Ellis Grandkids

Ashley was daring yesterday and took all 5 of the Ellis grandkids out to Kiddie Kandids for a group picture. Gabe's smile cracks me up - we're going to work on his "cheese" smile....it's cute, and kind of silly. But we're excited for the picture - thanks for thinking of doing that Ashley!

Not today

Nothing happening today in the baby department. However, I did look online and TONIGHT is actually the full moon.... I also heard that fresh pineapple can induce labor. I ate almost a whole pineapple today. It might not work, but it was a tasty treat :)

Weekend with fam

I loved these pictures of Gabe from this weekend that my sister-in-law Ashley posted on her blog tonight. She posted a whole bunch - so check out her blog: http://mullenspage.blogspot.com/ I appreciate so much when family has Gabe with them and they document the things they did. It's hard to have him away from us (we miss him!) - but we feel so reassured by the sweet memories he is creating with others who love him. Gabe has had fun eating berries from Grandma (YUM!), playing the piano, Raging Waters, Linzy's birthday cake - he's just had a blast all around. What a fun experience for him!

On another note I was talking to a good friend of mine this afternoon who has a little boy who is about 3 months younger than Gabe. She was complimenting Gabe on his large vocabulary and language skills. She said, "When I see my son next to Gabe it makes me think my son is dumb". It sounded kind of mean - but I knew what she meant. Gabe really does talk a lot more than most of the kids his age - at church anyway. But she just made me feel good about Gabe's vocabulary - even if his sentence structures don't always make sense :) She also suggested that with his linguistic skills that I encourage him with foreign language and music (she's studied education and said that children with early language skills frequently excel in these areas.) So when I saw this picture of Gabe playing Uncle Spencer's piano I was pretty happy!

No baby yet

No baby yet.

But I DID go to church wearing flip flops (the beach kind - not the nice leather looking ones - none of them would fit on my swollen feet). As I walked into church I looked in a window and saw myself walking in with these horrible sandals on and I felt really silly. But hey - I was there, I was listening, and no one even made mean pregnancy comments that made me cry.

In fact - a couple of my girls in young womens came up to me and said, "We're so excited - you have less than a month till the baby comes!" I said, "Oh girls - I have less than a week - I'm due on Thursday!"

Then after church one of the cute 13 year old girls came up and so sweetly said, "If you don't have any family coming on Thursday I will clear my schedule so that if your water breaks I can come take care of Gabe and you can make it to the hospital." I love the fact that I not only have great family to take care of me, great friends - but even my sweet young women. It's a relief to know I have some great back up.

Speaking of great back up - I have a pretty great sister-in-law (well who am I kidding - I have fabulous family all around) - who has been watching Gabe all weekend. Ashley and the family invited Gabe up to Eagle Mountain to spend time with cousins and the rest of the family. I met Ashley 1/2 way on Friday, and we'll go meet up with her on Tuesday to pick him up. They have had fun celebrating birthdays, playing with cousins, swimming at Raging Waters, loving on Grandma and Grandpa, Coby, Chase, Kori, Ashley, Spencer and all the kids. Ashley said he's having a blast, and from talking to him last night on the phone - he doesn't miss us much at all.

So I've gotten to sleep in, relax, watch some movies and enjoy some time with Cory. I haven't worked on a lot of stuff - but I've been saving up some energy just in case I ever do go into labor with this baby - I can do it without being EXHAUSTED.

So thanks for all who are such great supports in our life - we are truly blessed!

(Oh - tonight is a full moon - so if that myth has any credibility maybe we'll luck out....And my doctor is back in town as of tomorrow morning, so I could maybe even deliver with him. So send all of your labor vibes - let's get this baby here!)

And so the 25th comes and goes....

Some of you might remember a while back when I mentioned that I wanted baby Hunter's due date to be 07-25-07. There were a couple of reasons for that.

#1 - it's 8 days before our due date, Gabe was born 8 days early - so I thought it was appropriate.

#2 - I like numbers with 5's in them. Kind of strange, but like when I buy cardstock at a scrapbook store I always buy in increments of 5 (5, 10, 15, etc). Anyway, I like the number 25.

#3 - 2+5=7. So then it's kind of like 7/7/7. And then tonight I realized that if you add up all the nubmers 7+2+5+7 it equals 21 - another number I like.

Anyway - kind of quirky - but like my mom mentioned the other days - I like to see patterns in things.

BUT - it is 10:24 pm on the 25th and this baby isn't here, and isn't showing up in the next hour and 36 minutes. So we'll have to find some other kind of pattern with his birthday when he does make his grand entrance.

