Monster Mash

After Kamri's dance class they put on a little Halloween dance.  Kamri kept looking up at me and smiling big but you can't tell, I need to get a real camcorder that can zoom instead of my phone!.  Lyla shows off her dance moves too around 1:25.  She was also trying to tap her toes like the big girls.

  

I had my weekly injection of progesterone yesterday to hopefully help my cervix do it's job.  I remember being a little more emotional the day after the shot during Lyla's pregnancy but today I was a mess.  I hope I can blame it on the shot and I hope it doesn't end up being like this every week!

Hayes had a bloody nose right as we were walking out the door to get him to school, he was five minutes late because of it and I sat out in the car bawling.  Seriously. Crying over your child being five minutes late. Lame. In my head I knew it wasn't a big deal but those lovely hormones....

Hayes ended up going to the nurses office four times because his nose kept bleeding. I went in at 12:30 to bring him new pants since a little blood had gotten on his. The nurse also thought he might need to go home. He didn't want to though so I held his nose for awhile, it stopped and thankfully was fine the rest of the day.

We went to our ward trunk or treat a few blocks away from our house, Lyla hadn't had a nap today so she was cranky so I drove her home. Bracken walked the kids home and trick or treated on the way.  They came home with way too much candy.  I didn't get any pictures...thankfully Denise got some pictures of my kids costumes at the party last weekend.

Carving Pumpkins

We finally carved our pumpkins. Bracken, Hayes and Kamri did the dirty work of pulling out the "guts." Hayes and Kamri told me what they wanted and I did the carving. Lyla tried her hardest to stay as far away as possible from the lit up pumpkins while Kamri tried to get her close for a picture.
Bracken's work had a Halloween party today. The kids now have a ton of candy and they haven't even done real trick or treating yet! Lyla didn't quite understand and would take a candy out of someones bowl and replace it with the candy she had received from the previous office. Thus making sure every bowl had a melted, mangled candy.

The girls and I cleaned out the car today. Detailing the inside, Kamri was a big help wiping out the cupholders with her little hands. The rest of the day was unpacking and laundry in-between card games of Speed. Kamri just learned how to play and loves it.
We were planning on carving pumpkins tonight for family home evening but after soccer practice and dinner there was less than an hour left before bedtime and my patience was running out. Bracken is a smart man and convinced the kids to do pumpkin carving tomorrow and watch a short tv show tonight instead. It'll be a lot better carving pumpkins with more time and energy!
It was a good day but definitely falling asleep early tonight!

Home again, home again

Too quick of a trip! We're back in Vegas right before midnight. We went to church in Mendon and ate lunch then dinner in Cedar. It's nice to be able to see some of both families.
My favorite part of the car ride was listening to Hayes and Kamri discuss what movie they were going to watch. We told them they had to both agree on one and if they whined or cried about not getting their way we wouldn't turn on a movie. Kamri wanted Bedtime Stories or Tangled; Hayes wanted Jungle Book or Monsters Inc. They compromised on Backyardigans. It was great, no arguing just talking, they solved the problem themselves and they picked something Lyla enjoyed too!

Halloween Party

Doughnut eating, balloon popping, lots of good food, more candy and a treasure hunt that ended in the cemetery! Denise knows how to throw a party! Here are some highlights: Kamri told Bracken there were mummies in the cemetery, buried underground. Yet she still went in, brave girl! Griffin provided a lot of entertainment trying to pop his balloon, he would jump on to it and either miss and hit the ground or bounce right off, flying into the air.
Jate had the funniest costume, wearing his moms high school cheerleading uniform. Denise's black widow costume was amazing, lots of black tulle! Kamri and Halle were cute matching green- faced witches. Griffin was buzz lightyear, he was about to test out his wings ('falling in style', anyone?) by jumping off the back deck, luckily his older sister knew he would be the one to actually do something like that so she called for help and his dad rescued him.
I will definitely post some pictures when I get back to my computer!

