My sob story.....

I guess to start this story (really I'll make it the short version, because its too long to really write it all!) I will need to go back a few weeks.....

About 6 weeks ago... Patrick got an email at work that his HUGE yearly audit at work, which is usually is November, had been moved up to September 15th. Well that wasn't very good news for many reasons, but mainly because it was so close to my due date. He immediately started worrying that I would have the baby before this day... or better yet, right on this day... which is the only day in the entire month of September that he would have HAD to be at work... no matter what. So I jokingly made a deal with him that I would wait till at least 6pm on the night of the 15th before I had this baby. So in order to help ease my super stressed husband's mind... I had started taking it really easy and not doing a whole heck of a lot... especially since my little bout with preterm labor, so that he wouldn't have to worry about me with his whole audit thing going on.

So last week I went to my normal OB appt. and after the past few visits of the baby measuring a few weeks bigger then he should, they told me when I came back for the next visit, they wanted me to have an ultrasound to determine size and dates. So I went in on Tuesday morning (that was the 15th! Patrick was just sure they would be sending me to the hospital or I would go into labor that day!) and got the surprising ultrasound.... the baby was measuring almost 42 WEEKS (keep in mind they only were thinking I was like 37 1/2 weeks... maybe 38) and weighing in at almost 10 lbs. My Dr. came into the room after my ultrasound and just had this look of complete shock on his face and said "OH MY GOSH!!! We are going to need to deliver you!!!"  BEST WORDS EVER!!! I have been begging, wishing, hoping, and praying for that for weeks now!!  So he said he needed to do an amnio just to make sure his lungs were developed enough... because apparently little boys lungs develop a bit slower, then we would get induced the very next night! YEAH!!! I called Patrick and made sure I let him know that I kept this kid in for him till after the 15th. We both laughed at the timing of it all! The Dr. also had told me that he thinks the 10 lbs estimate from the ultrasound was a little high, but still he's pretty sure this baby is over 9 lbs already. So the rest of Tues I spent making arrangements for my boys, calling many friends for favors and help, and trying to get things ready for the baby! (who no... still has no name!) 

So I go in on Wed  about noon for my amnio... a little freaked out just at the fact that I have to have one... mostly because I've heard they are horribly painful, and while yes... I fully realized I was facing giving birth in a matter of hours... at least I knew what to expect from that, and knew there were wonderful drugs I could get for that. The amnio on the other hand was new territory. So I was a bit nervous. It actually ended up not being any where near as bad as I was thinking it would be. I mean... it didn't tickle or anything, but it was bearable and pretty quick. The nurse after told me that she thinks my Dr. is one of the best to do amnios, he's so good. He was still in the room, so we started joking about how he must have "amnio skills" just like Napoleon Dynamite has nunchuck skills.

Every one seemed to not be to worried that the results of the amnio would come back just fine, and I would be back at the hospital in later that night to start having this huge baby. I figured, with a baby that size, and the fact that I'm like 90% sure they have my due date a little later then I think it should be, the lungs would be fine, and we would have a baby on Thursday sometime. 

So we came back home and waited...........

I was suppose to go into the hospital at 10 pm. About 8, we took our kids to a friends house so they could get put to bed close to their normal bedtime and came back home to wait till we had to go to the hospital and for the call from them about the results of the amnio. We were told not to come to the hospital before we heard from them about the results. For most of the night, I just felt sick about getting the results. I didn't know why, but I felt like I wanted to puke I was so worried all of a sudden about it. Finally, about 9 we got the call from the hospital... only it was bad news, not the good news we were hoping for. The amnio showed that the baby's lungs were not developed enough to get induced that night. The nurse told me that we would have to wait at least 10 more days!!  WHAT?!?! Do you not realize how long 10 days is in pregnancy years?!?! I was just sick at this news. Here they have been going on and on about how huge this baby is, and he just needs to be delivered, and I had got my mind wrapped around this miserable pregnancy being done in 24 hours, and not being in constant pain, waddling around, and not being able to sleep in my own bed cuz it hurts too much, and now you are telling me I'm gonna have to do that for at least 10 more days!?!?  As soon as I hung up the phone I burst out in tears and hysterically cried for the next 3 hours. I sent Patrick to go pick up the boys (luckly they hadn't gone to bed yet, and were so sweet when they got home and gave their crazed crying mommy a big hug before going off to bed). Now, sure... I want to have a healthy baby, and I most defiantly don't wanna do anything that would compromise him, but I want my cake and to eat it too at this point!! I mean... most people don't walk around with a 42 week size baby in them. I wanted this kid out  AND  to be healthy. No such luck!  So me and my huge baby wallowed in self pitty for most of the next day, crying off an on... as I'm pretty sure I'm on the verge of insanity at this point. My only hope to having this baby now is to actually go into labor on my own. I am dilated to a 3, so you wouldn't think that it would take too much longer. But every time I start having contraction, they stop after a while. 