I did have a dr appointment today, and I'm not dilated, not progressing - and the dr filling in for my doctor (who is out of town until Monday) said I shouldn't worry about having the baby before my doctor is around again. I guess that's good - I really like my doctor. But it makes me anxious and sad at the same time. I would love to welcome this little guy to the world soon...but I'm nervous about having #2 - so I guess that in the long run though, a few more days of swollen...everything....won't kill me.

And here are a couple of pictures from lighting some sparklers tonight. As many of you know - July 24th (yesterday) was our Pioneer Day celebration in Utah. Our town does a huge parade (which we were in) as well as games and dinner at the park put on by our stake. It's fun to see the city and stake come together to celebrate our pioneer ancestors who made it possible to live in this wonderful state.

Anyway - we did some sparklers last night - but Gabe managed to burn himself (a tiny burn) on his finger. So he wanted to finish them tonight. That is unti lwe actually lit them - and then he freaked out a bit and wanted mommy and daddy to do them. He's a funny kid and he definetly enjoyed watching Cory and I entertain him by dancing around the yard with our sparklers.

I wish that the pictures of him dancing around would have turned out clearer - but he was groovin, and it was getting dark - so there's only so much this amature photographer mom could do...

And the last picture is Cory's signature pose every time I work on getting Gabe to pose take pictures for me. Cory ALWAYS asks Gabe how big he is - and this is how Gabe responds....we will have hundreds of pictures of Gabe showing us that he's "SOOOOO big" (as well as Gabe showing us his "guns" (muscles))

(Thanks Grandma Tammy for sending Gabe those fun sparklers!)

TAGGED

My cute cousin Rachel tagged me - so here you go:

Jobs I've held:

1. Co-owner of The Blind Guy of Southern Utah
2. Marketing Director/designer for Kopp Design
3. Marketing Coordinator for The Scrap Coop
4. Assistant Manager at Memory Lane

Places to go for a weekend getaway:

1. Grand America hotel in Salt Lake - complete with spa treatments and tasty food
2. Bed and breakfast
3. Anywhere we can take the Ranger out for a ride

Movies I can watch over and over:

1. How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days
2. The Italian Job
3. Message in a Bottle
4. Father of the Bride (1 & 2)

Guilty Pleasures:

1. ICE cold Diet Dr Pepper in my frozen mug...ahh...
2. Big pink Granny B sugar cookies
3. bubble baths while reading cheesy LDS novels
4. Sleeping in

Places I've lived:

1. Southern Utah
2. Rexburg, Idaho
3. Detroit, Michigan
4. Spanish Fork, UT
5. Cleveland, OH
6. Orem, UT

What were likely the 1st things you thought of when you saw your significant other for the first time?

1. Don't my roommates know I just broke up with my boyfriend - and they bring a bunch of guys over to our apartment - how rude!
2. So that must be the guy who got home from his mission like 2 days ago...he looks terrified of girls. And he keeps trying to say things in Spanish...must be from his mission.
3. Hmm.....he must have lost all of his clothes when he went on his mission, because I'm pretty sure he's wearing his little brother's clothes.

Places I've been on Vacation:

1. The carribean
2. Hawaii
3. South Africa
4. Disneyland

Favorite foods: (at least for today)

1. Key Lime Pie
2. Chips and Salsa from Los Hermanos in Lindon
3. ANYTHING from Kneaders restaurant
4. Anything I don't have to cook, or decide to cook

If in a "jam" with your spouse, what tactics do you use to get out of the doghouse?:

1. Iron something (especially sheets)
2. Offer to do some yard-work
3. Let him spend outrageous amounts of money on something unimportant. (at least to me)

Websites I visit (ALMOST daily):

1. Hotmail
2. www.twopeasinabucket.com
3. blogs
4. Old Navy, Gap, Pottery Barn Kids, etc - just to check to see if anything new is on sale

Best First Kisses Landmarks:

1. Intermural fields at Ricks College.....

Places I'd rather be right now:

1. In a recovery room in the Labor and Delivery wing of the hospital - holding our new baby
2. Hawaii - specifically Maui
3. Disneyland (and not pregnant)
4. swimming in an indoor pool

Who sent this to me: Rachel

Now I get to pick 4 other blog buddies to do this "survey":

1. Laura
2. Mom
3. Ashley
4. Kori

Chase & Kori

I did a quick scrapbook page this afternoon. I am hoping that the scanning job is what's making it look funky.....I thought it looked a bit better in real life....

