Hogle Zoo with the Wardles and Andersons

My good friend, Andrea, from HS and College invited us to her daughter, Charley's birthday party at the Zoo!  We were excited to hear that the construction was finally done and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to buy a new membership.  We had let ours expire and didn't go for the last year or so.  

When Thursday came, I was feeling less motivated to go.  Nobody was getting ready fast enough and I was just nagging all morning long.  So we didn't make it to the zoo at 10:00 when the party started, but we did make it out of the house around 10:30.  The problem we hadn't anticipated was how popular the Zoo was going to be that day!  We got to the Zoo around 11:00 and drove around the parking lot for WAY too long.  I'm gonna say 45 minutes, but I think it was actually longer than that.  The last thing I wanted to do was walk 2 miles to get into the place where I was going to have to walk!  (I know I sound like a wuss, but it really is painful)  So we continued to look for a spot.  I was glad when I got the idea to park up at the This is the Place Monument parking, it was almost empty and just across the street from the Zoo.  So that was a huge blessing.  

We got up to the entrance and ended up standing there for another 15 or 20 minutes, in line, to pick up our memberships that I had ordered online.  That was annoying.  

We made it to Andrea around 12:30.  We got to see the Polar Bears and the Grizzly Bears first, along with the sea lions.  That was a fun new surprise for my kids!  Not to mention we got to hang out with Andrea and her family and friends.  I LOVE Andrea's family.  I can't believe how much everyone has changed, but seriously, they are the funnest people.  Andrea's Dad actually took a bite of a fruit roll up WITH the plastic because he had no idea what it was and how you're supposed to eat it.  I laughed :).  

The Zoo was so packed!  I haven't seen it that busy in years!  It was a lot of fun though.  I was proud of how well my kids did the whole time.  There was little complaining and they stayed by me the whole time.  That was a relief.  Taking six kids to a busy Zoo could have been a lot more stressful than it ended up being and I was grateful for that as well.

We had packed our own lunches and basically ate them on the go because the kids had been hungry, but I didn't realize that Andrea's group hadn't eaten lunch yet.  So I was a little bummed when they said they were going to stop to get some lunch.  I didn't want my kids to have to sit there and watch them eat.  I decided we would go on and look at some of the animals while they ate, then meet back up with them.    This was when I realized that all the pictures I'd taken of my kids with Andrea's kids had been taken in Manual with the wrong settings so none of them worked out.  But I did end up getting some pictures of my kids anyway. 

of course Noah boycotted this photo.  He doesn't want me to have a picture of all of my adorable children together apparently.

I really just let my kids call all the shots at this point.  I was too tired to try to get them to do things they weren't interested in, so we made our way down to the playground even though I knew that was going to put us way out of the way to meet up with Andrea.  They had a lot of fun there.

Bradley whispered in Erika's ear, "Say, 'Mom, take a picture of us!'"

We then made our way back toward the party, and ended up stopping in the Gift Shop because Kelly had had some birthday money burning a hole in her pocket the whole day.  She desperately needed to buy herself a stuffed animal.  We were happy to find out they were having a great deal on the larger ones, they were half off and the same price as a smaller one Kelly had almost bought at a different gift shop stand earlier.  She ended up with a really cute giraffe.  Then we picked out a cute little gift for Charley.  

We were able to meet back up with Andrea to go see the monkeys, and then we were really done.  Erika had fallen asleep in the stroller and Luke had been patient enough with all of it it was time to put him out of his misery.  He really doesn't love the Zoo.  Strange.  

It was a really fun time though.  And now that we have a Zoo pass, we will have to go up there lots this Summer.