So now I have just decided that I'm going to STOP taking it easy like I have the past several weeks as to not go into labor before Patrick's audit. No matter how much pain I'm in, I'm gonna keep busy and hope that it will send me into labor... or at least if nothing else, it will keep me busy and my mind off obsessing about having the baby. So this weekend, I have informed Patrick that we are completely going to get the baby's room done. He is skeptical that this will really happen, because I hurt pretty much all the time, no matter what I'm doing, but I figure if I'm gonna be hurting no matter what, I might as well get his room put together. So we shall see how it goes.

So that is the saga of my life right now. I'm doing much better with things now... at least I don't cry as much... still want the baby here on the outside, not inside. And I'm still incredibly bummed about the whole situation. Some have said that they would be so mad at my Dr. and what was he thinking, and I most defiantly don't blame him. It's no one's fault, and I get that. It's just a crappy situation that no one can do anything about! That is what makes it so dang frustrating... NO ONE can do anything about it.

I hate playing the waiting game.......

(BTW... Patrick's audit went AWESOME!!!! Better then anyone was expecting. Good job hun!!!)

Answers to all your questions....

I have been asked the same questions about the baby over and over lately, so I thought I'd share all my answers with everyone. Some people keep asking me the same questions over and over (MOM!!) and I assure you this is how things stand as of now....

NO... no baby yet

NO..... we haven't decided on a name yet, but it is narrowed down

NO..... we really aren't keeping his name a secret, it's really undecided!

YES.... I'm hot pretty much all the time

YES.... I feel like I'm gonna pop, and I realize I look like I'm about to pop too

OK...  that is how I feel lately... just ok.... things could be worse, but things could be much better. What does one expect at this stage of the game?!?!

NO..... there is not date set for a "mercy" induction as I like to call it. My Dr. has yet to realize he should take mercy on me  lol!!

YES.... the boys are super excited for their baby brother to arrive, they ask me all the time when he'll be here... oh how I wish I had an answer for them!  :)

NO.... we will not be getting a new car... I really like our car we have... and it's almost paid off, so we will smash 3 kids in the back of it for now. If they don't all fit, we will just have to throw the loudest one in the trunk!  :)  HA HA!!!

YES... I laugh at how swollen my feet are... lets face it, they look pretty funny!!!

NO.... the baby's room is not done yet. In fact, it's not even started! Maybe we are slackers, but actually I think that is because Patrick has been so super busy with work these past several weeks, we haven't gotten to it yet. It needs to get painted, and all the "gear" brought up from the garage. All the important stuff if done though... the baby's clothes are washed are ready to wear, blankets are ready to be cuddled in, car seat and binky's have been purchased. See we got the basics covered!  lol!!

NO.... we haven't made a final decision on the date we will bless him... but November or December would be a good assumption.

YES... we are all super excited, and ready for the little man to join our crazed family

NO.... I am never ever wanting to be pregnant again!!!  :)

Conner's off to preschool again!

Yesterday Conner got to start preschool again! He has been very excited to go back to school, especially since Brayden has been back in school again too. He always gets up the same time as Brayden so he got dressed in his new school clothes, which was really just a new shirt he picked out all by himself from Target. He was very excited that I let him pick out his new shirt at the store. I love how easy it is to make a 4 year old happy sometimes!! :)

The next thing he was so cute and excited for was his "new" backpack. Brayden got a new backpack for 1st grade, so he gave his Spiderman one to Conner. I also love that Conner doesn't look at hand-me-downs as a punishment... no, no!  It is a new treasure of his big brothers... who he practically worships! So ANYTHING he gets to have that was once Brayden's is a treasure!

