Trials and Tribulations

This is basically why I haven't posted in the last month. I've been SUPER preoccupied trying to put out fires


Replaced all 4 tires on Fusion
Josiah's diet - NO dairy. Not even cooked into other foods. This is crazy:

http://www.godairyfree.org/dairy-free-grocery-shopping-guide/dairy-ingredient-list-2

Labor day weekend in Phoenix
Transmission broke on the Expedition
Back Windshield on Fusion had a rock thrown through it and had to be replaced
Plumbing Strike 1
Plumbing Strike 2 - Woodbadge, Trip to Phoenix, serpentine belt replaced on expedition

October
Colds for me Josiah and Bekah
grill cracked on expedition from random object flying over fence while we're driving
Skunk in the backyard
Back screen door broken from Rebekah literally running into it
bedroom door locking Josiah by himself - and me without a skeleton key
General Conference
Broken computerS (yeah, that's plural)
My birthday - new calling (can't say until I'm sustained next week)
Rebekah's burned her butt by sitting on a slide in the middle of the day
Plumbing Strike 3
Woodbadge part 2, trip to Phoenix, fix breaks on Fusion



I want to write about a lot of this in more detail, and may or may not get to that, but I do want to say that there were some good things in all of that - like General Conference and my birthday! Also, I made some great progress with Daryn's family history and that is always super exciting. Ooo I even discovered a transcription error in the Washinton State Digital Archive and pointed it out to them, and they thanked me for pointing it out and fixed it. Now anyone else looking for those documents will find what they need much faster. :) It made me feel significant, which is something I've actually struggled with lately, so Yay! :)

Annnnnnd that's what's happening at the Wright house these days! Also, ballet and Gymnastics are over again. We're broke so no more classes like that for a while. I'm also not putting her back in Preschool for a few reasons I'll address another time. Hopefully I will get a handle on life and carve out some time to work with her in some workbooks etc to improve her writing abilities.

August

August was *quite* a busy month! Here are some highlights a summary:

The month started with Rebekah's last ballet class of the summer. A class that started with 12 girls only had 5 at the end, but I think it's partly because some of the 5 year olds had started school. One of the moms brought cupcakes to share with everyone. After that, I took the kids to Chick'fil'a. Those lines were CRAZY! But it was a wonderful experience. Everyone was very kind and helpful - I didn't bring the stroller in because I knew it would be crowded, but it was so crowded that I couldn't set Josiah down even for a second. So I put him in a high chair and pushed him around, instead. The people in line behind me were happy to hold my place when I had to help Rebekah to the bathroom and to and from the play area. I ran into several friends, including Tom - a co-worker from my year teaching high school. It was great to see him. I thought it was very interesting that the whole time I was there everyone was so cheerful. Even when they had to start asking people to show receipts so they could fill orders because the computers erased orders that weren't filled quickly enough, no one complained. There were tables with purses sitting unattended, no fear of theft. We were crammed together like sardines, but I did not hear an unkind word the hours I was there. It was pretty awesome. I was happy to have the cupcakes from ballet, because it kept the kids occupied and happy while we waited for our food for over an hour. :)

We went to Phoenix the first weekend of August. My MIL was out of town for a trip to Alaska, so I stayed with my dad at my brother's house (my brother's family was also out of town). It was really nice to have some one-on-one time with my dad, both for me and for my kids! We went to 2 birthday parties for Rebekah's friends and had a blast, and came home that Sunday, to give Daryn Saturday night to work on his final paper for a class he's been working on. We managed to leave just before my mom came into town with my siblings, as they were moving in and getting ready to start school that week. Also, Micaela turned 17! And she's a senior this year! :D Exciting times!

Since Daryn has Friday's off, I've made it a goal to start doing family activities on Friday morning. Aug 10 we went to the zoo, and it was super fun. :) We even got to see the elephants in their swimming hole! I had soccer that night. Saturday Daryn was out and about helping a family in the ward move out, then attending a pool party for the scouts. I went to a Stampin' Up party and visited with some friends WITHOUT children in tow. I really needed that!

Rebekah started preschool Monday Aug 13. It's a 2 hour a day, 2x a week program at the community center near our house. A parent has to stay at the center, but in another room during preschool mainly because it used to be a drop-off program, but commercial day-cares saw it as a threat and tried to shut it down, so asking a parent to stay was their work-around to keep the program (it's free) open. They do it on a raffle system and only take 28 kids - 14 for MW and 14 for T/R. I invited my friend Lindy to bring her son Alex to the preschool and she did, so I have a friend to chat with while I chase Josiah around and keep him out of trouble for 2 hours on Mon and Wed. That Tuesday I went to the zoo with my sister Kati and her 3 youngest. We had a great time - Rebekah LOVES to see her cousins, and while in the past she mostly played with Nate, she and Brelee have become much closer lately- especially after Brelee came and stayed with us over Bekah's birthday!

Wednesday the 15th I had an appointment with my midwife. She was a little concerned that I hadn't gained any weight, but Daryn pointed out that I started soccer right around the time of my previous appointment, and so that probably made a difference.

Family Friday the 17th we went to the splash pad and had a great time. Daryn was happy that even *I* got wet. :) Usually we're there as a family for Bekah's birthday, and I'm entertaining guests etc, so I don't go in (that, and I'm just a stick in the mud :P). But we were playing together as a FAMILY, and we had fun. :) I like our Family Fridays!

The rest of that weekend we did a LOT of work, because we didn't have other plans. We didn't accomplish nearly as much as I wanted, but we got a good amount done and it helped me feel better about the state of our house. It's amazing how quickly things pile up! (I'm still tired pretty much all the time....so getting house work done is very inconsistent.)

Aug 20th my friends started our walking routine again. It was soooo humid that I was thinking I'd wait longer to keep going, but it got better a week later. Tues the 21st I went to the splash pad with my kids and my neighbor Joyce and her daughter to meet a play group from my old ward. It was nice to seem some old friends, but unfortunately Bekah's ballet started up and it conflicts with the play group so we won't be seeing them anytime soon. (BTW, I thought it was funny that 2 weeks in a row I did a family activity with Daryn and then that next Tuesday I went to the same activity with someone else.)

Ammon came down from Utah for a week to see friends and family in AZ before the school year started for him. Poor guy's van broke down on the way, but it didn't keep him from borrowing a car to visit friends and family in Tucson! So we had a nice dinner with him at Kati's house on Wed the 22nd. Apparently he has a girlfriend now. I look forward to hearing more about her, and maybe meeting her sometime! It's 'bout time he started dating. :P (Ammon, if you're reading this, sorry if everyone gives you flack about this. You just had so many girls fawning over you in high school I was surprised you never really dated anyone back then. You're just such a stud!)

The next day I drove to Phoenix to see Brittany who was only in town for one day between leaving Utah and going to NAU. I love my siblings, and I'm glad I got to see most of them this last month! Now if only I could arrange some time to see Amy.... but Idaho is just so far! :(

I sent Daryn to the doctor to get a physical, we got Pebbles in to her vet and we went to an Elder's Quorum party that Friday (and I drove home from Phoenix!) and then left the party early to go to my last soccer game of the season. I felt bad that we had to leave the party because 1) it was at the home of some members who own a custom built house that is just plain incredible and very fun to visit - even for the littlest children. and 2) we were really enjoying our time with people from church in a social setting, which doesn't happen very often (seeing them in the social setting, not the enjoyment part).

In fact, because it doesn't happen often, Lindy and I plotted to make it happen that Saturday morning, before we ever heard about the EQ party. We invited several new couples who had moved into our ward as well as some more established couples with children in primary to a park for fruit and donuts. It was pretty fun, but still a little too hot to be a 'wild' success. We plan on doing another activity soon, though, because we did enjoy getting to know people a bit better.

August 27th found us at the 3 week of preschool, 2nd week of walking in the mornings, and first week of fall ballet and gymnastics! It's funny, actually, because Tuesday is ballet and I thought it was at 9 but it was at 10, so we were there WAY early. Fortunately, the building has a TV with cable so Bekah was very entertained and Josiah took a bit of a nap for me. That afternoon, Lindy 'borrowed' my children because her boys really wanted to play with Bekah, and her youngest, Alexander, has been asking to bring a baby home. So, she figured that since he still counts Josiah as a baby, she'd give me the afternoon off. It was awesome! I got a lot of chores done that had been left undone for a while, including mopping my floors and switching out my skinny clothes for my maternity clothes. Thanks Lindy!

Wednesday the 29th, Rebekah went on her very first field trip! We went to Peter Piper Pizza for a tour that ended with the kids making their own mini-pizza. The kids had a blast. :) Rebekah even found 2 tokens on the ground, so she shared one with Alex and they played a little game and earned a couple tickets before we left.

Thursday the 30th was gymnastics. Rebekah has a different teacher than over the summer. I hope they'll be patient with her creativity of getting stuck in icky-sticky glue 1/2 way across the floor sometimes... or that she realizes that's not the appropriate time to make-believe.

Friday morning we took off for Phoenix, and had lunch with Jen and her family. Her kids are very close in age to mine, so everyone had a fun time, even the dads. :) (I think!) Then we loaned the expedition to my dad so he could have a car with air conditioning on his trip to Utah to get things out of his storage unit, and visited my mom at my brother's house until we went to dinner - Cheesecake Factory with our friend Lyn! :D We REALLY enjoyed catching up with her, and I even got to enjoy some of the conversation because my MIL watched Bekah (who didn't want to come with us) so I only had one baby to care for at the restaurant.