Journaling

- I got to take Charity's activity day girls to their Stake temple outing on Monday.  We had the privilege of listening to the former Salt Lake Temple Matron speak about the temple.  It was such a neat experience!  She said so many things that I hope Charity will remember.  She talked about an experience she had as a little girl up at the Logan temple.  She and her cousin huddled down behind a bush, in the only spot possible, to touch the temple!  She made a promise at that time that she would return to the temple and be worthy to receive the blessings therein.  And that she did!  We took a picture of all the girls touching the Salt Lake Temple.  After the little talk we walked over to the South Visitors Center and took a look at all the things in there.  The replica of the temple is so fascinating!  I think that was really neat for the activity day girls to see.  I really enjoyed the whole time with Charity.  We had a little picnic lunch on the lawn next to the temple.  And then it was time to go home.  I sure hope those girls were able to absorb some of what was given to them.  What a neat experience and great way to help prepare these girls for the temple!  Charity is looking forward to going the day AFTER her birthday. (We found out that girls are lucky because they can go to the temple ON their birthday unlike boys who have to wait until they are ordained deacons, but Charity realized her 12th birthday will be on a Sunday, so she will have to wait until the next day :(.... I think she'll be okay with it then though :))  6-4-12

- Tonight was Lukey's date with Mommy.  We had such a good time!  We didn't have a lot of time, because I was leaving everyone in Charity's watchful care.  So we decided to just go out for ice cream, which I considered "settling", but the way Luke kept saying, "This is the best date EVER!" the whole time, I think he felt otherwise :).  That's the great thing about my kids.  They are USUALLY pretty easy to please.  He chose Dairy Queen and we both got a yummy sundae.  He was even more thrilled when I told him we needed to go pick up some laundry detergent on our way home, because then he could pick out a treat :).  That just made his night apparently.  He was fun to talk to.  He told me all about his mean substitute again and his concerns about ending up with a "horrible teacher" next year.  Can you believe the substitute actually told his class that she had "taught classes that were better!"  That's just mean.  And it totally hurt Luke's feelings.  I think the funniest part of our date was when Luke said, "Sour Punch, Sour Punch, Sour Punch, Sour Punch...." over and over again, all the way home :).  I kept trying to distract him, but he had picked out some Sour Punch Straws and that's what he had wanted to do :).  It made me realize that he really does live in the moment.  He's not worried about how much he gets out of that date, or how much talking we do, or how much bonding we get.  He's just doing what he wants to do.  I thought it was worth it to just let him.  I joined in after a while, but he stopped just long enough to tell me to stop :).  So I did.  It was hilarious.  Ya never know what you're going to get with these dates.  I'm glad he had a good time though.  That means a lot to me to be able to spend good quality time with my kids.  I know they don't get as much as some kids.  So hopefully it's enough and good enough quality to make up for that.  6-6-12

- Nate and I finally got to go to the temple again!!!  Sure felt good.  It's really been WAY too long.  It's crazy how hard it is to get there nowdays, and crazy to think that there was once a time (eleven years ago) that we were able to go on a weekly basis.  I miss that.  Now that the kids are getting older, I think it's a little more realistic to think about doing it on a more regular basis again.  It was nice that we could leave Charity in charge and enjoy the time there.  It was much needed.  Hopefully there is more of that in our near future. 6-7-12

- Saturday night was my Mom's birthday party.  The kids had a lot of fun running around the church field with the dog and holding the kitty.  There weren't any toys there so we brought our own entertainment :).  Afterwards, Nate and I got the kids in bed and headed out for a late movie.  We saw What to Expect When You're Expecting.  I personally LOVED it!  There was some offensive language, but there was just so much I could relate to right now, it was kinda nice to watch it all.  I thought they could have had even more to make it more accurate, but it was good.  6-9-12

