Holiday Weekend

Okay, I'm totally copping out my posting a post consisting entirely of pictures. I thought about telling everybody all about our weekend, but decided it would work just as well to show it, so here it is. On Friday I went to a new park in the valley with my friend Laura. The park was built in memoriam of a 2 year old boy that drowned in Lake Powell last year. Out of tragedy, his parents decided to build something lasting and wonderful for the community, and before long the whole valley was involved in fundraising and donating materials. This park was built over the course of one week, with entirely donated materials and time. It was neat to be able to go play with our kids there, and we enjoyed it so much on Friday that on Saturday I brought Ammon, the kids, and a picnic lunch back! Jeremy loved the balance beam on Friday. He went back and forth, only falling off once.
See the look of intense concentration here?! I was very impressed with Kadon ability to make it up this rope course. I have another picture of his smile when he reached the top, so it must have all been worth it in the end.
Kadon loves nothing more than to be pushed 'really high' in a swing by his father. I tried to capture the look of glee on his face, but I mostly just got shots of the bottoms of his tennis shoes.

Is it time yet?

I'm feeling anxious to get to Ohio.

Actually, I don't know that anxious is quite the right word.

Impatient? Still not quite right. Hmm. Perhaps I'll be able to come up with the right word by the end of this post.

I haven't even started packing yet, and already I'm getting charged for our departure. I have been gathering boxes religiously for the last few weeks, and have been constantly organizing and sorting our possessions since April. As sad as I know I'm going to be the day we move out of Utah forever, I am definitely getting ready to go. We have had this move in various stages of development for so long that it seems crazy that it's finally getting closer. This morning I discussed with Ammon some purchases I am planning on making in the next couple of weeks for our plane ride, and I'm starting to plan what I'm going to pack first next week when the packing officially gets underway. I know that it's going to be a rough transition, the kids are going to be difficult every step of the way, and my ever-increasing girth isn't going to help matters when July comes and I'm needed most of all. However, despite all these fears and concerns, I'm ready to go. Maybe that's the right word.

I am ready to move to Ohio.

It's a Girl!!

That's right folks, after 4 1/2 years of boy, we are finally getting a little girl!! We're absolutely thrilled to pieces, even though Ammon has been walking around with a look of shock on his face since this morning. Everything looks fabulous, and she's measuring just a little bit small, which is fine with me!! I can't wait to start shopping for frilly pink girl clothes, and now I'm even more anxious for October to come, as if that was possible.

Quality Computer

This is what my boys did after dinner tonight, during that precious 20 minutes between the completion of our evening meal and time for our annual Saturday night dunk in the bathtub. Aren't they precious?

Laying Out

My 2 year old has learned the finer pleasures of laying on a blanket in the hot sun with a pretty girl. This photo was taken that same Saturday from my last post, and Kadon and Karlie were having a wonderful time together that day. I think Kadon is quiet smitten with this little girl, and he imitates her on a regular basis. He's going to be quite a lady killer one day, hopefully we'll all survive his teenage years.

Fun with Water

With temperature soaring to eighty and above most days for the last couple of weeks, running through the sprinklers has gotten to be an almost daily activity in our apartment complex. All the kids come outside, gravitate toward the nearest source of water, and have a wonderful time getting soaked. The only problem with this? Kadon, who insists on getting into his swimming suit every time Jeremy is in his, won't go near the water. The following pictures illustrate what happened last Saturday when we tried to entice him onto the slip-n-slide.

Kadon has become quite attached to the small ball sitting in the center of the slide, and had started playing a game of fetch with my neighbors daughters. See your ball Kadon? Go get it!

It's right here, Kadon. Here's your ball. Go get it!
Here, let us help you. Notice how he balks at the touch of the water in the pool?

Aha!! Dear friend Cindy braves the water, picks up the child, and carries him over the spray to fetch the ball. Both Cindy and Kadon come out soaked.

I can't believe you people did that to me.

