T Minus 6 Days, and Counting

Well, it's 6 days until this baby girl is due to be born and I still feel like it's months away. I'm not feeling any contractions or cramps or anything, just tired as usual. At my doctor appointment on Tuesday the doc said I wasn't even dilated to a 1, yet he somehow found a way to strip my membranes, which I barely felt and was not nearly as bad as a lot of women have told me it would be. He once told me that he would not induce me unless I was a week past my due date, but on Tuesday he told me he forgot he had to be to a conference in Denver on the 28th and will likely induce me on the 25th if I don't go into labor before then. So, if the baby doesn't come in the next 6 days, we will be bringing her out in a week. The doc thinks she will be small, maybe closer to 7 pounds (like Uriah) than 8 pounds (like the girls). I have been thinking the same thing, since I don't feel or look as big as I did when I was pregnant with the other kids. I guess we will see soon enough.

The kids are very excited about her coming soon. I got the car seat out of storage and Bonnie thought that meant the baby was coming home that day. I had to tell her that the baby wasn't coming just yet, but that we needed to get ready for her. All of J's coworkers at the hospital are asking him when I'm due and are excited to be there and see the baby when she is born. I told J I am expecting some royal treatment out there since they are all at the edge of their seats waiting for this baby to come. J is really looking forward to getting 2 weeks off  and so he is wanting her to come ASAP. He has been working hard the past year and has only taken 2 vacation days and no sick days, so I think he deserves a break. Of course, it won't be much of a break since he will be taking care of me and all the kids. I'm sure after the first week he will be ready to go back to work, ha ha.

We have been doing a lot of canning. I guess that means harvest is in full swing. We have canned spaghetti sauce and salsa. This weekend we are going to pickle cucumbers and we bought 4 boxes of peaches at a farmer's market and will can those too. We have to do this when J is home since being on my feet for a certain amount of time makes my ankles swell up. I have been surprised that my feet haven't swollen as much as they have during my other 3 pregnancies. J is kind of disappointed that he can't poke holes in my skin with his finger and watch them slowly fill back in. I guess that is a good thing. I am thankful that I have been healthy with this pregnancy and have only had to be on allergy meds. I did get a few upper respiratory infections in the past 9 months but thankfully antibiotics helped me through those. I am grateful to have such an awesome doctor and a medically mindful husband.

Summer Survived

I can't believe that summer 2015 is over. I really didn't know how or if I was going to survive it. I know I have alluded to it in a previous post, but I don't think I have actually come out and announced that we are expecting child #4 on September 24th. This is the first time I have been in the late months of pregnancy over a summer and I thought it was going to be hard, but thanks to air conditioning it was rather easy to deal with the summer heat. I didn't spend a lot of time outside, which kind of bummed me out, but staying cool and hydrated was more important to me than being out in the summer heat. The kids were pretty understanding. They didn't mind staying in all day, but they quickly got used to being inside all the time and it was hard to get them to go outside.

 3D ultrasound of baby girl

Me at 33 weeks

Even with the summer heat, there were a few days where I felt adventurous. The kids got kites for Easter that they hadn't even used, so on a blustery day we took them to the park nearby to fly their kites. The wind was temperamental and the kites were going up and down a lot, but we had lots of fun.  There is something relaxing to me about flying a kite.

Uriah's kite was a Chinese dragon that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of.

I also bought a cheap pool at Walmart to entice the kids to play outside more. It was a big pain in the butt because it had to be emptied frequently and we were paying the city for all the water to fill it. Next summer I will just buy a sprinkler for the kids to play in. 

First Federal Bank built a new park on the west side of Twin Falls and we went there with the kids a few times this summer, but because it was a new park there were no trees to provide shade and they hadn't built any pavilions. I had to take my umbrella to keep cool, but we still couldn't stand to stay there longer than 30 minutes each time. 

