I'm Back

I'm back from out of town. I had to take an impromtu trip up to Utah. My boss's mom was diagnosed with cancer and she passed away only five weeks later. Needless to day he was spending as much time with her as possible and needed more help in the office than usual. So I went up there for a week and a half. I stayed with my brother Brian and his awesome wife Kaylyn. I had so much fun hanging out them and Steven and Ashley and Clint. Thanks so much guys!

Greg was able to take some time off work and he stayed home with the kids, getting a little taste of being Mr Mom. He did great! Brayden was so impressed that daddy could make pancakes and cookies (from scratch) just like mommy. But the kids still seemed to really miss their mommy, which made me sad for them, but glad that I am loved.

I have to give a huge thanks to Greg's awesome boss (who happens to be my dad) for letting him take the time off. It was so appreciated. Also to my mom, who helped whenever and with whatever. It is so incredible to have family that is so willing to help when it is needed. Thanks again. I appreciate it so much, and I'm sure Greg, Brayden and Tawny do too!

What have we been up to?

No, we did not fall off the edge of the planet. Things have been a very busy around here recently. Just to list a few...

1. Home Renovation projects. So far we have painted Brayden's room, painted Tawny's room, partially demo'ed the downstairs bath, refinished a beautiful antique bed for Tawny's room, added a built-in to the playroom closet, recaulked the master shower and bath, stripped wallpaper out of the kitchen and two bathrooms (only one bathroom to go) and painted 3/4 of our HUGE master room only to decide that we (I) don't like to color (so we quit and have to started over). I really need to get some pictures up of all the progress we're making. The thing is most of the rooms aren't quite done....okay they're not even close to being done. And the crazy in me says wait until they're completely pulled together. So we wait. But before moving on to the next item, I have to give a shout out to my awesome husband who pretends to be game for everything, even thought I'm pretty sure he would rather not do any of it. For reasons to be disclosed in point#5, he pretty much has to do everything, while I check in and point out everything that still needs to be done. We're an awesome team that way.

Good thing Greg has this awesome helper

How would he get by without him?

(yes he's still in his jammies at 3pm when Greg got home from work. Sue me)

2. Playing and having fun. That's what it's all about right? Brandon and Megan visited one weekend, we took the Jeeps out to Cibola another weekend to go rock climbing (not on foot silly, in the Jeeps), and have plenty of play dates for the kids. We have also been...

Playing cowboys and...pirates?

...getting trains stuck in Tawny's hair, which for some reason she thought was hilarious. Once I freed her, she spent about 45 minutes trying to get it stuck again and broke into tears when she failed. (it took a good 15 minutes to remove, but I refused to cut it out)

and coloring each other's faces. Who needs paper anyway?

3. Greg's been working hard to get the fields ready for cotton in March. He's been working so hard he needed some extra back up. I assure you, he would have never made it through without them.

You have to blow this one up and look at the concentration on her face. She was convinced that the lever she was holding onto was critical.

4. Dealing with the aftermath of the tornado that went through Blythe. Yes you read right. A tornado. It knocked over a beautiful tree in our back yard, which took out one complete side of our fence on its way down. We also had some significant roof damage and had to replace our pool filter. At least it all goes on one insurance claim. Our power was out for only about 12 hours, but there were part of Blythe that didn't have power for 5-6 days. My parents didn't have power for four day, but luckily my dad's crazy and has like 50 generators (only slightly exaggerating). Everyone that needed one in the ward knew who to call. He did get in a little trouble with the power company because he rigged them through each house's main circuit breaker so their entire house would have power, not just extension cords running to refrigerators, stoves and other essentials. For some reason, they didn't really appreciate that. But in the end we're all okay and it was a good exercise in emergency preparedness.

5. This last one should probably have a post of it's own, but I'm on a roll and can't guarantee that I'll post again any time soon. We are expecting a baby! Due the end of August, so I'm about 12 weeks along. To be honest, this is probably the main reason I haven't got around to posting. Me and pregnancy do not mix well. Like oil and water. I can't things of the appropriate words to describe how much I dislike being pregnant. Instead I'll just focus on the outcome, which we are so excited for!

We weren't going to tell the kids until it was obvious, but Brayden is one of those little kids that is constantly listening to adults conversations, and I was pretty sure he had it figured out. So last night when he asked,"When is the new baby going to come out of mommy's tummy and could we please name him Diego? Or maybe Dora. Or maybe you have a baby boy and and baby girl at the same time in your tummy and we'll name them Diego and Dora? Can I tell both of them hi?" (picture him saying this really fast while trying to lift up my shirt and wave to my belly) we figured we should bite the bullet and pretty much tell him what he already knew. Regardless we're all excited, but seriously August is a lifetime away. A very very long lifetime.