December 2014

It seems I post some embarrassing picture of myself every few months, so here’s one to hold you over for a while. A Christmas tree with candy canes hung all over it is hard for a pregnant woman to resist. Jared called via Face Time and caught me while finishing up one of them. He laughed hysterically after he took the screenshot and threatened to put it on Facebook. Meh, I put it on the blog anyway, so it wouldn’t have mattered.

 

The museum of curiosity had a fun science experiment for kids to make volcanoes.

We went to Temple Square and ate at the Garden restaurant at the top of the Joseph Smith Memorial Building. I highly recommend it. You get the same great view, but much lower price, and (in my opinion) better food for a lot cheaper than The Roof. But you still need a reservation. The kids enjoyed the candy displays in the windows at Macy’s as well.

It was crazy hair day at school.

Santa came to our church Christmas activity. Eli wouldn’t go near him.

Eli had his school Christmas program and party. He did a great job and can sing We Wish You a Merry Christmas all by himself.

Rameses had to go to the vet and Patch was so upset he was shaking and whining. Poor guy is going to be a wreck (along with rest of us) when Rameses dies.

We had our annual Music and the Spoken Word, followed by brunch at the Little America. I ate my weight in snow crab and Halle didn’t throw up this year!

And finally Christmas day! I didn’t take too many pictures, but it was a nice relaxing day. The kids found out we were going to Disney World and got a chain of Disney World fun facts to countdown the two weeks until we left.

Matching shirts: “Fairy Grandmother of a Princess”, and “I’m 99% sure I’m a Disney Princess.” My sister in law does custom orders on this stuff, so let me know if you want one!

And a blog post wouldn’t be complete without some sleepy pictures.

November 2014

Jared needed to meet with a client in Page, AZ, so we decided to stay in Kanab, just an hour or so away, and volunteer at Best Friends Animal Sanctuary. I love that place! Our first volunteer session was spent with the Seniors where my mom and I volunteered last time we went. This time my obsession was Cowboy. We took him on a walk and there was this one spot that he would not quit digging. He stuck his entire head in the hole he dug, then would start digging again. They said he’s known for being an expert ground squirrel catcher. There must have been something there that we couldn’t see or hear.

I hope he finds or has already found his forever home where he can dig to his heart’s content. Then Jared walked this silly guy that preferred to walk himself by carrying his leash in his mouth.

This funny one loved to chase lights. We saw him pawing at the sun on the ground as we opened and closed his kennel, then realized what he was doing. Jared got out his phone and we made the light go all over that kennel. He never got tired of this game. Ever.

The next morning while Jared and Jess were in Page, Joan and I volunteered with the puppies. We went on lots of walks with them, and cleaned their enclosures.

Then we ate lunch at the sanctuary. They provide a vegan buffet for $5. It’s not delectable food, but it is, in my opinion (others didn’t share this opinion), quite delicious and to me it was fun to try vegan meatloaf and such. This is the view from the balcony where we ate lunch.

Jared and Jess made it back for the afternoon session. We all volunteered together with the dogs. There’s an area where all the dogs are green collars, meaning that they are safe and friendly, which is what I needed being pregnant so the dogs wouldn’t jump up on me. Many of these dogs, while friendly, are skittish. They came from hoarding situations and are scared of human interaction. To help this they have volunteers hand feed them. I love dogs, but I couldn’t hand feed them. Some of them required mushy food and I was still in my extremely queasy months of pregnancy and the thought made me want to throw up. I watched Jared and Jess interact with them as they fed them and these dogs are just so sweet. You want to hug them and love on them and show them that humans are okay, but they are so scared you can’t even lift your hand to pet their heads.

Now this sweet Katrina was NOT scared of humans. She’s been there for many years, and is the smartest of the bunch. You can sneeze and she’ll get you a tissue from a box, among other incredible tricks. She loves to play soccer. Generally you’re not allowed to throw toys for the dogs because it gets kennel mates too riled up and they’re afraid they’ll fight or something. But Katrina’s kennel mate is so terrified of life that they knew it wouldn’t be a problem and so she and I played soccer. Jared joined in the fun as well.

Messy face after a very long game of soccer.

She was upset we stopped playing with her and threw this bed all around inside. She was doing this before we played, which is why they asked us to play with her and get her energy out. Apparently it wasn’t enough for her.

Her kennel mate, Sonatra, was iffy on coming in the dog door with all her ruckus.

Back home to normal life after that. With no newly adopted dogs in tow, and happy to be back home with this sweetie.

Fun at Trafalga.

Football games. This was a rainy and cold game that I didn’t attend. Don’t ask me how Jess can just fall asleep in the cold rain in the noise of a football game.

Got a cute picture of baby at 12 weeks.

Every day after school we have anywhere between 5-8 kids at our house. I love that Halle’s friends enjoy being here, and it’s something that I always wanted. To be the fun house where friends and family enjoy spending time and can feel so much joy here. I’m so glad I don’t work anymore and can be here for this. Here Maggie, Emma, Lindsay, and Halle are dancing to Thriller. I also got the entire dance on video. I love that they’re not too shy to dance in front of me.

On Thanksgiving I officially told my brother and sister that I’m pregnant. We did Thanksgiving at my house with just mom, dad, and Dustin and his family. The food was delicious. Halle said I made the best mashed potatoes she’s ever had. The turkey was amazing, and it was all around fun to be together, though we missed Erin and family greatly.

After this only 4 weeks until Christmas!