fall break in california (october 2014)

It's been so long since I've blogged that I almost forgot we spent a week in California during fall break in October. We stayed at a resort in Escondido, CA and spent a few days at the beach. Here are some photo highlights:

Tosh's moppy hair made for the perfect "surfer" look:

 Me looking pregnant!

 

 

We were there over conference weekend and went to the Mormon Battalion site in San Diego after watching conference on Sunday. We enjoyed the visitor's center and Burke and Tosh were happy to assist in the presentation:

We all look a little somber about 'joining the battalion' except Tosh who is always up for an adventure (ha!):

Panning for gold:

We had our monthly video conference call with all of the Dunnings while we were there. The kids were excited to sing the song they wrote for their cousins: 

Air Hockey at the resort: 

Playing Phase 10 Dice in the hotel room (one of our very favorite games):

Post tennis scooter ride:

 The resort had all sorts of pools and a big, cool water slide. Catching some shots at the bottom:

It was a fun trip and wonderfully relaxing!

oh baby!

We got some pretty big news on July 7th of this year:

It's an awfully long (and personal) story, and I still don't feel quite right about sharing it all on here, but... In a nutshell, I felt a strong feeling at the end of May while we were in the temple that there may be another child to join our family.  It was very surprising, yet I knew two things for sure-- the feelings came from my Heavenly Father, and that it would be a great blessing in my life (should I chose to accept).  Rob was shocked when I shared these things with him (I mean, we were done. done. having kids). I joked that maybe this was just an Abraham/Issac situation and that the Lord maybe wanted to just test us to see if we were willing to align our will with His, and test our faith. Well, we decided to take a leap of faith and leave a very small window of opportunity open and needless to say, I was pregnant within a couple of weeks. There have been so many feelings, fears, emotions, doubts, as well as moments of peace and confirmation, etc. associated with this experience. I'm not kidding that this has probably required more faith than any other decision I have personally made.

I am now almost 30 weeks along and it is still slowly sinking in-- we are really having another baby!?!

The nausea started around week 7 and got worse until it finally eased up around week 18. That was a really rough time in bed, but we all survived (thanks to the help of Rob, my SIL Sue, and good friends that brought in many dinners).  I actually threw up less than any other pregnancy (which was a miracle, really), but I think it was because I just stayed in bed to avoid throwing up constantly.

At week 12 I took a blood test and found out we were having a boy! The feelings I had in May seemed very specific about the child being a girl, so that was also a bit shocking and I have to admit to feeling really guilty about crying about the results (I REALLY wanted to give Liv a sister and I was questioning my personal revelation skills!). When Rob and I had a chance to talk about it in private later that evening, he got a little emotional (rare) and shared with me that he had felt very strongly that we were doing the right thing and he had felt confirmation that we were supposed to have this baby. When I asked him why he hadn't shared this with me before (it seemed like he was just going along with the feelings I had received), he simply said, "Probably because you needed to hear it today." I have felt at peace from that moment on. We've been blessed with some pretty terrific boys I must say, so I consider it a great privilege to raise another son even though we now have SEVEN more pinewood derby cars in our future.

I started feeling better at the beginning of October. Here is my little baby bump at week 17:

Ultrasound at week 19:

Yesterday I was wide awake from 4-6AM and decided to get the baby's room put together. We got a smokin deal on some furniture from our friend's neighbor and I went to Lowe's and picked out paint (to cover the ugly red/brown wall) and had the painting done by last night. Liv and I washed the bag of newborn clothes and have everything put away in the dresser and ready to go.  Here is some of the room so far:

We still have 10 weeks to go, but getting ready now is making me feel excited and is also a great distraction too.  I grateful that everything seems completely healthy and normal with the baby (and me). I'm fairly certain that mid-March will be here before I know it!

wrapping up summer and back to school!

This summer seemed to fly by pretty fast. I had anticipated a very slow summer, especially compared to our incredibly busy and action-packed sabbatical summer we had last year. Swim team certainly kept us busy every evening and weekend though. I think the boys had a good experience even though both Hewitt and Tosh say they do not want to do it next year. We'll see. 

We were outside swimming one afternoon and the kids were pretending to play store and Liv said the following to Tosh, "My milkshake store is closed because it is excluded. Excluded means that you're left out...in Spanish." Ha! She cracks me up.

Burke and Liv have been playing nicely together which has been awesome. They dressed up one day as undercover FBI agents:

 Another time I caught them coloring together. So sweet:

Carla Cockerell Everett, my best friend from Jr. High and High School came for a short visit one day. She and her husband met at NAU, and wanted to show their kids around Arizona and visit the Grand Canyon. It was so fun to meet her kids in person after only seeing them on Christmas cards all these years. Here are some photos of Carla and me from Jr. High, High School, and now!

And one of our kids (the best shot I could get):

Liv took a ballet class this summer from the same teacher she had before. It was exciting to see that she had improved and was generally more focused this time around!

She still doesn't enjoy the stretching much (not very flexible), but she had fun and her rhythm was right on.

About a week before school started, Burke was sort of complaining and asking why we had to leave Utah so soon and could we please go somewhere fun before school started. We had a free hotel room to use by the end of July so Rob and I started looking into some options for something fun to do with the kids.

Things came together and we were able to put together a fun little weekend 'staycation' for the weekend before school started with a couple of surprises for the kids! It turned out to be a wonderful 24 hours together as a family.

