Yummy Grape Nuts

I love Grape Nuts cereal. I don't know what it is about it, but I love it. It's usually pretty expensive so I rarely buy it but this past week I had a coupon so I got some. Well, I made myself a bowl and sat down on the couch. Jenna came over and asked for a bite. I told her that I really didn't know if she would like it but she wanted to try. I gave her a small bite and when she was through she quickly said, "Mom, that's dog food." So cute!

Now that I am all caught up...

At my 20 week ultrasound back in May, they diagnosed me as having Placenta Previa. For those that don't know what that is, it's when your placenta attaches itself over the cervix blocking the baby's only natural way out. They let me know that if it stayed there I would need a C-section before 38 weeks so that I didn't go into labor and have major complications. They said that usually as the baby gets bigger, and as my belly would get bigger that the placenta should "migrate" away from the cervix and make everything a-ok. This whole trip I have been thinking about it and hoping that my baby's placenta would move. We had another ultrasound yesterday and we have nothing to worry about! Yeah! She is still a little girl (Dustin keeps saying that maybe they are wrong), she is growing just perfectly, she weighs about 3 and a half pounds and already has hair! They're thinking another 8 pounder is on the way. Sounds good to me. So now we just have 10 more weeks of waiting and then she'll be here. We are thinking her name is Kelsey but nothing's set in stone. It is super cute when Jenna says, "Baby Kelsey"! Jenna's even moved into the big girl bed without complaint. We're slowly getting ready. It's fun to think about her getting here and for this pregnancy to be over but we sure know that that's when the work starts so we'll try to enjoy these last ten weeks while they last!

Our Summer Vacation Part Eleven- Heading Home!

We have been away from home for a long time. While I love visiting family, I was defintely ready to head home. We brought my nephew Devin home with us so that he could spend some time with us and have an adventure away from home. His brother Cody was at High Adventure and would be joining us later in the week. We took our time heading home and made lots of fun stops we normally wouldn't have made. We drove the Columbia River Scenic Highway and saw lots of waterfalls. We stopped at Wahkeena falls and walked to the top. We also stopped a the Bonneville Dam Fish Hatchery and saw some super huge sturgeon. It's crazy how big those things are! We also got to stop at a great park in Arlington to see Dustin's cousin Travis and his family while the kids went swimming in the river. Boy did they have fun! We spent the night in Spokane before driving the rest of the way home with a picnic/swim stop at Frenchtown Park in Montana. Home looked so wonderful as we pulled in! It is so nice to be home!

Our Summer Vacation Part Ten- Happy Anniversary to US!

While we were in Oregon we celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. First we went to the temple together, then to dinner, then out to the Oregon Coast. Grandma kept the kids overnight and Dustin, the sweetheart that he is, had reserved a room at the same hotel where we spent our honeymoon. He tried to get our same room but it was booked so we got the one next door, complete with a huge jacuzzi tub and a fireplace. We went to see Harry Potter, which is verrrrry long. The next day we slept in, enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at the hotel, went for a long walk down to haystack rock, and finally did some outlet mall shopping. We haven't had an overnight get away in a lonnnnnng time and it was wonderful! Thanks mom!

Our Summer Vacation Part Nine- The Oregon Zoo

Portland has a great zoo. I failed to mention before that my brother Dennis was also in town with his whole family while we were there. They live in Alabama and we hadn't seen his wife or kids since we moved from GA three years ago. They have 6 kids now. Well, we decided to take Grandma and myself, my three (one with a broken foot), my brother and his wife, his six kids, my sister, her husband and her daughter, and Devin and Cody (teenage cousins) all to the zoo together. Devin and Cody were wonderful at helping keep track of kids and boy did it seem like we had a lot of them! We did lose one of Dennis' but he did the right thing and ended up at the gate with staff where he was found safe and sound. The photos are of me and and boys feeding the Larikeets. It's my mom's favorite activity at the zoo. I really like it, too. It's so neat to have them fly right up to you to get a sip of yummy applejuice!

Our Summer Vacation Part Eight- the Oregon Coast

Once we got to Oregon and got Jeff's foot taken care of, we got to run out to Tillamook, OR for the afternoon to visit with my brother, Darryl, who is spending the summer at a BSA camp as the medic. We first hit the Tillamook Cheese Factory to learn about making butter, cheese, and ice cream and to get a taste of some of the best ice cream around! After that we all headed out to Camp Clark for some fun on the beach, games with cousins, and a family dinner. I love the Oregon Coast. Even if you do need a hoodie in July it's still one of my most favorite places in the whole world!

Our Summer Vacation Part Seven- All Around Nampa

Here is what our land is looking like these days. Yeah, I know, it's not any different than the last time we saw it. The only thing that's changed is that we keep getting closer to the time when we can do something with it! We're now just under 9 years away from retirement and being able to build our house and move in!

Jenna's First Haircut! Miss Jenna will be three in September and we've never cut her hair- not even a trim to even it out. Aunt Phyllis always has the honor of our kids' first haircuts and we're really not sure when we'll be in Nampa again given the fact that next summer is a moving summer and we've no idea where we're going. So it was now or, well, who knows when so we did it. Phyllis only cut off one curl from underneath and then evened out her ends, but it was Jenna's first haircut and she did great!

