Spring Soccer . . .

J and L had a great time playing spring soccer this season. After quite a few rained out games and practices, we finally got some good pictures at the end of the season. J is pretty aggressive and really enjoys her time. L loves practice a lot when everyone has their own ball and everyone plays fun games with their soccer balls. :)

Yesterday we had a bit of a scare, but we are happy to report that everyone is well and happy. J was playing around with a friend during half time. They weren't paying a whole lot of attention and she ran into the metal goal post with her ribs. I wasn't at the game, but D said it swelled within seconds and looked like a rib was poking out (broken). He couldn't tell if she couldn't breath very well because she was crying so hard or because of a possible punctured lung, so they called the EMT's. After they arrived and checked her over, D asked them if she needed to go to the hospital and all they told him was that it was up to him at this point. He tried to get their professional opinion on whether they thought it was a broken rib or what, but they were not helpful at all and didn't seem to know, etc. so he thought well fine, I guess we'll go have her checked out. He called me on the way because they couldn't get J to calm down. she was fine after I talked to her for a few minutes. I dropped Z-man off with a neighbor (thanks Katie) and L went home with some friends from the soccer game. I took off to the ER and found them happy and bored at the hospital. Unfortunately the x-ray had already been ordered and she was already in the 'system'. So we hung out for a while telling stories of times we/kids have been in the hospital and had a great time spending 'quality' time with our oldest. J thought it was cool that she was able to ride in an ambulance and that she could see a picture of her bones. :) Luckily nothing was wrong and she is just great. The Dr. said the reason it probably swelled and looked like a rib sticking out was the same reason little kids get goose eggs on their heads really fast after a bump. the front part of the ribs are cartilage and therefore swelled quickly.

When we picked L up from our friends house, he asked us if he could come and play there EVERYTIME J got hurt and had to go in an ambulence. :) LOL. He had fun playing with friends. :)

I'm so glad it was nothing. D and I talked a lot about how grateful we are she was o.k. It's amazing how something like that. . even when nothing really happens. . . puts into perspective how much you love your kids and don't ever want them to suffer.


Well, onto the good stuff. . . . the pictures. :) Go J and L. . raw, raw, raw. . skiskoomba!!!

GOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!

soccer buddies!!!

going in for the GOAL!!!! Go L!

We love you J and L!!!

Hail to the graduate

Who's graduating do you say??? Is D going to school again (yes, but not graduating); What about H. Did she go back to school? hmm? Who could it be. . .

drum roll please. . . . . . . It's L!!!!! That's right everyone, L has officially graduated from 3 year old pre-school and advanced to 4 year old preschool. LOL

There were fancy dresses, curly hair, and grandparents watching and supporting as their 3 yr old grandchild walked from his/her seat to shake (or high five since most 3 yr olds don't know how to shake) his preschool teacher's hand. I wasn't quite prepared for the occasion I guess. I thought I was good to change L from his spiderman t-shirt to a 'nicer' stripy one. :) The kids were cute though.

My favorite part was as the kids walked in you hear a great big, "HI MOM!!!!" Yup, it was L being his social little self and making sure we knew he was around and could get a good laugh from those around him. :) They sang a few songs on stage, had a prayer, and headed for cake. . . (which of course my kids think is the best part anyway).

L we are very proud of you for graduating from 3 yr old pre-school. But don't think you can get out of attending college just yet!!! :) ;)

Baby M update

I had a dr. appt. today again. Everything seems well. M is head down and I'm measuring at 34 weeks. That is 2 weeks ahead of where I think my due date is and one week ahead of where my dr.'s think my due date is. It didn't surprise me. I have always measured big and am always hearing things such as "Wow, you are measuring big." etc. I'm getting use to the word BIG!! LOL. Oh well. M's heartbeat sounds good and the dr. said she was a big baby. J was 7 lb 6 oz (one week early); L was 8 lb 6 oz (3 days early); and Z was 8 lb 13 oz (3 days early). Soooooooooooo, I think I'm looking at a 9 lb+ baby!! ZOIKS!

Other than that, the normal pregnancy woes. . . but I can make it!!!! :) only a couple more months to go. :)

fun in the sun

We have had GREAT weather lately. Yesterday I pulled out the pool from last season to see if it still worked (since it was blown down the creek last fall during a wind storm. . doh!) I blew it up and it stays blown up for at least a day, so we will just have to blow it up each day. . . thank goodness for air compressors. :) I think the kids are happy to be in the sun and water again. :) What do you think?

