A Simple, but very Sweet Thing.

This last sunday was Fast Sunday, and obviously I am not fasting these days.  But back in the day when I was, Ben and I often discussed if there was something special we felt we needed to fast for or if it was just a personal thing.  So sometimes when Ben fasts these days I ask him what he is fasting for and since I AM pregnant he is usually fasting for the baby. So this last Sunday I asked him if he was once again fasting for the baby and he said "yep......and you" And it kind of surprised me. I mean, I know my health is 100% connected to the baby and so that makes sense but for some reason it just surprised me a little. And I was touched by it.  And so then I pried a little bit and said "like for my health, or do you have other worries as well?" he said "well yes, I want you to be safe too" and then he added somewhat jokingly but I also knew that there was truth behind it "And so you won't go crazy with the kids" We laughed, but it suddenly hit me.  And I was really really touched by it. That I am not doing this on my own. Even when I am home alone with the kids. That my husband realizes that being a stay at home mom is a challenge, that it is hard work and very stressful. And that he prays for me and fasts for me to be able to do what I need to.  And I know that I have been given extra strength and patience and I now know that it is not only because of my prayers, but because Ben is also praying for me. I am just so grateful for a husband who has a testimony and supports me and loves me and takes care of his family so well in every way. 

Transformer Bed Set

THe other day while I was shopping with my boys I saw a Transformers bed set. I really wanted to get it for James, but I have already spent too much on Christmas and decided not to get it. Well this weekend I rearranged the boys rooms and realized how trashed James' blankets and bedding are. For example. One of James' favorite blankets is pink with pink roses. yes, it was mine when I was a little kid and he loves the thing. However, it is shreds. 100% shreds.  I have been trying to sneak it out or get it away from him...with no luck. His other blankets are also hand-me-downs from me. I realized that I had never really gotten him his own special blanket. So, I decided to get that bed set for him. 

While he was at School today I went to the store, got the set, came home and made his bed with it. I then picked him up from school and told him to go make his bed first thing. It took some convincing but he finally went upstairs to make the bed. It was so funny. He just went in his room and just stopped. He didn't move or say anything, he was just standing there with his mouth open. And he would try to say something but would stop halfway. He was seriously in shock. Finally he squeaked out a "mom, did you buy this for me?" I told him I did. He just sat there staring for the longest time. I then showed him how the sheets were transformers too and that the pillow could be Optimus Prime or bumblebee. He thought that was just great. He then ran to go get Harrison and show him. Harrison came in and said "tran-mormers" It was cute. 

Tonight we went to Morrise's for FHE and James gathered up his new TRansformers blanket to show to Grandma. He showed everyone that came over. And then when we got home he made his bed, sat on it and just stared at the pillow and blanket.  I think he likes it.

The Elves

So, in Ben's family the Elves come every night in December up until Christmas.  We liked that tradition and so have continued it with our family. I forgot how much James loves the Elves coming every night.  The first morning I told him to go check his stocking, he ran downstairs and was super excited about the Hershey's candy bar in his stocking. He said, "wow!! THe elves brought my favorite chocolate! How did they know?" And yes, a plain hershey's candy bar is James' favorite treat. Since then every morning he wakes up...unusually early, and asks me if he can go check his stocking. This morning he actually got up while it was still dark and I told him it was still dark and that the sun hadn't come up yet, to which he replied "The sun IS up, it is just behind a tree!" That made me laugh.  He gets so excited every morning no matter what is in his stocking. It isn't usually candy actually, it is often crackers or fruit snacks, granola bars, little box of cereal, etc. But he is so excited about it and I love it. He comes running up to me and shows me what he got and then gets Harrison and helps him get his treat out of his stocking.  Then they go into the playroom, sit themselves down at the table and enjoy their snack. Oh yeah, and in every prayer James says lately he remembers the elves ... "thank you for the elves to bring me a treat, bless they will come tonight" And then every night he says "I hope the elves come tonight". It is cute.

Halloween and Thanksgiving Pictures

Here are some pictures from the races on Thanksgiving and a couple from Halloween. I love these ones of James running, he is going pretty fast actually. You can tell by how long my stride is just to keep up with him. He did great! I also really love the ones of Harrison plodding along in the race. He would go as long as I held his hand but that was it. He was so cute.

James is on the left side wearing the big blue coat.

Here is Harrison and I pluggin along. Cute kid.

James running as fast as he can. Which was actually faster than I realized he could run.

James and I heading for the finish line!

James with his Second Place Ribbon and Gift Certificate for a pie!

Me and My little runners! I love my little boys!

These ones are from Halloween. Ben was dressed up as bleaker from the movie Juno, and actually won first place at his work in the costume contest, mostly because ben really does look like the kid, even without the costume.  James loved his Bumblebee Transformers Costume. The thing is definitely getting its wear out of it. Harrison was a cute little skunk, but he liked wearing the Darth Vader mask instead of his little hood. We laughed at that.

Thanksgiving

Once again, we ran the Thanksgiving Day Races, aka the "Earn Your Turkey" Run. I ran the 4 miler, I was slow, 41 min, but it was fun anyway.  James and Harrison both ran the kids races though and that was definitely the highlight of the day. I ran with both of them. Harrison's race was just a short little race for kids 0-2 yrs old. He didn't really feel like running but as long as I was holding his hand he plugged along. At one point I let go of him and had him chase me... he didn't like that. He finally just stopped and put out his hand for me to hold and then he started running again. I was proud of him for finishing though, he was so cute all bundled up with his number on his coat.

Then it was time for James' race. He was so excited for it. I warned him that they were going to shoot a gun to start the race so he wouldn't be scared when it went off. And he thought that was really cool. It was so great, he was so ready and focused to run that race. As soon as it start he just took off. He was running really fast. I was surprised that I actually had to run to keep up with him.  His race was 1/4 mile long, and about halfway through he started to get a little tired and reached out for my hand and so we ran together until just before the finish and then he let go and just took off through the finish line and got second place!!! I was so so so proud of him! Ben and Harrison came running over and we all just hugged him and were so excited for him. He was really excited too and wanted to know if he had won a turkey. First place gets a turkey and second place gets a pie, so we told him he would get a pie. His response was "Pie is better than turkey anyway" That made me laugh.  

We waited around for about 2 hours for the awards,  they finally called out James' name but they said "James Morris" instead of Mo-reese and James said "mom they said my name wrong" I told him he had better get used to that. But he was happy to go get his Red Ribbon and his gift certificate for a pie. Then it was time to go home get ready and go to Gma's which we did and ate and ate and ate and ate. Sheesh. But it was a fun day. Now we have to go pick up that pie....like we don't have enough already! ;)

Reading

So last night when I was putting the kids to bed I was really tired and not feeling great nad was just going to put them to bed without all the books and stories. However, after we said prayer Harrison got the very hungry caterpillar  book and plopped himself down on the floor and started to read it aloud. It was probably one of the cutest things I have ever seen and really wish I had it on video. He opened the first page and said "the caterpiller in the moon and POP!.....ate yummy apple......ate. .1. .2.. 3.. 4.. 5 mmmmm....ate one cake..one pickle...one lallallalla...and one watermeyon....and then ta da...butterfly!" Yeah, it was really cute. So then I pulled him over and read it to him, and then he got book after book and the boys and I read for quite some time. It was very enjoyable.

