Because It Was Time

I'm home from church today with a sick little one, so I figured this would be a good time for me to change my blog. New background, check. New title, check. New picture header ... still can't figure that one out on my own.

In case you were wondering why I changed my blog title, the real answer is because I never really liked the old one to begin with. When I first started this blog, I sat and sat and sat at the computer, staring at the screen, trying to come up with a title that fit for my family and my life at the time. I felt so much pressure to come up with something good, something clever, just something. I had a husband, two little girls, all the basic neccessities of life, and even some spare time. My life was balanced ... sort of. Like everyone else, I had times when I was totally on my game as a wife and mother, and I had times when I felt like things weren't "just right." Hence the 'sort of.'

But just like the song, the times they are a'changing. Life moves on and we happily accept the new seasons in our family. It's two years later, our fourth child is nine weeks away from joining our home, and my spare time has somehow completely disappeared. I'm grateful we still have all the basic neccessities of life ... and then some.

When I was a little girl, I dreamt of how my life would turn out when I was a "grown up." And truthfully, THIS is pretty much what I had imagined. Well, maybe there was a bit more glamour, a few less pounds, and a lot more shopping. Oh, and my family and friends all lived on the same block.

So I've changed my title to HARMON-Y (pun intended), because to me it doesn't signify a perfect life; it's a range from blissful to downright miserable and everything in between. And we all need that entire spectrum in our lives. We need it for experience. We need it to become better people. We need it so that we can learn and grow and achieve our goals.

And all I can say is that I'm so thankful for this life I've been given, with all of it's ups and downs, joys and sorrows, struggles and triumphs. I truly have everthing. And there's no one I'd rather spend my happily ever after with than my husband and best friend, my very own prince charming, and our beautiful family.

It's not our anniversary or anything, but I chose this picture because this was the day that changed the path of my life forever. And it's a decision I've never regretted.

Yes, blonde. I know, I know -- the things we do for the men we love...

Love Your Guts

We carved pumpkins for FHE on Monday night with my sister's family. Somehow over the course of a year, I always seem to forget what an ordeal it is to wash those slimy seeds. But it's oh, so worth the effort. We all love snacking on them when the carving is all finished.




This year we let the kids draw their own faces on the pumpkins, and then The Man did his best to carve out exactly what they drew. So cute. Miss Priss ended up with heart-shaped cheeks and big eyelashes on hers, and DC drew the funniest shaped mouth. Mini Man was fast asleep in his comfy bed before the carving began, so daddy did his by himself. My favorite was the message Miss Priss wrote on the side of her pumpkin. It said, "I'm sceery." Wish we could have carved that out so it would glow when we lit the candles. We all kept telling each other all night how "sceery" we were. Who needs spelling anyway when we've got phonetics, right?

A Life With Sisters

It's a little bit sad, but mostly funny. It might be a little bit degrading, but not for a few more years. And above all, it's what you have to expect when you have two older sisters, and you're only a year and a half old....










I wonder if he realizes how lucky he was to get outta there without Sleeping Beauty's dress on.

Proud Momma

It's been a while since we've posted an update on our little man. I was kinda waiting for some momentous occasion so I had something wonderful to say. His progress has been kind of slow these past few months. We constantly work on new skills (mastering the stairs, feeding himself with a spoon or fork, drinking from a big boy cup, using words instead of grunts or screams, etc). And then, of course, we have his daily stretches and exercises. He has to continually work on stretching his muscles (especially the ones in his heel), since it's just so automatic for him to be on his toes. If we never stretched his feet to the floor, that muscle would stay tiny and short until it would become impossible for him to physically put his feet down. Then he would have to have surgery to lengthen it.

Mini Man has finally started his home therapy, where a physical therapist comes to the house to work with him. She is the greatest. She was so friendly right off the bat, and so he was more than happy to "play" with her. She has all these games that the two of them play that are geared toward stretching and loosening up his leg muscles and teaching him to walk. And when she came on Tuesday of last week, my long-awaited momentous occasion occurred. Can I get a drum roll, please?




