I finally downloaded some pictures I've taken recently and posted them to my blog. So scroll down and SEE what we've been up to.

PS- still waiting for baby. It's like watching a pot boil. It only happens when you're not looking I guess. Only my eyes seem glued to the pot. I am having a hard time thinking and doing anything else lately.

Chorin' the corn

While having cousins here we thought we'd have a Pioneer Day BBQ. Including corn on the cob. Everyone's favorite. We sent the boys out with the chore of husking the corn. We didn't realize that they would husk-n-chuck the mess all over the deck. Glad they were outside!! I don't know how many ears of corn we ended up with, but I can tell you that the boys worked really hard! Peter just adores his cousins. It doesn't matter which ones. Here he is with Byron, from Texas. Byron is several years older, but that makes Peter idolize him that much more! We are always happy to have cousins here, especially when they visit from out of town.

Memories of Me

I love memories and friends. And since you are all my friends, I am sure you have some great memories. It's funny to me that 2 people can remember the same event in 2 different ways. My sister-in-law did this post and I wanted to join along.

So play with me okay?! I'm interested to see what you remember about us. And if you don't know me very well then write a memory about Rich. Here are the directions:
1. As a comment on this post, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!

2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. If you don't want to play on your blog, or if you don't have a blog, I'll leave my memory of you in my comments. Just let me know which you prefer.I can't wait to see what you write!

The ABC's of Me

I haven't done a tag in a while now. And this one looks like fun. Thanks Cyndi

A is for age: 28 years old

B is for burger of choice: My favorite is a hamburger with swiss and cheddar cheese, bacon, BBQ sauce and ketchup. Maybe a little sauted onions and lettuce too. All on a thick & sturdy toasted bun. Paired with crispy french fries of course!

C is for the car I drive: 2003 Chevy Venture, WB Edition. (a mini van)

D is for your dog's name: No pets for me!! I used to think I wanted a little dog, but since Rich's brother (who lives with us) got a dog for Christmas last year I have made the decision that I DO NOT want a dog! It will take either a lot of years and a lot of convincing to change my mind on this one...

E is for essential item you use every day: my voice. What would I do if I couldn't talk to my kids, asking them to do their chores or repremand them for naughty choices, or read them a story. Also I love being able to tell my husband I love him everyday.

F is for favorite TV show at the moment: It is the summer and that means NO SHOWS for us!! It's easy to keep the TV turned off in the summer for some reason, but much harder durning the rest of the year where I am a regular viewer, and maybe a little addicted to a couple shows. Namely LOST, AMERICAN IDOL, and this year we added HELL'S KITCHEN and THE OFFICE to the list.

G is for favorite game: Any!! I love games. My regular playing partners are Sophie and Peter so we play a lot of Candy Land, Checkers, and Bingo. But I also enjoy card games like Pit or Cribbage and board games like Scategories and Clue, and SOOO many more.

H is for home state: Born in Texas, but raised in BC, Canada. That's where I call home.

I is for instruments you play: Though not an expert in any. I can play the piano and flute. I think it is vitally important to learn to play an instrument - whatever it may be, and especially to be able to read music.

J is for favorite juice: I am a water drinker. Hard Core. But once and a while I will enjoy a glass of OJ (with pulp) with my breakfast.

K is for whose bum you'd like to kick: Just my kids every now and then. And today, my baby in utero. I am ready for him to come out at any time.

L is for last restaurant at which you ate: El Burito on Thursday night. We had a gift certificate. It's Mexican food. But I am more excited about the restaurant before that. The Roof in SLC for our anniversary. That food is SO yummy - and I was on a date. Double bonus!

M is for your favorite Muppet: Miss Piggy.

N is for number of piercings: I currently have 2 usable holes. One on each ear. But in my teen years I had to holes in each ear along with one hole at the top of my left ear.

O is for overnight hospital stays: Only after each child was born.

P is for people you were with today: I have been with my husband, 3 kids, and seen my in-laws.

