A little more uncertainty

I was recently given a new route for visiting teaching. Well, seeing as the month is nearing to an end, I decided I had better get on the ball and do my visiting teaching. Today I was visiting with this sister who has lived in the area for over 30 years, and I have been in the local area for about 9 months, she asked me how I liked my doctor. I had to think about that for a minute. My response was, "I don't know".

I started seeing the most sought out doctor in the area (at least it seems to be that way, everyone I talk to goes to this doctor), the one that at least half my ward sees and recommends. I have been seeing him since the very beginning of my pregnancy and he has been a fantastic doctor. His bedside manner is wonderful, I have learned things about pregnancy that in all my previous pregnancies I never learned. I was very confident about him as a doctor and excited that I found such a wonderful doctor. Then the practice went and hired a midwife. This was very exciting since I want to have this baby without an epidural. But after having my last baby without an epidural and it was a very challenging experience, I am very aware that having a midwife to coach me through the intense labor could be very helpful. So, I switched to the midwife last month. I was excited about this decision. I would still deliver at the hospital, just with the help I felt I would be needing.

Two weeks ago I received a letter in the mail stating that the doctor that I liked so much would be leaving the practice and moving out-of-town. Last week I found out that the midwife was not approved to deliver at the hospital, at least not yet. Now I'm without a doctor. I can still see another doctor in the practice, but it leaves me starting all over again. Why is this such a big deal to me? Good question. Everyone else seems to be fine with a new doctor. Why can't I be fine with this?

I guess it is just a little more uncertainty to add to my list . . .

Apostle Song

This video was sent to me in an email. My kiddos really enjoyed watching it . . .

Baptism Journals

A few weeks after I moved to my new house I was called to be a counselor in the Primary in my ward. For those of you who have no idea what I just said, I was asked to serve with the children in my church. In some wards (churches) this may not be a big deal, but in my ward it is huge. Usually there is only a president and two counselors and a secretary. In my ward the president was allowed to have a third counselor, which was well needed. To give you an idea, back in January the statistics for my ward were 42% of my ward was under the age of 18 years. At that time there were 44 children under the age of 18 months! By December, our nursery will have 50 children. Our Primary is quite big. We have around 100-120 children that attend Primary each Sunday, most of them in junior primary. We have the most wonderful primary I have ever seen. I feel like we are a "Provo" away from Utah. We are kind of like a little bit older BYU ward.

So to the point of my title. This year we are having 12 children baptized. This is such an exciting time and a wonderful experience. As a Presidency, we wanted to do something for each of the children (and still stay within our budget) to help this experience be memorable for them. I made this baptism journal for the CTR 8 class this year. It took a lot of time and I had help. Thanks to Becky and Jana for catching my mistakes and offering ideas and to Malcolm for doing the binding cost effectively (free). At the end of each journal is about 50 blank, lined pages that we pass around at the baptism for people to write a message. The remainder of the pages are for the child to use as a journal.

Anyway, it was a big project, with left margins and right margins, double sided pages, and way too much thinking, but I was pleased with the results. I ended up making 30 of them. Taneal won't be baptized until June, but she really likes the journal and the children that have so far received the journal have enjoyed them, too.

Home Depot Saturdays

The Home Depot here does a free children's "make and take" project one Saturday a month. It is a very fun activity for the kiddos. This month Evan got the kids up and called Becky (sister-in-law) to see if the cousins wanted to go to Home Depot with my kids. Of course Tyler and Audrey were happy to go and avoid shopping with their mom and brother. Evan left Spencer at home with me and he took Danielle, Camie, Taneal, Audrey, and Tyler all to Home Depot for a fun activity. They were able to make flower/planter boxes. So, after they hammered away, they went to the garden section and bought potting soil and flowers. They came home and helped Evan plant their flowers in their newly constructed flower boxes. It was a very fun activity. Go Dad!

And the results are . . .

Can you tell what we are having from the first picture?


The second picture is a profile picture and gives no indication to what we are having.

