20 Weeks and heading out...

Well 20 weeks have flown on by! I hope the next 20 go just as quick. I'm feeling huge and walk like an old lady, but other than that every things going great. We will find out the babies sex on Monday morning! Don't you love the quality of the pictures-they were done by Madelyn :)


Also in about an hour we are headed to my sister's house in Syracuse. We will be gone for the next 7 days staying at both Saras' and Andy's parent's house. During this time we will seeing friends, going to a family wedding and birthday party, having our ultrasound, going to the zoo, hanging with my sister, and Andy will be at a training conference in S. Jordan for 3 days. I'm excited to get away and have so much time with family and friends. I can't wait to see my dear friends, CARROL!, Brenda, and Kelsie!!!
Our bags are packed and we're ready to go-

Grown-up Maddie

Maddie has been writing her name since she was 3, but I thought she better memorize her last name before Kindergarten. It took her one day to write it all from memory:

Maddie made herself a bed at the bottom of the stairs and then gave Garen a basket and instructed him to bring her stuffed animals and books. Garen did this for about an hour. There was a hug pile of toys at the bottom of the steps, but the kids were happy and entertained for over an hour.

successful weekend

On Friday and Saturday Andy's parents and his sister's family came to good old Rock Springs. It was so nice to have company and they were so much help!!!
Andy and Zeb got the bedroom downstairs all framed while Boyd worked a little to hard on the backyard.
I didn't take a before picture, but the yard had a big dip in the middle, there were weeds everywhere, and the dirt was hard as rocks. And now everything is level and ready for grass (as soon as we can afford it).
Jann and Amber entertained my kids while I got Garen's room painted. So in the 24 hours they were here, we really got a lot done. Maybe next time they come we'll get to play a little instead of work the whole time.

Crazy boys with grandma Jann-

Memory Game-sounds fun

1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments.

Is it time for Kindergarten?

Maddie has been asking me everyday if it is time for her to go to school yet. She is so excited to go to Kindergarten! So instead of answering her question everyday we made a paper chain to show how many more days. I had her write all the numbers on it and then she can just look at the end of the chain each day and it will tell her how many days are left. Today their were 40 more days! This sounds like a lot to Maddie, but I know it will fly by and my little girl will be in school 5 days a week from 9:30AM- 3:30PM before I'm ready for her to be gone.

Family Room/Kitchen areas

Here's a few shots of the downstairs painting. I stuck with the same colors as our last house because it just works. I looked at several different colors and kept coming back to my original. It looks best with our brown couches and I guess if you find something you like, you just stick with it. I still have some touch up work to do and some more things to hang, but it's coming along.

entry way-

dining area-

family room-

kitchen-

Also yesterday the kids did a great job helping me make M&M cookies and bring them to Andy at work.

Maddie's room

So today Maddie helped me paint her room. I got sick of all her stuff sitting around the room that needed to be hung up, but I didn't want to hang it on those awful white walls. So I broke down and painted another room. I let Maddie pick the shade of purple and it turned out nice. (I'll post pictures of the family room/ kitchen area after I get the rest of my things hung and cleaned up)


Here's her room all finished, well mostly. I still need to find some curtains-I wish I could make some cute ones like Alisha.;)








Since I wouldn't let Maddie paint however she wanted to in her room, we took the kids outside to let them do some sidewalk paint. They loved it and even painted themselves.-




Maddie and I got to go swimming with her new favorite friend, Zoe and my friend Melissa, from next door-

Maddie reading the first 3 articles of faith (she really has them memorized but she likes to act as if she it reading them). She really is doing a great job with reading, but she's not quite reading words like Atonement and ordinances. ;)-

This is Garen doing some serious 4-wheeling in the unfinished basement. The kids love riding their bike down there as well as playing on the slide and in the tent. It's like an indoor backyard.-

It's Real

The last couple weeks I have felt the small flutters that you think 'was that just the baby moving?' Well, it finally feels real that there is a baby in there. Not just because I feel fat, but the movement and kicking is much more distinct and I feel it more often and for longer periods of time. I get that little burst of excitement in me everytime I feel those light little movements. I know in a few months those flutters will become a bit uncomfortable but, it's worth it. There's no words to describe that strange and wonderful feeling of the babies movements inside of you! :)

What's been going on here-

Yesterday, Andy finally got a day off. We used this day to get some much needed work out of the way. Andy got the garage all cleaned out and organized so we can park the cars in there now. Also we got some pantry shelves and started our pantry area in the basement.

I spent the day painting the family room, dinning room, kitchen and entrance way. And I am feeling the effects of it today in my sore arms and back, but I'm happy with the more cozy homey look instead of the awful plain white walls. I thought I would keep up the painting for the week, but I might just enjoy what I've done for awhile before starting another room.

We all took a little break outside and washed both cars and cleaned them out (also something that needed to be done very badly!)

Anyway it was very nice to have Andy home and to get things a little more in order around here.