Q is for what you do with your quiet time: lately it is all about the nap. But at other times I also enjoy reading, blogging, etc.

R is for biggest regret: I don't believe in regrets. I think we all try to do our best and make the best decisions we can at the time. Hind sight is 20/20 and it's not fair to judge your life by should've, could've would've's. We all just learn from where we have been and move forward.

S is for status: Happily married to the love of my life for 7 years now. With countless years to come.

T is for time you woke up today: 5:45am, went potty and lazily stayed in bed till 7am! Usually I hop in the shower at 6:30am.

U is for what you consider unique about yourself: This is way too tough for me. Not that I don't think I am special or anything. But I can't think of anything I am or can do that is different from anyone else I know. But I will say that I HATE tomatoes. They are just plain awful! But when I plant my garden each year it wouldn't be complete without tomatos. So they get planted, Rich eats some and we give away the rest. They are beautiful vegatables, just yucky (but don't tell my kids that! I try not to pass my food dislikes to my kids - letting them make up their own mind)

V is for vegetable you love: Most. Especially asparagus, fresh steamed brocolli, carrots any way, peas, fresh peas in the pod from the garden, spinach salads, cucumber, corn on the cob, sweet potatoes, reg potatos, fresh green and yellow beans......

W is for worst habit: Cyndi, I am the same as you. I think I worry way too much! About eveything! What if I show up at the wrong place at the wrong time, what if someone comes over and my house isn't clean, what if things don't go as planned, what if what if what if...

X is for x-rays you've had: just dental x-rays as far as I know. Oh, and spinal x-rays for Rich during school. I've never broken anything, so I think that's all.

Y is for yummy food you ate today: crepes for breakfast!!! Loaded with strawberries, bananas, and kiwi's!

Z is for zodiac: Aquarius.

So, now I tag Kristin, Biffy, and Lynette, and of course any one else that would like to do it!

Tea time

We happened to be watching Sam and Natalee for the weekend. Cousins. Well, Sophie and Natalee wanted to have a tea party and that was fine with me. They were so cute setting everything up and even dressing up like princesses. The boys caught wind of what they were doing and wanted to join the girls - who were resistant at first. Then they said yes. With one stipulation. The boys had to dress up too. So the tea party was delayed by about 20 minutes as they all trapsed upstairs to find dresses that fit and secretly putting make up on them too! The boys didn't seem to mind and I didn't really care. I was just happy they were all happy and playing nice together. And then the fun tea party began and ended without incident, for which I am counting my blessings. Fun times...

Visiting Friends

Our friends Bob and Natalie have been our friends for what seems like ever now. We met in Davenport at Chiropractic School. They transfered to a different school in Texas shortly after we met. But we have remained friends through blogs and email and letters ever since. We were both pregnant with our first kids at the same time. It just so happens that Natalie has family here in Utah and visits often. I don't get to see her on every trip, but I did this time! I am so glad she could come up to Layton to visit and have lunch with us!!! We got to see here cute little baby girl for the first time too. It was a short - but sweet visit. We ate Navajo tacos and scones. Yummy! And gabbed the time away. And then she was off again. Back to Arizona where they just moved. Bob couldn't come up this time, so by now she is happily reunited with her hubby! Wish we lived closer together so we could do this more often. Maybe one day...Thanks for the great visit Nat! We love you!!!

Settling Down for Bed time

...And this is how my kids settle down for bed... Only daddy is usually involved...



Normally my bed is off limits...

But sometimes you just can't say NO, especially when they are all having so much fun together!!!

Heads Up!!