What Kids Say

Harrison always stand on his chair at the table, dancing around and being crazy. He has fallen off several times, but still has not learned his lesson. So, the other day during lunch he was once again jumping on his chair and I said "Harrison! Sit your butt down!" Harrison continued dancing and starting singing "Butt Down Butt Down Butt Down" Yeah, thanks for picking THAT word up. how come he chooses to repeat that phrase and not "I love you" or anything else that I ever try to get him to say. I try really hard to use nice words and the times that I slip, they of course immediately copy me. But when I am trying to get them to say something, they refuse. Seriously, he will not say a prayer for anything. I always sit and tell him what to say and he just wiggles around until we get to amen and then bursts out an "amen!" and runs off. He always kneels and folds his arms very nicely though, and I think that is so cute. When Ben came home from work I told him what Harrison had said, we laughed pretty hard about it and have been quoting the kid ever since.

Cravings

I forgot to put something in that last post, so here it is.  With my boys, I never really had cravings. In fact I hated chocolate when I was pregnant with James and Harrison.  The only craving I remember having with either of those kiddos, was one day I wanted pumpkin pie. However, with this little girl, I am addicted to chocolate.  Seriously, nothing is too chocolatey for me. I love chocolate milkshakes the most and have probably had more of those in the past 5 months than I have in my entire life. No wonder I am gaining more weight with this one.... :) Also, during the first three months I was completely addicted to Brick Oven Root Beer. It is just under $3 for one 2 liter, and I would buy 2-3 of those every time I was in Provo. The reason why I liked that root beer so much was because it was the closest to homemade. I loved the way it smelled, and tasted...mmm now I want some.  I wouldn't drink any other brand of root beer, it had to be Brick Oven.  I know I am crazy.

 Another thing that I still constantly crave/want is mint. And yes, chocolatey mint is the best. I always have some mint chocolate chip ice cream in the freezer, I bought several packs of junior mints a week during the first 3 months. I just went through a bag of mint truffle hershey's kisses. Andes mints are amazing, but when nothing else is around I will settle for a simple breath mint.  I love love love mint. Those are the two main things I have been craving so much.  Oh yeah, I went through a time where I seriously wanted to drink vinegar. I ate a bunch of pickled beets and pickles instead. So weird. It seems like each day I want something different. I plan all our meals for the week, go shopping, but by the time the day rolls around for those meals, I no longer want them. Something new sounds good to me. Sheesh I am seriously out of control here. Ha!

Oh yeah, another thing I forgot to mention...smells. Oh my goodness. I can smell everything all the time everywhere. I buy different deodorant almost every week, and its not like my old one has run out. I just need a new smell. I have gone through several different shampoos, soaps, house cleaners, air fresheners, candles, detergents, etc. This is how it goes. I get a new cleaner, use it for about a week, by that time, the smell gets old and it starts to stink to me. So I get a new cleaner or shampoo or soap or whatever it is. I have 3 different laundry detergents right now that I am rotating through.  Right now I am liking good old Arm and Hammer detergent. It smells clean to me.  I feel sorry for Ben. The poor man has put up with my nose the past several months. See, I always think he stinks, unless he has just gotten out of the shower.  Then he smells good. But by the time he gets home from work...yeah. And it isn't like he stinks, it is just that I can't smell that clean soap cologne smell anymore, it has worn off, so then I think he stinks.  One night I came into our room and he was in bed reading and I said "ugh! what is that smell? It smell like fart in here!"  Ben responds "okay it's me! I stink! I'm a man and I stink" I started laughing so hard. I have tried not to complain about smells so much since, but sometimes I can't take it anymore. Like the other night, I couldn't even sleep, something smelled so bad. So I went and got an air freshener, put it on my nightstand and faced that way all night. Yeah I am really insane.  Sheesh, I hope this dog nose of mine goes away when this baby gets here, because it gets really annoying. 

The First 22 Weeks

Well here I am 22 weeks along, and today we had the Ultrasound. I was so anxious and nervous and it that I didn't go to sleep until 5 am this morning, and here I am at 11:30 still wide awake and happy as could be that I don't even care how tired I should be.  I seriously could be dancing around the house I am so excited because I am getting my little baby girl. The very first view we had of our baby was of her long legs and the obvious lack of boy parts.  And then the DR, hey I think we are having a girl mom and dad! I, of course, was crying and have been crying pretty much all day, out of joy, not sadness. Everything on the Ultrasound looked 100% great. She kept her little hand by her face the whole time and one time when she moved her head I swear her profile looked just like Harrison. I guess we will see in 17 weeks (I will be induced at least a week early).

As soon as the ultrasound was done the phone calls began and every time I told someone I got all choked up...sheesh I am SO emotional these days! Then it was time to tell the boys. Harrison had no clue what we were talking about, but James, he knew. And he has known since before this baby even existed that we were having a girl next. When Harrison was about 1 James started asking about where his little sister was and when was she going to come to our house. And once I got pregnant he has been 100% insistent that this baby was a girl. I love that he was right. It makes me think that he knows this little sister of his and that they will have a very special bond. I can't wait to see those two interact and grow up together. 

After picking up the boys it was time for shopping. Oh yeah baby. We went to Target, I got the cutest little dresses and night gowns and onesies, and then it was off to Wal-Mart where I got some more onesies and some other little things. Ben was just as excited as I was. As we shopped he kept picking cute things out and asking me if it was okay if he got her some things too. I told him I would love him to pick some things out for her. Yeah this baby is going to be 100% spoiled, that is for sure.  And now tomorrow my sister and I are going to go to a bunch of other stores. 

So, I want to recap the past 22 weeks of this pregnancy....I guess we will start from the beginning. Or before the beginning really. Since Harrison was born I have been extremely nervous about having another baby. We came so close to losing that little guy, he was premature, his heart rate was only at 30 beats/min, once he was born he wasn't breathing and  it was pretty much the most traumatic thing to see them resuscitate him, and I just know that he was a little miracle baby and seriously, not a day goes by that I don't look at him and thank heavenly father for letting me keep him.  So I have been nervous because who knew what to expect with the next one. What if it didn't turn out so well? I could never deal with that. And whenever Ben and I prayed about having kids, well it was most definitely a no answer. So we figured that we were probably done and actually were looking into adopting (which still will happen one day, I need my little black babies) .  So then I was very surprised this summer when I had the strongest feeling that there was a little baby ready and waiting to come to our family.  Ben felt the same way and one month later (yeah we have NO problem getting pregnant), we were expecting baby #3. 

I remember knowing that I was pregnant before I even took the test. I was sick from day one and that didn't even start to go away until week 13. Seriously I wanted to die. If I ate, I was sick, if didn't eat I was even sicker, and everything was always spinning, always. I was nauseous the entire time and it just never went away no matter what. It was awful. I swore this was definitely the last time I was ever doing this. I pretty much lived on the couch while the boys and I watched little einsteins or other cartoons. The house was...trashed...completely trashed. I seriously think I just got all the crayon off the walls from those early months of letting the boys run wild while I died.  Ha!

 I ate a million eggs, cottage cheese and peanut butter sandwiches.  Everyday I would have to seriously sit and think about what I could possibly eat that wouldn't make me absolutely sick and then I would have to eat it right then before it started to sound gross. We ate out a lot! I only cooked 2 meals in 6 weeks. Yep, slacker. But then I realized how much we had spent on eating out I about had a heart attack and have been cooking the meals since, no matter how sick I do or don't feel.  Oh yeah I forgot, I got heart burn from day one, which I have never had before. For those of oyu that have seen Juno she says "I have heart burn that is radiating in my kneecaps" And I always thought she was exaggerating, but nope, I know exactly what she was talking about. And that was exactly how I described it.  Also, peeing all night is never fun. That still goes on though, so oh well. 