Anyway, it's just a quick layout using this super cute picture my sister in law Kori sent me last week with some journaling about how cute Chase and Kori are. They are seriously one of the cutest couples ever. Every time we see them I wish my Cory and I were more giddy still....

The journaling says:

Chase and Kori - the two of you make me smile! I love how sweet, giddy, and loving you are to each other. There is rarely a time when the two of you are in a room together when you are not gazing into each other's eyes as if you've just fallen in love. You're always patting each other on the back, holding hands, snuggling - I love it! And you also speak so kindly to each other. I've never heard a negative or sarcastic comment from either of you about each other. I hope we can learn from you guys and have a better marriage, more love, and more giddiness. Love you guys! (July 20th, 2007)

A little contest...

I have seen quite a few people have little contest regarding when they'll have their babies, the size and stuff. So I thought I'd have the same contest on my blog, and we'll see who gets the closest. Guess the following:

• Date:
• Time:
• Weight:
• Length:

For the record I am due August 2nd. And as far as with Gabe - he was born 8 days early, and he weighed 7 lbs 14 oz. and 19 1/2 inches long.

Can't wait to see what you all predict.

random stuff

• Went to my weekly dr visit yesterday and I'm not having this baby anytime soon...bummer huh? I haven't made any progress (not dilated or anything) and then I found out that my doctor will be out of town ALL of next week. Lovely huh? So any of those "tried and true" home remedies for inducing labor myself will have to wait because I really don't want to deliver with anyone else. We'll see. He did offer to set an induction date for when he gets back - so we'll see how next week goes. I'd like to deliver on my own...but I also don't want to be pregnant until this little guy can just walk out (and based on how big he feels right now, and how strong he feels from his kicks and jabs - I have a feeling he'll be doing that soon...)

• Last night we were eating Ceasar Salad for dinner. Gabe was having a tough time eating the lettuce, and at one point started to kind of choke on it. We made sure he was ok - but the episode scared him. Cory said, "Are you ok Gabe?" Gabe said, "No, go doctor". We thought that was funny because Gabe never goes to the doctor - except for well-baby visits. It was interesting that his throat hurt and he thought he needed the doctor.

• My house STINKS right now. I had bought some stew meat to make beef strogonauff for dinner this week, and keep putting it off (I hate cooking and heating up my house/kitchen in the hot summer weather - we've been eating things like salads, carryout, sandwhiches, and milkshakes for dinner lately). But today I realized I really needed to get the meat cooked. So I put it in the crockpot to let it get going. BLECH! Now my house smells like meat. Cory came in a while ago and looked at me and said, "are you ok?" Not really....I'm not sure I'll even be able to eat it when we get it all made into dinner. Bummer huh?

• This morning I was showing Gabe a website of the place we're going to stay when we go to Mexico as a family in a couple of months. (Yeah, we're nuts - Cory earned a trip to Mexico and to Hawaii a couple of days apart. We'll all go together to Mexico, and then Gabe will stay home with Gramma Rhien when we go to Hawaii with our friends the Cheneys. We took Gabe to Hawaii last time when he was about 3 months old, and it looks like Hunter will be about that same age. We just can't pass up a trip to Hawaii - even if it does involve taking a newborn!) I was showing him how pretty the pools and ocean are. I asked him if he was going to swim in the ocean. He got really concerned and said, "No swim - SHARKS!" I hope we can get over his fear of sharks before we go on our vacation!

• My family is coming this weekend! YAY! My mom, dad, and Julia will be coming to visit us this weekend on their way home to New Mexico. They've been in Idaho to see Paul, Nicole, and Taylor - and for Paul and Nicole's commencement exercises (Nicole finished school in December 06, and Paul will be finished December 07 - so they walked together last night in summer graduation). Gabe hasn't seen Julia or my dad since Christmas time, and we've only seen my mom once since then - so we're really excited for all of them to get to see each other for a day or so (quick trip). I keep saying, "Gabe - Gramma and Grampa are coming this weekend!" And he says, "And Julia!" - making sure I don't forget her. He's excited to see them all. I think they will be blown away at how much he's grown up in 7 months! I sure am.

