February 14, 2012 Happy Valentines Day!

I have had a love/hate relationship with this day for many years!

As a child I loved Valentine's day. I loved waking up in the morning and finding that the Valentines Day Cupid had left me a little heart shaped box of chocolates on my dresser, and that I was sure to come downstairs to some sort of yummy Valentine's Day breakfast. Then of course there were the fun Valentine's Day parties at school. All the little cards from friends in my class, and way too many cookies, chocolates, and other junk food!

As I got older, Valentines Day was more of a "Who is cool and who is not cool" day. I dreaded going to school and being one of "those girls" who was not called down to the office to receive her roses, teddy bear, and whatever else the girls with boyfriends had had delivered to them at school that day. It was always heart wrenching to watch those girls walking back from the office with their arms full of things and huge smiles on their faces.

I still remember the day I was a Junior in High school and my name WAS among the huge list of girls being called to the office to pick up Valentines. My Daddy had sent me flowers that year, and it was one of my best Valentine's days ever! I was so proud to walk down the hall with flowers from my Dad.

There were actually several years beyond that that My Dad sent me flowers on Valentine's Day. I remember working at State Farm and seeing the florist come through the door. I of course wanted to hope that the flowers were for me, but never got my hopes up too high. My Daddy always pulled through though. Even if that bouquet wasn't for me, the next one usually was! He was always well aware at how much I disliked Valentine's Day and always made it his mission to make it a much better day!

Then there were the years that I spent living away from home. My Mom always made sure to send me a Valentine's Day package filled with cookies from home, chocolates, and of course some kind of cute little Valentine surprise like a shoe, or some earrings. Bless her heart, my Mom STILL sends Valentine's day packages to all of us! I don't know how she gets them all put together and sent with all the other stuff she has to do, but it's a tradition I still love, one that Chris now loves, and my kids look forward to.

Now I am at a whole different phase in my life. I'm the Mommy and wife now and Valentine's day has taken on a whole new meaning...again!

I have had wonderful Valentine's Days for the past 6 years. In fact I think the last 6 years of Valentine's days have more than made up for the hard ones in my past!

This year was of course no different. I thought that I had had my Valentine's Day yesterday in SLC, but I should know by now, that's not how Chris works. I got up and got Keric and I ready so that he could go to school today. He of course was very excited to go to school because today was his Valentine's Day party.

After I dropped him off I ran to Wal-mart to get a couple things for dinner tonight. When I got home Chris had a Valentine waiting for me. Of course his card made me cry, along with chocolates and the Breaking Dawn movie. It was a nice surprise!

I picked Keric up from school, all covered in frosting and a red punch moustache, holding a huge bag full of Valentine's from all his classmates. When I got home I had Cafe Rio waiting for me for lunch along with laundry being done and an order to take a nap. LOL Like I would turn THAT down!

For dinner Chris made us all his famous Valentine's Day breakfast. This has been a tradition at our house for the past 6 years, and one that I don't think we will be able to give up. :) Chris made us all heart shaped Chocolate Chip Pancakes with strawberries, chocolate sauce, whip cream, and this year sparkling cider to drink. In years past we have had chocolate milk, but I found the cutest little champagne flutes at the dollar store, and decided to mix it up this year. :) The kids LOVE this meal, and lets be honest...so do the rest of us. :) I mean seriously, what's not to love!

After we put the kids in bed, Chris and I watched Breaking Dawn and then headed to bed. It was really a FULL and FUN day!

I truly am a very blessed woman. Probably more blessed than I deserve, but I'm certainly not going to complain!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!

February 13, 2012

Today was my Valentine's Day a.k.a. "Princess Day" as Chris calls it, and lucky me, I got to spend it with my 3 favorite boys!

The day started with with a trip to SLC to the Maternal Fetal Medicine ward in the hospital. We were scheduled for an ultra sound today to check Carson's weight and also the fluid level in his little kidney's. The last few ultrasounds I have had, he has had extra fluid in his left kidney.

He still continues to be my FAT baby. They estimated his weight at 6lbs 12 oz and I am measuring at about 35 weeks and 4 days which is exactly two weeks ahead of where I really am. Sadly we never really got to see his little face, he is currently breech, and wasn't cooperating very well with the technician. We did however get to see his fat little hand waving to us and we also got to watch him playing with his umbilical cord. ha ha It was pretty funny to watch him whip that thing around and tug and pull on it. His kidney's looked good, and I do have some extra fluid, which is probably why my belly is so dang big. The only thing really "concerning" is the breech position. He needs to turn in the next week or so, otherwise we are probably looking at having him manually moved! I kind of don't want to think about having to do that! It sounds very painful!!

After the ultrasound, Chris surprised me with lunch at Tucci's. YUM! After lunch we went to Hobby Lobby and spent way too much time and money. Man I love that store! Poor Keric was really trying hard to be good...but there isn't much for a little boy to do in Hobby Lobby that doesn't get him in trouble. At least he didn't break or spill or drop anything!

After Hobby Lobby we went and got Cheesecake at the Cheesecake Factory, and we ended the day at JoAnn's.

