Castles, Trains and Spy Houses

The castle

The Spy House - It looks like a traditional Gingerbread house thus it makes the Perfect Spy House..according to Master

Sport is here just for the picture he wanted nothing to do with this activity

Christmas porch

I'm a little behind...this actually happened the first part of December. It's a family tradition that we go to breakfast and then to Rainbow Gardens in Ogden to the Chirstmas porch to pick out our ornaments for the year.

Sports starts Karate

OOoost! is what they yell when they punch

I do have to brag that Sport is the most flexible in the entire class.

Those double joints help

Dancing Queen

This is Princess Pie's second dance recital. The first one she had been taking class for only 3 weeks and she hit the stage and froze. Tonight was a whole different story. We pulled into the parking lot and she yells, "Dance Concert, Here I come!!!!" She did awesome! I was a proud mama!

Do I need a new mirror?

Yesterday I woke up at 4am stressed that my RS lesson on the Martyrdom was not completely prepared. I managed to go back to sleep, only to dream that I woke up at 6am to prepare my lesson, but decided to go to the gym instead (I have never in my life been to the gym on Sunday). In my dream I arrived at church (after hitting the gym) and the ladies in RS were so upset with me for not being prepared they started taking off their clothes and covering themselves with hymn books. I opened my eyes and leaped (I never leap) out of bed. It was 6 am for real and I had two good hours to finish preparing the lesson. We arrived at church (late) and in the hallway I spied my visiting teaching companion (who I love and respect dearly) she asked me how I was feeling. I said ok. She said, "oh you can tell you don't feel well just looking at your eyes". I promptly went to the bathroom to see what was up with my eyes. I'd gone a little lighter than I realized with my make-up, but didn't think it was that bad; or was it?

I had worked like crazy to: get the bishop's permission, set up my lap-top, projector, and Internet card for this lesson. I wanted to show a LDS u-tube clip; for whatever reason my Internet card was not fast enough and the clip wouldn't play. Oh well, some things like, how my eye-balls look, are out of my control... the lesson ended up fine.

This evening I had to make a last minute run to the craft store for glue dots. I was already in my PJ's. I threw on my long wool dress coat and Brian's snow shoes for a quick run to the store. You know you really don't give a hoot if you're willing to go to the craft and grocery store in your PJ's, wool coat, and husband's shoes. As I exited the parking lot, I had a sudden craving for a banana shake. I pulled through the drive-through the lady at the window says, direct quote, "Mam you look exhausted! Are you all right? You need to go home and put your feet up." Slightly stunned my reply was, "I'm just pregnant."

Luckily I'm not in tears, I'm laughing my head off. I must seriously need a new mirror if I look that bad. Two days in a row, seriously two days in a row, people making the effort to tell me I look exhausted...SUPER!

Thinking back on today, I still feel icky prego....I had to pull together my Christmas gifts for my offices. This involved visiting 4 different Walmarts, Home Depot, Sams Club and Costco, all with my 3yr old in tow.....while I made the blackberry burn with work orders to be sent and emails that needed to be returned...took Sport to karate...did our traditional shopping for our live trees...put all three tree stands together, and got the trees watered...delivered the second day of xmas to the neighbor and now I'm sitting here giving myself a pause before I go assemble all the 'stuff' I bought today...OK that many Walmarts could make anyone look exhausted.

IT'S A .......

BOY!

I had a CVS test last week and got the results this morning!

We are very excited that Noah Brian will be joining our family!!!

I do need to mention long before we even got pregnant, Indy said IF, we had another baby it would be a boy and his name would be Noah.

The minute I found out I was pregnant, I felt it was a boy. I've had two dreams about him since being pregnant, so if the test came back and said girl; I would have been shocked. Princess Pie is still convinced it's a girl. I guess she will get used to the idea. Master did a happy dance. Sport just calls him baby no, no,no.

A quick word about Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) It is a prenatal test sample of the placenta tissue. It is the earliest and the only 99% accurate test to screen for Downs, trisomy 18, and cystic fibrosis. When I was pregnant with Sport my AFP blood work test came back on the high side, but still within normal range for my age. Therefore, we did not pick up on the Downs until my 18 week ultrasound. I remember that day, it was a rainy, dreary, awful day. People ask me all the time, "Are you glad you knew early?" Heck yes! I had 20 more weeks to prepare and educate myself and my family. When you get that kind of news there is a grieving process and I had time to get that out of the way before giving birth. I did the CVS test with Princess Pie and with this baby to get the most accurate information as soon as possible. I have had several comments from people stating they would never do a CVS test because if it came back positive they wouldn't abort. OK, but just for the record, FOR ME, it's not about abortion it's about being prepared.

