Dear Pregnancy,

I surrender!! You have won! I am now on bed rest for the next 5 weeks. Through this pregnancy I have spent Easter in the hospital getting fluids and steroids, July 4th in the hospital from bleeding, you did loosen your vice grip for a tolerable August and September, but now you have punished me with pre-term labor. So I am destined to miss out on Halloween and possibly Thanksgiving. I've had to get 2 more steroid shots to help speed develop the baby's lungs in case I do go into labor and started some medication that I take every 6 hours to stop the contractions. My fabulous mother-in-law dropped everything and hopped on a plane landing in Arizona 24 hours later. She has been cooking up a storm, taking the boys to the park, reading stories and letting me take as many naps as I possible can. I am so very grateful for loving family members who are willing to help despite their busy schedules so we can get this baby here healthy and when the time is right. So my dear pregnancy, I believe in the end I will win!

Sincerely,
33 weeks and counting

Minnesota fun

We had so much fun at the Scarecrow festival at Emma Krumbies. There was so much to do. Train ride, scarecrows, bikes, slides, music, animals, wagon ride, pumpkin patch and on and on. We got the BEST apples straight from the orchard and I was able to teach Haydn how strawberries grow. It was a fun-filled day!

We aren't in Utah anymore, Toto!

We have had a very smooth transition since our move to Arizona. I haven't heard any one say "If only we were still in Utah we could . . ." Until this weekend! It was General Conference weekend, which is one of the super big perks of belonging to the church. You have an excuse to stay home all weekend in the most comfortable clothes you have, sit on your couch and be uplifted by some seriously amazing talks that inspire you to do and be better.

Since having children your sitting and listening abilities are severely decreased. Maybe if they did an animated version my kids would sit and watch, but until then we try and come up with creative ways to entertain and still hear as much as possible. We have

found that road trips are the best. The boys usually fall asleep, their is a 2 hour break in between sessions where they can run around to where ever we drove to before heading back home. So our plan for this weekend was to have a sleepover on the trampoline the night before (like the people waiting to hear King Benjamin in the Book of Mormon, only they were in tents not on trampolines) It has finally drop

ped below 100 degrees so it was cool enough to sleep outside. The boys were thrilled and thought it was so fun. We all got settled and fell asleep when it started to rain. :( Plan #1 failed.

We had cinnamon rolls on the menu Saturday morning before planning to pile into the car and drive to Sedona which is just under 2 hours away to see the fall foliage. At 8:58 Riley remembered we are no longer in the same time zone as Utah where General Conference is broadcast from having it start at 9:00 when everyone was still in their jammies and unshowered. Plan #2 failed. So we decided to stay

home and head to Sedona for the Sunday sessions, until we discovered that it is not broadcast on the radio here!! What the . . . plan #3 failed.

Ok, ok so we have accepted that their are some changes that come with moving out of state. Since we were in some serious need of something Utah-like we made the 35 minute drive in between sessions on Saturday to eat lunch at Cafe Rio! A Utah original!

A couple positive things that occurred this weekend are with the temperature dropping into the 80's I was inspired to get out our fall decorations.

Also, with fall comes football season!! Monday night my beloved Minnesota Vikings played the arch nemesis, the Greenbay Packers and WON!! Putting them 4-0!!!

My Brother the Senior!

One of the main reasons for my trip to Minnesota was to take my little brothers Senior pictures. Look who is all grown up and graduating!! See more here

Minnesota

The boys and I were able to spend 10 days in Minnesota this month. My sister and brother have both moved there to go to school so the whole family was there at the same time. Minus Riley who stayed home to work (lame)!! We had lots of fun in the cooler weather visiting relatives, playing at the park, and going to an apple orchard and fall festival.

I think Grandma Sherl had the most fun doing this . . .

I did a couple photo shoots while there so my limited computer time has been taken up with editing photos. I will continue updates from our fun trip as soon as I get done with those.

Two year pictures

See more here

First day of school! First day of school!

Somehow Haydn is old enough to go to preschool.  I honestly don't know how this happened.  He is growing up too fast!  I went to get him some school stuff and discovered he is no longer in the toddler section for clothes.  Too many changes all at once if you ask me.  We found a really nice preschool not very far from our house that came highly recommended.  It is run by the Methodist church so they even bless their snacks and talk about Jesus.  Riley gave him a fathers blessing last night and on the way to drop him off I was giving the typical mom talk about listening to your teacher and being nice to all the kids.  I told him when he sat down next to someone to tell them his name was Haydn and ask them what their name was.  When we arrived I was signing him in when a little boy came up behind us and Haydn said, "Hi, my name is Haydn.  What's your's?"  After he told him Haydn follows with, "It's nice to meet you." Since the tears have been close to the surface all day I about lost it right there.  We went to his class room and after he discovered where to put his backpack there was no looking back.  I did manage to get a few more pictures before I got the ok mom you can go now look.

After school we went to lunch at Chick-fil-a so he could tell me all about it.  Preschool is definitely a hit and he wants to go again and again and again!

Happy Anniversary!

We celebrated our 8 year anniversary August 16th!  Colby and Jessica were kind enough to offer to watch the boys so Riley and I could enjoy a rare night out.  Being 6 months pregnant doesn't leave me with much energy for night life, but we decided on dinner at the Melting Pot and had a fabulous time.

Riley had called ahead and arranged a private booth with flowers.  They also took our picture and gave it to us in a frame and sent us home with do-it-yourself chocolate fondue.  Any place that gives you a giant bowl of melted cheese is high on my list, so of course the food was fabulous.  The 2-hour dinner flew by and it was nice to enjoy a meal with my sweetie without worrying about Taite catapulting out of the high chair or Haydn eating his food.

We think the boys had a pretty good time too considering a few of the pictures Jessica took.

No more boxes!!

That is it the last two boxes to leave our new house.  The trampoline and play house are put back together.  The garage is organized.  I even hung up all my clothes.

We are starting to feel more at home now that pictures are getting hung and rooms are being completed.  Seeing the list of projects get smaller is also a relief.  Now we will have more time to play!  

hoodie towels

While my mom was here she helped me make these cute hoodie towels for the boys.  The boys love to wrap up in them after a bath or give their best Obi-Wan Kenobi impression.  They were pretty easy to make, especially since I didn't attempt any of the sewing.  I used plain white towels, but the possibilities are endless and would make a super affordable gift.

http://www.skiptomylou.org/2007/11/29/hooded-towel-tutorial/