Day 5 (thurs)

Day 5 was awesome.
We went to Gilroy Gardens and played all day long.
Guess who loves roller coasters? My kids, that's who.
I couldn't be more proud.

 Corbin LOVED the little autopia cars.  The best part is that there was NO line, so he rode them several times.  It wasn't easy to get out of that tiny convertible!  After that, we opted for the 1920's ford model t's instead.

 Waiting for the duckie paddle boats.  Notice Corbin sucking down a soda.  He was quick to figure out which family members like to have "juice" on them 24/7 and he warmed up to them quickly.  He pretty much lived on soda, chips, and watermelon for two weeks straight. 

That last picture is my favorite.  I am loving my new camera.  I scored an optical zoom lens camera in the clearance section at walmart for $60 (yep 75% off baby!) and it's great. Those kids were spinning in that tub so fast that you couldn't even make out their faces, but the camera did a great job at capturing the moment perfectly. Brock, Reese, and Steven are all about a year apart from each other in age and they had a lot of fun together.

A big shout out to Auntie, Uncle and cousins who took my kids on roller coasters, since I wasn't able to do it.  Reese loved telling Aaron that she took Jordan on her first roller coaster.  I know Jordan wasn't looking forward to the thrill rides, and I'm glad she bucked up and tried them out for my kids.  Thanks, J!  Watch out, girl.  Next time it's: "you. me. giant dipper. boardwalk!"

Day 4 (wed)

On day 4 I introduced my family to Hootenannies! with blueberry orange compote for breakfast.  My sister's brought fruit and my mom made a bunch of bacon. Huge hit!

Then we went to a local park with a splash pad.

Lunch (did you really think I'd skip the food details?) was a turvacado from Togo's with salt and vinegar chips.  It was incredible and really made me miss that place.

We spent afternoon/evening at the Hollister Farmer's market, where I discovered that if you don't speak spanish, you can't buy anything. It was a bit of a culture shock to have no one able to answer my questions about the produce, and not have the slightest what half of the food for sale in the tents were!  Corbin ate about 2lbs of strawberries and Quincy ate her weight in peaches.  I ate a churro....or two.

I just had to take a picture of the farmers market, because it was so crazy crowded and congested with people (haha...just like the rest of California).  The one exception to the food tents all being in spanish was the one with the really stinky guy in a turban selling lamb kabobs.  The food looked really really good, but I couldn't get close enough to the booth without getting sick from the funky smell so we moved on.   My family had been the week before to the farmer's market and knew it would be total shock for me to not see a bunch of hippies walking around in tevas and carrying reusable shopping bags or homely looking farmers with fresh cheeses and eggs, like the farmer's markets in Arkanas.  Haha! They were right and had a good laugh at my and my kids' reactions to everything.  There were paletas and some colorful puffed rice pinwheel things that they fry, and cover with fruit syrups, and every kind of frozen drink with chunks of fruit in it that you could imagine.  I can't remember the names of all the things they had available, but it was just totally foreign to me to be able to order a rice and beans plate with enchiladas or asada tacos at the farmers market food trucks, instead of a funnel cake or corn dog or a fancy crepe.

We also picked up some pepper and squash plants and later I helped my mom plant them in the fancy new garden box that my dad built for her.  It was a fun day.  HolleeAnn and I made a late night Target run and got my It'sIt fix, only to talk to Aaron on the phone and discover he had never had an It'sIt before. What the heck?  I thought everyone from California knew what they were, but apparently it is a Bay Area thing.   I seriously think I lived on cup of noodle soup and It'sIt's in jr. high school.  Intoducing him became to the world's best ice cream sandwich became a top priority for when he arrived a few days later.  Yum!

Don't you DARE say "bed rest!"

Was exactly what I said to my doctor at my appointment yesterday when he told me I'm already dilated to 1cm at only 28.5 weeks along. 

He promised he wouldn't say bed rest, but that's where I'll end up if I've progressed at all when I go back in a couple weeks.  I always have Braxton Hicks pretty early on, but they've been a little out of control lately.  He said that if I have more than 4 in an hour (which happens all the time) then I need to sit until they stop or slow to one or two an hour.  But if I have 6 contractions in an hour, then I need to sit and spend the next 24 hours on bed rest. Any more than 6, then I have to go to the hospital.  

So I did what any rational woman would do and scheduled for my cleaning ladies to come back. Hey, last time they were here was 3 months ago, and I promised myself a quarterly housekeeper until after the baby comes, so that's right on schedule.

I really am taking it pretty easy. We only left the house today to go grocery shopping, and other than that, all I did today was put away our suitcases, launder all the bedsheets, and sit on the sofa reading 1000 animal books to Corbin while the girls cleaned the bathrooms and had a wild dance party on a makeshift stage in their bedroom.