As Evan and I were walking into the doctors office for the ultrasound, I asked Evan what he thought we were having. He said he was sure we were having a girl. Deep down I knew that, too. We are so good at having girls, why we would we have another boy? And look at how cute our girls turn out! We really are good at it. So, when the ultrasound tech showed a picture of the baby's abdomen and was measuring it, I thought I saw something down lower. Evan thought he saw it too, but I didn't remember seeing such detail on Spencer. Then, the tech announced that we were having a BOY!!! I asked her how certain she was and she said she was very certain that it was a boy. Check out the first picture and see if you can see what we saw. We are so excited. A girl would have been great, too, but I am so happy that Spencer will be getting a brother instead of another sister that will convince him he needs his nails painted and lipstick!

A Bride Most Begrudging

No, I'm not talking about me. I've been married twelve years! The girls in my neighborhood recently read this book for book club, and I finally got around to reading it, only a month or two too late! I started reading in in car-pool line Friday afternoon and I finished it last night (Saturday). It was very entertaining and clean. If you are looking for a good read, try this one.

Here is a brief overview of the beginning of the book:

In Deanne Gist’s debut novel, A Bride Most Begrudging, the reader is transported to 1643 and follows the path of Lady Constance Morrow who, in the beginning of the novel, is attempting to say farewell to an uncle who is to be deported for loyalties to the King. England is in the beginning grip of the Civil War, and royalist sentiments are squelched with ferocious authority. But before Constance is able to leave the ship, she is abducted by the captain, a practice not uncommon in the day, and is forced to become a “tobacco bride” - a woman sold to a male colonist as a bride for 150 pounds of tobacco.

yummmmmy . . . .

The Humphery's family has had us over for dinner for Hawaiian Haystacks and Taneal could not stop talking about how wonderful they were and wouldn't it be great if I could make Hawaiian Haystacks the same way. Of course Taneal quickly threw in that mine were good, but the Humpherys' were so, so, so good. I finally got the recipe and tonight we are having the famous Hawaiian Haystacks for supper. Hopefully Taneal won't be disappointed!

Hawaiian Haystacks
6 tbsp butter
6 tbsp flour
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk
2 tsp curry
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp lemon juice

In saucepan melt butter. Add flour and stir-will be lumpy. Quickly add milk and chicken broth and then rest of ingredients. Stir with whisk over medium heat until it thickens. Add shredded or chopped chicken (2-4 breasts). Serve over rice with any toppings you like- tomatoes, celery, cucumber, olives, onions, green pepper, chow mien noodles, cheese, pineapple, mandarin oranges!

Spencer Talking

Spencer is taking his own sweet time in talking, but finally coming around. He says too many words to list, and communicates with me very well. He repeats anything, and is so much fun to hear. He knows a lot of names and says them very well. In our family, he pronounces his sister's names a little different, leaving off the first consonant, only because he learned our names when he was first learning to talk. He can say those sounds, but he calls us what he has been calling us since the beginning and refuses to conform. Check out the video of him saying our names. The one that is the most hilarious is Camie's name. He can say "cat" and "cow" with the "c", but when it comes to saying "Camie" with a "c", he just won't do it. He is so funny!

Is it a girl or a boy?

I am having my ultrasound next Tuesday, April 8th. Hopefully we will find out what we are having. I have been wrong with all my other babies 100% of the time. We did not find out with Camie what we were having, but I was sure she was a boy. Wrong on that one. I have a feeling I am having a girl, but that could just be I am so used to having girls. I really would like a boy because I would love for Spencer to have a brother. What do you think? Take the pole to the right and lets see what everyone thinks!

Bonnie and Grammy came to visit

Bonnie came to visit with my mom. Bonnie is a nurse in Las Vegas. It had been about a year since I had seen her. It was fun to have them come visit. THe kiddos really enjoyed their visit, too. Bonnie was as beautiful as always!