Awe, the joys of summer. . . if you aren't pregnant!! :)

bling-bling

O.K. so it's really glass, but I still really like it. I never fit into my wedding ring when I'm pregnant and it's been a while since I've had a ring to wear, so Darin got this for me when he was in Brazil. I think it's pretty cool. :) . . . especially for a temp. ring. ;)

General Update

Well, I thought I'd post a general update of everyone in the family and what's going on.

I hope everyone had a great mother's day (a while back). It was so much fun to spend it at my sister's house this year. I had fun running around with K, G, and Ty to do some last minute mother's day shopping. :) They are fun to be with. It made the weekend go much faster since Darin was in Brazil. Plus, my sister's ward gave me chocolates. . . :) Yummy to by pregnant tummy!!

D was in Brazil for 9 days. He was at a convention there, visited customers, and trained Brazil employees. He had a great time and it was fun to look at his pictures when he got home. One of his fellow employees showed him around over the weekend and D enjoyed seeing it all. I don't enjoy it when he goes. I miss him a lot, and it makes for long days with small children. But I'm grateful I have them because otherwise, I'd be alone. The kids missed him so much and wrote him e-mails and made him notes, etc. They went crazy when he came home. He picked J up from the bus stop the day he came home and she was ECSTATIC. I'm glad our kids love their daddy so much. D is taking some finance classes at a local university. Tonight was his first night. He wanted to brush up on some finance.

Well, if I'm going by my dr. due date, I only have 2 more months left of this pregnancy. I'm getting ready, and scared, all at the same time. I'm excited to meet little M and see what she is like, and scared for what 4 small children means to my life. I feel pretty tired all the time right now and I'm afraid it's not going to change for the next 18 years. :0 :) But they are worth it.

J is doing really well. She is loving soccer right now. She is pretty competitive, but at the same time, layed back about it. She told me before the last game started that she was going to try something new. I asked her what it was and she said that since everyone bunches up and she can't get the ball out of the center of the circle, that she was going to try to kick it over their heads. Well, she did it and kicked it over their heads and into the goal. she had a happy little grin on her face. she's adventurous and loves trying new things. She has spent most of today working on a knitting project for baby M.

L is growing up so quickly. He's my little Dash (from incredibles). He is also loving soccer and enjoys anything that is social with other kids his age. He loves doing tricks and jumps off of the couches and loves passing by the skate park to see the skaters do their tricks. He's such a funny guy and makes me laugh a lot. He is getting close to being able to read small words and loves having stories read to him. He would dig in our dirt pile all day. AND he LOVES our toy 4-wheeler that the neighbors gave us. He's such a busy boy. :)

Z just started walking all the time. He's so cute. He still walks with his hands up in the air so he can keep his balance. :) He's pretty funny. He loves to laugh and laughs at just about anything. He gets soooo excited to see his daddy when D comes home from work and the only real word he says is dad. He loves to sit in boxes/containers, take things out of containers and put them back in. He loves to push around cars and break printers and tv's!!! :) He has a certain little cubby hole under one of our desks where he LOVES to sit and chill. He is a TALKER, not that we can understand anything, but he jabbers all the time and points to things as if he's trying to tell us all about it.

Other than that, things are normal. We have our ups and downs, but we try to be grateful for what we have and each other and move forward. Soon school will be out and it will only be a short while before we bring this little one into our family. I really hope some energy returns once I'm done being pregnant, or I could be in trouble for the next 18 years. :) :) I'm sure I'll make it though, one day at a time.

Brazil pictures

Warning: There are a lot of pictures in this post.

These are some of the pictures from D's Brazil trip. we missed him so much while he was gone and we are soooo glad he is back. It looks soooo pretty there and he had a great time. It makes me want to go on a vacation!! :)


Brazil Ticona employees.

The convention that Darin was a part of.

Cool birds that walk on the lily pads

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Beautiful flower and butterfly.

Some sort of fish farm.

