Girls Get-a-Way Weekend!

I went away last weekend to a cabin with all of Ed's sisters, mom, and sis-in-law. It was heavenly! We didn't do anything but laugh and play all weekend! Ressha and Meisha climbed up the wall.

They played a game called Flippin' Frogs. You have to flip frogs and make them land on a tree that rotates and a timer goes off and some of the frogs flip off. You'd have thought we brought the kids with us- he he!

We did nails...

Learned to make watches and jewelry...

Here's the finished product...

We ate constantly! Look at what all that food did to my belly. Ha ha! Actually, Cassi and I are due within a couple of weeks of eachother. Please excuse the no-make up, sweatpant look (hey we didn't have to try to impress anyone there- you better believe we stayed in sweats ALL day!)

A picture of all of us who was there: Shanda, Cassi, Jarae, Meisha, me, Varleen and Ressha.

Another picture...

Yea- there they were climbing again! What crazy girls. As for me- I kept my two feet firmly planted on the ground!

I seriously don't think I've laughed that hard in a LONG time. We played games all weekend and laughed and laughed! And sang "Relax... don't do it..." (Inside joke!) Did I mention that we ate.. a lot? It was a true girly weekend and I loved it! Can't wait for next year!!!

Let It Be Free....

Ah... and the cast comes off! He was so happy to be able to scratch his arm! The doctor who worked with us was awesome. I was very impressed at how much attention he paid to us and how well and in-depth he explained everything.

What an experience... and we're sure glad it's over!

The Verdict is in.....

So I told you all how the boys rub my belly all time and say "Hi little guy" well SHE will be pretty upset when she finds that out! Yes... WE ARE HAVING A GIRL!!!!!!!


Okay- so this picture is pretty much impossible to tell but the arrow is pointing to "girl parts". They look completely different than boy parts. When the tech was moving the wand around the baby was really hunched over and was not cooperating to give us a good view but then he found two white lines (don't worry I made him check 3 times) so that's what the arrow is pointing to....
Here is a profile of her whole body... She was drinking amniotic fluid and moving around a lot.

Here is a profile shot of just her face...

The boys are going to be so shocked. I can't wait until they get home from school! Now I need to review my budget... I have some shopping to do :)

The big day is coming....

Yep- our ultrasound is scheduled for Tuesday October 13th at 9:30.........

Any bets on what it will be???

Our guess is BOY! Go figure!

I've had lots of people asking if I know what the baby is. Not yet, but is there really any need for the "gender" ultrasound? I definitely want to make sure the baby is healthy but I don't think we actually need to see that it's going to be a boy- we are already assuming it! The boys rub my belly and say "hi little guy" and we always refer to the baby as "him". And we've got a boy name- haven't even discussed a girl name. So I think we're all set... We'll keep you posted!

Happy Birthday to Ed!

Happy Birthday Ed! We love you!! I can't believe he's "31" already. Where has the time gone? And weren't we just 18 years old? Now we have 3 kids with one on the way- yikes! I wish I could name 31 things that I love about Ed but I'll just name a few... He's kind, patient, loving, will help anyone with anything at anytime!, awesome dad, attentive and caring husband, thoughtful, has a strong testimony, works super hard!, can fix anything or will try 'til he figures it out and smart! I think this list could go on and on but those are some of my favorite things about my husband. I love him more and more each day and I'm so thankful I get to spend eternity with him! He's my best friend and I couldn't imagine life without him!
For his birthday this year we kept it low-key since it was on Sunday. On Saturday I took him on a date. We went out to eat and then went to see Couples Retreat. It was so nice to spend some time with just the two of us. Thanks Meish for watching the boys! We got Ed a few pairs of jeans that he was badly in need of, some new shoes, a new church shirt... boring! And a new stereo that has the ipod docking station.

Ed's not a big fan of cake so I made him chocolate chip toffee bars instead and we sang "Happy Birthday!"

I love you Ed and hope you have a great day... I hope that we can make you feel as special for one day as you make the rest of us feel year-round!

