FINALLY. . .

Only one week left!!

I have an OR time scheduled, with doctors at the standby. C-section scheduled for 7:30 am, Monday, August 11. Ahhhh. I love having something firm I can write on my calendar!!!

So, I found a trick for going a few days earlier than the doctor suggests. I requested a specific anathesiologist (the most experienced and highly respected), and so we have to work around the summer schedules of two doctors. The anathesiologist will do my surgery right before he leaves to go to Lake Powell for a week. Nice.

Brave Daddy

Cannon has always been brave when it comes to taking children places. He loves to go to pro and college sports games, and for that matter, so do I. But once we started having kids, I began to beg off. Because I don't really want to go and hold children or dodge tantrums or be a mom while enjoying being at the game with my husband. So I guess I told him he had to make a choice if he goes to a game. Either the children or me. And I'm happy to stay home to save the babysitter expenses for another time while he takes the kids on an outing. He is a pro at finding free or reduced tickets so that there is no pressure to stay for the whole game. That way, he's okay leaving when the kids have had it. What a great way for the kids to spend time with Daddy.

Here they are at the Raptors game they saw in Ogden. I love the second picture where Cannon is smiling and Tanner is not. I certainly didn't say, "I told you so," but that expression just reminded me why I stayed home.

Trip to Washington

A friend once explained to me that the difference between a "trip" and a "vacation" was whether or not you had kids with you. =) Haha. I agree. No matter how much fun it really is, it's still categorized differently when you have a gaggle of people to feed, clothe, bathe, and keep comfortable while away from the comforts of home. I will now add to this definition. It's definitely a "trip" if you are eight months pregnant. No way around it.

That said, we had a blast on our trip to Washington a week (or so!) ago! We gathered with all of Cannon's siblings and their families along with his parents. It was a long way to go for most of us, but it was so fun to be in the NorthWest and to see such wonderful people and hang out with them.

We all moved into two rental houses in Sequim, Washington (pronounced squim -- I love it!) and did a lot of sight-seeing in the area. We drove right past our very first real house in Poulsbo too, and were shocked to find it painted PINK!

Here are some picture highlights.

Sydney at the beach. The Dungeoness (sp??) Spit. A little chilly for a swim!


Rebecca, Timothy, Tanner, and Valerie. Hiking back up from the beach. Tanner hiked in and out without being held at all. That was over a mile round trip.


Some cousins on their hike at Hurricane Ridge in Olympus National Forest. This is a tall mountain! Colby, Timothy, Jackson, Jordan, and Madeline.


Cannon and the kids at the top of the Hurricae Ridge Hike. I think the mountain air was kind of getting to them. Notice -- no Valerie. I stayed in the car and read my book! Very relaxing. . . This was just before Tanner fell and got a nice puncture wound on his forehead. He's trying to be like his brother Jordan and is already collecting head scars.


Sydney with her cousin Madeline. They are a year apart age-wise, but with mostly boy cousins everywhere, these two stuck together for the whole reunion.


At another beach -- the kids had a blast looking at and also playing with the wildlife they found in the tide pools. With the help of older cousins and uncles, they made a fortress for the crabs they collected. The little kids just squealed every few minutes. Hilarious.


Logan and Tanner digging in the mud at the beach. All you need is dirt, water and sticks to make little boys happy! Notice the tape on Tanner's forehead -- we were trying to keep his new wound clean!


Valerie and the kids on the ferry back to Seattle. The kids were thrilled to ride the ferry, Valerie was not. Tanner wanted to stay on the (freezing cold and windy) deck the whole time and had his two-year-old tantrum when he got out-voted. Valerie was feeling very much like she wasn't in Utah in the land of large families as she realized how things looked. Three thrilled (not quietly) children climbing over furniture to get a better look out the windows to see the water. One VERY loud fussy toddler. One very LARGE tummy proving that number five is on the way. I decided to wait out the rest of the voyage safely out of sight in our car down below.


Sydney was kind enough to take a picture of my tummy when we got back. No wonder my back hurt the whole trip. This is me at 34 weeks pregnant. Yikes.


We had so much fun with cousins and family. We even stopped by my college roommate's farm in Mattawa, WA to see her family. What a blast. Sorry there are no pictures. I was too tired to find the camera. But, just believe me -- all of it was tons of fun!!!

Yellowstone!

So, we finally made it to Yellowstone. This was actually three weeks ago, but I'm just now getting around to posting pictures. FUN time!

My dad drove his monster RV up from AZ and saved his pregnant daughter from having to sleep in a tent. My hero! He also pulled his motorcycle along so that he could tour the park in style!

