"Braska starts with N"

That's what Morgan kept telling us the whole way there. Along with "Affon (Afton) lives in Braska," "Affon moving," and "Untel Rich gwadumating (graduating)."

We took a family road trip over the weekend to Lincoln, Nebraska to celebrate Rich (my brother in-law) graduating from law school and Ben's blessing. Despite the initial hiccup that my parent's had the wonderful opportunity of spending 6 hours in the Denver airport (of course, we had already left or we would have jsut taken them to Lincoln, we had a great time. We're so proud of Rich's accomplishment.

The whole family after Ben's blessing.

Grandma and Grandpa with 5 of their grandkids (this really is the best shot, I promise).

Our happy little family.
While Logan was holding the camera, she said, "Morgan, come here!" So, she did! I thought this was a cute candid.

Courtney and Rich are moving to Utah today, so we left last night while they packed up their house some more. We got home about 12:45 a.m. As I went to get Sadie out of the car, I had to get a picture. Her face sums up how we all felt when we got home--completely exhausted. Only she'd been sleeping for 5 hours at this point! We hadn't!

We had a great, quick trip and Morgan is anxious to visit Affon and Mei Mei and Baby Ben at Grandpa Brad's (Rich's dad) in Utah! Thanks for letting us visit!

Spring has Sprung!

It's official! We have turned our sprinklers on and mowed the lawn for the first time in 2009. It was getting pretty long and needed a trim!

Our neighbors asked us why our lawn was so green and theirs wasn't (you can see the "line" where ours stops and theirs begins). I guess we just got lucky because we didn't do anything to it all winter. In fact, these pics are pre-watering!

We also experienced some warm weather last week for a couple of days, so we pulled out the pool and the girls went swimming. Here they are in their matching suits. Believe it or not, I actually had to switch their bottoms--Morgan is in the 18 mos. bottoms and Sadie in 3T! Poor Morgan kept losing her pants!

This is just a super cute shot of our sweet Sadie Bug. Couldn't pass up a chance to share it!

Enjoy your summer!

He Resorted to Duct Tape

Since people mostly commented on Brian's sunglasses, I thought I'd give you a status on how they're holding up. Two words: trash can. But, will Brian do that, of course not!

So, he fixed them again (3rd time's a charm, right?). And it wasn't just gray duct tape. My sister only had hot pink, so that's what he used.

Even Morgan is embarrassed by them. She kept covering Brian's head with her dress when she was up on his shoulders today. He claims he shouldn't spend frivolously because we're in a recession...

...so instead, we just don't walk with him in public. (Actually, we do, but I try to look past the strange glances)

Naptime and Other Random Things

During naptime, I'm trying to do a little of this:

Sadie is almost always up from her nap first, so, while I sew, she does this (only 23 lbs. to lift up, but she's finally getting on her knees):

And, Morgan is still doing this:
It's actually a pretty good system for us. I've worked on more projects (sewing and otherwise) these past few weeks than I think I've done in months! Now, if we could only figure out bedtime...

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Please donate to Brian's Sunglass Fund. His $5 pair of sunglasses broke a few weeks ago, so he superglued them back together. Then, Sadie reached for them the other day and here's what's left:

But, get this. Brian is still too cheap to replace his broken $5 sunglasses, so while I had the glue gun out last night, he hot glued them back together! I wish I had a picture, but I forgot to take one. But you can imagine a little pile of hot glue on the frame of his glasses. I suppose it is slightly less tacky than duct tape...

We Haven't Fallen Off The Earth...

...we just had a very rough week and posting cute pictures of the girls got pushed aside. In fact, I don't know if any were even taken. But, hopefully, life will quickly resume to normal and the girls will once again, become the stars of our family blog.

Here's the story...

I went in for a routine prenatal appointment last Tuesday (13 1/2 weeks). My midwife searched for a heartbeat for a long time and couldn't find one. So, she finally decided to send me for an ultrasound.