He had a great first day being back at Ms. Tanya's preschool. When I got there to pick him up, he ran out to the car, jumped in, and immediately started telling me about the new friends he had made, and who was in his class, and what they had for a snack. When we got home, he very proudly showed me all the things he had made and how he cut most everything out by himself (only needing a little help from Ms. Tanya) and how he wrote his name all by himself on a necklace thingy they had made. He then relived his first day of preschool again for Patrick when he got home later that night, and decided we needed to hang up all his "homeworks" (the pictures he'd cut by himself and colored) on the fridge. 

He's such a cute kid... you can't help but love him and smile at all his funny things he does.

Not quite time!

There have been many interesting things that have gone along with this pregnancy that I have not at all had with my others. I'm not here to complain about it... I'm just stating fact, and writing it down so I remember. (Possibly to help me remember why I never want to be pregnant again! lol!!) 

This pregnancy started out very rocky, and we worried that it would end in miscarriage again. Some people may not know that my body doesn't like to stay pregnant, so I have to be on medication for the first trimester just to keep the baby. There were 3 different times within the first 10 weeks that we feared this pregnancy would not last.  Once we had seen the heartbeat a few times and had multiple ultrasounds and felt comfortable finally telling people we were pregnant again was kind of bitter sweet. We were excited to finally tell, yet nervous that telling would only jinx us. But after several prayers and Preisthood blessings from my sweet husband, we made it through the nail biting first trimester, second trimester, and now almost through the third. However, like I said, there have been many things different this time around. There have been threats of bed rest due to high blood pressure, more aches and pains, contractions starting much sooner then I remembered with my other pregnancies, and many more sicknesses!!

So I suppose I shouldn't have been so surprised when yesterday I went into preterm labor!!

I woke up at 2:30 am with bad cramps and soon after, the contractions started. I have contractions all the time, and they usually will only last for like and hour, be very irregular, then go away. So I just assumed that is what would happen this time to. But by 6 am, and several failed attempts to relax and make them stop, I decided it was time to wake up Patrick and have him call the Dr. So he did, and the Dr. told him to get me to the hospital RIGHT NOW! I think this sort of panicked poor Patrick a little. I think we were both just thinking that the Dr would give us some advice on what to do, or warning signs to watch for, or maybe even go into his office in a few hours when it opened, but that was not at all the case. So Patrick hurried and woke the boys and had them get dressed while we hurried and got dressed. Patrick called a friend and asked if we could drop the boys off and if she would take Brayden to school. (her son is in Brayden's class too) She said to bring them over, so we dropped them off there on our way to the hospital. 

As we drove down the freeway, I was really worried that Patrick would get pulled over! Those of you who live in Vegas know that the 215, especially around Aliante, has been swarming with speed traps over the past few weeks, and Patrick has already gotten a ticket from it, and I really didn't want him getting another one. I told him to slow down around this area, and he said if he got pulled over, he would just ask for a police escort to the hospital! Thank goodness it was still too early in the morning for any of the speed traps to be out. We get to the hospital and they hook me up to the monitors and just monitor me and the baby for several hours. At first the baby's heart rate was really fast, and we wondered if that was a bad thing or not. But they didn't seem super worried about it, so we weren't going to stress about it till they told us to! After several tests, checks, and phone calls to my Dr. they decided to give me a shot to stop the contractions. It worked almost immediately! So they just monitored me for a while longer, because the meds they had just given me make your heart RACE and it made me feel very jittery and strange. They also informed me that I had a UTI, and that was most likely what had sent me into preterm labor. That was news to me!! I had no idea a UTI could send you into labor, but more importantly, I had NO IDEA I had one. Go figure!! Here I was just thinking I was having to go to the bathroom all the time cause of a 5 lbs baby dancing around on my bladder all day. So not long after lunchtime, we were sent home with antibiotics and instructions to rest and take it easy... and hopefully not come back for at least 3 more weeks. 

I must say, it's a little depressing and annoying being in beginning stages of labor, spending so much time in the hospital, and not get a baby out of it in the end! Hopefully next time I have to go to the hospital in labor, I can actually come home with a baby! I'm grateful for such a caring husband who took such good care of me and was so worried about me and the baby, and for great friends who I can call at 6:30 am and are willing to take my kids for the day, and others who are willing to help with even little things like driving Brayden to and from school!

Thanks everyone!!! 

The Big Day...

Brayden is OFFICIALLY a first grader!!

Brayden was so SUPER excited about going to 1st grade!! He was excited about everything about it... the new school clothes, his new backpack, and his very first lunchbox that he so carefully helped me pack his lunch in. He could hardly wait to get to school. 

