And yet, another hurricane

Our lives have been inundated with hurricanes lately, or so it feels. I could tell how true this was when Kate was coloring a picture in church on Sunday and she told me, "Mom, this is hurricane Hannah and it is going to hit South Carolina". She is very aware of what is going on, especially in places she's been to. She is very good at listening to things that Randy and I say.

We've had a nice relaxing day, just hanging out at home while Ike has pounded away at us. It has been much worse that Gustav. We've had tornadoes in our area. We even had our tornado siren on base going off, which hasn't happened in the two years we've lived here. The young women were supposed to clean the church building today and I canceled it because the winds were so strong, Randy didn't want me out driving in it.

This week has been very busy. Kate is LOVING school. Luke is adjusting to having her gone some mornings. The first day she was at school, he was insistent that Sissy was sleeping. When it was time to pick her up, I said, "Let's go get Sissy!" He started heading up the stairs to her room saying, "Sissy sleeping! Wake up Sissy!" Now he understands and when he's feeling lonely, he'll come up to me and say, "Sissy, school?" Any time we're there to pick her up or drop her off, he wants SO badly to stay and play. Next year he'll be in Kate's class. His birthday is September 26th (I can't believe he's almost two!!!), and the school cut off here is September 30th, so he'll just make it in! I think he'll really enjoy it, and I'll enjoy getting to spend some one-on-one time with the new baby!

The next few weeks will be busy! We're really excited that Grandma Thomason is coming to visit us from Arizona over my birthday (I can't believe I'm going to be 25!), then Luke's birthday is on the 26th, then on the 27th, Randy is going TDY to Alaska for 3+ weeks. By the time he comes back, I should know if the baby is a boy or a girl! I am way too much of a planner to not find out. We need to clean out our garage, and at the same time I'll get out my boxes of maternity clothes, and whatever baby clothes we'll need! I'm excited to get out the boxes of either baby boy or girl clothes. Either way, it will be fun! It would be fun if this was another boy, just since it's next to Luke in age, but Kate is really sure she wants it to be a baby sister.

Alright, here are a bunch of pictures of the kids!

Randy took this picture of Luke. He was dancing around wearing this bib. We were laughing at how tiny it was on him. I got it for a present at my baby shower with him. It used to be GIANT! It's amazing how quickly kids grow up!

Kate was SO excited for her first day of school!

Luke needed pictures on Sissy's first day of school, too!

Kate's first day of school in her classroom.

The kids were really tired after church on Sunday. They both decided to lay down on the dining room floor for a nap.


Kate's first day of dance in her dance studio!


We went bowling as a family this week. The kids loved it!


The kids enjoying our nice, relaxing day during the hurricane.

I'm really not dead. . .

I can't believe how long it's been since I've been on here. Life has been crazy! Kate started school last Friday and she LOVES it! The only problem is that she loves to sleep in, so some mornings we have a hard time getting her out of bed to get ready for school. She feels really big that she gets to go.

I've really enjoyed the one-on-one time I've gotten to spend with Luke while Kate has been in school. I haven't ever gotten any individual time with him, so we've had a great time.

We had quite the week last week. Hurricane Gustav was supposed to be this major ordeal. As I'm sure most people know, the entire coastal region of Louisiana was evacuated. A lot of evacuees came here. Randy spent the entire weekend working in a Red Cross shelter translating for them. There was a large immigrant population that was Spanish speaking. Then we had a lot of the week off because the storm was supposed to be gigantic (we've had regular thunderstorms worse than Gustav, it just stayed here for a really long time). On Tuesday, we were at the Honda dealership here in town and I slipped on their painted curb and fell HARD! It was not a good thing. I spent the night in the ER, was told I may lose the baby, etc. I went to the OB the next day, and he said everything is fine. Great! Major crisis averted. I've just had one giant headache ever since I fell.

Speaking of my OB, today I had a regular visit. My OB has this awesome little portable ultrasound machine. Instead of using a doppler to listen to the baby's hear beat, he just does an ultrasound every time. So today he was looking at the baby and it jumped SO high. My OB thought it was the funniest thing because he said he'd never seen a baby at my gestation jump so high. It jumped 3 inches! He said in comparison, it would be the equivalent of an adult doing a Michael Jordan sized jump. Needless to say, this is going to be one active baby! I told my doctor at the beginning of my appointment that I've already been feeling the baby move around. He looked at me like I was crazy, but then totally believed me once he saw how active it is! I had Luke with me and we were showing him the baby on the screen. I wouldn't be surprised if this is another little brother and he's just anxious to keep up with his big brother!

I'll post more pictures later. I need to go be a mom and fix dinner.

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!