Baby News & Beach Week 2012

For those who may not frequent Facebook, we found out yesterday that we are having a healthy baby girl! Which means I got my wish! 4 times! And now we can be done. Very good news! No more morning sickness, exhaustion, or pregnancy brain! January 17, 2013 will bring the end of my human being manufacturing days. And the beginning of another round of ribbons and ruffles!

My sister-in-law posted about our beach week, which feels like ions ago, but it was really earlier this month! I guess a baptism, an ultrasound appointment and school starting are all pretty big deals that make beach week seem like another lifetime ago.

But it was tons of fun, as always! I love my family. And I love that my kids love them too. Click on this link (For a good chuckle at my expense, click to enlarge the kayak pictures of Travis and me and look at our faces. Note: I am not a risk taker. Getting in the kayak was way out of my comfort zone. For good reason, as you'll see. But it was fun, and I'm glad I did it):

http://amykayhansen.blogspot.com/2012/08/beach-week-2012.html

Another Awesome Baby Shower

We threw a baby shower for our dear friend, Lauren. When I say "we" I mostly mean Brittany, but we did help come up with and help execute some of the ideas. Lauren is having a boy after three girls. I very well might be more excited about this than she is. I am exstatic, because I want everyone to get to experience both genders, and love helping people try to make this a reality. Lauren is a big reader and a writer, so this Book Themed Shower was just perfect for her. We had so much fun. I am very sad that we didn't get a single picture of us as friends. But enjoy these pictures of the shower: http://birnel.blogspot.com/2012/06/laurens-book-theme-baby-shower.html

I am so grateful to have such loving friends. They bring such joy to my life!

Campout

 You know the drill.  Click here to read a post my friend did that involves us.  It was super fun, as always!

http://birnel.blogspot.com/2012/05/3rd-annual-campout.html

It was Harrison's last day of school today.  We had a fun lunch at the park with other friends who go to our school.  And we had our 2nd Annual Last Day of School Backyard Family BBQ.  I introduced our new summer jobs/rewards system.  I hope it goes as well as I'm envisioning.  I'm always trying to come up with new ways to get my kids to do what I want!

Harrison is very sad about leaving his teacher and his friends.  He's an emotional, sentimental child (wonder where on earth he gets that from).  He told his friend, "I miss school.  There are a lot of depressing things when you're 7."  Maybe I should sensor more of what I say around him.  Why does he even know the word depressing?? We really did LOVE his teacher this year.  It was her first year, which made me nervous because I've been there.  But she was amazing.  Way better than me my first year!  Perfect for him. He behaved well for her and learned so much!!!  I'm so glad we repeated Kindie.  Otherwise I'd have a 3rd grader on my hands.  It's sad enough that I already have a 2nd grader and will have to say goodbye in 11 years.  Depressing, even. 

As Promised

Why have I just discovered my newest sister-in-law's blog? Well, she did a post about our beach trip, which I know is like so mid-2011, but I did promise that any blog post I found containing anything to do with us would be copied and pasted here. And heaven knows I will likely never do my own beach posts, so here is another blog-lifted beach post from a different perspective.

Side Note: My kids are hilarious. Just today they have each cracked me up.

Harrison at dinner when I said anyone who eats a strip of bell pepper will get a quarter. "Mom, that is not very motivating for me." (He's 7)

Elizabeth at church while I was holding her and rubbing her back and I asked if she could tell how much I loved her said, "Yes, but I'm not positive or negative that I love you." Also when Nate commented that my outfit looked a lot like something a friend at church would wear (quite a compliment in opinion) Elizabeth said, "Except that she always has on a little yellow. Like yellow shoes or a yellow necklace." It's true, this friend does wear lots of yellow accents. Crazy that my 5 year old would notice that.

Johnny has added to his knock knock joke repertoire. Thus far it's just been "Knock, knock." We say, "Who's there?" He says, "Cow." We say, "Cow who?" He says, "Moo!" Well as of this morning he has added "Monkey/Ooh, ooh, ahh, ahh" and "Frog/Ribbit." We've never even taught him that a frog says ribbit. I think he learned it from his favorite show that he requests in his best DJ Lance voice "Yoooo Ga Ga." But seriously, how many not-even-two-year-olds do you know that make up and tell knock knock jokes? Glad to see we've got another entertaining extrovert on our hands. Really don't know what we'd do with a shy kid!

Ok, don't forget the link about the beach! Quick, someone else blog something about us so I don't have to!

The Pattern Continues

I told y'all if anyone posted anything relevant to me I would snatch it up and put it on this here blog. Thank goodness some people in my life have not fallen off the blog bandwagon like I have, so that there can occasionally be activity on here. My best friend, Kelly, just posted about our latest get together, which took place at The Y. Before I give you the link, here are my thoughts.

1) The longer I'm away from BYU the more I love it. I enjoyed going there (although some of the darkest days of my life were there too), but the older I get the more obsessed and compulsed I get about my kids going there. Hence, taking the children to BYU as much as possible for the indoctrination process to really take affect. Taking them to BYU sporting events, buying them BYU paraphernalia, getting them treats at the bookstore candy counter, taking them bowling at the Wilk. It's a calculated plan, people.