Conner of course can't be left out of anything... he thinks he needs to be in first grade too. He's having kinda a hard time with the reality that he doesn't get to do EVERYTHING that his big brother gets to do, so we tried to ease the blow of this a little by letting him wear his new school clothes and I even ended up packing Conner the exact same lunch that Brayden took with him to school. It was so cute! He felt so important... just like his big brother!

Every morning and after recess, Brayden will line up on his classroom dot (his classroom number) with his teacher and then she takes all the kids into the classroom. It's a pretty good way of doing things since there were like a million kids everywhere. He felt all important that he was the very first one in line and got to help lead his class inside.

Brayden had a great first day! I asked him all about it and what his favorite thing was, and of course he said his favorite part of the day was getting to go to recess! He has been very excited to be able to eat lunch in the cafeteria like all the other big kids, so he said that was pretty cool too. I was worried that he wouldn't eat at all because he was so excited, and would rather play then waste time on boring things like eating lunch, but he did an ok job... especially for his first day. He only ate about half of his lunch, but that was still better then what I thought he would do. I think as he gets used to it all, he'll do better and better, and realize that there really is enough time for BOTH eating and playing. I think he is gonna do great this year and really learn a lot. 

I think it will take Conner some time to get used to his brother being gone all day. He did great until about 12:30 and then he went and got his shoes on and told me he was ready to go get Brayden from school. I told him we still had 2 hours until we were going to leave to pick him up, and he kept his shoes and hat on that whole time waiting to leave. It was cute, and kinda sad at the same time. I think it will be better when he gets to start preschool in a few weeks, then it will give him more to do then just hang out with boring old mom! I also may have to step it up with the play dates for him. Especially since I don't do much these days!  :)

But here is my sweet little Conner enjoying his lunch from his lunchbox. He was so content to have a lunch just like Brayden... and yes... we once again today had to pack Conner a lunch... just like his brother!

Brayden's Kindergarten Graduation

YAY for Brayden!!!

Today was his Kindergarten Graduation. 

They started out by singing a very cute song about moving on up to 1st grade. 

(It's to the tune "New York, New York")

They have been practicing it for quite a few days. Brayden would sing me bits and pieces of it as they were learning it. It was so cute, so I'm glad I got it on video. However, I totally realize it is the kinda thing that only the parents and/or grandparents will truly love... so the video is for the grandparents to see. Not that anyone else can't see it, I just get that whole watching other people's home movies thing is kinda dull sometimes. :)

(just FYI Brayden is the cute little guy just to the right of the mike stand in the back row)

So first, this is Brayden getting an award for reading. He was one of only a handful of kids in his class to receive this award. In order to get it, he had to read a certain amount of books and take and pass a comprehension test on them. 

Here he is getting his awards and shaking the hands of the Principal and Vice Principal.

 

Our Graduate!!  LOL!!

This was his teacher, Ms. Curth. Brayden really loved her for a teacher. She was so great with the kids, and Brayden defiantly learned a lot from her.  He is already saying that he will miss being in her class, but I assured him he'll still get to see her around school. 

Brayden is really looking forward to 1st grade and getting to be one of the "big" kids but most of all, he is excited to be able to eat lunch with his friends in the cafeteria. He's so funny, that is seriously what he talks about most about moving up a grade. I love how simple it is to please kids sometimes!

After the graduation, we headed back to his classroom for some refreshments. Conner was more then excited that he got to sit with his big brother and eat some cookies and cupcakes too. That sweet little boy doesn't want to be left out of anything his big brother gets to do.

At the end of the little graduation/award ceremony the principal introduced them as the class of 2021!! YIKES!!!! (yes that made me cry a little, I'm not gonna lie, but I will blame it on being 32 weeks pregnant!) Let's not jump too far ahead people!! I can't handle thinking of my sweet little baby boy graduating High School yet!!! I already know that it will come faster then I want it to. 

Great Job Brayden!!

We are so proud of how well you did in your first year of school!!!!

Such a great reminder....

I loved this!! 

The Big 4

I finally got around to taking Conner in to get his 4 year old pictures taken. I'm kinda obsessive about getting a picture of my kids every year on their birthday. When they are babies, I get it done every few months. It is just a thing that I'm really particular about. I love them!! Some I frame, some I put in their scrapbooks, and on occasion, I'm nice enough to send some to the grandparents. 

