September and October

It's been a very busy and fun Fall. I'm grateful for all the activities to keep my mind off the all-day sickness that comes with pregnancy. I am now 16 weeks and feeling a lot better. Baby is due April 2nd, but I'll most likely be C-sectioned on March 28th. I had a very miserable August and September. I was on a lot of Zofran, but the nausea, migraines, headaches, anxiety, and lack of sleep were still ever present. We are all very excited for this baby to come and we are all ready to spoil this baby rotten. The kids all like to look at my belly and make sure that it is growing. Which it is, along with the rest of me.

 Katelyn has had a busy meet season so far. She has competed in 3 meets and is doing a really great job. She placed 2nd overall, 1st overall, and 5th overall. She is really happy with all the medals and enjoys the entire process of hair, uniform, and competing. She is handling the pressure beautifully. She reached her goal of a 36.00 in the all around and is now working hard to get her level 6 scores so she can move up in the Spring. She practices 15 hours a week at Aerials and is dedicated. She is now participating in a program called TOPS, which gives her extra time to practice. It's taking some getting used to, but she looks forward to the day when she gets to miss school to be at the gym. Thankfully, we are not there yet.

The most exciting part of October was Mia's 5th birthday and party. It is hard to believe that my baby is 5. She is so cute and so fun and brings all sorts of joy and energy into our home. We all love her very much. Ashley has turned into quite the baker and made this beautiful 2-layer chocolate cake. She is a great big sister.

 We invited all the church girls around Mia's age and had a very fun time at the Kitty Cat party. We colored Kitty pictures, decorated them with stickers, adopted cats from the Ashley, the vet, and filled out adoption certificates but the front office manager, Katelyn. All the kids had a blast. They decorated collars for their new cats to wear then played games with their cats. We also painted all the girls faces so they looked like cats and played cat, cat, mouse, mouse hunt, and pretended to be cats by licking their ice cream out of cat bowls. Good times. Mia was thrilled.

 We spent a day of fall break at the pumpkin patch last week. The kids had a great time with the pumpkin slingshot, hay ride, corn box, slides, and mazes. I drank a diet coke trying to ward off the awful headaches. It always fails because I can only get down half a can before dumping it out. Why is soda so disgusting?

August 2012

I am trying to catch up on my blog, but decided to just post what few pictures I have and call it okay. So in no particular order this is what I have for a very fun summer 2012. We have had the best summer ever. For real. We boated at least once a week, played outside with neighbors, swam, took a trip to St. George, made up dances and gymnastics routines, camped, played, and played some more, and then started school.

 Mia has turned into quite the little gymnast. Measuring in at just 20th% for height and 4th% for weight, she may have the best shot at it of the 3 girls. Her coaches love her. She is petite, fearless, and strong. A deadly combo for this sport.

 Katelyn is my cook. She loves making dinner when she has the time. Here she is stirring alfredo sauce, her specialty. She loves alfredo, bacon and eggs, tacos, chicken noodle soup, and chicken.

 Every Wednesday Wolf Ranch has a concert in the park. There is a face painter there, which is a highlight of the summer for these two kids. 

 This was the 2nd attempt at gym hair. They are very particular about how Katelyn's hair needs to be for her upcoming meets. With the help of my neighbor we managed to get the best gym hair so far.

 This hair stayed in for 2 days. It didn't move. I used 1/4 of a bottle of hairspray.

 Ashley has done quite a bit of babysitting for me this summer. She does a fabulous job. Here she is playing "shock" on the trampoline with Justin and Mia.

 Here is Katelyn with her coach Brittany. Katelyn has gone through the whole range of emotions with Brittany. She loved her, then hated her, then hated her even more, now likes her again. Coaching little girls at a difficult sport could not be easy. She is practicing her bar routine. She has had to conquer her fears of jumping to high bar. She says it is still scary, but she does it anyway. 

Ashley and her friends on the first day of school. She has a great group of friends starting the 5th grade. 

 I love when Justin drives Mia around on the motorcycle. It is very cute. They have ridden to church like this. Justin likes being the star of summer parties by bringing his motorcycle and taking the other kids for rides.

 Gym hair again. This takes 1 1/2 hours and then she sleeps in it. She said she didn't sleep very well.

 First day of school! It was fun getting uniforms ready and buying school supplies and meeting teachers. 

 5th grade.

 3rd grade.

 1st grade.

 Our traditional end of first day of school silly string fight. It's always a hit. 

 More of the gymnast. Here she is on her way to her mock meet. She loves her fancy leotard, jacket, flip flops, and hair scrunchy. 

 Mia started pre-school yesterday. It was a long 2 weeks after the older kids started, so she was very ready and very excited. She is just so cute. 

 She picked out this dress to wear. She also picked leopard striped shoes to wear. She has her hair in her favorite high bun. She wanted to make sure her teacher liked her dress and shoes. She also wanted her teacher to notice that her backpack was the sparkliest of all the backpacks. She is such a girly girl. She wanted her teacher to be blonde, but said that her teacher's silver hair was pretty too. She is pretty funny about appearances. She will only let the dental hygenist that "looks like barbie" clean her teeth. It's ridiculous, but this girl knows what she likes.

She said she liked school. She met friends, played on the tire swing, and ate lunch. She said her teacher read her books too. I think it will be a great year for her. She was tired when she got home. After celebrating her first day with dad at yo yogurt she came home and took a nap. I couldn't believe it. 

End of School Fun

End of school is always a really busy time. We were fortunate to be able to attend the TCA Art show and see the kids art work for the school year.

This was my favorite of Justin's art. 

 Ashley's picture is the one she is pointing too.

 Katelyn won second place for this piece.

We planted our garden. The kids helped me buy flowers and dirt and then plant the garden. We had lots of fun.

Justin's art work. He labeled each one with a price to sell at a garage sale.

Mia graduated from pre-school. This is Miss Colleen sharing what she loved about Mia. Mia was a great student and learned a lot. She said that Mia knew how to play with all of the kids, but also knew when it was time to play by herself. She was a great helper and loved all the projects. We are glad Mia liked pre-K because she is doing it again next year. 

It was a very windy pre-school graduation, which gives Mia cool hair.

Justin is still dying to go fishing. He finally was able to go with Hans at the Fathers and Sons campout. He caught his very first fish. He was very excited.

Conleys came to visit us during the last week of school. Justin loves Anna. 

Katelyn and Elizabeth. Elizabeth went to Aerials with Katelyn for two 4 1/2 hour practices. Katelyn was so happy to have her there.

Mia and Eden. Eden really really really loves Mia.

Ashley and Andrew. Ashley is a little embarrassed.

All of the cousins. We had a great time. Melanie and I hiked the incline, went for a couple of runs, and did yoga. It was so nice to have her here. I really miss having her live by me. It was not easy to see them go. I appreciated them making the trip and we hope for many more!