Saturday we went to the temple. We were supposed to meet with my friend Kara, but she didn't show. We did meet with the Romney's and go to lunch with them after. My mom babysat the kids for us. Daryn went home with the Romneys and had a fun bachelor weekend, as far as I can tell. I stayed in Phoenix to wait for my dad to bring back our expedition. I bounced between my MIL's house and my brother's house, and we had fun visiting with family.

The sad/crazy part is that Monday afternoon my dad called to say that our car died near Page, AZ and he needed a tow. :( THAT was not fun news. I stayed in town until Tuesday when my mom drove me home (after driving up there to get my dad and the trailer he'd been towing, b/c the tow truck charged extra to tow it and it's not money any of us had to spend). We stopped at my sister's house in Marana to give her some of the maternity clothes she loaned me that I wasn't going to wear (oh, don't worry, I still have plenty! Kati is so nice to share with me!) and let the kids play for a bit.

Since then I've been trying to clean up my house. It's a never ending cycle! But, I decided it had been too long since I wrote in my 'journal' and unloaded pictures from my camera. Sorry they're not on here, but at least with this text I can match pictures to events when I go to make scrap books.

I don't know exactly what's gonna happen next.... we'll see how much it costs to fix the expedition (my FIL is using his AAA miles to get it towed to Phoenix to a guy he really trusts with his cars). It's going to make budgeting even more challenging, but we'll figure it out! I know that we'll have what we need, because we're doing our best to obey our Heavenly Father, and He blesses those who keep His commandments.

Also, I managed to do all this today because my awesome friend Linday has "borrowed" my children again for the afternoon. She gave Bekah a ride to preschool and then picked Josiah up after at about 12:45. Now my husband's home from work (holiday week he works four 8 hour shifts instead of four 10s because HR won't give him 10 hours of holiday pay or let him use 2 hours of vacation on top of 8 of holiday pay and just work three 10 hour days) and I need to think up what we'll have for dinner! Yay for catching up on things! (I'm also working on sorting Josiah's wardrobe to move him into 18 month clothes. Busy busy!)

Brelee and Birthdays

The last week of July, Daryn asked for Wednesday off because Rebekah was supposed to have her last ballet and gymnastics classes, and that's the class the parents get to come in with the kids and watch them perform. Well, he decided to ask for that Thursday off, too, and turn it into a nice little vacation.

Because ballet was cancelled one week, though, there was a make-up class the first week of Aug, so Daryn didn't get to sit in for ballet. After ballet, we took the kids to the mall (not the one we usually go to) and had a nice picnic lunch that we had packed supplemented with a big Jamba Juice (yum!). After that was gymnastics, which was super cute. And that night, my sister brought over her daughter Brelee, and she stayed with us until Saturday night!

Thursday Daryn played D&D with some friends, and Friday I babysat a friend's daughter, so I had 3 little girls for part of the day. That night we went to soccer and it was cute when Brelee saw her brother with another family (my sister sent the kids to different houses while she drove up to Utah and back for my brother-in-laws bike race). Poor Brelee was SO sad at the end of the game when we had to leave Nathan. She told me she wanted to go to the other family's house. I reassured her that her mom was coming back the next day and she'd see all her brothers then. We also cheered her up with some ice cream, in honor of Bekah's birthday.

Saturday was Bekah's actual birthday. We made French Toast for breakfast, and took the girls to the mall to play. Bekah wanted a big cookie from Mrs. Fields so we got her one that she and Brelee could share. It was only a 5 in diameter cookie but it had tons of frosting and the girls loved it. :)

I feel bad I didn't take more pictures of the girls playing together. For the most part they cycled from the My Little Ponies to the dress ups to playing in the sandbox and back around. We had a great time and Rebekah was VERY sad when she woke up Sunday and Brelee had gone home. We love having my sister and her family so close by - cousins are awesome!

Just Life

(Written Aug 16th)

The afternoon/evening of Bekah's party, Daryn went to Ft. Huachuca to have one last great visit with our friend Merrick, since he's moving to New York. We're going to miss him and Priscilla visiting! We know we'll see them in November for their Vow Renewal, but after that, who knows? Good thing they have plenty of friends in AZ to entice them back during vacation time. (I hope!)

July 15th I taught Sunbeams. I enjoy teaching them. Sometimes I get frustrated with Bekah being so clingy but for the most part their sweet spirits are just awesome to be with, and I can really feel the Spirit when I teach them the simple, beautiful truths we share with such young hearts. It probably helps that I'm pregnant, but I cry pretty much every time I bear them my testimony, even though it's about 3 sentences long.

Monday after swim I dropped the kids off with my friend Michelle - Josiah decided recently that he really likes her, so he doesn't cry and scream for her - and I went to get a sonogram to double check my due date. We are officially due January 29. I'd share the sono pictures, but I haven't scanned them into the computer. On my way home I dropped by to meet the newest Stratton, and that was nice. I love little babies! So cute!

Tuesday was swim, and grocery shopping and a trip to the mall play area with Michelle and her daughter Heather. Wednesday was swim, ballet, a visit with the Strattons for the girls to play together, then gymnastics. Thursday was that crazy rough day I wrote about in my last post. Daryn was invited to go out with friends that night, but he cancelled to stay home with me. He is such a great guy, and knows when I need him! (Most of the time. :P He's not a mind reader!) Later that night, though, he went to Ft Huachuca to help our friends pack up their moving truck. Apparently a few too many people bailed on helping them pack and they weren't going to get it done in a timely manner. Daryn is such a great friend. :D He re-packed some of the truck so it would all fit better, and they even had room left over at the end. Then he headed back home and slept a good deal of the morning before getting his Friday going.

Friday was tough because Daryn went camping with the Scouts and I had an 8:40pm game on the other side of town. Michelle was great to babysit my kids again, but Josiah took a late nap so he was definitely giving everyone trouble. Even though I was bummed, it turned out for the best when we were rained out after 15-20 minutes of playing our game, so I could go and pick up my babies and my friends could get some sleep!

July 22 we went to Binghampton Ward to see the Strattons bless their son, Guage. (Not to be confused with Gage, my friend Tiffany's son!) Then we invited everyone to our place for delicious food and good company. That week we also fed the missionaries, and then we had a fun second half of the week, which deserves it's own post because it has video and photos. :D

Painful

This is my third draft of this post. The first one has screen-caps of the entire conversation taking place on 3 different people's walls as well as in PMs between me and another person. I originally wrote it that way because I wanted you, my readers, to have all the facts and not just hear my take on the situation. But, I want to focus on the incident, not the people involved, and while I DID blot out all names and replace them with a color attributed to each person, I thought that the dissection was a bit much and did not focus on the point I was trying to make. It focused more on how hurt I was. But I want to use this more to make a point. (Which I will explain at the end.)

This week, I was called a bigoted, know-it-all Mormon who lives to cause Facebook drama and a poor thing that needs more attention at home. I cried for hours, mostly because this came from a person I had wanted to be friends with and had greatly respected. Then I couldn't keep from crying in front of my precious daughter, who wanted nothing more than to help Mommy be happy, and it was this stark contrast of her sweet innocence against these cruel words that made me cry even more for the world to which she will eventually be exposed.

I was called this because I dared to defend the religious rights of a man who believes in the sanctity of marriage, and uses money from his profitable business to support programs that provide marriage counseling and oppose homosexual marriages.

IN THE SAME POST, I defended the right of all people to protest that with which they disagree. If you don't like where a business man puts his money, I say good for you for not giving business to that man/company. Way to stick to your principles.

I respect your right to believe differently than I do. I don't believe anyone should feel ashamed of what they believe in. I respect those who stand up for their beliefs in a civilized way, even when those beliefs are contrary to mine.*

(*I'm sure we could debate what is considered civilized, but that's not the point right now.)

In fact, if I choose to express the fact that I disagree, it's because I think highly of you and believe that you will take my opinion in stride, and hopefully civilly discuss with me our differing viewpoints. I don't just go around saying that I disagree to anyone - that would be ridiculous and cause a lot of anger and arguments.

I don't like arguments. I like to debate, to discuss. It is through the civil, calm presentation of facts and evidence that we can work together to understand each other's views (btw, we can understand without agreeing) and find a compromise that benefits the greater good of our society. Without proper debate of the issues, we may overlook important information that might actually change how we feel or act.

If I were a bigot, I would not be interested in listening to the other side. And I would have probably used some offensive names, or said I was happy with the poor treatment of people..... but I did none of this.

Now, for the issue of being a know-it-all............... I have been called this before, but not really since Jr High. Most people, when they take the time to get to know me, realize that I simply love knowledge and freely impart what I know not to be a show-off, but because correct information provides for appropriate debate. You can't discuss an issue properly unless you have your facts straight. In fact, I am very reluctant to discuss a topic until I feel that I have at least a basic understanding of the issue, and even then I will admit if I have not researched it thoroughly. Topics I feel VERY comfortable discussing? Pregnancy, Natural birth, Education, and Freedom of Religion. That last one is very much because my religion is often bashed - sometimes on all sides! (But, that's a different topic.) I honestly mean well when I share information.

The rest of the statement is clearly a personal attack that was completely uncalled for. I am continually amazed that people think this kind of talk is ever appropriate. It says a lot about the society we live in that we can smear someone's name so easily, just because they chose to say something we disagree with.

