So I always figured that being a mom would bring new and different challenges but I never expected to hear those words come out of my mouth! This morning Hayden came down to breakfast wearing only a shirt. I asked him wear his pajama bottoms and underwear were and he said they got turned inside out when he went potty so he couldn’t put them back on. I told him to go get a new pair and he insisted that he was fine and didn’t need anything on... hence the formation of the new rule at our house! It’s always exciting around here!

We’ve had a fun and busy time this past week. I decided at the last minute to take a trip to Utah for the 4th of July because my brother and his wife were there visiting and Tom had duty on the 4th and I figured I might as well go while I could because I certainly won’t be making the drive alone once the new baby is born. I left on Sunday afternoon and stayed with a friend in St. George and drove the rest of the way Monday morning. I was REALLY nervous about the drive and worrying I would get too tired or the kids would get too restless but it all went really well. The time in Utah was a lot of fun, I went shopping without the kids, played games, went hiking and just enjoyed hanging out. We went to a carnival on the 4th of July and then to my grandma’s house where several cousins and other family members gathered for a picnic and the firework show from the BYU stadium. Thursday morning we woke up and headed back home, miraculously making it all in one day. I’ll admit that when we had to stop in Cedar City for lunch, earlier than I had planned I was getting really nervous thinking we would never make it... but then things worked out and we made it home just fine! A short trip, but lots of fun.

To our good fortune Tom got off work early on Friday and we got to enjoy being together and then that evening we got together with another new GPR and his wife. They are LDS and have a little boy who is 14 months old. They were really nice and it was fun to talk to someone else in our situation. On Saturday Tom had duty so I just hung out with the kids all day and then in the evening we picked up a pizza and drove down to visit Tom for dinner and for a little baseball in the courtyard. I tried to do some shopping as well for new sandals and a new swimsuit for Danica and it was ridiculous. I must be quite the sight trying to keep my kids contained, especially Danica... it is so tiring I won’t be trying that again soon. I’m getting more used to Tom being gone at night but I still don’t like it!

On Sunday we had church and Tom and I got callings in our new ward. He was called as the Weblos leader and I am on the activities committee. We’ve never done either of these callings so it will be a new experience. My calling is obviously supposed to be fairly low key since they realize I have my hands full being due so soon... a luxury you get in a huge ward like this I suppose. Speaking of due dates, I am less than 6 weeks away from mine and currently feeling very pregnant! I don’t remember feeling this “pregnant” with Danica but I suppose that is because I didn’t have Danica to carry around and I didn’t have any stairs to climb. I can tell I am carrying this baby differently than I carried Danica which is encouraging since I don’t want another breech baby! I could feel Danica’s head up at the top of my belly and I can’t feel that this time. I finally have my first doctor’s appointment on Wednesday so hopefully I can get a lot of answers then. I am in denial about how soon it is but I better get moving on doing some basics like figuring out where the maternity ward is, buying some newborn diapers, finding some newborn clothes, etc.

Marnie came over on Sunday night for dinner, some kite flying at Hilltop Park, a trip down memory lane cruising the old neighborhood and then a long night of trying to come up with a name for the baby. Marnie was very helpful in flying the kite and trying to come up with baby names. However, we figured out with names that there aren’t very many names that Tom likes at all so I don’t really know how we are going to come up with one. It’s going to be like last time where I just come up with name after name after name until I finally say one that he likes and that is the one we use! I can’t even bring myself to worry about a middle name yet... yikes!
Okay, Tom is dismayed by how long this is... I better stop. It’s great to hear all the updates from everyone else! Enjoy your week!



Hayden enjoyed an inflatable dinosaur slide at the 4th of July carnival.