Baby #4 Is A ...

Baby #4 Is A .....GIRL!

I was pretty sure this baby was a girl because I haven't got as sick with the girls as I did with my boys, but then 2 nights ago I had a dream that I was having a little boy. After that I just wasn't sure what the baby would be. So I'm so excited that Bella will have a little sister! I didn't really care either way, but I'm so close with my sister that I really wanted Bella to have a sister too. The doctor didn't tell us until the end of the ultrasound, but as he was scanning over the legs I didn't see the "sign" of a baby boy so I was pretty sure it was a girl. When he finally got around to really looking and told us it was a little girl I did shed a few tears.

Funny story - during the ultrasound a warning box pops up on the screen and I couldn't see what it said because of the angle, but then the doctor exclaims, "Oh Great!" So instantly I'm thinking something is wrong with the baby. He steps away from the machine and starts looking around for something so I finally ask is everything okay. Both the doctor and Chuck start laughing because of course they can both read the screen. Chuck said, "Nope the baby is out of thermal paper". The doctor is still chuckling and says that sometimes he forgets that when dealing with pregnant women you have to really watch what you say because they analyze every word.

Has It Really Been 12 Years

Today is our Anniversary and it's hard to believe that we've been married 12 years! Of course we only look slightly older right!

Chuck and I met at Utah State my sophomore year of college. He had just gotten back from his mission and we were living in the same apartment complex. One of my first impressions of Chuck was that he was a BIG slacker. We were both engineering majors and had a physics class together. As Chuck would say I was always on time, wide awake and sitting near the front for our 7:30 a.m. class with PJ my study partner. Chuck was just the opposite usually late and barely awake if he actually made it to class. I remember going downstairs to Chuck’s apartment with several other guys to study for one of our first tests. We had tests every couple of weeks and our homework for all of the chapters was do the day of the test. It was 10:30 p.m. the night before the test and Chuck was barely starting on his 2 chapters of homework. I on the other hand had completed the assignment at least a week in advance and had actually already studied for the test. I just remember looking across the table at him that night wearing his Pizza Hut delivery uniform and thinking I can’t believe this guy – what a slacker!

I remember walking into Fluid Mechanics the first day of my junior year and sitting down. A few minutes later Chuck came in and sat by me and we discovered that we had several classes together so we decided to study together. I very quickly learned something about Chuck – he AMAZED me with how smart he was. I had to study and work very hard all through my engineering classes while these concepts came very easily to Chuck. With minimal effort he was usually the guy that received the highest score on any test. It sometimes drove me crazy!

We spent a lot of time studying with each other that year and he quickly became one of my best friends. At the end of the year, he asked me out on an actual date, but with us both going home for the summer I didn’t anticipate anything coming from it. Then the first weekend I was home from school Chuck called and said he wanted to come for the weekend to visit. Throughout the summer we called each other and Chuck came to visit every so often. At the end of the summer I went with his family for a few days to Lake Powell. I remember paddling around in a little row boat when Chuck suddenly stopped and brought up the topic of marriage. It was at this point I wanted to jump ship! I firmly told him I was not marrying him or anyone else until I finished school and my brother got back from his mission (I had a $100 bet with my brother that I wouldn’t be married by the time he got home and I had promised myself my freshman year that there was no way I was getting married before I was done with school.).

So our Senior year of college came and we kept studying and dating and were finally engaged just before school was out for the summer. We were married 6 months later in September one week before we started school again. We had 1 quarter to finish before we both graduated. By that time, my brother was home and I figured 1 quarter was close enough to being done!

And what a journey it’s been since then. Chuck engraved my diamond ring with the words “Joy That Lasts Forever”. He truly has brought Joy to my life! And he still continues to AMAZE me!

Oh, the Smells!

This morning I was wondering a few things:
1. Why when you're pregnant do you develop superhuman smell and
2. Why I'm 2 days away from being 19 weeks and smells still cause me to gag

I got up this morning opened the fridge and the stomach started turning. There is some tasty treat in my fridge that I'm afraid to discover. I've been thinking for days I need to empty some of the mysterious containers, but just haven't worked up the nerve and stomach to do it. (Maybe I can talk my wonderful hubby into doing it for me tonight :)

Then about 5 minutes later Chuck came in the door from his morning run. I love him dearly, but the smell of him started the gagging and stomach churning yet again.

I hurried and loaded Isaac into the stroller for our morning walk and a little ways up the trail there was yet again some horrific smell. Chuck says there's a sewer line by that area. Of course it had to smell really bad today when I was already fighting to maintain control.

