the two of us

Wow. It's the middle of September! I have never gone this long between posts, and I know my last two were short. Thanks for reading. Here is the first of some updates on our family.  



:: me ::

Mother's Day 2013

With two of my siblings on my mom's birthday -- I stole my friend's idea (she did it for her dad) by having people write my mom letters, and she said it was the best gift she has ever received. That makes me happy.

Hmm, what to say about myself. . . . I'm enjoying my life. The hours and the weeks go by pretty fast. Summer vacation was super fast but wonderful. I love being a stay-at-home mom and I am so grateful I get to spend a lot of time with these angels (we're working on them being angelic when we ask them to put their things away or do other things that they don't want to do). They make me smile and laugh often. I like that they have friends in the neighborhood that they play with often, too, and grandparents nearby to help us. I get a little bit of time to myself in the morning, at least enough to pray and read The Book of Mormon. I can also have alone time after the kids are in bed on most of the nights when my husband is working. It's nice that he's home by 9 or 10 p.m. usually. I like watching a show on Netflix with him, but I also like when we just talk.

Lately I have been exercising for 30-40 minutes some time before lunch, 4-6 days a week. It's usually closer to 6 days a week than 4, of running or HIIT cardio or both. In spite of that, I have a belly that sticks out. It's not my fault that I look pregnant, I guess -- it's because of my umbilical hernia and diastasis recti (separation of the abdominal muscles). I am definitely not pregnant. There's probably some fat there but I don't know how much because of whatever weird stuff is happening underneath. I can grab a little fat on my inner thighs, but there isn't any anywhere else. Well, I found a lot of diastasis recti information on youtube, including exercises to heal it, so I'm doing them as part of my strength training 3 days a week. I have "before" pictures but not enough has changed to take "after" pictures. I am trying to eat even more like the Eat to Live weight loss plan, which includes fewer grains/starches and processed foods and more vegetables (especially cruciferous ones). And I am trying to be patient with my body even though it's been a while since I gave birth. The other day I talked to my midwife, who referred me to a doctor that I will meet with this Friday to get more information about getting laparascopic surgery to make my belly flatter like it used to be.


:: him ::

June 2013

September 2013

My cute husband is still working hard at his three jobs. He did not get the railroad job he wanted, and we don't know why they didn't even interview him. But he did basically get an offer for something different, a position we had sort of given up on because it had been so long. It's still taking a while but it might happen: he might be a highway patrol trooper! Apparently they are always doing the hiring process, so he is on the list or his file is in the stack or whatever, and when they need him they will call. First he had an interview -- actually, I think it was two. Then we turned in his packet for the background check in November. Yep, ten months ago. In February they told us that a lot of people had applied, so we would have to wait a few extra weeks. Then they actually did the background check, and an employee met with him in our home. On May 23rd they talked about why he wants to be a trooper, and they gave him a piece of paper that is a conditional offer of employment. He took a polygraph test, psychological evaluation (both of those the hardest things he has ever done), and a physical all in the week before leaving with his unit for Annual Training. Another three months have passed. . . . He doesn't want to continue forever with what he's doing, and he has hard days (with his depression) every once in a while probably more often than I realize, but the Lord is blessing us. My husband is in very good shape physically because he really wants to get a certain score on his next Army PT test. He works out early before his full time job and told me he likes that he's "a runner," which he hasn't been in a few years. 

Side note: he and I have never lived together this long before. Between his deployments we had almost three years together. But now he has been back for three years and four months.


:: us ::

This summer he decided that we needed to get away to relax without the kids for more than just a couple of hours. I agreed. So we went on an approximately 26-hour date and had a really great time. It was Friday to Saturday August 9th-10th. {Third Girl survived that time without breastfeeding (I was fine too), and was happy to continue when she saw me again. My goal is two years.} Since some of our little family had been sick back in April when it was our anniversary, and D and I never did much to celebrate, this was like a 4-months-late anniversary vacation. I'm not sure if we will take the whole family on a trip any time soon, which is okay. It will just be that much more exciting and special when we finally do, right? Anyway, here are some of the pictures from our big date! It was so nice to be in the hot tub and pool at night. This was also his first time in a tram, he thinks, and his first time rock climbing, which surprised me. I love being married to him.

It was  cold and gorgeous.

My view as I walked out of the lodge to start my morning run.

I overcame my fear on the ropes course. I walked on most of the areas.

Although this doesn't show any of the bikers, it was neat being at one of the Tour of Utah venues! I want a bike. . . . Also, we might have felt the need to return to our kids sooner if it were not for the road being closed in the afternoon. :)

(My hair flips out if I don't straighten it. And he's even better-looking than he seems in some photos.)