Please recognize that the point of me talking about this is not to shame the person who called me these things. I've kept this completely anonymous because I want to talk about the INCIDENT, NOT to talk about the person. Overall, I know she can be a very good person with good intentions -like I said at the beginning, I had wanted to be her friend and I respected her. Clearly I hit a sore spot and somehow provoked her anger. In any case, I hope that you, those who read my blog, will take it this incident to heart and recognize your own sore spots and try to respond with a DEBATE, not an ARGUMENT, and respond with FACTS, not ATTACKS. This is particularly pertinent with the Presidential Election coming. I have plenty of friends on both sides of the issues being discussed this year. Please share your ideas with others! Please encourage friendly, civilized debate about important issues. Use appropriate sources, share correct information. Don't go calling names and getting angry that someone disagrees with you.

Rebekah and Cairn's birthday party

Just like every year, my friend Carrie and I combined efforts for our daughters' birthdays and had one big party. This year was AMAZING, and it was mostly due to Carrie's incredible hard work. Seriously - she's awesome. She orchestrated all the decorations, all the food and her family took care of the cakes, too. All I did were some party favors and one of the games.

We held it at the church ballpark like we did last year. We decided it was more intimate than the splash pad and more comfortable for all the adults involved - no strangers, more shade, and MISTERS and FANS in the ramada!

The good/bad news about this year was that Carrie had her baby just days before the party! Thus, she was banned from attending by her entire family. We missed having her there! But her presence was certainly felt by all the awesome stuff she contributed. I'll post pictures later and then narrate the party through them. :)

Cool thing: Bekah had all 4 grandparents at her party. I'm really glad that my parents and Daryn's all took the time out of their day to come down for the party - Bekah was thrilled. Also, that's when Daryn's parents gave us the Expedition. Yay new car!

Timing is Everything

(Written Aug 16)

The second week of July was QUITE eventful! I don't know if I'm complained about Insurance on the blog before, but the insurance claim involving Josiah's birth at the birthing center over a year ago was FINALLY settled, and I only had to pay a fraction of what I've been putting aside, so now I have a nice little nest egg to pay for the next birth! : D (And we have better insurance this time, and I already have saved up more than I had to pay last time, so I think we're all set!) That seriously makes me so excited. I'm really happy that I stuck to my savings plan even when it was tempting to spend the money on other things. Now we're a little ahead, and I can continue to place money aside (but not so aggressively!) for medical emergencies and feel prepared. I can also take a portion of it and save for a few other things. Yay for planning! (And for bills being smaller than expected!)

The same day I got the letter that settled the insurance claim, I went to my first appointment with the midwife and heard my newest baby's heartbeat. I'm measuring exactly where I should, heartbeat was healthy, and everything is going well.

Then, that afternoon, I got a phone call. Daryn had fixed the truck the week before and gotten it to pass emissions so he had listed it on craigslist. The man calling wanted to buy the truck RIGHT THEN. He couldn't wait until Daryn got home from work because it was his birthday and they had reservations at a restaurant with his extended family, and he had to go to bed right after that because he gets up very early for work in the morning, and he needed the truck that next morning to get to work. I chatted with Daryn online to discuss what I should do, but we eventually decided it was okay to sell it to this guy. SO, we sold the truck!

I think part of the reason we managed to sell the truck was that I planned a trip to Phoenix! Haha. I was going to leave Wednesday afternoon, but instead waited for Daryn to finish work because I had to give him a ride there and back. Then I slept at my in-laws.

So here's the thing. I planned my trip to Phoenix to last for 2+ days because my mom was in town. I specifically chose not to tell my girlfriends I was there because I wanted to focus on spending time with my mom. After all, my dad had started his job in Oregon that Monday, and Mom was going to join him with my two youngest siblings in a few weeks; this was the last time I would see her for a LONG time! So I was very excited she was in town and wanted to spend all my time with her.

Except, when I called Thursday morning to ask if Mom was up and ready to visit with me (she was staying at my brother's and helping him with his kids while his wife was on book tour) she said, "Yeah, your father and I are both up."

Wha....?

Well, it turns out that Dad felt strongly about coming to Phoenix, so now he has a job in Phoenix and my family has moved back to town! They'll be staying with my brother for a while, but I'm just so excited that they're back in town! So that was a fun surprise. I did some shopping with my mom that afternoon for a wedding gift and for some odds and ends for Bekah's birthday party.

Friday we spent the morning with my parents, and that afternoon I headed home. I actually invited Jeanette to join me, and she took us up on the offer. :) She came and stayed the night, and went home with Gary the next day after the birthday party. Which, I will put into a different post so I can add pictures someday. :P

Ah, Naptime!

Note: I didn't feel like this was finished, but I just looked at how long it was and that I hadn't published it yet (today is 7/19) and I decided I just needed to throw it up!

So, usually I get this updated while Josiah is napping in the afternoon. (Morning naps are for chores!) Only for the last week or two, Josiah's been trying to switch to one nap a day. IF he takes a morning nap, it's super short. Because of that, I've been having a hard time juggling things. Oh, and I have been needing an afternoon nap, so even if I DO get work done in the morning, instead of writing I've been napping. And I still feel tired all the time! I hope this passes with the first trimester! (ie - soon!)

At Daryn's last WW meeting on June 28, he had re-lost all the weight he'd gained plus a little more. He's quite sure it's because he went swimming once that week. He's been swimming at least once a week since then - maybe even twice. The pool that has space for him to have his own lane is $3/visit and the pool that's overcrowded is $1/visit (wonder why...) but if he's going to go every day we might as well get him a pass to a gym with a pool. I'm hoping to adjust the budget a little more to make that happen. Anyway - Daryn's basically been in the program for 2 months and has lost a little more than 15 lbs. I'm hoping the increased exercise this month will help increase that a great deal and inspire him to focus more on inputting his points every day again. I still feel like this is a good investment for now.

GREAT news! My Dad finally has a job. I am super happy for him and my family. Sad part is, it's even further away than before. They are moving to Coos Bay, Oregon. I just keep telling myself it will be a great place to visit. Better start saving now! I know that they're all sad to be leaving Utah - they had a great ward and great friends there, but we are all happy that Dad finally has work.

Josiah is getting 2 more teeth. Also, he's really good at going out the dog door into the back yard, climbing on and getting into everything. Our kitchen chairs fold up, and boy am I glad that they do! We only set them up when we're actually going to sit on them, or else Josiah is there, trying to crack his skull by climbing up and trying to reach the next highest level of furniture to climb on (table, counter etc). When he goes outside, he'll often look back inside and wait for me to come after him - then he runs away to the sandbox. I'm trying to decide if he's waiting to get my attention so I'll follow and hopefully take the lid off the sandbox, or if he's taunting me. It's quite possibly both.

Rebekah is my little sweetheart. Since Jeanette's visit, she's helped me wash dishes multiple times, and I've been working on giving her more responsibility around the house. She is constantly telling me that she loves me. It makes me so happy! Most of the time she is very obedient, and the tantrums from last summer are not nearly so bad this summer. She does get very dramatic, though. Pretty much any disappointment results in tears - they just don't last nearly long enough to consider it a tantrum. Rebekah loves to help - especially cooking. Also, for the last couple days, she's wanted to cuddle with me a lot. She took a nap in my arms the other day, and last night she was begging for me to sleep in her room. I stayed in her room while I put Josiah to sleep, and then I let her sit in my lap while I watched a TV show. She fell asleep and I put her back in bed. I don't normally do that, but I just felt impressed that she really needed some Mommy time, and I need to make sure that I'm making time to do things with her. She needs to feel loved!

We haven't had ballet for the last 2 weeks, and we didn't have any activities last week (gym, ballet and swim were all on break b/c of the holiday) so today started the 2nd half of summer activities for us. I think Bekah is a little disappointed that she has a new swim teacher. She hung her head and pouted at the beginning of lessons. It looked like she had a good time, but at the end she told me she didn't like the new teacher because she got the rules "wrong." So we had a conversation about how different teachers can have different rules, but the class can still be fun and we can be happy. She seemed okay with that, but I can tell she still wants her old teacher.

I mentioned at the beginning how tired I've been lately. The nausea seems to come and go depending on the day. Of course I have to eat every few hours, but some days are better than others when it comes to feeling better. The last week or two has not been kind on that front (and if gender effects how well my pregnancy goes, I think we're having another boy). In fact, I've had a lot of trouble keeping up on the house work, and it's gotten to a point of being overwhelming. Have you noticed that tempers spark more easily in a dirty home? I have! So, last night I called my visiting teacher and asked if she would be willing to come help me catch up on some chores today. It seriously feels so weird to do that - it makes me feel rather inadequate, but I need to put my family's happiness and well being before my pride. Plus, asking for help just means that next time I'll be that much more determined and motivated to keep my house from getting gross so I can avoid it! At least I hope so. I am SO happy that I have a VT who is so willing to help me with things like this. We didn't start out very close, but I've grown to love and appreciate her for who she is!

A little run down of what's been going on around the house since last I posted:
June 27th was the first Wednesday of no ballet, so Rebekah ended up napping before gymnastics and woke up super cranky. She did NOT want to go!

June 29th I was supposed to go to the midwife but didn't because they had so many babies come that day that they didn't have time for all of their appointments. I got rescheduled for July 10, and even then they had to rearrange some schedules to fit me in! (Since it's the first appointment of this pregnancy, it will last longer than most other appointments.) I also played my first soccer game in 7 months and did much better than I thought, but was definitely sore the rest of the weekend! We tied the game, and Daryn did a great job taking care of the kids AND playing with our nephews and niece while Kati and I were on the field.

