September

September has flown by. I'm actually a little glad, because it's been such a busy month and it just means that we're closer to when this little man will come! I have been busy getting our ward's primary program put together and we are also doing an activity for the primary kids with our practice. That has taken up most of my time this month! I'm sure Bryan and the kids will be glad to have the dining room table back this weekend- it's covered with projects! I'll have to post some pictures of the activity. We have lots of fun things planned!

 

Benny and I are getting used to being alone during the days. We play pirates, knights, superheroes, power rangers, and lots of other things. Benny loves to wear new costume accessories. He always has something on and changes his outfit numerous times a day. He cracks me up. I really love hanging out with him. We are best buds!

My pregnancy just keeps moving along! Besides, the constant heartburn I feel pretty good. I have been having a lot of Braxton-Hicks contractions. I'm hoping that's a good sign that this boy will come early. I'm trying not to get my hopes up though! I tried to take some pictures of my belly the other day so I can have some of this pregnancy. Setting the timer and jumping on and off the bed too many times was painful. I gave up after about thirty attempts so this is the best I got.

Benny decided to join me after watching for a while. He was so cute. I didn't even tell him to kiss my belly in this one, he just did it at the perfect time! He is really excited for his brother to be 'borned'. The past week or so Bennett thinks the baby's name will be Nephi Edmund. Hmmmm. Not sold on that one yet. 

Bennett thinks hanging out in his underwear is the greatest thing! He will ask me if he can hang out in them after he goes potty. If I say yes he answers with a big, "YES! Thanks Mom!"

The girls are enjoying school. They are so afraid of getting in trouble and they stress a lot about following the rules. I'm not sure where they get that from. Probably me, I think I was that way when I was young. I grew out of that once middle school came along!

 Niah and Chloe got a hold of the camera the other day and this is what I found on it.

Bryan went to Ukraine too this month. He went to be a doc for the U.S. weight lifting team. He had a good time and even said he would go back to Europe with me someday. YES! I was hoping he would say that. I've been trying to convince him for years that Europe is a great place to go visit. I told him he needs to do a blog post about his trip. He might eventually get around to it.

 

Life is a whirlwind right now, but I'm trying to enjoy it and take it all in. I am trying to soak up these last few weeks of being pregnant. I love being pregnant, but I have been so busy I haven't really been able to enjoy it! It's going too fast. October will be focused on getting ready for the baby to make his appearance. We are all very excited around here!

First Day of School

Well, it came. The first day of school is here!

 The girls were so excited, especially Chloe. She has been waiting and waiting to go to Kindergarten! The morning went well, for the most part. Niah gets so nervous for new things. She was sick to her stomach and couldn't eat breakfast. She cried from the minute we left the house (including her whole bus ride) to the minute I said goodbye to her at the school. I felt so bad for her. I wish I could take her anxieties away for her. I know she'll do great though and she will be excited to go back tomorrow. She looks so big in her collared shirt and curly hair. What happened to my baby?!

Chloe was so hyper this morning. She was ready in about 20 minutes with her backpack on and everything. She knew Niah was nervous so she told me, "Mom, don't worry, I'll keep Niah brave." She hopped right on the bus and went right into her classroom. I think she was bugged that I hung around for a bit to make sure she was okay! She was so happy to be at school. I can't believe she is in Kindergarten. Crazy.

Here's Niah getting ready to go into her classroom. She's putting on a smile for the camera, but you can tell she had red, puffy eyes from crying. As we walked down the hall, teachers could tell she was upset and nervous. So many of them came up to her and gave her a hug and told her they were happy to see her. I was so impressed! That's a huge reason that I love their school. I know Niah will be well taken care of today. 

I guarantee Chloe is thinking inside, "Geez Mom, could you put the camera away and leave already?!" She's too cute.

 

 

Benny misses his sisters today. I asked him what he wanted to do today while the girls were at school and his answer was, "go to Target and play cars together!" So, that's what we did and he's been loving the one on one time. It's really weird to have only one kid at home. I'm going to spoil Benny until the baby comes while I have him all to myself! I'm so proud of my girls for being brave and being such good students. I know they will rock 2nd grade and Kindergarten! 

New Glasses and 28 Weeks

Niah has been complaining that her eyes hurt while she reads for a few months now. I thought it was maybe because she always reads right before she goes to bed and she was tired. Well, she went to the eye doctor last week and sure enough she is farsighted! I was really surprised. Bryan and I are both nearsighted and I don't think (as far as I know) farsightedness runs in the family- weird. Anyway, she got her glasses yesterday and she looks so cute! It makes her look so old and grown up. She has been wearing them ever since we picked them up. I don't think she'll ever take them off!

And just for fun, here is a picture of me at 28 weeks pregnant. This pregnancy is flying by. I haven't even thought about getting ready for this little guy. I really don't have that much time left! I really need to get on the ball. I lay in bed awake at night thinking about boy names. Nothing has stuck yet. Boy names are so hard! I always think people who don't have a name when they leave the hospital are very indecisive. Shouldn't nine months be enough time to come up with a name?! I might be one of those people now. Ugh.

