So Lindsay, what have you been doing this week?

Funny you should ask. Not mulch (I mean much) really, just a few things here and there:

Like buying, unloading and spreading fifty-six bags of mulch all by myself!! And Kenny helped me with 20 other bags, too.

Getting rid of the jungle of weeds that were taking over our yard

Washing the van and cleaning the inside too

Re-organizing stuff inside, and some of the garage!

Deep cleaning the entire house

And other physically demanding things that pregnant women love to do in the summer heat!!!

(I need a nap and a really good back massage in the worst way)

But the inside and outside of our house is looking more ready for visitors! No one ever comes to see us so we're really excited. My in-laws will be arriving tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have everything finished by then! We're excited for all the fun things we have planned with them. I will probably be out for a little over a week.
Peace out! :)

Tire Changing

This post is going to be all about Kenny. (Beware of cheese) The one who gets up between 4 and 4:30 every day to work out because he doesn't want to take away from our "family time". He is like the energizer bunny and I'm so glad he has more energy than me these days. This is going to be all about my husband because of this morning. This morning he came home from working out, instead of going straight to work. He walks in to find me sitting on the couch in my pj's getting a little scripture reading in before my kids wake up. "Well hello!" I say, surprised to see him. He responds with, "Wanna learn how to change a tire?" And that makes me fall in love with him all over again. :)

I realized after we were married (and should have realized it before too) that part of the way he shows me he loves me is by semi-insisting that I am not helpless. He makes sure to teach me things that will make me more self-sufficient, and the best part is I get to work right alongside him. So that's what we did this morning even before breakfast, change a tire on his car. And if you asked me how to do it on our van, I could do that too.

I don't think I ever mentioned that he got a guitar for Father's Day. It's fun to watch (and listen) as he learns to play. He always says that he's sorry that it probably sounds so annoying. But really, I never mind. (plus he has to put up with my piano playing)

Tyler and Brynlee are absolutely crazy about him, but probably not as crazy as he is about them. The other day after Brynlee did something cute I said, "and we're going to have another one of these little dolls". Kenny got a big grin on his face and said, "yeah I could definitely handle another one of these!" He loves to be a father and I'm so glad I get to bear his children. Sometimes when I see him with our children it reminds me that they are half me, half him. And then I love him even more.

It's 5:30 a.m.

And I have been laying in bed for over an hour trying to sleep, but no luck.

I woke up a few times to the insane storm we had last night. Oh that storm! I was just sure our house was going to shatter into a million pieces.

I woke up to Brynlee a couple times because sometimes she's a little punk.

I woke up once to Tyler because he had to pee, and he's a bit delirious so I have to help him get out of bed so he doesn't pee everywhere.

I woke up to Kenny's alarm clock 3 times (that darn snooze button!) before he got up, and that was the end of my night.

Did you know birds start chirping at like 5 freaking o'clock?

My head hurts so bad, just like it did last night when I was trying to go to sleep. I hate going to bed and waking up with a headache.

Birds chirping, baby kicking, head pounding.

The more tired I am, the worse my headaches get, the less I'm able to sleep.

And the green grass grows all around all around, and the green grass grows all around.

Why am I having a baby that will let me sleep EVEN LESS?!!!

Other stuff from last week

Monday: supposed to have the missionaries over but Kenny worked late so I just dropped dinner off at their house instead. I selfishly admit that was much easier. Kenny actually ended up working very early and very late mon. and tues. and didn't see the kids until Wed. But that doesn't happen often so I'm not complaining.

Tuesday: My friend Heather went to Girls Camp so we had her kids over for the day. We loved having Payson and Ashlynn play with us, they're all good little buddies. Please don't look at the crappy garage behind them. We'll be re-organizing that this week.

Wednesday: I got to go out to lunch at this really cute little place called Josephine's. It was sort of a "farewell lunch" for Charlene Kraude. The Kraude family has been in our ward for less time than we've been here, and they are moving into a different home, so same stake just new ward. Charlene's been in the Relief Society Presidency with me the whole time I've been there and I just love her. I've never met a woman so in tune with the spirit at all times, and yet so down to earth. I really admire her and look to her as a great example. We'll miss them.