411 Needed

I would like to 'publish' or turn my blog so far into a book. Has anyone out there done this?

Before - After - Before

This is Erik Chopin from The Biggest Looser. He started the show at 407 dropped 214lbs to become the Biggest Looser and has almost gained all of it back. I 've been thinking and thinking about this and I'm not sure what 'my take' on this is. What's yours?

Thought

When we look at a statue

OF SOMEONE GREAT,

we think they've got something we don't

We are trained to think that only a tiny percentage

of us have the stuff it takes to be a hero.

Not many of us will cure any diseases,

or slay any dragons, but every single one of us,

EVERY SINGLE ONE OF US,

is called to be a king, a queen, a hero in

our ordinary lives. We don't build statues to

worship the exceptional life, we build them

TO REMIND OURSELVES WHAT IS

POSSIBLE IN OUR OWN.

New pics

Thanks Nicole! This little family is not easy to photograph, and I think she did great!

Thanksgiving

Nana making gum-drop apple Turkeys

For Thanksgiving we had both of my brothers, my mom, and our cousins the Petersons. It was Wonderful!!!! I love Thanksgiving

Halloween Party at Nana's

Kid Table

Adult Table

Vinyl pumpkin decorating vs. carving...so easy!

Halloween (a little late)

Nana, Polamalu from the Steelers and Corinne from Barbie and the Three Muskateers

Master went with Indy to the Ute football game so I just had the two little ones. My mom came out to answer the door and after trick-or-treat I just layed on the couch in my pregnancy miserableness.

"Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies"

We live in this little culture where people greet you and say, "Hi, how are you?" the usual response is; "fine thanks" "good thanks, how are you?" etc. etc. I've struggled with this lately because when people ask me, I want to be honest and say "awful" "I'm about to puke because your gas station smells like old grease" or "I am nauseated and my head is pounding" MyBF Steph said to be honest and yet positive I should say, "I feel pregnant, how are you" and let people figure it out from there. Today Zoe and I were at McDonalds because she had lost her strawberry shortcake stamp from her last happy meal and we needed another one. Forget the food we needed the toy. It's 4:00 and I am about at the end of my nauseated patience. The guy at McDonalds says the usual, "Hi how are you?" I was honest and said, "I am sick to my stomach, I'm not contagious just pregnant." He says, "Really at least you're not really sick, I just had bronchitis and I was so sick I could barely talk, my throat was all swollen with all of this puss and mucus coming out." .....SICK! He continued but at this point I cut him off and ordered the happy meal. He hands me my debit card back and I try valiantly to get it back in my wallet without really touching it. I'm starting to believe debit cards should be sanitized on a regular basis. Not that I don't feel sympathy for the guy but I really didn't need to hear about his puss and mucus. I'm going back to LYING and saying, "fine thanks"....and I'm perfectly good if the people asking, lie in return and tell me they are fine. FINE is sooo much better than puss and mucus at McDonalds....sick..sick...sick..

Eyes on the Prize!

I've been trying to figure out how to stay positive when I feel like UTTER CRAP and today I had a friend respond to a my txt that the end result makes it all worth it. (Thanks Shelly) I may be sick and really hate being pregnant but I have easy deliveries and I do so love those little babies. I love how they smell. I love how soft their little heads are. I love kissing those little open lips. The thought drifted across my mind. "Eyes on the Prize" I should be working but I went to my files to pull out these pictures and I have to admit I do feel a tiny bit better. Master
Sport - ok this is a little stressful to look at but I remember specifically looking at him and thinking, he may have Downs but he is stinkin cute!!!!

Princess Pie

"What the Hell?"

I got a txt the other day from my nanny that my 3yr old Pincess said "What the Hell". And again this morning as I was listening to her play with her dolls I heard another "What the Hell" Indy looked at me and asked what I had to say for myself and all I could answer was that everyone has their favorites and that just happens to be one of mine. Plus it's not my fault, I'm pregnant, grumpy, and hormonal, I seriously get a pass on this.

90 minutes

Me and Tiff

Me and Indy

All DONE!