So here are some of the SUPER cute pics that we got of Conner last week. He was very excited to be able to get his picture taken. He looks so grown up!! He is very proud of being 4 years old now. He tells me all the time he can do it (whatever "it" may be) because he is 4 now!  LOL!!!

I just love this kid!!!

I'm just sayin is all...

Notice on my baby counter, I am now under 60 days?!?! Notice also that it is now August??? 

That means that now when people ask when I'm due... I can say "NEXT MONTH!" That at least sounds closer then saying 8 weeks.  It's the little things like that that will help me survive the last few months!  lol!!

(just FYI, I don't skip anywhere I go... it's more of a humorous waddle-walk thing that I have going on!)

My Rant....

Please feel free to totally avoid reading about my rant. This is just me complaining about stupid things, and I get that. But I have recently seen, once again, that some things just never change.

This past week, I received an invitation in the mail to my 10 year High School Reunion. Which in some ways, it seems strange that I have been out of high school for 10 years already, but at the same time, Graduation seems eons ago! I'm not gonna lie, I wasn't a huge fan of high school. I was actually super glad it was over, and I moved onto bigger and better things. (i.e. college, marriage, kids...life!) I went to Prescott High School in Arizona. It wasn't a huge HS, like the one Patrick went to in Mesa, we only had about 300 in my graduating class. For those who don't really know, Prescott is a fairly small town (at least it was 10 years ago, it has changed quite a bit since I lived there) and there wasn't much to do.

I had a handful of good friends that I went to school with that made my 4 years at PHS fairly bearable (no I didn't flunk a grade, my high school had grades 9-12 on it). However, I have lost touch with the majority of them for one reason or another over the years. Some we just weren't that close I guess to make the effort to do so, some we just took separate life paths. Some I feel (and this is just my assumptions based off of their reactions and comments to my life) don't approve of me... and I quote... "JUST being a stay at home mom." instead of going to years and years of school and having a demanding career. Which I think that is fine if you want that, but I never did, I always wanted the family life.

On weekends in Prescott, there wasn't much to do except go out and do the whole party thing, which usually seemed to take place out in the Forest that surrounded Prescott which was constantly patrolled by my father and his other cop friends just doing their job. So not only did I never go to these parties because I didn't drink, but I also valued my life enough to NOT get caught out in the forest at one of these parties that my father broke up every weekend. I'm pretty sure that would have not been a wise choice for me to meet my father, in full cop gear, gun on hip, with his team of officers, at a drunken party like he had found on many occasions some of my classmates. So I laid low on the weekends just messing around with my friend in town.

Which brings me back to the whole reunion invite. It made me laugh and roll my eyes that every event for this reunion is at some bar in downtown Prescott. Seriously?? Has NO ONE grown up in the last 10 years that any "fun" we try to have in that little town has to revolve around some drinking party?? Why waste time at the bars?? Why not just head out to the Gravelpits or out Copper Basin to party like everyone did in HS?? Come on!!! Even the "Family BBQ" is advertising the drinking that can take place. Some things just never change! I can just see it now, it will be all the same cliches hanging out catching up on old times, drinking, people making fools of themselves, and acting like things have never changed. I'd like to think I've changed... for the better hopefully. I mean it's been 10 years! My priorities are WAY different now then they were back then. I don't care about 99.5% of the people I went to High School with. If I do, then I still keep in contact with them via Facebook, blogs, or email. I'm pretty sure you couldn't pay me enough money to go and partake of these festivities. Not that I could go... the reunion is the same weekend that my baby is due, so I hope to have a newborn in my arms by then instead of hanging out with all the crazy drunks reliving the good ol' high school days.

That is where I'd rather be anyways, at home, with my husband and kids enjoying the life I have made for myself. I like to think that I've done some great things in the past 10 years. I've gone to awesome places, gone to college, met many friends that I'm STILL friends with, experienced life... both good and bad, happy and sad. Married an amazing man and had... almost... 3 incredible kids with him. This is what I wanted for myself 10 years ago in high school. So I'm pretty happy with the way the past 10 years have turned out for me.