Anyway, the baby is measuring perfectly and sounds great. Blood tests revealed that I'm anemic again, which explains why I feel lightheaded and have crazy restless legs, but aside from that and the occasional pukey time (Let's just say I left my mark a few choice places in California) I'm feeling ok and am just excited that our baby boy will finally be joining our family!  

My doctor thinks that he will be here super early, but that he'll come on his own and be totally healthy so we don't really need to worry, we just need to make it another 6 weeks.

"Excuse me?  Uh, did you just say six weeks? Like s-i-x?" I replied, wide eyed.  I feel like baby will come early, just like my others have, but I was thinking maybe 2 weeks early...not 6 weeks early! 

He said that after 35 weeks if I go into labor, they won't do anything to stop it, because the baby is already a healthy size by then and everything will be fine. 

Fine except for the little fishing trip Aaron scheduled for the first weekend in August....just 4 weeks before I'm due.  If my dr thinks 6 weeks from now is a possibility, then 8 is even more likely!  I have a feeling I'll pretty much panic when he leaves town and sit with my feet up and legs crossed until he is home again!  For the record, I love that Aaron is taking a trip, btw. He never does anything for himself and he deserves a vacation from responsibility where he can just relax and enjoy doing something he loves with his dad and brothers.  I totally support him going...just a little nervous about the timing, now.

So things are progressing a little more quickly than expected, but our baby guy is healthy, well cared for and definitely well fed.  I'll post another update in a few weeks.  We had planned on taking a mini road trip with the kids somewhere for the 4th of July/our anniversary weekend, but we aren't so sure now.  We've definitely ruled out the gulf coast idea, and flying was always out of the question, but Dr. Hannah thinks it's fine to drive somewhere as long as it isn't more than 4 or 5 hours away, and if I'm not contracting, of course.  I'm always contracting, so unless that eases up in the next week, we'll most likely stick around or go someplace pretty close.

Day 3 (tues)

-Casa de Fruita

-the two story carousel

 -the train ride

 -the monkey bars

 -trying to hold the peacock

 -sluicing for gems

-Garrett's 8th grade graduation

-graduation celebration dinner with the family at Maverick's
-post dinnertime fun at USA Sport gymnastics (Melinda and Mark's gym)

-learning tricks on the rings

-and for your enjoyment: a short video clip where I prove to my sister that I can still hula hoop like a champ, even with a massive baby bump.

This is where you can thank me for your invite to view my private blog...'cuz there is no way I would ever post this on a public forum.
Grab a coke and enjoy the show. You're welcome. 

Day 1 and Day 2 (sun and mon)

Day 1 in Ca was a lazy Sunday.  After a disastrous series of gate changes and several hours of flight delays in Dallas, we finally arrived at my parents' house in Hollister at 3:30 in the morning (that's 5:30am our time).  I let everyone sleep in as late as they wanted and we spent the rest of the day just hanging around, visiting with my family and relaxing.

A few highlights:

-family BBQ dinner with Amy, HolleeAnn, and Mark's families.

-eating amazing ribs and tri tip from Uncle Mark's awesome new pellet smoker (I totally want a smoker now)

-Reading Heaven is Here by Stephanie Nielson while the kids played and played and played

-Grandma's broken toe (that one was a lowlight) 

 -playing on grandpa's "ipaddy"

-Grandma's toy closet

-presents from auntie

-reading Stuart Little together

-following a map to walk to auntie's new house

 -playing with Jordan

-an afternoon in auntie's magical playroom/classroom

 -my dad's face

 -story time with Auntie HolleeAnn

 -the long awaited reunion with Coco the wonder dog

-Super Taq aka the best tacos ever made. No contest.

 -evidence of satisfied bellies. Yum. I miss those tacos and green sauce already.

-watching Zachary kill it at the championship game. He hit a home run over the fence, pitched, got the game ball, and his team won the championship!  

 -wearing jackets and blankets because it was coooooold! 

 -The concession stand at the ballpark.  Why?  Well because baseball concessions in Ca aren't limited to hot dogs and popcorn.  Noooo....this place was decked out with churros and tacos! Yes, please! 

-the play horses at grandmas and Corbin's new bag of toy story "guys".  

Digging for Gold

Yukon Gold!

The kids and I put on our garden boots and gloves at 7am this morning and headed out to attack our forest/garden.  We did not beat the heat, but working early certainly helped.  We set a timer for 2 hours and took a break to drink water, sit, and cool off every 30 minutes. Then we got back to work and pulled weeds, tore out the flowery remains from the spring vegetables that are done harvesting (the broccoli was 4 ft tall...oopsie!) and picked peppers, squash, and cucumber after cucumber after cucumber.

38 cucumbers, actually. And there are dozens more that will be ready in a week.  We will be making pickles, this week! 

This picture is ONLY what we harvested today.  There is more out there...a lot more. But we were tired and hot, and tired. and tired...