Snuggle Time

I am obsessed with checking on my children in their sleep. I literally cannot get comfortable at night without going into their room at least once and kissing each of them, adjusting their blankets, making sure their sippy cups of water are within reach. I love breathing in the smell of their sleeping bodies, the way they are so comfortable, warm, trusting in their beds. They are so innocent and unscathed, and it's never more apparent than when they are sleeping soundly. No matter how much they have irritated me during the day, that last glimpse of them before I head to bed always heals my frustrations.
Last night I trekked into their bedroom for just such a check. I glanced at Kadon's toddler bed on my way to Jeremy's side of the room, and was startled to find that it was void of his sleeping form. I quickly glanced at the floor next to his bed, thinking maybe he had gotten up to go out, and neglected to get back in bed and fallen asleep. He was nowhere to be found, so I finally looked at Jeremy's bed. In the darkness of their room, I found my children curled around each other, sharing a pillow, a blanket, and a stuffed animal. I can only guess that after the last time I left their room sometime around 7:15 that Kadon crawled into his brothers bed, where they both dozed off. I didn't have the heart to move him right away. I toyed with the idea of trying to get a photo of their cuteness, but I was afraid that the flash from my camera would awaken them, and I couldn't stand the thought of having to go through the nighttime routine. In the end, I settled for pulling Ammon into their bedroom so he could witness their brotherhood, then I gently lifted Kadon into my arms and settled him onto his own bed. It is some sort of amazing bond that allows these children to fight and scream all day long at each other, then curl up in bed together at the end of the night. Sometimes they blow my mind.

Diner Dash

Have you ever been to a classic small town diner? The kind of place where the waitress has worked there for 20 years and knows everybody in your family. She's always hungry for the latest gossip, and knows what you want to eat? Well, Richmond has just such a place. It's about a mile from my parents house, the home where I grew up, and I have eaten there my whole life. The waitress knows me, my kids, my parents, and half my extended family, and I love the feeling there. Notice I haven't said much about the food? Well, it's not necessarily anything to write home about. It's your pretty typical greasy spoon. The best thing about LD's is that they grill their hamburgers (which are made from real beef, they're not pressed patties) with onions on top. I don't know why that makes them taste so much better, but those onions that are pressed into the meat and lightly seared taste wonderful every time. Also, this place has fry sauce on the tables. The great Utah delicacy of ketchup and mayonnaise mixed together, which even in Utah is sometimes hard to find in a restaurant. LD's also has english chips. Delightful little bits of potato dipped in a batter of some sort and deep fried. They're wonderful, and also not easy to come by. Every 6 months or so I'll get a craving for LD's food that is powerful enough to make me drive the 45 minutes to my hometown to get some, and last week I had just one of these day. The kids love visiting LD's, the mood is just a little bit relaxed, and the waitress always gives them a hard time. I mean, where else can you find real red leather bar stools?

Willow Park

Last night the kids and I met Ammon at Willow Park after work. We let the kids play on the playground for a little while, then we ate a picnic lunch that I had packed and brought with me. Once the kids had consumed most of the food, we walked around the zoo portion of the park for the rest of the evening. Next to the trail were these large rocks, and the boys ran and jumped on them. I thought it was appropriate that Jeremy ended up on the largest rock, and Kadon on the second largest rock. Who to stand on the smallest rock of all? Why-their baby brother or sister! I know it's kind of a dorky picture of me, but I have vowed to let pictures of my pregnant belly be taken this time, since I haven't had ANY pictures taken with either of the boys pregnancies, and now I regret that I have no photo evidence of my pregnancies.

We had a great time at the zoo, and even managed to come home with extra dimes from feeding the ducks. The children were so exhausted by the time we got home that they could barely stand up straight while we wrestled pajamas onto their tired little bodies. It was definitely an enjoyable way to spend a Monday evening!

And it Spreads...

Pinkeye has spread across the family. Luckily, it has stayed in the children and hasn't struck the adults yet, but Kadon came down with the infection this morning. I had planned to take Kadon to church with me this morning, but when he crawled into my bed this morning at 7 am he had some telltale goopies (yes, another technical term) on his eyelashes. Church plans went out the window, and we started giving him the drops prescribed for Jeremy four times a day. As well as Jeremy takes the drops-Kadon is the opposite. We merely have to mention the word 'drops', and he immediately breaks down in tears and cries of "No, no, no drops!" I feel bad for the poor kid, especially when it takes two of us to hold him down and get the drops into the effected eyes. I am at a loss as to how I am going to administer them tomorrow when Ammon isn't home to help me.

On a side note, I attended church by myself today. I was actually really looking forward to attending the meetings by myself, something I haven't done since before I had children. However, it wasn't as much fun as I thought it would be. Sacrament meeting was far too quite and peaceful for my taste. I had no toys to play with, no temper tantrums to contend with, and nobody to hold on my lap and kiss. After the last meeting, I found myself longing to go pick up my children from their classes just to be able to see their smiling faces. They're always so happy to see us after church, and I missed that today.

