Home Improvement Helper

Anyone that has ever owned a home is probably just like us...you probably have a list of "someday we're going to..." Things get checked off our list, but more gets added, so we are never finished with projects.

One thing on my list was to get hardware put on my cabinets. I love the way knobs and pulls on your cabinets can really make it your kitchen (or bathroom) seem so polished and finished.

The hardware really isn't that expensive of a buy. We don't have some sort of huge kitchen, but having the knobs and pulls are not a priority so we just haven't bought them.

At the end of May I celebrated my 25th birthday, and to my surprise Trevor and his parents went in on a gift together, and it was enough hardware to do my whole kitchen! It may not be exciting to anyone besides me, but I was SO happy! Unfortunately, those knobs have been sitting in the gift bag that they came in for the last two months.

Finally this weekend Trevor put them all on! Yay! After every drawer or cabinet door that got finished Brody would run into where I was and say, "Mommy, Mommy....Da-ee (daddy), door...wood door..." He thought this was so cool. The funny thing was watching Brody examine everything Trev did. He would step back, fold his arms, and stare as if to examine Trevor's work. He had to give his approval or something before we could do the next door. It was so funny!

Seriously, how would we get anything done if we didn't have Brody there to "help" us?

Pioneer Days Schedule

Its that super fun time of year again! In the past I have put up the entire schedule, but this year there is an actual website for all you out-of-towners that are trying to plan when you want to come. So check it out:

http://StJohnsPioneerDays.wordpress.com

When I was pregnant with Brody, I went into hiding during the celebrations, but I think even though I'm nice and huge and only getting bigger, that I'm just going to suck it up and participate. Brody shouldn't miss out because his Mom is so self-conscious....so I guess we'll see you there!

The Root of all Evil

After getting way mad over nothing at Trevor on Sunday I realized what my real problem was.

I hate doing laundry. Its the never ending job. I had done 4 loads that day while running around trying to get me ready for church, Brody ready, get us fed, and several other things. I felt like I never slowed down the whole day. Instead of going to church ready to be spiritually uplifted, I went with a poor attitude and not wanting to listen.

We are told all the time to "remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy". I'm pretty sure doing laundry does not qualify as an activity that keeps the Sabbath day holy.

I could do laundry anytime during the week, except that on Sunday its off peak hours all day so its way cheaper. I don't have a fancy washer and dryer that can do a whole load in 40 minutes. The washer is a hand me down, and the dryer is a 10 dollar yard sale find thus making them not the most efficient. It takes a while to do our laundry.

So maybe, just maybe, I'm learning a new lesson that isn't anything really new to me. Maybe our church leaders know what they are talking about. Maybe if I made a little more effort to do my laundry during the week, one load at a time, I wouldn't spend all day sunday running around like a crazy person. Maybe I would go to church with a better attitude, and maybe I might get some much needed spiritual uplifting.

New goal: NO LAUNDRY ON SUNDAY (or at least only 1 load if I really really need it done)

4th Festivities

This year we had so much fun during the 4th of July weekend. There is a pancake breakfast and a community bbq here in town, but Trevor and I have never attended those. They even have foot races for the little kids, and maybe we should go because it might be fun for Brody, but this year wasn't the one we tried it out. Maybe next time.

Every year since Trevor and I have been married we have traveled up to RV for their parade in the morning. This year we decided to change it up and not go. It was weird not going to a parade for the 4th of July, but we had just had a parade the weekend before during the San Juan fiestas and we knew that it was just going to be really hot.

So instead of the parade we headed to the Show Low for the movies. We took Brody to see Toy Story 3. Up until a couple months ago Brody showed little to no interest in tv or movies, but we bought the first Toy Story movie and he has become addicted to it! We've tried other movies like Cars, but Toy Story is his fav'. Brody has gone to the movie theatre before but he was so little that it wasn't that exciting for him. This was a totally new and fun experience! He sat on Trevor's lap for most of the movie and kept giggling and saying, "buzz" and "woo-ee"(woody) and then at one point they end up in the trash so he was telling us all about them in the "sash". It was so much fun.

My brother and his wife were able to come for the weekend and it was nice to enjoy their company. I love my other two siblings, but they are so much younger than me that its nice to have Spenser come because he's somewhat in the same point in life as I am. I really like his wife, Stormy too because its nice to have a sister-in-law. Trevor only has one married brother too so I don't have a lot of 'sisters' my age. We spent quite a bit of time with them while they were here and I think we had more fun this time than ever. It was such a fun and relaxed time!