During this time, the only time when I felt like a human being was when I was running. It made no sense to me, but I was grateful to find some relief.  So I actually ran quite a bit. I would be sick right before I ran and during the first few miles, but then it would go away and I could just enjoy my run. But as soon as I was done, well about 10 min later, I would once again be sick. Ugh. So I kept up about 35 miles/week during the first 2 months, During August and September I ran 3 half marathons.  But am now only running about 25 miles a week. A few weeks ago I went on my usual saturday run. I ran 10 miles. I felt fine the entire way, but once I got home I started having serious labor pains. Full on hard contractions.  Yeah. So I run shorter runs and that seems to be okay.

 I love running. As you all know. But I have especially loved it during this pregnancy because that is when I feel closest to my baby. During each run I have sensed her presence and knew that it was a baby girl. I felt like she enjoyed running with me. I still feel that way. Every day when I run I feel like she is there, cheering me on almost. I know I am crazy, but that is how it has been.  I have known we were having a girl, but just in case I was wrong didn't want to get too excited about it. These were my reasons for knowing, well part of me just knew and that is just that. The fact that james insisted that it was a girl made me think he knew as well. Aslo, my dreams have been insane. Seriously. I have had a different emotional drama high school soap opera every night. It is just how a young girl thinks and feel about guys, crushes and all the drama that goes with it. At first I didn't realize why I was having these dreams but then I thought, oh yeah I have a girl inside me with all her emotional crazy hormones developing, That's where these dreams are coming from. Also, I have been extremely emotional this entire pregnancy. I cry at the drop of a hat. When we went to Disneyland, I cried when we got there and the boys were so excited. I cried again when we went to Wall-E and saw the Disneyland castle because it reminded me of our trip and how fun it was. Yeah, a little over the top, that is for sure.

I remember the very first day that I wasn't sick. Ben's brother's wedding. I felt good the entire day and I was very grateful for that. However, the next day made up for it. But after that it seemed like I would get a day here and there where I was feeling good until finally I was feeling good most of the time. Since then things have been pretty good. I got a really bad cold from running in the rain at the start of October.  It lasted 2 weeks and I coughed so hard I tore some muscles in my abdomen and that wasn't much fun. But once it was over and I could sleep again, life was good. 

Since then things have been really good. I feel the baby move all the time now. ( i LOVE that) I have felt her since week 14 and she has just gotten stronger. Ben felt her move at about week 18, and she kicked James' hand last week. He thought that was great. I have a lot of energy these days, I am able to keep the house clean, make dinners, take care of fun little boys, run and still get to take a short nap each afternoon. I actually really enjoy naptime, not because I get to nap but because James always sleeps by me in my bed.  I love that time with him. We always read stories and then he just starts talking and telling me about everything and makes me laugh. He asks question after question and I always am amazed that he is actually my kid. He is so good. He has a heart of pure gold and really really tries hard to be a good kid. I love that about him.  And then of course he always cuddles up next to me and then we nap for a little bit.

 I love being a mom. Seriously. I love my little boys and I am so excited to be having  this baby girl.  I know she will be so loved by her brothers, her dad and everyone else. When I first found out I was pregnant I remember feeling so close to her. Knowing that she was a very special and sweet spirit. I fell 100% in love with her from day one. I can't wait to hold her. I can't wait to see her little face. I can't wait to show her to James, to let him hold her. To see how Harrison reacts to this new baby in our home. See what he thinks about her. I can't wait for Ben to hold her, to fall completely in love with her and have her wrapped around his finger. I can't wait to give birth to her. I have decided to do this one naturally. In the hospital for sure, but just no pain meds. I am scared about that a little bit but with ben there helping and supporting me through it, I know I will make it. I will most likely scream, but I will make it. And then, I will get to hold my beautiful baby girl Sophie. 

Baby#3 Ultrasound

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

MIssionary

When James came home from church today I asked him what he learned and what songs they sang. He told me that they learned a new funny song. I asked him what it was. He burst into song....

 "I want to be a missionary now! I don't want to wait until I'm Grown!...Isn't that funny mom? They want to be a missionary Now. I DON'T want to be a missionary now, I want to wait until I am all grown." 

 I busted my gut at that.  I told him that he wouldn't go on a mission until he was grown up. He told me there was another missionary song he learned he then sang

"I hope they call me on a mission, when I have grown a foot or two!...that song is better for me, I want to grow before I go on a mission."

I love my funny kids.

Snow

James got up very very early this morning, and was not too happy when I told him to go back to bed. He did though, and actually went right to sleep. I, however, was now awake, and could not go back to sleep. So I got up. Ben got up as well and then looked out the window. Yep there was snow. And lots of it. It was still snowing and coming down pretty good.  I suddenly felt bad for making James go back to bed and went to go see if he was awake yet so I could show him the snow. He was still sound asleep.  So I decided that while the boys slept and Ben got ready, I would head on over to the Gym and get my run in.  So I drove on over and alls I have to say is, I love my car. Seriously, I love it. I love that it is seriously hard to make that thing slide. And I always feel a little bit tough when I drive it. The roads looked slick to me, so I drove careful anyways.  I am always scared of wrecking my car, and I will admit. My first thought is not because I am concerned with myself, but I would sure hate to put a big old dent or worse into my car. Yes I know, that is NOT what I should be worried about, but that's the truth of it, unless my kids are with me, then I worry about their safety. Now Ben's car. Yeah you could push that thing  off a cliff and I would most likely thank you for it.  Anyways, As I left our house, there was already a car that had slid off the road and into the ditch, I can't even count the number of cars I have seen in that ditch. It is always a strange thing to see though.

So enough about cars, onto my day. I went running and it was great great great. I only had time for 4 miles before I needed to get back home but the entire run felt good, and I didn't want to stop. I love a good run.  I drove on home and as I pulled into the garage James opened the door with the biggest smile ever on his face. It made me so happy to see him so excited about the snow. He loves the snow so much and has been asking for forever when it was ever going to snow.  I was seriously debating whether or not to let him stay home from school so he could play in the snow. But I sent him off to school and prayed that the snow would not melt until after he had had a chance to play in it. And thankfully, when he got home, there was still plenty of snow and he built the cutest little snowman.  He got out the carrots, and some chocolate chips, ate most of them. but then put the rest on the snowman. It was cute. Oh yeah, while they were out there Harrison came running to the back door and right then I saw James with a huge snowball and before I could stop him..smack! Right into Harrison's head. Poor kid. I then banned James from anymore snowballs.  After a while the boys came in for hot cocoa and sandwiches.  It was fun. We read stories and then all took a nap. It was a very good afternoon.

Oh yeah, so we went swimming yesterday, and Harrison was terrified of it the entire time. And when Ben got home late last night he went upstairs to say good night to the boys. As soon as Harrison saw Ben he said "I scared, I scared water....pool  I scared....water....pool" Poor kid. He must really have hated that pool. I thought it was cute though that he was telling Ben about it.