The city buildings from D's hotel room window.

mothers day

We headed to my sisters house for Mother's day. It was GREAT. It was so cute to see all the kids doing things for the mom's--pictures, hugs, kisses (the chocolate kind and the juicy kind), We got chocolates at church. . YEAH. And a dinner that neither mom had to cook or clean up from. . . ahhh, the joys of motherhood. ;)

while there, Z-man decided to practice the piano with cousin K!! So cute!

baby M update

Well, I had a dr. appt. today and everything is going well. We listened to the heart beat which is always fun. It seems so real to me right now that I just want her here and in my arms. I still have 10-11 weeks to wait though. My gestational diabetes test went well and I'm in the clear there, so that is good. I'm measuring right at 30 weeks and I have a herniated belly button. I already knew this. I've had it since being pregnant with L. It hurt for about a couple of weeks when I was pregnant with him, and since then, it hasn't bothered me. It just looks funny. All my kids think it's halarious to poke my belly button and watch it pop back at them. :) I'm such a fun toy. But if it hurts or gets black and blue I'm suppose to let them know. I'm pretty sure it will be o.k. for another couple of months. :)

Well, the kids and I are off to go swimming this afternoon, so happy may everyone. :)

Z's one year old check up

My sweet z-man went in for his 1 year dr. appt. today. He is doing well. He had his shots (poor guy). He is in the 90% for his height (28.5"), the 75-80% for weigh (25 lb) , and 75% for head circ (19").

He's such a cutie and jabbered to all the nurses and dr. :)

We love you, Z!!!

walk-a-thon

These are pictures of the walk-a-thon at J's school. Of course they had to have distractions at every corner so it took us twice as long to get it done. . . ha ha. oh well. the kids had fun.

Off to the RACES!!

This was a GREAT weekend. D and I don't often get nights out alone, but my sister gave me a b-day present of a night away. . . YEAH. I saved it until I felt good (I had yucky morning sickness over my b-day, so wasn't up for going anywhere.) This weekend was the Kentucky Derby and D and I wanted to at least experience it once since we live here and all. It was so fun to experience--especially together. There were TONS of food providers and booths selling souvenirs. It was great to see all the fancy ladies in their sun dresses and HUGE hats. I realized that I didn't ever get a picture of any of them, but it was still so fun to see. I felt like I was in "My fair lady" when she goes to the races. . . only I didn't yell, "move your bloomin' A**" :) phew huh? On the flip side, there were lots dressed up with silly hats, some just normally dressed, and some in hula skirts (ya, because that's exactly what you wear to a horse race!!)

It was amazing to see the horses warm up, load, and shoot out of the starting gates. They are super fast and although we didn't have the best view, it was still incredible to see how fast they go, the adrenaline that is in the air and the excitement. :) The track was SOOO sloppy because it had been raining, but the horses just tromped through it like champions. The horses really were majestic. :)

Isn't my D so handsome. This was right after we dropped the kids off at my sister's house and we felt like kids again. CRAZY!! I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE being with D. He is my best friend and he is amazing. We laughed sooo much over the 2 days and enjoyed all of it. We dropped the kids off and loaded a few things my sister had for us and we were off. We went to the temple that night and out to eat afterwards. We got to our hotel around 11. . . it was kinda fun to be out that late because usually if we are out that late, someone in the family is having a massive melt-down. I'm proud to say that both D and I held it together even at 11 p.m. ;) Hooray for NO meltdowns. :)

this is chruchill downs. It was fun walking around here because a couple of years ago, D, myself and some of D's family ran a half marathon that went through the track. :) We both remembered how tired we were. . . HA Why do we do things that torture ourselves??? LOL

This was an early race. Here are the horses coming out the gate.

and making their way past us. D and I would try to guess which horse would win, but we didn't bet on anything. Good thing, too, because we were NEVER right--not once!

I thought this guy was picturesque--smoking his pipe while studying the horse stats in the program. Making his gambling move.

these pictures were taken of the big TV, but they still turned out o.k.

This was D's favorite hat he saw. This guy doesn't know we were taking his picture. . . HA HA HA.

After we were done at the races, we shopped a bit and headed back to my sister's house. The kids had prepared a concert for us. I told you it was a great weekend--the races AND a rock concert!!!

Z LOVED exploring a new home and loved on everyone.

L LOVES playing with his cousins. He LOVES playing the computer--especially with Ty. :)

We stayed at my sister's house Sat. night and had so much fun talking with them being there. they have such a great family and I always feel at home when we are there. They are awesome. THANKS, Val. I LOVE you. We had such a GREAT time. :) :)

28 weeks

I've officially made it to 28 weeks. Does that mean I'm really in my 3rd trimester???!!! WAHOO!!