At this point, I've got an over-tired baby and a very bored toddler, so I wasn't paying much attention to the ultrasound. To spare you all the details and frustrations, the final conclusion I came to was there was no baby (not a miscarriage because the baby died--no baby). The tech simply told me my doctor would call me. I'm not sure what to say to Morgan as she asks for pictures of her "brother", nor do I call Brian on my drive home. I just drive home, in shock, not sure what to think. After I call Brian, he came straight home.

Enter flowers (thanks, sweetie, they still look beautiful!):

Before I explain anymore, I have to brag about how helpful and supportive he has been over the past week and a half. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband! I love you, Brian!

Long story short, my midwife called later that day and let me know everything. There was never a baby and it is likely a molar or partial molar pregnancy. (For more information on this, click here) The doctor scheduled a D & C and told me I couldn't leave on my vacation the next morning, my trip would need to be rescheduled (or, in this case, cancelled). I went in on Thursday to have the procedure and wait a week for results.

Here we are, a week later and the doctor called with results. I had a partial molar pregnancy and have the wonderful opportunity (sarcasm) of getting weekly blood draws for the next several months to make sure everything is okay. Yippee! (sarcasm again)

If you'd like to contact us, please call or email. I'm not quite up to reading comments on our blog about this, so please don't leave any in response to this post. Thanks.

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Oh, and on a side note, the spring snowstorms we've been having have destroyed my tulips, so my mom and dad sent me these. It looks like that's all the tulips I have to enjoy this spring! Thank you, mom and dad!

Are You Sure It's Spring?

So, this is the second blizzard we've gotten this Spring, yet none the entire winter. After raining all night Thursday, all day Friday, and turning to snow Friday afternoon, here's what it looked like outside our house Saturday morning.
Morgan's sandbox (empty, thank heavens! That would be a muddy mess!) was quickly becoming an ice skating rink. Look at how much snow we got in a matter of about 3 hours Friday afternoon!

The snow stopped midday Saturday and turned back into rain. By Sunday afternoon, this is what was left. Brian told Morgan they could have a snowball fight after her nap. Only, there wasn't much to make snowballs with.

She's not crawling yet, just rolling everywhere! However, this isn't the first time we've found Sadie like this in her crib. I guess if it's comfortable...

And, finally, being stuck inside for 3 days straight leads to lots of lego creativity. Morgan wanted to build "Madison the doggy in Sandy Eggo" and then realized that Madison comes with Grandma and Papa. So, here you go. The lego version by Morgan and Brian

Three Is The Magic Number, Right???

So, I'm beginning to come to grips that we will be parents of 3 children by Halloween. Yes, we're expecting #3.

We're 13 weeks along now, and so far, this pregnancy has treated me very well. I haven't thrown up, and only dealt with mild nausea for a few days. However, this also means something else I've never experienced--weight gain in pregnancy. What's that?

Here's everyone's take on the news--

Brian: Super excited for another one. Despite the baby being due the week before his (hopefully) last actuarial exam EVER, he's super stoked! He's hoping it's his boy.

Morgan: She tells everyone that her baby brother is coming for Halloween (Brian told her it's a boy...). Not her sister. She already has a sister. It's her brother. More excited than anyone.

Sadie: Doesn't know, doesn't care. However, her 22+ lbs is hurting poor mom's aching back! Besides, she won't be quite 15 months, so as long as she's walking by October...

Mackenzie: Mixed feelings. I've got the hang of two down pretty well. I'm afraid a third might do me in! However, I'm glad our kids will be close in age and get to grow up together (I just now realized we will have 3 in high school at the same time!!). Also on the bright side, I'm getting a few home remodels done to accomodate this new addition, so I'm excited about that right now.

So, there you have it. Our big news. Although, I'm too busy and too tired to really do anything about it... However, we're accepting applications for visitors (i.e. help) when the baby arrives. Like I mentioned, it's a week before Brian's exam, so we're contemplating how to "disappear" so he can study. Any suggestions?

