Coming in November 2010...

Sure, for now it looks like a kidney bean. But we feel pretty sure it will photograph better than this come November. :)

Another Camera Catch-Up

Just a random collection of photos I found the last time I downloaded pictures from my camera...



We took the kids to the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. It's always fun watching them explore and have fun!



Brekken is a goofball who for some reason thought it was funny to run around with Preston's pajama pants on his head. You know, up until he ran full-speed into a door because he couldn't see where he was going!



I'm not sure why they were showing off their forks. As I recall, there was nothing unusual about the silverware. This is at Cattlemen's Restaurant in Oklahoma City. There was a very nifty mural on the wall behind us.





Also in OKC, they had painted buffalo statues all around downtown. Kind of like the painted cows we have in Denver during Stock Show season. The kids loved looking for the buffalo and decided they needed a picture with this one.





They started off tucked neatly into bed... but shortly afterwards everyone was sprawled all over. I find it amusing that even the stuffed monkey is sprawled out on his stomach!

Haley apparently got hold of my camera at some point, since I discovered this series of pictures she had taken of herself!

Things like this just aren't supposed to happen...

I know that we're lucky to live in a time and place where having a baby means you just go to the hospital, stay a day or so, and then come home with a new baby. The vast majority of the time, it goes smoothly and mom and baby have no problems. I guess that's why it feels so shocking when it doesn't happen that way.

Last week, one of our ward members went to the hospital to have her baby. She posted on Facebook the night before that it was almost time. A bunch of us sent good wishes and were excited for her. A couple of days later, I went searching for her on Facebook to see if there were any baby pictures posted yet. I was stunned to find out what was going on.

Apparently she had such bad bleeding after delivery that they ended up having to do an emergency hysterectomy. They've had to do a total of three surgeries now to control the blood loss. As a result of all the trauma and blood loss, she's having major heart problems. She's in critical condition in the ICU.

It's just so hard to believe that such a joyous occasion has gone so wrong. I feel so bad for her and her family. I can't even imagine what they're all going through. The bright side is that the baby is just fine. She is already home from the hospital in fact. And thankfully there are friends and family to help with all the kids - including this brand new one - while she is in the hospital.

I keep praying that everything will come out all right and that she can go home to her family soon.

Another Quick Funny

Preston was just singing a new song that he made up (roughly to the tune of "A Long Time Ago In a Beautiful Place" from Primary)...

"Target is a beautiful place... where we can eat with Jesus."

I don't know where that came from!

Quick Funny

Haley: "Mom!! Preston just said the F word! I told him not to say it and then he said it again a bunch more times!"

Mom: (!!?!?) "The F word? What did he say?"

Haley: "He keeps saying "fart" and he won't stop."

whew! Glad that's all it was! :)

Oklahoma City

So we might not have normally picked Oklahoma City as a vacation destination, but Aaron had a convention to attend there. Since his mileage to OKC and his hotel room would be covered whether we were there or not, we decided that the kids and I would tag along and call it a vacation.

On Wednesday we drove straight through from Denver to OKC. It was a bit over 12 hours. For such a long trip with 3 little kids, it all went quite smoothly. Except for the part where the wind slammed the car door on my hand. Look how it smashed my ring! My finger is still sore.

We were all a bit worn out from traveling, but still able to be awed by the fancy hotel. The kids loved the waterfall and lazy river full of koi in the lobby. I was quite in love with the cushy, comfy beds.

On Thursday, the kids and I explored the city a little while Aaron was in meetings. It was a gorgeous day, so we went to a park and played for a good long time. They made some good friends and were sorry to say goodbye when it was time to leave. Isn't it wonderful how kids can become fast friends just by running around the park together for a few minutes?

When Aaron was done with meetings for the day, we went out for dinner. Aaron and I are fans of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives on Food Network. So whenever we go to a new city, we like to go to a restaurant featured on the show. This time it was Cattlemen's Restaurant. It was a steakhouse, but not a fancy one. They didn't bat an eye when we went in with three little kids (not even when Preston managed to spill water all over the place). The place was just crowded and noisy enough to keep us from feeling self-conscious about the noise our family was making, but not so much we couldn't enjoy dinner. It was a really nice time for a decent price. I can't say it was the best steak I've ever had, but the experience was fun!