• Speaking of Gabe - he's obsessed with the computer and looking at blogs. He constantly wants me to pull up Coby (and Grandma and Grandpa Ellis)'s blog, Paul's blog, Ashley's blog and to look at any babies I can pull up from miscellaneous blogs. And then today when he was eating lunch he asked me to look up "kitty's".... So everyone - keep putting pictures on your blogs - Gabe checks them several times a day :)

• Gabe loves music lately. We've downloaded some fun stuff for him from itunes (theme from Bob the Builder, Rubber Ducky with Ernie, C is for Cookie - by Cookie Monster, songs about tickles, Mickey Mouse...and the list goes on and on), and he loves listening to them and dancing around the house. He does the funniest thing when he wants to twirl. He holds his arms up and whips his body around by swinging his arms fast in one direction - giving him lots of momentum and almost knocks him over. Hard to explain, but funny to watch! and he loves me to dance with him - in fact, insists on it. Last night he wanted "baby Hunter" to dance too. So I got on my knees and Gabe danced with my tummy. I guess these are the times I should be getting out the video recorder huh....?

• Gabe loves music, but at the same time - I guess he doesn't always want me to sing to him. Last night I was singing silly songs while we were getting ready for bed. He looked at me with the most serious face, pointed at me and said, "STOP! No songs mom!" I kept singing and he'd get madder and madder and telling me to stop. Apparently I am not as good as listening to the songs on the "pod" (our ipod).

• I'm so sad I'm going to miss my 10 year high school reunion. It is August 11th, and even if I have the baby today - I'm not going to have the one time I see these people in 10 years be right after delivering a baby...with all this baby weight. Plus that is just kind of soon to pack everyone up and head up to Orem. I wish I could plan a seperate reunion with the people I'd like to see - a lot from other high schools, working at Wendy's in high school, those who were a year younger than me...oh well. I think that since my family doesn't live in Orem anymore (and haven't for 9 years) that I feel a little more disconnected with Orem, and the idea of going "home" still. I don't know what's going on in anyone's lives in Orem really...kind of sad that we have to grow up and have this happen huh?

• I am really nervous about being a mother of 2 little boys. Terrified really....Gabe has so much energy, and wants "Hep Mommy" so much (basically says he wants my help - but it means that he wants me to be doign whatever he's doing with him) - that it will be interesting to see how he and I adjust to this new little guy. I think he'll do great - he loves babies, and wants to hold every one he sees. (I let him hold my friend's little 5 month old the other night on my lap and he LOVED it. He kept saying, "Ohhhh, Baby....") I'm nervous about sleep schedules, jealousy, being able to spend enough time with both of them and having the energy needed for all of it. I know I can do it (I keep telling myself, "I can do hard things") - and I know that there are hundreds of thousands of people who have more than 1 kid and do just fine - but I'm just nervous. Any advice anyone has - I'd love it!

• One of the things I'm really nervous about is how much love I'll have for this little guy. That sounds weird I'm sure. But when I was pregnant with Gabe there was so much that was "unknown". I didn't know how it would feel to be a parent, how it would feel to love someone so much - I thought I knew - but I had NO idea. And I remember holding Gabe in the hospital even - and it feeling surreal, not really sure how I felt, and how I was going to feel - it was weird. And when it sunk in (and has continued to do so over the last 2 years) I have been totally overwhelmed by it. So when we welcome Hunter into the world, and our family - I think it will be VERY emotional from the get-go. I'll have a different idea of what being a mommy means, and I think that will make me pretty teary-eyed right away. It's weird how I already feel differently about him. Not because I love him more than I did Gabe - but because I understand it a bit differently now. Does that make any sense...?

• Well this random list has gotten too long - sorry....hope you are surviving summer in an airconditioned place, and that you have a wonderful glass of ice-water to enjoy. :)

My brother Paul

Well I know that not everyone who reads Paul and Nicole's blog reads ours....but I thought I'd catch a lot of the same people.

My mom called this morning and said that Paul's computer has broken (yet again...) so they won't be posting any graduation (which is tomorrow) or baby pictures anytime soon. My mom will try to update you when she gets back from her grandmother duties in Rexburg - but until then - be patient :)

Baby's middle name

Hey, everybody! We need your help choosing a middle name for our baby. We've narrowed it down to a chosen few, and we'd like all our friends and family to vote for their favorites. We're eager to know what you think, so vote now!

Click HERE to vote!

Gabe's haircut

The most traumatic and frustrating experiences I have had with Gabe have been involving his last couple of haircuts. I've had my friend Lynette cut his hair and we've tried everything to get him to sit still, and to let her cut his hair with the clippers. But he freaks out, it takes hours, and we get nowhere. He gets a little trim (with scissors) and I hate it. I've told Cory how hard it's been and he has thought I'm nuts - how hard can it be?

So on my birthday Cory had tried to make his schedule work out so he could take Gabe to get a haircut for me. It didn't work out, but I kept reminding Cory that it was part of my birthday present, and I wanted him to still get Gabe's haircut. So on Friday Cory had me bring Gabe into town and get it cut. And get this - Gabe was prefectly fine! They used the clippers, it's nice and short, and the only thing that upset Gabe was when his sucker got hair on it.

