Tea Party

A few weeks ago, I walked out into the living room and saw this:Avery set up their princess table and chairs and got a dress-up outfit for her and both of her sisters. They had a tea party all by themselves, and it was to entertaining to watch them.

Some of their drink "concoctions" were pretty hilarious. I think Avery was pouring "chocolate juice" in this picture.

Pretty soon, all four sides of this table will be filled with girls. We'll have to get another chair when that happens. It's still hard to believe that we will have four girls in our family! Avery can't wait to meet her and be my big helper with her baby sister. It has been so nice to have a 6-year-old around the house lately! There have been a few mornings when I have woken up and come into the kitchen to find all three girls eating cereal and watching cartoons. Avery is getting so independent now, and is growing up so much. She has already lost 6 teeth and is working on her 7th. We love her so much and she is really a sweet kid.

Hayden is growing up a lot too, although she is still our little Hayden. She is full of surprises, and we never know what is going to come out of her mouth. She is definitely our animal lover, and each day it seems like she picks a new animal to imitate. It is usually the animal that is being rescued on Diego that day. A few days ago, her animal of choice was a lama. All of her stuffed animals became her lamas and she went around making this very unique sound that she had heard on Diego. Hayden definitely has her moments of screaming and frustration, but tells me several times throughout the day that she loves me and that I am her best friend. How can you be mad at that?

Kiley is definitely a 2-year-old now. She has some looks she gives that could absolutely kill anyone. She does not like to be told "No," although she enjoys saying it back to me several times a day. She is also growing up so much too. (It's amazing that kids do that, isn't it?!) She is talking so much now and she actually thinks she is bilingual now from watching Dora and Diego. The other day Kiley was climbing on the bleachers at the girls' swimming lessons and she needed help getting down from the top. All of a sudden, I heard her say, "Ayudame! Ayudame!" In case you didn't know, that means "Help me!" in Spanish and that phrase is used quite frequently on Nick Jr. That probably tells how much my children watch TV, but I really am working on limiting it :) It is hard in the summer!

Well, I am getting bigger and am now 24 weeks along. We are really excited to meet our newest little girl in October, although I am glad we still have a few months before she comes. Not so glad to be pregnant throughout the summer, but I can handle it for a few more months :) Having a pool definitely helps! Happy 1st day of Summer today!

Family Update

Wow, it's been over a month since I have posted! Where has the time gone?! Surprisingly, this summer is flying by so far. We have been pretty busy around here, and I have been meaning to post for a while. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post soon, but in the meantime, here's a shortened version of what we've been up to:

SCHOOL - Avery finished kindergarten at the end of May and is already excited about 1st grade next year. The elementary school she will be going to is excellent from what I've heard and read about it. Hayden will be starting preschool in the fall as well. She is actually going to be evaluated in a few weeks for speech therapy preschool. She still has a hard time with certain words and sounds, and if she gets approved, she will have FREE preschool at an elementary school. I have actually been working Avery & Hayden a little every day in our own "school" time in the mornings. Avery is doing well with reading and Hayden is working on writing her name. I am not perfect at it, but I felt like the TV was always on at our house, so we needed something to stimulate their brains for a little while. We went to the library last week too and signed up for the Summer Reading program, which has really motivated Avery to read more lately, which is great. They have some really fun (FREE) activities for kids at the library too. We love FREE, don't we?

CHURCH - We are finally feeling "settled" in our new house and ward. We are definitely the "young family" in this area. Most of the ward members are older and have grandkids. There are a few younger families, but we are definitely outnumbered. We have a lot to learn from their knowledge and experience though. Brandon and I spoke in church this past Sunday and our topic was "Parenting." We felt a little like we were preaching to the choir, as the majority of the audience has been parents much longer than we have, but overall I think it went well. I am actually teaching the Relief Society lesson in a few weeks for someone who will be out of town. I have not been to R.S. in years, let alone taught the lesson, so I'm a little nervous. But, we'll see how it goes. Brandon and I do not have callings yet, so we are a little anxious to see what we will be doing in the ward. It really is a great ward though, and we have had so much help moving in and meals brought and feeling so welcomed. We really feel like this is where we need to be right now.

