Everything IS bigger in Texas...

I just got back from a week-long trip to visit my sister and her family who live in Texas. It was perfect weather while we were there so we spent a lot of time outside at the park, playing on the trampoline, swimming in the pool, and enjoying the sun. My sister has eight kids so Abbie and Leah had a great time playing with all their cousins and we had fun just watching them interact and running them around town. It was fun to just hang out with my sister all day doing the mom thing and seeing how she manages a big family. It made me realize that my life is pretty easy right now comparatively and that I should enjoy it while I can. Here's a bunch of pictures from our week...

Her youngest three and my kids at the park

Testing out the water at their neighborhood pool, it was a little colder than we thought it would be but the kids still had fun

At a fun children's museum geared towards young kids, Abbie and Leah had a blast at this place playing cymbals...

and a zylophone in their music room. They also had a painting area where kids could paint on a real Volkswagon Beetle (or boring paper on easels), an area for building blocks and dominoes, a big space ship they could climb in, and a grocery store area with real boxes of food (empty) and mini-shopping carts and a working cash register. It was pretty cool!

Leah bonded with a few of her boy cousins,

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Played with legos,

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And learned to hunt for bugs. She's going to be a regular tomboy!
They also had fun coloring with markers and crayons,

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Jumping on the trampoline,

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And hiding in the laundry cabinent!

We even found Quacky's (Leah's favorite stuffed animal) long lost mother!

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The whole family, all together on our last night there.

Thanks for letting us come visit: J, A, J, T, A, J, T, A, T, and A! We had a great time and we can't wait to see you in July at the family reunion!

Easter fun...

We had a pretty good Easter weekend. On Saturday we did an Easter egg hunt with some friends in our ward and even though it was cold, Abbie and Leah had a great time finding eggs and eating all their candy. I had to ration it out, though, so they wouldn't eat it all in the first 10 minutes after getting home. Crazy kids!

Here's Abbie showing me her loot! She was the oldest kid there so she found her ration of 12 eggs pretty quickly and then went to help Leah and the other kids.

Here's Leah spotting another pretty egg...

And going in for the kill!

Here we are on Easter morning with our pretty new dresses. Leah wasn't happy about having to smile for the camera one bit!

Attempting again after church to get a better picture of Leah with no such luck! She was just being a little stinker but at least her dress was cute!

Finally getting their Easter baskets after church (I know, I'm mean, I made them wait so they wouldn't be all hopped up on sugar at church). Leah got a new quacky (stuffed animal duck) with bunny ears, of course.

She loved all the jellybeans and chocolate m&m's...

And Abbie was pretty excited about the Smarties she got!

Dressing up in the jewelry they got...

And fancy earrings! I don't have pierced ears and really don't care to so the girls have never seen me with earrings. They thought this was great fun, I'll have to let them dress me up again!

Well, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to be with family or friends to celebrate this day!

Elephant is sick!

Abbie kept saying this the other day and was putting her elephant on the couch with a bowl and bottle of juice and telling us that elephant didn't feel good. This must be what it's like from a child's point of view to be sick. Last week Abbie had the flu for a few days and she spent lots of time on the couch watching TV and drinking Pedialyte and eating crackers. She was really good to keep a bowl nearby and luckily, we didn't have too many messes we had to clean up. It's nice to have a child old enough to tell you when they feel like they are going to throw up so you can be prepared. Now, dealing with watching your child be sick and having to clean it up while you are fending off your own urge to puke because of morning sickness, that's not so nice!

The girls also are all into feeding their animals meals so they set them up on "highchairs" and put on bibs and then feed them cookies with spoons and bottles of milk. We might have a problem in 7 months when they want to feed their new sibling cookies all the time...

I have a secret...

