Michael's Prayers

Michael is pretty good at saying prayers, even without prompts. Lately, he's been giving some awesome "rogue" prayers, meaning he won't let us prompt him, and it can be pretty funny what he says.

If we don't insert a help, he'll often thank Heavenly Father for the day and then ask Him to bless it to nourish and strengthen us.

He's blessed his cars, his crayons, his toys, his monkeys, and many other things that he loves.

When he's spent time with other people that day, he usually blesses all of them by name. The other day, he even blessed "the grils" (girls) that we randomly came across that day.

But, the best prayers he's been giving started two days ago. He started with, "Thank Thee for today, and please bless" at which point we thought he would say his classic, "the day to nourish and strengthen us." But he didn't. He said, "Bless Daddy and Mommy and me, and Baby Rachel." And then he ended his prayer. After being choked up, we hugged him tight and put him to bed, overflowing with pride in our sweet, sweet son.

And he did it again yesterday night.

What can I say? I just love this little boy!

Preschool

I started a joy-school type preschool with several other ladies in my ward. It started out at a visiting teaching appointment with my partner and one of our visiting teachees. Pretty soon, word spread like a wild fire. I've never felt so popular in my life. We ended up with 13 kids! So, once a week, each mom takes a turn teaching a one hour lesson/organizing activities, and another mom helps out. The first week, we had an open house/back to school night type thing at my house, and last week, Michael had his first day of preschool at another ladies house. He was really excited. 

 He was literally jumping for joy.

 He rang the doorbell,

but then he got a little shy, so I stayed with him for a few minutes until he was okay. It's pretty informal, and we don't have a specific curriculum--just trying to teach them the letters. I figure that he still has three years before kindergarten, but I wanted him to have some more interaction with other kids, and I REALLY need more interaction with other moms. 

Yesterday, we had our first field trip. We went to Evans Family Farm. They rode a "train", a hay ride, saw lots of animals, and played. It was a lot of fun. 

 This llama likes to give kisses! It was pretty funny!

 The Jumping pit. 

 Straw maze. Michael successfully completed this two times. 

 Hay ride through the pumpkin patch. We stopped and every kid got to pick their own pumpkin to take home!

And even though it was a little bit extra, I let Michael have his first pony ride:

 It's a little weird to me that farm stuff is so novel to Michael since I grew up in a farming community. Now I understand why my dad always had us take our city-dwelling cousins over to see the cows and the pigs.

I'm excited to see what else Preschool has in store for us!

They Left Us

On Thursday, September 20, Chelsea officially closed on her new house, and so on the 21st, it funded and recorded, and she was out of here. You'd think there was  a fire based on how fast she packed up and left. As they were driving away, Michael cryingly said, "Why are they leaving us?" Good question. Something about wanting their own house or something lame like that. 

So, on Saturday, we headed to Ogden to help them move into their new house. 

 We prepped and painted three rooms and a hall (although the hall and living room didn't get finished until the next day).

 Brian found out the answer to the question, "Are you man enough to paint a room purple?" Yup, and he even went home with purple feet. What we do for little girls!

All the fixtures in the house are gold. Yuck. So, Chelsea and Thomas will be painting all of them. Thomas started with the fireplace screen. It is now black.

 The worst part was the prep work, at least for me.

 Here I am trying to make Matthew's room Mario themed. Good thing that kids are easily impressed.

 We returned home late Saturday night, and I was out of commission for two days, but it was nice to be able to help Chelsea move in, even if she did move over an hour away.

Here's to Leslie Knope

Chelsea suggested that we should have a waffle party on Thursday, September 20, to celebrate the season premier of Parks and Recreation since waffles are Leslie Knope's favorite food in the world. We immediately agreed that that was a good idea. So, Chelsea bought fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, Brian made super yummy waffles, I cut up fruit and busted out a huge thing of Cool Whip, and we had a fabulous party. 

And, after getting all the kiddies in bed, we watched Parks and Rec. We felt kind of silly being so excited about something like the season premier, but really, it was just an excuse to have a waffle night. Well, mostly.

My Brian

Nine years ago today, I went with my roommate Natalie to the BYU creamery to buy our FHE brother, Brian, some balloons for his birthday. We may have even bought him a cake. Little did I know that this would become my annual task just a few years later. Today, I went to buy some helium filled balloons with Michael, along with some other things. But after the other things, I was too tired to do the helium balloons, so I guess this year, he'll just get ones filled with MY hot air :).

I just wanted to write a few things about Brian that I LOVE.

1.) He is super easy going and has a way about setting those around him at ease. He is the first boy I was ever really truly able to be myself around--and this just after leaving Small-town High where my classmates had labeled me as stuck up because I was so shy, especially around guys! Pretty impressive to me.