Last week was pretty crazy with 4th of July being in the very middle of it! We had a pancake breakfast with the ward, then a BBQ lunch with the Strattons and BBQ dinner and games with the Doucets. It was a BLAST. Then Thursday Daryn had his friend Abe over to help us with the truck, which took way less time than we thought it would, so he called his wife and kid over and we played a game of Shadows Over Camelot. Friday was soccer again - this time up in Marana. The family didn't come with me this time, since it was a 6pm game (super hot out) and Kati's family wasn't going to be there to play with.

The truck.

The Book of Mormon. (Father's Day) Going to the Temple.

I have way more to catch up on than I thought!

Also... I need to post pictures.

A whole jumble of thoughts

It occurs to me that if I would choose a specific topic for every post, I'd always have a title. But since I treat this more like I journal that will be difficult!

Rebekah is doing very well in ballet, gym and swim. We switched to the county pool because they are the only place that offers lessons at 9 am and I am loving the change despite the cost difference. Not only do we now have lessons at a decent time, this teacher seems to be more skilled and knowledgeable in her craft and that makes me very happy! Plus, some of the other women in my ward bring their daughters at the same time so I have friends to talk with.

Daryn's WW has hit a small snag. He's been a bit more lax in tracking food and we as a family have not been as careful about our meal planning, so we've eaten out more or fallen back on quick and less healthy dinner options. So he's gained back some of his weight, but we'll fix that! Yesterday we went to a YMCA for Family Night - it was only $1 to get the whole family in. They have a great kids pool that you can walk straight into and it gradually gets deeper (think beach front - no steps) and that was a great place for me to sit with the kids while Daryn did laps. Then he joined us and we all played together for a while and Rebekah got to show off what she's been doing in swim - she can almost float on her own! - to Daryn, who hasn't seen her at lessons. When we were getting ready to go, Daryn went and did a few more laps on his own. I'm sending him back to the pool tonight, but I think we'll only go as a family once or twice a week. Every night is too much for me right now.

Poor Josiah had a rough weekend. We went to see Brave (great movie!) with some friends and Josiah threw up in the middle of the movie. I thought maybe he had gagged on a piece of a PB M&M I gave him, so we went ahead and took the kids to the park for 30 min after the movie and then proceeded to Golden Corral for a great dinner. Everyone had just gotten situated with their food when Josiah threw up again, and this time he'd only had breastmilk and water. :( Both times he got sick I had to take him into the bathroom, strip off his clothes and then bathe him and wash his clothes in the sink. Thank goodness I had a spare set of clothes in the diaper bag! I just wish I'd has 2 spare sets! So poor little guy had to ride home in just a diaper. I was supposed to start playing soccer again that night, but I didn't go so I could take care of Josiah for the night. Thankfully he didn't throw up again, but he still wasn't feeling great the next day.

Saturday he had a well-child check-up and the poor guy had 4 shots AND a TB test! I'm pretty sure that's what caused his fever late Sat night/early Sun morning, but I didn't want to risk the health of my fellow church -goers on that, so he and I stayed home while Daryn took Bekah to church. I wish I could say I got some extra rest staying home from church, but my poor guy just wanted to be held and nurse the whole time.

Speaking of nursing: I am physically and emotionally ready to wean Josiah. I feel bad, since I nursed Bekah 'til she was almost 2 and I loved it the whole time (okay, well, most of the time!) but being pregnant now, I think it's just too draining on me! We had cut back to just 3 times a day and once at night (morning nap, afternoon nap, bedtime, midnight snack) but since he was sick this weekend now he wants to nurse all the time! Plus, he's starting to change his nap times (I don't keep him on a strict schedule, but he mostly feel into one so I have a rough idea of when he'll want to nap) so I'll try to nurse him and he wont go to sleep so I'll have to nurse him again later to get him to sleep. This has more than doubled the number of times I nurse him! I really wouldn't mind so much if I didn't feel like I need every ounce of energy to just barely get by for the day. I am not getting chores done in a timely manner at all, and it's effecting all of us! :( (Hence the eating out and Daryn not losing weight!) Plus, Josiah's waking up 2-3 times at night again, and that is killing my sleep.

I don't want you to think that I'm miserable. I really am happy! I love my husband - who, BTW, just got a raise at work and an on paper promotion that makes him more eligible to move up in the company - and my kids are such a joy. I feel like I shouldn't even be complaining, because there's nothing really *wrong,* but I'm just so darn tired! And that makes everything take 100x more effort than it should. :p

Right now we have Rebekah's friend over to play. They haven't had a play date in a while, and they're having fun. :) Bekah asks pretty much every day to have a friend come over or go to a friend's house. Sometimes it makes me feel like I'm not doing enough to keep her happy/entertained, but she's really just a very gregarious  and active girl and she LOVES to meet people and play with people - not just Mom and brother.

Brothers. Right, so I feel nauseous EVERY DAY but can't throw up. That's how I felt through almost all of Josiah's pregnancy. So, maybe I'm having a boy! Only time will tell! A consistency with all my pregnancies, though: I crave meat, eggs and cheese like nobody's business! With Bekah I would eat grilled ham and cheese for every meal if I could, and with Josiah I couldn't have enough eggs - usually scrambled, always with cheese and often between two slices of buttered toast. With this pregnancy, I've eaten both in large quantities and I'm really not that far along.

BTW, Rebekah is convinced we are having a girl. When we suggest that maybe it's a boy she either says, "Well maybe it's a girl" or "Maybe we'll have BOTH!" Also, she told us she likes the name Ella. She said this a couple times, but when I tried to reproduce the statement for others, she changed it to Annie. Given a choice between the two, she chose Ella.

A little insert

(Written on August 16th)

First, a few things I wanted to chronicle from June that didn't make it in. Btween June 10th and 26th, some interesting and exciting things happened!

June 15th We took a trip to Phoenix and got in a visit to the temple. It took us a while to get going in the morning, so any thoughts to visit people in the afternoon didn't work out, but we got in our temple visit! We really needed it. My dear friend Tiffany was so sweet to watch the babies for us. Her kids are practically the same age as ours, and they had a fun time together. I LOVE that my friends I've known for so long have kids the same age as mine. It really brings us even closer together.

We also went to a birthday party for another friend's daughter. It was really nice to spend the evening visiting with my Phoenix girlfriends - definitely makes me miss them, though!

After the party, we stopped by and visited with Daryn's mom. Daryn also gave his dad a Father's Day gift. That story, as much as I want to record, will be in my journal, as it was a very special moment for Daryn. We were very happy with the end result. :) Gary called Daryn on Father's Day to thank him for the gift, and the letter that came with it. He also gave us a very generous offer:

So we've been thinking about cars lately. Daryn's truck will not properly fit 3 car seats (especially with one or two rear facing) and while 3 carseats DO fit in the Fusion, it's a pretty crowded fit. I've wanted a mini-van for a while now (perhaps later I'll rant for your about people who don't want mini-vans) but mini-vans don't lose their value! Used, they are still very expensive. I'm convinced it's because almost no one sells their van - it mostly gets used until the van dies. Because of this we were looking at selling the truck and using that money as a down payment and then just having payments on the van. But even then the payments would be pretty big, so I briefly toyed with the idea of selling BOTH our cars to get the van. THAT would have amounted in a reasonable monthly payment, and it would have reduced our car insurance etc. I told Jeanette what we were thinking, and asked that she and Gary help us look for a reasonably priced minivan - they find great deals all the time. So after Gary was done talking Father's Day with Daryn, he asked how much we thought we could get for the truck. Then he told us that if we could get that much, we could turn around and give them that money for their Expedition! Daryn says that since they have around the same mileage, and the Exp is a year older, KBB says they're about the same value, but that truck was SOOOO beat up, and we know the Exp has been very well cared for, so it is definitely a step up! (More on that later.)

So Saturday June 16th, was CRAZY busy! We went fishing with my sister Kati and her kids, then the kids napped and then we went to our friends the Romney's for lunch, and that afternoon we went to Ft Huachuca to visit our friends who couldn't come up the week before. We ended up staying the night and had just a great time. I felt bad that I ducked out early to go to sleep. Priscilla was super sweet and help put Josiah to sleep because I just could not keep my eyes open! I was glad we got to visit with them, because it had been nearly a year since we'd seen Merrick, and they're moving to New York soon. :(

That next week was nice. I changed Rebekah's swim lessons to the Flowing Wells pool so we could go at 9am, and we had a few people from church at the pool with us. We also had our last Investment Club meeting, since our friends the Strattons were moving soon, too. Then there's the weekends I've talked about in previous posts.

A few things to remember

Just a little recap of this last week for my own benefit. Wednesdays classes went okay, but next week I won't let Rebekah choose between the zoo and the mall (I seriously thought she'd pick the mall)! We went to the zoo, and I brought a cooler with us for lunch, but Rebekah wanted to see ALL the animals. Duh, Mom, you can't go to the zoo and only see a couple animals and eat lunch. It didn't help that Rebekah woke up early that day and was ready for a nap before Ballet- her first class! Fortunately, we made it through. The hardest was swim at the end of the day because Rebekah is the youngest in her class and I had to wake her up from a 2 hour nap to get her there (a little late). The older kids splash a lot and are impatient when she's in front of them while they are "monkey crawling" across the wall of the pool. She doesn't move as fast and they push into her. :( Fortunately, her swim coach is a patient and friendly young man who notices the problem and helps Rebekah move away from the offending older child. I think he wants to lecture the kid a little, too, and he makes a short comment, but since classes are only 30 min I understand the need to keep moving and mostly ignore distractions to attempt to keep everyone focused.

