Date Night

Although there is no pictures to prove it, Brandon and I had a great date night on Friday. We ate fondue, shopped, and watched a sappy chick flick. This was all of course thanks to Nana and Papaw who are willing to come and babysit. It's so nice to be able to get away for 5 hours without the smallest concern that Hallie even misses us. I don't think she even notices we're gone. I wish they lived much closer (like next door), but then I might have 5 more kids so maybe it is for the best.
Yeah, she's not loved at all.

$30 Wasted!

So most everyone knows by now that we are expecting, but I will make it official. We are having another beautiful girl in mid January. I was so excited because another girl was what I wanted, but about 8 weeks ago we heard about an at gender test and decided to buy one. Well, it was 100% dark green which meant boy. So basically for the last 2 months we have put all of our focus into boys names, clothes, bedding, etc. Ha what a surprise we got today! I almost was afraid we weren't going to find out what it was because she wouldn't quit moving and was staying tightly in a ball. If that were the case I am almost sure we would have begun to buy boy stuff anyways. So now we are starting from scratch with a girl but thankfully we have a lot less to buy.

I apologize for my pitiful excuse for art work. I tried to get her to hold it and pose for the camera, but really she is only 14 months what did I expect.

Summer Happennings

This has been such a short summer, and it's so sad that it's coming to an end. One of the people who went out their way to get me through a summer where I was consistently sick for 10 weeks straight was my mom (nana). She drove 2 hrs+ to stay with me for a few days almost every week. It was wonderful because I got to sleep in, and take naps, and avoid baby food and stinky diapers when needed. She's the greatest nana ever and Hallie is way spoiled now thanks to her. I also have to thank my dad because he made quite a few trips himself to visit, and he was without mom more this summer than ever in their 31? years of marriage.

We have had a lot of good belly laughs, and seen a lot of cute poses. She loves to make us laugh more than anything else. She's getting really fun to be around. She discovered a few weeks ago that if she makes funny faces that everyone will laugh and sometimes she will even stall getting in trouble or taking a nap until we can gain our composure. So to say the least, we see this face below alot.

As for our older kids, this summer has really flown by. I'm pretty mad that I just realized that Mikayla has escaped taking pictures lately so I can't show you what she has been up to, but I can tell you that she was gone most of the summer doing camps, EFY, etc. She also has been competing alot with her beautiful singing voice. If I can get some pictures of that, I will post them soon. When Korbin is with us he is such a hard worker. The last week he was here he mowed, helped dad paint the entire interior of the office, cleaned out the car, and did basically any handy man jobs I asked. He's such a good kid.
As for this girl, I would dare say that she was the busiest of them all at least while she stayed with us. Hallie is in heaven when Bri is around and I can lay back and take a break from entertaining her for once. Besides being a great big sis, she also played the piano lots, swam, and took lots of bike rides with me.

cheap ride

Ladies, start your engines

One thing that Brandon and I disagree on is the value of yard sales. I love to see what cheap toys, clothes, and books I can find on Saturday morning for Hallie, but he thinks most of the time it's gross since you don't know how clean their kids may or may not be. I definitely see his point but I got this car for $5 and it has provided a lot of entertainment so far.

My mom being the natural daredevil that she is thought it would be a brilliant idea to let her ride downhill from the top of the driveway to bottom where I was crossing my fingers that Brianna was going to catch her. We only had minor crashes into the van, and only one face plant in the steering wheel. To say the least, the kid had fun and the adults were exhausted.

Sisters

The last week was fun times for Hallie and Bri. Here's what's been happening.

They went swimming

They played with Jack

They took naps

They flew airplanes

. . . And prepared for crash landings

I Have a Problem

I know it looks like we have been robbed, right? Nope this is just a bad childhood habit following me through the later years of my life. My dad can wipe his hands clean of this one because this was one of his biggest gripes about me as a child and teen, and apparently I never learned. Now Hallie loves opening drawers and cabinets and emptying out it's contents making the problem even worse. I'm not even attempting to discourage Hallie from this because when you are dealing with biting and throwing as well you kind of learn to pick your battles. So for now I'm the one who is working on changing habits.

Summer Vacation

Just like a Chevy Chase movie, our summer vacation came with lots of fun, sun, and disaster. So the good stuff first. We all had a great time visiting with family and playing at Bear Lake with jet skis, etc. The older kids seem to especially look forward to time spent with their cousins, and I personally love when Brandon and his siblings get together and tell stories from their childhood. Another highlight is that we got to follow (stalk) Elder Uchtdorf and his wife through the airport and the kids were even brave enough to meet him.

Now for the not so fun stuff. The day before we were supposed to leave the cabin Hallie got sick and I mean really sick. She threw up about 8-10 times that night, and of course we panicked thinking how are we going to get this kid on a plane like this. So we prayed hard, and made it all the way to Louisville the next day with no issues. As we were taxiing down the runway in Louisville, Brandon and I gave a slightly premature fist pump that we made it right about the time for her to explode on Dad's lap. The next morning she is still sick and within an hour I am heaving to. Thank goodness for the best mother in the whole world who left immediately to come take care of us and of course the best husband in the world who cancelled work to do the same. This turned out to be wise for him because 12 hours later it was his turn. I won't give you the details for what this virus does to a person but believe me when I say that it is the nastiest one I have had since early childhood. So this morning, Hallie threw up again and that got my adrenaline up enough to say that's enough we are going to the hospital. So the last 12 hours were spent with all four of us in the hospital, Brandon and I beside her crib in a bed, but thankfully we are on the mend. Hallie was dehydrated but should have lots of fluids in her now to help turn the corner. By the way, I discovered that my mom is the type of person who would take a hotel robe and towels if you know what I mean. I say this because when I just emptied out my diaper bag I found diapers, 2 unopened diaper rash creams, baby lotion & soap, an emesis bowl, a box of tissues, a teddy bear that we didn't come with, and bottles of pedialyte. I love it!

Oh yeah, I wanted to leave you with my favorite quote of the trip which came from my 10 year old Brianna. "Wow, can you believe we are in the same airport as Elder Uchtdorf? The only person that would be cooler to see would be Hannah Montana." Does this kid belong in Utah or what?