Water Balloon Fights

The other night, Patrick needed help filling water balloons for some scout activity they were doing for their Pack meeting.  So being the stellar wife that I am, I helped him fill and tie LOTS of balloons. We were given way more then we needed and told that any extras we could have if we wanted. So we filled them up for the boys so we could have what Patrick called a "good ol' fashion family water balloon fight." The boys were more then excited for that! They waited eagerly for us to finish filling and tying some balloons for us to use. And of course they laughed their silly little heads off if one popped and splashed Patrick or me.

Finally we had enough to have a little water balloon fight of our own.  (please disregard how horribly ugly our rocks and dirt of a back yard are, we are working on it!)

Brayden was ready for action!

Conner was just waiting for the right moment to throw it at me and get me wet!

Look at that pure joy on his face as he tries to get his brother!

First we had the boys go at each other... they loved it!

Then we had them get up on the trampoline and we would throw the balloons onto the trampoline to get them. It was funny though, because the balloons didn't break right away, it took a few bounces, so you never new when it would explode by you!

Then we all got our "ammo" in a bowl, and it was pretty much a free for all! 

The boys had the best time!

I must admit it was pretty fun for the parents too. It would have been more fun if we actaully had our backyard landscaped so it wasn't just mud splattering all over our legs and feet when a balloon missed it's target, but we still had fun, nothing a quick shower before bed couldn't fix. 

The boys are already begging us to go buy some more balloons so we can do it all again. I think we will have to give our poor fingers a rest... we tied about 100 water balloons... it left injuries. But we will most defiantly do it all again soon!

Conner's Big Day!

Conner is such a funny kid!! If you remember from a few posts back, I mentioned how he had quite the agenda for his birthday. Well he got to do pretty much everything on that list... and then some!!  He had a great day!!!

 

We of course had to get ready, so he had picked out some balloons and streamer at the store so we could decorate the house a little...

He of course wanted to help out... in fact, being Mr. Independent that he is... he wanted to do it all, and pretty much only let mom help to tie the balloons after he blew them up, and tape the streamers up where it was too high for him to reach.

He helped to mix the cake batter and mix up the frosting. Then much to his dismay, mommy did the rest. Coloring frosting is not exactly a child-friendly job. He taste tested the frosting though to make sure each and every color tasted good enough. Mom then made his Optimus Prime birthday cake.

Not 100%, but it was good enough for Conner to say "thanks for making me such an awesome cake mom!" So at least he thought it was the best cake! That is all that matters!

He made sure we sung to him, like we wouldn't have done that anyways, but he just had to make sure!

He asked for "the biggest" piece, so Patrick cut him a pretty big piece, and despite his best efforts, he was only able to eat half, but it was a good effort!

He also got to go to swimming lessons on his big day, which he loves. He is doing so awesome at it, he's getting better and better each time he tries something.

After swimming lessons, it was off to McDonalds for his birthday dinner!!  

(I can hear the members in my family laugh about this, because every year when I was around his age, I chose to go to McDonalds for my birthday dinner too. It was my favorite place to eat. Granted, there were only like 3 fast food restaurants to even choose from in Prescott at the time, so I didn't even have much variety. I am happy to say that both I and the great town of Prescott have expanded out from just McDonalds. I prefer to eat at much better places these days!)

We let the boys play for a while in the play land after they ate, and Brayden saw this chair and told Conner he needed to have his picture taken in it since it was of course his birthday!! Conner was super excited about that idea, and it did make for a cute photo op!

Conner also got to hunt for his presents, as requested, one was hidden upstairs, and lots downstairs!

They were hidden in the food storage closet...

...the pantry...

...everywhere!

He got lots of great presents for his birthday! Brayden and Conner have had so much fun playing with all his new toys!

Things we love about our Conner:

~he is a ball of energy!! 

~he always makes sure he says "love you" to everyone

~he loves to give everyone in his family hugs and kisses

~he loves to cuddle with pretty much anyone who will cuddle with him

~he's such a sweet little boy

Some of Conner's favorite things:

~Dogs

~Playing with his big brother

~Riding in his Daddy's truck

~Going to friends houses

~the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie

~Spongebob

~helping mom go shopping

~his blankies

~playing games with his family

~donuts and/or ice cream

~riding his scooter

Conner is such a happy kid!! We are SO LUCKY to have him in our family!

WE LOVE YOU CONNER!!!!!

**Click here if you wanna see info/pics from when Conner was born that I wrote about last year. He has some pretty stinkin cute baby pictures!

Our 4th of July Weekend!

I love the 4th of July!!!