When I went to pick Gabe up I could tell that Cory thought I had been exaggerating about how hard it had been - because Gabe didn't have any troubles with him.

So offically - Cory is in charge of all boy haircuts from now on! (whew - I'm kind of relieved)

And here's how cute Gabe looks with his freshly cut hair. I am aways so surprised how much older he looks when we get his hair cut - he's quite the little BOY now!

A Gabe funny

On the way home from church today Gabe had Cory and I laughing so hard! Gabe started saying, "Parade! Parade!" We were puzzled there for a second, until we realized we had just passed a large family walking home. Cory laughed and said, "Nope - that was just the Gibson family." We got a kick out of that. I guess even in Utah sometimes large families (especially as big as this family is....) it looks like a parade is going by :)

Girl Crazed

Oh dear! Gabe is really social lately - REALLY social! Not only does he chatter non-stop - to anyone who will listen (but most likely not understand the stories he's telling them) - but he has a thing for girls.

Yesterday I was talking with one of my Young Women from church, and asking her to babysit for us next week. I also said something about her little sister - who is just a bit older than Gabe - named Abby. After this Young Woman got out of the car I said to Gabe, "Maybe when she comes to babysit you next week Abby can come with her to play. Would you like that?" For the next hour all he could talk about was ABBY! He wanted to race cars with her, read books, and go to the library. Finally we distracted him with something else - but he was sure interested for a good hour or so.

Then today I was showing him pictures of different family members blogs, and we ended up on my friend Jana's blog. She has a little girl about 5 months younger than Gabe named Gabbi (Gabriella actually). I showed Gabe some new pictures of Gabbi - and oh goodness! Not only did he fall in love - but he told me that Gabbi was pretty and he wanted to dance with her. After sharing this idea with me about 100 times he grabbed the cordless phone and tried to call her. Then after I wouldn't let him use that phone he got ahold of my cell phone to use that - Kept saying, "Gabbi? Dance?"

So I guess my young boy craziness has been passed on to my son - he has crushes already. (I haven't even told you about his friends Livvy and Trina who he's smitten with....) And with how adoreable he is, I think we're going to have some tough teenage years if this keeps up...

It's so sad!

I don't know how many of you know about the fires that are consuming Utah, but it is so sad, and heartbreaking to see our state literally going up in smoke. Check out this news story about the wildfire that is not really all that far from us:

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=1450723

Can you believe 442 square miles burned?!?! This fire is less than 1/2 way between us and Salt Lake. It's right in the area we drive through to get to see family in Utah and Salt Lake counties. It just makes me sad and sickened to know how close it is, and how scary it is for those it will affect.

Please keep these people, families, animals and land in your prayers. This record breaking (shattering) fire will affect so many!

7-7-07

Cool date huh? I had really wished that this little baby wanted to be born a few weeks early, and he would have choosen this date - it would be a pretty awesome, and lucky birthday!

But he didn't....and it wasn't even really a particularly awesome or lucky day either. Pretty normal and mundane at our house. Oh well, that's what life is made up of isn't it? Normal days. We should be grateful for 'normal' - instead of 'insane', or 'horrible' - right?

Anyway, I made sure to snap a few pictures of Gabe for 2 reasons - one because it's an awesome date. And two because he turned 23 months on the 7th. We now officially will be tracking his age by years, instead of months. I don't know if there is an official time to start doing this...but 2 years old made the mos sense. I don't see us saying when he's 6 - "Yes, our little boy just turned 72 months - we're so proud..."

So here is our little guy one month before he hits the big 2. I can't believe how quickly the last 2 years have gone by - and that he is now a little person. He's not a baby at all - he's so independent (frighteningly so at times), and so funny!

He loves to tell us 'stories' - to tell us things we should do, or tell us things that have happened. His vocabulary is big, but he doesn't really have the grammar capabilities to put sentences together. So we have to piece together the words he's saying and ask him if that's what he means.

For instance - the other day he woke up from his nap and started blurting out all these words. And kind of jumping around. He said excitedly,

• store
• shopping
• fireman hat
• mommy
• tummy
• baby

After being completly confused (and actually, I'm still a little baffled....) I put together that he thought we should go to the store and buy a fireman hat for mommy to wear on her belly. Hmmm....our son with an active imagination (or maybe just an odd dream during his nap?)