SWIMMING - We love, love, love having a pool in our backyard. We spend most days out there it seems, which I think has made the summer go by quickly so far. The kids love swimming and both Avery & Hayden have really improved their skills a lot. They are taking swim lessons at Stapley Jr. High, which is right down the street from us. I honestly think they learn more from the practice at home, but it's good to learn the basics from an instructor. Hayden was absolutely terrified of the water just a few weeks ago and would not leave the steps without a floatie or hanging on to me. But, we put some goggles on her and kept pushing her (sometimes literally) and it finally clicked. She is a little fish now and loves it.

WORK - Brandon is still in New Mexico right now. We thought it would be a pretty steady schedule of Monday through Friday, but we are learning that it is not that cut and dry. They have worked through several weekends and he puts in 12-14 hour days consistently. He was home this past weekend from Friday night to Monday night, but he will have to work through this coming weekend all the way until next Thursday night. In case you lost count, that is 10 straight days of work - and being away from home. And this Sunday is Father's Day, which means he will be working instead of spending the day with his family. It really stinks! We are really hoping that he is able to do something different in a few months. The NM projects are scheduled to finish in August some time, so hopefully it won't be too much longer.

LIFE - Well, other than Brandon being gone, things are going pretty well here. It is soooo nice to be close to family who have been so helpful with the kids. It is so nice to drop off the kids when I have a doctor's appt. or need to run errands. Grocery shopping by myself is so wonderful!! I really am getting spoiled.

Everything is going well with my pregnancy so far. I can feel the baby moving like crazy now and I'm definitely getting bigger. I still have almost 4 months left though, so there is a lot of growing that still needs to happen. For now, I can at least bend over still and put shoes on little feet and sleep fairly comfortably. That will all change in a few months though, but I'll enjoy it while I have it. There are days when I am definitely tired and less than patient. Yesterday was one of those days! There was an increased amount of crying, screaming, and whining at our house and there were times that I was about to snap. We (barely) made it through dinner and I allowed the girls to have a bowl of popcorn before bed because they were finally somewhat getting along with each other and they all ate their dinner. When Avery was saying her prayers in her bed that night, this is what she said:

"Dear Heavenly Father, We thank thee that me and Hayden and Kiley were crying and screaming and whining a lot today, and we still got to have some popcorn. And we will be better tomorrow."

I couldn't help but laugh as I kissed Avery good night. I think Heavenly Father knew that I needed to end the day with a smile. I hope you are all doing well and enjoying your summer. Have a fabulous week!!

It's a....

GIRL!!! It turns out that I was right and everyone else who voted boy was wrong. We had our ultrasound on Friday and saw our little baby girl on the screen. She kept putting her hands up by her face, so we didn't get a good picture of her profile or face, but it was definitely a girl. I have to admit that I was slightly disappointed for a few minutes, but then I got over it and I'm actually excited now. Most of you know that I had 4 girls in my family and no boys and we had a lot of fun together (and still do!) So, all is well. Girls are good and I don't need to buy any new clothes/baby stuff for this one. After the appointment, I looked at Brandon and said, "Well, now we have five months to pick a name!" It usually takes us the whole pregnancy to find/agree on a name, and it is getting more difficult with each girl. But, you will have to wait until she is born to know what her name will be anyway. We like to keep the name a surprise!

Well, we are somewhat settled in now to this house. Of course, there are boxes still all over the place, but I think we will be much happier here, and I have already noticed a difference in my allergies/asthma since we moved in. The kids and Ginger love having a yard to play in too. This is our first full week with Brandon gone though, so we'll see how it goes...

Anyway, thank you for all of your love and support. It means so much to our family! I hope you all had a great mother's day by the way. Have a fabulous week :)

Roller Coaster

Well, to sum up our last few weeks, the first phrase that comes to mind is: ROLLER COASTER. We moved into a rental house in Mesa on April 17th. We loved the house, the neighborhood, the ward, Avery's school, etc. The only problem was that our allergies and my asthma went haywire almost immediately upon move-in. We soon discovered that the previous tenants had let their cat(s) use the carpet throughout the house for a litter box. I had such a difficult time breathing that I had to go to the doctor and get a breathing treatment, as well as a new inhaler prescription. Prior to this, I had not used my inhaler for at least two years, but was using it every few hours during our first week in this house.