2.) He has a great sense of humor--dry the way I like it. Be careful if you take him too seriously all the time.

3.) As his mom has said on several occasions, "There isn't a mean bone in his body." He is one of the kindest, tender-hearted people I know, if not THE kindest. This has been especially apparent this last year as he has supported me in all of my mood-swings, tears, anger, weird cravings, and my lack-of-motivation for cooking (and subsequently) feeding him.

4.) He is an amazing Dad. He's such a sucker for Michael, and I can't wait to see our baby girl wrap him tightly around her pinkie finger!

5.) He's a fighter in the way it counts. He will never give up on anyone or anything that matters to him. And I know he will never give up fighting the good fight of faith, come what may.

Happy Birthday, Brian, me boy!

Shocking My Parents

Rewind about ten years, about this time of year. The kitchen was sticky, bottles were every where, and somewhere in the middle of that hot, canning process, I said something like, "Eh! I HATE this! I'm NEVER canning when I grow up!"

And then I got married, and people in WYMOUNT were canning. In those tiny, tiny kitchens with no place to store it, they were canning apples and peaches, acquiring fruit from Buy Low and bottles from D.I. I sort of thought they were crazy, but at the same time, I kind of envied them. Last year, I was sort of envious of Lea and her canning frenzy. Her's wasn't as intense as my mom's, and I thought, "I could do that." And then, since we had a house, a few family members asked if I wanted canning stuff that they were getting rid of, and I found myself saying, "Yeah, I think I'll give that a try."

Back in June or May, I made my first attempt with Strawberry jam. It was super easy, and Chelsea and her kids love that Jam, so Chelsea and I ordered a flat each from my co-op and went to town:  

 Nine quarts of jam total. Feeling pretty good about ourselves, we decided to try our hand at peaches. Chelsea swung up to the fruitway on one of her recent Ogden trips and brought back two bushels of Elberta peaches. We bought jars, busted out the blancher I inherited from Em, bought more pectin, made a few rookie trips to the store for sugar (we're a little embarrassed to tell Mom about that one, because we should have known the large amount of sugar it takes to can peaches after all those times doing it growing up), and a trip for new lids (the ones that came with the bottles proved to be no-good), and after two days of stickiness, we ended with 24 quarts of bottle peaches for me, 24 pints of canned peaches for Chelsea, and 24 plus--emphasis on the plus--pints of peach freezer jam for Chelsea. 

The best part? We shocked our parents, who haven't forgotten my "I hate canning" comments. I still probably won't attempt some of the things my mom did, like tomato soup, but there's something about having my own house and family that makes me want to can my own food.

Thanks, Chelsea, I couldn't have done it without you! Let's do it again next year!

Pink Icing

Back in January, when I miscarried yet again, the nurse decided to check my progesterone levels along with my HCG levels. They came back at 1 when they were supposed to be at 20. Turns out, a woman's progesterone levels are what tells the uterus that there's a baby in there so it doesn't start a new cycle. My uterus didn't have enough progesterone to let it know not to flush out my baby. She said, "The next time you get pregnant, call us right away and we'll check your progesterone levels to see if that might be causing the problem." This gave Brian a TON of hope. It probably would have helped me more if I wasn't so...whatever I was. 

So, in May, after a positive pregnancy test, I called the doctor right away to get my levels checked. My progesterone came back at 3, again it should have been at 20. The nurse immediately prescribed me progesterone, and I took one pill a night until I reached 13 weeks, at which point, the baby's placenta started taking over production. 

Progesterone was pretty rotten, and did some funny things to me. I had to take it at night because it would make me super dizzy. I once went to the store to get some essentials for a trip after taking it, and the world immediately started spinning out from under me as soon as I walked through the door. I was worried someone would think I was high as I tried to get my things, check out, and drive home. I didn't attempt anything like that again after that. It was too scary. Sometimes, Brian would have to assist me to bed because everything was spinning so badly. It was funny when I was safely at home. Progesterone also made me even more tired and moody than I think I would have been otherwise, but apparently it worked, since I am now almost 21 weeks along. Looking back, I can say it was worth it, even though I wasn't completely convinced back then. 

Since we were concerned about another miscarriage, we went in for an ultrasound at 6 weeks. It was so refreshing to hear the heartbeat, something we haven't heard since Michael was in my belly. The baby was looking strong, but they noticed a small bleed that they wanted to monitor. They assured us that it was probably nothing, but they wanted to monitor it every two weeks until it went away. We weren't worried about the bleed at all; we were just grateful to have more peeks at our baby. At the 14 week ultrasound, they decided that everything looked great, and we didn't have another ultrasound until last week. 