Hogle Zoo

On our drive up to Logan we stopped at Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. Telly met us there with his kids, Macee, Griffin & Taggert. It was a nice break in the drive. Lyla loved the tigers and was roaring! Kamri's favorite were the giraffes and Hayes...He loved chasing the peacocks.
We got to stop and visit my friend Shayna and her newest little one! Then we dropped Bracken off at a draft party for fantasy basketball and went the rest of the way up to Mendon. Bracken is getting a ride up from Farmington with Kade later tonight. I'm glad Bracken ended up having work off today and could come with us and that he gets to go do something fun with his brothers. Too bad it's not ski season yet!

We drove up to cedar tonight and are headed up to Mendon in the morning. Longhurst Halloween Party here we come!

It's the simple things...

that make life so great.

I had a dentist & a doctor appointment this morning. I don't even want to admit how long it has been since I have been to the dentist (and Bracken as well) but we were both cavity free. Wahoo! I had a cervix check today and injection. They do an ultrasound and measure my cervix every three weeks. As long as it stays above 3 cm I don't have to go on bed rest. Good news it was 4.2 today so we're still doing good. I also get an injection every week of progesterone to try and help my body keep the baby in there. It's nice having a familiar plan now, even if it does involve getting poked once a week.

Hayes didn't have school today so a girl from our ward watched him & Lyla while I was at the doctor. (Kamri was at preschool). Hayes & Kamri painted pumpkins while Lyla napped. We have five pumpkins one for each kid. Hayes, Kamri, baby Dane, Lyla & baby boy.

I have had a craving for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies so we made some this afternoon. Our oven wasn't heating like it should so the first two patches ended up as puddles but after heating up for an hour the third batch finally came out great. Sad how annoyed I was with an appliance!

We got a babysitter tonight to go to the temple. I thought I didn't have time to make & eat dinner when Bracken got home so we stopped at Del Taco on our way to the temple. Turns out I should have just made something. We got stuck between cars in the s-l-o-w-e-s-t-fast-food-line-ever and by the time we got our food we couldn't make it to the temple on time to the last session. Instead, we went to Lowes and looked at refrigerators in hopes we'll get the house and have to buy a fridge. Then decided to just go home & relax, disappointed we didn't make it to the temple! When we got home the kids were all in the pj's and Lyla ran up to me & just cuddled right in. Loved it!

Any of you have opinions on fridges? French door fridge with the drawer freezer, side by side, ice maker in the door or in the freezer portion....so many options.

I felt the baby move today. A great moment for a Monday that was full of errand running and a cranky toddler.

I got my hair cut too, I'll post pictures later but when Hayes got home he was surprised and said, next time can you have them cut here too and motioned to the sides if my head. Apparently he isn't used to me having so much volume in my hair! I told him I could make it flatter and then he thought it was great. I love the honesty of kids!

Stake Conference

A thought I enjoyed from Stake Conference was by allowing our children their agency, we are allowing them the opportunity to learn from the Holy Ghost. I didn't listen as well as I hoped since two hours on metal chairs with an 18-month-old isn't conducive to much listening, at least for me.

After Stake Conference we ate lunch and then Bracken took Hayes & Kamri to a cemetery to take pictures for Billion graves while Lyla and I took a nap. The kids loved cleaning off graves for Bracken to take pictures of them. Bracken uploaded 118 graves today. I hope someone asks the kids what they did this weekend, just to have their reaction when they say took pictures of graves! They had a lot of fun. I love that Bracken gets involved with things that are a bit random but serve a great purpose. I also love that I got a nap!  Kamri & Hayes wanted to have Bracken take some pictures of them by gravestones so he took a few with them (that he didn't upload).

 Kamri's glamour shot...by a headstone...