Mini Man is WALKING!!!! Well, kind of. He took about eight or nine steps with her. Just enough for me to freak out and grab the cameras. And then, of course, it was over. The second he sees those things, he looses focus on ANYTHING else. All he wants is to hold the camera or see the pictures. So I wasn't able to get any footage of his first walk (sob, sob), and my pictures are not that great. But at least it's something.

We will still be visiting a PT in office probably once a month for a while, but I really think he'll be UP and about in no time at all. And I couldn't be more proud.

The Sad Truth

Not too long ago I was informed by The Man that we should no longer eat at McDonald's. No, it's not because we're trying to eat healthier, and it's not because we had a bad experience there or found a bug or a fingernail in our food. It's because we have recently learned that McDonald's ACTIVELY supports gay marriage.

That's right, this family-friendly institution has decided to put it's name and it's money at the forefront of the fight to oppose the sacred institution of marriage. I'm not one to pass along many emails or warnings (at least not before checking snopes), so you can believe me when I tell you that I've done my research. You can do your own, and I encourage you to do so. I also encourage you to spread the word.

I am not motivated by hate, as some of the articles I've read imply. But I whole-heartedly believe that "Marriage between a man and a woman is ordained of God," and that men and women have divine roles in our families.

One person can make a difference. And that difference is made when that one person tells another person, who tells another, until we've all heard. There are many other fast food options that offer similar menus (and not surprisingly better quality), so I ask that we all make the effort to give them a try. I do not intend to stand by and continue to frequent a business that uses my dollars to buy their position on the board of the National Gay and Lesbian Chamber of Commerce.

So Wendy's, Burger King, and especially In-N-Out, here we come!!!

I will now step down from my soapbox. Thank you.

I Love Ketchup ... I Mean "Catch-Up"

Oh, I am SO far behind. Please forgive the quick catch up, but for all who've been asking for new pictures, here's a little bit of our summer...

We celebrated the 4th of July with cousins at the park ...









And had S & S come down for a rockin' weekend of guitar hero ...

We said goodbye to our best friends, who left us here in the desert and moved up to Idaho We miss you guys! Sequence just isn't the same without all the trash talk.) ...

We visited Utah for a family reunion ...








Lost two teeth ...








I went to girls' camp with our YW (and got rained out and evacuated our first day! We ended up going back up again and staying the rest of the week, but we dealt with major rain storms and hail for most of the trip)...
I owe a HUGE thank you to my mom and dad who came up for the whole week to watch the kids so The Man didn't have to take off work. My parents rock!

Went to a cool birthday party at a local theme park ...




Saw Le Miserables in St. George with the YW and did baptisms at the St. George Temple (funny story about the second picture - while we were taking the tour of Brigham Young's summer home, they brought us out to show us his garden and yard full of fruit and nut trees. Right after moving from underneath the pecan tree, a HUGE branch cracked and broke off -- and fell RIGHT where all the girls had been standing just 10 seconds earlier! The girls couldn't resist posing for a cute picture.) ...




Got ready for DC's birthday party by making yummy cupcakes ...


Celebrated DC's birthday at Chuck E. Cheese's ... (ah, memories)





More birtday parties (This one was so neat! It was an exotic animal themed party, where a lady came in and showcased tons of lizards, spiders, snakes, an iguana, a baby kangaroo, and tons more! The girls LOVED it! Me, not so much.) ...






And now summer has ended. Both girls have started soccer (yes, Miss Priss said she wanted to do it again -- go figure), and they are both in school. Miss Priss is LOVING 1st grade, and DC thinks preschool is the coolest.

As the days fly by, I realize that my little babies are growing up. Sometimes it's sad, sometimes it's great, but always I know that it is inevitable. And they are each getting cuter and cuter by the day ...

The Wait Is Over!

I apologize for the delay. I was not intentionally making everyone wait. After our last doctor's appointment, I spent the next couple of days getting ready for a quick trip up to see The Man's family for a reunion, and upon our return I had one day to finish getting ready for girls camp. I just got back on Saturday, and have been sleeping ever since. And that's barely an exaggeration. I feel like I cannot catch up on lost sleep from last week. I had an absolutely amazing time. I'll post pictures and tell stories of everything later, but for now I just wanted to end the suspense and let you all know that either the first week of January or the last week of December we will be welcoming another sweet baby boy to our family.