Thursday was the ultrasound. We had fun playing outside for a while that night. Although after like 10-15 min. we were all dripping sweat haha. I love that Brynlee is always pushing her little baby around in the stroller. She'll be a great big sister.

Friday Kenny got off work a little early since he had already put in way more hours than normal. I went to piano lessons, then we went to the Reed's home for dinner. After that we all headed over to the Y and went swimming in their outdoor pool. It was a fun evening swim and we all slept well that night. Kenny and I stayed up late playing Rummikub again. It's usually our Sunday night game but we pulled it out again. I beat him for the first (and probably last) time ever. :)

Sunday was great. We listened to the storm outside all through church! :) Brynlee went to nursery. I stayed with her for the first hour since she's technically not 18 mo. yet. Then I switched with Kenny, and he ended up just leaving her there and she did great! I cannot wait for the next 4 1/2 months where I won't be wrestling with any children after Sacrament Mtg. Right after church we had interviews with the Bishop to renew our temple recommends. We didn't plan ahead very well and had to do it all today since we'll need them for this upcoming weekend. We came home, had lunch, got back in the car and drove the 45 min. to the stake center to get the stake interviews there. We were hoping the kids would sleep on the way home, but they didn't. Whoever had the idea to give kids more energy than their pregnant mother was a bad idea. I'd like to send in a request to have that changed immediately. When we got home, we put on David and Goliath for them and Kenny and I both fell asleep on the couch while they watched that. I made a delicious peach cobbler that night with extra peaches. It made the house smell so good too. The kids went to bed at 7 and we played Rummikub, again. :)

I also read a book last week. I saw the previews for the movie, Eat, Pray, Love with Julia Roberts coming out. I wanted to read it before I saw the movie.

Elizabeth Gilbert is a really good writer, I just had some issues with the whole thing. Aside from her dropping the F bomb several times, and a few suggestive scenes I had to skip through at the end, I did enjoy reading it. I learned a lot about the countries, and cultures she visited. I disagreed with a lot of her ideas about life, religion, and love, though. She has such a modern view of things and I suppose that just doesn't sit right with me. I don't feel like you have to get a divorce and leave your family to go on some personal 1 year voyage just to find God, and figure out who you are. I think it's selfish and ridiculous. It made me appreciate the gospel a lot though, in that we have all the answers that everyone spends so long searching for. I still might write her a letter and send her a copy of the Book of Mormon. :) I'm still excited to see the movie because I love Julia Roberts.

This is Hilarious!!

I can't get this to work full-size! It looks right when I preview it, but when I post it, it all of the sudden cuts off half of it. But look it up on youtube for a good laugh.

Saturday: work hard, play hard

I'm too lazy to catch up our whole week right now, because Saturday's post will be long enough. Here's how it went...

Kenny and I woke up early to start on the weeding. Our plan was to rid our yard of the jungle that is quickly overtaking us. We got up at 6 to go out there. Not only were our kids still sleeping, but it's not quite so hot yet. (This week has been extremely hot! It was in the 90's all week, with a heat index of between 100 and 110!) But we got quite a bit done. I was in and out because of the kids, but they were outside with us quite a bit too. They got so tired from watching us work they had to come in and relax to a movie.

hahaha oh the life of a child; play and rest, play and rest. After lunch, showers, and naps we headed out for the rest of the day.

We drove out to Belleville (40 min. away) to drop off a Book of Mormon to a lady Kenny works with. While there we stopped at Eckerts to pick our own peaches. They drove us out in this wagon, being pulled by a tractor.

I'm not sure if Kenny ate more, or picked more. He was in heaven! They were the juiciest, sweetest peaches I've ever had though. Perfection on a tree! We both talked of having some peach trees in our yard someday.