I was spoiled even more today, I didn't have to make dinner!We ate dinner at Rod (my dad's cousin) & Cindy's house tonight.  Our kids love playing with their grandkids and I love that we have some family here in Vegas. Hayes calls them his third grandparents. (since the kids he plays with are his third cousins)

and a picture from yesterday.  The kids love cleaning out the sink. They spent 30 minutes playing in  cleaning the sink. Hayes had poured an excessive amount of dish soap down the drain so every time he turned the water on bubbles would spew out of the drain. He yelled to me "Mom! Come take a picture and post it on facebook!!"  A bit embarrassed that he knows fb & that you can post pictures I asked him what facebook was.  "A website!"

If only they thought all chores were this much fun!

A great Saturday that I'll write about tomorrow.
Soccer
Yard work
A clean sink
Stake conference

Bracken's fb statuses today

'Kamri: "Don't drive fast, I just saw the police!"
Hayes: "It's a fact. I can prove it."
Truly my offspring'


'Kamri just topped her earlier comment with the exclamation: "Daddy looks like he has a baby is his tummy!" Can't argue with that. Time to start exercising again...'

Tonight was the fall festival for the elementary school Hayes attends. The kids loved it. Kamri won the cake walk and chose the cupcakes we brought and she helped make. She was so happy about it she wanted to play again, crazy girl.

Lyla baby

Lyla wasn't feeling well and wouldn't fall asleep for her nap unless I held her. So I held her for an hour while she slept. I haven't cuddled with her while she slept in a long time because she is such a good sleeper. Usually as long as she had her binky and white burp cloth she goes right down. I enjoyed cuddling with her, she only has a few more months as the baby of the family. I gotta soak in all her baby-ness before she's one of the big kids!

I need to take pictures to help on the days I have nothing to write.

Pumpkin muffins with warm apple cider is delicious by the way.

A day in the life

I went my Ob Doctor today and got to hear the baby's heartbeat.  Last night a home health nurse came and gave me a shot that I'll get every week now until the baby is born. Next week I get to go get an ultrasound to get my cervix checked.  I feel like my life is turning into doctor's appointments, but as I sit here and complain I'm reminded of the miracle of Lyla being alive.  That because of these doctor appointments and ultrasound capabilities,  I'm able to know when I need to go on bedrest to keep this baby growing.  Modern medicine, what a blessing.

Lyla came with me to the doctor appointment while Kamri & Hayes were at school.  She gave the doctor dirty looks when he came in and was good to stay in the chair the whole check-up.  One of the perks of having a more cautious child...If it had been Hayes at that age he would have had everything overturn and run out of the office to the opposite corner of the hospital before I could grab him. (true story) 

After the doctor appointment, a quick stop to Trader Joe's for frozen fruit for smoothies, picked up Kamri, made lunch, put Lyla down for a nap.  Kamri & I cleaned up the backyard because the weather was so nice. We picked up all the bug eaten pomegranates (dang bugs) and threw away all the broken sand toys. Cleaned up and did some laundry.   Lyla woke up right before Hayes got home from school and they all played outside until dinnertime.  I love this time of year in Vegas. It has finally cooled down! (Although as I was outside picking stuff up I started sweating and realized it still isn't cool....just cooled DOWN)

Bracken got home from work, we ate dinner, he went to a Young Men's meeting while I bathed the kids and then they ate ice cream, Bracken put the kids to bed and did the dishes. We sat down to watch the rerun of the debate but turned it off halfway through because it was not really debating. We watched an episode each of The Office &  Everybody Loves Raymond on Netflix..

 Today was an enjoyable day.  I loved watching my three kids play together outside of hours. I loved hearing Lyla exclaim "BUGS!" when we turned over the flowerpot and it was full of crickets.  I loved Kamri's questions about antennae and if they are used to bite. I loved watching Hayes dig a hole in the garden, no cares in the world.  I loved Lyla's excitement when Bracken got home and her babbling like she made perfect sense when Bracken asked her how her day was. And let's be realistic--I did not love when Kamri pushed Hayes followed by Hayes tattling on Kamri for not saying sorry. 

Sometimes I hesitate to write the details of typical "mundane" day but that's life. A lot of times there isn't something super exciting going on, but  I'm happiest when I'm able to enjoy those days and not get caught up in wanting more. 