Anyway, I will spare you will all of the details, but to make a long story short, our property managers have been less than favorable to work with and the owners have refused to replace the carpets - despite being told by a professional carpet cleaner that they were beyond repair, and despite the fact that we are suffering with health problems and I am four months pregnant. So, we are now in the process of packing everything again and moving to a different house this Saturday. Thankfully, I had not unpacked everything yet (toys, books, misc.) because we thought they were going to replace the carpets and we would need to move it all again anyway. Unfortunately, I got rid of all of our boxes that I spent weeks collecting, so I'm back to square one. And, Brandon is now out of town until Thursday night, so I'm pretty much on my own to pack up the house.

OK, before I continue my Sally Sob Story, I have to say that it has been wonderful to be close to family and I know they will be helping a lot over the next few days. And the house we are moving to will be much cheaper for us, so there are definitely blessings we are receiving amongst the chaos. There are always so many things to be grateful for, and that is what I have tried to focus on lately. Everything happens for a reason, and we definitely learn things during our "trials."

On a happier note as well, we have three more days until we find out if our new little one will be a boy or a girl. The votes on the poll have definitely been outnumbered! 10 votes for BOY and 1 vote for GIRL. And guess who that one vote was from? Me! We'll find out soon, and we are really excited. Our computer will most likely be out of commission for the weekend during the move, but as soon as it is up and running again, I will post the results of the ultrasound! I hope you all have a fabulous day and again, forgive me of my whining. I just need to get it out sometimes, and then I feel better :)

What do you think?

OK, so my ultrasound is coming up on May 7 and I am curious to know how many of you think we are having a girl and how many of you think we are having a boy. I put a poll up on the top right of the blog so you can vote. We are anxious to find out!

Greetings from Mesa!

Well, we are officially living in Mesa now! We packed up the house in Casa Grande and made the move last Saturday. By the time we unloaded the moving truck and got to bed it was almost midnight and we were exhausted! We did make it to church the next morning at 8:30 though. We really like our new ward and we met a lot of nice people that day. There are lots of kids and young families - they had 4 nurseries and 3 Sunbeam classes! We are looking forward to serving here and getting to know everyone.

So far everything has gone fairly well. It is always a lot of work to unpack and organize everything, but we are getting there. Avery started her new school on Monday and loves it. She really likes her teacher and has already made some friends in her class. The school is really close to our house too, which is nice. She is actually home sick today, which she was very sad about :( She woke up with a tummy ache and has been throwing up this morning. My kids always seem to get sick at the most convenient times! I know it's not their fault. I guess I just needed to add one more thing to my plate right now, even though I was pretty sure it was already full to begin with :)

Well, I have my husband for a few more days and then he is off to New Mexico for work next week. I can't believe how quickly that has come. He will be working there Monday through Friday and home on the weekends. I know it will bring challenges, but thankfully (and hopefully) it will only be for the next four months or so. After that, we are praying that he will be able to work closer to home. I am really glad we moved when we did though. It would have been nearly impossible to do all of this without him here! I feel so blessed to be close to both of our families now though. Both of our parents have already been a HUGE help to us this past week, and I know they will continue to help over the coming months. Our families are close, our doctors are close, and we feel so blessed to be here.

To all of our friends in Casa Grande, we miss you and hope you are doing well. Thank you for your help with moving, babysitting, and for just being great friends. We hope to see you again soon! If you are ever in the valley, please feel free to visit. We would love to see you.

My Birthday Surprise!

On March 5th, the day before my birthday, I woke up to a huge surprise. I said goodbye to Brandon and then it wasn't until about 20 minutes after he left that I noticed a letter taped to the wall. It was actually a poem that Brandon had written to me and it was all about his elaborate plan he had been working on for weeks for my birthday. I discovered in the poem that I was to pack my bags because we would be leaving the next morning for 5 nights in California! As I was reading it, I kept saying, "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!!" Avery kept asking me, "What, Mommy? What, Mommy?" I was seriously in shock. I knew that Brandon had something planned for me because he specifically requested that we do Avery's B-day party on Friday, the 5th instead of on Saturday, the 6th like I had originally planned. I had no idea it was going to be a vacation though! Brandon took care of everything - he arranged babysitting with grandparents, he notified Avery's teacher at school, and he even rescheduled the doctor's appointments that I had for the following week.

