Journaling

- Thursday was Nate's first day back at work and one of my doctor appointments.  I decided to take Erika with me, left everyone else home, dropped Nate off at work and barely made it to my appointment on time.  Erika was so good the whole time!  She had been teasing me all the way there, doing her "Hey Mom guess what?" "What?" "GAS WHAT!" and her "Hey Mom!" "NEHMINE!" (nevermind)  It was actually hilarious.  But we had reviewed the rules for the doctor's office the rest of the day, and so she was set!  She did really well.  The funniest part was before Dr. Thackeray came in, I said, "The doctor's going to come in and shake Mommy's hand, and probably ask to shake your hand and talk to you, do you want to shake his hand??"  And she quickly replied, "No. Me not going talk to him."  HA!  She had already planned out her shyness.  Makes me laugh.  And sure enough, he came in, shook my hand, wanted to shake hers and talk about her camping trip with her, but she wouldn't have it :).  Makes me laugh.  But she sat there so well, in the chair the whole visit, didn't make a peep!  I was so proud of her.  She was excited to hear the baby and said that he was probably saying, "Dat TICKOS!" When the doctor was listening to his heartbeat :).  Dr. Thackeray said his heartbeat sounded really good and strong and that Erika better watch out when this little brother gets here, he's going to be a strong one! :)  I thought that was cute.  She really is looking so forward to him coming.  I think she's going to do well with him.... I'm hoping :)  We stopped at Kid to Kid on our way home to look at Maternity clothes.  I found a few things I like, not what I was looking for, but I found myself in on a buy two get one free deal at checkout, so I went and found a cute onesie for Wormie :).  It was productive.
At some point that day, I turned into a grouch.  I'm not sure when it was, but either way, we had a miserable movie night that night to try and combat the grumps, but I was just too grumpy.  We couldn't find the popcorn, someone had used it as an ice pack last, so it was lacking in the goodies area too.  It was a crappy Mom night.  Good thing there was a tomorrow.  7-19-12

- Friday was our lunch date with Steve.  He invited Grandpa Hatch too.  We all met up at Carl's Jr (after our frantic mad dash to the car when at 10:58, in the middle of our last few bites of our breakfast waffles--- Nate and I had slept in until 10:00 if you can believe that!--- when I realized we were supposed to be meeting Steve at 11:00!  Our kids did AMAZINGLY getting dressed and out the door the fastest I think we've ever managed....) we got there at 11:15!  Can't say we looked our best, but hey.... it was miraculous nonetheless.  It's always nice to hang out with Steve and Grandpa.  It's been too few and far between with the hangouts with Steve.  I'm not sure what to make of it.  If he just finally realized he's too cool for us or what.  Either way, I'm glad he made time for us.  Grandpa too.  Good times.  7-20-12

- Sunday I got the news that I was GOING TO BE released from my calling in the Primary.  I'll admit my first reaction was a fist pump with "SWEET!".  But of course, as I thought about it, I started to feel differently.  I had hoped that someone was wrong, and I was still going to go on being the first counselor in the Primary Presidency until I got an official word from the Bishopric ;).  But I really did have so many mixed feelings about the idea.  I hate the thought of not having a life to come back to after I have this baby.  I've been released from everything now.  I'm not even a visiting teacher anymore.  What am I going to do?  I guess I do have 6 kids (seven once Wormie gets here) I should probably have plenty to do.  Bummer though.  I really am bummed.  They released me from the Organ at the same time, this week, when Bro. Hinckle came over Tuesday night.  That makes more sense to me, considering Nate isn't able to come to Sacrament and with a new baby it would be virtually impossible to play and do baby/kid stuff.  So that was expected.  But it's still a bummer.  I'm lame.  I like to have callings.  When I don't, I feel useless.  Makes it hard for me to feel like I fit in.  I'll just have to work on that I guess.  7-22-12

- Monday we went to Park day.  It was less than my favorite for some reason.  I'm having the hardest time socializing lately.  I don't feel like I have much in common with the moms in this ward.  I feel like I'm trying to force a friendship with most of them, and I just get tired of some of the not-my-favorite comments that people make, which I don't think they actually mean anything by, it just comes out wrong I think.  Plus, I'm overly sensitive right now, which I am fully aware of, but for some reason, I can't over come it!  Good ol' pregnancy.  Anyway.
For FHE that night, we had a movie night!  Nate and Luke (he was the lesson) went to the store and picked out "How To Train Your Dragon" and we all laid around and watched it on the big screen with the surround sound :).  It was a lot of fun.  We haven't been able to use the surround sound as much as we would have liked, with fun movies like that one.  Seems someone is always asleep.  But it was a lot of fun!  We had some popcorn, and then ice cream candy bars for the treat!  It was a nice relaxing, fun, FHE.  We need to do those more often.

