News!

I've been pretty absent from the blog recently, a lot has been happening around here!  I'll update with more pics soon, but here is the biggest news!

First, and foremost, we are excited to announce that we have another little one on the way!  We told the kids on Easter Sunday, it was adorable!  They sat on the couch going through their baskets, while Mike and I pulled the ottoman up and sat in front of them knee to knee.  Immediately the boys were saying they were hoping for a girl.  "Amelia needs a sister!"  I think it was the best surprise they got Easter morning!  Tanner said, "I think we should name the baby Lucifer!"  We've all had a good laugh about the name choice, but in his defense, we'd just watched Cinderella the week before.  


I'm due October 5th and had a rough start being very nauseated and sick.  Mike and I have agreed that pregnancies are hard on the whole family, but  we're just getting through a long, hot summer with a big pregnant mama!  The kids are so excited!  We are having another boy, so Amelia and I will definitely be outnumbered by the handsome boys in our family!  


Additionally, Mike has been called to serve as the bishop of our ward.  In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have a lay leadership and wards are formed by geographical boundaries.  So, someone within the ward boundaries is called to be the leader of the congregation.  A bishop presides over the congregation, and attends to spiritual, physical and emotional welfare of the members.  This is a large responsibility, but it's something Mike and I both feel at peace about.  We love our Savior Jesus Christ and have committed to serve in whatever capacity called up on.

This new calling has been an adjustment for our family, as Mike is very busy, and he now sits on the stand at church, rather than with our family.  Thankfully, the members of our ward have been incredibly supportive and have stepped in to help out.  As I've watched Mike serve in this capacity, I have been reminded once again that I married a good man, a really really good man.  He's done a fantastic job balancing a young family, a pregnant wife, a busy and growing career, and now the needs of a ward.  I love being Mormon!  I know with all my heart that the teachings of this church are true.  I know that we have a loving Heavenly Father, and that our Savior Jesus Christ suffered for each of us so that we could return and live with God again.  I know that God wants us to be happy and this gospel brings more happiness and joy to me and my family than anything else.  It's not easy having Mike be bishop, it's actually really hard, but because we know these things are true, it's what we want to do.

Mulch It!

 Mother's Day weekend was so fun for me!  Mike had been out of town all week and returned home Friday afternoon in time to quickly mow the lawn and finish just as the huge dump truck to deliver 17 cubic yards of mulch!  We both questioned if I had calculated correctly because it seemed like so much, but it was perfect!  The weather was ideal and all the kids helped shovel and wheel mulch to the backyard.  It was so fun to work together!

 

Mike and I were impressed with how long the boys lasted with this project.  They stuck with it for close to two hours and worked so hard!  They each took turns with the wheel barrow and worked hard with their shovels.  

It helped that my Mother's Day present arrived just before we got started.  I think this is my favorite Mother's Day gift Mike has ever gotten me!  He had a friend of ours Fed Ex two dozen LaMar's donuts!!  La Mar's holds a very special place in my heart!  First, they make incredible donuts!  Second, a good friend of mine brought me LaMar's when I was on bed rest with T&R and after I delivered them.  After that, LaMar's became a special outing for me and the boys.  I would load all my babies in the van, pull up curb side, pick up donuts (they knew me by name!) and hop back in the car with delight!  I have never found better donuts since!  So, we shoveled and munched on donuts all afternoon and into the evening.  Loved it!

Longest Day of My Life

This is an old post I started, but never posted.  I know it's late, but I've got to document this!

Last month I had the longest day of my life (or one of the longest).  

5:30-6:30 a.m. Body Blast class at the Y

7:00 a.m.- put breakfast on for four hungry kids, help kids get dressed, brush teeth, make beds, etc.

8:08 a.m.- put Andrew on the bus

8:40 a.m.- drop youngest three off at a very kind neighbors home

9:00 a.m.- help two classes of kindergartners paint T-shirts for an upcoming program and field trip (back breaking work, literally)

12:00 p.m.- get Andrew off bus, my neighbor and I decide last minute to rent a power rake and thatch our yards.  We'd been planning to do this on the weekend when husbands were around to help, but the weather man was predicting rain.

12:05 p.m.- quickly fed my kids lunch, dropped them next door and ran to Home Depot to rent the power rake.The two guys behind the rental counter thought I was joking when I said I was going to be the one using the machine, but they were kind enough to load it the back of my van for me regardless.  

1:30 p.m.-Shannon thatched first while I searched for my sprinkler heads that were covered by overgrown grass from our early Spring.  This involves me crawling around on my hands and knees on my front lawn searching and digging for sprinklers, cross referencing pictures of kids playing in the sprinklers from last summer, trying desperately to find sprinkler heads so I wouldn't hit them with the power rake.  

3:00 p.m.- I realized I would need start up my sprinkler system after having it shut down for winter to find sprinkler heads.  I consult a few neighbors on how to do this, then successfully start sprinkler system.

4:00 p.m.- Finally thatching!  Mike calls and realizes I'm in over my head.  

5:00 p.m.- he comes home to rescue me and starts raking everything I've torn up in our yard

6:00 p.m.- Mike leaves for Scouts, taking Andrew with him

6:30 p.m.- In zombie like fashion, I feed my kids cold cereal for dinner, then finish raking.

7:30 p.m.- Reid and Tanner somehow let loose Andrew's bucket of frogs I promised I would protect.  I find myself on my belly under the van catching frogs to return to Andrew's bucket wondering what the heck is going on!

8:00 p.m- I put the kids in bed and collapse on the couch and fall asleep.  Mike wakes me when he comes home to tell me to get in bed.

Maybe reading this doesn't seem like that much, but every part of my body was sore the next day.  The kicker...it didn't even rain that weekend!!  

One of the boys snapped this pic of me after I'd been taking pictures of their frogs.  It must have been earlier in the process, I still have a smile on my face!

One of the lost frogs before he got lost in the garage.

On a less exhausting note, Andrew drew this adorable picture of an otter and entered it into the school art fair.  I thought it was so cute and he was so proud of himself!

Isn't she funny?!  We love this girl!

Cousins

May was such a fun month full of visitors and visiting!  Our first visitors were our cousins from New York making a move to Idaho after finishing a six year PhD!  We are so excited for them as they move into this next phase of life.  We had a really relaxing day hanging at the house, catching frogs, playing outside, getting $1 milkshakes, etc.  We only wish they were moving in next door!  I didn't get my camera out too much (I've been bad at that lately, as you'll see in the next few posts), but we had a great time and were sad to see them go.