Another CA Trip

*Warning* Lots of pictures ahead.

Last weekend we went down to Carlsbad for my cousin's wedding. She actually married one of our best friends, so we knew both the bride and the groom really well, which was really interesting and cool.

Heather and Brockton got sealed in the San Diego temple by my grandpa. It's always great to go to a live sealing, but it's not often that I get to witness my grandpa perform a sealing, especially for a family member. And it was also really special because Peter was with me and we got married in that temple and maybe even in that sealing room.

I am so glad we went because it was just so much fun to see both sides of the wedding. Here are Brock's siblings with my mom as we waited for the couple to come out of the temple.

Peter and our niece, Mikayla.

My amazing and totally rad grandparents
So glad Kira came!
Aunt Lisa- the coolest aunt EVA!
The temple still had some scaffolding on it, but this spire was looking beautiful...
Heading down to meet Heather and Brockton...
Mr. and Mrs. Chappell, looking gorgeous.
Yvette, the mother of the the bride, with Kira
My family

I was so happy to see my cousin Michael! I miss and love this dork so much. It had been years since I had seen him.

My parents and the Chappells have been best buddies for years.

It was a beautiful wedding, yummy luncheon, and a great reception. I was having too much fun and eating too many tortilla chips and guacamole to take many pictures. But Eden insisted on having a picture with the "princess" before we left.
The next day we caught up on sleep and hung out at the beach. Levi was not having a great time. He wanted to go home, and I have to admit, it was a little cold. He started having fun when we buried his feet in the sand.The kids played around while Peter built a sand castle and my parents went down the beach.
Um, where did Eden get those hammies? So jealous of those. Seriously, she could be a gymnast.

Jonah and my dad went looking for shells...

while Kira made a sand mermaid.

It looked better in person, but here it is!

That night we hung out with a bunch of family and played a few hands of silent partner. It's always fun to see everyone. I think we need another Ron Packard reunion, especially since I was on my mission during the last one!

Congrats to Brockton and Heather!

Jonah's First Day of Kindergarten

Jonah had his first day of Kindergarten last week. He has been super excited, although I don't think he understood why school is now called Kindergarten. I guess I don't either. He is already adapting though, because he loves telling people that he is in Kindergarten.

I tried to take some pictures before we left on Thursday. But there was a mantis on the side of the house and the kids wouldn't stop staring at it.

"Come on, Jonah, let's take a picture."

"Um, boys, look over here."

"Hello?"

*Waving arms and whistling*
"Jonah, show me your Star Wars folder."
Bingo.
Eden was going no where near that mantis. And here he is on the way in to school. Looks pretty happy.

I tried to ask Jonah about his day when he got home, but I couldn't get much out of him. He said that they colored and there is a boy named Rocky in his class. The next day, he was so excited to tell me about P.E. Earlier, I had explained to him what P.E. was. He told me that they kicked some balls and that the P.E. teacher kicked a ball and it hit him in the head and he cried. But his teacher gave him a hug, and he liked P.E. He was totally animated the whole time he was telling me this, even about the part where he got hit in the head! So funny.

On Miscarrying

Well, I guess the kids knew more about the pregnancy than I thought. Last Sunday, Jonah asked me if the little tiny baby growing inside me was getting bigger. I had to explain to him that when I went to the hospital to see the doctors, I found out that the baby was sick and died. I was surprised that when I told this to Jonah, he started crying. He was really upset. I told him that there's no longer a baby inside me, but that Dad and I were going to try again and have a baby that isn't sick. I hugged him and cried a little too. I guess I've learned that even though my kids act like they aren't listening, they really are. I need to see them as people, not just kids. Eden came over and I told her about the baby too. She was sad but she also understood.

I am doing better than I thought I would with the miscarriage. Before I had had a miscarriage, I wondered how I would be able to get through something like that. It's kind of different when you have to get through it. I think my circumstances have made it easier to deal with, but also the fact that I still know that Heavenly Father is behind me on this. I have definitely felt prompted that another spirit is waiting to join our family, and even though I lost this one, I still think that it will happen.