Yesterday he threw a huge fit because he wanted to have pizza for dinner. We had pizza the night before when I had our Young Women group over, and we'd had leftovers for lunch, which he didn't want to eat at the time. But come time for dinner on Saturday - he wanted pizza - and not much else. We kept explaining to him that there wasn't any pizza left - and he kept throwing a fit. Then after a few minutes of it he told us to GO DRIVE in the CAR to the STORE for PIZZA. He had gone with Cory the night before to pick up the pizza, and just assumed we could drive and get another one. Smart little sucker.

He has also developed quite the little night time routine. He's added to the routine every few weeks with something new that we have to do. But the basics are that we:

• Take a bath, get jammies on - the basics.
• Read stories in the chair - (recliner) in the baby's room. We read....FOREVER! Generally I try to read about 20 minutes, or 3 books...however, there are definetly times we read much more than that. He keeps saying "Again! Again!" (I have a really hard time saying "NO" to reading - when I feel it's so important!)
• Go into his room, and say prayers with Daddy. He's pretty good about kneeling down, being revrent, etc.
• Get into bed. Make sure we have all the "Ginks" (binkies). It used to be 2 ginks - and it's grown and grown. He has hunted binkies all around the house - ones that he was completly uninterested in as a baby when binkies were appropriate. Tonight I think he went to bed with 4 ginks.
• Tuck him in with all of his animals and blankets. Right now he is sleeping with a large Elmo toy, a monkey named George (after Curious George of course), Stanley (a stuffed beagle), and 'Chops' (a Lambchop toy). He also has 3 different blankets - or 'Ninks' as he calls them.
• Then I have to sing to him - Cory can't do it - it has to be 'mommy'. And I have to sing 3 songs - in order. We start with "I am a Child of God", then "Jesus Wants Me for a Sunbeam", and end with the 'apple' song - which is "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (he calls stars APPLES - because of the part of the song where it goes, "Up above the...." - somehow when he was little it became "apple" - much easier to say.)
• To top it all off, when I'm singing the above mentioned songs I now have to rub his back, or his 'gack' as he calls it. He rolls over and yells at me until I do it - every time. And Cory can't be a part of this - it has to be me. (and don't even ask how I about died when he told me that "Chops - Gack!" meaning he wanted me to rub his Lambchop toy's back. I told him no, if Chops needed her back rubbed - he had to do it. And he did!) I'll rub his back for the 1st two songs, and then I sing the 'apple' song from the bedroom door.
• As soon as the last song is over (sometimes before I finish the last word) he says, "Wuv you! Bye!" and he goes down pefectly fine until morning. When it goes so smoothly I'm ok with all the steps I have to do - he doesn't throw a fit, and he stays in his bed - it's worth singing and rubbing his back.

Anyway, he's a sweetheart, and we are so blessed to have him in our family. I had no idea when we first brought him home from the hospital almost 2 years ago - how much I could possibly love someone. And now with the fact that we're bringing another baby home - I can't even fathom how much love our house will have. It's amazing to me how the Lord provides for us, and our love for others just multiplies. I'm not worried about whether or not I'll be able to spread my love thin enough to reach everyone - instead I'm nervous about having so much love for all of the people in my life. I just can't imagine feeling so much love - it grows so much! I am so richly blessed, and I almost don't feel like I deserve to have as much love in my heart as I do. Anyway....thanks to all of you who also add to that love in our home, and in our lives!

So I guess that 'normal', 'boring' days are perfect, because with those days we can remember how lucky we are every day. It doesn't take a special date, or special event - we are lucky just to be alive and to have the lives we do!

Waiting for the news....

Well, we got a call this morning that Paul and Nicole had headed to the hospital to have their baby! We are SO happy and relieved for them. Poor Nicole has had to deal with being overdue since last week - and we're excited for this to be (finally) happening for them.

We'll post more info when we get it - but we're so excited we had to share the news that at least baby Taylor Ann is on her way!

I told Gabe this morning after I got off the phone with my mom that Aunt Nicole was having her baby. He said, "Ohhh.....YAY!" and clapped. He's excited to get another cousin!

Edited to add:

She's here! YAY! She weighs 8 lbs. 3 oz. and is 19" long. And has a fair amount of hair, or so we've heard. From what my mom and Paul told me she's doing well, as is Nicole, but we haven't gotten a ton of info yet, so we're looking forward to hearing more. We love you Taylor Ann, and are excited for Paul and Nicole!!!