I always have. I love the BBQ's, fireworks, events, patriotism, the decor, everything. Growing up in Prescott, everyone from there knows that the 4th is like the biggest holiday that town sees all year! There are parades, events on the Courthouse Square, TONS of tourists, fireworks, and of course we cant talk about the 4th in Prescott without mentioning the Worlds Oldest Rodeo! Which I have only been to once in my life, but one day I wanna take my boys there, just for fun. Not that we are Rodeo kinda people, but everyone has to go to the Prescott Rodeo at least once in their life... right?? 

When we lived in Utah, Patrick and I discovered that we LOVED going to Sugarhouse Park to picnic, feed the ducks, play, and watch the fireworks. It was really the only place in Salt Lake that had a big firework show. We did this every year we lived up there. The last time we went to the Sugarhouse Park Fireworks I was literally about to pop from being so pregnant with Conner. Seriously!! He was born 5 days later!!! The following year we joined in on the Prescott 4th of July festivities with my family, then we moved here to Vegas. The first 4th we had here, I remember being soooooo disappointed. I was still getting used to being in Vegas and trying like mad to survive my first killer summer here with temps hovering around 118!!! So we didn't want to melt by going to watch fireworks, so we just went and parked in the vacant lot by Patrick's office where you could see fireworks from all over the valley. This did NOT satisfy my craving for 4th of July festivities. I missed Utah a lot, and we still didn't 

even know anyone around here to even ask about where to go for good fireworks or events or anything like that. So last year, I wanted to get back to our normal way of celebrating, yet to no avail again... it was still 110 degrees at 10 pm as we sat in the back of Patrick's truck from the same vacant lot by his office watching fireworks. We were all roasting to death, and it wasn't that much fun. So this year I was desperate to find a way to make one of my favorite holiday's successful. We wanted to get outta town, we were gonna go up to Utah and go through the new temple during the open house, see our wonderful friends we left behind up there, and of course... go to Sugarhouse Park. However, the closer it got to the 4th, the more apparent it became that we wouldn't be able to go anywhere for multiple reasons beyond our control. I was really bummed!! I wanted so much to have a fun 4th of July all together as a family. After being depressed about it for a few days, I went to work trying to figure out what to do to make this a great 4th of July.  And I'm very happy to report that we were SUCCESSFUL!!

Here are the boys watching the ducks and hunting for turtles.

Such cute brothers!!

Conner being cheesy!

Apparently Brayden thinks he's Mr. Cool gangsta as he chows down on his pizza and lemonade.

Patrick finally getting some relaxation!!!

We spent the weekend at the Rec Center pool with the boys, who loved every minute we were there. We ate ice cream cones in the hot summer afternoons. Ordered take out one night. We took a picnic to the Dinosaur Park not far from our house and watched a pretty decent fireworks show from Aliante Station. And the best part of all.... it WAS NOT a million degrees and we didn't feel like we were melting! We all had fun, ate good food, laughed, and I am happy that maybe now we have finally found a good way to celebrate the 4th here in Vegas!

FHE Fun!

Last night we had a lot of fun together for Family Home Evening. Usually after having a lesson or whatever we have done, the boys want to do something fun. Many times we have a "Family Wii Night". However, our Wii had a run in with Conner a few weeks back, and mom and dad have yet to fork over the money to get it fixed. So we have found other fun things to do. Playing Truth or Dare Jenga is one of the boys favorites! Patrick and I have had this game for a long time, and usually thought the truth or dare part was dumb, so we would just play as if it was regular Jenga. But the boys love the truth or dare part. So it is usually pretty entertaining around here when we play. Last night was no exception.

Yes, generally I do keep my children clothed, but one of the dare blocks Brayden got was to remove an item of clothing. Glad he was the one that got that one!

Conner was laughing so hard when his dare block dared him to switch an item of clothing with someone. So him and Brayden had to switch shirts. It was pretty funny, Brayden's shirt looked a little like a dress on Conner because it was so big!

Conner is getting pretty good at playing this game. He never was the one to knock over the tower. He loves it!!

Here is Conner after he was dared to slow dance with a broom (so we just used the Swivel Sweeper) He was so embarrassed!! He didn't know what he should do, so Brayden stood up on his chair, and showed him how to slow dance. Patrick and I were busting up laughing at it all!

(see the shirt is a bit big on him!)  :)

This may very well be the highlight of the game....