Wednesday was also my little brother's 22 birthday! Happy birthday, Ammon. I love you!

Thursday I went grocery shopping. This is kind of funny because it seems like most people have one spouse do the shopping. I did when Daryn and I were first married, but that was forever ago. For a long time, it was kind of the way we went "out" - need to get out of the house? Go grocery shopping together. It's a walk, in an air conditioned building and you can converse while you stroll down the various aisles getting your food. You can also bargain on which treats you will/won't purchase. ;)

And we've done this for 4 years! But now that we're out of school, we don't have nearly as much time together and there are plenty of other things we'd rather do than just got shopping, so I'm working on taking over the shopping again. (Oh, and since Daryn was the cook, he mostly did the shopping and I pushed the cart.) It's interesting to try and figure out how to buy good produce - and not very easy! I'd say that's the hardest part, actually.

The second hardest part is the kids. :) Now, if Bekah had been awake, I think I could have done fine. She'd be old enough to walk, Josiah would go in the cart and we're good to go. But, Rebekah fell asleep in the car. So, I had to put her in the cart and Josiah's carrier on the basket of the cart. This very much limited the amount of space in my cart! I don't think I've stacked so many little boxes and things underneath before, but I managed to get it all in. About the time Rebekah was waking up, Josiah was falling asleep. So that let me finish the shopping in relative peace.

I am thankful for the bag boy who helped me load a second cart, take it all to my car and pack my groceries in my trunk for me. I've never needed that service before, but I imagine I will need it again!

Friday and Saturday were great. Jeanette, my MIL, came down for a visit that we planned over a month ago and the kids LOVE her (and so do I)! Josiah wouldn't let me hold him as long as Jeanette was at our house - unless he wanted to nurse, which was almost never. We went to Chick Fil A for lunch, bought Rebekah some ballet shoes, checked out books at the library, and that night, after Daryn made a delicious Chicken Taco salad, my hubby and I got to go on a much needed date.

We went and saw MIB III. It was so good! I actually had tears in my eyes at the end. Granted, being pregnant, everything makes me cry, but DARYN had tears in his, too. It was great. And thanks to my awesome friend who works at the theatre, we got to go for free. :)

Saturday I made my own liquid laundry soap! I'm not sure it came out right, but we'll see! I've been meaning to do this for a long time. Then, Daryn and I went out again by ourselves to finish up some shopping - wedding gifts and birthday presents. Then we saw our friend Steve for lunch and met his girlfriend - they were down from Utah to go to a wedding reception (I think). Or, maybe that was their excuse to meet each other's families and friends. I think that was the real reason. :) It was nice to see Steve, and his girl seems pretty good for him. I'd really love to see it work out for him this time - he needs a wife!

That afternoon Jeanette headed home while I took a nap, and then we took the kids to a wedding reception for the daughter of a friend from church. Everything was beautiful! I had fun and saw a lot of people I know both from my ward and my sister's ward - because the groom was from my sister's ward. How fun is that? Such a small world. Rebekah really loves the bride, and almost missed the party because she slept the whole time (Nana sure wears her out!) but she woke up long enough to get in a hug and see the bride's pretty Princess dress and invite her to Rebekah's own Princess party next month. (Rebekah is SO excited about her birthday party!) This helped me a TON when Rebekah woke up in the middle of the night, crying about missing the wedding party. I reminded her that she didn't miss it all and that helped her calm down and get back to sleep.

Today has been rather easy going - just how we love our Sundays to be. I taught Sunbeams again today; our lesson was on our nose and mouth and how we can smell and taste, so I got to bring in a lot of food and things for the kids to try. To smell I brought: soap, lotion, vinegar, water, pickles, onions, and a lime. Then the kids got to taste Wheat thins, graham crackers, lime and banana. Only a few kids chose to try the lime. I wish I'd handed them all a piece and had them lick it at the same time, but since I went one by one, only a few brave souls dared to taste it. The rest were warned off by horrible faces! It was pretty adorable.

This afternoon we've watched a movie and Daryn's made our meals. I LOVE that he's still helping with the meals - especially on the weekends. I've been very tired lately - partly from the pregnancy, and partly from Rebekah and Josiah taking turns waking me up, but what's new? Such is the life of a mom! :)

Now, Josiah is playing the "throw things off my tray and say 'uh-oh'" game to get Daryn's attention, so I should go take care of him so Daryn can finish making dinner.

The only bummer this weekend: Our friends were supposed to come up to visit from Ft Huachuca, but he was sick and so they had to cancel our BBQ plans. :( Maybe another week!

This week: I REALLY need to do some laundry!

Video, Picture, Text...

So, I took a fun video of Rebekah the other night. It actually took me a couple tries to capture, but I think we have the best one here.

I originally e-mailed this to mine and Daryn's immediate family. We got a few responses, but then my brother reminded me that not everyone has great downloading/video capabilities. He recommended I just tell the story, too. So I will! I'll give it here in 3 different ways: video, still picture, and then text. :)

And, if you can't watch that, go ahead and take a look at this:

So, here it is: Baby #3 is on the way. :)

It's funny. I took the HPT last Thursday (May 31) and of course we called our moms right away. I wanted to wait to tell anyone else until I'd been to the midwife (June 29) and I wanted to tell family before friends.

The trouble is - I'm not a secret keeper. At all. I was constantly stopping myself from saying anything and it was super annoying. I've had 2 healthy, completely uncomplicated pregnancies. So even though I'm only about 5 weeks along (maybe?) I decided to go ahead and e-mail our families this weekend because I'm probably just going to be telling people who I regularly associate with, and I really did want to tell my family first.

Details? Not much to report yet. I figure I'm due either the end of January or beginning of February. Yes, this baby was planned just like the last two. Daryn and I think about 2 years is a nice space between kids, but I guess now we'll be able to test it out and compare it to the almost 3 years between Bekah and Josiah. So far I'm feeling pretty good. I had a cold a few weeks back, and pregnancy makes my gag reflex more sensitive, so my runny nose really drives me crazy, but I haven't been sick at all (yet). Also, I rarely remember my dreams, but when I'm pregnant I have super crazy dreams that I vaguely remember - at least better than normal ones. Those have already started, much to my amusement. :) Maybe if I remember a plot, I'll share one with you sometime.

First day of swim lessons!

This last weekend we went to Daryn's sister Renee's house  house for a super party. MacKenzie turned 12, Shane graduated from 8th grade and Clinton became a journeyman at work. It was a very fun party and Rebekah loved playing in the pool with Daryn. I feel a little silly for not taking pictures, but oh well. I'm sure Jeanette has some great ones to share with me. :)

After that we high-tailed it back to Tucson for a birthday party for our friend Maggie. She's married to Arjay, who went to classes at NAU distance with Daryn. Funny connection:

I know a guy named Clay from my first year at UA - before he or I were married. Clay married Candice. Candice is Arjay's sister. Also, when Daryn and I moved back to Tucson, we were in a ward with Tania. Tania is Clay's sister. We met all 3 couples independent of one another, but it didn't take long to connect the dots! And now Clay and Candice live in MY sister's ward.

Back to this week, though. The party was great - Arjay make it a surprise party and got a ton of people to come. I'm not surprised because Maggie is such a sweet person. It's a bummer they're pretty far on the other side of town because their daughter Ali is only a few months younger than Rebekah and those two were ADORABLE playing together. Rebekah loves to play and make new friends! Also, their son is just 2 months older than Josiah. It's interesting that having kids the same age gives you so much in common!

Hm - something I didn't talk about when I wrote about Rebekah's classes: When we got to the ballet class and were waiting for the teacher, Rebekah went up to every girl and said, "Hi! I'm Rebekah. What's your name?" and held out her hand to shake theirs. It was precious. Some of the girls answered and shook her hand, but most of them were so shy (this is a class for 3-5 year olds) that they just buried their face in their mom's leg until Rebekah moved on to her next victim/friend. When she'd said hi to everyone, she went back around saying, "I'm a ballerina! Are you a ballerina?" This time she at least got head nods.

Let's see... I've been teaching Sunbeams a few weeks in a row now - I have a partner, but she's out of town. Before she left she offered to teach a couple weeks in a row, and I took her up on it because I was in Phoenix a couple times in that timeframe. Now it's my turn! I have 6 girls and 1 boy if they all come, but we're usually 1 or 2 shy. They're good kids - 2 of them have a few issues, but nothing that can't be handled. For some reason, lately Rebekah will cry and say she doesn't want to go when I talk about church, but she always has a wonderful time when we get there!

The next few weekends are FULL of activities, but we'll see how many I make it to: most of them are in Phoenix, and we're trying to cut back on trips up there - something we are rarely successful at! I know my friends understand if I don't make it to their parties, but I sure do love seeing them!

This evening is Rebekah's first swim lesson. It's 30 minutes long. I'll post some pictures or video later tonight.

I just want to say how excited I am that I've had so much time to catch up today! I've added pictures and videos to past posts, and the kids have been really good! I also cleaned Rebekah's room, got most of the dishes done, I'm working on some laundry, and now I get to go cook dinner.

I have ONE MORE fun post to share. Hopefully it will be up soon because it's a pretty great one. ;)

Practicing different kinds of kicks

Getting in and out of the pool from the wall (practiced on the ladder earlier).

