been a little tight for us financially.  We didn't expect my maternity deductible to not cover Elli.  We didn't expect to get a bill from Michael's birth that the insurance we had back then should have paid for.  We didn't expect to take Elli to a Cardiologist.  We didn't expect our cars to keep breaking down.  Yes, life is full of the unexpected, but at some point you just look up to the sky and ask for a break.

To be completely honest it's made me really angry.  Elli was supposed to come to our family when she did, Josh and I both know that.  So then we were left wondering why everything seemed to keep hitting us when we were down.  It felt like a slap in the face to really feel like we were told to have a baby and then be thrown all of these bills.  These bills weren't the difference between us not going on our yearly vacation, these bills meant I had to get a job at night.

On top of that Josh saw firsthand that his former job has no future.  He had another year as a co-op, but there were four others who graduated this year who didn't have jobs with the company and only one had found another job.  One of them was going to Boise to live with his family and mow lawns to support his wife and baby.  He was offered a Co-op job somewhere else that is a pay-cut, but has a future.  He had to take the pay-cut and get out while he still had a chance.

Once it all adds up it has been a little too much to bare.  When we were at our breaking point a few little miracles happened just to help us out.

First, our neighbor gave us her double jogging stroller because they are moving and don't want to pack it with them.  I've wanted a double jogger so I can take both kids on walks or go to the park.  I had an opportunity to get another one for free but I would have had to replace the wheels.  This one is in great shape and has been wonderful so far.

Then my grandparents bought us some diapers that were the perfect size.  How my grandma knew exactly what size my kids needed is still a mystery to me.

Recently my aunt moved to Colorado.  Her moving truck was a little small so she couldn't fit everything.  When it came down to it she couldn't fit her small couch.  Josh and I gave our couch to some friends when we left Logan, but we had nowhere to store it until we moved into this apartment (and it wouldn't have fit in here anyways).  We've been using Elli's rocker and a desk chair for the last two months.  She graciously offered it to us and we took it right away.

Lastly, the neighbors who are moving gave us a huge bag of baby girl clothes.  They are in their mid-thirties and are not having any more kids, so they passed on a bunch of good stuff (and tons of baby shoes!).

Things are still tight, and they will be for quite a while, but it's nice to know we got a little help.  Sometimes a small win here and there can help when you feel on the losing side of a battle.

Photo Update

Mostly of Michael again, but I can't help it!  Besides....why would I take a picture of myself?

See those cheeks??  They are just like his dads

Josh was trying to do homework and Michael decided to steal his ruler

FAVORITE PICTURE EVER!

He loves the piano

Cute baby hand and huge swollen prego hand

Neglected Blog...

I feel like I've neglected the blog lately.  Maybe because the holidays were crazy.  Maybe because Josh is in school again.  More likely because I'm so big we don't do much of anything anymore.  I'm posting this pictureless post to say yes, we are alive and well.  No, there is not a new baby yet.  We are just busy right now, especially since it takes me 4x longer to do anything due to the fact that I can't bend over, can't pick up heavy things, and am exhausted!  The next post will have a few things we've been doing lately....or maybe a new baby post.  It really depends on when this little girl decides to make her entrance (which should be any day now since I've had contractions for the last month :P).  Until then, thanks for reading, and sorry about falling off the grid!

Photo Update

My parents have this basketball hoop to Michael for his birthday.  We didn't think he would use it for a while, but we were wrong!  His new favorite thing to do is to put the ball through the hoop repeatedly.

What we've been up to...

I feel like we've been up to a lot of random things lately that I want to blog about.  So here are what we've been doing (I'll save stuff about Michael for his birthday post tomorrow):

