Tid bits from our trip

We had so much fun on our trips. It's great to be home and getting back into a normal routine. I had a doctor's appointment on Monday, and to Kate's disappointment (and our relief!) there's only one baby! My official due date is April 5, 2009. Hurray! I'm so glad to not have to be huge during the dead of the summer like I was with Luke!

Here are some pictures from our trips to Spokane, Washington and Mesa, Arizona.

Karly's wedding reception. All night Kate just wanted to stand by her. She thought Karly was so beautiful in her dress.

At the end of the night, Karly gave Kate her bouquet. Kate was SOO proud of it!


Kate and Luke in front of the Spokane temple. Kate loved hearing about this being where Mom and Dad got married. He didn't want to hold still for the picture and she wanted him to.


Cat Tales (an exotic cat sanctuary) in Newport, WA. We had a lot of fun seeing all of the large exotic cats there! Here we are with Rachel, Luke, Hannah, Josh, Kate, and Zander. We had so much fun visiting with the Whites. They were so good to my kids!!!!!


The nostalgic Spokane carousel. I grew up going to this! It's very fun to me to take my kids there. The last time I took Kate there I was VERY pregnant with Luke.


My kids had SO much fun climbing all over these blocks for some reason.


Luke enjoying Uncle Spencer's pool in Arizona.


Kate giving Randy her treasured rock for his birthday.


Kate and Randy enjoying Spencer's pool.

Where did the summer go?

Since we've been traveling the world (literally) this summer, I am finding myself saying, "Where did the summer go?!" I am dying that it's time for Kate to start school, dance, etc. I'm going to miss her this fall!! It will be really nice that Luke and I will get some individual time before the baby comes. Speaking of the baby. . . I can't believe how sick I've been!! I was puking my guts out at midnight the other night. Hopefully that's the only time that will happen this pregnancy. It was four times with Kate and none with Luke. . . is this a girl? If you ask Kate, she tells everyone that I have a boy baby AND a girl baby in my tummy. I'm already HUGE, so maybe it would stand to reason that there are two in there?! Randy would die, I think it would be fun. . . but wow. I have an ultrasound on Monday after I get home, so we will know for sure! I love that my doctor does an ultrasound on basically every visit. We'll be able to find out early what we're having, too! Anyone have any guesses boy, girl, both?

We get home on Wednesday, and it will be nice to be home and not living out of a suitcase! I'm anxious to get some of the pictures off my camera from this trip. We've been at two different temples and lots of other fun places. Randy will be in Guam when we get home, fortunately just for a week this time. . . then we get to resume regular life!! Hurray!

I finally finished Breaking Dawn. I really liked it. It took me almost a week to read it because Randy always wanted to be on the go while he was here with us. We've had lots of fun going and doing, but I was very glad to get to sit down and finish my book!

I'm a dork, I know!

My niece Rachel and I are counting down until Breaking Dawn is released tonight. I pre-ordered it a month ago, and it is supposed to be delivered to my mom's house tomorrow (the kids and I are headed to Mesa, AZ tomorrow morning), but I REALLY want it while I'm on the plane. I sat and read SkyMall for 3 hours on the way here because my kids were glued to a movie (thank goodness for portable DVD players!). So, I think that Rachel and I are going to go buy it at midnight tonight. I'm so excited for it!!! It's fun to be excited about it with Rachel. It makes me feel like a teenager again (while fat a pregnant, nice!). Speaking of being fat and pregnant. . . my stomach is already HUGE! I'm sure part of it is that I've taken the week off from running, but my goodness. . . baby number three really wants to make itself known! I keep having dreams that I'm having twins. I did at the beginning of my pregnancy with Luke, too, so I'm sure I'm just psyching myself out. I have another ultrasound in 2 1/2 weeks, so I'm sure my mind will be put at ease then!

So early!

I feel very fortunate that my pregnancies are SOOOO easy. I don't get sick (unless I don't eat often enough), just really, really tired. When I was pregnant with Luke and still nursing Kate, I would go to bed at about 8pm during my first trimester. Poor Randy never saw anything of me. This morning I was sitting and snuggling Luke (he rises with the sun in Washington around 6am) and I had to run into the bathroom. I didn't throw up, but it was one of those moments where I really wanted to because I hoped it might make me feel better. Moral of the story is. . . I'm really praying that I have the same kind of pregnancy as the past and that I feel well!! I'm a little nervous now!! I can't believe that it's starting this early!!!!!!!! So here's to early sunrises in Washington and early morning sickness! BLAH!

Coming home again. . . ?