Tray's Broken Arm

I cannot believe that with our house full of crazy little boys that we've never experienced a broken bone... until now. On Monday September 29th Tegen and Tray were outside in the front yard playing football (of course) and Tegen came running into the house yelling that Tray really hurt his arm. I ran outside to see if he was okay and he was laying on the ground crying SO hard. Tray is seriously one of the toughest kids I know (all my boys are) and when I could not get him to stop crying for half an hour I knew something was really wrong. I calmly and rationally (really, I was) called Ed at work and told him that I thought Tray had really hurt his arm so we needed to take him to the E.R. We actually decided to take him to an Urgent Care type of place and they did a great job. They got really good x-rays and could tell that it was definitely broken. This picture is of Tegen showing off his handiwork...

This x-ray may be impossible for anybody to tell where it's broken but it's cracked straight across right at the elbow. He broke it right next to the growth plate so we had to see an orthopedic surgeon early in the morning on the Tuesday the 30th. After the CT scan the doctor thought that he would need pins in his elbow (which he broke in two places) to set it. He set the surgery for the next day Wednesday, October 1st.

This is Tray in the pre-op room. His huge grin never left his face!

He thought this hospital outfit was so funny that he wanted us to take a picture of him in it.

He just sat back and watched t.v. Then they gave him the drugs which the nurse called the "happy juice". We walked back to the O.R. doors with Tray and he was smiling the silliest grin and totally mumbling words. It was so funny we wish we would have had a video camera!

Tray was not the happiest little camper when he woke up. He was still groggy but he was sad too. It made me feel bad for him! On the other hand- his surgeon was awesome and brought this camouflage cast from his office especially for Tray otherwise he would have had to have a nasty white/yellow/eventually dirty brown cast! When the doctor got into the O.R. he did some live x-rays and realized that he could set Tray's bone without the use of pins. Hooray! That was definitely a good thing. The pins would have had to stay hanging outside the skin where they would remove them in the office 3 weeks later. That doesn't sound very appealing when trying to keep a rowdy 7 year old under control!

We had lots of people there who love Tray. Ed's mom came and waited with us for a while before she had to go to work (at the hospital) and my family came too. They hung out with us while we waited during the procedure.

After a couple of hours post-op Tray was back to his regular smiley little self! And to this day he acts like it never even hurts. He still keeps asking "Are you sure I really broke my arm because I feel great!" He is so cute!

The only thing that Tray was so sad about when he first found out his arm was broken was that his season of football was over! He kept saying (after bouts of crying) things like... "what will my team do without me?" "How will they make it to the playoffs now?" "I can't believe I'm done." Well after a short 3 weeks his cast should be off and he should hopefully be as good as new! What an experience! It's gonna be one heck of an expensive cast!

Football, football and more football...

Football has totally consumed our lives since the beginning of August! Traysen was in flag football again this year and Ed (with one of his friends) coached his team. It was so much fun to watch both Ed and Tray out on the field. He had two practices a week and games on Thursdays and Saturdays (yes, that's 4 days!). Tray and Tegen both became obsessed... seriously... obsessed with football this season. I have never seen them love anything as much, except maybe dirt bikes. They would wake up early to play outside before school, they played at recess, they played after school and then they would go to practice or a game. If they weren't playing it outside they played the new Madden NFL 10 on the Wii. They seriously loved it!
Tray played running back and receiver. He improved so much compared to last year that I can't wait to see how well he plays next year! Their season only had two losses. They were awesome! This picture has Ed and Christian (the other coach) out on the field with the boys. I think that they were as excited as the boys were!

Tegen started Grid Kid this year. Wow- what an experience! For those that don't know it's for young boys when they first start out in pads and helmets and full gear. I had no idea when we signed Tegen up that it was going to be so SERIOUS! They had 2 hour practices 4 days a week just to play 7 games! There were 5 coaches who were awesome! They called Tegen and his friend Zach "little men" because they are so tiny. Tegen was the smallest kid on the team with one of the biggest hearts. He loved it! He tried so hard even when he had to go against a kid twice his size. I think the coaches did a fabulous job in letting Tegen play even though he was really small and inexperienced. This year definitely left a great impression and he can't wait until next year starts! He looked so big in all that gear!

Tegen was number 67 and he played safety and corner. Their season was 5-2. They only lost to the two undefeated teams on the league. They were awesome!!!

We got lucky this year and had great weather up until the second week of October. At least we didn't have to sit through too many cold wet games. As much as my boys loved it I have to admit that I am really starting to enjoy the game of football too. Go boys!