For my entire pregnancy now (which is almost 9 months) this baby boy has sat breech. Headstraight up, resting on the placenta as if it were a pillow! I really didn't think it was that funny, especially the further along I got. Well, today was another one of my doctor appointments and I have been so stressed out about him not turning... Not that he doesn't move. He does, and wiggles all around, but never where he needs to be. I was pleasantly surprised and relieved when the ultra sound showed that he was HEADS DOWN and ready to party!!! And I am now ready for him to come(I even have the car seat in latched in the van already)! I am almost 37 weeks, which is the safe zone. And it has come not a moment too soon. I FEEL ginormous!! (is that really a word, because I use it often enough) and TIRED! I have a friend who is also pregnant (I won't be naming any names, but we both have a boy named Max...) and she is due right now and looks fabulous! And she has a tiny tummy and always is energetic, like being 9 months pregnant doesn't phase her at all!! Not fair I tell you, but lucky her!!! But back to the point. I just wanted to say that I am now joyfully anticipating the normal birth (no C-section for me) of our healthy and beautiful baby boy. Probably will be a little sparse of the blog posts until he comes (which could be anytime between now and 3-4 weeks.). So be patient. Keep your fingers crossed that all will go well, and we really want him born on a weekend so that Rich doesn't have to miss (much) work.

The baby is coming and the goose is getting fat (oh wait, am I the goose (gained 50 lbs now) or the baby (8 lbs today - he measured twice!)).

Third one is the charm

While having some 'me' time and catching up on some blogging I was just happy the house was fairly quiet. I should have taken it as a warning sign. When I finished and got up from the computer I turned around and saw this...

UH-OH MAX...

He had taken the markers that were accidently left on the table at little arms reach and taken the navy blue and forest green ones and decided to decorate the walls!! He got 2 big walls, the window ledge, a dining chair and some of the floor, not to mention himself. He had it all over his legs, feet, face and onesie. Somehow he missed his arms. He really went to town and you can tell that I had spent too long on the computer - neglecting my baby. My saving grace came in the form of washable markers and it ALL came off! I'm just afraid that he has already learned the art of drawing on walls and will want to do it again... One question I am now asking myself is 'why do we even have markers?' But then I figured he could do the same thing with a crayon, pencil of anything else if he really wanted to. And it is really fair to always only cater to the youngest in the family? Sophie is old enough for markers and toys with small pieces. I guess I just need to be more careful and cautious.

So many people warned me that baby #3 was the hardest to handle. I haven't believed them, until now. This past year and a half have gone on pretty smoothly. I have been able to spend a lot of quality time with Max while Sophie and Peter play together. But Max is of a different breed and I'd like to blame it on the third child syndrom. He doesn't really talk yet and has learned a great talent in screaming. Luckily his appitite has greatly improved as he bravely tries new things to eat - like ramen noodles(still no veggies or meat). But there are some things that don't come naturally to him that did to Sophie and Peter. The two main things I am thinking of are drawing only on paper (not walls or floors) and driving cars only on the floor (not the walls). Still gotta love the little guy. He makes my day, most of the time.

I am trying to figure a way to prep him for the new baby, but he doesn't understand. I am afraid he is really going to have his nose out of joint when he can't be the center of my attention anymore. He is really a mama's boy.

Changing Sides

In preparation for our little arrivial any time in the next 2-4 weeks we have changed things up a bit. Including setting up a second crib for Max in Peter's room(thanks Tawna for letting us borrow that, it is a life saver!!) (the story of getting the boys to share a room is a whole new story for an even longer and more frustrating post. I'll save that for later...)and changing our crib in the baby room up to the highest level again. We set up a bassinet in our room in anticipation for the first few weeks of frequent wakings and feedings of our little baby boy. The best place for the bassinet happened to be on Rich's side of the bed. So we are/have switched sleeping spots to get ready for all the fun. So now I sleep on the right side of the bed, not the left. Now to clearify, we have slept on random sides of the bed our whole married life depending on the bed placement and room layout, I usually sleep closest to the door so I can be the one to get up with kids in the night for random reasons, so Rich can get his beauty rest. Some of you may disagree with this thinking, and say that daddy should get up with the kids too in the night. But he works all day to support our family and needs to get good sleep, and my job is mom - both day and night . So I have slept on the right before. But we've never just switched sides in the middle of a perfectly good thing. But down to my point...

I CAN'T SLEEP!!!!

