Catching up

So it's been months since I've posted, and a lot has happened! So I'll do my best to catch up. May flew by with the end of school and gearing up for our trip to Utah at the end of May. Maci had a fabulous last couple of weeks. She won 1st grade first place for her art piece of purple iris's that she made with the side of her hand, they're so cool! She also won 8-9 ribbons, various places, for a bunch of Language Arts pieces she had in the LAD fair for the District. Her teacher was very proud of her and her pieces are very thoughtful and interestingly written.

Chris finished off his Spring semester with straight A's again, and in some very challenging classes. He's doing fabulously in school and if we can get through this summer, with some more very tough classes, thesis work, and Comps at the end of the Summer, I think we'll have made it through the most difficult part of our time here.

I've been working lots and trying to sell as much as I can to keep things afloat here. It's slowed down a bit in May/June but is picking up again hopefully for the Fall season. It was so nice to take a break for about a month though when we went to UT. It was much needed!

Our biggest news in May came on the 17th. I went to a specialist at 17 wks since I've had High Blood Pressure with my past pregnancies. I haven't had any problems yet but they wanted a baseline to see where I was at "normally" so if it goes up they'll know how much, etc. So, I didn't know this appt. included a full ultrasound! I asked the nurse if they'd be able to tell the sex of the baby yet, and she said they probably would be able to. I hadn't arranged for Chris to be with me because I thought it would be a pretty routine exam, so I wasn't sure if I should find out on my own or not?! I called Chris and he said I could find out, but I really didn't want to without him there, so I asked the nurse if she could write it on a piece of paper and put it in an envelope. She said that'd be fine, so did the whole ultrasound thing, met with the Dr. who said everything looked great with the baby and he wasn't too concerned about the BP thing, as long as it didn't turn into pre eclampsia, which hasn't happened with me in the past. I'm headed home where I know Chris is there, but he has to leave soon to get to class. This envelope is burning a hole in my hand!! Gavin was at a friends being babysat, but Chris picked up Maci from school for me because I was running late. Anyway, I had to go home to get Maci so Chris could get to class, before I went and got Gavin! Chris said he didn't feel good about opening it without Gavin there, and after a little pouting from me, I agreed. So I had to wait the agonizing 3 hrs. more till Chris got back from his class so we could all open it together.

I tried not to tackle him when he got in the door, but shortly thereafter we opened the envelope. There on a big piece of paper was written "It's a Girl!!" We were so excited. I had a feeling it was a girl, but staring at the ultrasound pictures from that day I had thought it was a boy. I obviously can't read ultrasounds very well :-) We're all very excited that we're having another little girl. Gavin's even excited because he'll be moving into his own room, which I was kind of suprised about. I thought he might have reservations about being on his own, but he seems excited about it, as long as we can put some cool posters up that he chooses. I'm cool with that.

So we're working on getting the rooms rearranged, haven't done much yet but the plans are in the works. We'll talk names at a later date.

I think I'll leave this post on that happy note! Here's a few pics from our happenings, I'll try and catch up on the UT trip next post.

Easter Happenings

We had a terrific Easter this year. We had a full weekend with Chris's dad in town. Unfortunately it seemed I forgot my camera every place we went! So no pics to chronicle the fun, but we went to the Animal Safari in Stafford where you get to feed wild animals out of the windows of your car. It was pretty crazy actually! Camels, Zebras, Emus, and some very aggressive Donkeys all got a taste of our food, as well as several other varieties of animals. It was fun, but slobbery. We also went to the kids soccer games, and to the Chinese Acrobat show down in Branson. We had a great time and we hope Chris's dad did too!

We also got to spend Easter with him. We colored eggs the night before, and did a little hunt Easter morning. Conference was that weekend so we just hung out and listened to conference during the day, Chris smoked a pork butt, which was delicious! and I made about 10 qts. of strawberry freezer jam. It was a great relaxing weekend. Hope your Easter was the same!