So, on Saturday morning, we dropped the kids off and we were off to California. We stopped in Palm Springs on the way to do a little shopping at the outlets there. Then that night we stayed in a hotel in Agoura Hills, which is near L.A. It was really pretty there - they have green hills everywhere (hence the name) and it is peaceful and quiet. It had actually rained pretty much the whole day and night on Saturday, so we were happy to wake up to a beautiful Sunday morning, and it really didn't rain much during the rest of our trip. Here are some pictures and highlights of our trip: These pictures were taken at The Getty Center, which is a really amazing museum and public center. It has incredible architecture and is set at the top of a huge hill, so the views from the balconies are really amazing. You really could spend all day there looking at all the exhibits and seeing everything they have there.

We walked through the painting and ancient artifacts galleries, but were actually more amazed at the building structure and surroundings itself.

This was a view of the garden center from one of the balconies.

I love tulips, so I had Brandon take some pictures of these beautiful yellow ones. They had so many different types of flowers and vegetation there.

This was down in the garden center, which was really cool. I still don't know how they make and maintain that maze of flowers and shrubs in the middle of the water.

It was quite windy that day, so please ignore my crazy hair. We had such a great time there though. After we left The Getty Center, we drove down to San Diego and spent the rest of our nights in a hotel right in downtown. There is really so much to do there, you could spend weeks there if you had the time and money. The streets are lined with hundreds of restaurants, there are several malls and shopping centers nearby, two different movie theaters to choose from, and the harbor is also within walking distance so you are still close to the water. We loved staying downtown. We are usually close to the beach when we go there, but it was too cold to go to the beach anyway and there are so many other things to do in San Diego besides the beach.

This picture at the temple was actually taken on the last day we were there. We were able to do sealings in the San Diego temple on the morning we drove home. It was so amazing to be there. We had never been on the inside of that temple, and it was really incredible.

These last pictures were taken at the Wild Animal Park in San Diego. It was a beautiful day (a little chilly in the shade, but still nice :) This park is set up much differently than the zoo in that the animals are not caged or blocked off like the zoo animals are. They have thousands of acres of land and they basically let the animals roam around as if they would in their natural habitat.

This macaw actually talked to people as they came in the park. He would say, "Hello, how are you?" It was pretty funny.

They had tons of giraffes there. This one kept sticking its long, black tongue out. They are pretty amazing to watch.

This lion definitely ruled its "territory". He was eating some meat at the time and was definitely guarding it from the other lions.

They had three cheetahs out at one point, but we couldn't get a good shot of all three of them.

It was just beautiful there and GREEN everywhere we went. It's funny that whenever we go to California (or anywhere) for that matter, we are always amazed at the color and variation of the landscape there. We are so accustomed to the Arizona desert and brown dirt everywhere. I guess that's one perk to living here - you appreciate the color you see everywhere you go.

Anyway, we had such a fun vacation - it was my best birthday ever! It was so nice to get a break and to spend some quality time just as a couple. That is not so easy to do these days, and since Brandon will be travelling soon for work, it was really nice to be able to get away together before that happens. We are eternally grateful for grandparents who watched the kids (and our dog) for us while we were gone and who made this trip possible. We are so lucky to have them in our lives and we are excited to be moving closer to them soon!

Yes, we are moving by the way. Many of you know this already but we are moving to Mesa in the middle of April and we are very excited. We will of course miss our friends and ward members in Casa Grande. We have lived here for almost 5 1/2 years, so we have a lot of good memories here, but we feel like it's time for a change for us and we are definitely looking forward to it. The next few weeks will be quite busy, so blogging may be put on hold for a while, but I will definitely update it as soon as we get settled in. I am so glad we have blogs and emails and so many different forms of communication to keep in touch with people. It makes moving and saying goodbye to friends a little easier.