I was watching Oprah the other day and it was all about moms and real-life motherhood and all the stuff that we don't talk about or admit that we do to make it through our day. They talked about how a lot of moms put up this front that everything is perfect and that it's not that hard to be a mom and that they can do and have everything; work full-time, be a mom full-time, and still have time for themselves and other interests and still get 8 hours of sleep. If you didn't see the show and don' t know what I'm talking about or want to read more about the secret lives of moms, go here: http://www.oprah.com/dated/oprahshow/oprahshow-20090311-secret-lives-moms

I really loved this show and how so many of the women were willing to admit that motherhood is harder than they thought it would be and how overwhelmed and alone they feel much of the time. It helped me to see that I'm not the only one taking shortcuts or doing things that I feel guilty about later and also that I'm just doing the best that I can at the time. It helps me to know that other moms are experiencing some of the same things as I am and that I'm not crazy for thinking this or that.

So I've been wondering, what are some of your dirty little secrets about motherhood? What things would you never confess to in person but do to make it through your day? Come on, I know you do something that you've never admitted before. It will help you feel better to get it off your chest and to be able to see that other moms do similar things and that you're not alone!

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It could be simple things like how much TV you really let your kids watch or what you really let them eat for dinner or more personal things like how often you get a shower and how much time you spend on the computer blogging and chatting on facebook when you should be reading to your kids or making them nutritious homemade meals. Make your comments anonymously and I'll promise not to reveal who you are, even though I don't know how to figure that out anyway. I'll give you a few examples from my life to get the ball rolling...

A lot of days, I don't even get dressed and ready for the day until about 5 minutes before I have to take Abbie to preschool. Her preschool starts at 12:30 in the afternoon!

Sometimes we don't even get around to eating breakfast until 10 or 11 am, on those days we just skip lunch and have an earlier dinner.

I've been known to leave a child in their crib for an extra hour after they wake up (as long as they aren't screaming bloody murder), just so I can get a little more shut-eye!

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We pretend it's like this all the time...

When it's usually more like this!

So enough about me, I want to hear from you, my mom friends. What are your true life motherhood confessions? Feel free to leave several comments, anonymously of course!

Conference Weekend

Here's a couple pictures of our conference weekend. We have started a tradition for the FHE before conference of telling the story of King Benjamin and how he spoke to his people from a high tower and they all had their tents facing him while he spoke. Abbie is always excited to bring her Dora tent out and spend lots of time playing in it while listening to the prophet.

Leah playing a Conference Bingo game that I made a few years ago. Both Abbie and Leah noticed words and topics more than I thought they would when I didn't even think they were listening. Smart girls!

While we were listening, I gave the girls little manicures and painted their nails a sparkly pink color, they loved it! Here's Abbie's hands at 4-1/2 years old...

And Leah's cute pudgy ones at 2-1/4 years old!

Of course, the weekend wouldn't be complete without some hide-and-go-seek in the bookshelf!

We had a pretty good weekend and are so grateful for the chance to hear the prophet and apostles speak. Now we just need to remember what was said and work on improving our lives.

Under construction...

Since the "morning" sickness has set in, it's been interesting around here. As with my other pregnancies, I only feel sick in the evenings and can't eat much except cold cereal, french fries, crackers, and sprite. I make it through the day just fine and hardly even notice anything different but as soon as dinnertime comes around, I can't stand the thought, smell, or sight of meat, vegetables, or most dairy. If I do try to eat anything different, I have stomach pain the rest of the night and just feel nauseous and blah! I'm still craving chocolate and sweets as much as ever, though, so I'm sure that's not helping with my digestion problems.

The other night I was complaining that my stomach really hurt since I was bloated and gassy so Jared put his head on my belly to hear what all the commotion was about. He said it sounded like a construction site in there with a lot of remodeling going on and that he doesn't blame me for complaining. So at least I have his sympathy now...



I have been noticing some weird things with this pregnancy also. A few weeks ago I noticed for a couple nights in a row that when I would brush my teeth, the water in the bathroom tasted like there was perfume or scented soap in it. I tasted my toothbrush and toothpaste and it wasn't in that so I ran the water for a minute and I still could taste it. Jared didn't notice anything different so I just thought I was imagining it. But last night, I noticed it again and it's really annoying. Our kitchen water tastes just fine, though, so I might have to start brushing my teeth in there.

Well, you probably don't care or want to know all this about the early part of pregnancy but for those like to know all the juicy (or yucky) details, here it is. Enjoy learning about our construction project, due to be completed in November 2009!

I'm not fooling with you...

Arriving November 2009!