Floating on her back

Thursday Report

Daryn lost 2.6 pounds this week. So he is at a total of 15 lbs lost in the last 6 weeks! I am SO happy he's working on this. He says he doesn't feel very different yet, but I'm sure that will come. He still has a long way to go, but I'm sure he can do it this time. :)

Today we signed Rebekah up for swim lessons. A few things I learned: Even though the Parks and Rec books SAYS Mon-Fri, some pools are closed Mon and some Fri, so the actual classes are only 4 days a week, not 5 like I thought. (Remember, the county pool was 4 days a week.) Jacobs pool DOES give lessons. I thought they didn't. They're closer to me, but they're open T-F. This wouldn't be an issue except neither Jacobs nor Amphi has 9am lessons for beginners, just 930. Since Rebekah's ballet class is at 10 on Wednesdays, I had to go with an evening class: 5-530. I could have done that at Jacobs, but I didn't want her to have a swim lesson Friday evening - since Daryn has that day off, we could leave much earlier in the day if Bekah didn't have swim that night. So, I went with Amphi, which has classes M-R.

Funny enough, I managed to pre-register for sessions 3 and 4 and it turns out Amphi won't offer lessons then! They are hosting a really big tournament or something, so... thank goodness Jacob's pool offers lessons! Hopefully they'll have a time slot available that works better with our schedule later in the summer.

Also, when I invited one of Rebekah's friends to play this week, her dad told me that all she has is swim lessons at 9, so she might be able to come over. Turns out she's going to the county pool. Now I'm feeling like the extra money would have been good (it's still a good deal for 8 lessons!) to spend on taking her to county, getting 9 am classes like I wanted AND having a friend of hers in class with her. Oh well. It's only for 2 weeks and then I can re-assess. (Note to self: call county pool about registration for next session...)

Rebekah was a little upset that we didn't bring our swim suits to the pool, but I reassured her she would get to go swimming plenty in the next few weeks. I hope she likes swim as much as ballet and gym!

Also,  I posted a little status update on facebook that said Josiah knows how to open an Oreo and everyone liked it, so here's a video of my 1 year old opening an Oreo. No one showed him - he just knew how!

Wonderful Wednesday!

Wednesday was a fantastic day! Rebekah had her very first ballet and gymnastics classes. Our day went a little like this:

9:30 leave for Ballet
9:45 arrive! Wait for teacher.
10-11 Ballet!
11:30-1:30 Carrie's house
1:30 leave for gymnastics
2-3 Gymnastics!
3-5 NAP! (whoops)

I was hoping Josiah would sleep during Rebekah's classes, but he slept AFTER them both times. During ballet it wasn't an issue because I had the stroller and he was actually happy just sitting in it the whole time. Gymnastics was different. He wanted to explore!

We went to our friend Carrie's house for lunch, since she so graciously offered her home for us between classes this summer. Rebekah had a fun time, and so did Josiah until he got bit by a very tired and grumpy 2 year old. It was partly my fault that I let him down and didn't keep track of where she was. Whoops! His bruise is just about gone now, and no skin was broken.

The ballet room is a bit small. Ms Didi let us all come in and watch, but for the rest of the summer we will wait out in the hall. Unfortunately, there's no viewing window. If any of the girls have problems, Ms Didi will send them out to Mom until they are ready to come back in.

Gymnastics has a great big room with lots of equipment. Parents sit outside where there are benches and a large window.

For both classes, everyone will be allowed in on the last day of class to see the kids perform. We'll definitely bring the video camera that day! And Daryn's asking for the day off work. :)

Without further ado, Rebekah's ballet and gymnastics pictures!

 

For some reason, my camera wouldn't zoom while I was taping. :(

Memorial Day

Daryn had the day off work, so we had two couples and their children over and we had a barbecue. Then one couple - the Strattons - stayed to play Ticket to Ride with us. That evening Daryn went out with the guys to play some games. It was a great day! 

This year I saw some pictures going around Facebook with things like "Memorial Day: In case you thought it was national BBQ day." And the picture shows a (presumably) widow mourning at a grave in Arlington. I really didn't like that. The sarcasm is not befitting a day that should be filled with good will and gratitude, and yes a little bit of sorrow for those we have lost in the service of our amazing country.

Mainly it upset me because the friends I have in the military are very happy, fun loving people and they would encourage me to take advantage of a day off by celebrating with my family and friends. Especially my friend Mike.

In the fall, Mike died while serving in Afghanistan. We attended a funeral for him October 23, and the outpouring of love and respect what not at all surprising, but very overwhelming. Mike was VERY active in Boy Scouts, and there were troops lining the entrance to the building, all holding flags at attention. There were so many people from school we hadn't seen in a long time. We all reminisced and it was rather beautiful. Daryn was closer to him than I was, but we both enjoyed his sense of humor and his passion for every activity he undertook. He was one amazing Debater, too! So here are a few photos people shared in memory of Michael Elm. He was an amazing young man. 

Rebekah's Summer Plans

Rebekah is growing up! This summer, Rebekah will be taking ballet, gymnastics and swim lessons! I hesitate to admit my cheating here, but I'll be honest. Judge me if you want, I think my reasoning is justified. : p

So, the ballet class is ages 3-5, and the swimming flyer says "about 4 years" for the youngest age group that takes lessons without a parent in the pool. Gymnastics without a parent participating is 4 years old. I can't participate unless I get a babysitter for Josiah, and I don't like getting a babysitter pretty much ever. That being said, Rebekah will be among the younger children of her school year. Her birthday is such that children who are already 4 will be in the same class as her when she starts school - so, kids in these "age 4" classes during the summer are Rebekah's peer group. Her friend Heather who lives down the street had a birthday just 3 weeks ago. Rebekah is definitely just as mature and physically able as Heather, and Heather is old enough for these classes, so I decided that Rebekah is also old enough for these classes. That being said: I fudged her birthday on the papers so that I could get her into these classes.

The city has Swim Lessons set up like this: Daily lessons M-F for 2 week sessions at various pools across the city. Thanks to Tucson Police Department, The Red Cross is offering lessons at city pools for only $2/session! When I registered Rebekah for her classes, though, it was a little late and I could only sign her up for sessions 3 and 4. For sessions 1 and 2 I'm on the "wait list." The tricky part is that none of the sessions are set up by pool; the sign up is for the entire city, and you have to later go to the pool of your choice and sign up directly with them, listing your top 3 pools for where you'd LIKE to have your lessons. I can see how they're trying to share the lessons across the city, but it's also annoying to think I might be asked to go to a pool not near my home. :/ So, since I'm on the wait list for the first two sessions, I just need to go to the pool I want to have lessons at during their walk-in sign up days and get in that way, since there's no promise for who gets what pool. If I can't get her into lessons at the pool I want for the first 2 sessions, I might just take her to the other pool nearby, which is a county pool.

The county pool is offering lessons in 2 week sessions that run M-R, and charging $20. But, it's so close that I feel like I will not actually lose too much money, considering if I don't get in the city pool I want, I'd have to drive pretty far to get to another city pool for lessons!

So, Rebekah's summer schedule will basically be swim M-F (time TBD), and Ballet and Gymnastics on Wednesdays.

Originally, I didn't want to put Ballet and Gym on the same day, but the closest building that offers the classes is pretty far from us. I wanted to cut back on gas, so I needed to only make the drive out there once a week. Ballet is at 10am, and Gym is at 2pm. I wish they were closer together, but I figured that the building is on the same property as a very large park and the Tucson Zoo, so we can have a picnic lunch every Wednesday!

... Yeah, I know it's going to be disgustingly hot. : / This week I'm going to scope out spots and see if there's somewhere indoors we can hang out and eat our lunch. If not, we do have a friend who lives relatively nearby, so we're going to drop in and visit them each week, I think. We'll see how it goes!

Also, I know that Rebekah might be exhausted, so I need to make sure I remember to have the stroller with me so that she can nap in the stroller if need be. It's going to be interesting!

Which brings me to the shopping I talked about in the other post: We bought Rebekah some leotards - short sleeve, one pink and one black. And some footless tights - black and white, I think. I wasn't going to get the tights (it says barefoot or ballet slippers only for Ballet) but decided on the footless ones because I didn't know if she'd be allowed to wear shorts with her leotard - Daryn mentioned that in ballet they need to see their hips pretty well, though that's probably not as crucial for 4 year olds. Honestly, I have no idea what I'm doing when it comes to dance. I probably should have called my friend Ashley before I bought anything! She has 2 of her little girls in dance, and she's a dancer herself. Come to think of it, I have a ton of friends who danced growing up and I totally should have given someone a call. Ah well. I still have a receipt and we'll find out on Wednesday if I made a good decision! :P

I will say, though: We were at Wal-mart and it was clear that the display was specifically for dance classes: They had the leotards (short sleeve, long sleeve and sleeveless), footless and footed tights, simple skirts with a little rosette on the front, slippers... all of it in pink, black and white. I was VERY tempted to get Bekah a skirt, but figured it was unnecessary and shouldn't waste the money - yet. ;)

Rebekah overheard me talking on the phone to get her registered for ballet, and when I got off the phone she asked if it was time to go to her ballet class. So cute! I hope she stays as excited as she is for this summer. I hope it all goes well. She's such a bright girl and I love the joy on her face when she learns new things. I'm looking forward to a fun summer!

