Detained in the Twilight

Now that I've shocked you all with the unexpected news of the new baby... I suppose I should explain that I haven't died of shock or fallen off the planet. Actually, I received a late birthday gift from my sister the Thursday before last. My sister Julie, bought me the 4-set Twilight series for my birthday, back in August, and they just arrived about a week ago. I started reading them the day they were dropped on my doorstep and I'm still reading...

I've completed the first two and now I'm close to finishing the 3rd. There were a few chapters in New Moon that I had trouble being excited to read, but with that exception, I'm loving the books. Very entertaining and I can agree that it's a addicting series! (Of course, for those of you who haven't read them, I can't discuss why I found a few chapters to be less than interesting, because I don't want to give anything away.) But anyway...I've been so busy reading, that I haven't done much of anything else.

Here's the baby update: I went to the doctor on Tuesday and they confirmed with their own test, that I am in fact pregnant. I suppose that 2 positives most likely don't make a negative. The doctor guessed that I may be due on June 8th. According to the pregnancy calculator, I should be due on June 1st. ---But I'm not really sure I believe either of those dates. So on November 5th I have an ultrasound appointment to date the pregnancy. I'll let you know what the results are.

---I'm trying to get excited about another baby, but it's hard when the last one is 17 months old and still isn't sleeping through the night. We are working on that though. There's been a lot of crying going on and sleep interupted nights in our house the past two days. The crying has just been Versii...I really only cried the day I found out. I'm glad to hear that you're all excited for our new baby! Thanks for the support!

Positive

...That's all I have to say.

Bliss, Until Washed

These little Hershey's Bliss chocolates melt in your mouth and are so tasty...until you forget to check all the pockets in your laundry. The other day I had a lot of laundry to wash. And I'm pretty good about checking pockets, but it appears that I missed one. I opened up the dryer and on the ledge next to the lint trap, I see a still wrapped, very misshapen piece of chocolate. And then panic! Oh nooooo! I started pulling each item out of the dryer one by one. 75% of my laundry had brown chocolate streaks dried to it. Since I had one more load of laundry that had to be done, I threw it into the wash before I started damage control. It took almost an entire wash cycle for me to spray n' wash and scrub each chocolate spot! What a disaster! Bliss, I think not!?

First Camping Trip with Daddy

Here are the boys gathering supplies for their 1st camping trip.



Kaden was soooo excited to go camping! I wanted to cut his hair and he said, "No. You can't cut it until 2 tomorrows, after I go camping."


Kaden at the camp site. According to the campground website, camping season is typically May to Mid-October. But when the boys arrived at the campground in Eagle Creek, it was closed. They closed down most of the campgrounds along the 84 on 9/30. So, Josh decided to camp anyway. The campground they camped at was closed for the season, but they just hiked in and set up camp.

Dinner: Hot dogs cooked on a stick, trail mix and marshmallows. Roasted marshmallows! Yum!

Josh said Versii kept trying to put dirt in the trail mix, and that he ate 3 handfulls of dirt. Extra yum!

Bedtime!





Here are the boys eating powdered donuts at the "butt-crack of dawn" as Josh calls it. That's when Versii decided to get up, he says.

Right: Kaden took this picture of Josh and Versii eating donuts.

Well, the boys had a ton of fun. Kaden just loved it! I think Versii did too. Josh came home really tired. Probably since Versii doesn't sleep through the night and wakes up around 6:30 am. When they're at home, Josh gets to stay in bed and sleep while I take care of the boys. But this morning, he didn't have that option. Of course, the aroma of campfire filled the house, as soon as the boys walked in. Vacations over...time to get back to work...I've got laundry to do.

Vacation at home!

...15 hours and 37 minutes. That's how long Joshua and the boys have been gone. Joshua left at 5 pm, yesterday to take the boys camping for the night. I spent my night on the couch doing sudoku puzzles, watching Extreme Makeover and one of my favorite shows...Clean House. I love Clean House! I admit that I used to turn it on so often, that Kaden used to sing the little jingle..."Who wants a clean house?" --Anyway, I ate a bunch of junk food: popcorn and brownies! Yum! I know, I'm not forgetting about the "beach body quest" --- That's part of why I'm working out. So I can eat all the sugar foods that I love. ---So I was sitting on the couch, in my house, and I was feeling really cold. Then I felt guilty, because I thought, "If I'm cold now, how cold must the boys be?" I called Joshua on the cell and he said they were doing fine. (We did pack hats and gloves for everyone.) And Versii kept trying to put dirt in his dinner...sounds yummy! ---I actually went to be around 9 pm. And without Versii around, I mostly got a good nights rest. I forgot that before the baby, I didn't sleep though the night anyway. I must have woken up 7 or 8 times...and it wasn't because I was worried about the boys. I've been dealing with Versii's sleep issues for so long, that I totally forgot about my own. Oh well! I woke up this morning at 7 am and I felt more rested than I've felt in awhile. So I started my morning with my workout. I love pilates! It feels good to be working out again.