Some other things we've done:

Garen ran into the corner of the wall leaving a huge goose egg. The picture doesn't do it justice. Now it's just a huge purple bruise so I make sure and put a hat on him when we go places or I get lots of look of pity-

We rode our bikes to the library here and the kids loved it! They have a huge play place and little tables full of coloring books and puzzles. They also have tons of neat programs for both the kids. They do toddler storytime and I signed Maddie up for their reading program. After reading so many books she wins prizes and then at the end they have big drawings for things like a new bike, a portable DVD player, a MP3 player, or a hamster and a cage (lets hope she wins one of the first 3). They also have school age activities and crafts every Tuesday-that's where I'm taking Maddie today.-




We also made it to one of their many splash parks. Maddie loved it, but Garen didn't care for big fountains of water that would disappear and then reappear all of a sudden-

This is Garen saying "get me out of here"



Playing at the park. The kids loved the train, so did Andy :)-




And as an end note I just have to say how incredibly nice people around here are! It's not very often he see an LDS person, but you always run into very kind people. Like on Saturday the kids and I went to Walmart. We needed so much stuff including bedding which more than filled up my cart. After 2 hours, $320, and some 30 min in the check out line we headed out with two carts. I was pushing one with a dead wheel and Maddie was doing her best to push the other behind me. A lady walks in the door, looks at her husband and says 'I'll catch up with you' to him and turns around and pushes Maddie's cart out all the while talking to my kids. Then she continues to help me load the back of the van. Now this is something that would never happen in Logan-not that people aren't nice, their just to busy.
Then yesterday at Home Depot I was just trying to grab some plastic of the top shelve, another lady walks by, turns around and gets it down for me, says have a wonderful day and goes on her way.
I know these are just little examples, but its sad that I find them so shocking because I'm not used to people being so generous and it makes me look at myself and wonder if I would do the same? I think I have a lot to learn her in Rock Springs, Wyoming!

6 Wonderful Years...

Wow, I can't believe how quickly 6 years have gone by! Who knew what we were getting ourselves into 6 years ago today, at such a young age! One things for sure, I wouldn't change anything. I have the most wonderful, honest, loving, kind, hardworking, handsome husband. I don't know how I've come to be so blessed.
The last six years we have:
-Had 2 and 1/2 children
-Moved 5 times
-owned 3 homes
-helped each other through school and first time jobs
-And fallen in love with each other more each day.
I'm excited to see what adventures are in store for us for the next 6 years! :)

Since we don't know anyone well enough to babysit yet and since Andy is at work; it looks like we will be celebrating by taking the kids out later tonight with us somewhere and then a movie on the couch after the kids are in bed. I guess that's how it goes after 6 years, but hey, I'll take it.

Home Again, Home Again...

MONDAY

The kids and I left Rock Springs at about 10AM. We drove to Logan in time to meet my friend and her kids for lunch and a little play time. Then I headed for my OB doctor visit. (I haven't found a new doctor yet). Everything looked great and the heartbeat was strong. We find out what we are having on August 4th! Then we swung by Clarkston for dinner with Andy's parents and then on to Burley. We got to Burley about 8pm and I let the kids stay up late and play with their cousins Abby and Colton. Sara and I also stayed up late playing the Wii she got for her birthday.

TUESDAY

Sara and I met my high school friend Alisha at the Burley Kiddie pool for a little swimming and a picnic lunch. It was so fun to see you and your super cute kids Alisha!!! The kids had a blast playing and the little boys had some nice naps afterwards. Maddie thoroughly enjoyed all her playing time with Abby.

When we got back from swimming my mom had a cake all ready for Abby (her birthday is next week). And the funny part is that Abby has been substituting the word 'eyeball' in for everything just to be funny so my mom made her an eyeball cake complete with squishy pudding in the middle. That evening we all went with my mom to a mother/daughter dinner for her ward. It was fun to have this time together and the little girls had fun making necklaces and other crafts.

WEDNESDAY

This day was the reason I made the trip to Burley. We went to the Twin Falls temple for a VIP tour given by my dad. Both my sisters and both my brothers plus many of their kids were their. My grandparents even came, and it was my Grandma's 90th birthday!!! What a special day.

The temple was extremely beautiful. And it was so special to be able to bring my kids in there and let them see the beauty and feel the strong spirit. My sister Mandy did not have her kids with her so she was nice enough to carry Maddie through and tell her all about it while I tried my best to keep Garen somewhat reverent. Maddie really enjoyed her time in there with Mandy.

Maddie said her favorite part was the big bright room that Grandpa Paul told everyone not to talk in. And I think Garen liked the baptismal font because of the oxen-he 'mooed' the whole time we were in there. My dad even took us into the bridal room and let my two 12-year-old neices sit in the brides chairs and promise they would be married thier someday. It was very touching. We got to stop in the sealing room for a short time while my parents said a few things on the importance of eternal families and of course no one had dry eyes. The whole experience was well worth the long drive with the kids!

The rest of the afternoon the kids played with the sprinkler under the trampoline and then after dinner we headed back to Clarkston. Maddie was so delighted that she got to have a sleepover with Grandma Sue and then a sleepover with Grandma Jann the following night.

THURSDAY

This morning the kids got to spend a little time with Grandma Jann and Grandpa Boyd then it was off to the pediatrician. Both kids needed their yearly check up and shots and since I have not found a new doctor and we were going to be in town we squeezed it in. The kids were pretty good considering. I don't usually plan to take my kids to the doctor at the same time, by myself when they both need shots, but you do what you got to do. Garen barely cried and Maddie was super brave but her 4th shot was the one that did her in-it really hurt her and I felt bad. After we were done we stopped by the gift shop and I let her pick something out for being so good and brave.

Here's how they measure up for anyone who cares:

Maddie's height: 40 inches

Maddie's weight: 34 pounds

she is in the 8th percentile in both height and weight, so pretty much she's little, but she passed her eye test and everything else with flying colors.

Garen's height: 34 inches

Garen's weight: 28 pounds

Garen falls between the 40th and 50th percentile, so I think he will be outgrowing his sister very soon!

After the doctor,we had lunch with Brenda again and then we headed back home to Rock Springs. Considering all the driving the kids did really well and the drives were pretty uneventful. While we were gone Andy kept busy with work most the time, but he did get away for a little bit to try out some fishing on the lake. He pulled in the driveway just a few minutes before us. The kids were so excited to see him and it's nice to be back home even though I've got my work cut out for me here. :)

And a quick Happy Birthday to my brother Dan today!!!