Rambling ramble

And here we are at the end of July while I am eagerly looking forward to the end of August. Technically, I am due Sept. 1, but I'm going to be setting up a date a bit sooner than that today when I see my OB. Yay! Then Steve can actually schedule the time off for baby's birth. I like that idea!

Yes, I'm at the stage where no position is comfortable for long, so I do a lot of moving around, despite how easily I seem to get tired. And this is WITH exercising, I can't imagine what it'd be like with no exercise. The younger kids are thrilled with my new form of belly dancing -- that is, watching the baby poke and push and move around, causing my belly to contort into all sorts of fun shapes. I think a way they like it best when baby will push out on one side and hold so my stomach is distinctly pointed and lopsided to one side, but that may be just because of how I react when that happens (you know, all the grumbling under my breath and pushing on my stomach as I try to shift the little angel out of my rib cage -- and it's ALWAYS the right side of me, no shifting here). Don't get me wrong, I love feeling baby move and all that that means, especially since I know this will be my last child; but even loving it, it IS uncomfortable at times. Ah well. This is the stage my first OB said that Heavenly Father created to make a woman so miserable she'll eventually do ANYTHING to get the baby out. =) I don't know about that, though . . . I still like my epidural!! So just pray this baby flips around so I don't have to do a C-section!!

This is the last week the kids are here for summer before school starts. When they get back from their two weeks, it will be the week school starts. Why it starts on a Thursday, I don't know, but it does. Weird, I can't believe summer went so fast! At least we've had fun. Just last week we went camping with Dale and Heidi and their kids and Rebekah and Blake. We'd wanted to go to Tony Grove or Sunrise campgrounds, but even going up Tuesday to pay for an extra day (we were going to start camping Wednesday), they were all full! So we went to Lodge campground, which is off the beaten path enough and right by some fork of the Logan River. It was a nice little spot, and by the time we were through, the long grass and such was no more. =) Our campsites started out normal sites surrounded by overgrowth, and when we left, there were paths between the sites, down to the river, and anywhere else the two little boys especially had explored. What do other campers do? There weren't paths before. The river was freezing but the kids were in it every day, some up to their chest! Kudos to them! And we got some hiking and such in, along with a trip to Bear Lake. The day we went to Bear Lake it was so windy that there were large waves going on! And the lake has been so full this year that there's practically no beach other than little fingers here and there, surrounded by little pools on one side and the big lake on the other. Kinda nice in a way -- when the little kids got tired of fighting waves and body surfing, they could play in the "kiddie pools" on the other side of the sand bars. =) Us older people had a lot of fun body surfing, though, even though Steve lost a flipper, I lost a flip flop getting to our sand bar, and Adria lost one of our chairs that attach to our floating noodles. The waves were fairly strong, and once you got brave enough to actually submerge and stay at least neck down in water, it wasn't so frigid. I'm glad we got there, even if it wasn't the normal calm, sky blue lake it normally is.

And anyone who has any suggestions on night-time potty training little boys, HELP!!!!!! Steve's doing all right, it's Sim we're concerned about now. We're trying one suggestion now with using boxers rather than briefs for bedtime (long story but might help), but we are open to all ideas. I refuse to go backwards into pull-ups, and I'm a little tired of washing sheets (not to mention little boys) every other day or so.

What we do at Lowes =)

How long can you hold a cinnamon bear on your tongue?

Jessie Baby's seventh

Pioneer trek 2009 . . . in all its enthusiasm!

Things I Love About My Yard

Strawberries, white cherries, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries, lettuce, spinach, radishes, strawberries, onions, budding zucchini, tiny pumpkins and grapes, strawberries, blooming tomatoes, peppers, cantaloupe, watermelon . . . and more strawberries! (These things don't quit! We've gotten so tired of picking them that we've missed many along the way.) And don't forget the green plums with all their promise!

And non-edibles -- lilacs, roses, tulips (in season, of course!). Not to mention our young columbine and mystery plant with the red blooms the girls gave me for Mothers Day.

Other perks of our yard: target practice with the BB gun defending our cat's food from cat burglars, wind rustling through the leaves in our monster trees, and a pirate ship and various swings to encourage hours of fun for little ones even when I'm not up for frolicking!

Mount Baby

Okay, so I couldn't resist posting these pictures, courtesy of Jessie, budding photographer extrordinaire. =)

So here you get the view of Mount Baby, both day and sunset pictures (lol!)


And here we have a rather unexpected visitor. I think he ate something that REALLY didn't agree with him. =) Or if you prefer, it could simply be a pregnant Darth Vador . . . at least he's already got the breathing thing down, right?

Summer Snapshots

Where does the time go?

I just realized that there are only 5 weeks left of summer vacation! Where DOES the time go? I guess it's probably time to stop procrastinating and take a close look into what my options are this year in getting the necessary hours/classes/whatnot to be able to renew my teaching license when the next two and a half years are up (and hence my first class 1 teaching license). Part of me really WOULD like to keep my license current and be able to teach later, but part of me is OK with letting it lapse, what with a new baby and all. Hmmm, what to do, what to do? Sometimes it doesn't seem like any big thing to do, but other times I can't stand the idea of taking that much time away from the new little one that'll be here soon. Ah well, I do believe I'd just better talk to the State Office of Education . . . maybe it will turn out the requirements will make my decision a no-brainer. =)