Soccer Peaps

The kids are playing spring soccer this year and having a blast. Here's some shots from our game a week ago, where it was FREEZING cold, windy to chill the bone, and just plain miserable. But both kids played great and had fun despite the weather. Our game yesterday was perfect weather and much more enjoyable for both players and spectators. 4 games left, I'm sure we'll enjoy it while it lasts! Maci's team are the Wolves and Gavin's team are the Sharks.




We also built a little fire pit in our backyard last weekend. It was Spring Break and we had done nothing fun and Chris has been wanting to build one for a while, so we went to the local brick store and got some pavers, and built one ourselves. It turned out pretty good, nothing spectacular or fancy, but much cheaper than the fancy 260$ kit at the brick store. We christened it that night with some friends of Maci's and it was a big hit. It's a fun novelty to break up a monotonous week.

Other than that, we really didn't do much for Spring Break. Chris still had to work, we didn't have much money to go on a big trip, so we just hung around mostly. We played with friends lots, played the Wii too much, etc. Maybe next year we'll do something exciting.

Announcing!

Announcing what 90% of our friends and family know already, but I haven't written it in the blog yet. . . . .

We're expecting Baby #3!

I am currently about 9 weeks along, feeling pretty icky, but very excited that our somewhat long journey through the scary world of "infertility" is finally at a close, at least for this go round. I had an ultrasound at 6 weeks, because on fertility drugs there can be an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy and to put my mind at rest that there really was something in there doing well. Everything looked good, implanted in the right place, only one baby, phew :-D I am going to have another ultrasound on Monday to ensure everything is still progressing as it should.

We are very excited and overwhelmed that it's actually happening! You'd think that when you try so hard to get something, that when it comes you'd be relieved, and I AM!! but I'm also nervous about the future, about how we'll handle the added stress of a new baby, if I'll be able to still work part time doing craft stuff, if the kid will know Chris when he's gone so much! just kidding ;-D but I know all that stuff will work itself out, and that we're so blessed to finally get another little spirit into our home. It seems like everyone in the world is pregnant or just had a baby around me, so I'm so excited to get to hold MY little bundle of joy. The kids are so excited, of course Maci wants a girl and Gavin wants a boy. We'll find out around June I think what it is and who will win that battle. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers as we've traveled this road and can finally see the end!

If God wanted holes in your ears. . .

Oh well, we did it anyway! We let Maci get her ears pierce a couple weeks ago. She really wanted to do it for her 7th birthday, but we decided to wait a couple weeks to make sure she REALLY wanted to do it. I initially thought we'd wait for a momentous birthday like 8th or 12th or something, but she wanted to do it and I thought she's old enough to make that decision, and I really don't have a passionate stance one way or the other, so I said she could go for it.

We made it a girl's day out and went to lunch at Chili's before heading over to the Mall. We had a great chat at lunch and ate delicious Chicken Crispers, yumm. Then we scoped out Claire's at the mall, it was crazy busy, so we just walked around and looked for future earrings to wear, and Maci wanted to see one girl get it done before she did it herself. Big mistake! It was a younger girl, probably 4ish, and she screamed for a good 10 minutes after she'd had it done. So. . . that freaked Maci out. We decided to go down to a little kiosk in the mall that didn't have quite as long a line and where we were guaranteed to have 2 people to punch the holes at the same time. So she picked out her studs, and then proceeded to freak out and cry for about 5 minutes, all the while I kept saying she didn't HAVE to do this so the workers knew I wasn't forcing her!! Then she finally settled down enough to get in the chair, crying all the while, and they just went for it. She said it hurt a lot!! and continued to cry for another 10 minutes, while I was blowing on her ears, etc. All the moms passing by gave me pitiful glances and one even came up to Maci and said "Oh your ears look so great!" which made me smile, thank you kind mom :-D She finally quieted down and we went and picked out some more regular earrings for her to wear when she's done with the studs. After she said over and over how GLAD she was she did it even though it hurt. I was proud of her for facing her fears and being brave!

I think I drilled it into her enough that we only get one set of earrings, although mommy had her rebellious days when she had, gasp, 5 holes in her ears! Hopefully Maci will see the error in my ways and won't make the same choices I made, even though I loved how those earrings looked in my younger, cooler days.