We have been helping the in-laws with their garden this year and so have been getting a lot of produce from it. I have never ever liked beets, but we picked some and because the hubs works all the time, guess who got to can them? Yup. Beets are practically the messiest things I have ever had to can, but they turned out well, and my hubs was happy with how they tasted. I guess that makes it worth it :)  We have also frozen lots of zucchini and squash, green beans and peas. The peas didn't last very long though. They were delicious!

This little man of mine was losing teeth like a guy in a boxing match this summer. He pulled out two teeth in one day, and we didn't even know one of them was loose! He was pretty happy about all the visits the tooth fairy was making to his bedroom. 

One day I saw this black cat and squirrel playing together on the fence. It was quite entertaining to watch, but then the squirrel must have gotten tired because it stretched itself out on top of the fence and wouldn't move. The cat tried to get it to play more but it just laid there, so then the cat jumped off the fence and took a rest too.

For my birthday I decided I wanted to go to 1000 Springs again. It has become my favorite place to go swimming. I love a warm swimming pool. The kids like to jump off the diving boards into the deep water, but that means one of us has to be there to catch them and swim them over to the side of the pool and my pregnant body was too weary for much of that. Uriah has been getting better at swimming on his own, but Jordyn seems to have forgotten everything she learned in swimming lessons. 

My sister came to visit from Colorado so we went and stayed at my brother's house in Blackfoot overnight. He took Bonnie for a ride on his 4-wheeler...

 ...and aunt Deej did the girls' hair. I wish I had this kind of talent! The girls don't even sit still for me when I am brushing their hair. 

 Uriah had been begging me all summer long to make him a minky blanket. He was always dragging mine around the house and stealing it from me so I decided I had better do something about it before school started. I took the kids to the fabric store in Burley and let them pick out what they wanted on the front and back. Bonnie already has 2 minky blankets of her own and I told her she didn't need another one. 

My sewing skills definitely need some work, but you can see they are happy with their blankets,

 School started on the 20th and boy was I ready for it. The kids were constantly fighting and my pregnancy hormones were not handling it very well. 

Uriah started 2nd grade and was very eager to go. He likes everything about school. His teacher is Mr. Terrell and I think that having a male teacher will help him be more respectful at school. He is a very smart boy and a great reader. He read and tested on 10 books during the first week of school! I can't wait to watch him grow this year.

Jordyn started Kindergarten. She has to wait until 12 to go to school and she doesn't like waiting. She wants to go to school in the morning when I take Uriah. She has been loving it so far. She has  learned cute songs about colors and brought home several pictures she has drawn. I am excited to watch her grow as well.

Bonnie and I have been struggling since school started. I am enjoying the peace and quiet, but all Bonnie wants to do is watch or play electronics after Jordyn leaves for school, and I've got to find a way to keep her busy with other things. The hubs went to the store and bought some construction paper so that Bonnie and I can do crafts together during the day. As my due date gets closer I get more and more tired, but I'm sure I can come up with a simple craft every day.

Playing Picture Catch-Up

I have decided to make up for my lack of blogging by posting pictures from each month I didn't blog since we moved here. That seemed much easier to me than trying to type it all out. Plus, going through the pictures helps me remember what we did!

September

 

Goodbye apartment living! In nearly 10 years of marriage, this is the first house we have ever lived in. 

I loved that it has a backyard for the kids to play in.

Jared moved into the house at the end of September and the kids and I stayed in Pocatello until I finished work at the end of October.

October

 We finally got all moved in the week before Halloween. I didn't put up any decorations this year, but we still had time to carve some pumpkins. 

 The neighbors have a row of tall trees right next to the fence, and guess who gets all the dead leaves? Yup, us! We made some good sized piles and tossed the kids into them.

November

 I got bit by the crafting bug and made some wreaths, like this one for Thanksgiving...

 ...and this one for Christmas.

 I also made these decorative Christmas bottles from glass Coke bottles and spray-on glitter. It was a big pain in the butt scraping the Coke logo off of each bottle.