Then I get home and Isaac had his daily morning dirty diaper. Thank goodness for my nose plugs. It's the only way I get through the diaper changing!

And speaking of 19 weeks - we have our ultrasound next Monday morning. For some reason I'm really nervous to find out what we're having. Maybe because this is our last little one. So stay tuned for the big reveal next week!

Labor Day Fishing

After the family left on Monday morning we took the kids to Pine Valley fishing.

As with every activity, the way to keep Isaac from getting bored and throwing fits is to feed him. The kid is always eating - no wonder he's my "Brick" baby.

We let Bella and Isaac fish with the pole that has a lure, but no hook. It's much safer for everyone standing anywhere nearby.

This is the story about the one that got away, except in this case it's the two that got away. Both Samuel and Chuck each caught a little fish, but they both got off right as they got them to shore. Now this doesn't make for a cute picture with the kids holding the fish, but it sure makes turing the fish loose a lot easier. Samuel was sad we didn't have a fish to take home and eat.

Bella is holding the only "catch" of the day. She reeled in her line and told us all she had caught a rainbow trout - it was actually the fishing lure which is a tiny blue and pink fish. She carried it all around so proud of her "catch".

Labor Day Weekend

Grandma, Grandpa, Trina & Wes came to stay at our house over Labor Day Weekend. We were all excited to see Grandma and Grandpa especially since my mom was having surgery to remove the cancer from her kidney a few days after this family get together. (We are all relieved that the surgery went well and hopefully the cancer is gone. We won't know for a few months, but we are all praying!)

Grandpa hauled his 4-wheeler all the here because Samuel wanted him to bring it. Samuel was so excited when he saw them pull into the driveway he went running outside saying, "Oh, I just knew you'd bring the 4-wheeler!". The only bad thing is we don't have helmets for the kids so we borrowed one from some friends for Samuel, who loved wearing it and then poor Bella had to wear this huge old helmet we had when we were teenagers. It didn't fit very well so we improvised and stuck a diaper on her head to take up some of the space. We were all laughing at the sight of her. Poor girl! But Grandpa wasn't driving very fast so once we got out away from the main road we let her take it off.

While the grandparents, Samuel and Bella were on the 4-wheeler the rest of us rode along behind them in the jeep. Riding along made me miss those Labor Day Weekends, before we had kids, when we would take the jeep to Ouray and Telluride Colorado and travel all the beautiful trails. Maybe we'll get back there someday!

The views of the red mountains were really beautiful along this dirt trail.

Every since we got the lift on the jeep riding in the back is very uncomfortable because you get bounced all around when going over rough terrain. It was funny to watch Isaac and Kambree in their carseats because everytime we went over a bump their little heads were getting bounced from side to side. Isaac must have thought this was funny because he would shake his own head more vigorously back and forth. Near the end of the trail poor Trina decided it was more comfortable to stand up then to get bounced between the 2 carseats. When we got back to the main rode Samuel asked if he could ride in the jeep standing up like Trina.


Later that evening we went to Snow Canyon, the kids played and we enjoyed delicious tin foil dinners.

First Day of Preschool

Today was Samuel's first day of preschool. I debated for months if I should even send him to preschool because we've been doing our own little "learning time" every week day since Samuel was about 18 months old. I finally came to the conclusion that I needed to send him for the social aspect if nothing else and continue to do my own teaching at home with him each day. (Deep down I think I would really like to homeschool because I love teaching and seeing each of the kids really learn, but then I think to myself "are you crazy!") And good thing this was my standard because when he got done today I asked him what his favorite part of preschool was and his reply - snacks! Then when we got home Chuck was here for lunch and Samuel ran in and said, "Dad, let me tell you about my day. We had fruit snacks, cheese crackers and water."

And this morning when I dropped him off it wasn't quite the feeling or scene I had pictured. I had to leave the other two in the car and Isaac was not happy so I quickly ran in, gave the teacher my check and turned around to see Samuel was already off playing. I was in such a hurry to get back to the crying baby I didn't even get a chance to hug him good bye and he obviously didn't care that I was leaving him. So in the end it wasn't hard for either of us and I think Bella really enjoyed being in charge while Samuel was away for a couple of hours.

It makes me laugh to see Samuel with his backpack because it's almost as big as he is and this is even a size smaller than I originally bought. But he sure does look cute!

Where Did the Summer Go?

So I'm finally getting around to writing about a few of our summer activities. I can't believe summer has already passed us by! For me it was all about endurance - just glad to make it through each week and anxiously counting down how many more weeks until I started feeling better. July was really hard and I honestly can't remember a lot about most of August.

