Tomorrow is the day!

I went to my appointment this morning and the doctor said that I have been patient long enough. He is going to break my water tomorrow morning and cross our fingers I go into labor. I will be one week and one day overdue. I am really excited!!! I have been doing laundry and cleaning up (typical Monday chores) all day to "be ready." The hospital told me I am the 2nd person on the "waiting list" so they will call me sometime between 6 am and 10 am to come over. They have to see how busy they get with other ladies and when a room will be available. I know I won't be able to sleep tonight. I think that the kids are all nervous cause they were acting like total stinkers this afternoon! We tried to take advantage of some time w/ them and we went out to KFC for dinner and then to Trafalga for a little bit of minature golf. It lightened their spirits and we had a great time. Amazingly enough nobody was wacked in the head by a golf club or ball the entire night!

Anyway- I am really excited if I haven't said that already!

Gotta love 'em

I snapped these two pictures with my camera phone this afternoon. The boys were taking a nap and we were just hanging out in my bedroom chatting till the home teachers came over. I LOVE these snapshots! Besides the fact that these two are both super cute... they have my heart!

Priesthood Power

I have been on the brink of tears all day and felt like an emotional wreck. This isn't normally me and I didn't know how to handle it. I finally got up the nerve to ask Bryce for a blessing tonight. (I don't know why it is so hard for me to ask for a blessing cause he is always so sweet and willing to give me one. I guess it is my white flag of surrendering to the fact that I can't do it on my own any more and I am not in control of the situation to fix it.) Anyway- he blessed me with comfort, the ability to handle the physical pain of this pregnancy, to be able to get the things done that I feel are super important and to let go of those that aren't. I feel so much better now. Kindof like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders. I am grateful that he holds the priesthood and is worthy at any moment to use the power of God to bless me. Now I just need to get my brain to slow down enough to relax to sleep. I go for my next doctor appointment in the morning so we will see what he says. I will be officially a week overdue tomorrow. This has been harder than I had anticipated so it is such a blessing to know that I don't have to do it on my own and there is help from the Holy Ghost to comfort me, a loving husband to do whatever he can, family and friends to all offer me support, help and words of encouragement. I can do this! :)

Daddy Daughter Date

The Utah Flash gave tickets to the elementary school kids today so Bryce and Abbey went to the game together tonight. Abbey was SO excited to go on a date w/ Bryce!!! We painted her fingers and toes, loaded them up with treats and sent them on their way. I think that they had a great time as they came home sipping a slurpee from 7 Eleven and chatting a million miles an hour.

Holding it together

Mason's due date came and went and here is sit still pregnant. I went to my appointment on Wednesday and was dilated to a 3 and thinned out. The doctor couldn't believe that I hadn't had this baby yet. He said that for sure I won't make it past this weekend. Things are not looking super hopeful though. I felt HORRIBLE last night while we were at Costco and thought for sure the baby was going to come last night. Abbey thought that one of the times I had to use the bathroom at the store that I was going in to have the baby in the bathroom!! LOL! That sicks me out just thinking about it. Anyway, by the time we got home and Bryce put the kids to bed my cramping had stopped and my stomach didn't feel sick anymore. This isn't nice to mess with me like this! I am feeling quite good today but getting huge. It is so hard to move around and my energy is gone. How bad is it that I am ready to be at the hospital where somebody will bring me meals and I can sit in bed all day? I know that is the bright side of the hospital stay (besides having an adorable baby) but I have to think of the bright side cause I think I burst into tears if I think about all the "not so bright things" about being there. I think my emotions are hanging on by a string. Here is what is running through my head... it might make sense... it might not... but they are my thoughts and so here you have it:

*I am worried I can't be a nice mom to 4 kids. I have a hard time w/ interruptions and lots of unexpected noise.

*I am so tired of being pregnant, not being able to bend over, having heartburn every time I do and my lower section of my body stinging/burning in protest of still being pregnant.

*Am I ready for sleepless nights, a million dirty diapers, sore breasts from the early stages of breast feeding and a few of the other yucky things that come w/ just having a baby. (No need to go into detail on those!)

* Can I keep it together after Bryce goes back to work, starts traveling as soon as he goes back to work and also does his motorbike races?

*I want this baby to come so bad and I start to worry that something might go wrong at delivery or even before and all of my selfish complaints and worries are for nothing.