Pinkeye

Why is it that children always come down with something on Friday afternoon? At 3 o'clock yesterday afternoon Jeremy started complaining about his eye hurting, and within an hour it was red, teary, and goopy. I suspect pinkeye, but know that such a diagnosis requires antibiotics from the pediatrician. The only problem? It's 3:00 on Friday afternoon!!! After Ammon got home, we were discussing our options. Taking Jeremy to InstaCare this morning wasn't going to work because Ammon has been working six days a week and needed the van this morning to drive himself in at 7 am. In a fit of desperation, I called our pediatrician's nurse to see what options we possibly had. She listened carefully to my description of his symptoms, and agreed that it looked like pinkeye. Having great sympathy for our Friday afternoon predicament, she said that she would call in the appropriate eye drops to our local pharmacy, where I was able to pick them up about an hour later. This morning, Jeremy's eye looks worse, but we're hoping with the help of the drops that it clears up very soon. Either way, we're definitely on house arrest for a while. As a precaution we will be keeping Kadon home as well, so it looks like any plans we had for the weekend just went by the wayside. The things we're willing to do for a sick, miserable child.

Productivity?

I'm feeling very productive today. It's only 11am, and I've already showered, dressed, made all the beds, folded a load of laundry and put it away, and organized my spare bedroom. I also have played a game with my children and nearly finished the crossword puzzle. Of course, I'll probably do nothing for the rest of the day, but at least it's a good start, right? At this moment the children are jumping with reckless abandon from bed to bed in their bedroom. I probably shouldn't be allowing it, but it's a rainy day and I don't have the heart to reign in their energy. Perhaps if I can stomach later we'll go to McDonald's and get lunch, but there are no guarantees that this fetus of mine will let that happen. On a bright note, my morning sickness does seem to be getting slightly better. I keep trying to wean myself off of the anti-nausea medication the doctor has me on, both because it makes me feel kind of tired and oogy (yes, that's a technical term) but also because it's horribly expensive. I am not personally paying for it, as we are broke enough to qualify for medicaid, but I constantly feel guilty that I am making the general public pay for my morning sickness. I know, I know, I'm not taking advantage, but if I can go without the medication I'd just as soon not spend that part of the budget.

I'm looking forward to this weekend. Ammon is working again on Saturday morning; he's been putting in a lot of weekend hours lately. Apparently the phone center part of his department has been getting very busy, and the technicians have been blocked from accessing their signs from outside computers (meaning their home computers) consequently, there has to be somebody in the office most of the weekend. The only hours that there isn't anybody there is between about 11pm and 6 am. If, during those hours, whoever is on call gets a service call, they have to drive themselves to the office, regardless of the hour. Ammon has been on call this week, but luckily hasn't had to drive into work in the middle of the night. We're all grateful. Plus, the extra money will be nice in the next couple of months as we get ready for this move. The only thing on the agenda this weekend is a haircut for the boys tomorrow morning, and possibly some rummaging at the DI. There is also a fajita lunch/pinata party at Macey's, with a fajita and a drink costing a mere $1. We'll probably head there after Ammon gets off work at 11am. All in all, should be very relaxing and enjoyable.

Hey, two in a row!

Yup, that's right. Two in a row. Now, aren't you all proud of me?

I bet you are.

Anyway, it looks like we skipped over spring, here in good 'ol Cache Valley. The last two days have been near 80 degrees, and although it is supposed to storm the rest of the week, the low is a mere 66 degrees. Although I have my share of gladness that the long, cold winter has passed, I am not looking forward to the heat that I know is shortly to follow. On Sunday night the temperature in our apartment hovered at around 80 degrees for the better part of the evening, only abating when the sun went down and the wind started to blow. I know that I have a little extra heat going on for myself right now, but even Ammon and the kids were uncomfortable that night, so I know it wasn't all in my belly.

Speaking of my belly, I hate this part of pregnancy. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love being pregnant, I love that my body has the ability to do something as beautiful as create a life, but I have officially reached that unfortunate stage where I can no longer hide my growing tummy, but it also is not large enough to scream "Look! There goes a pregnant lady!" I hate this stage, because after all the weight I have lost in the last year, I know people are tsking to themselves and thinking "There goes Victoria, she's let it all go to pot again, and after all that hard work, too!" Grr. I'll be glad when another month passes and I can answer the gender question and start filling out my maternity clothes. Of course, it doesn't help that I am continuing to lose weight as my morning sickness takes a toll. Again, not complaining, heaven knows I'm not wasting away, but I wish it was either one or the other, you know? Either lose weight and shrink, or gain weight and look pregnant.

Anyway, enough of my whining. I'm off to prepare a scrumptious meal for my family, scrub the dirt of my sons faces, and clean up the house to it appears as thought I actually accomplished something during the hours my husband was out of the house today.