Thanks to Chuck and wonderful family the kids still managed to have a few exciting excursions despite the fact that I was not really much fun.

Catching Up on Summer - Fish Lake

Every year since I was young my family has gone to Fish Lake as part of my dad's vacation. I have many fond memories of excursions here and now my kids are getting to make their own fun memories. I love having family traditions!

Unfortunately on the drive there I started to feel a little bit of a sore throat coming on. I was already feeling sick from being pregnant so this didn't help matters. Well by that first night I was MISERABLE! I came down with a horrible cold - fever, cough, stuffy nose and then the pregnancy nausea and throwing up on top of it. So this is how I spent the majority of our 6 day trip - on the couch feeling YUCKY! When we got home from our trip I still had the cough and it lasted another 4 weeks. This is why I had a slight break down the day after we got home wondering how I was going to survive that first trimester trying to take care of myself and 3 young ones. Thanks to wonderful family who when I called crying and very overwhelmed came to my rescue and helped me survive the month of July by helping with the kids!

The cold I had spread like crazy and everyone, but Chuck, ended up with some symptons. Isaac got really sick, but the other kids only had stuffy noses. Samuel told me I just needed to have Grandma buy me a popsicle because that's what made him get better so fast.

And what trip would be complete without Grandma bringing along Dollar Store presents for the kids so they would have something to play with in the cabin. Everytime Grandma calls Samuel asks her when she is coming to our house so she can take him to the Dollar Store.

It was Chuck's birthday while we were staying at the cabin and the poor guy ended up having to make his own cake because he was the only one by the end of the week who wasn't sick.

Samuel loves to "help" Grandpa drive his boat.

I actually did go on one quick boat ride however it didn't take very long for me to start feeling nauseated from the rocking motion.

Grandma with the babies. They were pretty good about wearing the lifejackets even though they looked so uncomfortable and Isaac could hardly walk around with his on.

One afternoon the weather was really crazy and it hailed. The kids were loving the "snow" and had a great time getting wet and throwing "snowballs".

Bella fishing with Grandpa. She enjoyed the boat much more this year.

Samuel with a super tiny fish Chuck caught fishing from the shore. I'm not even sure how it bit the hook!

Samuel loved fishing with Grandpa who always lets the kids reel in the fish.

The kids loved going out catching bugs and putting them in their little bug homes Grandma got them at the Dollar Store.

Other favorite activities included blowing bubbles and feeding the potguts that are all over by the cabins bread.

Catching Up on Summer - Temple Open House

The first morning tickets were available to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple open house I reserved them for our family. I still remember attending the Manti Temple open house when they rededicated the temple when I was a little girl and wanted the kids to have this opportunity to see inside one of the temples. The timing of the open house was perfect because then we could also attend Chuck's mom's 70th birthday party/family reunion.

But as with everything this summer it all fell apart! I was feeling to sick to drive that far because I get extremely car sick when I'm pregnant. Just to drive a couple of miles I have to make sure I have my barf bag, so driving all the way to Bountiful was out of the question. So Chuck took Samuel and Bella and Isaac and I stayed home. Even though I felt bad I missed out on all the fun it was nice to have a few peaceful days and Isaac loved having me all to himself.

One of Samuel's favorite parts was seeing one of the big chandeliers. He exclaimed to Chuck when he saw it, "This is incredible"!

After the open house and family reunion the younger cousins went minature golfing.

Catching Up on Summer - 24th of July

We took the kids to the 24th of July parade where they gathered lots of candy and had a great time. After the parade, Chuck took Samuel and Bella to Bountiful for another reunion and then he left the kids at his parents house for the week. Issac and I again missed out on all the fun! But the kids had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa's house and I got some much needed rest.

24th of July fireworks - Samuel HATES loud noises and Chuck took the funniest video of Samuel and Bella running at full speed into the open garage to escape an especially loud firework.

The younger cousins with Grandma Luann at the reunion. Poor Bella looks like a little homeless child. Her hair always look like this at home because she pulls it out, but when we go out in public I try to make it look presentable. I couldn't believe Chuck let her go to the family reunion without her hair combed!

After the reunion the younger cousins went to the Hill Air Force Base Museum. Of course Samuel loved this because he is fascinated with planes. He came home from this trip telling me he was no longer going to be an astronaut, but instead was going to fly a fighter plane when he gets big. The protective mother in me came out as I told him sometimes fighter pilots get shot down, but he quickly assured me that the Joint Strike Fighter was tough and fast. Luckly he's only 4 and has many years before I need to be worried about the profession he chooses!