Pregnancy Journal

6-6-12
I probably shouldn't post anything today, but here I am. Read at your own risk.  Yesterday I realized I was having some new symptoms as far as the discharge goes and when I called the doctor, hoping they would just tell me to go get some monistat, she told me I needed to come in for a culture.  As much as I love my doctor, I dislike that he has changed offices so many times through my childbearing years.  Every office does things differently and I'm tired of everything being new and different.  It's my 7th pregnancy.  I should be able to know what's going to happen by now right?  Anyway.  So I went in and get this, they handed me the swabs and sent me to the bathroom to get the culture myself.  Hopefully this isn't way too much information (well, it is, but it's my journal, like I said, read at your own risk.  It says "Pregnancy journal" so I guess you can expect some grossness right?  That is what "pregnancy" means right? HA.  I'm kidding).  How strange is that though?  Not only do they have me dip my own pee strip, now I'm collecting my own sample of discharge.  Kinda strange that they even have nurses working there.  Anyone can take a blood pressure and weigh someone.  Everything else could be replaced by a piece of paper apparently.  So anyway.  I hope my insurance is at least getting a better deal on this pregnancy since I'm doing most of the work myself so far.
So that whole experience weirded me out and then as I was leaving I though, 'well, maybe I like that better?'  Not having to expose myself to the world was kind of a nice break.  I've gone this whole pregnancy without any of that, so I decided to just be thankful.
I do wish that they could do the whole culture thing faster though, I feel myself getting sick and I'm not sure if it's just my imagination, if I really do have an infection, or if I'm coming down with something else and I should try to find out what that is and get on with treating it.  So I'm a little frustrated today.  Aside from the symptoms of the possible infection, everything just seems a little more nerve racking.  There's definitely a new pain in my uterus area as well.  Wish I knew what that was all about.  Hopefully this will all be over soon.
On a happier note, on Monday at the temple activity with Charity, some of the ladies in the stake asked me when I am due :).  That kind of made my day.  People can actually tell now and I don't just feel like a fatty.  They didn't give me a hard time about "not looking pregnant" and they didn't bug me about how many kids I've had, so that was just the icing on top.  Sure felt good :).
There are two questions you do want to avoid when talking with me right now.  Unless you want tears or for me to just walk away.  I cannot talk about how I feel right now.  Not any part of it, so don't try to pry for details.  And I cannot talk about "the house hunt".  I can't even type that out without choking up a little.  Those two subjects are not pleasing to talk about in the least and there is nothing I or anyone can do about either, so it's best to just let them sit in the corner where they belong.  I wish I could get this through to my own mother.  She is very clueless when it comes to me, and no matter how many ways I've said it, she still thinks I want to discuss how I'm feeling at Carl's Jr. over lunch.  It's really not a good idea.  And then to try to dig a little deeper about where we're going to live and when we're going to move..... yeah, not pretty.  I don't recommend it.  I have very little control over the tear ducts right now, and frankly, I have very little control over ANY emotions right now so it's best not to test it :).  Maybe I really should just keep myself locked up in my house for the rest of this pregnancy.  It's probably for the best.  I wish that was possible.
So anyway.  Wormie is SOOOOOOO active right now :).  It's been fun to feel him move around so much.  At least I'm not worried about him when he's moving :).  He seems to be standing up straight inside of me.... at least that's how it feels.... and I can feel things up at the top of my uterus and down at the bottom at the same time :).  He must have plenty of room to wiggle around still.  He sure seems like a sweetheart already.  I hope he's doing alright.  And I hope he's getting as excited as we are to have him here :).  Today Noah says, "Mom, I thought you said Woomie was going to be here in 3 days?"  Poor kid got months and days mixed up.  It's going to be a long 12 more weeks :).  But I think we'll make it.  We did pick out a cute little Superman onesie for him at the store today :)  It's hanging up on my closet door to remind me that there is a very sweet little package waiting for me at the end of this torture.  He's going to look cute in it ;)

Mittens

Grandpa Hatch found this little kitten in his window well.  When we got the news, we just knew we would have to go see it :).  We stopped by to see him after our ice cream party on the last day of school and well, one thing lead to another and now he is a guest in our home.