I don't know what to do. Being HUGE and pregnant I have enough sleeping problems to deal with (late night bathroom trips, heart burn, and tossing the titanic (my belly) from one side to the other with heavy baby finding new comfy spots each time I move, leg cramps, and more including those waking moments where all I can think about is what I didn't do the day before and all I need to do the next day - wondering if I should just get out of bed at that moment to do the job while the house is still and quiet.) But this is the last straw, and I can't sleep soundly! I use the same head, leg and knee pillows, same blankets or lack there of lately and all I do is toss and turn all night long, trying to find that comfy position that has abandonded this new side of the bed. I am at a loss for what to do. But I had better figure something out, and soon. This is my new home for the next few months and I'd better get used to it! HELP...

Happy 4th o July

This 20 minute photo session was a major bust as far as Max is concerned. And since he was one of the three major focuses in the pictures, it was important that he co-operate. Fruit snacks and other bribes were not enough, and taking the binki away for a smile was not even a viable option today. Not to mention all the times he would just run away. The last five munutes the garbage man pulled into the culdisac and caught Max's undivided attention. And that is where you get the dumb stares into the distance in some of my shots. This bottom one was the best, so I'll take it. Good job Sophie and Peter for putting up with all the fuss today. You did great...

Hope your fourth was hot, happy and firework-iffic!!!

Happy Anniversary, 7 years and counting!!!

THE FACTS
-married July 3rd, 2001
-Bountiful, UT
-married about 3 months after our first date

HONEYMOON
-what's that?
-we spent our time driving to Canada for another reception and then driving to Iowa for school. Real romantic, right?!

HOUSING and MOVING
-July 2001. We moved into a tiny little spider infested top half of an old old house across the street from a high school and the college where Rich went to school. Little did we know that the high school marching band had practice every morning at like 7am (way too early for newlyweds). We got to memorize all their songs before we moved 4 months later.
-October 2001. in Iowa we then moved to some apartments where we managed 156 apts for the rest of our 3 years there. It was an awesome deal. FREE RENT, and a salary! We were not your typical starving college students. We had a job!!
-March 2004. within a couple weeks at the end of our time in Iowa we made the spontaneous decision to do an internship in Pittsburgh, PA. So in those short weeks we packed our car and van with everything we needed for a few months and moved and settled into the first apartment we looked at in Cannonsburg, PA is a little town 20 min from Rich's job. I loved our little new apartment. It came with a washer and dryer!! But it was on the third floor, with locked doors and I had 2 little ones! Still, the trade off was worth it to me.
-August 2004. after 6 months there, we brought all of our things and were fully settled in, and had a good job offer on the table, Rich refused it and wanted to move to Utah. I thought he was crazy... I wanted to stay. But, we sold our car for a little extra cash, packed and were ready to move again in 2 weeks. Off to Utah! And we've been in Utah ever since.

CARS
-we married owning our own cars. A 1989 and a 1990 Honda Accord. The A/C was out in both (which made our drive across country very hot and interesting in the middle of July
-we drove them into the lot at the dealership in August 2001 with the cars barely functioning with brakes on the fritz in one and a bad clutch in the other. And ended up leaving with a brand new- 0 miles - 2001 Hyundai, Elantra. We loved that little car and still miss it! (On a side note, the next month Sept 11th happened and ALL car prices and everything else for that matter dropped significantly and we felt ripped off!) But we paid it off in 2 years instead of the 5 contracted. We're still proud of that one.
-One child (and a half) and a few years later we decided to join the mini van club. In Nov. 2003. We were a couple months pregnant with Peter and saw a deal we couldn't pass up! A year old mini van, fully loaded of course, ready to fit our growing families needs. So we bought it, and it may have seemed silly at the time, having only one child, but we have used every feature (including the built in air compressor) and every square inch of our mini van, including all 8 seats from time to time, and the built in car seat, great feature. I LOVE the two sliding doors too!