Thanks so much to my friends and family for your well-wishes, emails, and comments. I really appreciate the love and support. I have been able to not dwell on the loss, but when someone expresses their condolences, I think about it a little more and allow myself to get a little sad, which I think is good. I have a follow-up with my doctor this Thursday and hopefully I will know more about when we can try again. In the meantime, I have lots to keep my mind busy.

I'm in Trouble...

Jonah starts Kindergarten tomorrow. He has been really excited, and I have been excited for him. Real Kindergarten is so fun! Not that I would know, I went to a combined K and 1st grade class. I think Jonah's Kindergarten will be a lot like that though. From what I can tell about his Elementary school., they are serious business!

Jonah is a lot more excited than he appears in this picture. I think he was just embarrassed to stand by his beautiful teacher, whom he just met.
So today we went to Meet the Teacher. Jonah's teacher has a name that's impossible for a Kindergartner to pronounce, so we've been practicing. Jonah went into the classroom and found his desk. He sits in the fourth row in between two kids in our ward whom we will be carpooling with. Hopefully that will be a good thing, and he won't get in too much trouble sitting by friends.
He was so excited, he sat right down in his desk and didn't want to leave until he had done some work. I had to remind him that we were just there to meet his teacher and see his classroom. He is so excited for tomorrow. On the way to the car, I was telling Jonah how excited I was for him and how I can't believe I have a Kindergartner. That's when I started welling up. I know I'm going to cry tomorrow!

On the way home, we ran by Ross to get him some jeans, since they can't wear shorts to school. He picked out his outfit to wear tomorrow, we wrote his name on his folder (no backpacks this year), and went over the class rules. I think he's ready!

More pictures tomorrow!

Levi's Toys

My kids are pretty funny with their toys. They love using Peter's shoes for cars. Here are Levi's favorite toys all in one "car":

Prince Phillip Ken doll, Fred from Scooby Doo, The owl that came with Prince Phillip, and a little figurine of Prince Phillip. You can guess who Levi's favorite prince is.

Tibi's Visit and a Bittersweet Weekend

The kids had a lot of fun with Tibi. I did too- it's always fun having Tibi come visit us for a few weeks during the summer. We went to a few movies, ran errands, and shopped a little. We also got to go to Kim's baby shower. She got some cute things and the food was SO good. She is now 39 weeks, so that baby girl is coming soon! Or if Kim's like me, she'll be five days overdue. Kim, I am sending labor vibes your way!The kids love Tibi. Here are Eden and Tibi when we did curlers for Sunday.
And here they are on Sunday. We ended up putting Eden's hair up in a cute curly pony because she looked like a lion in the morning. I think the rags work better on her than the foam curlers.
Eden also had Meet the Teacher night. We all went, and Jonah was really excited because Eden has Miss Amy, whom he had last year. He loved Miss Amy and he learned a lot, so I am super psyched for Eden to have her this year. She was more interested in the toys, but Jonah did show her around and taught her the rules, which are shown in pictures on the whiteboard: Quiet mouth, share, hands to yourself, raise your hand, sit criss-cross applesauce, and one more I can't remember. I'll have to ask Jonah.

"Mom, I don't want to take a picture. Just let me play!"

Eden started school last Thursday. She was really excited to go, but she was mad that she didn't get to ride the bus in because I had to drop off paperwork for her at the office. She did get to ride the bus home.

She wouldn't give me a toothy smile before school. But look at that beautiful face. I'm in trouble.
She smiled once she was at school. No separation anxiety here. She was ready to go!
The next day (Friday of last weekend) the kids and I drove up to Logandale to take Tibi home. We stuck around for a few days and got to go to our cousin Jaden's wedding. The morning we left home, Jonah woke up with a barking cough which I was very familiar with. Jonah had croup at 12 months and 24 months, hospitalized both times. We had to go anyway, so I just hoped for the best.