Brayden was dared to give the person next to him a raspberry on their tummy. Conner was laughing so hard  well before Brayden even got his face close to his tummy. Conner kept laughing and pushing away so Brayden couldn't do it. It took quite a few tries to give his brother an acceptable raspberry, but he finally did it! We were all dying of laughter!! 

It was good times!!!!!

The Happenings at our House

Not that it is all that interesting or anything, but I figured it had been a while since I blogged, so here is what is going on....

Conner's birthday is next week. He will be 4. I often sit back and am amazed at how different Conner is then Brayden in several ways. Conner is VERY independent. He'll just decide one day that he wants to do something himself and you can't change his mind about it. He will argue till he's blue in the face about something. He has been cracking us up lately because he has his whole birthday planned out, and has informed me that this is how his birthday will play out. 

Here is his agenda: 

~Wake up, go have pancakes at "The Pancake House", come home and play a game. 

~Then we will go to swimming lessons (they start next week, and both boys are very excited for that!) and then go to Chuck E. Cheese for dinner. 

~Then we are to come home and Brayden and I are to hide behind the couch, and Daddy is to turn off the lights, and then when Conner walks in the house, Dad's job is to turn on the lights, and we all jump out and yell "SURPRISE!" 

~Then he will hunt out his presents that we are to hide (a few upstairs and lots downstairs) once he finds them all, he will open them. 

~Then we will have cake and ice cream. However, what kind of cake we are to have keeps changing. It has been everything from Spongebob, Wall-E, Doggy, and Spiderman, but I think he has decided on a Transformer cake. At least for now. That may change once or twice again before the big day next week.

He is such a funny kid!!

In other happenings....

Brayden has been getting so good at reading! He really loves it too. Yesterday I took them to a new Library that has recently opened (which is a MILLION times better then the one that is closer to my house, so it's worth the extra drive time) and Brayden was so excited to pick out his own books that he would be able to read on his own. Since he is on track break I figured it would be good for him to keep up on his reading skills. I have found him more then once reading a story to his little brother... so sweet!!!

Patrick keeps crazy busy as always with work. There is never a dull day at his office.  So he is defiantly looking forward to the long weekend he has coming up for the 4th. He has also been keeping busy earning the 

BESTEST HUSBAND OF THE DECADE 

award. He has been massaging my tired, sore, swollen, pregnant legs and feet, almost daily over the past few weeks. It has been heaven!!! One night when Brayden came in the family room while Patrick was doing this and Patrick and I were talking, Brayden asked "Dad, why are you doing that to Mom??" Patrick simply replied, "because this is how you treat your pregnant wife."  Well, I'm not gonna argue that! I'm so glad that he is teaching our boys how to treat girls right. He tells them all the time that we let girls go first and open doors for them and things like that. My boys try all the time to open the door for me, sometimes they still need help, but they always give it a try. I sure hope my boys grow up to be nice gentleman like their dad is!

As for the pregnant thing... its going fairly well. I'm still NOT a fan of being pregnant. I'm almost to my last trimester, and I'm feeling it. Last time I went to the Dr. he told me the baby is measuring a little big, but nothing to be concerned about yet.  I have been starting to get sore from just about anything I do, especially sitting or laying in the same position for too long. I get up and I look like a 100 year old lady wobbling around. This was only confirmed last Sunday at church when I got a few comments about how I have "the pregnant walk", not sure that I'm a huge fan of that either! I'm pretty sure this kid will be like Brayden in the way that he's already so low that it hurts to move my legs up to do simple things like put on pants or get into bed. Oh the joys!!!  :)  Do any of you remember seeing Brayden when he was born, he had a huge dent in his head from grinding it into my pelvic bones, well I'm thinking this kid may have the same thing... good thing it goes away quickly. I asked my Dr. about the pain from that last time I saw him and he just nicely smiled and said it will only get worse as the baby gets bigger, and even worse still if I was to have yet another baby. Gee, thanks!!! So if you see me wobbling around, looking like I'm in pain, and holding my stomach up, that is why. I am in pain. Feel free to laugh, I know is a funny sight... Patrick and the boys chuckle at me often. Hey, I even laugh at myself, you just have to laugh at things like that sometimes!   However, I am happy to report that Conner has come around to the idea of have this baby. He often gives me hugs and then whispers to my belly "Hi Baby!" It's so cute.