Memorial Day?

Isn't Memorial Day supposed to be the unofficial opening of summer? I thought it was... or at least that is the rumor I have heard about that day. This year it was about as far away from 'summer' as it could be. With the rain, hail and snow that blew at any given time, and the cold air, and wind, and having to build a fire in the woodstove to warm up the house. There was really no desire to have a big picnic and bbque! Besides, we have ran so much that a lazy day with nothing to do sounded a bit like heaven!

So... lazy is what we did. We got naps, and did some errands we needed to do, and mostly just sat around doing nothing. The other kids were off with friends, or running around and Thayne, Kailee, Nate and I were at home and decided that we would go check out the snow that was still left in the canyon. We had heard that there was so much snow it had pushed a bathroom out into the middle of the road even! I love riding up in the canyon, it is so peaceful and beautiful. But it was cold! The higher we went, the colder it got.

It sure didn't feel like the unofficial beginnig of summer, but it was a nice relaxing ride and the view is beautiful....

Noah's growing....

I can't believe that in less than 6 weeks we will be holding Noah!

It is really going by too fast! I am not sure I am ready for the pregnancy to be over!

I had an appointment on Friday and we decided to bring the younger kids

and go for a 4D ultrasound after my appointment so they could see their brother.

I LOVE those things!

It is crazy to see how far ultrasounds have come since I first started having babies.

My doctor pretty much told me I am boring...

the pregnancy is going along so well and we will be scheduling his birth day

at my next appointment.

We will also schedule the steroid shots to make sure we give his lungs an extra boost!

It seems that when you are planning an 11th c-section

there should be more excitement involved,

but not here. Everything looks great!

The kids enjoyed seeing their brother...

although he was a stubborn little man with his hands and feet in front of his face.

It took some serious work to get pictures of his face!

I moved around, got up, bounced around and we shook him up a little

and he showed us his displeasure at being disturbed!

He has the cutest little face and definitely has Thayne's nose and lips that

I love so much on our kids!

He made the cutest faces, kept sucking his lips in.

The ultrasound tech said she couldn't believe the faces he made.

I told her he was just one of ours... those faces are normal!

I am so baby hungry now, I cannot wait to hold him and snuggle him

and kiss his cute little face!!!

The kids are very excited for him to come now too!!!

I love this little face.....

His big toe up on his forehead!

Look at those toes!!!! His big sister Kailee's feet are exactly like this! He wasn't happy with us trying to get pictures so he was trying to push us away with his feet! The kids just kept laughing at his monkey feet and later that day bought their Noah a big monkey!

He had plenty of room to stretch out but like some of his brothers, he is more comfortable way up high in my ribs... still a little contortionist!

He kept his hand in front of his face... we had to work hard to get him to move his hand and feet.

We support our troops!

I have been thinking about a conversation I had with a guy at the airport in Salt Lake.

It was only the two of us and the bus driver and we were talking about the new dog he had just brought home for his wife.

He said their dog they had for 15 years had died and since he was leaving for Afghanistan in 4 days and he wanted the dog to keep his wife company.

He has been in the Navy for 29 years and has 2 boys who are serving in the military also.

One of them is leaving for Iraq for the 3rd or 4th time on the same day he leaves.

It was amazing to hear him talk about serving our country.

As we were getting closer to my stop,

I told him to be safe, and that he is a hero!

I was a little surprised at his reaction.

He got tears in his eyes, which made me get tears in my eyes too.

And he said,

"Thank you. We don't feel like heroes and often wonder if we have been forgotten over there."

He said this is their job, but expressed his love of our country and hope that we always remember the cost of freedom.

Yesterday, as I looked at the flags and the message of support for our troops,

I thought of this man, and his son who would be leaving the country they love to do their job, and I thouht of his wife, who was saying goodbye to her husband and her son for another year.

And how many times she has done it before.

And I said a prayer for their safety...and for their willingness to serve...

I hope that we never forget what it has cost us to be free!

End of the year...

I will admit it. I am a really bad mom! It's okay, you don't have to tell me. I already know. But I get so tired of the end of the year... stuff... They wait until the very end to heap it all on us at once. And while I enjoy seeing my kids do their... stuff... I mostly am not that excited about sitting through all of the other stuff! For instance, I liked it when my kids were in the middle school and/or high school choir. But when I only have one in high school singing, I don't really want to spend an hour and a half listening to the middle school singing too... not because they don't sing well, it's just that there are only so many hours in the day. And, the gym is hot... really hot! As in sweat dripping down into our eyes. And the seats are really uncomfortable. And I seem to usually, at least sometimes/mostly be pregnant while I am sitting in said, uncomfortable seats! And, I will be honest.... I hate the smells of sitting in those seats. Cigarette smoke makes me terribly sick, as in a migraine to knock me to the ground.... and when I am pregnant, I can smell things that maybe I normally wouldn't smell... like body odor, and cheap perfume and well... it's horrible I know, but I already admitted I am a horrible mother for hating these things! They do banquets and concerts and ceremonies and plays and I KNOW that there are a lot of families that have a lot of kids involved in several things at once so I know that they can't all be excited to sit night after night through another activity. Or maybe they do and I am just really horrible!!! It's a shortcoming I may overcome before the last child grows up. Or maybe it just won't be a big deal when I am down to my last child... except then I will also have grandchildren involved and I will feel the need to go see them in whatever activity they happen to be in at the time. Who knows! So for now I will count down the days... we can do this. Only a few more field trips, a few more class activities, a few more programs... and then summer! No schedules, no agendas, no running to and fro, no sitting in uncomfortable, hot, stinky gyms... no rushing from one place to another or splitting up to tag team activities....

Well... we can dream can't we???

But, Kinzee did look beautiful and they did sing amazingly well, and even she was ready to rush out the door as soon as they had sang the last song!!!