Missing Utah

I'm proud to say that up to this point I haven't gotten too homesick for Utah. I don't mean to say that I haven't missed friends and family a lot because of course I've missed you all. But this summer was pretty nice with going to the beach and the boardwalk and 80 degree weather versus the hot and dry 100 degrees weather I would have had in Utah. But now.... I'm not so sure anymore. Fall is my favorite season of all. I look forward to it all year long- when I can put on my jeans and boots and a sweater for the first time; when I see the mountains turn red and orange; or that first night out when your nose and ears get red from the cold. I look forward to those things and according to me they should be happening soon and they aren't. It's still been 80 degrees here every day. I can't even force myself to get out my fall decorations because I just don't feel like it's fall. So I'm sitting here now wishing I could be back in Utah for a few months to really enjoy my favorite season of the year.

A few more pictures of me and the kids

Monterey and the Untimely Death of an Xbox

Hello all, Mike here. Hope that you are all doing well and feeling as good about BYU football as I am right now. Did we pick the worst year to leave Utah or what? Why couldn't the Cougs have been this good last year? My only consolation is that I get to travel to Utah this coming weekend and go to the Wyoming game with my family--needless to say I'm very excited for the game and to see those of you I will get to see. We decided to go on a mini trip this weekend to Monterey. For those of you unfamiliar with the area, Monterey is about 75 miles southeast of where we live here in Fremont. It is probably best known for its aquarium and the golf courses at Pebble Beach. Friday afternoon we took the kids to a park and let them blow off some steam before going on what is called the "17 mile drive". The drive takes you along the coast right past Spyglass Hill golf course and eventually by the famous Pebble Beach course. All in all a pretty swanky area--I think that I would like to play one of the many courses there someday (after I take out a loan to pay greens fees) but I wonder how long they would let me play considering the damage I would likely do to the course and surrounding properties. It was an incredible drive.

We stayed in a hotel overnight and the kiddies got to share a bed. The kids were pretty excited and were making quite a bit of noise so I told Kenny that we weren't at home and she needed to settle down. She told me that for 2 days the hotel room was our home. How do you argue with that logic? I think she's getting too smart for her own good.....

Saturday we went to the aquarium. It was a really cool place and they had more fish and seaweed than I ever knew existed. The kids enjoyed running around and touching everything that they could see and we enjoyed chasing them. What are we going to do with another one?

As one might expect, Kenzie's favorite part of the aquarium were the "Nemo Fishies", while Tyler liked the huge million gallon tank that had a couple of hammerhead sharks and huge yellowfin tuna. Melly liked the Jellyfish so much that we had to go back twice to look at them. Cheesy as it may sound, my favorite part was watching the kids get so excited about everything that they saw. T really likes to show us things that he finds and Louie likes to try and guess what the fish are thinking or feeling. Pretty fun.

It was moments like this picture that made the trip for me. As much as I tried to help her look through the telescope the right way, she insisted on marching to her own beat.

We made it back on Saturday afternoon and Tyler wanted to play his Lego Star Wars game on my Xbox. When I turned it on a single red light started flashing and an error screen popped up. I told Ty that it was broken and he was almost as devistated as his dad. That night the first thing in Ty's prayer was that the Xbox would get feeling better. Awesome.

Another good Ty moment from a few days ago. We have been talking about what we are going to name the new baby for a few weeks now and the kids are always coming up with different and interesting ideas (Kenzie's always seem to involve Disney characters). Out of the blue T comes up to me and says that he has the perfect name. I asked him what it was and he says "Baby John McCain". I don't even know where he learned the name. What a guy.

Anyway, I hope you are all well and I'm excited to see some of you this week.

A New Belly Shot

Somewhere in the middle of my second trimester I gained some serious girth in the belly. It seemed like all of a sudden one day- there it was. Even Mike thought so. It was small, small, small then whoa- what happened? Now I feel the abdomen muscles starting to seriously stretch and have a hard time sitting in an upright position for too long. Oh- and the heartburn has begun. I can't believe that it's still going to get bigger but I know that it will get to be humongous. But that means that we are getting closer to the end. Only about 2.5 months left- hooray!! Anyways- here's the belly shot for everyone.

So grown up, what's a mom to do?

Today I sent both Tyler and Makenzie off to school, came home and wondered for a minute what to do with myself. Of course, I then spent the next couple of hours finding plenty to do- and not fun stuff either. But still- cleaning the house, paying the bills and running errands is so much easier without "little helpers". Tyler started kindergarten last week- his is from 11:35 to 3:00. So I put Makenzie in an afternoon preschool from 12:45-3:30. We'll see how it goes. Right now I'm just sad looking at these pictures. I always thought it was so hard when they were both little but now I would rather they be three and one again then almost 6 and 4. It's scary when you realize that now your little ones are off in the world and you can't control their environment anymore. I don't like the feeling...... worry, anxious.... I'd much rather spend the day at the park chasing them on the slides and pushing them on the swings. I don't want them to grow up anymore. Good thing I have another one coming, eh?

The Beginning of the End

So.... it's started. The beginning of the end. How do I know this?? Because I woke up in the middle of the night last night in excrutiating pain with my first "charlie horse" of the pregnancy. I had forgotten how much I hate those things. They always sneak up on me while I'm sleeping. Out of nowhere they attack and then there isn't really anything I can do but writhe around in bed saying "Ow, ow, ow" and "shoot" until it's gone. It seems like they shouldn't hurt so much- after all it's just an extreme muscle cramp in a way, right? They make me feel like a wimp but part of it, I think, is that I can't prepare for them since I am sound asleep when they hit. And poor Mike.... I think he thought I was having a bad dream last night when I started crying until I said, "NO, my leg my leg". Today I've been walking around with a limp because my muscle is so sore. And it feels like another "charlie horse" might attack that leg at any moment if I make a wrong move. So unfortunately that's how I know that the dreaded third trimester has started.