On Friday we had planned to go to the zoo. Unfortunately, the beautiful weather from the day before had turned to cool and cloudy. But we went anyway. We got a bit soggy at times (mostly me, since the kids were under a canopy) but we had fun. At least it was nice and cool and a lot of animals were out to be seen! And I got a workout. I had piled all three kids into a double stroller rented from the zoo, so it was a bit heavy. And then the zoo turned out to be very hilly. Lots of ups and downs. I definitely worked off the steak dinner from the night before!

For dinner we found a Greek restaurant. We were surprised when as we were eating, they suddenly started putting together a dance floor right by our table. We ended up with live entertainment! The kids were fascinated watching the dancers.

We headed for home on Saturday morning. We stopped in Hutchinson, Kansas to go to the Underground Salt Museum. But it turned out to be a long tour and VERY expensive. Then we were going to go to the Cosmosphere. But it was closed for a member's only event. So we gave up on Hutchinson and went on to Hays for the night.

The next morning we took our time checking out of the hotel. We had breakfast and went swimming. Then took the kids to the playground for a while. After lunch we took them to the Sternberg museum. We stopped there by impulse several years ago on a drive home from Iowa and took Haley to see the dinosaurs. At the time (she was a little under 2 years old I think), she thought the dinosaurs were pretty scary and didn't like that part of the museum. Though, since she is her father's daughter, I do have some pictures from that trip showing her fascinated by the rocks and minerals displays.

So we went to the museum so that Haley would have another chance to see it and Preston and Brekken could check it out, since they all like dinosaurs. When we got there... it turned out they were hosting a memorial service for a long-time employee. We had such luck with that sort of thing! But at least the museum wasn't actually closed... we just had to tiptoe through the middle of this memorial service to go buy our tickets and go to the exhibits. Awkward!

The kids liked the museum a lot. At least until we got to the T-rex in the dinosaur exhibit. Turns out (I had forgotten about this) that as you walk past the T-rex it triggers a motion sensor. And the T-rex turns his head to look at you and roars! No wonder Haley was scared before. She was pretty startled this time around, too, but then decided it was cool and went back to watch it several more times. Brekken liked it too. Preston did NOT like it. When Haley and Brekken went back (with Aaron) to see the T-rex again, Preston and I wandered back to other parts of the museum. But with that exception we really enjoyed the museum.

The rest of the day was spent driving home. We did stop for a while at yet another playground. Playgrounds are a large part of any road trip for our family! We made it home safe and sound and with happy vacation memories.

I Won, I Won!!

I'll post about our vacation soon. But first...

You probably don't remember it, but back in February I wrote a post about Kelly's Cake-Off, where you could visit a website to support a good cause (ovarian cancer research) and also be entered for a chance to win a fancy new Induction Range from Electrolux.

So I went out and entered to win that new stove. And in exchange for writing the post to advertise the contest, I got another entry to win the stove. Then I proceeded to forget all about it.

Imagine my shock when I learned on Friday that I actually won the freaking stove!! I still can't believe it. I can't imagine that I would ever buy a $3,500 stove for myself. I am incredibly excited and can't wait to find out when I actually get the stove. (I'm still in the process of filling out paperwork with the prize fulfillment center.)

I can't wait to get rid of my old stove... it's slow. And it's hard to clean. And it has very unpredictable results when baking. Woo-hoo!! I've been doing a happy dance all weekend!

I hate to pack

Our family loves road trips. Neither Aaron nor I likes to fly, so we would always rather load the kids into the van and head off down the road. I enjoy seeing new places and doing new things.

But I hate to pack. It's not that it's hard, but once you're packing for 5 people it's time consuming and tedious. And then once you get it all packed inside, you have to haul it all out to the van and find spots for it all. This bag can go in the back because we won't need it until we get there. But that bag needs to be up front where I can reach it while we drive. And this bag should be where the kids can reach it. And be sure the diaper bag is somewhere I can find it. And don't forget blankets for the kids to use on the drive. And what about the computer so the kids can watch a movie along the way. And we'd better be sure we have plenty of snacks so we don't have to stop to eat every ten minutes. And wait... did we leave any room for people in this vehicle?

So I suppose that explains that despite my best intentions, I've procrastinated with the packing again. I did all the laundry in the house over the weekend so that I could start packing on Saturday instead of leaving it to the last minute (as I usually do). That didn't happen.