My favorite line today

My favorite line today was from Kamri. "I know why babies don't have the priesthood, because they can't reach your head!"

A cute picture Bracken took on his phone while we waited in between Hayes &  Kamri's soccer games on Saturday.

Soccer

Hayes & Kamri both did well at the soccer games today. Kamri hustled around the field instead of walking and she kicked the ball a whole bunch.  The cooler weather helped her to keep running instead of walking off the field to me like she has done in the past.
Hayes was the goalie for the 2nd half of the game.  He made seven saves!  The ball came up and hit him and he still jumped after it when it bounced away.  One save he dove down for the ball with a group of kids kicking at it, braving getting kicked in the face.

Hayes had the day off of school. I wanted to think of something fun to do but decided I wanted to have a day to spend quality time with him, not just the kids running around having fun. We went to the library and then met up with Bracken for lunch at McDonalds. Then while Lyla napped Kamri, Hayes and I did a craft. The beads you put on a tray to make something and then melt with a iron. (I have no clue what they are called) Hayes made an elephant and Kamri made a heart and bracelet. Hayes and I played three games of chess today too. Which he was whining at 9 am that I wanted to go shower and I had only played two games of chess with him. Seriously, who plays chess before 9 am (or ever) anyway?!
Tonight was our wards relied society's annual sleepover up at a family in our ward's cabin. I didn't sleep over but stayed Til midnight. We have a lot of fun women in our ward and I'm always game for a good card game.

Under Contract

We looked at a house Monday night that we thought we might want to put an offer on. We had seen houses with the same floor plan and had looked at a house in the same neighborhood and loved the area.  Monday night we put an offer on the house.  It is a short sale and they got another offer on Tuesday but thankfully they accepted ours today!  Wahoo!!

We now have to wait for the banks approval on the short sale.  I have heard so many horror stories about how long bank approval takes but the sellers have already negotiated with their first mortgage on the selling price so hopefully it will go quickly. I'm excited to be in a house of our own again, to have more space, and to be in that neighborhood!

All three kids had their well checks today. They all were healthy for which I am grateful.  Kamri and Lyla had to get shots for which they were not grateful.  Hayes did not have to get shots and had fun rubbing that in Kamri's face. The only statistics I remember is that Lyla weighs 21 pounds now and Hayes only weighs three pounds more than Kamri, we've gotta get more meat on that kid.

My favorite part of the day was before bed the kids were all sitting on the couch with me. Hayes was reading "Go, Dog, Go" to Kamri and Lyla was sitting next to us looking at a book and babbling. I hope my kids always love reading and spending time together.

Yesterday

I was kicking myself yesterday morning for writing a post the night before about appreciating the hard times in life because (I think God has a sense of humor) yesterday morning was horrible! All three kids needed to be bathed before 9 a.m. because they were all asleep when we got home off the mountain the night before. Hayes gagged himself on a piece of food and threw up everywhere. Kamri had acquired the ability to only converse in whine and Lyla wanted to be held. I did have a small victory in that Hayes made it to school on time even though he wouldn't get into the shower until 20 minutes before school started.  When we got back home Kamri had a tantrum because I didn't do her hair how she explained it...two braids and then down.  I ended up putting myself in time out after that so I wouldn't lose it over a simple hairstyle.

It really wasn't that bad...but at the time it was.  The rest of the day went much better and today has been great.  I watched my friends two kids today. Her little boy is about the same age as Lyla and reminded me so much of Hayes when he was little. He was so curious and into everything.  Lyla likes to get into things but not at the same level as Hayes did.  It'll be fun to see the personality of our next little boy.

My blogger app deleted my post. Boo. I'll rewrite tomorrow.