Life These Days

Life these days are pretty good I have to say. I am feeling really good.  I love this middle stage of pregnancy, energy is somewhat back, baby isn't so big that I can't move or breathe, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE feeling the baby move.  Every time I feel a little kick it just makes me so happy. But I will admit that sometimes I actually forget that I am pregnant. Like the baby will be moving and instead of thinking, "oh there is my little one" I think "what the world? Why do I have so much bubbling going in my stomach?" And then there are the times when I get up in the morning, head to the bathroom and pass by our mirror and think to myself "OH MY HECK!!! I am seriously bloated this morning!!!" And then I think oh yeah I am pregnant. The enlarged belly is a good thing.  But really I am really excited for this little one to arrive and can't wait for the ultrasound next monday. And I am sure I will post all about that come monday.

I have been really enjoying the kids lately, well I enjoy them all the time, but there ARE days when I might feel like selling them.  :) No seriously, James is just at the funnest stage. I have decided that 4 is a very good age.  He is pretty obedient, even if he doesn't want to be and is so interested in everything. He constantly asks questions and won't stop until you explain it to him fully. For example, he now knows how the baby is born. He asked and asked and I kept giving him sort of answers but never the real thing. but he wasn't satisfied until he got the truth and it made sense. He also knows what the umbilical cord is, what your heart does, what lungs are how they work. He has been very interested in his body and how it works. I love that though, especially since I actually know the answers to those questions.  He has also been asking about every food and if it is healthy or not, and telling me we should not eat so much sugar. This is probably a good thing for a boy that gets cavities so easy. 

Harrison is the same as ever. He teases us all the time. Every time you tell him to come here or whatever he laughs his head off and runs away. Part of you wants to be angry and tell him to get his bum over here now, but then there is the part that sees that little twinkle in his eyes and you can't help but laugh at him and chase him down.  And then when you say "Harrison, time for bed" He says "no, no, no, no sleepy, no sleepy!" it makes me laugh so hard. And I just throw him in his bed. He calms down fast.  I love to watch my little boys sleep. I always sneak in their room at night and just watch them sleep. They are always so cute. One night I came in and James had made beds for all the teddy bears and given them blankets too. It was the sweetest thing.  He really does have such a good heart.  Today while it was raining and cold he asked me where the people sleep. I asked him what people? He replied, "the people that don't have homes"  I told him there are shelters, but that many still have to sleep outside in the wet and cold. He thought about it and then said we should get them a home to sleep in. And take them somewhere where they could be warm. I agreed. 

We had a fun day today, after a good run I took the boys swimming. James, of course loved it. harrison was 100% terrified. I don't get it. He loves water.  HE would stay in the bathtub all day if I would let him. But when we go to the pool he just buries his little face in me and holds on to dear life. I always feel so bad and keep  thinking he will grow out of it, but so far, no luck there.  I felt bad for Harrison today. James had a friend over and they were playing transformers and Harrison couldn't keep up with them. He kept coming to me and just moped. Cute little bugger.  So then tonight after we cleaned the toy room we watched one transformers episode and one little Einstein's episode, while eating popcorn and drinking hot cocoa. Now, my little boys are in bed. Stories have been read, teeth brushed, house cleaned, laundry folded and I am ready to just relax. Ah. I love the end of a good day. I love going to bed in a clean house, with happy little kids asleep in the next room. Actually, James is not currently asleep. I can hear him singing the transformers song. Ah, that makes me laugh.  Kids are funny.

Halloween Fun!

Okay so as you can tell from the very first picture, we have been having a lot of Halloween fun around here, at least Ben has that is. J/K. No really, tonight for FHE we carved our pumkins. Ben carved two, a good old Jack-O-Lantern, and then made a TRansformers one for James. Which James loved by the way. Harrison and I made one together, okay I did the whole thing myself, but he was by me while I did it. His and mine is the more goofy looking one.  When we first cut the pumpkin open we told James to scoop out the seeds and he was really excited to do that until  he looked inside the pumpkin and then told us how disgusting that was. We laughed. We had fun tonight though, we had donuts and all that. It made for a fun FHE.

The other pictures of Ben and I cooking are of Saturday night. We have been wanting to make a pumpkin pie out of a pumpkin and make it all from scratch, so we did. we bought the "cooking" type of pumkpin, cut it up, cooked it, mashed it up and made pie filling. Okay Ben did all that part, I put kids to bed and then made the crust. I was proud of myself for making the crust, I am never very good at that and this one turned out okay. i also made  pie cookies with the leftovers. (crust sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar and baked) The kids loved those.  We had quite a bit more pumpkin leftover though. So we made some pumpkin juice. It was more like a pumpkin smoothie, but it was still good. james really liked that. And then the rest we saved for the next day and I just cooked and seasoned it and served it with dinner. It was good. Better than squash.  So yeah we used up that pumpkin. It was really fun though to do all those things together. Ben and I had fun and we had lots of fun eating all that good pie. Oh and trust me, it was so dang good.  A fresh made pumpkin pie is way way way yummy. I couldn't stop eating the darn thing.

Halloween Party

Okay so we finally had our Halloween party! It was so fun. At least I think people had fun, I guess I don't really know. But a lot of people came. we had 80+ people here 45 of those were kids. Yeah it was pretty crazy here. But they seemed to enjoy the different games and everyone loved Ben's salsa. I will admit, it was pretty darn good. especially with some Guacamole and some sour cream to go with it. I ate way too much of it and I think I drank about 50 glasses of root beer. It was really good.  Anyways, I spent most of the week getting ready for the thing. Part of that was getting my house back in order after ignoring it so much from being sick. One day I cleaned every wall in the house, all the baseboards, all the blinds, windows, and then swept out the entire garage. I was very proud of myself and I most certainly did not cook dinner that night. 

But then I made a lot of the decorations and put treats in bags and all that stuff. Then the day before the party Ben and decorated until 3 am, got up the next morning and barely had everything ready by 3 pm when the party started. But I really didn't mind, I love to throw a party and I love to make it look good, so I really don't mind missing some sleep once in a while for it. The thing that took the most time was the garage. We emptied out the garage, and then hung orange and purple tablecloths around the room and had different things hanging from the ceiling. It was really cute. That is where we had all the games for the kids. We had bags for them to decorate/color, then a ball toss and they won a popcorn ball, and then bobbing for apples and they got to keep their apple and get a bag of caramels, and then a little treasure hunt game where they dug through different things to find candy, toys and rings.  It worked out pretty well I thought. we had a pinata halfway through and I think that was the highlight of the party for most kids. They sure loved that. 

James was so excited for the party he seriously could not sleep. He was up pretty much all night asking if it was morning yet, or time for the party or whatever. He definitely had a great time and loved his bumblebee transformers costume.  He was so cute. He wanted to help me so bad with the decorations and some things he could help with, like filling the pinata, giving me tape to hang things, he actually helped wash all the walls that one day. Anyways, so then he made his own decorations and put them up. He drew a bunch of skeletons and taped them onto the front door. our door was covered and it was so cute I couldn't take them down. Ever since the party he has been saying "thank you for the Halloween party" yeah, he really loved it.

Anyways, clean up really wasn't bad, it was all done that evening, so that is good. I guess we left a lot of the decor up because Halloween is still a couple weeks away so why not huh? Oh I am so sad though, we totally forgot to take any pictures! Ben and I were both pretty busy the entire time and we just forgot to get the camera out. So if any of you that came took some pictures, email them to me please, and then I will post them for those of you that missed out!