I feel pretty good, for the most part. Sure I get heartburn, swollen ankles and I'm starting to waddle, but those are things I can deal with! I love being pregnant. It's such an exciting time!

Utah Trip 2012

We just got back from a trip to Utah. It was a crazy, busy trip for us. I counted it up and we slept in seven different places and drove 1,290.37 miles in ten days! Bryan had a couple of job interviews that we squeezed in too. We interviewed in Twin Falls, ID and Morgan, UT. We are hoping that at least one of them works out for us so we can get closer to family. It would be so great!

There were so many pictures I decided to put them into collages to fit them all in. After Bryan and I finished in Twin Falls met my family in Burley, ID so we could see them participate in the Spudman Triathlon on Saturday. We had a good time watching them and cheering them on. They all did such a good job!

On Sunday, we headed down to Aurora to see Bryan's family. We took a family vacation to Lake Powell with them. It was the first time we had all been together in four years! It was an adventurous trip and everything that could have gone wrong went wrong- except someone getting hurt, which I'm grateful for. Our adventure included a broken boat trailer, people getting lost for three hours with my kid in the car and no cell phone reception, a boat hitting a rock and being out of commission for the trip, wind and lightning storms, broken steering on one of the boats while out tubing, a boat running out of gas due to the company telling us it was a 90 gallon tank when it was only a 50 gallon tank, getting pulled over by a ranger because the borrowed boat we had carried too many people in it (we loaded everyone in one boat to get back to the houseboat after running out of gas), trying to get the houseboat cleaned up and ready to go without the men around because it had to be in sooner than we thought, unloading the houseboat in the dark with tired and hungry kids, and finally,a dog peeing on my sister-in-law's purse while waiting to get into a hotel room. It was quite the experience! I'm very glad Bryan comes from a family of lots of boys who are mechanics who were able to fix and take care of all the boat problems. Despite all the trials, we had a great time and I think it will be a trip that we will talk about for a very long time! It was so much fun to hang out with the Masons and the kids LOVED being with their cousins.

The whole Mason crew. (Kels, I hope you don't mind I used your picture!)

Thank you Shannon and Ferald for a fun trip, great food, and wonderful company! We are grateful for all the planning and hard work you put into our family vacation!

After Lake Powell, we headed back up to Salt Lake so Bryan could interview in Morgan and then we headed up to my mom and dad's cabin to relax and finish up the trip. There is something about the cabin that is so relaxing. Every time I go up there all I want to do is sleep and just veg. My kids had a good time walking up the lane and finding animal tracks, riding the motorcycles, and seeing Mangy Moose. They aren't used to the mountains so they loved exploring and being in the fresh air.

It's always so much fun to be with family. I hope the next time we head to Utah it will be because we are moving there. I would love, and I'm sure the kids would love, to see grandmas, grandpas, cousins, aunts and uncles more than just a few times a year. We can only wait and hope for now.

The Celebration

Benny's birthday was very low key. I feel bad in a way that I didn't have much planned, but he could have cared less! The highlight of his day was getting to play with his buddy Jace. They had a fun time just being together and playing at the house. Here are the boys giving me their best silly faces!

I made them super capes. They were in heaven! They went from saving the world from bad guys to wrestling each other down to the ground.

If you look closely, you can see Bennett's foot and the top of his head. I think Jace won!

Bennett felt so special opening his presents. In this one below he had just opened a Captain America snow hat from grandma. He loves it!

All he wanted for his birthday celebration was a Captain America cake and Spiderman cups. I think we pleased him- it's not hard to do!

Benny has two big sisters that just adore him. They were so happy to celebrate with him and loved spoiling him all day.

Yummy!

It's hard to believe that Bennett is three. We are going to have some good alone time once the girls go bak to school. He will probably get sick of me! We love you Bennett and are so glad you are part of our family. You make it extra special.

Three Years Old

Happy Birthday to the sweetest boy I know! Bennett is three years old today! It's amazing that it has gone so fast. I feel like he is still my baby boy. He has us all wrapped around his finger. He's pretty spoiled around here!

Here's to a fabulous day of riding your new motorcycle, eating a Captain America cake, and playing superheroes with your sisters and friend Jace. We love you and are so happy you are part of our family. You are one special little boy!

Evening Up the Teams

Well, it looks like we are going to even things up and add another little BOY to our family! We are thrilled! Benny is excited to have a brother and he thinks his name should be Jacob. Hmmm.

The ultrasound tech gave us a cd with all the pictures of the baby on it! I've never gotten one of those before and I love that I can put the pics on the computer and blog. Here's a few of the best ones.

It's definitely a BOY!! I could tell before the tech even said anything!

Cute little face. I wonder what/who he'll look like?!

 It's so funny because when we found out what Bennett was I posted that boy names were easy and that we had a lot of them. Now, we have no idea what names we like! I guess it's a good thing we have some time to think about it. I hope it comes to us like it has in the past. I am so excited for this little man to get here!