I wish my body was as enthusiastic about all the shopping and walking around craft stores as my mind was! I love Hobby Lobby and JoAnns and could have spent many more hours just looking and day dreaming, but more poor body just doesn't do as much as I want it to these days.

Despite my body being a little uncooperative at times today...I had such a FUN "Princess day!" There truly are LOTS of advantages of being "The princess in a house full of knights!"

February 12, 2012

I guess I got too busy doing other things, and only got my picture for today taken, but sadly didn't get anything posted. Dang it! Only a month in, and already fallen behind!

9:00 a.m. church is one of those things I have always had a love/hate relationship with. I hate getting up so early and trying to get me, Bubby and Cam and Reag all ready to get out the door so early, but I do love being done with church by noon!

When I came downstairs, there sitting on my ledge was a beautiful bouquet of roses. I was a little taken back actually! I know Valentine's Day is on Tuesday, but I sure wasn't expecting anything on Sunday!

I've decided that EVERYONE deserves someone like Chris. No, he isn't perfect, I certainly don't intend to portray that image, but neither am I, heaven knows that! I guess we are just perfect for each other! :)

I was talking to my Mom yesterday and I was telling her how glad I was that there were men out there like Chris who were willing to take a girl like me on. I'm sure I'm not the WORST person to live with, but I certainly haven't been the easiest person the past 6 years, especially these past few months.

I feel like I kind of just walk outside of my body lately. My mind is totally absent, I'm just kind of a big waddling blob. I mean seriously... I can't remember anything, I swear I feel like I'm losing my mind half the time, not to mention I'm totally irrational most of the time! I try not to complain too much about all my little aches and pains, because who wanted to be pregnant more than I did?? Not many people that's for sure! But there are those days where I let my emotions get the best of me and I think all I do is complain all day long!

Chris never says anything, in fact he is usually quick to simply respond with: "Go up and take a nap" when he probably should be saying "Suck it up Nati!"

He puts up with my crazy ideas, like Mickey Mouse bathrooms, and instead of telling me "Good luck...have at it" he finds time to actually do MOST of it for me! I don't know how many nights he stayed up ALL NIGHT long painting, or caulking, or doing something in that bathroom while my lazy bum was asleep in bed!

My friend posted this little saying on Facebook the other day, and I've thought about it a lot this week.



After I read it I thought...Wow, that pretty much sums up my "Fer!" The next thought I had was, "and it for SURE doesn't describe any of the other people that I thought were so great once upon a time!" Maybe if I had read this quote back then...I wouldn't have wasted soooo much time with so MANY jerks??

I'm just glad that somehow Chris and I found one another. I'm sure I would be TWICE the hot mess I am now without him! I guess I would also like to think he would be a little lost without me too! ;)

February 11, 2012

HA! I figured out how to outsmart my Braxton Hicks! It took me long enough...but I think I've beat the system. At least I did for today.

The only time they get horrible is when I am on my feet for too long, so I decided that I would find a way to make myself useful without having to be on my feet.

I was going to make cupcakes this morning, but I walked into the kitchen and all I could see was how disgusting my floor and tile grout were. It was about enough to make me want to vomit!

It's so weird how the funniest things just BUG me when I am pregnant. I know full well that my grout has been dirty for a long time, but for the past week or two it's really been bothering me. I couldn't even make the cupcakes until I had cleaned the grout.

So I got my cleaning stuff out, and went to work on the tile. As I was working I was thinking...Hey! I'm actually doing something productive and still sitting down! So I kept on scrubbing away, and two hours later, my floor was clean enough to eat off of, and I had NO Braxton Hicks!

I figured I was feeling so good...I would go ahead and press my luck. Do you know how many things you can clean while sitting down?? You can clean a LOT! I cleaned baseboards, walls, toilets, and floors, all while sitting down, and all without any Braxton Hicks! I was so proud of myself!

Granted it took me FOREVER to do all of it, and sadly I didn't finish every wall or baseboard or toilet for that matter, but I finished a bunch of them, and I even though I was sitting all day, I didn't feel like a big pile of crap! :)

Maybe my house will get deep cleaned from the floors to the midway point by the time Carson gets here?

Oh..and like my picture? I was trying to show my clean grout...which you can't even really appreciate unless you saw the before, but thankfully none of you did, but as I was taking the picture, Keric ran in and laid on the floor so he could be in the picture too! LOL As you can see he was SUPPOSED to be putting his jammies on, but didn't make it that far I guess. Such a little poser! :)

February 10, 2012

Seems like yesterday I had a TON of things that I could have posted about, and today I hardly have any.

I will say that I am really grateful that my picture today was NOT of a tiny baby Carson in a NICU bed at the hospital. These stupid Braxton Hicks/Contractions are really cramping (excuse the pun) my style these days!

After I took Keric to school I wanted to run a few errands by myself, because as slow as I am these days, I am a heck of a lot faster alone than I am with Keric. So I dropped him off and went to a couple of stores for probably 45 mins, and then had to come home and rest. SERIOUSLY! I mean how lame is that?? I came home and put my feet up, drank an obscene, or at least obscene in my book, amount of water, and kind of waited for school to get out.