Yes, Jeff is in a cast and he isn't looking to happy about it! On our last night in Idaho (Henry's birthday) Jeff tried to jump off a futon at Grandma's house. There was a silky down blanket on the futon and in his attempt to get down he slipped and fell and broke a bone in his left foot. We didn't know if it was broken, of course, but after a half hour of crying and not walking on it we knew something was wrong so off to the emergency room he and Dustin went. They splinted it and told us to see the orthopaedic doctor the next day. We were supposed to be driving to Portland the next day. After lots of calls to Orthopaedics in Nampa and not getting an appointment, I decided to just drive to Portland and hope to find a doctor there. It was not an easy task travelling as the only adult with a 56 lb child who couldn't walk, (and two other kids) especially the potty breaks, but we made it. After lots of calls to Portland area Orthopaedics, none of whom took military insurance (shame on them!) we enlisted the help of David and Chelsie, who herself needed orthopaedic care in Portland and has military insurance. They saw us the next day and decided to let us have the boot over a hard cast (YEAH) since his pain was almost non-existant. So he was able to bathe, go swimming, even run in the sprinkler. Here is it the 29th and he has an appointment in the morning to see if he's all healed up. We're hoping our time in the boot will be over tomorrow!

Our Summer Vacation Part Six- Henry's 7!

We can hardly believe that Henry is seven! My how time flies! Here he is opening gifts, eating pizza, and blowing out the candles on his chocolate pudding pie. That was his choice this year. We still had lots of cake leftover from the baby shower and we had asked him if there was anything else he would like for his birthday besides a cake. Boy was I thankful not to have to turn the oven on- Nampa was sooooooo hot during our visit! He really got spoiled with a whole weekend of birthday fun!

Our Summer Vacation Part Five- Lake Lowell, ID

Here's the crew boating with Uncle Cal (Dustin's cousin) on Lake Lowell. Lake Lowell is just outside Nampa and I can't wait until we live there and get ourselves a boat! The kids are definitely growing up- all three took a turn on the tube. Jenna rode with Dustin, of course, yelling faster, faster! She was even cool when she and Dustin both got bounced out and into the lake she went. The boys rode by themselves. Wow! I grew up going tubing every summer and I am so glad that my kids are getting the chance to try it out, too. It really is a ton of fun. The men kindly offered me a chance to ride the tube also but I thought it would sound a little crazy if something were to happen out there with all that bouncing and I had to explain to the doctor...."Well, I was tubing behind a ski boat and, you know, these things just happen..."!

Our Summer Vacation Part Four- Henry's Birthday Fun

Henry's birthday fell on a Sunday this year so on Saturday, which was also the 4th of July, we hit Wahooz. It's a mini golf, arcade, bumper boat, go cart kind of place. The boys had tons of fun on the bumper boats and the go carts while Jenna, Grandma and I enjoyed sipping a yummy, fruity, frozen treat! Later that day we hit Lake Lowell for some super fun tubing!

Our Summer Vacation Part Three- Painting Grandma's House

Last year Dustin's mom had asked us to paint her house for her. Actually, she mentioned it needing painting and Dustin volunteered. Then we got pregnant with our little princess and so it turned into Dustin painting the trim, fixing the problems on the main part of the house, and painting those parts to match the yellow. He worked sooooooooooo hard. I had no idea what he was getting into. It is a huge job! Pamela wanted to go gray and she let us choose the shade. We lucked out with Dustin's cousin having a friend at the Sherwin Williams who got us an awesome deal. Since I couldn't paint, I weeded all her flower beds and planted new flowers. It was really fun and I think it looks great with the gray paint instead of the black. It was all done by the time Pamela threw a baby shower for me and the baby. I don't have any photos from it but Dustin's cousin Jeannie should be sending photos soon. It was a lovely evening, with prayer holding off the rain!

Our Summer Vacation Part Two- Bryce Canyon & Zion

Here we are in Bryce Canyon and Zion National Parks. Some of us camped and some stayed in an adjoining hotel. They were both owned by the same people so those of us who camped could use the pool at the hotel. Nice. We hiked in the daytime and swam in the evenings. I had never been to Bryce, it is quite breathtaking- both the scenery and the elevation: 8800 ft! I had no idea. It was also very dusty and I finally had to let it go that the kids were just going to be dirty until we got back to civilization. (Yet another reason I was loving the pool!)

Our Summer Vacation Part One- Salt Lake City

Warning: This vacation might take me a while to blog about. We were gone from June 13th to July 24th and visited family in three states. It was a lot of fun but there's something to be said about being at home again!

PART ONE- SALT LAKE CITY, UT

Our first stop was Salt Lake City, UT with a visit to Dustin's Aunt Linda's. This was to be the meeting place as Dustin's family gathered for a reunion at Bryce Canyon National Park. While in SLC, Dustin took the boys to Lagoon with his childhood friend Chris and his son Devin. I opted to go resale shopping with Aunt Linda instead since rides are definitely out of the question right now. Yeah, I've visited Disneyworld twice while pregnant and that's enough. We also took the kids down to temple square. We had a wonderful time visiting the visitor's centers and seeing the tabernacle. Once Dustin's family from N.C. arrived we were off to Southern Utah and the national parks.