I also made this stockings sign, with a little help from Jared (he screwed in the hooks). I have wanted to make one of these for a long time, and I was happy to finally have one. 

December

As usual, we attended the annual Hunsaker family Christmas party in Rupert. The kids were excited to tell Santa what gifts they wanted this year. 

 Uriah wanted a race car and video games

 Jordyn wanted a doll house and some dolls

 Bonnie was a little too scared to say anything to Santa. I'm sure he knew what she wanted.

 I found this doll house on Black Friday at KMart and got it as a birthday present for Jordyn. It took me more than 2 hours to put together. She ended up loving it and plays with it all the time, so it was worth it.

 We were the surprise recipients of a 12 Days of Christmas from a family in our ward. They brought us a piece to a manger scene every night for about 10 days.

 On the last day, they brought us this book and the baby Jesus. It helped bring the Christmas spirit into our home and I feel special and blessed for being a part of this ward.

 Another craft a friend helped me make. I love that it uses Christmas lights. 

This Christmas I decided to get the kids 3 presents each, and it was the best decision I have ever made. It was the easiest shopping I have ever done.

 Uriah got a race car, a Leap Frog Explorer game and amiibos for the Wii U.

Bonnie got a Team Umizoomi Milly doll, a Frozen camera, and an art easel.

Jordyn got a Frozen scooter, a Leap Frog Explorer game, and a My Little Pony camera.

January

 In January we went skiing with our good friends Matt and Amber Grayson at Pomerelle. I am not very good at skiing and had a mini meltdown at the beginning, but I got better at getting off the lift and was able to enjoy myself after about an hour.

 In mid-January we got a bunch of snow after having a very dry, cold winter, so the girls and I built a snowman and the girls named him Olaf.

 We had a lot of fun playing in the snow, making snow angels...

 and burying Jordyn.

Even Olaf had a good time.

February

Sometime in November we got a new bed because our mattress was almost 10 years old. Uriah inherited our old queen bed, but we didn't have any comforters big enough to cover it. Since we were using the only queen comforter we had for our bed, I decided to make Uriah a Super Mario quilt big enough to fit his new queen-sized bed. It took me a few months to do the top part, and when it came time to put the quilt together, I didn't have a quilt frame, and everyone I knew who had one was using theirs. I was a little sad and frustrated that I had worked so hard on the top only to be halted by not having a frame, so my awesome-sauce brother decided to build one for me! I bought him the materials and in a few weeks he had it all done. I was super impressed, and now I have my own quilt frames.

 I think the cat thought the quilt frames were for her...

 And here is the finished quilt on Uriah's bed! I am very happy with how it turned out and I can't believe that I made something so large. I am definitely not an expert sewer, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without the help of my sweet sweet mother-in-law, who basically gave me step-by-step instructions on how to make it.

We had a great set of missionaries come to our ward and they visited us often on P-Days to share a lesson with us and play the Wii. On the left is Elder Spitler and on the right is Elder Olsen. They have both since been transferred and the kids miss them very much. 

We celebrated Bonnie's 3rd birthday at the end of February. We went to eat at Gertie's Brick Oven Cookery and opened presents. Next year is when we will have the BIG party, because she will actually get a real birthday on leap day!

March

In March, Jared and I took an impromptu early 10 year anniversary vacation to the east coast. Jared has always wanted to take me to Philadelphia, where he went on his mission, and I decided that if we didn't do it now, we may never get to for a long, long time. We took the kids to grandma and grandpa Nichols' for a week and I got on my first airplane ride ever!

I will admit, I was pretty terrified on my first plane ride. It was in the middle of the night and I couldn't see anything out the windows. I wasn't accustomed to the movements and feeling of the jet and we were all squished together like sardines in a can. I did survive, however, and our connecting flight from Detroit to Baltimore was much better.

 

We stayed with my bestedest friend Jason Barfuss and his wife and kids, who lived near Baltimore, Maryland. I was so excited to see him when he picked us up from the airport. 

