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.

this May

Here are some a bunch of photos to show moments and events from May 2012. By the way, I would have published this post over a week ago if there hadn't been Blogger glitches and stuff. Actually, I think I'm done trying to fix the dumb glitches. :-)

"the bone shirt." L loves this shirt that is a recent hand-me-down from some ward friends.

my husband's graduation! It's still kind of strange for us that he is done with school. He finished his bachelor's degree in Exercise Science about nine years after starting it. He wanted to attend the convocation ceremony and not the huge commencement ceremony. It was great to have (almost all of) our immediately family members there. I don't know why my brother and his girlfriend, who made the lei with dollar bills and little candy bars in it, weren't in the photos. My sister and her husband and two young kids were also there but not in photos. Afterward we all went to a buffet restaurant for dinner (I should have brought a snack; I was so hungry!).

  

 

What an accomplishment: getting an education with two deployments interrupting it, while supporting a wife and kids!

Our kids and their four grandmas.

  

I'm so proud of him.

a new mom. On May 6th, the Sunday before Mother's Day, we met my nephew who had been born less than two weeks earlier.  He's adorable! He is the first child of my sister Angie and her husband Todd.  She gave birth naturally like she wanted to. I loved hearing the story and seeing the gorgeous photos her doula took -- so I have hospital photos and May 6th photos here. This is cool: While Angie was still pregnant she asked the baby, "What should we name you?" and a name that she had never heard before came to her mind. They made it his first name. 

My sister and I and our families brought dinner to them, but decided to let them eat it after we left so it would be enough food for them. (I hope they weren't too hungry . . . we didn't think we would all talk for as long as we did.) I also brought my cloth postpartum pads and newborn size cloth diapers in case she wanted to borrow them. She had wanted and received one-size diapers for the baby and I knew they were still too big on him.

almost 4 months and 2 weeks, 1 month and 2 weeks, and 2 weeks old

dinosaur museum. Our kids, especially the dinosaur-loving 5-year-old, call the natural history museum "the dinosaur museum." We'll have to go again. There is such cool stuff and it turned out that we arrived only two hours before closing time (it was a Saturday).

 

 

 

Beautiful sunshine, don't you think?

two years. It was the two-year anniversary of the end of my husband's second deployment. I love those reunion pictures!

job fair in Las Vegas. My mom watched our big girls from the night of May 15th until the afternoon on May 18th. We left the morning of the 16th and stayed at my husband's grandma's place. His aunt lives there too, and it's fun being with them. The job fair he went to on the 17th was just for veterans (baby and I hung out in a diferent part of the hotel). It was disappointing when we arrived and saw that the list of employers included Walmart and Verizon. We drove all that way to find unique opportunities, ya know? But he got some good advice and a lead for a management position. This was our first time going to Las Vegas together, but we were only there for part of a day because it was 102 degrees and our car's air conditioning wasn't blowing cold air (sweaty!!). I don't love that city anyway. We were there longer than anticipated because of two problems. 1) He lost his wallet in the hotel . . . got it back thankfully, but it took time. 2) He left the headlights on while we ate lunch and it took a while to get somebody who could jump our car. Other than that it was a nice little trip for the three of us. I'm pretty sure that I hadn't been more than an hour or two away from home since November 2010. It was baby C's first time in Arizona and Nevada. She was great the whole time, maybe just a little fussy when we were hot in the car. We were glad the weather was cloudy, rainy and cooler on the 18th. She is just such a happy baby! We're really blessed.

 

 

 

 

some of the beautiful scenery we walked/ran past

  

 

In the backyard after our workout and Mexican take-out.

 

I was the one taking pictures, with my hubby's iPhone. This is me helping him practice his "personal pitch" the morning of the job fair. (The iPad was what he wanted for his graduation gift. The whole family has enjoyed it.)

He likes an energy drink every once in a while.

  

his lunch at Denny's in Las Vegas

my lunch (veggie skillet)

They're cute. We stopped in Mesquite for a few things we needed at the grocery store, and cooled off.

 

Grandma's guest room. Her oldest daughter (my father-in-law's sister) painted the one on the right. They had made dinner and it was about ready for us when we got back from Vegas. We had planned on going to a restaurant again, but it was nice to stay where it was cool, have a home-cooked meal, and look at Grandma's old scrapbook.

 

real food for the drive home

 

five and a half. First Girl was excited for her half-birthday. I had told her it was coming, and she likes it when I say how old she and her sisters are going to be on their monthdays. She didn't get a gift. She just wanted to be five and a half. I did her hair really pretty with the curling iron, though.