I packed clothes for the kids without their help so they would have no idea what we were up to. I also bought some yummy treats and snacks that we would not normally have. Rob got home around 4pm on Friday and we drove to downtown Phoenix. We parked on the street (free weekend parking) and walked a few blocks to the Renaissance Hotel.

Checking out the view from our 17th floor room:

We walked from the hotel to get some dinner, and then a few more blocks to Chase Field for the Diamondbacks vs Cubs game. It was so great to walk everywhere and give the kids a feel for 'downtown' life.

Rob just happened to be able to get free tickets through Intel (great lower bowl seats!) so that was nice. Rob took the kids to the play area and batting cage during some of the game to break things up:

"Take me out to the ballgame!"

We stayed for the entire game and watched the fireworks show outside before walking back to the hotel. It was a fun adventure!

The next morning the boys played a little chess at the hotel:

And we did a little swimming:

We checked out of the hotel and drove to a "surprise" location--a bowling alley! The kids were relieved it was something good (one of them actually thought we were going to go home), and everyone was excited. The Groupon deal we found for bowling included two games, shoe rental, and free popcorn and root beer! When Liv was sitting here eating popcorn she said, "This is the best day ever, right Mom?"

It's been quite a long time since we've bowled together as a family. It was fun to see the kids improve from game one to game two even.

Burke got two strikes in a row for the first time!

I love Hewitt's form:

Tosh had gotten a spare on his prior turn and was really hoping to get a spare on his very last turn (cute face!):

Family bowling was a success!

We then took off for surprise location #2... I had told Hewitt that one of the surprises he had done before (bowling) and the other he had never done. He guessed "zipline" and I said, "Sorry, no zipline in Phoenix in July!"

We eventually found the place and the kids were pretty excited! Ice skating! Here they were out front:

I had packed a separate bag full of long pants and sweatshirts and we changed inside. Can I just say that the ice rink felt incredible! I may just need to go sit inside there during the day; the heat has really been bothering me.

It took everyone a bit to get used to the feel of the skates. The boys did really well. Liv was hilarious! She was sort of all over the place and trying to dance most of the time. Rob held her up 95% of the time because she was so wiggly and Rob is much better than I am on skates. I adore this photo of Rob and Liv:

We had such a great time and stayed much longer than I thought we would (until open skate time was over). I admired that the boys pushed past the "this is hard" phase and stuck with it until it got really fun (besides the fact that the skates made our ankles really sore).

I love these cuties!

Selfie on Ice!

This photo makes me laugh so hard. Liv is so funny! Lest you think she was terrified or something, don't worry, she was totally laughing here:

I love my family! What a fantastic weekend together.

We grabbed some dinner after skating and met our friend/realtor (Jami) over at the house we've put an offer on. The kids had never been there and it was nice to see it empty and remember what it looks like after not being inside for about a month or so. Things are still moving along (albeit slowly), and the bank requested an appraisal and a list of repairs that need to be made this week. The house is set to go into foreclosure next Friday so we are hopeful we will get approval before then!

School started on Monday, July 21st. It's a big year with Burke starting Jr. High and Liv going to all day kindergarten!!! I was a little stressed about getting to the three different drop-offs in plenty of time. Tosh and Liv take the bus from our neighborhood at 8:03, Hewitt catches the bus to his school from SanTan (the school closest to our home) at 8:39, and then I drive Burke to his Jr. High that starts at 9:03 (or something totally weird like that). They encourage all kindergarten kids to take the bus the first day, but most parents will get kids on the bus and then drive over to the school and watch the kids get off the bus and go into the classroom the first day. I didn't think I'd have time to do that and to get Hewitt to his bus stop early enough, which was stressing me out. I had a good cry about this on Sunday morning (and about missing my girl this year!), but I knew that Liv would be absolutely fine! I went to her classroom with her to meet her teacher the Thursday before school started, and she was totally ready and so excited to finally ride the bus!

I didn't get great photos before the first day of school this year. I offered to buy Burke a new shirt or something and he was like, "Why would I need new clothes?" He is SO ROB sometimes! 

Burke- 7th Grade:

Hewitt- 4th Grade:

Tosh- 2nd Grade:

Liv- Kindergarten (each kinder teacher has a different colored shirt so they can make sure they have all their kids on the first day and for field trips!):

Liv loading the big bus. Do you like her HUGE backpack with her lunch money pinned to the outside?

I was a little teary watching Liv and Tosh get on the bus. I dropped off Hewitt, and then Burke, and admit that I felt quite euphoric after that! A Boston song came on the radio and I turned it way up and thought, "This is the life! I am living the dream!" Ha! :)  I organized a lunch with some girl friends to celebrate school starting.

It's over two weeks later and the kids are all enjoying their teachers and doing great! Burke made the 7th grade soccer team and has started early morning practices (7-8)! So proud of him for trying out (I never had the guts to do something like that).

I received some great notes and reports from teachers just this week.  Burke's social studies teacher sent me an email out of the blue:
"I just wanted to acknowledge what a wonderful young man Burke is.  He participates in class and always has a great attitude.  He is enthusiastic about learning and it shows.  I look forward to a great year!"


And this note from Tosh's teacher yesterday made my day!
"I have really enjoyed getting to know Tosh, he has had to work very hard for that green stamp, but has earned every one of them every single day. I do adore him terribly. His smile and his amazing effort into everything he does makes me very proud of him. Tosh does have a great deal of energy and enthusiasm for learning and life, but I sure do enjoy having him in my room. He brightens the room, truly, I really mean it."

Looks like the school year is off to a great start!