Catch Up

So yeah I have been a slacker at the blogging thing lately I guess. Mostly because I didn't think I had anything to write about. Everyday was pretty much the same, and then I got sick and didn't get around to sitting at the computer until now. So here is a catch up on our lives lately.

James loves loves loves school. He loves show and tell and singing time the best. He is learning all sorts of new songs and nursery rhymes and at night we hear him singing them in his bed. It is cute. He always gets so excited about show and tell and has taken the same thing...his transformer bumblebee.  He is obsessed with transformers lately and I have been letting him earn them. He has a chart, and by doing different things he can fill it up with stickers and once it is full, he gets the transformer. He now has 3 and takes them everywhere with him. I like that he likes them so much, I think it is cute. He is going to be bumblebee (the transformer...NOT the insect) for Halloween & is really excited about that. Oh he had his Primary program a few weeks ago and while he didn't stay completely still, okay he was pretty wiggly, he said his part just great and sang the songs he knew as loud as he could. I thought he did just great. I was proud of him.

I am loving this stage James is in. He talks and talks and talks and says the funniest things. HE asks questions about everything and wants to know everything. I can depend on him pretty well. He usually does what I ask whether he likes it or not. He really tries to be good and do what he is supposed to. I love it. I love doing things with him and just sitting there talking to him. The other day I was at the computer and he was on his way to the bathroom and stopped to chat with me and just kept chattin away until he said, "but I have to stop now before I poop my pants, but I won't I will hold it in until I get on the toilet" and then he ran into the bathroom. I laughed so hard at that.  Last week when I was so darn sick I came up to my room and he was making my bed and I asked him what he was doing. he said "making your bed for you" I asked him why he was doing that and he said "to be nice because you don't feel very good" I thought it was the sweetest thing in the whole world. He really is a sweetheart.

As far as my life goes, well things were going great. I was over the morning sickness, running 25 miles a week, eating well, keeping the house clean. Doing things with the kids. Made lots and lots of jam. yum. Life was good. And then I got a cold. It was really annoying, but I could live with it. Then it seemed to go away for a couple days and I went running with my friend one morning in the freezing cold rain. yes I know I am an idiot. It was probably one of the dumber things I have done. We ran 8 miles and I came home drenched, freezing and coughing my head off. I coughed straight for a week. Like not just little coughs, like I never slept I coughed so hard and I tore a muscle in my lower abdomen from coughing so hard. It was awful. I went to the DR, he wasn't helpful.  basically I just needed to tough it out since I am prego. But I am happy to say that I am only coughing a little now and am sleeping just fine. Ah. it is nice to be feeling good again. 

Now I am keeping myself 100% busy with our halloween party plans. We have a halloween party every year and it is always so fun to do, but we always go a little crazy about it.  I am really excited. Ben and I are going to be Bleaker and Juno (from the movie Juno, if you hadn't already guessed that :) We have a lot of fun games planned for the kids and of course homemade root beer and this year we are doing a salsa fest. Ben is making salsa and we are getting several other dips for the many chips to eat. It will be a lot of fun. BUt we still have tons to do, the party is next saturday, so my next post probably won't be until after the party and I will post all sorts of pictures from it. 

Oh, and on the stinker Harrison note.....I made all the invites, my sister becca came and helped me. we had them printed on orange paper and then stuck onto a black background with a candy corn glued on the top. they were really cute. Harrison liked them as well. He liked them so much he ate the candy corns off several of them. Yep, that is my stinker Harrison. I don't know why he didn't go for the entire Jar of candy sitting on the table, but I guess the invites up high and out of sight were a challenge so that must make the candy taste better or something. funny boys.

Oh yeah one more thing, my boys love halloween (don't know where they get THAT from) And at night we always hear Harrison in his bed saying"dyou hear dat ou-side?.......ooooooooooo (like a ghost).....spooooky!" it makes me laugh so hard.  Even when they are little stinkers they are darn cute.

Terrible Two's

When James turned 2...it was terrible. I swear someone switched out my sweet little boy James for some crazy, bipolar  look alike.  The tantrums were.... unbelievable. And I remember when he finally turned 3...ah....I could see my little sweet boy coming back and I loved it. Harrison is now 2. I was all sorts of prepared for big tantrums, like James', and he can throw a tantrum, but it is mostly funny, and only lasts a minute. However, he is the most mischievous little stinker there ever was. For example.....

Ever day Harrison pulls all, and I mean all the books off the book shelf, both the one upstairs and the one down.  He also dumps out whatever bin of toys or balls he sees and then just walks away without playing with any of them. At each meal he either throws or spills or just wipes his food everywhere. And anytime I have just mopped the kitchen floor you can bet that he is going to dump out his cereal, juice or whatever else is enormously sticky or messy to clean up. He always finds a pencil, pen, crayon or marker and will color whatever he sees. My walls are covered, as well as doors, toys, books, and other furniture. 

Harrison is also obsessed with the bathroom, the toilet especially and loves to put anything, including toothbrushes, in it.  He gets into my drawer on a daily basis, while I am trying to do my hair, brush teeth or any of that stuff. And he finds whatever he can and runs with it. He usually steal the deodorant, a toothbrush, or my make-up bag. This never ends up well. He also loves the water dispenser on the fridge and presses it often, cup or no cup.  He loves to destroy things. Books mostly. Many a book have been completely shredded in the past few months because of him.  He has also pulled all the stuffing out of his new teddy bear. I made 2 new photo albums this summer and had them out on the coffee table, Harrison ripped out the second half of one of the books. Thank you Harrison. 

He is really good at making big big messes. Like the other day when he poured chocolate milk all over the couch. Or yesterday when he took the bowl of raspberries, dumped them onto the floor and then jumped on them. Yes, I have tan carpet, and yes raspberries are very dark purply red. And the berries were completely mashed in. It was not amazing. I spent the afternoon with some oxyclean and that seemed to do the trick. Anytime I am cooking anything he gets right in the fridge as soon as I open it and starts pulling everything out. He likes to throw the eggs especially.  Not to mention all the boxes of crackers, cereal, cookies and who knows what else he has pulled out of the pantry and dumped all over everything and often smashed.  And all the while he is laughing his cute laugh giving you his sweet innocent little smile. This no longer works on me. He gets in trouble pretty quick and spends a lot... a lot... of time in his bed or in time out. 

I can imagine that you are sitting there thinking "wow. what is wrong with her kid?" or "wow, she does not pay any attention to her kids" I swear, I really do watch my kids, but laundry needs to be done, floors vacuumed, beds made, bathrooms cleaned, meals made, and messes to be cleaned up. Often he is destroying another thing while I am still cleaning up his previous mess.  It is impossible to have your eye on your kids 24/7. 

Now don't get me wrong, this sounds like I don't like my kids very much. Well anyone who knows me knows I love my little Harrison.  HE has had me wrapped around his little finger since day one. He has just about the cutest smile there ever was and can make you laugh at just about anything. He is a delight. A pain in the butt delight, but a delight. And all this terrible two stuff just makes the day more......interesting. :)

Today I.....

Today, I:  

Slept in until 9 am, ah.....  

Peeled and sliced a zillion peaches to make jam and yummy homemade ice cream. 

Realized that I needed Lemon juice for the Jam

Left to go to Wal-Mart and Costco.

