My Boys

The last couple of months were cold, cold and rainy. It felt like there was a couple of weeks there with no sun at all! It was a little depressing, so we tried to make the most of it. There was one morning I woke up early with the boys and watched the rain fall outside while we drank hot chocolate and the boys played by the fire in their camp gear. Luckily as of last week, we are finally enjoying some great summer weather!

 Watching the rain fall outside

 I thought this one was cute

 It was hard to believe that even in June it was cold enough to have a fire!

 Owen is a good fake sleeper

These next pictures are actually from April. The boys and I enjoyed a few nice days where we went to the park and rode our bikes around the marina as much as we could while the weather was nice. Afterwards the boys played at the park until it got dark. There were tons of kids out since the nice weather was still a little rare, and afterwards we were sure to have fill up on some yummy ice cream!

 I love my boys so much, they are so much fun to hang out with!

 In April we set the boys room up to share with toddler beds and matching bedding. Chase is in Owen's bed here, but he loves his bed too. 

 A lot of times at night I come in their room to check out the giggling, and they are all cuddled up in one bed being silly and snuggly. 

 Such happy faces

 My big almost 2-year old now. He has done really well with being in a toddler bed, but unfortunately he has rolled out a few times during the night, once taking quite a fall and getting a yucky cut above his left eye. He is learning not to be quite as wiggly, but still every now and again I'll come in and check on him and he'll be sound asleep on the floor by his bed. 

A Little Tired Out

The funniest part about this picture is where he fell asleep. He fell asleep while rocking back and forth on the ottoman and stayed asleep there while kids showed up for piano lessons and made a ton of noise for about an hour and a half. He was out for the count! Love my little man.

32 Weeks

So I've made it this far! Yipee. Now the really fun part begins with uncomfortable nights trying to sleep and anticipation of labor and super strong kicks from our little athlete into the ribs at all hours day or night..... Sigh. If only God made the duration of pregnancy 7 months instead of 9. 

I  was feeling pretty good and energetic and small and then about last week it was as if overnight I felt like a hippopotamus trying to get around. Chase has been sick lately and wanting to be held so much, but it has gotten so hard and uncomfortable to hold him or carry him around anymore, it makes me sad. My belly feels so tight all of the time like it's just one big brackston hicks contraction. And our little baby moves and kicks so much and so strong, it is hard to feel comfortable doing many things these days. 

I want to enjoy all of this pregnancy and not get to the point where I lose my sanity because I want to have this baby so much, but alas I see that point fast approaching. Maybe that's why women are willing and anxious to give birth because by the time it gets close, we'll do anything to get these babies out!

Mama:

-Blood volume has increased 40-50% since becoming pregnant

-Uterus is now pushing up near my diaphragm making it a little hard to breath sometimes

-Have had some crazy heartburn this last month, some night I've had to prop myself up to a sitting position slightly reclined in order to go to sleep

-Gained 4 lbs. this month, current weight 144. Feeling pretty normal now with food cravings and eating habits regulating out a little bit. The doctor said I should expect to gain 1 lb. a week through the rest of my pregnancy, and sometimes lose a few lbs. right at the end.

-Waist size 39''- I have now officially grown 10'' around since becoming pregnant. Ha! With 2'' of growth in the last 4 weeks. 

Baby:

-Now weighs around 3.75 lbs. and around 16 1/2'' long

-Now has toenails, fingernails and hair or at least baby fuzz :)

-Will put on 1/3 - 1/2 of his birthweight in the next 7 weeks

-Skin is becoming soft and smooth as he puts on more fat and continues to gain weight

My Trip to Arizona

Last thursday I flew to Arizona to visit my two sisters, Rainya and Lottie. Lottie lives there, and Rainya is staying there with her for a few weeks while attending an alternative health clinic to help her get back on her feet after a battle with ovarian cancer over the last 10 months. 

I am so so glad I got to go and be with my sisters. I am even more glad I got to go and see Rainya doing amazingly well. When I saw her 8 months ago, she was just beginning the process of chemo and fighting the cancer, and there were a lot of different emotions involved.  Now I look at her, and see this amazing, strong and beautiful woman who is so much stronger and more alive than I've ever seen her.

I got to stay and visit until yesterday morning. We had so much fun together! We got to do some shopping, swimming and laying out, got a visit in to the temple, did some cooking and had some good late-night talks. We also had a night of nail painting and hair and messages. The three of us haven't been together for a few years and was so needed. I love both of them so much and miss them a ton!

My beautiful sister, Rainya

 Our afternoon at the Mesa temple

 Lottie and I

 I had some fun on the plane ride home editing some photos on my ipad. :)

 Rainya and I

 Lottie and Rainya

 The three of us together! Rainya and I are 9 years apart and Lottie and I are 2 1/2 years apart. 

Mother's Day

Mother's day was a little different this year. Not quite the traditional bed in breakfast, start the day out spoiling mom day this year. Brad rolled into bed utterly exhausted around 7 AM after covering a paper route for his buddy for the 2nd or 3rd day in a row.  He mumbled Happy Mother's Day right before he dozed off about 2 seconds later. And of course about 10 minutes later, the boys were ready to get up for the day, and started asking for breakfast and making lots of noise. 