• Michael and I have made quite a few trips out.  We went to the zoo one day when Josh had a break between classes.  We went to the aquarium (which really is more fun for me).  We've walked around Trolley Square and City Creek.  We went to Gardner Village and bought some cute head bands for Elli (you can get the stretchy head bands for $1 at a little kids boutique there, they are usually $4 everywhere else). Josh has been able to meet us uptown quite a bit so we've enjoyed a lot of family time!
• Attempting to get ready for winter.  It took the first snow like two weeks ago for us to realize Josh needed to do that stuff.  Since then Josh has had an eternal struggle to keep the lawn mower 'winterized'.  It isn't ours and we don't know how his grandparents have winterized it in the past.  After watching 5 hilarious attempts of Josh driving the lawn mower up planks to get it into the too small shed it ended up outside under a tree.  We ended up covering it with a tarp, but that refuses to stay on it.  Every few days Josh is out there putting more and more rocks on the tarp to get it to stay put.  
• Seeing a ton of deer.  If we bought a tag we wouldn't have to go anywhere, just sit outside and wait for the deer to come eat our plants.  We see one on average once a day, they are usually in our driveway at night.
• I've been getting bigger and bigger.  If you haven't noticed I have posted very few pictures of myself lately.  I believe that the camera adds 10lbs, but when you're pregnant it adds 30lbs.  In reality I don't think I'm bloated like pictures make me look...so I refuse to post them.  People keep asking when I'm due.  I think they expect me to say in a week, but I still have one trimester left :(.  When you're as short as me the baby just doesn't have anywhere to hide.
• We've both gotten new callings...sorta.  I'm an activity days leader and have my first activity on Friday, but still have no idea what's going on.  Josh is soon to be in the scouts.  He was told to do all the certification stuff for it.  We still feel out of place in this ward.  I know it takes a while to fit in, but this is a deep rooted ward.  People have been in it for the last 40+ years.  They know each others grandkids.  So it will take a while to find a place.
• My sister had her 30th birthday party and we had a murder mystery party :).  It was pretty awesome and worked out great!  Josh was basically an Italian mobster and I was his pregnant fiancé, who was really impregnated by his twin bother who was killed.  Then we had an amazing cheesecake! 

 Life has been moving at a rapid pace.  We feel like we are just running and running.  It's hard to imagine that a year ago today Josh and I were out eating spicy food, going on a walk, and trying to get our baby boy would be here.  

A few things about us

So I really don't talk about Josh and I that much on here...I prefer to make this about the cute little guy.  I figure an update every 3-ish months is sufficient.  So here goes!

• Josh and I went up to Flaming Gorge with my family a couple of weeks ago.  That's where we took the adorable Magic Mike pictures.  I've gone almost every year for my whole life for 1-2 weeks a summer.  Josh loves it up there as much as I do and we plan to continue the tradition.  At one point my whole family was up there.  Josh's dad even joined us for a few days.  We spend the days on the boat wakeboarding and wakesurfing, swimming and cliff jumping when it's too hot, watching Josh and my brothers almost kill each other having tube wars, and chasing little kids around.  At nights we eat some of the best dutch oven meals ever!  

Josh is pretty good at wakesurfing

• We are moving...we just don't have an exact day.  Josh's grandparents are leaving for the MTC on the 13th, but they will be coming home at night for 1-3 weeks.  We want to get settled before school starts, but we haven't decided whether to move right before they go to the MTC or after they leave.  Anyways we don't have too much moving to do besides Michael's things.  Plus I've become an expert at moving quickly at this point.
• Speaking of school...I believe we start on the 20th.  This will be a busy semester for both of us, but we need to get some stuff done before this new baby comes.  Thankfully Josh's work is very flexible and I have some amazing family members that are willing to watch Michael!
• And speaking of the baby...I went to the doctor last week (finally!).  The baby is healthy and still due Feb 1st.  My doctor thought there might be some discrepancy on the due date since I was recently pregnant, but it was exactly what I thought.  
• I know I said this was about us...but this concerns me!  I took Michael to his throat specialist and it looks like he is just fine.  Which is a huge relief to me.  Michael gets scratches and bruises every once in a while and I'm learning to deal with those, but I couldn't handle weird white bumps in his throat.
• Last week we went camping with my dads family.  It was great to see all of them!  Josh and I even got to go on a little 4-wheeler ride.

We are continuing to be really busy.  We are doing a lot of work on our garden (which we planted way too much corn in) at least once a week.  We have had a lot of family camping trips and get-togethers lately.  We are enjoying seeing some of our friends before we move and before some of them move.  I think we are trying to get as much in as we can before school starts again.  We both know that winter break is never really a break, well not sufficient to get over the burnt out feeling, so we are living it up to the fullest!

Our last month...

Josh and I have been pretty busy.  Josh is working all the time and he is still taking one online class.  I've been in my sick stage of pregnancy but I think I'm coming out of it.  It seems like that alone is enough to keep us busy, but we have been doing a lot of other stuff.

• Josh and I celebrated out two year anniversary :)  We went up to Park City, had an amazing dinner at Ruth's Chris, and got massages 
• We went to Lagoon with the Crump's for a type of family reunion
• Celebrated Josh's grandparents 50th anniversary 
• Had family pictures
• Went to a family party for the 4th
• Celebrated Josh's birthday with a dinner at Tucanos with my sister and her cute family

Unfortunately I know we've been doing a lot more but I don't remember it (I don't even remember the last time I posted).  I will post some pictures soon, I have a bunch of cute ones of Michael rolling his way into tons of trouble!