Only made it to Walmart because I sneezed on my way out of the store and completely peed my pants. yep I am pregnant. There was no control.

Came home and changed my clothes.

Made bread dough

Took a short nap because I was feeling really not good.

Made dough into yummy rolls

Finally took a shower.

Went to Costco

Ate some seriously yum peach ice cream

Went to my  sister's house and took rolls and Jam

Came home late

Put whiny kids to bed

Made lots and lots of peach jam. A first for me.

Cleaned the kitchen

And ate some more ice cream.

Yesterday James:

Climbed into bed with me at 6 am

Fell out of bed and smacked his face/eye on the corner of my nightstand

Got ready for school

Went to get his back pack and came running down the stairs

Missed the very second step and fell all the way down to the tile floor below

Cried

Had a large scrape on his side. (poor kid)

Got to school late.

Came home from school happy as could be

Went to play outside

Went down the slide

Screamed

Slapped his hand

Got stung by a bee.

Cried

Got some benadryl (he is allergic to other bug bites so we thought just to be a little safe)

Got a band aid

Got hugs and kisses from mom

Was all better.

This week Harrison:

Poured (on purpose) chocolate milk all over the couch. ( I knew I should have put it right away)

Pulled all the books off the bookshelf, more than once.

Dumped water all over the kitchen

Colored the front door, his bedroom door, my bedroom door, the toy room wall, and the inside of the closet. 

Brushed his teeth after dipping his toothbrush in the toilet. (I always keep the bathrooms shut, James does not. I found Harrison by the toilet saying "ucky" and wiping his mouth out while standing by the toilet with his toothbrush. There were drips from the toilet to him... guilty as charged)

Threw his french fries all over at dinner.

Picked the tomatoes and threw them across the yard.

Tore "The Three Little Pigs" book into a million pieces

Sat in time out many many many times

Wore a cowboy hat around all week

Danced around the coffee table for an hour straight while I did dishes and listened to music.

Walked around the house saying "where James go?" While James was at school.

Was the cutest thing ever in his new little skunk costume.

 

Pictures from the Summer

Okay, so here are a truckload and a half, of pictures. Most of them are from this summer, but there are some older ones too. Okay, let's start with the oldest picture.

This one is from my sister, Becca's, wedding. I was the maid of honor, so I got a bouquet too. Aren't Ben and I the cutest?

This next one is a family picture my mom just gave to me and I love it. I love how little and chunky Harrison is, I love James giving that egg a weird look, and I think Ben and I look good too. Oh yeah, and my hair is hecka long. I guess I did cut 14 inches off, so...yeah. It makes me miss my long hair and wish my hair looked like that right now. But if it did I would probably just be wanting to cut it again. That is how hair goes.

This is another one from my mom of me at the Marathon I did in May. I like it. I had just crossed the finish line so I look a little crazy.

These ones are form the Freedom Run on the morning of the 4th. Most of my family ran it, as you can see. I was so proud of all of them for all their running this summer. It was so much fun! I was so excited to see each person cross the finish and cheer them on, it was great fun. I was proud of my time on that one too. It was a 10k (6.2 miles) and I got 52:10. Not too shabby.

These pictures are from the day/evening of the 4th. I loved James and his big cupcake. I laughed my head off at Harrison with his black mustache. I honestly have no idea what was around his face but my brother called him Don Carlos. He is cute. 

These one are of the very next day, we were having a family reunion and I hosted some family races. There was a 5K for the adults, which we all did and it was awesome. Even though we were all really tired from the race before, but it was still fun. All of our kids cheered us on. Then we had some kids races, and those were the highlight of the summer I swear. They had so much fun! They were so excited and were just so happy the whole time and they all got prizes and medals, it was great. I love these pictures because you can see how happy they all are. I love the one of James close up. He is really concentrating. That was right at the end of the "long distance" race for the kids and he won and was really excited.

These ones are just a couple from our trip. I love the one of Ben and James. They were both so excited to be there, I don't know who was more excited, but they had so much fun together. It was great. I also love the one of Harrison and I and James at the restaurant. Harrison is smiling his perfect sweet little smile and I love it!

And then these last ones are from our Provo River Half Marathon which once again, most of my family ran and I was 100% proud of all of them. It was the funnest race ever and yes I was running for 2, and still am as you all know. My sisters made me that shirt for the race and I loved having people know that I was pregnant and running. Yeah.  Oh and that first picture is my sister in-law Emily, that I ran with all summer. We had so much fun running through the canyon each weekend.  And once again, Ben and I are just about the cutest couple ever. I loved running that with him.

A Full Day

Today was a full, but good, day.  It started off at 7 am with Ben hitting the snooze one last time and me nudging him to get out of bed, which he did.  Soon he was off to school and I was waking the kiddos up to go for a morning walk. They are so cute when they wake up, I love it. Harrison was still asleep but started jumping around his crib and then went back to sleep. James and I decided that he had been dreaming that he was a rabbit.  I gave them some cereal and we were off on our walk.

My boys love to go for walks.  We go for walks nearly every day. They love to hear and see the train, cows, and birds around the neighborhood. James was really chatty this morning and was asking me stuff about everything "why is the road so dirty? we should clean it up Why are they building that house? What happened to that car" etc. It was fun though, I like to answer his many questions. The other day in the car he asked us how the baby gets out of my tummy. I laughed my head off at that one. 

After a couple miles it was time to get home, shower, clean kids up and dressed and off to Gma Robertson's to be baby-sat while I went to a Dr's appointment.  Their cousins were there, so that made it even more exciting. I went to my appointment and heard the baby's heartbeat. It was  steady 150, which was what both my boys always were, so that made me think I am having another boy. sigh.  But I was really glad to hear that little heartbeat in there and remind myself that it is a little baby and it is ours. I am so excited. I can't wait to hold the little one in my arms and see what it looks like.  I am excited to see James love and take care of the baby. He loves babies so much, and is so excited for this one.   It will be fun to see him bond with this one.

After the appointment  I went back to Gma's and while the boys played outside I picked raspberries. They began by helping me, but were eating more than I was picking. Then they found the blacckberries and honestly, Harrison just plopped himself down and ate as many blackberries as he could. his face, hands hair, shorts and shirts were covered in blackberry juice. It was the cutest thing ever and I was so sad not to have my camera with me. I love that my kids love fruit and veggies so much. I love to see them sit in the garden and eat as they pick, it is fun. 

While I was picking the raspberries though I kept thinking, "oh is Harrison okay? check on Harrison" So I kept checking on him and he was fin, just sitting there eating berries. I finished with the berries and took them inside. Right after I went inside I heard Harrison screaming. I ran outside and James and Joseph were swinging on this swing that has seats for four and can swing very high. But it is all hard plastic and metal, so very dangerous if a kid gets in the way. Which is exactly what Harrison has done. The poor little guy had a good bruise and scrape forming on the side of his face and forehead. His arm had two pretty deep cuts in it, and his back and shoulders were scraped up. I felt so bad for my little one. I calmed him down and after a nice bath and band aids he was feeling much better. But he looks like he just came out of a war zone.  Poor little kid.

