Withdrawals…

On an amazingly depressing note, my friends Cecy and Heather are moving back to New Mexico this week. (I am honestly crying all over my keyboard just typing this.) Cecy, Heather and their families moved out to the Bay Area three years ago so their husbands could get PhD’s. Now they have to go back to their “real jobs” far away from here. I am sad…very sad. Cecy and Heather are wonderful Mothers, women and friends. I am so thankful for their friendship! (Sniff-sniff-sob--OK I have to stop talking about it now.) Here is a shot of me and Heather at the ward farewell for them and several other families moving away this summer.

This folks is why I am always behind the camera and not in front of it. I have the enviable talent of consistently looking like a moron whenever the flash of a camera goes off—oh and I am also always eating cupcakes—who needs a picture of that? On the plus side; look how great Heather looks! We took three pictures and I looked increasingly goofy in every one. Heather, on the other hand, continued to look refined and beautiful in every picture. Don’t you wish you could be her friend too?



For the last two years I have worked in the Primary Presidency with Heather. I never thought I could have so much fun under such unique stress. Because Heather is moving we were all released from our primary callings and a whole new slew of fabulous women were called to work with the kids. It has been several weeks now since I have not been in primary but every couple of days I still find myself thinking: "What do I need to do to get ready for primary this Sunday?" Just tonight I grabbed my church bag in a panic remembering that August was my month to teach the kids and I had not prepared a lesson yet! I really loved being in primary and Sundays just have not been the same. Maybe I'll just go and hang out in the back of the room...

Here is a picture of the totally awesome women who I worked with in primary. Liz, Cherisse, Cecy, Heather and Me. As mentioned above, Cecy and Heather are moving away--thank goodness I'll still have Liz and Cherisse to keep me company.

Reunion...

Hi! I’m back, did you miss me? No, probably not—but I am sure you missed all those pictures of my children I always post? Yes! Anyway, my absence is explained thusly: I got a whopper of a virus and was sick in bed for 10 days. Just as the virus was wrapping things up my husband’s family reunion started. Almost all of his brothers and sisters came out to California for a week of fun and family. Really, it was a crazy-good time, just keep reading to find out how crazy-good it was.

On Monday we spent the day down in Monterey Bay where we went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. The Aquarium was big, cool and crowded…turns out we went on “Local Day” so the place was packed. We had a fun time going from one gigantic tank to another seeing all the fish and sea life. After the Aquarium we all went to dinner at a local sea food place. And for the whole day I left my camera in the trunk of our car—so here are all the pictures I took…

Woops! I guess I didn't take any pictures.

On Tuesday the family headed out to the Santa Cruz Mountains for a hike. I stayed home since I was still trying to kick that stinkin’ virus (it did not work).

Wednesday was packed with more action…we drove north to Six Flags. We walked all over the park, saw dolphins and penguins, ate dip-in-dots, walked all over the park, took the kids on any ride we could, saw tigers, walked all over the park and got soakin’ wet riding a water flume three times. Whew, what a day!

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See that roller coaster cart waaaaaaaaay up there a hundred feet in the air? Uh-huh, that one. My first baby is strapped into that roller coaster cart with her father, and she is about to plummet towards two upside down loops. I stayed below, trying to keep from wetting my pants in sympathetic worry. Will said Lorien had a blast. She was nervous but oh, so excited! When they dropped she started to scream. But 1/2 a second later the force of the roller coaster took her breath away, and she couldn't scream any more. Wyatt was green with envy.

Thursday was our camping day. My sister-in-law, Charity, got us camp sites at the beach. We headed over in the late afternoon to set up our tent and eat food cooked over an open fire. Our camp sites were in the dust-bowl. Try as I might to keep the kids clean, it was useless. Within 20 minutes their faces were brown with dust, and their fingers were black with dirt—but they were happy. Grandpa Clay and Grandma Liz brought bubbles, coloring books, colored pencils and a little toy for each grandchild. The bubbles where a huge hit, and all the kids had fun with the toys and coloring books.



After a chilly night, where both Wyatt and Clare woke up with peed beds (Awesome!) Will took the kids on a hike around the wilderness.

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We spent most of Friday at the beach. I love the beach! Almost every beach in California is only accessible by parking in a designated lot and then descending a series of wooden stairs down to the beach. At all of the beaches I’ve been to so far the stairs have been no big deal, but that changed on Friday. This beach had a literal mile of stairs down to the sand—a mile of them! We hauled our beach stuff down to the sand and considered ourselves lucky to make it. Then came the “good news” all of the beaches bathrooms were back at the top of the stairs. “No big deal” thought I. Our kids should be fine for the afternoon.

After a couple of hours of playing in the water and sand the unthinkable happened—Clare came running up to me saying: “Momma, I’m hot.” Now, “I’m hot” has nothing to do with Clare's physical temperature—but instead everything to do with her three year old bowels…

Clare needed the bathroom immediately!