4th of July highlights

We started the festitivies by attending the big city parade. It was HOT even at 9:30 in the morning! Gabe was funny when we told him the night before we would be going to a parade. He kept saying, "Ashley!" For the longest time I couldn't figure out what Cory's sister Ashley had to do with us going to a 4th of July parade. But then I remembered that when Gabe was staying with them in may that Ashley's family went to a local parade and took Gabe. He was pretty sure we would see Ashley and his cousins at the parade and was kind of disappointed.

One of the highlights at our parades is the candy. Gabe figured that out quite quickly and loved sucking on suckers and getting Tootsie Rolls stuck in his teeth. Poor little guy's cheeks got so red from being so hot. He didn't get sunburned, but did get hot and sweaty (one of those things I've managed to pass on to my little boy....sorry bud)

Yeah, I mentioned that Gabe caught on to the candy bit. At the beginning of the parade, and about 1/2 way through he just sat and watched the other kids around him getting handfuls of candy. I told Cory to go help him get a sucker or something. After Dad went out and got a few little treats for Gabe, Gabe thought that it was ok for him to run out into the parade to collect some loot too.

After the parade we came home and went up to our local park (around the block) and attended our little town festivities. They hold a car show, booths, food, etc. The car show has gotten bigger over the last 3 years, and it's fun to see new entries every year. I asked Gabe which one was his favorite and he loved the "ORANGE" car - so we snapped his picture.

He also managed to scream a lot of the time (hot and tired) to tell us he wanted to go in the jump house. I figured there were too many 'big' kids in it, and he'd get trampled. But there was a break in the kids and we decided to let him try it (if anything, just to get him to stop throwing a fit - we're pushovers). But as soon as he got in he wanted out, and didn't want anyone to jump. Go figure...
Cory and Gabe were dressed like twins - down to their matching t-shirts and Boston Red Sox hats. I had dressed Gabe, and then Cory picked clothes to match - pretty cute. I didn't want us to look too dorky, so I wore a shirt that I think resembled a large 4th of July table cloth....fitting I guess for a big pregnant woman....

Between the parade and the car show stuff we enjoyed a bit of time in our little blow up pool in the back yard. It was CHILLY! The kind of cold water that takes your breath away when you get in, but which feels great after a while. We had a fun time cooling off, and even got back in after naps in the afternoon. Luckily the water had warmed up a bit then, but it felt great!

And yes - this is a once in a lifetime chance - you get to see me PREGNANT, and in a SWIMMING SUIT! WOW! Not something I show to just anyone (and you notice I'm mostly hidden - there's no way I'm showing you a whole shot of this pregnant woman in a suit!)

After our evening swim we ran to Wendy's for dinner (pathetic excuse for a 4th of July BBQ huh?) and then came home to watch the fireworks. The city does a fireworks show aboug 1/4 of a mile from our house. We were going to watch on the lawn, but decided to drive the ranger around the block for a totally unobstructed view. It was a short show, but lots of fun - and I think really well done. Gabe enjoyed them and it was fun to spend all of this time together as a little family of 3.

It's during holidays like 4th of July that I get really sad that we don't have family living close by. It's such a family holiday, and I get sad that we aren't with those we love. (Although if we were to have family around we might have had to actually COOK for a BBQ instead of Wendy's...don't know if I could give that part up...) So everyone we didn't get to see (all of you) - know that we think of you during the holidays and wish that the miles didn't stand between us! We love you!

(Last little note - I have found something that is actually even MORE uncomfortable than being pregnant in 100 degree + weather. Being 9 months pregnant in 100+ weather with a sunburn - OUCH! I got Gabe slathered in sunscreen, but forgot my white body... Cory and I are both pretty red now.)

balloon fest

I had said I'd share pictures from our weekend away last week - but I never got around to it. So here are the few pictures I took of the nighttime balloon lighting in Pangitch (my camera battery died 1/2 way through the evening). They line all of the balloons (between 20-30) up on the main street and light them up as it's getting dark. They just tether them to the ground, but it's awesome to see them lit up, and cool to hear the sounds of all the fuel and stuff. We had some cotton candy, spent time with our friends the Springers and their boys and enjoyed the nice summer evening.

Out in the yard tonight

I've had a lot of posts lately without pictures. Guess I've just had too much to say (or been too lazy to upload some pics....) And I'm sure you'd rather see pictures of Gabe and stuff than to hear me whine and complain.

So here are a couple pics I took tonight.

These are pictures of our backyard. We've done some work to it this summer. We added some more sod, put in some more curbing (we'll be adding more rock in areas later), dug out a playground area (which will eventually be filled with bark or something other than dirt), and Cory added a firepit complete with stump stools for us to lounge around on when we have a fire. Cory's always coming up with some project or another to make things more difficult - but this one is looking good.