That evening me, Trevor, and Brody decided to head to RV's fireworks and not Lyman Lake's with my family. We were excited to see Brody's reaction to the fireworks because last year he mostly slept through them. As night came on there were people lighting off their own personal fireworks and Brody kept saying, "more" and we had to tell them that they would be coming soon. Once the big fireworks started Brody reacted like he usually does to new things. He was as mellow as could be. At times he would duck behind his blanket, but mostly he was silent taking it all in. Brody would have stayed pretty chill through it all if Trevor and I hadn't started saying wow, cool, or nice and he would copy us.

The weekend ended with us making smores over a fire at my mom's house on Sunday evening with all my siblings. Minus the mosquito bites we all seemed to suffer, it was such a fun time.

Rainin' on Sunday

After enjoying dinner at Trevor's parents house today, we were lucky enough to get a little bit of rain! Anyone that lives here knows how much even the littlest bit of rain can be appreciated.

Although we have had rain many times in the 2 years that Brody has been alive, but he's never actually experienced playing in the rain. We took him out in just a onesie, but he quickly decided he wanted his "shir" off. After that Brody played in the yard in just a diaper. He probably would have loved to stay out longer, but after seeing his little teeth chatter one too many times we wrapped him up in a towel and brought him in.

Monsoon season has begun, and we are not loving the mugginess, but we do enjoy the rain!

31 Weeks and Counting

Depending on how you look at it, I have 2 months, or 9 weeks, or 63 DAYS until my due date September 8th! Woo-hoo. I can hardly believe that this pregnancy is nearly over. I am so glad!

I have to say that this has been a pretty good. I can't complain because I feel like I have it pretty easy. I do have to say though, that the discomfort has definitely started to set in. 2 weeks ago I was looking pretty good, but all of a sudden not only do I feel like Shamu, I look like her, because I am as big as her! This is not a joke. I went from not much there to a full blown pregnant lady. And I feel that big too. Even though my weight gain is only around 10 pounds or so, I know that from this point on all the weight gain is going straight to fattening up this baby. He is already feeling so big to me! I can hardly breathe at times and its only going to get worse.

My heartburn has come out in full force. I live on tums and pepcid ac at this point of the game. I get up to go to the bathroom 5 times a night. Exhaustion has started to catch up with me. None of this is different from my first pregnancy except that through this one I am chasing a VERY active 23 month old!

Brody still has little to no concept of getting a baby brother named Ryder. We try to talk about him to Brody and all he says is, "Door." He just thinks that one day we are going to bring a baby home through the front door (if only it was that easy on mom!). When we ask if he wants Ryder to come to our house he always says yes with lots of excitement, but I'm not sure he really knows what he's saying yes to.

I have started what I guess most people call "nesting." At this point in my pregnancy with Brody I had pretty much everything in his room ready to go. I had a few things to get still, but I was done. Call it over-eager or first time mom syndrome....but I was most definitely prepared. Not until this week have I felt the need or desire to start getting ready for Ryder. On Sunday, I rearranged all the furniture in our guest bedroom to make room for Ryder's bed. (Trevor walked in to find me sweating as I moved a bed and vanity and just said, "Idiot...." and then walked out) I'm really not decorating a room up for this baby because eventually I'm going to put him and Brode in the same room, but things still needed to be moved. Then yesterday I pulled out all of Brody's old clothes and even though they were washed before they were put away, I rewashed them and organized them into drawers. I also got out the infant car seat and gave it a good scrub down, and now it looks almost new.

We are really excited to meet Ryder. I can't wait for the day when he and Brody can play together and be buddies. I wonder more and more each day about if Ryder is going to look like his brother or be totally different. I wonder if his personality is going to be even more laid back than Brody's or if he's going to totally steal the spotlight.

Just 63 days to go.....(hopefully a little less....)

Potty Progress

I was super excited about Brody going potty like a big boy, but luckily I didn't get my hopes up too much and its a good thing I didn't.

Brody woke up the very next morning and decided to exercise his independence and NOT go potty in the toilet. I think he just wanted to show that he is smart and capable of going, but that it is much easier to not think about going in a potty and just going in the diaper.

Oh well. At least we know he's capable. I didn't want to do the whole potty training thing this week anyway. I guess we'll try again soon!