Cousins

Sara Sargent, Tiff, Me and Indy

Hopefully I'll have more actions shots to follow. This turned out to be an awesome race. 90 minutes is for sure NOT the fastest but for having NEVER done this before and being completely unfamiliar with the course and the transitions, 90 minutes isn't' bad. Note Indy did beat me by 6 minutes. Goal: Next year shave that time by 10 minutes. Oh and I won't be pregnant next year that might help as well :)

Why Why Why?

I have a love/hate relationship with the 'Why' question. When you ask the question 'why?" you want an answer...and sometimes there just isn't one. Why do people do triathlons? Sometimes it's a lifetime goal, or maybe it's to loose weight, or maybe someone challenged them. Why am I doing this triathlon? In this case I can tell you exactly why..... his mom
A year ago Jack's mom Tiff (cute cousin Coby's wife) in the thick of dealing with the grief of loosing Jack decided to do this triathlon and put the question out "I'm dedicating this race to Jack who will do it with me"? At that point I don't own a road bike, pretty much detest running, and have never done any lap swimming in my life. Right then and there I committed and said I would do the race with her. I know this show of support is small, but oh how I admire the strength, character ,and courage Tiff and Cob have shown. In my own life I think about my Sport and how often he has danced with death. When you have watched your son code and literally be only sustained my the life-support machines breathing for him, it changes you. It changes your perspective. With any of these precious little gifts that God sends us, be that perfectly healthy like Jack or not so perfect like Sport there are no guarantees on the amount of time we get with them. Lately I've thought a lot about 'why' I'm a Mormon. That's another question I don't have all the answers for. I will say one of the for sure reasons is the blessings of the Temple. I love the fact that each one of my babies are born under the blessings of the covenant and they are sealed mine forever and ever no matter what happens.
So..long story short....Jackie Ju this race is for you and your mama too!

morning sickness....

Caution this posts keeps it real and will probably read a tad on the negative side:

Morning sickness should not be called 'morning sickness' It should be called "All day freaking AWFUL sickness" I seriously think the 'morning sickness' is a lure to get women pregnant. Some ancient OB probably realized if they called it "all day freaking awful sickness" less women would get pregnant and he would be out some income.

It's my fourth so you would think I would be accustomed to it, but without fail, after each baby amnesia sets in and I forget how really awful it is. Not only do I know this is my last pregnancy in this life. It's my last one EVER and EVER even in the eternities. I told Indy if he wanted to have eternal progression in the next life he would need to hitch his wagon with one of those women who 'love' to be pregnant because I am NOT doing this again.

For those of you who never get sick or or maybe get a little dizzy let me paint a picture for you. The room is spinning my head is splitting and I know if I even open the fridge I will barf. Over the past 3 pregnancies I have learned a couple of tricks that help to avoid the actual throwing up. Typically saltine crackers are not my thing, but I thought I would try them the other day....NOPE they all came up and when I blow it is a total body convulsion over and over again, there are no little urps involved. And the real treat is after that lovely experience I don't feel any better. And to think I get to feel this way for 10 more awesome weeks!!!!

Monday of this week I was done. When you get to the point where you are not functioning as a mom or in your job, and frankly you don't care, because you are so miserable....It's time to call in the drugs. Zofran became my friend with Sport and Indy. It's a drug they give cancer patients to deal with their nausea. It doesn't take it away but it makes it bearable. Its $455 for 21 pills and you can take 2 or 3 a day. Worth every penny. Lucky for me insurance picks up all but $15. It doesn't make you feel wonderful or normal, but it keeps it manageable. Late afternoons and evenings are the still pretty bad. I am slowly without too much anxiety or depression realizing I just can't 'do' or 'get done' what I normally do and that's OK because bless us and save us this is the LAST time I'm doing this.

Pregnant Woman Division

I'm pretty sure this triathlon does not have a prego ladies division but I'm doing it anyway. I have slowed down the intensity of training in the past couple weeks. My OB is not crazy about me doing it. The nurse asked me if I was competing to win or to finish. I just want to finish the thing. I don't want to come in dead last, but I don't need to come in first either. I'm not worried about the swim or the bike. The run is where I'm a little panicked. I pulled a groin muscle last week and running is most uncomfortable. Oh well wish me luck!

Gratitude Nov 1

Today marks the first of November. Tis the Season of Gratitude. I challenged my RS today to write down something simple they are grateful for every day. I told them to FB, Tweet, or Blog it, but did give them old-fashioned note-pads just in case. Today I am grateful I made it through church without puking. I prayed the prego sickness would break just long enough for me to give my lesson and it did. Thank Heavens!