The weather wasn't exactly ideal that first day, but we didn't have anything planned except for sleep so we didn't mind the snow too much.

I took over 300 pictures from our vacation and don't have enough room in this post for them all, so I will just have to give the highlights. 

 My husband had always told me about Rita's Italian Ice and why snow cones were just the worst thing in the world, but I never believed him. This trip converted me to the world of Rita's. Mmmm mmm.

 We saw the Liberty Bell, Ben Franklin's grave, and the Betsy Ross house.

 This is the room in Independence Hall where the Declaration of Independence was signed. Without the events that occurred in this room, Joseph Smith may not have been able to bring forth the gospel in this dispensation.

 This is the National Archives in Washington DC where I saw my friend swear an oath to protect the country in front of the Constitution and Declaration of Independence. It was a very spiritual experience and something I will probably never see again.

 We went to Arlington National Cemetery and saw President Kennedy's grave and the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

 The changing of the guard at the tomb was a very solemn and respectful experience. It is something I will never forget. We probably didn't even see 1/3 of the entire cemetery.

 In DC we also went to the Air and Space Museum (awesome!) and the Museum of Natural History.

 Jared and I went to the Independence Seaport Museum in Philadelphia and toured this white and red ship and went through this submarine.

 Crawling through the port holes on this sub were a HUGE pain in the butt!

 We also got to see the construction on the Philadelphia LDS temple. Jared never got to attend a temple on his mission and he is happy to see this being built.

 Finally, we went to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where they have the Rocky statue and his footprints. We got a beautiful view of the Philadelphia skyline from there as well.

This was probably the coolest thing ever...the Philadelphia Eagles stadium! I wish we could have gotten a closer look.

We also went through Baltimore and saw the Baltimore Ravens stadium. I really wanted to go to the Edgar Allen Poe house but they were closed while we were there.  Big bummer!

It was a quick trip, only a week, but it was one I will never forget. Thank goodness I had a guide who had been to these places before!

I have to add this picture to March. We went through the car wash and Bonnie HATED the sound. Can you tell?

April

 We colored eggs for Easter.

We bought a van in March and my mom and I took it for a maiden voyage up to Baker Creek and Galena Summit. We stopped at the Sheep Herder's tub and let the kids skinny dip. 

 Aubrey, Jordyn and Uriah

 Bonnie wasn't interested in skinny dipping.

 We got some unusually warm weather at the end of April, so we took the girls swimming by the falls...

 ...where I promptly got sunburned. Some of the worst pain I've ever had from a sunburn.

May

 Uriah and I made this crayon wreath for his 1st grade teacher for Teacher Appreciation Week.

 The girls helped me give the van its first bath.

 The kids playing nice with Tootles.

 Bonnie fell asleep like this one day.

Someone told my hubby that he looked like a bunny when he was in his ER suit, so they slapped some bunny ears on him to complete the outfit.

June

 When Uriah was done with school I started the kids in swim lessons. Uriah and Jordyn did the first two weeks and Bonnie got so jealous that I enrolled her for the second two weeks. They had a blast and wish they could do it all summer long.

 Jordyn jumps off the diving board. She did so well in her first class that they let her skip the second class and go straight to the 3rd level.

 Jordyn loves the pool.

 Bonnie loves the water but didn't like the idea of jumping off the diving board.

It was a great way to keep them entertained for a month. 

In June I got to see my bestedest friend Jason for the second time in a year. He came to Idaho for a funeral, so us best friends got together for some quality time while he was in town. 

Arlen Hunsaker, me, Jason Barfuss

We had some great laughs and did some catching up.

Uriah turned 7 this month and we went swimming at 1000 Springs Resort (I had never been there) and then we came home for a bbq of chicken, steak and corn on the cob (Uriah's choice) with some family and friends. I would say he got pretty spoiled. I can't believe that next year he will be 8 and getting baptised!

Well, I think I'm about as caught up as I can be. Hopefully the next post won't be another 6 month catch-up.