So instead of Brad taking on the responsibilities of the morning like I had really hoped for, I was the one undertaking the usual task. Which along with it came a diarrhea diaper from Chase to welcome in the morning with it all running down his leg of course. Sorry for the details. But it just wasn't the picture perfect Mother's Day morning. 

Anyway, after getting Chase changed, I decided to just enjoy being with the boys and make it fun, because they really are fun and I do love my boys to death! So we made waffles together and they helped me mix the batter and sample the fruit we were going to have with our breakfast.

Later that morning, Brad appeared after getting a few hours of sleep and gave me the biggest hug and I love you. He and Owen brought me the cards they had made for me, and a special mother's day present they had picked out earlier. The day just got better and better from there. Brad got the boys all ready for Church and gave me extra time to get ready. 

We headed to Fallon after the 2nd hour of Church to enjoy some time with Brad's Mom and Grandma. We got to see the baby chicks they have and helped plant a little bit in their garden. It was a nice afternoon and was great to be with my boys. 

I know this post is a little late in coming, but I really do feel so blessed to be a mom. I love the fun times and the not so fun times that help me grow. I look back and see my growth as a woman and a mother over the years and just feel overwhelmed with Love and gratitude toward my Heavenly Father for all he has blessed me with. Having Owen and Chase and this little baby boy growing within me now is the best thing I could ever ask for!

A couple of cute breakfast helpers

Ready to cook our breakfast

 Chase is so desperate to hold a baby chick!

 Chase was so cute with the baby chicks. He wanted to hold them so much, but would squeal when they got close. 

 He kept putting his hands out like he thought the chicks would just come right to him

 Wanting so bad to hold it, but not sure about the way it feels in his hands

 Helping Grandma in the garden, Owen was such a great helper.

Back-Yard Hooligans

Owen and Chase have been loving the back-yard on the warmer days. We spent two tiring days doing yard work a while back. The boys helped a little, but mostly they just played and threw rocks around and tried to tromp through the piles of stuff I raked up. 

We weeded the side-yard where all the weed grass was coming up through the rocks, stacked the pile of wood that's been sitting on the ground all winter, trimmed hedges and shrubs (takes forever!), and sprayed weed killer all around to hopefully prevent more weeds coming up through the rocks. 

On the warm days we haven't been doing yard work, we really enjoy the nice quiet of our back yard, with some shade and birds singing lots of pretty songs. I can't wait until it's warm consistently so the boys can play in their pool and I can do some gardening and maybe even get a little bit of a tan!

Goofing off

 Our stacked wood, after it sat in a pile all winter

Some Adventures #2

A weekend or two before the Elder's Quorum father and sons campout, Brad planned a family day up in Dog Valley scouting out the area for the camp trip with another family in the Elders Quorum. We took the jeep and they brought their off-road vehicle they call their "buggy." It wasn't too warm of a day, the wind was kind of cold. But the sun was warm enough to make it work. The geocaching of course was part of our day there since there's a bunch of caches hidden around the area we were scouting out. We also got to enjoy a picnic lunch and some pretty scenery. The kids loved running around and looking for geocaches. And we enjoyed jeeping around in the mud and little bit of snow still on the ground.

On the way there-Owen thought this was the right way to wear my glasses.

 Owen and his buddy Tanner, silly and energetic as ever.

 Daddy and Chase striking a pose

 Here's the "buggy"setup. The kids love it even though they got a little mud splashed up in their faces once in a while.

 All ready to go run around and find some geocaches.

 Looking for a cache further in the trees

 Chase was much more interested in the sticks rocks.

 The kids found the caches pretty much on their own

 Owen always gets so excited to open it himself

 And of course...crashed out on the ride home. It was a fun and tiring day for the little guys.

Some Adventures #1

A couple of weeks ago we found a day in the middle of the week to spend some time together outside. The weather was finally nice and we decided to do some geocaching. We took a trail along the river by the golf course in south reno and found 4 or 5 caches along the way. It was a beautiful day, we packed a lunch and enjoyed the time we had to just be outdoors a little.

The boys checking out the first cache

 This is where the first cache was hidden. kinda creepy!

 Mighty Owen, King of the rock

 Chase was kind of in a daze being carried around in the backpack. He was looking half asleep most of the time.

 Mom and Owen with a cache. I'm sporting a sweet heart-shaped ring Owen picked out for me, and he is proudly holding up a lipstick case he picked for himself. hehe.

 Must have been the first warm day in a while cause we saw tons of lizards out sunbathing!

 Owen got a kick out of this one-so big and chubby. When Owen would get close the lizard would start doing pushups on the rocks-he thought it was hilarious! 

 Owen checking the chubby lizard out

 Navigating our way to the next cache via Iphone

 At the end of the day, a little tired and sunburned. Way to go mom for being on top of the sunscreen. 

 A little closer view of their worn out expressions.