2) Why do I want them to go there so bad? Honestly, I was thinking about it the other day and I realized it's because I made some of the best friends of my life there. I have talked to people who hated BYU and the difference between our experiences is that they didn't have great friends. I truly think the friends you have in any stage of life can make it or break it for you and thankfully I had friends that made it for me. I'm sure I could have met amazing people wherever I went, but I wouldn't have met Kelly or Reyna or Sarah or (man, I shouldn't start naming names) and I wouldn't be the same if they weren't part of my life.

3) I noticed on this last trip that my increasing love for BYU is directly proportional to my increasing hatred toward the U. I didn't really have strong feelings against the U while I went to BYU. I only know a handful of people who went to the U and I adore them all. But I feel it is my moral obligation as a Cougar to hate those Utes. Hate is a strong word, especially for a Cougar. Let's say despise. And not really the Utes per say, as much as the institution itself, of which I know nothing about. Basically, I'm admitting that I blindly despise the University of Utah because I feel like I should. When I see that red, my blue blood starts to boil just a little. I guess that's what a rivalry is all about.

3) I was astounded that I agreed to eat at J Dog's. It was Nate's idea and he assured me that I would like it. I do not eat hot dogs. Ever. But I do eat Polish sausage, occasionally. Let's be clear that there is a vast difference between the two. It still scared me though, because it had a lot of the same properties as a hot dog. I just kept telling myself that it was not a hot dog. Honestly, I don't exactly know what hot dogs taste like, but this thing was delicious. I could only finish half because it gave me a horrendous stomach ache. But it was delicious, nonetheless.

4) The highlight of the visit for me was when we crammed into Kelly's van to drive back from J Dog's to campus (about a block). Nate was taking the rental car to Price to trade it out for a van (We hit a deer on the way to UT and had to get a rental until today, actually. See how I'm using these posts to get in little bits of information?) Anyway, this left me car less so we all crammed into the van and I sat shotgun with Kelly on my lap. Now if putting a few too many people into a car just to avoid a little extra walking doesn't bring back memories from the good old days of college, I don't know what will.

5) I had to hold myself back from obnoxiously screaming out one of our old shenanigans when I first saw Kelly at the bookstore. Man, we had some fun times back then. I'm sure our fellow students at the time were not enjoying our antics nearly as much as we were, but they probably didn't make a best friend for life in the process either. Love you so much, Kell Belle! It was so good to see you and your darling kids!

6) My face is excessively red in one of the pictures because I was blushing about something. I do not think of myself as one who gets embarrassed easily, but someone needs to tell the blood vessels in my face that because I blush like crazy over things that are not that big of a deal.

7) Don't ask why my children are incapable of making normal faces in pictures. I really do not know.

This is why I don't blog anymore, because I get on here and I ramble and stay up way too late cracking myself up with my pontificating.

Anyway, here's the link:
http://erikandkellyahlander.blogspot.com/2011/12/chelle-belle.html

Bloglifted Baby Shower

I'm noticing a pattern here. . .

One of our dear friends is having a baby and we were thrilled to celebrate with her. I enjoyed working together with some friends to throw her a shower. Brittany was the mastermind of the whole thing, as usual. I must say, I'm having a little post shower let down. It was fun to plan, set up and attend.

And I guess my blog has deteriorated into posting links to other people's blogs that involve me. I need to hire a personal blogger. Just as soon as I'm done hiring a housekeeper, a nanny, a chauffeur and a personal shopper.

In other news, Oprah's life class really helped with my withdrawals. Not that I even watch it that much, but knowing she's there waiting for me on my DVR really helps. And I'm counting down the days till the Breaking Dawn premier. I'm going to the midnight showing for the first time! I thought that being 32 and a half and having three kids would be the perfect time to start acting like an irresponsible teenaged girl!

Anyway, here's the link to the shower. It's hard to believe, but it was even more beautiful in person. http://birnel.blogspot.com/2011/11/this-weekend-we-celebrated-one-of-my.html

See you next time someone blogs something that I can post on here!

Blog-lifted Beach Week

It's somewhat of tradition now that I just blog-lift my sister-in-law's beach week posts. I always say I'm going to do my own and never do. So this year, let it be known that this is all you're gonna get as far as a report from beach week goes. In fact, at the rate I'm going, this could be all you get for a while!!!

It was another wonderful week at the beach. Well, other than Johnny's screeching that Kate mentions in her post. He's outgrown that, thankfully! He did an awful lot of screeching, and crying and making me a nervous wreck around the ocean and pool. I was longing for trips past and future in which all my kids could swim and I could relax!!! Harrison has always LOVED the water, so he was endlessly entertained, as evidenced by his crazy dark tan. Elizabeth could swim this year, which was so nice. If she wasn't swimming she was having a blast with Gwen and Emi. Being with my family was so fun. We ate and relaxed and ate and swam and ate and played games and ate and read and ate and watched some great TV and ate. My kind of vacation! In fact, I could use a little of that right now!

Click here for Kate's beach week post:
Once you're there also click "newer post" to see our family beach pictures.