- Tuesday was Pioneer Day!  We headed up to Nate's parents' neighborhood pavillion for a fun little morning activity.  They had basketball.  Bradley did a little of that with the older boys.  They had Volleyball.  That's what Nate and I did, and the kids all seemed to take turns there with us.  I was really impressed with how well they all did!  Charity, Kelly, Bradley and Luke were all very coordinated and were able to pick up serving, and bumping.  It was a lot of fun, I thought.  I was surprised my legs didn't get more sun, but we were all grateful for the big rain cloud when it came ;).  There was a little wading pool for the little kids to play in.  Erika, Luke and Noah got to do that thanks to Aunt Meg (or "Jewum's Mom" as Erika calls her :)) who watched them.  Charity brought Buddy so she was able to walk him around quite a bit.  Everyone played on the scooters that were available, and climbed around on the "mountain" and played king of the hill.  Lukey got to play frisbee with Aunt Jen, but had some sudden problem with his eyes!  We weren't sure if it was from the chlorine, or from possible allergies to the grass.  We've never seen him have an allergy problem, but with the genetics, it wouldn't surprise me.  But I'm betting on the chlorine.  That seems to be more troublesome.  He was out for a good hour though.  Lunch was really good, and they had a fun little bracelet making craft that everyone seemed to enjoy.  It was really a good time.  It was fun to have Heather and her kids there as well.  We just don't get to see them often enough.  We headed home around 3:00 to get ready for the rest of the day's festivities :).  In case you're wondering why there are no pictures from this AWESOME day of celebrating, it's because I completely spaced not bringing my camera!!  I'm still mad about it.  There was a lot of fun going on there, would have been some really great pictures!
We got home, left Nate and Luke home, and headed out to the store to shop for Nate's birthday present!  I know I shouldn't have put it off for so long, but really.... there hasn't been much opportunity!  We got him some fun stuff, and got home just in time to see Bro. Hinckle, get released (officially) and then head up to Grandpa's for some fun and pizza.
It was a fun surprise to see Steve there, when we walked in.  He always makes the visit fun.  And of course the kids did the usual, taking turns with the iPads and wii games.  It was a lot of fun.  I had wanted to try to make it to fireworks in SL, but everyone was so tired.  It had been a full day.  So we came home.

- Thursday was our get back to work day, as usual.  It's always hard the day Nate has to go back.  Feels like we spend the first part of the day counting down the hours til he has to go to work, and then the last half of the day, trying to kill it so that the time will fly by and we can pick Nate back up.  We've got to do something about that.  Always happens when we get a new schedule.  We'll figure something out I'm sure :).  We did have a fun time at the Splash Pad with Sarah and the Hatch boys though!  The kids were back and forth with having fun and being hungry, or tired, but they got to play in the water and on the playground this time, so I think they were content.  I just talked Sarah's ear off the whole time.  Again, I'm so lacking in the social abilities right now, and I think I may have whined too much.  I hate that.  My whining is becoming a problem in more than one area.  It's got to stop!!  I've got to figure out how to think more positively!  It's going to kill me.
After splashing, we grabbed some Little Caesar's Pizza and came home for a quick dinner, then headed right back out to go pick up the microwave from my friend in South Jordan.  I'm SO excited to have a microwave that shows the numbers and that works!!  We've had the same old piece of crap for 4 years now and it was definitely time for an upgrade.  We're so cheap though, our upgrades come in hand-me-down form :).  But really, it's a step up.  And for $15 (plus the gas to get out there), I couldn't pass it up!  The kids were restless in the car.  I forget how loud they can all get.  It was fun to listen to them though.  And thankfully I did not have to pull over to throw up!  I felt like throwing up most of the day and had the acid in my throat feeling almost the whole evening, so I was SURE I was going to have to pull over.  I am very grateful that I didn't, and hopefully the heartburn will go away soon.