Sometimes I feel like I can't claim anywhere as "home" for growing up. I'm in Spokane, WA right now with my wonderful White nieces and nephews and we're having a GREAT time. It is just interesting to be back here. When people ask me where I'm from, I always tell them Washington. Spokane is the place I've lived the longest in my life, but since we left here when I was 11, it is hard to say this is still home. It feels like home to me, but it still doesn't feel quite right. I'll never claim Chewelah, WA as home (I lived there from 14-16 1/2); I wouldn't claim Provo as home (I lived there from 16 1/2-21 1/2). I went to my sister's ward yesterday, which is the ward my family would have been in had we still lived here. I also went to Karly's wedding reception on Saturday night (it was really fun to show Kate the temple that Mom and Dad got married in). It is so fun to see familiar faces. Most people thought I was my sister, Deborah, since I was with her daughter who was playing the harp at the wedding reception (she is EXTREMELY talented!). It's just kind of an odd set of emotions to sort through!

While I'm here in Washington, I feel like I have TONS of spare time, so I'm trying to freshen up my blog and give it some new life.

We're headed to Arizona from here, so we won't be back in Louisiana for a couple of weeks. I have to say, I LOVE the climate here in the summer. I love how much it cools off at night! I don't like how early it gets light or how late it stays light. I don't miss that part of the Pacific Northwest!

I'll get some more pictures on here soon!

Must. . . Keep. . . Eating. . .

This was over the 4th of July weekend at Randy's parent's house. For those who know Luke, his FAVORITE thing is chips, especially when he can dip them in beans. He hadn't had a nap, and it was about 6:30 at night. This is the first time one of my kids has ever fallen asleep eating.

A Day for Gratitude

Yesterday was a really hard day around here. We received many concerned phone calls, and I want to say thank you to every one! For those of you who don't know, here is a link to an article:

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/21/guam.crash/index.html

A B-52 crashed just off of Guam. It had six crew members on board, one of which was a flight doctor who was stationed in Guam. The other five crew members were stationed here at Barksdale and were deployed to Guam. Three of them were Randy's squadron mates, two of which he knew well. Our hearts and prayers are with the families who have lost their loved ones.

It was a day for us to be so grateful for what we have. That so easily could have been Randy there. It is his squadron deployed. The co-pilot was one of his peers in the squadron-- they graduated from pilot training together, did their B-52 training together. . . It just makes me SO very grateful for my husband's life. It makes me ache for those who have so much uncertainty right now. Especially since only one person (that we know of yet) has been identified. The other five are still listed as unknown. So please keep the family of those crew members in your thoughts and prayers. I can't imagine what they are going through.

Randy and I were talking last night. He spent his entire afternoon (for the second time) trying to get the alignment done on my van before I drive it to Dallas again. I spent the entire morning having new tires put on it so the alignment could be done. We were getting a bit frustrated about the whole situation, then Randy pointed out, "We shouldn't be so upset. We could be having a lot worse of a day today". I am grateful for the blessing of my family being in tact!

On a happier note. . . Kate has successfully slept 2 nights with no pacifier! HURRAY! I have felt so guilty for almost two years about her still having one. But first Luke was being born, so I didn't want to take it away. Then we were moving, so I didn't want to take it away. Then she finally started sleeping through the night when she turned two (She's only been allowed to have it in bed, so I didn't want to take away the allure of bed). Then we were traveling a lot. Then Randy was gone for a while, then we were traveling, then we moved again, then Randy got deployed. . . the list goes on. I just couldn't ever justify taking it. One night while Randy was in Guam, instead of a story for bed, she and I sat down at the computer and she picked out a toy she wanted the paci fairy to bring to her. I told her the paci fairy wouldn't come until Dad got home from Guam. The other day, she decided she was ready for the paci fairy to come (because she wanted the toy she had picked out). Randy wasn't very sure about her doing it. He was trying to persuade her not to. . . We tried it the first night with her going to sleep with it, then the paci fairy took it in the night. That wasn't a good idea. She was up for about an hour and a half in the night because she was so upset about it being missing. So the next night we went to sleep without it. Now she's SO proud that she's a big girl without it. She is proud that she can swim all by herself (with a life jacket) and that she has no paci. Last night was the first night of normal kid things. She was out of her bed about ten times before she finally went to sleep. It just made me laugh.

Hopefully our day will be a little brighter today. It's cleaning day for me!! I'm trying to get ready to be out of town for 2 1/2 weeks. The kids and I are headed to Spokane for a week, then we're going straight to Arizona for another week and a half. Hopefully we'll actually stay home for a while this fall!!!


This was seconds before he tipped backwards and smacked his head REALLY hard. It was so cute because he was playing in that basket for a good 15 minutes. That's a long time for Luke to hold still!
Kate wearing Randy's helmet. He was supposed to fly with the reserve squadron the next day, so he had to bring his stuff home to take it with him.

Hopefully she won't ever become a fighter pilot. Luke didn't have any desire to put it on.