Portland Post 2

 

Is anyone else having uploading issues with blogger?  I swear I get frustrated every time I try to post something.  I am this close to throwing in the towel for awhile.  I finally got some more pictures posted from Portland.  Not nearly as much as I wanted but some of my favorites.  On one nice afternoon I snuck outside with Hailey.  The other kids were engrossed in yet another game of Sorry and I just couldn't play one more time.  There was this hammock there and Hailey and I got in and just hung out.  I thought the baby would enjoy a picture moment. 

 

 

 I took this picture as well.  I just love her hair and those eyes.  She is so much fun to photograph.

 

The fishing was not what Corey was hoping for.  Some years they just meet their limit after just a couple of hours.  But Portland was hit with a heat wave and messed up the schedule of the salmon.  So Corey fished Monday and Tuesday all day with no luck.  He was getting so upset about it.  Finally on Wednesday he came home with his catch for the day.  He caught a 12 pounder and then right before they came in he reeled in a 30 pounder.  He was so proud of it.  I have to admit it was a huge fish.  I can just imagine how fun it was to bring that in.  I have since tried some of it and it is so good.  And I normally hate fish, but I ate the whole fillet when I cooked it.



Trip to Portland



 

I had great intentions of posting pictures right away of our trip to Portland OR. to see Corey's parents and go fishing.  For some reason Blogger refused to upload my pictures.  I had to do one or two a day and just keep saving.  It was driving me nuts and I almost just said forget it.  But then I know my Mom has been waiting for this and I pushed forward.....

 

 

We left super early Sunday morning around 2am to get to the Denver airport in time for our early flight.  Things went really smooth and we got there a full hour before our flight took off.  So we hung out, the kids did great and we got some overpriced breakfast at McDonald's.  Once we got there I have to say the weather was perfect.  It would start out cloudy and then clear up and be in the 70's.  It was so green and beautiful as well.  No complaints in that department.  That same afternoon we drove up to the mouth of the Columbia river to do some salmon fishing.  Corey's parents knew someone who owns a house right on the coast and so we stayed there.  It was so pretty.  I would have posted pictures but as I said before Blogger is not helping me at all.

 

 

Monday bright an early we set out to go fishing.  We were only out for about an hour and all of us got sick except for Logan.  Hailey was the worst and I was not far behind.  I have no idea why people enjoy going out to sea.  I just wanted to throw up overboard.  So we were taken back to land and dropped off.  So what do you do with 3 kids and endless hours on a deserted peninsula?  Play game after game of sorry.  We did make it to the beach and saw a kite festival going on.  It was interesting and we saw some great ones.  We did take the kids swimming one day but I left my camera because of all the sand everywhere.

 

Here we are at the beach.  Gabe is taking the  picture.

 

Picture of the kite festival.

 

Most days were just hung out and found our own entertainment.  Some of which came in Gabe form.  It was till dark outside when I caught him at the table.

 

Lexie was just so cute I had to snap a shot.

 

While I was out for a run one morning I came by this little old town called Oysterville right on the tip of the peninsula.  It was so cute and there were signs in front of the houses giving a date and history.  It was just wonderful so I thought we would go take a look at everything.  Gabe was not too thrilled with this.  As you can tell in the pictures he is not in the camera taking mood.

 

It was a wonderful experience to just be in a different place and everything that is included.  I can see why people like it so much.

16 Weeks

 At first I was not going to blog about my monthly check-ups.  But as I went back and looked at my pregnancy with Hailey on my blog it was fun to read about my progress and my check-ups.  So if anything I wanted to do this for my own record and memory.

I am sure everyone knows how sick I have been with this one.  I still take my meds on occasion when my stomach will not cooperate with me.  It is getting less so I am hoping that it will stop completely soon.  I was one pound away from what I was my first pregnancy appointment.  So I have come full circle as my nurse said.  I am finally able to eat some food and I am sure it was a sigh of relief for my Dr.  It still sounds insane to me that I haven't gained any weight scale wise, but my pants are almost unwearable now.  Good thing I have lots of rubber bands to keep them done up.  I have maternity jeans but I refuse to buy shorts when summer is almost over.  So I will just do the band until it cools off a bit.  Which will probably be next month since we are in Wyoming.

Baby sounded great.  The nurse warned me she had a hard time finding heartbeats at 16 week appointments so when she couldn't find it I wasn't too worried.  My Dr. came right in and found it in 3 seconds.  It sounded great and we could hear him/her moving around in there.  It is always such a relief to hear that steady heartbeat and know that things are doing ok.  My round ligament pain has been pretty bad with this one when I roll over or move certain ways.  My Dr. said it was because I run and exercise and it can stress those ligaments just like any other when you do exercise.  I thought a support maternity belt would help but he said at this stage it wouldn't matter.  He said I would need it later when my belly got heavier and I needed help holding it up.  He said there is no risk to baby, just discomfort to me when running.  So he said I could keep running if I want.  Which I will, because I honestly feel better afterwards then when I take a day off.

The best part is I have my date for my ultrasound.  September 13th is the big day.  I am really nervous about this baby.  More so then any of my others, even my first.  I am just feeling so out of my element and going back just terrifies me.  I still feel this is a boy, but I will not be upset if it ends up being a girl.  Either way I know the Lord has special plans for this little spirit and it won't matter what gender it is.  Maybe that is also why I feel more terrified then ever.  I already feel the stress of raising this child and it isn't even born yet.  I just feel so blessed that my body is strong and things are going so well.  Now if I can just kick all the nausea completely I would be one happy pregnant lady.