The kids liked roasting marshmallows better than just about anything else we did. Sydney and Jackson worked on their roasting techiniques (and did very well!) while Jordan sucked up a bit to his cousins to get his roasted to perfection.
Tanner loved the hikes, marshmallows and attention from older cousins. Plus, he LOVED having "Gampa" nearby so much.
The three older kids worked hard and earned their "Jr. Ranger" badges. We're very proud of them.

Big Baby

I'm not sure if this title refers to me or to the little alien squishing my lungs, but it could be either. Ultrasound last week (at 33 weeks) showed a HUGE baby!! Already over 6 pounds, with seven weeks to go. Oh, mama. And I just compain all day now. I hurt. This baby better be worth it. (I'm going to write all about my dislike of pregnancy in my journal just so I can show him in ten years. Then he can see how much I really love him - even before I knew his name.)

A very good chiropractor just moved into our ward and just around the corner from our house. Turns out, chiropractors can REALLY help! I have always had back problems and I have always had trust issues when it comes to chiropractors (long story). But now I'm a believer! And I'm a believer in maternity belts (they do enough to stop silly, unwanted contractions for me), and I'm a believer in small babies, born one at a time. (You can see I've already forgotten, somewhat, the horrible morning sickness and bedrest that comes at the beginning of the pregnancy.)

Anyway, the doctor did tests checking to see that my blood sugar really has been low like I've been claiming (I have gestational diabetes and have to check my blood sugar after meals). High blood sugar could be the cause of the size of my baby and the cute fat rolls we saw on his neck, but it looks like I have had sugar levels under control. Now he says maybe this is just a big baby and his growth will level out before his birth! Oh, I hope so. We have a c-section scheduled for Aug 15. (It's wonderful to have a set date -- it makes me feel so much better to know what's coming and when.)

The old ladies at church shake their heads when they see me and tell me I look like I'm going to pop. The younger ladies tell me I look cute pregnant (what does that mean??? I say that to people too, and I don't even know what it means.) What I think is this -- I can't wait to have a newborn that keeps me up all night. That's probably the reason Heavenly Father makes my pregnancies miserable; so I love, love, love it when the baby is born!!!

p.s. This poor little boy still has no name!! I welcome suggestions, although I'm so contrary right now that I doubt I will like any of them. I'll probably have to wait to name him after he is born so that I'm happy that I'm not pregnant anymore!

Tour de Cure

Cannon has been itching to go biking through the canyons here ever since we moved to the mouth of Sardine Canyon. Personally, I don't understand the draw of biking somewhere so STEEP and UPHILL. Plus, you use the same roads as the crazy auto drivers. And eventually, you have to go back DOWNHILL. Yikes.

Well, he finally found some time over the last two months to do some day-time bike training. Didn't do as much canyon biking as he probably would have liked, but he got into good enough shape to ride in the Tour de Cure on Saturday. It was 60 miles (although they mistakenly added almost 10 more), and orginated and ended in Brigham City. Up until that day, the farthest he had biked was 40 miles. That was Thursday. Needless to say, he was tuckered out by the time he finished!

I'm proud of him. He's on the lookout for more races to be involved in. Maybe a triathelon or something.

Here he is in his ATK (work) team jersey.

It's been Father's Day for a month!

Jackson and Jordan have been so into creating lately. Especially Jackson. He started making Father's Day gifts as soon as Mother's Day was over! That gave him plenty of time to make his many creations. Here's my favorite. I'm not even sure what's inside this envelope, but he made it two weeks early and put it on Cannon's pillow.

Here's the translation for those unaccustomed to reading the handwriting of a first-grader, "Dear Daddy, In this envelope is something for Father's Day but don't open it this minute or you will get in trouble. Love Jackson"

Here's my favorite picture by Jordan (he made a whole book, but this was the cover letter).

Translation. Dear Daddy, and a picture of Daddy. My family, with a picture of us. The two brown ones in the middle are Tanner, who is crying (notice the angry eyes) and Jordan, who is giving Tanner his blankie. (One of the other kids also drew a picture of the family, in which Tanner was also crying. Describes our new two-year-old perfectly.) Then a picture of What I did Today. Can't remember what that one is about. Then The Pet I Wish I Had. The kids have been working on the pet thing for a while. It'll never happen. But it was a good idea to send the message through while Dad is so happy with his kids! I love you. From Me. And a picture of Jordan. He's brown because that's his current favorite color.

Here is Sydney presenting her coupon book to Daddy. So cute in the morning, aren't they??

Then, as a special treat for Tanner (at least that's what Tanner thinks), my Dad stayed with us for the weekend. Tanner is "Gampa's" shadow.

We had a BBQ that evening with some of my siblings, and we all had a fun time and ate good food. Mmmmm.

Here's Rodney. Paul and me. Cute Tanner.

I love you, Cannon!!!