Pregnancy pics

Well, I HATE sharing what I look like when I am pregnant.... but I have had a few ask. So, here is a shot of the huge pregnant belly.

Free Zoo Day

Joseph, Parker, Paige, Caleb, and Hannah in front of the gorilla pictures
My cute kids on the Tigers

These are three of the 5 giraffes there. The baby is getting so big!

Sarah and Stacy when Sarah refused to be in the gorilla picture with the other kids...

Sarah hiding from the camera before Stacy attacked her!

We went to free zoo day again... It was not too cold and the kids had enough fun that we were there for 3 1/2 hours! I was so tired and sore when we got home. There is only one more free zoo day until next winter... Feb 24th for all you "slackers"

Caleb and Hannah

I was making dinner and heard a lot of giggling, this can be good or bad at our house so I went to see... Hannah and Caleb had climbed inside our "winter stuff tote" and were just so excited about it. They played in there for almost half and hour! They are two peas in a pod, and I am so lucky they did not come as twins! :)

Hannah and Lilly

This is pics of Hannah and Lilly after they made chocolate covered pretzels for FHE treat....

Family Pictures...

So, I have been planning to do our family pictures so that we could send out our valentine cards to everyone (I don't do Christmas cards because it is too crazy for me) Anyway, everyone keeps telling me to just wait until the baby is born so that he is in it. So, for all of you that are expecting a valentines card you will have to wait until "Easter" :)

New Year Goals...

Okay, so as some of you can already guess or know... I am kind of a stressed out, overbearing, over achieving, socially negative, tired, REALLY tired of being pregnant, and kind of pessimistic. Most of the wrath of this ends up on my wonderful husband and cute kids. I get up every day resolved to do better and to not get stressed over dumb things, yell at people who didn't cause my real stress, and to be an example of love... BUT, the day goes on and I have a million things that I wanted to get done that are not getting done. Children have their little issues and the house gets all messed up, school takes longer than I wanted, and I don't have any idea what we are going to eat for dinner, I don't get a nap... Anyway, you get my point.

So, I am trying to set my new years goal to take it one step at a time and to SLOWLY get to the point where I can face my own stress without taking it out on my family, I can let dumb things go and not get upset, and my family can feel loved by me every day. My first goal is to slow down and not over schedule my day. After I feel better about this, I will set another one and let you know how it it going...

My gift to myself...

Okay, so this will sound dumb to some of you but I do not buy or do anything for myself unless it is an immediate NEED. So, I got this rocking chair when I was pregnant with Sarah and loved it. But... It was not the nicest chair made, and that became apparent when I had Joseph and the seat cushion was DEAD and the arm rests would cut off blood supply to my hands and they would fall asleep everytime I nursed him. (Just a side note, Joseph nursed every hour and a half all night and all day until he was 10 months old!) Well, as annoying as that was, I suffered through it with Hannah and Caleb. (I nurse them in here so Shawn can get enough sleep) WELL, I decided that I deserved to have a chair worth sitting in with the next one since I spend a lot of time there. So, I went to the store and got me a GREAT chair cushion (they didn't have green and I was so sad) It is SO comfortable! Then, I got some leftover foam from another project and some green fabric and made some supper soft arm rests. Now when I sit in this chair I feel like I am a princess and don't want to get out. I know it doesn't look like much, but I am so happy about my new gift to myself!

Hannah is FIVE!!!

The princess cake

Hannah and some of her presents...

WOW! I can't believe that our beautiful Hannah is FIVE! She had a fun birthday, with a lot of fun new things. We are so happy that she is part of our family! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH!

Christmas Morning...

Shawn opening his tools from the girls.

Caleb with his head lamp.
Hannah with some of her make up.
Joe and his head lamp.

Sarah and her American Doll outfits.

Well, Christmas has come and gone. It was a very nice holiday spent with my family. We got to eat the crazy Christmas Eve dinner, do the nativity play, and the talent show - my kids did GREAT! Christmas morning everyone was excited, surprised, and had lots of fun. I am so thankful for this time of year and the family traditions and time we get to spend together.

I hate going to the dentist!!!

Okay, so I HATE going to the dentist! I always have. I really hate getting the shot to make you numb, I hate being numb, and I really don't like thinking that they are going to tell me I am hygienically challenged and will have ugly teeth forever. So, just to give you a little background. I NEVER had a cavity until I got pregnant with Sarah. All that pucking etc... did a wonder on my teeth and I had 13 cavities and 4 hours of dental work after she was born - HUMILIATING! Anyway, because I have now been pregnant 5/6 times, my teeth have really taken a beating. Two years ago I paid HIGHLY for a lovely root canal. Well, on Sunday my root canal tooth was a little sensitive and I ask Shawn about it and he said "well, get to the dentist before the new year..." So, I made plans to call the dentist and schedule my appointment. Monday morning I wake up and I have this lovely "growth" inside my mouth attached to that tooth. (I will spare you the details - GROSS) So, I call the dentist and they work me in. To spare you a REALLY long story, they ripped my tooth out!!! I just paid them A LOT of money for that root canal and now it is gone and I get to pay for an implant or bridge! I am not happy! AND I have this huge hole in my mouth until I am not pregnant! AHHHHH! So, I am done ranting - for now... I HATE GOING TO THE DENTIST!

Way fun museum!

Caleb playing with the cars on the map of West Jordan
Joe fishing in the river

Sarah hanging out the babies laundry

Hannah taking care of the baby.

Thanks to Stacy, we went to this way fun museum. It is the Gale Center of Culture and History. They have done a really good job at making history fun for kids. It has a pioneer school house, a "grandmas house" with a kitchen, couch, baby bed, cow to milk, chickens to get eggs from , a laundry line and bucket, a river to fish in, and pets to care for. It also has an old time store with food to pick, a cash register, scale, etc... THEN, it has an indian teepee, a coal mine, a telephone booth, and it is FREE! The kids just get to go and play in all of it and learn history. Anyway, it was fun and we will be back!

OUR CHRISTMAS TREE!!!

Uncle Luke showing us his best side... and Shawn after he cut the tree!

As some of you know our Christmas tree is always a source of "debate". I grew up with a fake tree... Shawn grew up going out and cutting one down and having a live tree... I really don't mind a live tree, exept that Shawn really likes to go to the same place he went to as a kid to get our tree (that is 3 hours away - one way) and I don't prefer that kind of pine tree... So, every year we have our "debate", and I have only won once. It was not this year... So we drove the three hours out to the basin, looked all over for a tree that I could live with, helped Uncle Luke get a load of fire wood, and then drove home. It is a really cute tree, and it looks so pretty all decorated. So.... I will not complain (today :) ) and will just enjoy our pretty Christmas tree.