Gabe's Birthday and State Fair

This past week has been pretty busy for us.  I have really stopped looking forward to my birthdays for the fact that Gabe has the same.  And it seems more important that he enjoy his birthdays then celebrate me just getting older.  The Wyoming State Fair was also this week.  Now when you say State Fair you think large and fun.  This fair is so small and really not worth the time or money.  But you never know until you try and so I braved it alone with the 4 kids.  It really has gotten pretty easy with 4 kids now that they are older.  The boys help keep an eye on Hailey and it keeps the stress off of me.  I just took some random shots of different things they had to do.  Like I said not much but enough to get a few shots.

Gabe and Logan fishing in the tank.

Hailey playing some drums. 

Gabe braving whatever this thing is with Hailey.

My two outlaws

Hailey fished for about 5 minutes then found it boring.

Jailbird with small head.

Lexie was all patience.  She sat there forever hoping to catch something.  She never did.

Doing some Hula.

I told Logan to act mean and this is what I got.

Monday was pretty busy.  We had to get our car fixed and so we were stuck at home pretty much all day.  Gabe was pretty upset about how his birthday was going.  I felt bad for him, but there was nothing I could do.  He also got caught lying and he broke dad's Xbox controller a couple of days before.  So he owed Dad some money.  His birthday money went straight to Dad.  I know pretty crappy birthday.  But I made his favorite dinner Grandma's chicken noodle soup with mashed potatoes and invited our good friends the Perry's over for dinner and cake and ice cream.  He was so funny blowing out his candles.

This is his giddy face before we sang Happy Birthday.

Just a shot that I thought turned out pretty good.

The first attempt, notice how many are still lit.

This was his reaction, he thought it was so funny.

Blow number 2 was not much better, but he eventually got them.

It really was a pretty good couple of days.  Hard to believe he is 9.

15 Weeks

I thought since I will be 15 weeks tomorrow I would take some photos and post.  I know I love looking back at my expanding belly years later and I am sure this one will still be as exciting as the others.  Even with the bad morning sickness I feel really blessed that I have been able to keep my running up with no issues.  It gives me such stress relief and I know it is keeping me and baby healthy.  Let's hope that I can continue to run.  I plan on running a 10K with my brother Thor the beginning of September so I am pretty excited about that.  The kids looked so cute dressed up for church I figured I might as well get some shots of them too.

On the Up...

I am finally feeling better...although I am pretty sure it is the "miracle pill" I take in the am that is doing the job.  It doesn't matter what is helping, as long as I am back to feeling some what normal.  I have not blogged about my kids in so long I bet you are wondering what kind of blog is this......doesn't really seem like a family blog.  And I realize as I look back most of the post are about me, which is horrible considering my family is most definitely not all about me.  So let's hope I dust off my camera and get to work documenting something other than how I feel and what I have accomplished.  Although I can't promise there won't be a little of that in there too....

This past week we went down to Utah to be with my family to support my brother Beau and his wife Melissa and girls becoming an eternal family. Corey couldn't get off work so I piled the kids in the Pilot and took off alone for the six plus hour drive. It might be ok if I had something to look at besides sagebrush and dirt but we made it safe and sound.

I have to start with the main event of the trip.  I have been to my fair share of sealings for new couples but I have never been for a family before.  It was such a touching experience.  I will never forget what I felt there in that moment.  It made me think of so many things and the Spirit was so strong and served as such a great testament to me.  I only wish my own hubby could have gone, but Stacey was alone so we just couples ourselves together.  We just left our four kids in the waiting room and I told Logan he was in charge.  They did great and there were no problems whatsoever.  You can't go to the temple and not take pictures.  It really is such a breath taking building.

 The kids and I, it was windy.

 All the cousins, minus Josh and Sally's kids.

 I love this picture, the Rollins side all together.  We sure missed Josh.

My mom also organized for all of us to meet at This is the Place in Salt Lake.  I went a long time ago and I have to say they have added so much since then.  The kids had a blast and the only downside was how stinkin hot it was. We took a picnic lunch and let the kids play and see everything.   

 Gabe horseback circling...

 Grandma with her grandkids.

 Trying to cool off in the shade.

 Hailey panned for gold and I told her to show me what she found.  I have no idea why she wanted to basically put them in her eyes.

 Hailey on the horse..she was in heaven until a fly landed on her and she started screaming and wanted to bail.

 I call this the Jordan tour picture, Jordan is my niece and looked so cute with her map and backpack on.

 The crew panning for gold.

 Uncle Thor would not fit in the coffin.

 On the train ride.

I have never been a huge fan of Salt Lake just because of all the people and congestion.  I do have to say the evenings were beautiful and it was perfect to just sit outside and relax.  Plus Thor has better grass than I do so it was nice and soft.  The older kids were off playing and Hailey seems to follow me everywhere.  So I had to get some pictures of her.  She really is a lot of fun.

Another good part of the trip was Corey driving down Friday night and surprising me.  I didn't know he was coming and just rang the doorbell at my Aunt and Uncles house.  I was so happy to see him.  I don't like being without my guy.  I don't know how women do those girls weekends away from their husbands.  I just end up missing him too much.  It was a perfect way to end our little vacation.