They Say It's Your Birthday

Maci had a Birthday! on Feb. 12th, she turned 7 years old. How I got old enough to have a 7 year old. . . . uggg. But she is 7 nonetheless. We started the day off with pancakes, her request. She didn't have school that day, but we couldn't do her bigger friend party that day, so we let her choose whatever she wanted to do that day just her, me and Gav. She chose to go swimming at the indoor pool here. We did end up taking a few friends with us too. It was a fun change of pace. That night we had chicken noodle soup, her favorite! with biscuits, and ice cream for dessert. We ate by candlelight and had fancy glasses with Sprite and marashino?? cherries, a Grandma Sharon tradition. It was a great night and we had a lot of fun. She opened her presents and was happy with all her goodies.

DS game and Candy Jewelry making thing a ma bob

ZuZu pets balls and tunnel thingies.



Littlest Pet Shop from Gav.New Spring Dress

Saturday was party day. Maci has become quite a good little roller skater! so she wanted to take a few friends roller skating. We met there in the afternoon. The other girls did their best, one of them it was her first time ever on skates! We shuffled around the rink a bunch, while Maci cruised by all of us ;-D But I think all the girls had a good time. The rink was so crowded with other birthday parties, Roller Skating is definitely cool again! We stayed about an hour, then went and got the Roller Skate Cake from home and went to Braum's for cake and ice cream. Maci helped me decorate the cupcake cake, it turned out cute! All the girls had a great time and I think Maci had a fabulous birthday.

Emily E., Lily P, Maci and Sydney J.

Maci has a very tender heart. She takes things very seriously, and knows how to show compassion and kindness to others. She loves school, is reading like crazy, and loves art. She loves her brother, even though they sometimes fight, but most often she's helping him with something, playing "puppies" with him, or using the couch as a jungle gym with him, much to Daddy's dismay! Recently they've been into building obstacle courses, and love to challenge themselves with weird jumps and tricks. Maci loves doing her hair and always has a flower or bow in her hair. She's getting too grown up! She loves going to church and I'm always amazed at what she can remember about stories when we talk about them at FHE. She's reading through the Book of Mormon Reader with us and can read most of the words. She has such a sweet spirit and we love having her in our home! We Love You Maci!

Craft Blogs a GaGa

So I've come across a few craft blogs of late, and I think I'm officially addicted. Although reading these blogs may induce a feeling of inadeqaucy when in comes to how crafty you are and all the great ideas you thought you had, they still give you a ton of fun new things to try out and make your home look cute, so you take the good with the bad I guess! My favorite one for learning how to refinish furniture, which I'm dying to try, is www.allthingsthrifty.com I really love the way they use glaze and make the pieces look old and antiqued. I think I'll tackle our beat up coffee table, whenever I find a spare weekend, which could easily be never, so we'll see. But I've tried their techniques on some candlesticks I got at Goodwill, and they turned out really cool, so I'm excited to try a bigger piece.

I also found this great tutorial, although I think the one I looked at originally was not this site, this is the same idea and she gives a good tutorial, so check it out! Tutorial HERE.
I did mine turqoise, a color I'm thinking of adding to our living room decor due to influence from the All Things Thrifty girls, she has orange and turquoise together, so it must be ok, right? I'm still undecided on it, but it really does lighten up the space. This is actually hanging in my hall, so it's kind of removed from the orange room, but I need to tie it in somewhere or it just looks like a turquoise frame that is totally out of place. Anyway, it was really easy to make and took me maybe an hour total? with drying times in between, etc. So if you have an old frame lying around, try this one out! I got all my little frames at the 1$ store, clips at Walmart.

I also tried out this adorable Heart Burlap wreath, because I had leftover burlap from the frame and I wanted a cute wreath for Valentines Day. I found this PERFECT tutorial over at Diary of a Craftaholic. Click HERE for the tutorial. This was a really fun and easy project, Maci helped me out with it during the Super Bowl and it was done in 20 min. or so. I wish I'd used heavier wire, so if you can use the big fat wire from Home Depot or something like that, I would definitely do that, it would help your heart shape to be more defined.

Hope you get lost in the world of craft and DIY blogs, there's so much great info out there and fun projects to do. Enjoy!!