He's been pretty cute and fun to have around.  Everyone loves holding him and playing with him.  And I think he's been okay with that :).  For the most part.  Buddy is not a big fan, but I have to say, I think he's mellowed out just the tiniest little bit, ever since Mittens was in the picture.  I couldn't tell if he was jealous at first, or what, but he seriously doesn't seem as hyper... could just be my imagination (although I can't imagine myself imagining something so optimistic without reason ;)

Lukey's one of our biggest kitten fans.  He and Kelly I would have to say are the biggest cat lovers (minus Nate of course :)), and Erika isn't far behind.  So they have kind of taken it upon themselves to be his main caretakers.  It's been really cute.

Kelly has had her heart set on an orange tabby kitten though, and wants to get one as soon as her candy thing is over, so we have decided Mittens is just visiting and we are not planning on making him a permanent part of the family.  We'll see if the whole getting rid of him part ever happens.  Nate and I both don't seem all that motivated for some reason.  He's been really fun :)

Kelly spent the evening taking pictures of him, which was very cute to watch.

And I took some of her with him.  I keep telling her not to get attached, but as you can see.........

It really is so fun to watch little kids enjoying animals.  They really know how to love them and have fun with them.

Does anyone want a kitten???  He's pretty sweet!  We do need to find him a new home.

Kelly's Birthday Celebration

As much as I hate to admit it, Kelly's day did not really go as planned.  For me at least.  I'd had such a crazy week, I think the weekend just hit me like a ton of bricks.  I felt horrible all day and didn't ever really come out of the cloud I was in.  We were without Daddy all day on a Saturday and that is never fun.  But we did try to make Kelly feel special.  There were moments :).

Everyone mostly played and relaxed for the majority of the day.  The parts when I wasn't nagging everyone to get their jobs done.  I kept trying to talk Kelly into having her party somewhere else so that I didn't have to get my house presentable. Didn't happen.  And when I saw some dark clouds rolling in, I decided to give up.

We got out of the house way later than planned, but we were able to pick out presents for Kelly and that was a lot of fun ;).  We just hadn't had the time to do it earlier in the week!

Kelly was such a fun girl all day, very upbeat and cheerful.  She was so good at making her day special even though her mother was doing very little.  She stayed very positive, even sent me several emails telling me how wonderful her birthday was.  I am glad she knows how to do that. 

Finally it was time for the party!

We had a really good turn out!  I was surprised to see so many there, and very glad that so many had showed up to celebrate Kelly.  She deserves it!

It was funny when she came up to me, a few minutes after the party had officially started, and asked, "Can we do the presents now?"  It hadn't even occurred to me (because of how little she'd said all day) that she even wanted to open them ;).  We hurried and force fed everyone so that we could get going with things.... and open presents :)  She was very patient :).  

Aunt Jen helped influence the decision to do presents BEFORE cake and ice cream.  She's a good Aunt :)

Kelly got TONS of presents!  I couldn't believe how much she got!  It was fun to watch everyone spoil her.  If anyone deserves it.  

She was being pretty goofy during the whole party, I had to get a few pictures of her funny faces.  She just wasn't going to put up with anyone's guff :)

After presents, we got out the cake!

Kelly had wanted an ice cream cake and there was absolutely no way I was going to attempt that that day, so we picked out a fun one at Dairy Queen.  (once the day was actually here, I was very grateful for the fact that she wanted an ice cream cake because I knew I was off the hook as far as making it... it just wouldn't have happened)

I think overall she had a nice day.  She made sure it was :).  She was a fun girl to spoil and very grateful.  That's always nice.  She's always been such a good birthday girl.  

It was fun that she had Mittens to play with all day as well. A little bonus :).

She flattered me with wanting to save her "cute sign", but I forced her to let me just take a picture of her with it to keep the picture instead of the poster.  I'm not into saving large signs.  I did put a lot of thought into this one, and tried to make it especially cute for her, the night before, so I'm glad she liked it :)