The fridge is already full of zucchini and yellow squash and the first few tomatoes, but we'll add a few dozen more. Who wants to bake me some zucchini bread? Come get some squash!

Corbin ran around with a zucchini in each hand and called everything "corn".

Quincy had the dirty job of wading through the squash plants with me. It "itched" her legs but she surprised me and toughed it out, and helped the most with the picking.

Reese hauled 3 wheelbarrow loads (with help) of weeds and dead plants to the compost pile.

We also harvested a few more tomatoes, carrots and onions, blackberries, jalapenos, 20 giant green bell peppers, and a plethora of beets, but the most fun was the potatoes.

"We're on a treasure hunt..." I told the children, and gave each of them a shovel.

They dove into the dirt and squealed everytime they hit something!
"It's a giant one!" "It's buried!" "Help me catch this one!" 

We dug up 17 lbs of beautiful yukon gold poatoes! 
I think I need to dice up these bad boys, add some peppers and onions, and freeze a few batches of home fries. I'll add ham and eggs and homemade cheddar later. Nothing like an OD's kitchen sink for breakfast. 

The week is off to a great start.
This morning was totally worth the cold shower I had to take to cool off.
I'm off to eat a popsicle and take a nap.

Baby Got Back!

I'm home.  Did ya miss me? (eh...don't answer that).  I have loads of catching up to do and no energy to do any of it.  Hopefully, I'll be back to blogging regularly soon. 

Let's talk about church, today, for a minute.
Do you know how many people pointed out how big I've gotten "in just two weeks"?  A lot.

California tacos were good to me, friends.

Some of my favorites from church today were how I've "blossomed", "popped out", "grown a whole baby in two weeks", and "brought back a melon with me from my trip". Of course, no one meant to be mean, but it did get a little old by the end of the 2nd hour and I wanted to hide and/or burn my dress (I'd eat the watermelon first, of course).  I am thrilled to be pregnant, but 10-12 more weeks of commentary on nothing but my girth and due date?  I might wear earplugs next week.
Friends beware: to the next person who says, "look how much you've grown over the last two weeks!" I plan on replying with, "I know! You too!" and I'm gonna give your belly a lil' jiggle, too.
We had a super great vacation in Ca.  The girls haven't stopped crying for Grandma's house and their cousins and aunties and Coco and it is sickeningly hot here, but I am still really happy to be home.  I love visits with my family, staying up late talking, laughing, eating good food, and watching countless skits the kids put together.  But there is just nothing like sleeping in your own bed and living your normal routine.  I missed my little home and totally welcomed back cooking dinner for my family, putting laundry away, bathing my babies, and our bedtime routine.  It was great to be away, but just as great to come home.  Sign of a perfect vacation?  I think so. Also, in spite of the humidity, my hair was totally good to me, this morning, and that's always a welcome surprise.

Another great surprise to come home to? A freshly mopped kitchen, clean dishes, a vacuumed living room and groceries in my fridge (complete with a fresh batch of frog eye salad and a carton ice cream in the freezer).  Thanks, Kasey!  We rolled in at midnight after 13 hours of traveling and the last thing on my mind was the fact that the fridge would be totally empty in the morning.  Kasey had us stocked with the basics, and as an additional surprise, the top shelf was full of veggies and eggs from our yard----which she took care of while we were away.  Coming home from a long trip has never been easier. It takes a good friend to know how happy it would make me to come home to a clean house after preparing myself mentally for visual evidence of Aaron living up the bachelor life in it for a week. You win a gold star for friend of the year!

Anyway, I have 1,000 (literally) pictures to go through, 5 suitcases to unpack, and 3 children suffering miserably from PVLDS (post vacation let down syndrome).  Sooo the blog will have to wait a few more days while I come up with some big fun for the children and wait for my ankles to return to normal size...or return at all....right now, they are hiding underneath a layer of puff that won't fit into the cute shoes I bought in Santa Cruz last week.  

But I just couldn't let today go by without expressing appreciation for Aaron, because he's pretty much the greatest thing that ever happened to me.  My children are dang lucky and even though they don't need me to tell them what an awesome father they have, I'm posting it anyway.  Children: you have yourselves one excellent daddy.  He is present, patient, kind, fun, compassionate, hard working, thoughtful, spontaneous, calm, funny, and most importantly, he loves the crap out of you kids.  I couldn't have asked for a better man to raise a family with.  Throw in his beautiful face to make up half of the dna of our offspring and we scored ourselves some ridiculously good looking kids.  Bonus!  

The children made glittery cards for Aaron and fixed him breakfast in bed.  He is enjoying a bike rack that he picked out for the van, and we surprised him and had his BYU diploma matted and framed (finally) for him.  
Aaron, we treasure you and are grateful for the way you love, guide, and provide for our family.
Happy Father's Day to you, and to Grandpa Hal and Grandpa Rob!  We love and appreciate you all!