*I want Mason to have dark hair when he is born and lots of it! Stupid I know but all of my other kids have had it. Besides... something has to validate all of this heartburn!

Anyway- I am excited, exhausted, terrified, anxious, happy and still trying to have patience. I go back to the doctor on Monday and will be a week overdue if I make that appointment. I looked up some stuff on the internet today about self-inducing labor and it talks about stress preventing labor. Hmmmm... I am a high stress person... no wonder this baby hasn't come yet! I was teasing Bryce that running errands w/ the boys this morning, rushing to Abbey's "teddy bear picnic" at school that was totally crazy, getting Braxton to a birthday party, helping Abbey w/ her piano practicing, dinner for my family, etc... what could be more relaxing than that?! I survived it all to now have peace and quiet to journal for a minute. Now it is time to chat w/ Bryce! :)

No More Brace Face!

When I just got my braces on. Not the most attractive picture of me but at least I documented it! :) --Thanks to Bryce's camera phone!









Today after my braces came off! Yet another camera phone pic since I am too tired to go upstairs to get our nice camera.


The day finally came! After 2 1/2 years of torture my braces finally came off today! I was so excited that I didn't really sleep last night. I also had butterflies in my stomach all morning till I got to my appointment cause I was worried that there would be some sort of problem and I would have to still have them on. Luckily I was all set to go and I didn't have to leave the office crying like the girl in the chair next to me did. I now have lovely retainers that I am not too fond of but I will wear them cause I am not going to do braces again! I truly am glad that I did it though cause I love how much better my teeth look now! I can't believe that I waited so long to get them but I am glad that we could afford them now.

We celebrated tonight by going to Texas Roadhouse for dinner and it was fabulous! I love being able to eat and nothing is stuck in my mouth!!! I chowed down and now I am completely stuffed! Next on my "to-do list".... have this baby!!! I am not having any major contractions but I can't walk anymore! I could swear that he is going to fall out. Even from Saturday till today it is much worse. I about died tonight to sit on the carpet to fold laundry with the kids. I go back to the doctor on Wednesday morning so we will see if I am moving along any more. I was really hoping to not make it to that appointment but I highly doubt anything will happen by then.

I am exhausted tonight and going to go crash on the couch.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I have 15 minutes till my cinnamon rolls are done baking in the oven for relief society tonight and I am fighting to stay awake. I got woken up somewhere around 3 am this morning by Braxton being scared of something and he was trying to sneak into bed with us. Our kids DO NOT sleep in our bed with us so I was totally SHOCKED when Bryce gave in! (He must have been out of it or felt a TON of compassion on the kid.) Our queen sized mattress that has settled into a nice "V" shape in the middle isn't big enough for my pregnant stomach, the extra pillows I need for support, Bryce, his extra pillow and then Braxton. I wouldn't have been able to go back to sleep anyway but this didn't help so I have been awake since 3. I would like to be doing some other housework but my body can't stand up anymore for a bit so here I am journaling with the few minutes I have to kill.

Lucky, the leprachaun came to our house last night. He turned our milk green and left us w/ some little shamrock sugar cookies. The kids were really excited! It was a close call this year on wondering if he was going to come again but he managed to pull through at about 3 am.

I finally finished Mason's quilt and a little receiving blanket! I also put together a few flower hair clips for our relief society service auction tonight. When I finished last night the thought popped into my head,"After all these things were created, he rested for a season." I have a feeling that this is the end of my creative projects for a while and it's time to rest for a 'season'. Holding and feeding a baby is going to be my new thing for a while! :)

Here are some random pics though:

Proof that I really did get green rubberbands! Got to love the zits at the same time! GRRR!! It will be nice to get my hormones back under control and to also be able to start using my face medicine again after Mason is born!


Some of you who don't live close didn't believe me that my feet get all swollen. The skinny part up by my toes is where I had clog style shoes on w/ a strap that went around my ankle to suck in my feet. They have been worse than this but it kindof gives you a basic idea.

Got to love my sewing machine! It does what I need it to... straight stitch and a zig zag stitch! Thanks to my mother-in-law for giving it to me several years ago for Christmas!


Mason's receiving blanket.

Mason's quilt.


Flower clips for the Relief Society Service Auction.