He had the day off for Labor Day so he and I did some good work on our home, with the kids helping, too. We rotated our rug so the couch covers the stains. And we switched bedrooms with the kids (this took more than one day, and a lot of it was done by Saturday night). It's much better! We haven't taken pictures yet, but not all of the items, wall decorations, etc. are in place. We have the smaller bedroom but it's nice that it has a bigger closet, and the three girls have more room to play in their room now.

We are still in a 2-bedroom apartment, even though at first we thought we would only stay for a year or so. We just signed a new lease, our fourth one, because we're waiting to hear about which city he will be working in. Anyway, these changes are good. We like the layout of the furniture better now; changing bedrooms helped it feel kind of like a new place. One day soon after Labor Day he swept and straightened up the patio, I gave the toddler's seat (not quite a high chair) a bath and did three loads of laundry, etc. I still need to thoroughly clean the blinds. We got rid of junk including shirts I've had a long long time, and some toys and other kid things. I'm pretty sure that I have blogged before about the fact that it's hard for me to let go of stuff. I have gotten better with my husband's help. We know we made the right decision by not moving out yet. We had actually told the people at the leasing office that we planned to move out September 14th, but it wouldn't have been worth the stress and the other costs, since we would likely move again less than a year later. It's good to be able to still serve in this ward, where my husband has only taught Gospel Doctrine class a few times so far. I also have a fairly new calling.

December {2012}

Sisters wearing new princess tiaras and shoes in Grandma's living room on Christmas Day. (It looks like I can upload more pictures right on my blog without paying each month for more data.  {This link} helped me figure out how much of my storage I'm using. I'm still a little confused, though.)

2012 was a hard year for us, but Christmastime was great. I want to remember:

• Our children's joy: When they saw our Christmas nativity scenes and cups and other things that they'd forgotten about. When they looked at any Christmas tree. When they said "Christmas lights!" as we were driving and they saw some. When we talked about how many days it was until Christmas.
• Book club on December 5th -- really just my friend (and visiting teaching partner) Erica and me chatting. I'm glad I re-read The Mansion anyway. Erica started the club not very long ago, and a lot of people said they were interested, but only one other person besides us has actually shown up.
• Watching the 3-year-old play at playgrounds while her big sister was at school. 

• The Saturday (December 8th) when the five of us went to Daddy's work. It's a fun place. The kids liked the big wreaths, and they were totally happy with eating the lunch we had brought from home.
• How excited our girls were about the gingerbread house kits my mother-in-law bought. She, the kids and I went over to my mom's house so we could all assemble and decorate the big gingerbread house. My MIL had to leave at a certain time so with small houses we could only assemble them. Later my big girls and I finished the small ones.

 

• Simple times hanging out by the Christmas tree (which my husband found at DI for $10!). 

I was so happy the night that we girls watched The Christmas Bunny and I didn't try to do anything else at the same time. The movie was better than I had expected, and C nursed to sleep. Now I remember that we were able to watch maybe half before bedtime, and then we had a breakfast picnic to watch the rest. Another decent movie we discovered thanks to Netflix was Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. You can totally tell it's from the 1960s, which is great.

• Singing in our stake choir fireside on December 9th, and my parents coming to see and hear me perform. The music was wonderful. We also had a Seventy and his wife speak. It's a good thing Sister B. asked me to play the piano for the vocal solo, because I hadn't thought of participating until then.
• Shboogoo's notes about the season -- some to Santa, some not.

(Dear Santa, please bring me a puppy in a box. And a bird. Thank you.)

Not a note, but a drawing of where we live. She colored it all in later.

• C meeting Santa for the first time, at our apartment clubhouse. She cried when I started to put her on his lap.

• The kindness of my mother-in-law's friends. Julee and her mom, Eleanor, both gave my family gifts. Eleanor had sewed two aprons for our daughters, plus a bag to hold a cookie sheet, spatula, pretend cookies and felt doughnuts with felt frosting to put on top. They gave us the gifts at their family Christmas party on December 15th. I was really sad to miss the parties due to being sick. The other one was a surprise birthday party for mother-in-law's aunt. The night before I had a fever and couldn't sleep well because I felt so cold. In the middle of the night I used the bathroom and must have fainted. I know I fell. My neck hurt for a week after that.

• Shboogoo's first school holiday sing-along. My husband said it well . . . something about how parents love their kids enough to be there for two hours so they can hear their kids sing for a few minutes. Shboogoo moved from her original spot, so we could hardly even see her (which reminded me of her first Primary program, when we couldn't see her from where we were sitting). In this photo she's the red glasses above the black hair, on the right side. I still plan on making a video of her singing "the peace song." The principal cancelled it so the last group could do their performance and finish on time.