We feel so blessed to have been given this gift. The girls are absolutely thrilled that they are going to have another brother, and I am excited to have my baby boys be this close in age. And to answer a couple of questions, no, this was not planned, but we could not have asked for a better surprise. I am a tiny bit sad to come to the realization that I will have to let go of all my baby girl stuff for good. The last time I went through the girls' outgrown clothing, I gave away all but my very favorite items, in hopes of getting to use them again. And now I won't get to. But if I can't use them, at least I know someone else can. I will be waiting until the end of this month (when I find out what my sister is having), and then I will be getting rid of it all. If she is having a boy, my stuff will be up for grabs. Let me know if you or someone you know is in need of baby girl clothing.

Thanks to everyone who has commented and let us know that you are just as excited as we are. We are so grateful to have good friends to share good news with. We love you all.

Our Growing Family

If you noticed the new addition to my sidebar and are sitting at your computer thinking to yourself, "What the crap? How did I not know? Am I always the LAST to know?" don't worry. You're not alone. In the past I could not keep it a secret whenever we found out we were having a baby. It was just so exciting, and I wanted the whole world to know. But this time was different. Yes, I was very excited, but the news came shortly before Father's Day, and since we weren't expecting this news, I thought it would be a fabulous idea to wait until then to tell The Man. So I didn't mention a word to anyone. Well, almost. Had to tell someone, so I told Idaho. (Yes, by the way, I'm calling you Idaho now. That's what you get for moving away from me.)

And I should add that three weeks of hiding this information from your spouse is NOT recommended. Almost the entire time I was dealing with morning sickness (all-day sickness for some of us), I was totally on my own. No sympathy from The Man, who I convinced that it was just the flu ... and then food poisoning. I thought three weeks would go by fast. That's what I get for thinking.

As we prepared for Father's Day, I wanted to find a special way to tell him that he was going to be a father yet again. The kids and I all went down to Creative Pottery to paint a gift for him. We picked out the perfect item ... an ice cream bowl. We painted and colored, stuck handprints and wrote names all over the bowl. I wrote Happy Father's Day, we listed all of our names, and on the bottom of the inside of the bowl I put "and baby."

The big day finally arrived, and I was so glad he was finally going to know. This year Father's Day just happened to be his birthday too, so he was on the phone a lot answering calls from friends and family. We had already celebrated with gifts and cards earlier on in the day, so he thought we were all done. But when dinner was over I dished out ice cream for everyone, and put his in his new special bowl. I told him we had one last gift for him, and we all started eating. Then his brother called. Arrggg. I swear, it took that man 30 MINUTES to eat that freakin' bowl of ice cream!

I couldn't wait any longer. I interrupted the call and asked, "Aren't you done yet?" And he whispered back to me, "Yeah, I just have a little milk left at the bottom."

Side note: We like to put milk in our ice cream. My dad has always done it for as long as I can remember, and when The Man and I were "friends," the first time we had ice cream together he asked for some milk to put in his. I was in love.

Anywho, I hurried him along and told him to just drink it already. He did, and casually looked at the bowl when he finished. He was in mid sentence with his brother when his eyes widened, he looked at me and shouted, "SERIOUSLY?!?!?" and then quickly told his brother he had to hang up.

I suppose after keeping it to myself for so long, it didn't seem so, I don't know, urgent anymore. It wasn't until a few weeks later that I started calling my family to tell them, or mentioning it to some close friends. And I almost got in trouble with a few who had already heard about it from someone else. So my point is, please don't be offended if you didn't receive a personal phone call with the news. Trust me, you're not the last to know. There's a big group of you who are all finding out together.

This pregnancy has been different from all the other three, and I'm trying to enjoy it since it will most likely be my last. I don't feel totally sure that we're done, but The Man is sure enough for the both of us. The doctor even told us this week that my labs for my kidneys are better than they were with my last pregnancy. I told him having children is healing me. And after being told that we shouldn't have any children at all, he'll never know how true those words are for me.

The doctor also told us what we're having. Any guesses?

Apparently I am also ...

You Are Esmerelda!

Mysterious and passionate. You are a survivor. Even though life has swung you some difficult situations you have a strong intuition that gets you through. Also, you have the capacity to sympathize and relate to a variety of different people.