Thankfully, my sister-in-law, Lara, lent me her Doppler so that I could check on the heartbeat whenever I started freaking out, which has happened a lot. I didn't like telling people I was pregnant because they would immediately say in a higher pitched voice, "YAY! Congratulations! I'm so happy for you!" which normally would be awesome, but I was feeling more nervous than excited, and I wanted people to acknowledge my apprehension instead of taking it for granted that just because I was pregnant, I would get a baby. For the record, I'm excited now, so I have no more problems with everyone being excited with me. In fact, I welcome it :)

Thankfully, Brian has been my rock to lean on. He's been worried right there with me, but he knew deep down that this time, it would be okay. He helped me through my frustrations, my constant whining about not feeling well, my tears, my fears.

When this year started, I thought it was going to be horrible. It started so badly with two major tragedies hitting our family all at once. I don't think I became too bitter about the whole thing, even though bitterness did crop up every now and then. I had no doubts that the Lord knew what He was doing, but I realized from my own experience and through watching the pain and disappointments of my friends and family members who were suffering from infertility and miscarriages that sometimes, despite all our prayers, faith, and fasting, babies just don't come, and it has nothing to do with our personal levels of righteousness. Sometimes, the Lord just allows biology to do its thing, but He's always there to watch over us when it happens. I'm normally a very positive person, but I guess this realization brought out a pessimistic realism out of me. Pregnancy does not always equal baby.

But, I also learned that miracles have not ceased. Modern science, specifically IVF and fertility pills, are miracles. This year, my sister-in-law gave birth to a beautiful baby girl, thanks to IVF. Another sister-in-law who has struggled and struggled is pregnant, due in November, and that is a huge miracle. These two events helped me to hope enough to try again. And another miracle happened, thanks to progesterone, I'm feeling positive that come January, we'll be welcoming a little girl into our family. And that's not even getting into the preservation from fire and flood that we've experienced this year.

When I look back on this year, I see how much the Lord has blessed our lives, and not just in regards to this baby. I feel so undeserving of what He has given us, but thankfully, as a good and wise friend once said to me, "the Lord doesn't always give us what we deserve." Our cup runneth over, so to speak, and a baby girl is just some pink icing on the cake!

The Storm

On September 1, we were enjoying a comfortable, quite evening at home. Chelsea, Thomas, and Co, had headed to Idaho to help my parents and grandparents with a few projects. I was crocheting around the edge of a flannel blanket for Amber when all of a sudden, it started pouring rain. Huge raindrops. Then, it sounded like someone was throwing rocks onto our roof. Then, it sounded like people were throwing handfuls of rocks at our windows. We ran to check what was going on. We found the biggest hail stones I have ever seen--about the size of a gumball, the ones from the vending machines. By the time I thought to grab the camera, the hail stones had dropped in size and the storm lessened, so this picture doesn't quite capture the amazingness of the storm:

We didn't think too much of it, and then went quietly on with the rest of our night. Around 10 or 10:30 p.m., Taryn called to see if we were okay. I was surprised, "Yeah, why?" She told me that the news was talking about a lot of flooding in our area. Right about then we got a text from our next door neighbors, who were out of town, to ask if their house was okay. We got on the news and Facebook and were surprised to hear that there was a huge mud slide and flash flood. Brian headed out to see if he could help sand bag, and I stayed home and fretted. At midnight, I decided I should just go to bed. Brian got in at 1 a.m. to say that our next door neighbor's sprinkler was broken and flooding our yard. Thankfully, since he got home right before it happened, he was able to catch it, get in touch with our neighbors (the ones who were out of town), and turn their sprinklers off. 

Church was canceled the next day, and our Stake President urged us to instead head out and help our neighbors. The mudslide, a result of the June fire, slammed through one of the neighborhoods in our stake, just two subdivisions north of us. It flooded the main road so badly that it was closed for around four hours Saturday night, which meant that a lot of people had to drive clear around the lake to get home, some of them to relieve worried baby-sitters.

Brian headed out, and I found out that the women were making sandwiches and collecting water for the workers. So, I used up the last of our lunch meat and made sandwiches, and then donated all the remaining loaves in our house. I also donated water and Gatorade. It seemed so not enough, especially when I heard reports about people's basements filled with mud and water, and at least one house that was completely ruined and basically condemned. I watched volunteers come in and out of our stake center parking lot, some mud covered, all smiling. The parking lot was packed, and there was a steady stream of volunteers. Our Stake Center served as a Red Cross station and clean-up headquarters. I felt so united with my community, and I wondered if that's what the sisters in old Nauvoo felt like when they worked together to bring relief and build their temple.