When it was time to go get Keric I felt a lot better, so I bribed him with chocolate and went to my last store before heading home. By the time I walked in the door, my lower back hurt so bad I felt like I was going to throw up! I was pretty much done for the day after that. I laid down, took a nap and expected to wake up ready to go again, but I just wasn't. The Braxton Hicks/Contractions were still there!

I try not to get panicky when I am sick, and especially being pregnant, because I hate to be "that girl" who is always calling the Dr. or nurse and making unnecessary visits to the ER, but seriously I was starting to get a little panicked that they just did NOT seem to be going away even with water and rest!

I told Chris what I had planned for dinner and how to make it, and he made dinner while I sat like a bump on a log! FINALLY around 7:30 p.m. I felt OK, and the Braxton Hicks had finally gone away and have still not returned. Let's hope they DON'T for oh...I don't know? Another 4 or 5 weeks!?!

So my picture, although not all that exciting, is at least NOT what in the back of my mind I was freaking out that it was going to be.

I finally got my little bathroom sign and picture collage done. I haven't been in too big of a hurry because we have been waiting a WEEK for the paint in the bathroom to completely dry, so it's not like I really had anywhere to hang everything. The silly paint is STILL kind of "tacky" feeling, and if you press hard enough, it leaves a mark. So we have been using one bathroom for all of us for a week! I think we've all had enough, and the back of the can says to wait FOUR weeks, but none of us are willing to do that, so hopefully the infamous Mickey Bathroom will be all put together tomorrow! Chris is upstairs doing touch ups as I type.

Anyway, I finished my little sign, picked a few of my favorite Tubby Time pictures of Keric and had them printed in black and white, and then on my errand run today I found some really cute, simple black frames at the dollar store that I bought. I framed the pictures, and I have three extra ones for Tubby Time pictures of Carson eventually. So yes...pay no attention to the little Chinese Family in the frames, they will be leaving shortly.

I'm kind of in love with my little sign and the tubby time picture collage. The sign turned out so cute, and this is kind of how I envision the pictures being displayed on the wall. We'll see if this is actually how it happens once they get put up there, but hopefully it will be somewhat similar.

I can hardly wait for this bathroom to FINALLY be done! Wow...what a pain it turned out to be! UGH. I guess in the end it will be worth it. :)

February 9, 2012

This week is flying by way too fast! I swear it was JUST Monday and I had just gone to the Dr.'s office! Now it's already NOON on Thursday and I am just that many more days behind! *sigh* the joys of being pregnant, slow moving, and exhausted!

I found this cute little craft project called "Long Distance Hug" on Pintrest the other day and decided that Keric just HAD to make one to send to my parents for Valentine's day.

So this morning while he was still in his jammies, we got out the paint, scissors and glue and made Precious a.k.a Grandma Bennion and Gampa a.k.a. Grandpa Bennion a Valentine.

It was actually kind of fun to get a little messy this morning, or at least more messy than we usually do. :) Keric kept asking where the glitter was...amazingly enough I don't even HAVE any glitter!! I guess too many bad memories of cleaning up glitter messes from my days of teaching school. :)

We did some hand prints, glued them to a ribbon, and sent Precious and Gampa a "Long distance hug". After we were done Keric said "Awww...Mommy Precious is gonna LOVE it!" LOL

My Mom does get a big kick out of cards, and especially homemade ones. Guess Keric knows his Precious! :) Hopefully it won't be too late in getting to them!

February 8, 2012

I have a little sister, who is not so little anymore. In fact she is a senior in high school, and already trying to plan out where she is headed to college, and what she is going to do and be when she grows up! Doesn't seem possible that she is as old now as I was when she was born!!

I have very fond memories of her growing up. Even though I had started to "leave the nest" I still remember lots of funny things about having such a little girl surrounded by so many older siblings.

One of my favorite memories of her is watching her sit around the table doing HER "homework" after school with everyone else.

I guess things have truly come full circle now! Keric brings home a "homework" page each Tuesday and Friday and is always so excited to get home and start working on it. For whatever reason yesterday he didn't finish his homework, so today when Cam and Reag got home from school and I told them to get started on their homework, Keric immediately went and found HIS homework and sat at the table doing homework with Cam and Reag.

I guess he kind of knows the homework drill, because after his coloring was done, and he had practiced writing his 9's he brought his paper over to me and asked me to help him with his spelling words. LOL

So I made up a little spelling list for him to practice and we practiced his spelling words while Reagan practiced hers.

Keric's words for this week were: Keric, Mom and Dad. He is actually doing really good at spelling his name on his own! I'm so proud of him! The Mom and Dad...well we will keep working on that I guess. Hopefully he will pass his test this week! ;)

Next he ran upstairs and found a book in his book shelf and came downstairs to start his reading. He was totally cracking me up as he was sitting on the couch so seriously reading his book. Every once in awhile he would yell into the other room "please be quiet, I reading!"

I know that just like with Cicly, time will fly by too quickly, and before I know it, not only will Keric be studying spelling words, and reading books for real...but the filling out of college applications and mission papers will be following closely behind!

Why can't we just stop time every once in awhile and hold onto things for just a loittle bit longer? It all just goes by too fast!