Tyler was really excited about picking his own fruit. We kept having to remind him to ask us if it was a good one before he picked it. He would have had the bottom half of those trees cleaned off pretty quickly if we didn't watch closely :)

After that we went to Cahokia Mounds. The Visitor's Center was closed, so we just went up Monk's Mound, the biggest one and checked out the area. It was a big city inhabited from between A.D. 700 and 1400, with its peak around A.D. 1050 and 1200. The mounds are still here.

You had to climb a lot of stairs to get to the top. This set below was only half of them.

But there are no mountains to obstruct any view, so you can see forever in all directions. Below you can see downtown St. Louis.

And the cutest little girl too :)

After stopping for dinner and a few groceries, we came home to quickly do baths, scriptures and bed. Then Kenny and I each enjoyed a big bowl of fresh peaches with brown sugar and milk. My favorite :). It was a long, wonderful day.

1:2 (Edited)

This morning we had an ultrasound. Although there are no guarantees, it looks like we are having another GIRL!!! We are all so excited! Of course, we really have never cared with any of our children what gender it is. We're just happy with whatever we get, and how couldn't anyone be? Kids are wonderful :). I will say though, that now we all are excited; Tyler had a hard time accepting that it wasn't a boy. Last night during family prayers, Tyler was saying the prayer, and he said, "please bless the baby in mommy's tummy that it's a boy named Tyler". hahaha and he was more than a little disappointed today in the doctor's office when the lady doing the ultrasound said it was a girl. But I explained that there's no changing anything now, we don't get to pick if it's a boy or a girl, we just love whatever comes. By the end he said, "okay mom, it can be a girl baby. And we can name her Brynlee". He obviously still doesn't see the problem with naming two children the same name. But anyway, we are even more excited for this baby to come now. And the best blessing of all is that she looks perfect and is growing just great! Nothing appears (or feels) like it's wrong so we are just feeling very grateful right now. Just wanted to share our exciting news!!

Edited to add:

I love ultrasounds. I think it's so amazing that we can actually do that--look at and measure each body part to make sure everything's in order. I loved watching my little girl on the screen hold her fist up by her eyes, or suck on her thumb, and kick me, while feeling it simultaneously. I was thinking about how she's all warm, safe and protected in there--like her own little cocoon--waiting for the right time to emerge strong and beautiful.

Also, I've been thinking about the differences for me when I'm pregnant and when I'm not. I'm not just talking about leg cramps, heart burn, weight gain, etc. Although that does all happen. I mean the differences for me emotionally and spiritually. I become a lot more emotional when I'm pregnant. The first time I was an absolute wreck, crying at everything. Poor Kenny, only a month into being married to me, he had no idea (nor did I) that he had married such an emotional basket case. But now it's not just crying at everything, but it's like I'm more...(oh how do I say this without sounding totally cheesy?) tender-hearted and sensitive. Like I feel more compassion and love for people, and I don't judge as harshly, I'm more likely to give them the benefit of the doubt. It's like being pregnant makes me more in tune to those female qualities that God intended women to have. Only problem is I think I'm much too hard-hearted and prideful the rest of the time, so I just notice it extra when I'm pregnant. My hormones kind of force it on me haha. Does anyone else know what I'm talking about? I don't know if this makes any sense, and I'm not very good at writing down what I'm thinking. It never sounds as good as I want it to.

But anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is I enjoy these aspects of being pregnant. 1) that I am that cocoon for my little girl, and I get to take such an active part in the miracle of bringing a spirit to this earth. and 2) I get a glimpse of what I should be like all the time, and it gives me something to want to work towards.

Clothes Changer

This is Brynlee. She is wearing a cowboy hat, no shirt (I'm not sure why, maybe she spilled on it or something), a diaper, her shorts, and Tyler's underwear. She frequently goes over to their dresser and pulls out various clothes for me to change her into. Including Tyler's underwear. She sits down and works so hard to get it on, it's hilarious. I think it's adorable when she wants to wear her raincoat over her pajamas. Or my shoes mixed with whatever outfit she has come up with at that time. Shoes, that's another thing that gets changed multiple times a day. Her water shoes, church shoes, and several pairs of casual shoes make for some fun assortments. I don't mind the clothes and shoes changing so much. I just hate when she finds her swimming suit and throws a fit when we're about to leave somewhere and I can't put it on her.