Oh, in addition to Rebekah's classes, my friend and I split the cost of purchasing a Zoo Pass for the summer. Since Daryn now has Fridays off, we went to the Zoo as just our family for the first time ever this last month! (Yes I have pictures... to come another night) Anyway, I look forward to planning some fun outings for us on Fridays with Daddy. In fact, I think I need to make a list! Do you have suggestions for us - fun things to do in the Tucson area (or Phoenix area) with toddlers? We will definitely be headed to Brandi Fenton more than once, and Jacob's Park pool is open this summer, I hear that one is fun! Daryn's already talked about going up Mt Lemmon for some picnics. What else shall we do?

This fall: My baby's first soccer season! Daryn and I have talked about this day since before I was ever pregnant. <3

Fun Purchases

After our hard work Friday morning, we did a little shopping in the afternoon and just relaxed that evening. One of our shopping stops was Lowe's for some tools for Daryn. While we were there, I saw a big black floppy hat. Normally I wouldn't be so into it, but when my friend Priscilla helped me pick out my current swim suit, she insisted that it would look best with a pair of overly large sun glasses and a large floppy black hat ala Audrey Hepburn. So, I bought it. I'll be out in the sun a lot this summer (zoo pass, splash pad, etc) so I figured, why not? Also, the sales clerk assured me that it doesn't absorb heat enough to be concerned it would be too hot. We'll see how that holds out.

Oh! So the tools Daryn bought - he's such a resourceful man! He needs something to do during his off time at work, but doesn't want to take a book because he's frequently interrupted (you know, by actual work) and can't immerse himself in the story. So, he's decided to take up rope work again and needed something to act as a needle to pull his nylon ropes through while working with them. He bought aluminum post screws and then altered them by cutting of the end that isn't the screw, and then filing that end down so it's rounded almost to a point (but not at all sharp). He explained to me that the cord gets pinned into the post with the screw piece and that it holds very well. When being used, it looks like this. In fact, the link I just put there is to the website of "the" paracord blogger of the internet. Everyone gets ideas from him and references his stuff, according to Daryn. I'm interested to see Daryn do more work. When we were dating he made me a bracelet out of nylon rope like this, and later a rope "ladder" that had pencils for steps. It is super cute and I still have it. :) He's going to make me and a few of our friends some dice bags, and probably some rope jewelry for Rebekah.

Saturday, we went to the store again partly because I just wanted to get out of the house and partly because we needed to buy Rebekah some leotards! BUT, I will put a separate post up about that exciting news. I'm pretty sure I haven't detailed that yet.

Also on Saturday, Daryn took the truck to get the emissions checked, but things didn't work out. We have a check engine light on because of O2 sensors, and we had hte light turned off but apparently we did it too recently before getting it to emissions because the sensors weren't reset for the test to read anything. So, we have to go back later. I'm so not happy because 2 cars will make this summer MUCH more pleasant (mainly because of the above paragraph I'm going to expand on in another post) and the tags on the truck can't be renewed (they expire this month) until it passes emissions! Cross your fingers everyone - this truck is such a pain in the neck!

Recent Goings On

First things first: Daryn lost 1.6 pounds this week. :) I think if we put in some exercise, we can boost those numbers a little bit more, but he's still losing, and that's what we need.

Last night, Josiah only woke up 3 times, but I was already in bed by the first time he woke up. I'm still trying to get over a cold that I came down with last week, and even though I've been really good about putt Josiah in his own bed lately, I just let him in our bed last night. BEST sleep I've had in weeks, if not longer!

Oh, if I hadn't mentioned it, I took down the crib a few weeks ago. We never used it anyway. I mostly just threw things in it that I didn't want Josiah to get a hold of (Bekah knows how to climb in and out). We have 3 child sized (crib sized) mattresses - 1 on Bekah's Princess bed, 1 from Daryn's sister Renee, and 1 that came with the free wooden toddler bed that Daryn's dad found on craigslist for us.

So for the last 2 months or so, I've been lying on one of those mattresses on the floor with Josiah and getting him to fall asleep, then I just get up and go to bed. When he wakes up at night he just walks or crawls into my room (sometimes crying, sometimes not) and wakes me, and we repeat the process. It's not really that different from when he was in a bassinet when he was very small, and better than when I'd sit on the couch to nurse him in the night, so I am getting plenty of sleep (albeit, not all at once), I like that I can lay down with him. Sometimes I fall asleep before he does, but most of the time I'm able to get back into my bed.

This morning, Rebekah got me up at 6 (pretty typical these days, even though we have "blackout" curtains in their bedroom) and Josiah woke about 30 minutes later. I was very happy that Daryn was up by 7 (he tries to sleep in on his days off and I don't blame him) so we were all up and ready to get working! I let Daryn know I wanted to work outside, so the sooner he was ready to work, the sooner we'd be finished and hopefully we could avoid having it get too hot outside.

So this morning we managed to:
clean up dog dirt, wash the kids table (pigeons pooped on it), wash the kids wagon, empty the water side of the kids water/sand table of sand to put water in it (we make it an all sand table in the winter), move a LARGE chair from the shed to the house, put infant toys in the shed, clean up some camping gear and put it in the shed, dispose of a washing machine, remove all trash from the back yard and break down/throw out cardboard boxes that we've been piling on our porch, and then wash off the back porch

During all of that, Rebekah and Josiah had a blast outside. Since Josiah's only recently learned to walk, it was his first time being allowed to roam freely outside. At first he wanted to follow me and Daryn around everywhere, and he tried to hold our tools - especially the shovel. (When he's inside he's super proud of himself when he gets to carry around the broom.) But eventually I got him to play on the slide and he loved it! He's been down it before, but now he can consciously initiate sliding down by himself. The stairs on it are a little too narrow for him to climb up, so I still have to put him on top, though. We also let the kids play with the sand and water table, so Josiah got soaked and by the end of the work time he was super muddy from running around (and falling down) in our dirt yard! I fell a little bad, I forgot to get a picture of him all dirtied up before I stripped him down and gave him a bath. BUT! I do have pictures of him playing with the shovel.

One of Rebekah's outfits that she put together herself. :)

Hooray sandbox!

Later that day - he was SO tired! :)

WW Cooking Advice

Adding to what I wrote last night, I just want to say that I'm re-learning a lot about cooking! (I did 2 summers of 4H cooking. I swear I used to know a lot about it! But this is what happens when you don't utilize your skills!)

For example, don't just look over the list of ingredients to decide if you can make a meal. Daryn and I really wanted to try out this recipe and bought all the necessary ingredients. Only, I went to make it and discovered I was missing this amazing tool! Granted, I finally decided that I could just put it in my regular blender 2 cups at a time, but that was so much extra work and mess! I resolved to do it anyway, but then I discovered that our potatoes were rotten. Ew. So we have yet to try this meal - we will though!

Lesson: Check for tools as well as ingredients in a recipe!

The other meal I goofed on was this one. SO good! But it called for 1 cup packed basil. Daryn bought dried basil. Guess what, you don't have to pack dried basil. And according to this it looks like you really just don't want to use dried basil for pesto. BUT, in most cases if you're using dry herbs when you're supposed to use fresh, you should cut it in half or in a third.

I didn't.

Oh man, that pesto was gross!

Daryn doused his in marinara sauce and I doused mine in parmesan, so it was edible, but wow, that was quite the cooking error. I DO want to eat it again, though. You know, when it's made the right way. ;)

Lesson: Check for substitution rules.

Weight Watchers

Note: This is the last time I apologize for a long post. Sorry. I'm a talker/writer. It's not like I'm forcing you to read, right? And you know that I love to talk so it's not like I won't tell you all this if you ask me about it. : P

So, Daryn has given me permission to write this blog. Weight loss is a hugely touchy topic for him so I was surprised when he said yes, but that's also encouraging that he's adjusting his feelings on the topic.

Here's the thing: If you know us, you know that Daryn has always been a big guy. Even when he was in great shape, he was still big. Also, when he WAS in great shape from hiking, wrestling, football, rock climbing etc, he didn't worry about what he ate. So, when he stopped being so active, he still had the same eating habits. He also had some other unhealthy habits (drinking, smoking cigars) for a couple of years that added to his unhealthiness. Top it off with being an emotional eater, and he gained weight fast. Anyway, my point is that I love Daryn despite his unhealthy weight. I have never pushed dieting on him because I think his looks are unappealing or embarrassing. I don't think those things. In fact, I've actually done my husband a disservice by not pushing the issue sooner. I didn't want to fight about his weight, because I didn't want to hurt him. I didn't think I had the right words to say to help encourage him to eat healthy. That's the thing though - I DON'T have the right words. But right now I'm learning to ACT the right way.

That's what this post is about. So any of you out there who have a loved one you wish you could help lose weight, I'm with you. Maybe we can help each other - at the very least we can warn each other off of things not to do. Right now I have more don'ts than do's, but hopefully that will change.

Previous Attempts:

When we first got married, the apartments we lived in had an exercise room. I think I drug Daryn there twice. I encouraged him to work on different machines while I ran on the treadmill and tried a few other machines. I'm not terribly comfortable with exercise equipment, but I did what I could. We didn't talk about it much after, but we also didn't work to make time for it in our schedules. Also, I didn't do anything to help change eating habits. We mostly had sandwiches, pizza and hamburger helper. The pizza was most often consumed at 2am when Daryn came home from work, and washed down with a 32 oz root beer. I rarely placed veggies next to the hamburger helper.

Lesson: Working out with a skinnier, healthier person can be discouraging. Also, pizza makes you fat.

After that, we moved to Tucson and focused on school. At some point I decided that I would fight the School battle and wait on the Weight battle. Daryn is a very intelligent man, but school has never been his 'thing' - he is much more a hands on kind of person, not a read a book and write about it kind of person. Besides, I was taking classes and having a baby! I thought about working with him on "losing weight" together after I had our daughter, but that's totally not fair; Moms are designed to lose baby fat and at this point Daryn had been carrying around his extra gut for a couple years.