We got to Logandale fine, but that night, Jonah had it rough. He was getting to the point where he was gasping for air (called stridor) and barking like a seal. I knew what to do, but getting a breathing treatment or an oral steroid was going to work the best. I did everything else I could do. We kept the humidifier on him, gave him a hot steamy shower, and gave him Tylenol. I didn't really want to drive a half hour to Mesquite and spend the night in the ER, so we just got through the night, if without much sleep. I figured we could go to an Urgent care in St. George the next day. My mom thought it was interesting how calm I was with the situation. If you've ever been around a kid with croup, you know how scary it is. But I have actually surprised myself with things like this. I find I can stay pretty calm and just take care of the situation. I can certainly be a stress case with things, but I can handle kid sickies pretty well, even vomiting, which scared me to death before I had kids who actually did throw up. Anyway...

The next morning we had to get up early and leave for the wedding. It was unclear to me what time we were supposed to be there, and my dad took off in front of me really fast. I thought we were going to miss the wedding and I'd better catch up to my dad, so I accelerated up to 13 over the speed limit. Michaela saw the cop right as I passed him. He turned around and got me quick. After the crappy night I had had before, I was pretty upset about getting a ticket. I never go over 10 over the speed limit, and I haven't gotten a ticket since college, so I was not happy. The cop was nice, but a warning would have been nicer. Oh well.

We ended up getting to the temple with plenty of time to spare. I was glad I didn't miss the sealing; I love seeing live sealings. Jaden and Tiffany's was great and although we were sweating buckets outside taking pictures afterward, it was a nice day. They had a really yummy luncheon and the reception was very beautiful. I wish I had taken pictures of the reception, but I was really tired by this point and needed to go home and sleep.

A few of my uncles: Bob, Paul, and Randy. I love these guys!

You can't tell, but we were sweating like pigs.

While we were in St. George, we got into an Urgent clinic where there was no wait. The doctor was great with Jonah, and prescribed the steroid that has helped Jonah in the past. He only ended up needing one dose. I actually caught the virus that had given Jonah croup. I started out with laryngitis and a really sore throat.

It was great being in St. George. I made sure I hit Jimmy John's before leaving town. I was so sad when we passed what used to be Charlie's. Lots of memories there.

The kids loved Grandma and Grandpa's house, like usual. They played outside for hours, chasing the chickens and petting Kit and the cat.
*Yucky women details below*

The next day was Sunday, and we went to my parent's ward. I took Levi out during sacrament meeting and went to the bathroom. I noticed I was spotting. I know a lot of you didn't know, but I was 7 weeks pregnant. I haven't ever spotted during a pregnancy, so I was a basketcase. I got through the rest of church, but people must have thought I was really feeling the Spirit or something. I was so tired from everything that had happened that weekend, and this was icing on the cake.

We came home on Tuesday. I checked with my doctor, and they said that unless I had heavy bleeding or cramping, that it could be nothing. I did spot from Sunday until Friday. On Friday morning it happened, and I went in to the ER, where they confirmed that my hormone levels were low, my uterus was empty, and my cervix was shut. So we are no longer expecting. I am glad that I had from Sunday to Friday to get used to the idea that I was having a miscarriage, and that it happened fast and virtually painless. I kind of had a glimmer of hope through the week that it was nothing, but I wasn't too surprised at least when I found out.

Sorry for sharing this with all of you. I am doing pretty well, but I have had a few moments. The kids didn't even really get that I was pregnant; we always talked about it more hypothetically, so they have no clue. I am kind of grateful for that, so I don't have to explain it to them and keep reliving it. We are doing okay and I guess we will just keep trying.

For now, I am glad that Eden is in school, and I am so excited for Jonah to start this week. I thought I would mostly be excited to get the kids out of the the house, but I really am excited for him to go to Kindergarten! Real school! He's going to love it.

While I was waiting this past week to find out what was going on with the pregnancy, I decided to get busy with some projects so I wouldn't go crazy with worry. I ended up finishing my I-Spy quilt, which my mom got quilted for me as a Mother's Day present in May! It has been sitting around waiting to be trimmed and bound, and I finished it. The kids love it, especially Jonah. I got the fabrics through an I-Spy swap. Twenty ladies each got 10 different fabrics, cut them into squares and mailed them into a lady who divided them up so you got about 200 squares of different fabric. It was so fun. The pictures don't really do it justice; it is so bright and cheery, and there are tons of pictures to play I-Spy with! Got the idea here.
I am now working on a big Christmas rag quilt that I started back in November. I should be done soon.