JOBS
-I waitressed at Olive Garden for a few months when we first married. Can anyone say SORE FEET!!
-Then we managed apartments for a few years. Rich did light maintenance and I did everything else.
-Rich took a job learning the ins and outs of a chiropractic office in Pittsburgh for 6 months.
-Now we are self employed... It is a tough and long and hard road. We aren't all the way there yet, but have made good progress over the last 3 years.
-I worked for Rich for about a year in his office(and we took the kids with us almost every day!)
-now I have the life long sentence of stay at home mom. The 24/7 never ending job of love. Usually it is wonderful, but there are those days that I have to remind myself that I WANTED THIS...

KIDS
-Sophie. Born Feb. 6th, 2003. I was 23 and we had been married about 18 months when she was born. We didn't find out her sex and wanted it to be a surprise, but I was pretty sure she was a girl. She was a really hard baby, but easy toddler.
-Peter. Born Jun. 1st, 2004. Sophie was 7 months old and SURPRISE!!! We were pregnant... This time we found out the sex of our baby boy, but I was sure before we found out. The first year with the two kids is a complete blur of hardship. But it got easier after that. And now it was well worth it.
-Maxwell. Born Jan. 27th, 2007. I wanted him for a long time, but timing didn't seem right while starting our business and living in his parents house. But after we denying our feelings for so long we jumped in and got pregnant. I have admitted to a lot of you that I was longing for a girl, and was really upset for a long time that we were having another boy right then. But now I wouldn't trade him for anything. He melts my heart everyday!! (Sometimes he boils my blood too!)
-Baby boy. Birth date TBA 2008. The kids keep asking me what his birthday is and they get frustrated when I say I don't know. Yes, another baby boy, and yes these last two are close again. About 18 months. It will be an interesting change of lifestyle for our whole family (and especially Max) when baby boy comes. But it will be wonderful after all the kinks get worked out. We can't wait to meet him (and I'm getting so big that I can't wait to be able to see my feet again!)

ANNIVERSARIES
-Rich plans the odd years and I plan the even years. And we plan every 5 years together.
-1st - Rich turned our bedroom into a Hawaii paradise. Removing furniture, setting up an elaborate set including everything from a life size poster woman of a hula dancer to cardboard palm trees on the wall. Very romantic and fun! 2 weeks later we went on the fastest trip to Florida with some friends. We counted it as an extended anniversary. We spent one of the two days in Disney world! Very fun!
-2nd - I planned an elaborate scavenger hunt followed by a paddle boat ride at this little lake near by with a picnic at a secluded spot across the lake. It was perfect.
-3rd - we were here in Utah and Rich made reservations at the Roof restaurant (yummy) followed by a long romantic carriage ride around the city. I loved it!
-4th - Turned out to be everything but what was planned. We spent more than an hour driving around the city trying to find this little restaurant. Never found it. But opted for another nice random and close restaurant. We also walked along the river at this strange bizarre. But we were together and alone. And that was enough.
-5th - Dirt poor, in Utah. We made tinfoil dinners and ate them at home in an empty house. And then took our blow up bed to the office for a free over nighter... Good memories.
-6th - Again, plans change. But we ended up having a whole day together. We each bought a new outfit together (a luxury for us), and planned to go jet skiing, but the place was closed, even after calling to make sure everything was a GO. We ate free sandwiches from Great Harvest Bread and free drinks at Jamba Juice. We picked up baby Max and went to SLC. We ate free Ben and Jerry's ice cream and made Max a build-a-bear that we saved for Christmas. We ate dinner at Rodizio's. One of our favorite restaurants. We love the never ending flow of Brazilian cuisine! And got to watch fireworks in North Salt Lake on the drive home.
-7th - Today is the day. Our plan is to drop the kids (not Max, he'll stay with Grandma and Grandpa) off at Rich's sister's for the weekend and we will go to the temple and the Roof for dinner. Pretty low key this year, but wonderful. Hey, I am 8 months pregnant...

HOPES and DREAMS
-just a few of the basics
-to have our business be stable and successful
-to buy our own house
-to buy a second car
-to raise healthy, smart and well mannered children
-to have a lifetime of happy memories

And that's our story, in a nut shell.