• Watching Mr. Krueger's Christmas (my #1 favorite Christmas movie) at my mother-in-law's on Christmas Day. Most hadn't seen it in years, and my brother-in-law's girlfriend never had.
• My date with my husband the Saturday after Christmas to use the gift I gave him: a gift certificate to Chinese restaurant (because he had been saying for a while that he wanted Chinese food). The food was all so good. Especially the spring roll.

Now the best photos of our December 24th and 25th. :)

Christmas Eve: My husband worked until 4, and then we went over to my Mom's for dinner. 

  

I took some photos outside when we were back home.

 

 

This girl got to stay up as Mom and Dad finished wrapping.

Christmas Day the kids woke up around 8:00. Opening gifts was so lovely. Our kids gave Daddy a pair of jeans and a belt, because he's lost weight so most of his pants are too big. He thought it was cool that we found great ones at Savers. I already mentioned the Chinese restaurant gift certificate. He gave me a new makeup bag and new makeup and brushes. I really needed it all. :) The only thing he didn't know I was completely out of was blush. Shboogoo had asked for real binoculars, and was thrilled when she opened them. The one thing L had wanted when I asked was "a new favorite bear," so that's what she got. For some reason she named it Chunky. They also got a couple of Usborne books, and crayons to share. The big sisters gave C a teething ring, and we gave her two Usborne board books. Stocking stuffers included dried apples, teddy grahams, and cups of chocolate pudding.

You like my thumb in the bottom right corner? I think I did that twice.

We left home by about 9:15 to open gifts and have breakfast (a late one) at D's dad and step-mom's house. Uncle Jack couldn't make it but had a generous gift for me: a $50 grocery store gift card. Everyone we spent Christmas Eve and Christmas with gave us plenty of gifts. We really appreciate the people and the fun and useful things!

The second place we visited was D's mom's house; we were there for 2 or 3 hours.

Last stop was my dad and step-mom's house at 4:00. The pot luck dinner (but most of it the work of my step-mom) was delicious. They invited my mom this year (she was giving my brother Mark a ride over there anyway) so we got to be with her two days in a row. Mom and Mark had already left by the time my husband took this picture, though.

2011 Christmas season, part 1

My family didn't do a whole lot of Christmas activities this year (because of preparing for baby #3, I suppose). For example, we never went downtown to see the lights, we didn't watch some of our favorite Christmas movies, and we didn't go to any concerts. We didn't do much to serve others besides giving a few non-perishables to the food bank. It's been a while since I participated in a Messiah sing-in, which I would love to do again. However, I want to document the things that we did do.


(I was finally able to get this photo off of my phone a few weeks after originally publishing this blog post.) On November 29th the girls and I went to daddy's institute building for lunch after one of my midwife appointments, as we had enjoyed doing a couple of times already. They loved all of the Christmas trees throughout the building; this was the best, with the nativity statue and the "snow."

The girls and I went to with my mom to her ward Christmas party. It was a dinner, the high school Madrigals sang, and in another room children could do a couple of different crafts. I must not have brought a camera with me, but later I got a picture of the Christmas tree (sugar cone covered with cake frosting and candy) that one of our girls made.

 

On December 3rd my husband was at drill, but the kids and I went to my father-in-law's family party. I enjoyed the drive and talking with my husband's aunt and uncle. The kids were way excited that there was a piñata.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 6th was my ward Relief Society dinner. I met some sisters that I didn't know before, and I was touched by the program and music about the Savior.

 

 

After being frustrated with our pre-lit artificial Christmas tree which we set up soon after Thanksgiving, we got rid of it. On December 8th we finally went out and bought a real tree, using our military discount at Lowe's. We tried and failed at making strings of popcorn and cranberries, but then I made some gingerbread ornaments from an image I found online.

The morning of December 10th was our ward Christmas party. They provided breakfast, entertainment from a funny magician, and sugar cookies.

Sunday, December 11th my husband and I both spoke in sacrament meeting. It's not exactly related to Jesus' birth -- the bishopric asked us to speak about the Sabbath day -- but we like having this opportunity.

I have no idea where my Christmas piano books went! I think I own at least four, and I hope they will show up somewhere. But throughout the season I mostly played/sang the Christmas songs that are in the LDS Children's Songbook. I think the Christmas music the radio stations play is annoying, with the exception of the classical music station. My husband had the great idea to play Christmas songs using the Pandora app on our TV. The girls and I also enjoyed reading the Christmas children's books that we own, plus a few that their daddy checked out at the library.