Oh- I almost forgot! I went to the doctor today. I lost 3 lbs and I am dialated to a 2!!! My legs have stopped swelling up so much and I think that is the 3 lb weight loss. The orthodontic rubberband muzzle I have to wear for a few more days probably didn' t hurt either. (I didn't take a picture of those in my mouth cause I don't want to see it.)

What did you say???

Today was laundry day and we spent another family home evening playing "the laundry game!" The kids didn't complain and we actually had a fun time talking as we all sorted, folded and put away our clean laundry. As a reward for playing "the laundry game" the kids each get one treat for folding their laundry and one for putting it away. Abbey was the winner this time and immediately picked out some reeses peanut butter cups. Braxton also wanted the same treat and yelled out to Bryce, "I want reeses penis butter cups too!" Bryce was a bit distracted talking to Landen and I wasn't sure if what I heard was really what Braxton said. Since Bryce hadn't responded instantly to his request he again blurted out that he wanted, "reeses penis butter cups" several more times. By now I am dying in the family room from trying not to laugh. We had to then practice with Braxton that it was reeses PEANUT butter cups and not the other version. You wonder what the kid had to think about this treat that was named after his private body parts!!! It also cracks me up cause when Abbey was little she used to call Braxton's privates a "peanut." I just hope that this special name doesn't get blurted out at the grocery store checkout when they are begging for a treat! People would definitely start to wonder about our parenting techniques! :) I cross my fingers that our speech lesson will stick since he does have a hard time with several of his sounds.

Super Saturday

What more could a girl ask for than a fabulous afternoon of good food and pampering with friends? Last Saturday a few of my fabulous neighbor lady friends took me for a day of fun in celebration of Mason coming soon! We started out by chatting over a fantastic lunch at Zupas! Wow was that good or what?! I had never been there and can I just tell you that the turtle cheesecake is to die for!! Left to right in the picture: Cristy Crawford, Me, Kimberly Hurd & Stephanie Isom. We are really lucky to have each other so close and that we get along really well- despite the fact that we are also so different in lots of ways!

Anyway- after lunch we headed off to get pedicures! My feet are totally neglected and I could hardly wait for a good makeover on them! I am so ticklish that I probably spent 90% of the time jumping around in the chair like I was having a seizure and giggling like a school girl as they worked on me. It is so embarrassing! I had a great time and I love the look of having my toes "french tip" painted! Anyway- you can see the final product and it was such a fun afternoon!


Thanks to my wonderful husband for watching the kids while I went. He always does it so happily too so I never have to feel guilty for taking time for myself. He took them dirt biking again out in the "desert" and they all seemed to have a blast. They came home happy, dirty and tired!

Pure torture

I went to the orthodontist this morning for my last adjustment appointment for my braces!!! I have been very conservative to only get the neutral "pearl" colored rubber bands and said that on my last time I would break out of my little shell and do a bold color... so I DID!! With St. Patrick's day next week I went with "Shamrock Green" rubber bands. Wow are they green! (I will have to post a picture in a few days when I can get Bryce home to take one for me to prove that I actually did break out of my shell!) I only have to wear them for a week and a half and then my braces come off completely!!! There is one small and VERY painful catch... I have to wear these horrible "W" shaped rubber bands and my mouth is absolutely killing me! I can't open my mouth enough to fit anything in to snack on and Tylenol doesn't come close to dulling the pain. Needless to say, my mouth hurts so bad that I don't notice the aches in my legs and the rest of my body nearly as much! :) I have had to tell myself all day, "I can do this! 12 more days and I won't ever have to do this again!" That has helped slightly. I can't wait to be brace free!!!

I also got to go to the regular doctor this morning for my baby appointment. Things are still going well. I asked him for advice on how to help my swelling feet, ankles and legs. His response, "Have your baby!" Well thanks a whole lot for that one! He also said that I could wear support stockings (like my mom keeps telling me to do... grrr) and to keep my feet elevated several times a day. I have been trying to do that but life doesn't really cooperate too much with this one. And it doesn't really seem to help much. The other bummer is that I have one pair of jeans that fit and the rest of my clothes don't really cover the elephant legs. It is wash day tomorrow so watch out neighborhood... my legs will be exposed! If it stays as cold as it was today I will be wearing my winter boots around w/ my capris! (I won't document that w/ a picture) :)