Lesson: Timing matters. If  weight loss is not MADE a priority, it won't happen.

Daryn's talked about dieting multiple times. I always insisted that if he would eat better and exercise that he could lose the weight. But then I did nothing to aide in either of those categories. Daryn likes to cook (most of the time) and I don't, so cooking duties were almost exclusively his (since we were both in school, I insisted the house chores be broken up too, instead of solely on me) and he cooked what he liked to eat: meat, potatoes, oh and we need a vegetable! Corn. : p Yeah, that was pretty much what we ate. Oh, and pizza. Man, we looooove pizza!

Lesson: Talk is cheap. You must take action!

Daryn attempted attending the gym with friends here and there, but often his friends flaked out on going with him consistently and he just didn't have the will power to get himself to the gym alone.

Lesson: You need to be consistent!

In the most recent years, Daryn started talking about a rather extreme diet that relied on "supplements" and severely restricted calories. I was NOT happy. I did NOT support it and refused to even talk to him about it other than to say no. Well, he went ahead and purchased the supplement and started using it the week I was out of town with our children visiting my parents. He lost more than 10 lbs that week! But the diet was so restrictive! He didn't like 1/2 of the foods he was allowed to eat (fish, mainly, but also vegetables) and so he didn't even eat everything he was supposed to eat. Add to it that I still had to make real food for the rest of the family, and he was dying. One night he told me that generic noodles and tomatoe sauce from a can had NEVER smelled so delicious before! He attempted this diet again once or twice, but one time there was a party we went to that spoiled the diet (you can't really cheat on this one or it messes with the supplement) and the other time the supplement had spoiled and it made him terribly sick. :( I'm pretty sure he gained back almost all the weight he lost while on it. The second and third tries, I really wanted to be supportive, but I just didn't know how to be. Most times I would talk about weight, Daryn felt like I was nagging - which I DO have a tendency of doing - and he'd just shut down. After all, it's not like he LIKES having all that extra weight!

Lesson: Super strict diets can be very hard! Don't just diet - change your habits.

Also - I watch Biggest Loser. Daryn hates that show. I've heard some pretty not cool stuff about what the contestants do behind the scenes, but part of me wondered if it wasn't the kind of extreme action Daryn needed. Maybe not that show, but some kind of place where he could go without the family and focus ONLY on eating right and working out. When Jillian started her spinoff "Losing it with Jillian" I thought how maybe we should look into having a dietitian come to our house and help us change our ways. I also liked the looks of "Extreme Makeover - Weightloss Edition" mainly because it was someone coming to your home and helping you make adjustments over an entire YEAR. (Also, they help with the costs of skin removal surgery after the extreme weight loss, which is something Daryn might need when he's lost all the weight he needs to lose. Hopefully not, but we'll see.) Only, we don't have the money to hire a personal trainer/dietitian, and Daryn certainly did not want to put his weight loss journey on public television. Partly because of the image he felt it would leave of him when it came to future employers, partly for obvious privacy concerns - that and he hates drama!

Lesson: Wishing for an easy fix is not the way to fix things.

Now:

One of my girlfriends recommended Weight Watchers. This was about the time of his 3rd supplement attempt (around the beginning of the year). I gave the recommendation, but left it at that. Previous fights and multiple conversations with friends and family about dieting had told me that I just had to let Daryn decide to change on his own. Around the time he started trying supplements, I was trying to change the way our house eats, since I've taken over the cooking. As I've said before, I'm basically learning to cook and learning to manage a 2 child family at the same time. Not easy! Sure wish I'd realized how bad a cook I was when I first got married instead of 5 years in!

Lesson: Offer options. Support their (good) choices.
Anyway, our eating habits have slowly been improving, but it did little to nothing for Daryn's weight. Then, a couple of months ago (beginning of March?) Daryn said he wanted to join Weight Watchers. I told him I'd do my best to make room in the budget. A month later I told him we could swing it (thank you, tax return!) and he said he would join. Except, the littlest things would get in his way! First, he couldn't decide if he was going to do the in-person or online. He decided to try in person, but the meeting time was a little too early for him to get to on time (and you're supposed to go early to weigh-in). Then his schedule changed! (Yay!) Only, he started booking other activities on Thursday nights! I partly understand why those events happened on a Thursday, but part of me suspects he tried to do it on purpose a little. On April 26, Daryn came home from work at 5 and we didn't have any plans, so at about 5:30 I turned to him and said, "Hey, isn't it time for you to go to a meeting?" He stared at me, and I could tell he was thinking of why he shouldn't go, but he went. :)

Lesson: Encourage good behaviors.


So, he went. He came home with a baggie full of books and pamphlets. I read all of them. Then I talked to him about them. Then I registered him online and talked to him about the online parts of it.

I told my friend. She gave me websites:

http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/03/recipe-index.html
http://pointlessmeals.blogspot.com/
http://www.emilybites.com/p/recipe-index.html

Daryn and I chat online when he's on breaks at work. I gave him the websites and told him to pick meals for us to put into a meal plan. We bought the food and planned it out. He was SO happy that I was being supportive. I was so happy that he was trying again. Plus, my kids need to eat more fruits and vegetables (and so do I) so I figured this was a great way for all of us to eat healthier.

Lesson: Make it a family thing!


So for the first week, Daryn did everything possible to reduce his points and ended up eating less than his allotted point value every day. He was VERY strict with himself. I went out of town for a few days, and after an entire week of being strict, he broke down and spent a day eating all sorts of unhealthy stuff - he still stayed within his points! But the quality of the food was not very nutritious. This was the same day he weighed in, so it was bittersweet. That first week (weigh in on 5/3) he lost 5.4 lbs.

Lesson: Moderation!


Moderation has always been tricky for Daryn. He's very extreme. All or nothing. It's just his personality. But this is something we're working to get a handle on. That weekend I lectured him for eating a bunch of crap and it really hurt his feelings. I don't blame him! He'd been working so hard and I had to focus on the one day he didn't do as well. He went from appreciating my encouragement to resenting my nagging and changed his password on his account so I couldn't watch what he put in his food journal anymore. The food journal is there to help him know when he really blew it, and that mistake was such an obvious one that he hated even thinking about it. He just wanted to move on, and I wasn't letting him do that talking about how he screwed up.

Lesson: Congratulate the success, move past the mistakes.

Since then I haven't been as hands on in helping Daryn with WW. We plan our 2 week dinner menu together and choose meals both from the WW websites and from our favorite meals. He gets enough points each day that he eats mostly things that he likes. The biggest changes are increasing his fruits and veggies and decreasing fats and portion sizes. Now he drinks skim milk (which puts 3 kinds in our fridge: whole for Josiah, 1% for me and Bekah, and skim for Daryn). He eats less bread/cabs, and snacks on carrots and hummus since he's downsized how much he eats for lunch and dinner. We also buy reduced fat cheeses, and  Daryn uses less cheese, dressing, egg yolks and other things that are high in fats. He enjoys a Skinny Cow ice cream sandwich almost every night.

Lesson: Cut the fat and still enjoy some things you love!

After week 2, Daryn missed a meeting (5/10) because it was the only night he could see a friend. He weighed himself, though, and it looked like he'd lost another 5 pounds. :) But when he weighed in on 5/17, he'd lost 5.6 lbs since his last weigh-in. We talked about what changed (the weekend before that weigh-in, he'd done a done of physical labor and we'd expected to see a 10 lbs loss, 5 each week) and Daryn told me that he hadn't really eaten breakfast for the last week. Ah-ha! I'd always told him that he should eat a good breakfast to get his metabolism going, but now we had proof!

Lesson: EAT BREAKFAST!

So, tomorrow is his next weigh-in. I hope to see a good 5 lbs now that he's making sure to eat breakfast again. If not, though, that's okay. Daryn is really committed to this and it's working out well. No "binges" since the first after the one week.

Originally, Daryn was going to attend in-person classes for the first month (there's 3 introductory classes, and then they repeat, but they're taught at the end of the meeting, so the first part is for everyone and the second part is for new people) and then switch to just using the online tools. (It's 1/2 as much that way!) But he's decided now that the in-person meetings are good for him. They weigh him in, and they talk about successes and failures and even though the weigh-ins are confidential, they have a "group weight loss" number that's shared. Daryn likes being a significant part of that number. I think it's also good that he's talking to other people going through (or have gone through) the same trial he's going through. I honestly can't relate. I've never been fat. The closest I've come is pregnancy, but I never even really felt fat. I loved being pregnant, and lost the weight easily. At these meetings, Daryn isn't judged and doesn't FEEL judged. He's getting the support he needs.

He's happier. We're talking about adding some light exercise to this plan. I've tried to get him interested in my spinach smoothies, but he really still doesn't like most fruits or veggies. He's mostly focused on cutting back on fat and portion size, but if he can keep losing weigh that way for now, I'm happy. Maybe when he hits a plateau I'll try to encourage introducing a few new options.

So that's where we're at. Daryn has started blogging about his journey on Weight Watchers. I have permission to remind him once a day to write in his food journal. Perhaps once every couple of days I'll remind him to write on his WW blog, too.

If you have healthy recipes you love, I'd love to hear them! Share websites, too! Daryn is more than happy to try new things. (in fact, I'm terrible at trying new things, so he takes a sick pleasure in making me!)