Tyler was never like this so I think it's so funny. About the underwear...should I take that as a sign and start introducing her to potty training? I just know she would love some girly underwear :)

The Week's Events

Another week has come and gone. We've done some fun stuff this week, with hardly any pictures to show for it.

Monday: I already talked about a while ago, but I forgot to mention Tyler got a bike! He feels like such a big boy with it, and his Spiderman helmet and the horn to go with it! I've recorded him on our video camera, but I need to take a picture of him on it. It's pretty cute. Kenny was smart enough to come up with a way to help him ride it. He was not getting very far before because his feet would just slip off the pedals. So Kenny cut up a jump rope, burned the edges to keep them from fraying, and made a little strap on each pedal for his little tennis shoes to fit in. It solved a big problem :)

Tuesday: I took the kids to reading time at the library and they loved it. I love watching Tyler get so involved and interact so much with those kinds of things. He just really loves books and singing, and to have them combined and with other fun people and kids (not just mom) it's like the best!

That night I went to a relief society Fitness Party! It went really well! We've got 2 big fitness ladies in our ward and one talked to us all about healthier eating. Then we split up in 2 groups. Ann McLean gave us a good butt-whooping with a kick-boxing workout. She's an instructor at the YMCA and she is super tough. The other half talked about strength training and things you can do with physical limitations, etc. After that we all met back up together and ate! Almost everyone that came brought a "healthy dish" and we just had little samples of everyone's stuff. It was great. After that fun activity, about a dozen of us went to the movie theatre and saw the movie Eclipse!! :) That's one not many husbands are willing to go see haha. It was a really fun night.

Wednesday: Not much to report. We relaxed and did stuff at home.

Thursday: I took the kids to the Lewis and Clark State Historic Site that we have not too far from our house. I thought it was really interesting to learn more about it, although I obviously didn't get to do nearly as much reading as I would have liked. My kids are somewhat restless. But it was a fun activity anyway. We met up with Kenny for lunch afterwards since it's right by his work. (Note: Lewis and Clark stayed for a winter at what used to be called Camp Riviere DuBois which is french, and that's why the town where Kenny works is now called Wood River. Pretty cool to think about all the history that occurred right here where we are.)

Friday: I was brave 2 days in a row and decided to take the kids to the Edwardsville Children's Museum that they have. It's just a really old house in the "historic LeClaire" neighborhood and they've fixed it up to be this little children's museum. It was pretty fun, but SUPER packed. There were so so many kids, and it's really not that big of a space, so it was kind of hard to move around after a while. Having gone to the one in Chicago, I wasn't overly impressed with this, but it was still a fun thing for the kids to do.

Funny story: At one point this lady randomly asked me how I dealt with the transition of Brynlee being born, while I had Tyler. She was pregnant with her second child, and so we talked for a few minutes. (She was shocked to discover I was expecting my third! THIRD! I guess that's a big number these days...) She expressed concern over her daughter because she said she was pretty aggressive, especially towards children who were smaller than her. I had to smile to myself because this mom was a pretty big lady, tall and big, and her daughter was the same way. I'm sure there are not many kids bigger than her, that aren't a lot older. Anyway, fast forward 10 minutes or so and our kids ended up playing next to each other again. Her daughter would get too close to Tyler and Brynlee and all of the sudden without any provocation, turn and shove Ty really hard, who fell into Brynlee, and sent them both toppling over. It happened like 3 times, and the poor mom was so mortified, she finally just left. I felt really bad for her. My kids weren't hurt, but the mom was so embarrassed by her daughter. I thought about how before I became a mom I would have probably severely judged her and thought she must be doing something very wrong to have a daughter like that. But now I know better. Kids are kids, and they all come with their own unique challenges. I sure hope she wasn't worried about what we thought or anything; it was obvious she just didn't know what to do about the whole thing, but she was trying.