When the Stake Relief Society president told us to halt making sandwiches for a few hours, there was nothing really for me to do. Michael and I changed and headed to a sacrament meeting, and then came home to find a pile of muddy clothes in our mudroom. Brian had since come home with a cut and a huge bruise. He'd already showered, so I couldn't get him in his muddy state, so I made him hold up his pants:

And notice those muddy shoes. He told me about bucket lines of people passing mud out of the basements, mud up to the light switches, and water a foot above the mud line. And  thousands of volunteers. (I got the remaining photographs from my friend, Mekel, who lives in this neighborhood. Brian didn't take a camera with him for obvious reasons, and they asked us only volunteers to be there.)

A note about the hail. Brian said that in at least one of the basements, the hail was still inside, making the basement like a freezer/refrigerator, so volunteers could only be inside digging mud for so long before they had to go out and defrost!

A lady in Sacrament Meeting on Sunday told a story about from one of the people affected by the mudslide. He said that on the night of the flood, kids and parents were all out playing. Even when the rain hit, the kids were still outside playing. But when those huge hail stones came, it sent all the kids inside so that when the wall of mud, concrete, wire, water, and who knows what else came barreling down the street a few minutes later, all the kids and parents were safely inside. The miracle was in the hail. If it hadn't hailed, the kids would have still been out when the mud came. The home owners who lost their homes would have lost so much more than that.

Today, as I drove past the flood zone, I saw a sign from the residents of the affected neighborhood saying, "Thank you to everyone who helped us." Some of them lost homes, but instead of being angry or bitter, their hearts are filled with gratitude. It amazes me, and I'm glad I could help, even in my pathetic way. In our clean up efforts, we lost our best utility knife and our shop broom, but I'm so grateful that we didn't lose our home. This year has taught me that sometimes fires and floods happen, but the Lord is always there to help us cope and bring out the best in us. There are miracles in the face of disasters. I love my neighbors; I love my community, and these two natural disasters have brought us all closer together.

Ashtons, BYU Football, and Weed Whackering

On August 22, we went to Sandy to have dinner with Jeff and Ruth at Jeff's parents' house. We were finally able to meet Baby Evan, who is almost too old for that title. It was great seeing you guys! Wish we had more time together, but we're happy we were included in your short tour of Utah!

Then, on August 25, Brian decided to take Michael to one of the only Saturday Marching Band rehearsals, and I decided to tag along. We barely caught the end of their practice on the field in the stadium, and Michael was mad when they stopped playing. We waited to say "hi" to Brother Mac, the director, and when he saw us, he was surprised and seemed a little excited. He started handing us hats and drawstring backpacks. Soon, someone summoned me to pick out shirt sizes, and then Bro. Mac gave us tickets to the opening game. We were not expecting any of this. Bro. Mac said to consider it a bribe :) 

As we were leaving the stadium, I couldn't resist snapping a picture with the Y in the background. 

Thursday, August 30 was game day. Unfortunately, the game started at 8:15, which was past Michael's bedtime, and kind of late for pregnant me. We decided that it would be fun to go anyway. We met up with our good friends, the Brintons, for a quick dinner of pizza, and then headed to the stadium. It was a white-out, so I made sure that we were all dressed in white for the game, but on the walk to the stadium, it started raining, and we busted out jackets. It only lasted a minute, but we couldn't convince Michael to take off his jacket after that. Oh well.

The stadium has fancy HD screens above each end zone, and they had fireworks to welcome the team onto the field, which was pretty awesome.

Michael loved the game and the marching band.

Too bad we couldn't get a picture with the REAL Cosmo, but this just had to do:

While we were at the game, Lea dropped off her bouncer and baby swing that are no longer needed at her house. Rather than put them in storage until January, we decided to leave them out so Baby Amber could use them while she's here. Apparently, Michael thought they were for him:

 I can't even get over how big he is getting! Fall means that someone in our house will soon be turning 3!!

 He loves to "mow the lawn." He often heads toward the door calling, "I need to mow da lawn." On labor day, he was out pushing his mower right along with his daddy. Of course, by the time I got the camera out to take a picture of them, Brian was done mowing, so I made them pose for a picture instead:

Matthew has a large collection of light sabers--and Michael LOVES playing with them. However, since he has never seen Star Wars, he calls them his weed whackers. So, in addition to mowing, Michael also heads outside to do some "weed-whackering". So, when Brian stopped mowing and began weed whacking, I looked out and saw Brian with the trimmer and Michael with the light saber. I ran for the camera, and at the same time, Brian ran to get me and the camera. The result? Michael stopped "weed whackering". And this time, we couldn't get him to pose. He was back to mowing. So, I got a picture of Michael mowing and Brian trimming. (Brian is in the far background.)

 But a few days later, I caught him in the act:

It's so crazy that the evenings are cooler, and the leaves are turning in the higher elevations. My apples are all picked--half by neighbor kids, which were then mostly ruined by our kids here, and the other half by me--and school has started. And, the year that I thought would be so terrible is turning out to be quite lovely.

Concerning Baby