We went to a party place that had an all-you-can-eat buffet, which included all the ice cream you wanted. The kiddos loved the food and had a great time on all the indoor activities. Taneal rode the indoor roller-coasted and did not like it at all. She didn't realize it, but she was so scared she started crying. After she got off, she didn't realize she had been crying. I felt so bad I had talked her into riding it.

Bonnie did not want to kiss Spencer. But how do you resist a cute little boy that comes puckered and ready for a kiss?

Easter

We didn't do Easter in quite the right order. We did celebrate Easter on Sunday, we did have a Family Home Evening lesson about Easter prior to Sunday, and we boiled the eggs and bought the coloring kit, but didn't color the eggs until Tuesday after Easter. The kids had a great time, loved coloring the eggs, and absolutely loved wearing the Easter dresses that Grammy (my mom) made for them.

Spring School Pictures

Taneal and Camie brought these pictures home from school yesterday. Wow! They are growing up!

The Bluebonnets

All growing up I remember my mom taking us out in the spring and getting pictures in the fields of bluebonnets. Last year was my first time to see the bluebonnets in full bloom and have children of my own. I was so disappointed when it was too cold to get the pictures. I promised myself that the following year I would not let that opportunity slip past. It was also funny to me that I cared so much about it. Well, this year we were invited to Troy and Becky's ranch which is out where all the bluebonnets are in bloom. I packed up the girl's Easter dresses (thanks to my mom for making them) and we headed out. I was able to finally get the bluebonnet pictures of my children! Of course Spencer fell asleep on the drive, and did not want to wake up, thus the crying pictures of Spencer.
All the cousins out at the ranch: Tyler, Danielle, Austin, Audrey, Camie, and Taneal (and Spencer not shown in the picture)

Crab Fishing?

Wouldn't it be fun to turn this . . .
into this?

Well, we thought it would be fun trying. So, we headed down to the beach , and tried this . . .





and this is what we caught.



We had a lot of fun. The temperature was in the 60's, but with the 25 mph wind, it was cold. The water was warm, so it was fun to put your feet in, until you had to take your feet out. Then, it was so cold you had to put them right back in again.


Taneal was the only one to catch a crab. We tried crab fishing by tying a chicken leg to the end of some string and throwing it into the water. Everyone had a crab latch on, but the bringing it out into the net was a little harder. Even though it was very cold, we had so much fun. All the kiddos were such a good sport! We ended up just letting the crab go back into the ocean since we had only one.

St Patrick's Day

St Patrick's Day is such a fun holiday in our family. We start out the holiday the Eve of St Patrick's by decorating small treasure boxes and putting them outside under the light of the moon. If you do this the leprechauns have to fill your box full of treasures. There was success again this year. When those girls woke up at 6am they acted like it was Christmas. I finally let them go downstairs and see if they had treasures. I could hear the excitement as I stayed in bed and tried to go back to sleep. The leprechauns left them green t-shirts, green lip gloss, green fruit roll-ups, and other small green stuff and some coins.























I didn't notice that Danielle had her eyes crossed in this picture until I put them on my computer today. What a silly little girl!

I started off the menu with green. Here is what we ate for the day. I did no prior shopping so we made due with what was in the house:

breakfast: green malt-o-meal

green milk

lunch: green macaroni and cheese

kiwi

cucumbers

supper: green brown rice

chicken (I thought it might turn out pretty disgusting to color the chicken green)

salad

green beans

green gravy

green Kool-aide

Everyone was a pretty good sport, with a few exceptions. Spencer loves his milk and when he saw me filling up his sippy cup with green milk, he grabbed the lid and ran and said, "want water!" Danielle didn't care so much for the green rice and kept trying to say, "I want white rice." You should try saying "white rice" out loud. It is kind of hard to say.

Is it summer already?

The temperature reached above 80 degrees so Evan decided it was warm enough to get out the little pool and let Danielle and Spencer play in the water. As you can tell from the pictures, they quite agreed. Those two little kids know how to have so much fun. They played and giggled and had the time of their lives and it didn't get old. Wouldn't it be great to have the enthusiasm and vigor of little children? Okay, I could do without the saggy diaper!