I thought I would do a little packing Sunday evening. Especially once Aaron reminded me that the Glee season premier was Tuesday night, and he didn't think I would want to be trying to pack while watching that. (He was right!) But somehow I didn't manage to do any packing.

So on Monday I was really motivated - I would go home from work and pack everything. By the time Aaron got home from work there would be a neat pile of bags by the door just ready and waiting for time to go. But by the time I got home from work, I wasn't feeling well. And the kids wanted dinner. And so I put it off until a little later. And then it was time to get everyone ready for bed. And then it was time for my other favorite TV show (Big Bang Theory), so I put it off a little longer. And then Brekken fell asleep on my lap. And then it was 11:00 p.m. And so I still didn't get anything packed!

So tonight's the night. I don't really have much choice, since we're headed out first thing tomorrow morning. I will go straight home from work and start packing!!

Except... I did promise Haley I would take her to the library after work tonight. And I guess the kids will want to eat again. And there's that season premier of Glee to watch. It could be pretty late tonight before the packing is done!

And let's not talk about how long it will take me to unpack once we get home! ;)

Signs of Spring

Spring is here! Sure, we had 3 inches of snow yesterday, but that's part of spring around here. Today it's a lovely 60 degrees and sunny and it feels like spring. Some other signs of spring that I've noticed in the last few days...

The birds are singing. Some people would call that nature's beautiful music. Personally, I referred to it as, "Will someone PLEASE turn off that stupid toy?!? It's driving me nuts!" Then I was informed that the noise was actually coming from a bird outside our window. Oops. It was beautiful. Really.

The pollen count is climbing. Not one of my favorite signs of spring, but one that comes around every year. The pollen count grows and my eyes itch and my nose runs. A sure sign that spring is on its way!

People are eating on the restaurant patio. Sure, they're still wearing their hoodies and they shiver when a breeze blows over them, but there's sunshine darn it! That must mean it's time to move from the indoor dining room to the patio area! Personally, I don't see the appeal of dining al fresco when the patio area is right next to a parking lot and a fairly busy road. But at the restaurant down the street from my office, it's very popular. People venturing onto the patio for lunch is a sure sign of spring.

The garage door is creeping open. I can judge the temperature in the mornings by the position of the neighbor's garage door. They are up and having a smoke in the garage in the morning when I leave for work. In the winter, the garage is closed up tight and I can only see the light from the windows to know that they are there. As spring approaches, the garage door starts to open a little at a time. It was open about a foot this morning. By next week - when we are supposed to have temperatures in the high 70s - the door will probably be open about halfway. Once summer arrives, it's open all the way so that they can wave to everyone on the street as they head off for the day.

So though it was hard to believe it yesterday... and even a bit this morning when I shivered my way to work (because I wore a skirt and short-sleeved blouse even though it was 30 degrees - because it's spring, darn it!) spring is definitely here!

Bedtime Snuggles

We've been working harder at getting all the kids to sleep in their own beds. Haley does great. If she wakes in the night, she'll come over to me and ask for a hug, but then go right back to bed and back to sleep.

Preston tends to have nightmares and if he wakes up with one, he wants to be in our bed. We'll usually end up letting him sleep at the bottom of our bed.

Brekken sleeps fine in his crib as long as he doesn't realize he's in there. If he wakes up and finds himself in the crib, he will cry and cry until he's set free. So on those nights he ends up sleeping between us in the bed.

I really enjoy the nights when Aaron & I get the bed to ourselves. We don't have to fight to pull blankets away from the kids. We're able to move around without someone laying on our feet or shoving us out of the bed. It's nice.

But when they end up in bed with us, it's kind of nice too. There's something about that little hand on your arm. The warm baby snuggled against your back. The head cuddled up to your feet. It's sweet to know that you are so loved that they need to touch you, even when they're sleeping.

And I try to remember that even when I'm being elbowed in the head or kicked in the kidneys. :D

Another Quick Funny

Well, Haley didn't find it funny, but I did.

Yesterday Haley wanted to do something and I told her no. She was quite angry at me and told me:

"You make me sad! You just do. And there's no reason why to make your daughter sad!"

I'm sure my laughing out loud was not the reaction she was going for. =D