So after that, the boys did not play on that swing. They rode bikes instead or played in the sand box, they still had plenty fun together. So I picked tomatoes while they played. I have to say that I really do love gardening. I love to see things grow and take care of them and then harvest whatever fruit or veggies we get. It is always so fun. There weren't a lot of tomatoes, but enough for a couple batches of tomato soup. mmmmm. I am so addicted. So I brought the kids inside and made tomato soup for my parents and then came home to made dinner for us. We had enchiladas. They were very tasty too. But I have to say, by the time dinner was over, I was really tired of being on my feet and was wishing I could just go to bed. But Ben and I cleaned the house, bathed kids, read stories, scriptures and had prayer. The kids then went to bed.  James actually stayed up a little longer. He and I played with legos for a little while. Harrison had broken one of James' sets earlier and I promised James I would help him rebuild it, so we did. So now, ah..., the kids are in bed, I am having a snack, in my my PJ's and am ready to just relax. 

Oh bragging moment here. In the last month I have run 3 half marathons. Provo River Half, Hobble Creek Half, and Spanish Fork Half.  yep I am awesome. Slow, but awesome.  :)  

James' First Day of School

Okay so Today Was James' First day of school. Well, preschool that is. He doesn't start kindergarten until next fall, but he has been asking me for forever when  he gets to go to school, and I debated and debated about sending him to preschool. But he really wanted to, and he seemed ready for it, so I signed him up last week. Since that day he has asked me everyday if he was going to school or not. He has been so excited to go!  In all his prayers for the last week he has said "please bless that I will do good in school". I love hearing his little prayers. I love to hear what he is really thinking about and how much things mean to him. His prayers are so sweet and so sincere. No wonder we are supposed to be like a child.  

Anyways, so he couldn't even sleep last night he was so excited. But the morning finally came, and he ate a nice big breakfast, got in his new school clothes and we took him to school. Oh yeah, he also got a new back pack. It is a Lightning Mcqueen back pack, and he has been carrying it around since we bought it.  That was in his prayers as well. So, we go to school, he went right in, gave me a hug goodbye, and started playing with the other kids. He seemed happy as could be. We went back to the car and I started to cry. I am pregnant, so cut me some slack here I cry at everything. Not because I was sad or anything just because, my little boy is growing up an I just can't believe how fast. So then Harrison and I were off. I went running, showered, and then he and I played a game. Oh yeah, and then he ate 3 bowls of cereal, and a banana. oinker. But a cute one.  It ws fun to have time with just Harrison and time to clean up. But I have to say, that I missed James! As did Harrison, he really missed him. He kept saying "where James go?". It was so cute. They are such friends. 

 But before I knew it it was time to pick James up, so we packed a lunch for a picnic and went back to the school. James saw me, waved and smiled. Then he began telling me all about school. Yes he loved it. He loved the singing part the best. But they played, learned about their bodies, and about the letter A. At coloring time he "tried to color faster, but still didn't have time to finish, so will just have to finish his picture at home" Which he did by the way and then hung it up in the kitchen. 

So then it was off to the park, the boys had plenty of fun there and James swung so high on the swings it seriously started to terrify me. But he loved it. He kept saying "yeah! I am awesome!!!" Oh this was cute. The picture that he didn't quite finish coloring had a little boy with a basketball and a football.  James pulled it out and showed Harrison, and then let Harrison carry it around the rest of the time. He kept saying "fooootball". I thought it was sweet of James to think of Harrison like that. 

Anyways, the rest of the day was the usual day. James and I read for a while, we had naps, made fresh tomato soup with garden tomatoes and it was delicious. I seriously love soup. All soups.  I could probably live off soup. But the rest of my family probably wouldn't like that, so I only make them eat it once a week.  After dinner, Ben and James played baseball again. James is getting really good at it. Ben put a video of James on You tube. I think the title is "My four year old swings a bat better than you". Yeah, nice I know. But Ben is pretty darn proud of the kid, and what dad isn't proud of their son? I love seeing those two play. Harrison likes to watch them too.

Oh, the picture of James on the moon....well he went to the moon on labor day, it was too cold here. Ha, so we went to the Clark Planetarium and Ben took James' picture there. It was a fun day.  Oh yeah, one more thing, I was cooking dinner tonight and Harrison usually is beggin me for food the entire time I cook, this time he was leaving me alone. And for a second I thought, wow, he is being really good. Um, yeah he had a blue marker and his entire body was blue when I found him. Yep, that is my Harrison.  

Just Call me Grumpy

So today has to be in the top 3 of "Emily's most emotional, bad mood, insane person" days of my life. Seriously. It didn't start out so bad. James slept in.... I think that kid is going through a growth spert he sleeps way more, he actually eats these days and often complains about his legs hurting....Anyways, So he slept in, which meant I slept in and got a decent night's sleep last night. It was good. I had to take the car in for an oil change, and the Honda place is in SLC, so I thought I would make it a fun day for the kids and take them to the zoo. So I got the kids ready and I hurried to get ready and when I came downstairs, the kids had dumped out the desk drawers all over the floor....GRRR!!!  One thing you must know about me and this pregnancy I have 100% zero tolerance for messes because it takes so much more effort these days to clean the house, so I kind of go a little crazy about trying to keep the house clean. Anyways, so that was not a very happy thing. We get to the dealership and wait, and wait, and wait! For 1 1/2 hours. The kids were running around the room  like wild animals, there was no entertainment for them whatsoever. It was not great. And I was not feeling good, at all. But the good thing was, was that they  checked my tires and there was a nail in one of them so they repaired it. I was grateful for that since Ben and I are driving to his brother's wedding this weekend and as much as I love flat tires......I don't.  So it was off to the zoo. I grabbed the kids and I lunch at Wendy's and we ate on the way. Just before we get there, Harrison throws his drink at my seat. What the world? Another lovely mess. The Zoo was actually pretty fun. Harrison loved the Owls the best and kept saying "whooo...whooo" it was really cute. And we went on the train ride and both the boys loved that. But the last 30 min James started whining. "mom why can't we go to 7 peaks? I just want to go to 7 peaks right now! Why can't we ever have fun? I just want to play all the time. Let's go to 7 peaks. We never get to go to 7 peaks" It was 100% non stop until we got to the car. My patience was just about up at this point. I mean, we just spent the day at the zoo, how about "mom thanks for taking us to the zoo, it was so fun! You are the best!" nope, none of that. just more more more more more of whatever they don't have. Sheesh. Yeah he got the word about that, I wasn't very happy. And I don't put up with whining so well. So we drive home. My head is spinning, I am tired, and it is time to make dinner. So I start making dinner.  While I am making dinner, the kids trash the house faster than I ever thought possible. Dumping out the newly folded laundry, dumping out all of their toys all over the house. Coloring themselves with markers. Getting into everything you can possibly imagine. Yeah, at this point I seriously went crazy.  I just started to cry. The house was just a disaster and the last thing in the world that I wanted to do was to clean it all over again. The kids were completely out of control. (I don't know what their deal was today, they were unusually terrible) Everywhere I looked in the house was just...mess.  Ben called, I told him I was about to crazy, just to warn him that he was coming home to a very emotional insane wife. ha! But he was good, he came home, he helped clean up the mess. I got dinner on the table and what does Harrison do? Throw his food across the kitchen and laugh his head off. yeah, he was in trouble for that one.  It was chili by the way. Not a very clean thing. I think James had clued in that mom wasn't in the best of moods that day because he ate his dinner very well and did not complain. good job James. After dinner I laid down on the couch for a minute while Ben played baseball with the boys outside (aren't dad's great?) After a short snooze we went for a good long walk, the kids were once again unusually insane and we brought them home for baths and beds. I started giving them their baths and I still wasn't the happiest camper alive, the kids were just driving me crazy! And Ben came into the bathroom asking me what I wanted him to do to help. And I don't remember what I said. But I do remember his reply. He took my shoulders and said (in a nice gentle way, not mean) "hey, I know you're not happy right now, but could you just try, just a little bit?" He said it in the nicest way possible and I just laughed at him and thought, "em get over it, snap out of it, whatever it is" So I got the kids in bed. Ben and I cleaned the house 100% clean, and then we watched a show together.  Now I just drank a big glass of ovaltine (I truly hate milk, but I will drink it if there is something sweet mixed in with it) I am glad I have a husband though that is so patient with me on my unbelievably grumpy days and will just try to cheer me up.  