Which Disney Princess Are You?

Although I always wonder, if I were to change just ONE answer, would my results be different? Well, I just don't have the time to find out. Esmerelda it is!!!

I Am ...

... my mother. I remember when I was younger I would ask my mom each year what she wanted for her birthday. She always gave the same answer: "I just want you girls to be nice to each other for a WHOLE day!"

Yeah, right. Pa-lease, mom, no one in their right mind would ask for someone to just be nice, when they could ask for a PRESENT! I thought she was so crazy.

But when my own sweet daughter asked me last week what I wanted for my birthday, without a moment of hesitation I answered, "I just want you and your sister to be kind to each other ALL DAY today."

Total deja vu.

And right then I realized my mom had always been telling the truth.

32 Things I love

I’m commandeering "The Woman’s" blog for today.

I have an announcement to make, and because she would never do it herself (and who could blamer her?), I’ll just say it for her...

Today is "The Woman’s" birthday!!!


(This picture was taken at a surprise B-day party I threw for "The Woman" in our singles ward way back in '99; an entire year before we were married!)

Now, of course I won’t tell you how old she is today – mainly because I’m not exactly sure at what age that becomes taboo – but I will tell you thirty-two things that I love about her!

1- I love how patient she is (being married to me requires a lot of this).
2- I love that she loves my boisterous family, and that they all love her.
3- I love that we share the same eternal goals.
4- I love that she appreciates romance.
5- I love her tiny hands.
6- I love that she lives her testimony, even when it’s not convenient.
7- I love her bum (I’ll probably get in trouble for that one, but its true).
8- I love her dedication to our kids’ development.
9- I love her attention to detail.
10- I love her laugh…especially when she’s not expecting to laugh.
11- I love when she’s in the mood to wrestle with me.
12- I love her cooking. Mmmmm…. Homemade pizza & cookies…aaahhhh……
13- I love her ability to recognize blessings & her sense of gratitude for them.
14- I love that she plays the guitar.
15- I love that she’s frugal. I’m sure that’s because I’m so…well, cheap.
16- I love when she sits close to me (I’m stinky, so that’s really something).
17- I love it when she reaches for my hand to hold.
18- I love that she can sleep through my thunderous snoring.
19- I love that she fought to get me back in the beginning.
20- I love that she loves flowers (not all women do apparently…weird).
21- I love that she hopes for my success.
22- I love hearing her sing (& make up words to songs she THINKS she knows).
23- I love it when I can see her in my kids’ expressions and mannerisms.
24- I love how compassionate she is to those who suffer around her.
25- I love her willingness & eagerness to forgive (again, I require a lot of this).
26- I love seeing her all dressed up for special occasions.
27- I love that she listens to my many (and often improbable) ideas.
28- I love that we’re both the 4th born, and each in large families.
29- I love her handwriting.
30- I love watching her dance, regardless of the setting.
31- I love that when she’s cold, she looks for ME to make her warm.
32- I love that I can tell her anything.

Of course, there are many more things I love about her too, but this amount seems just right for today. How about you? What do you love most about "The Woman?"

Happy Birthday Babe!

- The Man

Embarrassing Moment of the Week

Sunday mornings are pretty smooth around here. We have one o'clock church, so we're pretty relaxed when we wake up. The Man is gone for meetings by 8:50, and I'm usually making breakfast or lounging around by then. After we've eaten I bathe and dress everyone in their Sunday best, do two heads of little girl hair and one awesome mohawk, brush teeth 'til they shine, and let the girls pick out a "Nephi movie" (that's what the Living Scripture videos are called around here), and lay the little man down for a nap. Then I hop in the shower and get myself ready before it's time for a quick lunch, and we try to be out of the house by 12:30. The Man has a nice cushy seat saved for us, and we're ready to brave the hour-long meeting with three squirmy, sometimes whiny, and always hungry (not sure why that is, since they've already eaten twice by now) chitlens.

Yesterday was no different than any other Sunday. We were in the swing of things and ready to head out the door at 12:30. We sat through our meeting trying to listen to the speakers while handing out coloring pages and crayons, books to read, toy cars to drive, paper for writing notes, and gum and mints to those who were reverent. One more Sunday meeting down without strangling anyone. Ah, sweet success.