Anyway, I expect that the boys will be home sometime soon and then we'll post about their little camping adventure. Hopefully we'll have some fun pictures.

School Days

Wednesday was National Walk + Bike to school day. We did walk to school and home also. Most days we have been walking to and from school, but when it rains, I like to hop in the car. Anyway, Kaden received a sticker and a "walk+bike" shoe lace. Cool! At least he thought so. And I'm also posting a picture of the latest artwork he brought home.

I don't know if you can read the writing on the picture, so here's the story:

"My story is about a time when I was upside-down in a booby-trap. Some Monsters put me far, far, far away to Monster World. The Monsters took me and my brother. Luckily, we had a key to get out. I unlocked the side to get out because I like my brother."

Where does he come up with this stuff? Kids have such active imaginations.

Progress Report for Jewels...

Ok Jewels...here's a picture of the house. The main part of the driveway in front of the house is complete and the siding is partly done. The inside of the house still looks the same really, except it's a lot cleaner upstairs. I spent hours sweeping and helping to clean it out on Wednesday. I still need to finish the downstairs. The back porch is mostly complete too, although I didn't get a picture of that yet. The framing, plumbing & electrical have now passed inspection, so next we're cleaning up for the insulators. After that, they'll be ready to sheetrock and then the finish work shouldn't be too much longer. We're getting closer!

Monday...Memories

I am a little tardy posting this week's Monday "Morning" Memories. But I think that I've found a good one. Personally, I love this week's memory because a few of my blog readers (my cousins) are in these pictures too. Hope you can enjoy the memory too. These pictures are from June of 1995. I suppose that would make me just a month shy of 16. As for the rest of you who are pictured below, you can do the math yourself.

My cousin, Maryann, and I in the Visitors Center at the Salt Lake Temple. Growing up, she was my best friend. We did every thing together. She's still one of my very best friends. Love you Nan!

Above, left to right: myself (Joy), my cousin's Maryann, and Amy, and sister Julie. You have to admire our outfits. I was in kind of a grunge/baggy clothing phase...which is evident by my big overalls and over sized maroon hoodie.

Left pic: Maryann, Linda, Joy, Amy, Julie and Andrea (correct my if I'm wrong, Andrea or Brittany) And the right pics, top: Brittany, Andrea, Camea, Linda, Amy, Julie, Maret, and Maryann. Bottom: cousins, Paul, Rob, and Maryann. My cousin Paul is wearing his "Mindset" t-shirt. That was the name of his band. I still have their cassette tape. I loved the "sleeping bag" song. Sometimes I miss those days...getting together with the cousins and having such great adventures. I just thought of that one time when that crazy "Guedo" guy came to our family reunion. Does anyone else remember that?

And here are the pictures of Joshua in Utah. His pictures are from the spring of 1997. Pictured above: Joshua's best friend, Ivan and Joshua. Joshua was actually wearing all of Ivan's clothes, possibly his underpants too. You may not know this but Joshua left home when he was 15 and lived with Ivan's family for a year or two, off and on.

...And here's Joshua making peace in Utah.

Project Complete

Ha Ha...2 months after I originally posted that I had a "new project", making a temple dress, the dress is finally complete. I have to admit that I did not work on it for awhile after posting the pattern picture. I really got into gear and started working on it the last two weeks. Most of my time was spent working on it this past week. As you can tell from the patten picture, I made a few changes. I had to add a sleeve, which was the hardest part of the change, since I had to make it myself, then I had to raise the slit in the front to be not so deep, and I had to lengthen the skirt. And then I made a few changes for comfort and practicality: I added gussets under the arms to allow for better movement and I added a little length to the already large pockets. I'm really happy with how it turned out, and just in time too! I'll be wearing it tonight. We're going to the temple tonight, with Mom and Dad and hopefully a few other friends and family. For those of you who are out of town, we're not being sealed yet. Don't worry, you'll all be notified well in advance, so you can plan to be there if you'd like. I'm so excited to be going to the temple with Joshua!

My 3 Guys!

My 3 guys! I love this picture. Josh gave the boys both a piggy back ride, at the same time.