Neglected but not forgotten

I am sad I've neglected my blog lately.  There are so many posts I need to do to "catch up," and every time I think about doing a post, I just feel overwhelmed with how far behind I am.  I decided to just do an overview of the last month and then try to keep up with it from there.  Watch out...this is probably going to be long:)

Highlight #1: We found out we are having a baby girl!  More importantly we found out she has a perfect little heart.  A true blessing.  She has begun moving around quite a bit.  I am currently 22 weeks and everything is going great.  I'm grateful to be feeling better lately.  Also, I've noticed I haven't been as light-headed with this one as I was with my boys.  That is a wonderful thing as I had several embarrassing moments of passing out with both previous pregnancies!

Highlight #2: Jared began his second rotation.  This is both a highlight and a lowlight (I don't think that's even a word, but you know what I mean!)  It's great because we are one step closer to graduation but it also means eight weeks of him living in Show Low doing his rotation at the ER there and me living here in Mesa.  Gratefully he's been able to work out his schedule so he comes home on the weekends.  He seems to be enjoying his rotation so that his a big bonus as well.

The weekend before Jared started this rotation we all went to Show Low together.  It was so beautiful up there!  All of the leaves were changing colors and the weather was perfect.  It was a really nice weekend.

 Caleb took this picture of some leaves I had picked up.  I just love all of the colors...colors we just don't see much of here in the desert!

Highlight #3: Over a month ago I made a "sticker" chart for the boys to help motivate them to do their chores, be nice getting ready for bed, keeping their pull-ups dry at night (both boys still wear pull-ups but I know they are dry when they wake up sometimes and are just too lazy to get to the bathroom), and cleaning up their toys when I ask.  We told them when it was complete we would take them bowling.  It was great for Caleb!  He loved working to fill in his chart.  Kyson on the other hand, he just wasn't motivated by that chart one bit!  He eventually got it filled in but more because we wanted to all go bowling together as family and didn't want to leave Kyson behind so we helped him out a little.  We did end up having a great time bowling.  I got my first turkey ever!!!  I wish I would have taken a picture of the screen but I didn't even think about it.  Most importantly it was a fun night spent together as a family before Jared left for his rotation.

Highlight #4: We went to a pumpkin patch with my sister Natalie and her husband Dallas.  I found a good deal on groupon for the Vertuccio Farms Pumpkin Patch.  I think that was one of the funnest things we have done.  The boys loved it and keep asking to go back.  We spent a couple hours there and they were so sad to leave.  They loved the go-carts, the big trampolene thing, the playground, the mazes, and so much more!  We will have to do it again sometime!

Highlight #5:  Halloween!  It was kind of low-key for us this year.  Jared did help the boys carve small pumpkins the day before Halloween and they enjoyed that.  Unfortunately Jared had to "work" on Halloween so it was just me and the boys.  Caleb dressed up as Bullseye (a horse on Toy Story) and Kyson was Buzz Lightyear!  They both loved their costumes and I was happy I didn't spend a dime (last year Caleb was Buzz and we borrowed the horse costume from my Mom).  We went to our ward trunk-or-treat for a bit and then headed over to the Moore's (tradition!) and did a little trick-or-treating around their house.  The boys came home happy, tired, and full of sugar (at least more than they ever get around here normally!). 

Highlight #6: Time Out For Women last weekend (TOFW)...just what I needed!  Last week was just a long week for me.  Long nights with sick kids, no husband around to help me out, and then being sick myself.  By the weekend I was excited to get away and do something fun.  I really should do a whole post about everything I learned at this conference, it was that amazing.  I'll just add a couple videos to highlight it a little.

One of my absolute favorite talks came from a lady named Kris Belchar.  If you want a good laugh, just take a couple min and watch this video.  I think it was even funnier the day we were there, she's perfected telling this story:)

Another favorite was Hillary Weeks.  She is an LDS artist that writes and sings her own music.  This song truly touched my heart.  It explains very well how I feel about my experiences with Kyson.  I promise you won't be disappointed if you watch it as well!

Even though I've seen both of those video before, they still make me laugh and then make me cry.  That is what is so wonderful about TOFW.  The speakers are so inspirational, they make you laugh and then they make you cry and you walk away a better person for being there that day.

Wow! What a month!  Now that I'm caught up, I hope to do better this month.  I love the month of November here in Mesa, the weather is finally cool enough to enjoy and it's almost the holidays.  Yay!