A Full Summer

WOW! Has it really been that long since I last posted? Sheesh, this summer flew by in a flash. It always makes me so sad to watch the days get shorter and the temperatures slowly drop. It always seems like summer ends so suddenly, we will be in hot august and before you know it, it is october and it is cold and all the leaves are falling. sigh. But at least we had a great summer this year.  So I had better post something about it. Let start with my favorite thing...running! So Ben ran his first 5k in June at the Lehi round-up days. I don't remember his exact time, but it was about 25 min. I thought that was really good for his first race. Then a week after that we both ran the Provo Freedom Run 10k on the 4th of July. We ran with all of my family and it was so much fun!!! I came in at 52:10 and ben came in at 59:00. Then the very next morning I hosted a Family 5k for my families Family Reunion. That was really fun I made a finishing chute and everything. Our kids all sat by the finish line with Gma and Gpa and cheered us on. It was so cute. And then we had kids races and all the kids raced and they loved it! They were so excited about all running and finishing the race. It was great. Then the rest of July was filled with training runs for the Half Marathon we were all doing in August. We ran the provo river trail every weekend with other members of our family and it was so great. I seriously loved going on those long runs with my family. I mostly ran with my sister in-law Emily from Georgia.  It was great running with her. Then the day of the Provo River Half Marathon came. That was two weeks ago. We had a pasta party the night before and we went and drove the route of the race. Several of my family members ran the race......Emily (my sister in-law), My brothers jeremy and jay. My sisters Amy and Rebecca and Then of course Ben and I. It was the funnest race ever! I loved running with so many members of my family. I loved seeing them at different points of the course and running with them for a while here and there. I mostly ran with Ben though and that was super fun. Anyways, we all finished, it was awesome, went and got breakfast and then lazed around the rest of the day. It was a good day. I was so proud of all of my family for training and running the race! I was really proud of Ben because he actually doesn't like running so much but he knew I wanted him to run with me so he did. Nice husband. Then today I ran the Hobble Creek Half Marathon. It wasn't near as much fun. No one was there, I ran by myself, crossed the finish, got in my car and went home. boring. But at least I did it. 

Okay so now to our biggest summer news..we are expecting baby #3! I am currently 10 weeks along and have been nauseated 24/7. Yeah it is getting really old. I am always sick and always tired, but I know that it usually ends after the 3rd month so only a couple more weeks (cross your fingers) of being sick. But I have to say that I am REALLY REALLY excited for this baby. It is so real to me. Much more than with my other pregnancies. Maybe it just gets that way the more kids you have, I don't know. But instead of just being like, oh yeah I am pregnant there is a baby in there. I know that it is our little baby that is growing inside me, and I can totally sense its sweet spirit, and that it was 100% meant to come to our family. I feel very connected to this baby. Even when I run, I know this may sound a little weird but here it is. I often worry that I am pushing myself to far or causing harm to the baby when I run. My Dr told me to keep my heart rate down and I can just keep on running, so I have been.  But I still pay very close attention to what my body is telling me when I run and take breaks more often than I usually do. But one thing I have noticed is that when I am running I am much more aware of the baby and I tihnk in my head "Baby you in there??" And seriously I can totally feel its presence and I feel like it likes the running and that running these races with me is a special thing. And I feel like the baby is strong with me while I run. Now I know that all sounds a little crazy because my baby currently looks like a gummy bear, but that is how I feel when I run.  I always feel really good when I run, it is good. James is very very excited for this baby to come. He tells everyone he is getting a little sister (no we don't know what we are having yet), but he thinks it is a girl. Harrison has no clue what is coming and will probably not enjoy the baby quite as much as James will. That should be exciting. 

Okay, now to our vacations over the summer. We went camping in June and that was great great great!!!  And then in July we went to California to Disneyland! It was my first time and it was so much fun. James loved it way tons, and Harrison.....well he really liked the Mickey Mouse balloon we bought him. James and Ben had the greatest time ever though. WE also took my little brother Jay with us. So those 3 went on a lot of rides together. James' favorite was Space Mountain, they went on that several times and then he loved the Matterhorn and of course splash mountain.  He did not like the Haunted Mansion though and still tells us that it was too scary.  we watched the firework show both nights and I loved it both times. Seriously, I swear Disneyland really is like a little magical land. I can't wait to go back. WE spent 2 very full days in Disneyland and spent 1 day at the beach. I forgot how much i like the beach. james loved it as well, and once again Harrison was not sure about it. ben and Jay played in the waves most of the time and got totally sun burned. Crazy boys. James and I played in the sand the whole and looked for sea shells. It was fun.  And the last vacation we went on, well it was just me. But it was with all of my sisters and sister in laws. We went up to an amazing cabin near aspen grove and spent last weekend there. I loved it. I told Ben we really need to buy a cabin now. Anyways, we had fun scrapbooking together, playing pranks on each  other, and Amy, Em, and I ran to stewart falls and back one evening. That was probably one of the funnest runs I have ever ever done. First off, we kicked serious butt. We were flying! Not really flying, but I felt like it sometimes. I loved how fast we were able to go and how easy it was for me. It made me feel super strong. I think I am going to have to go run that again before the summer really ends.  

Anyways, the rest of our summer has been full of playing with cousins, going on bike rides (harrison and I went on a 21 mile bike ride the other day and we loved it!) Going on hikes, swimming, playing quietly while mom tries to lay down and not die. ha ha.  Oh, yesterday was Ben's birthday. James was the most excited for the birthday than any of us. It was so funny. He came with me to buy the presents last week and I told him he could not tell Daddy what we got him for his birthday. He promised he wouldn't. But said that he was going to trick daddy and tell him we got him tay-toe heads and  other things that we actually did not get him. So as soon as Ben got home James says "daddy, we got you a tay-toe head for your birthday" and then he would laugh and ben and I laughed even harder. He did this until Bens b-day. And then he got me up at 7 am and said "mom let's go decorate". So we did, he helped me blow up balloons and curl ribbons, he even wrapped some of the presents. Then we went and got Ben up. This is what he actually got for his b-day. Indiana Jones legos (James picked those out for him and Ben to play with together, which they did all night)  candy and a Telescope. Ben tried the telescope last night and it wasn't working right. So we traded it today for a different one and it works great. We saw jupiter and its moons, that was really cool. we are going to go up the canyon next week and look at the stars from there, that should be fun. Ben loves it though, so I think I did a good job for his bday. Anyways, so now I am tired, my legs are sore, I want to puke but my blog is caught up, the house is ...... 75% clean, good enough these days, And I think it is time to go watch a movie with Ben. So, good night all. Sorry this blog is so long.