Diversity

As Bracken was driving us home I looked out the window at the landscape before we hit Las Vegas. It looks much different than the colorful trees and vegetation on the mountain we just left. Around the world there are places that have even more differences. I was filled with gratitude to our Heavenly Father for giving us such diversity. The world could all look the same and we wouldn't know the difference but the Lord gave us sandy beaches with crashing waves, rugged mountains and tropical jungles, etc. So many different climates and views to enjoy.
When we moved here I thought the barren & brown landscape of Las Vegas was ugly...it makes Cedar seem green & lush! I never appreciated the little green Cedar had when we lived there. Now I see the landscape around Las Vegas as beautiful but in a different way. The rugged, rocky mountains are impressive and the fact that anything can survive here is a feat. I appreciate both places now, for different reasons.

To me is seems life can be similar. It can seem rocky and barren and we can wish for that time of life that seemed so lush and green. The time of life that we took for granted as being lush and green because it wasn't perfect--it wasn't the tropical rainforest. Now in the barren desert we realize its beauty. With the passage of time we move onto another landscape of life and realize that rocky and barren desert taught and blessed us in ways the lush and green or the tropical rainforest never could.

Just as each landscape has its own beauty for us to enjoy, each phase in life has its own blessings and growth. We just need the eyes to see it and the gratitude to appreciate it.

Up late talking to family. General Conference, walking around the Mountain enjoying the fall leaves and spending time with family. Good times

A boy & A Lawyer

Today was a big day! I had an appointment with the perinatal specialist with a full ultrasound and found out we're having a BOY!! Bracken was able to come with me and we had fun watching the baby show off his hands and give us a thumbs up. Ultrasound machines are amazing and the human body is amazing. Even though I've done this four times before, it seems surreal that a little body is kicking around inside me. Such a miracle!
After my doctors appointment we picked up the girls from my friends house and Hayes from school then headed to Judge Scann's courtroom. Bracken externed for her his last semester. She swore him in as a lawyer, the paper will get filed on Monday and he'll officially be a lawyer! It was nice to be the only ones there instead of going when there would be a crowd of people sworn in. The kids were absolutely crazy including Lyla running head on into a table--twice!-- and then screaming uncontrollably because she didn't get a nap. Kamri wouldn't cooperate for pictures because she loves to not do what you say when people she doesn't know are watching and then Hayes and her were playing chase. Not their best behavior so it was good we didn't go on the day with everyone else that passed the bar!! I took pictures but will have to post them later because I am on my phone posting this.
We left the courtroom and headed for Cedar to go up to the cabin. We made it to the cabin in time for Bracken to watch the last three quarters of the USU vs. BYU game and be heartbroken that USU lost.

Bracken took Hayes on a father-son outing tonight. Hayes chose geocaching and then they went to U-swirl since Hayes got a free yogurt credit card (as he called it) at school today.  He picked out a guitar pick from the cache they found.  He fell asleep cuddling with that guitar pick--he had a blast with his dad.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. We're going up the mountain to watch general conference at the cabin and spend some time outdoors.  In trying to take it a little easier, I haven't been outside as much lately.  I'm looking forward to some time out of the city with my family and maybe a hike walk through the changing colors of fall.

Bar Exam

The Nevada Bar exam results were in today and Bracken passed!! All that studying paid off! I didn't doubt he would pass but it is sure nice to KNOW he won't have to take it again!

We celebrated by watching the Presidential debate. Ok so that's not why we watched it BUT the fact Romney did awesome was a great way for Bracken to end his day.

All I can say today is I'm grateful I don't usually drive a two-door car.  My car was in the shop for some maintenance today so I had Bracken's two door accord.  Not fun loading kids in and out on a hot day!

Tricky

Kamri and I got out the fall/Halloween decorations out today. The costumes are in the same box. Kamri had fun trying on Hayes Sully Monster costume. She then pulled out her black wig from when she was a witch as a 18 month old. She wore the wig to Hayes soccer practice because she wanted to trick her friends since they "wouldn't understand who she was" (aka recognize her)
Her friends weren't there but thankfully Sherilyn made a point to ask who was the girl with me and where was Kamri. Kamri's face lit up under all that black hair, It made her day that she tricked someone!