Saturday: The morning and afternoon was the same old cleaning and yard work, and Kenny's long, early morning bike ride (until he got a flat tire). But that night, we had Cassie Reed come over and babysit our kids while Kenny and I went on a date!!! We drove over to the St. Louis Galleria to go out to eat at The Cheesecake Factory! Neither of us had ever eaten there, but we've heard great things about it, and it did not disappoint! It was so so yummy. Next time, though, we know to only get one entree, and one dessert and just split it. The portions are huge!! Not even Kenny ate more than half of his plate, and he rarely takes home a doggy-bag :). But I will tell you I have never been so excited to come home and have some more of my Chocolate Cake Cheesecake!! It was so stinkin good. I was joking with Kenny about how I was feeling bad about how much money this date would cost on the way over here. Then when we got there and the place was so incredibly packed with a very long wait I said, "it almost makes it easier to spend a lot of money on one meal when you see so many other people doing it". But then we got seated and looked at the menu and I said, never mind--it's not any easier! haha. We obviously don't eat out at nice restaurants very often. I kept calculating how many days of groceries that one meal would cover. Anyway.

Afterwards we drove over to the Fox Theatre to see the very fabulous show...

AAAHHH! It was SOOO good. I absolutely loved it. It was all I could do to stay in my seat and not stand up and sing right along with them. We enjoyed it so much.

Other things about this week: My belly seems to have popped out, and the baby's kicks are getting stronger. I used to think that pregnancy was such a long time. But now I think, "holy cow only 4 more months! That's going to fly by!" I'm very excited for our ultrasound on Thursday.

Kenny and I watched Gone With the Wind this week. It took a few days (wow that movie is long) but we both loved it, even Kenny. We both really like old movies and that one is such a classic. :)

Thanks to Tamaron

Once upon a time, when I was a freshman at BYU-Idaho, I had a roommate named Tamaron Tutt. She was super cute, I was always jealous of her hair, and she was a fabulous artist.

(I would put up a picture of her on here, but I can't figure out how to scan in pictures without making them itty bitty. I am somewhat retarded when it comes to computers...)

Anyway. Tamaron introduced me to some different foods for which I will be forever grateful. The first one is these:

I had only ever had regular before. But these are great, especially with a slice of mozarella cheese on top.

The second thing is this really yummy chocolate ice cream. I thought it was called chocolate silk, Breyers brand, but I can't find it anywhere. But it opened my eyes up to chocolate ice cream--I'm usually a vanilla gal.

The last one is the reason for this post. I bought this today and keep thinking of her. I only buy it like once a year because I have a tendency to devour the bag. It is SO good. Have you ever had it?

A nice change from the regular mountain trail mix.

Thanks to Tamaron I have these in my life. Just thought I'd pay it forward.

I've been sewing

This one I just finished this morning, actually. I never feel more stupid than when I'm sewing clothes, so that's what I'm going to work on for a while now (but you should know this is the only "clothing" project on this post). I made a little sundress for Brynlee. I got the pattern from a book called Weekend Sewing that I ordered off of Amazon. I made it a size 3, thinking I would have plenty of room and hoping she could wear it next year. But it is SO tight to get on over her shoulders. So turns out the pattern is stupid, and the directions were really hard (for me) to follow. I told you, never more stupid than when I'm sewing clothes. But that's why I'm working on it. I attached the bodice incorrectly, so I hurried and made some little frayed rosettes to help hide some of the ugly top-stitching that you can see if you look closely. But anyway, it works just great for Brynlee, and this little girl loves clothes and looking pretty :). The best news is I found the fabric at Jo-Ann's on the 60% off rack. So this dress was less than 5 bucks to make. Usually I claim that sewing is not very economical, it's just a fun hobby. But in this case, it worked great.

This is a book cover with some scrap fabric I had from a quilt I made a couple years ago. I used it on a composition notebook, which is like my "spiritual journal" for personal study, and what I take notes in if I get the chance to at church. It's always fun to have something cute to write in :). Here's the tutorial I used. I also made one for my Gospel Principles manual, it's just not quite finished.