I tried not to panic while hustling her little body over the sand but within 15 seconds of telling me she was “hot” she had messed her pants. It was awful! Clare immediately broke into hysterical sobs, “Oh Momma!” she wailed, “Poop goes in the potty not in my bathing suit!” She was inconsolable, and I was grossed out. I wrapped her in a towel and started the mile long hike up the stairs to clean her up.

Hey, did I tell you that I am pregnant? Oh, well, I am—twenty-one weeks to be exact! So, you can imagine my delight at having to carry a poo covered toddler up an enormous flight of stairs with my midsection wrapped in 21 weeks of pregnancy. I am also insanely out of shape; I had to stop every 10 stairs so my heart would not explode in my chest.

The awesomeness of the outing did not end there—oh no my friends—when we finally made it up to the bathroom it contained a miniature sink running cold water and NO soap! With our camping bathroom kit locked safely in the car and the keys down at the beach, I was seriously up Clare-crap creek without a soapy paddle.

After a few short seconds of ineffectively splashing my naked, screaming daughter with cold water, Will came to my rescue. He had sensed doom when Clare announced her “hot” status, quickly packed up our gear, and herded the big kids up the stairs behind me. He helped me clean up Clare and dressed her in new clothes while I cleaned myself up. We will NEVER go to that beach again—NEVER!

We really had a nice time at the beach--before "the accident".

Oh hey, here are a couple of pictures of my brothers-in-law and my husband getting into and wearing wet-suits. Why include these pictures? Because these guys look hilarious—and if you don’t agree with me—frankly—you have no sense of humor.

Oh, did I forget to mention that Will had to put his wet-suit on after it was already wet?

Oh, and it is a ladies wet-suit, did I mention that?

See—the whole thing is hilarious! Big, hulking wrestling-dudes pinching themselves into rubber wet-suits which have a decidedly feminine cut—ha, ha, he, he…oh man, my sides hurt.
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For the Curious...

We had our level II ultrasound today. As always, it was so fun to see the baby. We are having another girl and she was very well behaved for the ultrasound. The technician was able to get all the necessary views of the baby to determine her perfect health. Since Stanford is a teaching hospital we had an intern in with us during the ultrasound. After the technician took all the pictures needed it was the interns turn so, we got an extra long look at the baby. We make beautiful babies! There are a couple of pictures from the ultrasound below. Sorry the quality is not great...they are pictures of pictures.

For most of the ultrasound the baby kept her body folded in half. Her little feet were way up by her ears and at one point she tucked her hands down between her legs so her feet were up and her hands were down. It made me laugh!

Congratulations to us! We are happy and excited. We had the technician write down the sex of the baby on a card so we could open it in private (thus, the opening sequence of pictures).

What a week..

Whew! We've had an eventful week. Last night as we were walking back to the car after watching the fireworks Wyatt counted aloud all the great things we got to do. He and Lorien were delighted to recall the fact that they have had six good days in a row. Here is the super summarized version. Check out the posts below for pictures and details. We really have had a great week...the performance will not be repeated next week. I am exhausted!

Monday to Tuesday the kids went over to their cousin's house for a sleep over.
Wednesday we went to the library.
Thursday we went to the beach--all day.
Friday was berry picking and a visit from Grandpa Clay and Grandma Lizz.
And Saturday was jam packed with 4th of July festivities.

Happy 4th of July!

We always manage to fit a lot into our day on the 4th of July. This year we repeated a lot of what we did last year and edited out an activity or two to save our sanity.

We attended our churches annual 4th of July breakfast. The kids sang "You're A Grand Old Flag" and "America The Beautiful" as part of the patriotic program. Lorien and her friend, Ellie, got to open "The Door to the Past" for our distinguished visitors: George Washington, Betsy Ross and Abraham Lincoln. Additionally, we all stuffed ourselves with pancakes, bacon, fruit and juice--an award-winning way to start our festivities.

After breakfast we packed a lunch and headed up the road to the Jr. Rodeo. The kids watched as the Rodeo Princesses and Queen rode in on their horses, roped cattle and the rodeo boys tried to stay on a jumping cow for 8 seconds. At last, it was the moment they'd all been waiting for...the pig scramble!

(Don't they look excited? Well, they are...)

Wyatt managed to grab a pig again this year, narrowly avoiding getting pooed on by said pig and earned a trophy.

Lorien had to move up an age group this year and the rules were stricter. Even though she helped carry a pig in with three other kids she did not get a trophy. Lorien was disappointed but maybe she'll get a trophy next year.

Clare watched from the safety of the stands, bravely cheering her brother and sister on.

With the rodeo activities successfully concluded with one cotton candy and two snow cones we got ready to watch the fireworks.

The show was awesome! The kids were as patient as they could be waiting for the sun to set and the sky to darken for the fireworks. We were thankful for our friends who kept us company as we passed the time. I was super thankful to the same friends who graciously introduced themselves to an old friend of mine whose name I could not remember! That's what friends are for...

Happy 4th of July! (Don't you think I deserve a nap?)