Easter Festivities!!

Each year, Brian's office has an Easter egg hunt. It's a HUGE deal. I mean, big enough deal that last year, he brought Morgan's Easter basket to collect his eggs and almost got disqualified. Yes, it's a big deal. His co-workers felt he had an unfair advantage. Oh, and the stakes are pretty big. This year, his team got gift cards for Chipotle, but in the past, he's come home with movie tickets, gift cards, money....

Here's Brian digging through the cupboards looking for eggs last week.

The ward playgroup hosted an Easter egg hunt this week for the kids. Here's Morgan, out on the hunt at the park.

Then, we dyed eggs. I'm so glad I put a shirt over Morgan to protect her clothes! Actually, she didn't get messy, it was Brian who needed the shirt!

Our egg decorating kit came with stickers, so Morgan personalized each and every egg. They were so beautiful!

This picture is to show her poor obsessive-compulsive future (well, I guess she's already showing signs). Notice she pulled off the stickers in rows? I guess it's inevitable with both parents that way...

And, our Easter breakfast. Morgan requested waffles. So, we had waffles, complete with blueberries, bananas, and strawberries. Yummy!

Oh, and in case you wanted to see how yummy they were, here's what our delicious breakfast looked like!

We're not done yet.

The girls had Easter baskets to open.

And baskets to play with.

And stories to read.

And Morgan had eggs to hunt for in the yard. She loved it!

Remember, we had hard-boiled eggs for Morgan to hunt. Listen to how they landed in the bucket. Not one came back unharmed!

We thought today would be a good day to update the family picture. We were hoping for a nice shot on the lawn at church, but the rain sent us into the foyer for a lovely "mugshot" as Brian calls it. Oh well.

Seeing as we have church at 1:00 this year, the rest of the day went as follows: Came home. Ate dinner (enchiladas). Put a crying 2-year old to bed around 6:15 (she was asleep by 6:16). And, that wraps up the day!

Chunk E Cheese's

Yes you read the title correctly. Morgan calls this place, Chunk E Cheese's. Oh well. It's still "where a kid can be a kid!"

We went to Chuck E Cheese's last night for family night. We all had a great time!

Morgan loved the carousel ride. In fact, when the ride ends, it says, "Let's give it another try!" And, each time, after it said that, Morgan would turn to Brian (the keeper of the money/coins) and say, "Another try, please!" Then, she would hold out her hand for another coin.

Sadie was a happy camper the entire hour and a half we were there. She just rode along in the front pack and watched us all have fun!

Of course, we forgot the camera, so this is our scrapbook picture of the memory.

Eating and Sleeping

I decided that our daily activities are pretty monotonous. We eat. We sleep. We play. I clean. Then, the day starts over again. I highlight the fun things we do to play a lot, so I thought I'd post eating breakfast and naptime, too!

Breakfast
Sadie has mastered the art of eating finger foods. We finally don't have to vacuum under her highchair after every meal, just once a day now. So, here's how she does it.

1. Smile for the camera.
2. Pick up the biggest piece of pancake you can find on the tray.

3. Shove the whole thing in your mouth. Yummm!!

And, as usual, Morgan wanted her picture taken. Here's how you reach for a sippy cup of orange juice (strangely enough, the only juice we can get her to drink).

Back to Sadie. Here's what a full belly looks like after pancakes for breakfast! Very satisfying! And, those are 18 mos. pants on her! She is a very well fed baby!

Naptime

For those of you that have a flannel blanket from me, you know they're not small. Well, neither is Sadie. But, she doesn't seem to mind sleeping with her feet sticking out.of her blanket.

Or out of the crib, for that matter. This is how I found Sadie during naptime today. Sound asleep.

And, this is how I found Morgan. It's a good thing we've had a cold spell because she insists on being "tucked in" with about a million blankets.