I also did some curtains for the kids' room a while back. I still haven't posted the finished room, because I'm STILL waiting on my quilt to come back. Try not to puke when you look at the walls. If it were my house, it would have been painted before we even moved in. I was able to use some leftover fabric from the quilt, which is why it's kind of a weird-o design that I made up. But it didn't cost me any extra, so that's what we get :)

A reversible nursing cover!! I love it and can't wait to use it :) I never had a cool nursing cover with my first two kids (just regular old blankets) so I'm looking forward to baby #3. Here's the tutorial I used in case you're interested.

Morning Hair

Brynlee wins the award for the best "bed head" every single morning. I love it.

Speaking of hair...I have heard that if you keep trimming your hair that it will grow back thicker and maybe even faster. I believe this for myself, but I'm scared to do it to Bryn. She, of all people, needs thicker and faster-growing hair. But I am so scared that if I cut it, it won't be true. Not only that, but I'm just sure she's going to lose all her curl!! Does anyone know for sure before It try it out and ruin her hair?

4th of July Weekend

(just a warning, this is a very long post with lots of pics.)

SATURDAY, JULY 3RD:

The morning started off great with a mother/daughter tea party! :) It was for Heather and Kirstin's birthdays and it was such a cute idea. Lisa (Bowerman) throws the cutest parties. Everyone was dressed up, there was so much darling and delicious food, and doll houses, etc for all the girls to play with.

I love this picture of Lisa in there playing with all the girls. She is such a great lady, and she just loves kids so much. I can only imagine what a great mom and grandma she is!

The birthday girls. Heather on the left, Kirstin on the right.

All the daughters that were there. Yeah...Brynlee doesn't have any dress-up clothes yet.

Here's everyone that was there!

After the tea party we headed home and gave the kids (and myself) a nap. That evening we headed down to St. Louis for their fireworks show and free concert. We didn't plan very well and ended up getting way over-priced fair food for dinner, but oh well. We ended up running into Rochelle Pearson and her family (thank goodness!) and so we sat with them. Then Terra Reed and her family came too (and Bishop Coleman) so we all had a great time together. It turned out to be a lot more fun than it would have been. It's always fun to be with friends.

Rochelle, me, and Terra under the arch. I love these women.

Jacob Reed, Tyler, and Elijah Pearson are such good buddies.

Thanks to Rochelle for bringing the glow sticks! What a hit that was with the kids!

It was fun to watch the fireworks under the arch! That place was packed! Also, we were a little disappointed because we've heard of all the great bands/singers that have come for the 4th in the past. But this year we had a guy named John Legend, and none of us had ever heard of him, and we weren't really into the music. Except for a few songs where Tyler was showing off all his cool dance moves, but what else is new :).

SUNDAY, THE 4TH!! I personally thought it was pretty neat to have it on a Sunday this year, I don't know why. Church was great, really good testimonies and lessons. I squoze into my favorite dress for probably the last time until after this pregnancy. That evening we did a little family devotional and talked about what Independence Day means, and Kenny did a cute acting out scenario with Tyler being America, and he was England. haha. Tyler really enjoyed the fighting and wars part. At 6:00 we went over to the Ryan's house. Lorren Ryan is the RS Pres, and we just love their family. Their were a lot of people there for a delicious BBQ and game of wiffle ball (even during the rain!); the Kraudes, the Reeds, the Fousts, and of course the Elders. We had a wonderful time! On the way home the Holiday Shores fireworks started and we pulled over for a while and watched those too, until Tyler exclaimed how badly he needed to pee. We heard the rest while reading bedtime stories. It was a great day.

MONDAY JULY 5TH: Kenny had work off!! It was great having him home. We got a lot of things done that I can't do by myself, and mostly just enjoyed being together as a family.

Friday, July 2

I finally got something fun to do outside! We haven't been going outside as much because it's so blasted hot and humid, but hopefully this will keep us cool and in the sun!

(Notice the heavy apple tree in the background? Those branches/apples are so heavy, it looks like it's going to uproot any day now!)