The Man takes Mini Man off to class while I take Miss Priss and DC down to Primary. I linger at the door trying not to be seen while I make sure that DC actually goes to her seat and ... stays. She peeks back at the door to see if I'm there, and I've been spotted. I back away quickly and wait for a couple of minutes before checking one last time. Crud. She's now in tears and sitting on the lap of Sis. N. I ask if I should take her, but I'm given a sign that everything will be fine, and they'll come find me if they need me. So I leave.

I begin walking down the hallway on my way to find my dear husband to join him for Sunday school. And I've got no kids in tow. My favorite kind of walk. I'm saying hi to everyone I pass, and stopping to chat with a couple of friends along the way, when I turn a corner and spot one of my favorite babysitters who has recently returned home from a 5-month study in Japan. She's roaming the halls with one of the young men in our ward (who I'm now wondering if she's dating. Hmmm. I'll have to find out about that one.) So I yell, "You're back!" but not too loudly -- we are in church, after all. The sweet thing tells me how great I look, and asks how I got so skinny. Did I mention she's my favorite babysitter? I laugh at her ridiculous comment as we meet to hug. We visit for a minute or two, and then I let her continue on with FW while I head down to my class.

But something struck me as we hugged. Something wasn't quite right. And since I was now alone in the hallway, I started to "check" myself. As I'm looking and feeling around, I discover the problem. OH. MY. GOSH. I check again. Nope, there's no underwire where there's usually underwire. Nope, there's no straps on my shoulders where there's usually straps on my shoulders. How on earth did this happen? How in the world could I have forgotten this??? I suppose with all the layers upon layers I put on (first my, um, unmentionables, then a shade tank, then my regular shirt), I guess I forgot one extremely important article of clothing. My BRA!!!

Now, some of you tiny, petite women I know may be thinking, "What's the big deal?" Maybe some of you even do that on purpose sometimes. But consider for a moment that at one point in my life I considered a breast reduction. Also consider that after nursing three children, gravity has not been kind, to say the least. Yes, ladies, my ladies have seen better days. And now, I'm afraid, a few of you out there have seen me in all my liberating sagginess. I could just die.



So I'm now laughing out loud at myself as I casually decide to hold my bag at the top of my shoulder with both hands, so as to cover up my chest. I pull The Man out of his classroom and stop myself from laughing just long enough to tell him what an idiot I am, and that I'm going home to remedy the problem. He laughs, hands me Mini Man and says, "Take him with you so I can enjoy the class." I happily accept my new cover-up and head out to the car, still laughing at myself and wondering how many people noticed.

Embarrassing Moment #2,783 - Being caught out in public without a bra.

Can anyone beat that?

Guess Who's Coming for Dinner?

It was 11:00 on Friday night, and we were sitting on our couch after coming home from a movie and dinner with my sister and her husband. We had intended to play some games since the kids were all in bed, but ended up just talking. Then there was a knock at the door. What the? The Man got up to go check it out (probably considering bringing some kid of weapon along). He looked through the peephole, but could not make out who was there. I'm sure his mind was racing ... Is someone dying? Is someone dead? Is there an emergency? Is someone in trouble? Is someone about to try to rob us? He finally opened the door ...

S U R P R I S E ! ! !


All five of his brothers had planned a trip to come surprise him for his birthday. So they were two weeks late, but who's counting. They were ALL there. And my man was happy!


















(In case you're wondering, they act like that on purpose. Guys. Go figure.)




An entire weekend of "guy time." They went to the movies, played down on the strip, talked until 4 am every night (or morning), played video games in between, and ate like you've never seen. Seriously, I don't know how their mother fed them for all those years!!!

I had a great time taking care of the whole bunch. It just made me so happy to see The Man so happy. And then all too soon, it was over. Everyone had to get back to real life. But you guys rock. I love you like you're my own brothers. Thanks for making this happen for him. He'll never forget it. And thanks to all the sisters who let their men sneak away for the weekend. I know it's hard being "on your own," so I wanted to let you know how much we appreciated it. We are so lucky to have such great family. Can't wait for the reunion in August!

And guys, never forget there's more to life than being "really, really, ridiculously good looking."