And here are some pictures of how Gabe has treated me a lot of today....Yeah - it looks like he's yelling at me - he is! He has gotten pretty demanding lately and wants what he wants, when he wants it - and he will tell you all about it!

There are also moments when he's cute and sweet though. And lately when he's done something mean, or something I tell him wasn't nice he'll pout, come up to me and lay his head on my shoulder and say, "hugs" - it's his way of saying he's sorry. Pretty sweet. Just wish it wasn't always following something he shouldn't have been doing.....

Well here are the pictures - enjoy!

A month from today...

...is our due date! I know that really means nothing (right Paul and Nicole?)- but I guess it's still a way to mark time.

In some ways saying, "I'm due in only a month" sounds way too soon. (Are we even close to ready to having 2 children!?!?!?)

And in other ways saying, "I still have a month to go" sounds like it might never happen.

Either way - my due date is August 2nd.

And today I have had quite a bit more energy. Yay! I tackled a project in Gabe's room (sorting through his toys and books) that went smoothly, had some great fun with Gabe, put together 2 casseroles to eat later in the week (if I have something already made I won't have to deal with the 6:00 question of, "What should we have for dinner tonight...."), and even made myself a very tasty treat for an afternoon snack.

So now that my back is killing, my kitchen is heated up, and I'm worn out.... :) I'm going to retreat to my cool basement and relax for a bit while I enjoy my tasty chocolate treat.

Update for the week

Hello everyone. Not quite sure what to update on...nothing really going on here. But thought I'd get on and say we're still alive.

Cory took Gabe camping Friday night and I had an afternoon/evening to myself. It was our ward's "Father and Son's" campout and Cory said that Gabe was definetly the youngest to spend the night. That's my little trooper :). He had a great time and came back telling me all about camping, fishing (although they didn't go fishing...), the tent, and driving in the ranger (they took the ranger to the camping spot instead of driving - about 45 minutes from here).

While they were out being 'men' I enjoyed a trip down to St. George. Well, as much as you can enjoy 110 degree weather! WOWZA! It was toasty down there. I went down and had a (fabulous) pregnancy massage, did some shopping for the baby (I think we're pretty much ready now), had dinner and relaxed. It was nice and quiet, but I still missed kissing Gabe (and Cory too I guess) goodnight. Then when I came home I enjoyed reading in a bubble bath - yeah, quite indulgent...

But all that relaxation came crashing to an end when Cory and Gabe came home yesterday. Gabe had loved his daddy time so much that he absolutely fell apart when Cory tried to leave to go do some work for the morning. I mean he threw the biggest temper tantrum I've seen him throw - and it never ended. Well, when Cory came back home for something and took him with him to work it all ended, and Gabe was a happy little guy again. So they spent the morning together working (THANKS Cory!), and then Gabe didn't want to take a nap. After a short little 'rest' we decided to head out as a family to go see the new Disney movie "Ratatouille". It was a cute flick, and yet at times all the rats around the food made me squirm and gag a bit...I had to come home and not think about it when I reached into my cupboards to get something to eat. But it was cute, and I think we all enjoyed some time in an air-conditioned theater :)

I guess that's about it. I'm bummed that I didn't remember to send Cory with a camera for pictures of their fun camping experience - but I guess there will be more Father and Sons campouts in the future to do layouts about.

On the pregnancy front - I'm still pregnant...I've been struggling with being down in the dumps and having no energy the last few weeks. It just seems that the bigger I get, the hotter it gets, the more uncomfortable it gets (the list goes on and on) - the more grumpy I get. And then when I do lay down to go to sleep (and I'm exhausted all day - just waiting for the time to fall into bed) - I suddenly wake up and I'm up for HOURS. How does that work.....And then when I do fall asleep my hands have been having such carpal tunnel issues, and my hips are so darn sore/uncomfortable that I'm up most the night anyway.

I hope that for Cory and Gabe's sake I can snap out of it soon so I am not such a witch to be around. They are patient with me, and I love them for it (especially Cory - he's really the best!) But I have about a month left, so hopefully I can stick it out and we'll all be thrilled when the little guy arrives.

(sorry about all the complaining - I do know that I am so blessed to be a mom, and to be pregnant. Sometimes it's just hard to remember what comes at the end...)

Have a fantastic week everyone!

(And yeah - I'm still a little freaked out about the little floating baby on our page who will NOT stay in his little bubble...a little odd huh? There are really days when it is appropriate - as I feel like he's trying to claw his way out)