Sunday, October 21st

Who has time to blog anymore?! I don’t even know where I have been, but I’m going to blame it on school. Tomorrow my accelerated class starts and 2 start for Jacob. Pray for me. To the one person that reads my blog – seriously, pray that I don’t die trying to do this darn fast class.

We have enjoyed some cooler weather lately. We’ve gone on walks with Roxy, played outside, had some rain, taken a couple family trips to the park, and now I seriously cannot remember what has transpired in these past weeks. Grrrr, this is why I hate missing so many days. But I’ve been trying to be better about when I do my school so that I have more time in the week.  I took a chemistry exam last week and got an 88, and that’s pretty good for chemistry. I also took a quiz and got 100%!! High five me for pulling that one off. I actually really enjoy chemistry, probably one of my favorite classes ever. I’ve really surprised myself by liking it. If I were smarter I’d be a chemist, but I’m not smarter.

Becca still hasn’t had baby Cooper yet, but the poor dear has had a lot of false labor. She is constantly contracting, and I hope she goes soon. Like tomorrow, or not until after Halloween. Adam and Amber are getting married this Friday, so a baby needs to not be born on their day. I took some engagement pictures for them yesterday. We are happy to be getting Amber. We think she is lovely, and we are happy to be getting two more sisters in our family. 

Adam and Angelica moved back to Vegas this week, so the boys spent yesterday afternoon with them. They are happy to have them back in Las Vegas. I know the boys don’t like not being able to see their dad and stepmom and other siblings.

Last night Jacob and I went to the Jenny Oaks Baker and North Stake Choir and Orchestra concert. It was wonderful, and Jenny Oaks Baker is no rookie on that violin. She is amazing, and I can’t wait to buy her Christmas cd. We first went to dinner with Amanda and Ryan, then to the concert, and afterwards to Max Brenner for dessert. Mom Edgel watched the boys, and we sure love them and my parents for always being such wonderful parents and grandparents.

Logan is just a darling little thing. He can be such a stink, and then so pleasantly happy. We love him. We surely do.

Alright, as promised some catch up pictures.

Becca’s baby shower, which was on September 29th. Yummy food – alfredo sauce, meat sauce, salad, breadsticks, artichoke dip, shortcake bar, fluffy sugar cookies, and a most delicious punch. There were a lot more guests that I didn’t get a chance to take pictures of.

Isn’t that blanket darling? Andrea made it. She’s a homemaking goddess.

We went to the pumpkin patch last Friday, and Becca took some pictures in between her contractions. The kiddies had some fun for sure. Jacob showed up a little bit late but I can’t remember what he was doing.

And here are two of my favorite shots from Joe and Laura’s engagements (in film)

And two of my favorites from Adam and Amber’s engagements

Tuesday, October 9th

I typically don’t go this long without journaling, but my life has been busy. A lot of time was spent planning Becca’s baby shower, which was a success, and doing school, being a single mom while Jacob was hunting for 4 days, etc. So much has gone on. Catching up is not my thing. My memory is lousy.

Logan was 6 months on Thursday. He’s a darling little thing. I was worried about his development, but I feel like he started doing everything he should be doing within a couple weeks of me being really concerned about it. He’s eating his food well, although his tongue often thrusts it back out. He’s bearing weight on his legs well, which he started doing just a few weeks ago and now does it all the time. He’s quite the wiggly little thing, trying to twist his way out of our arms all the time. Just this week he started liking the walker that I borrowed from Patti. I used to have the same one with Easton, and I really like it. Logan is starting to play in it for a while, and he’s super cute when he’s in it. I talked to Dr. Baker about my concerns, but he wasn’t worried at all and drew me a diagram of what is going on with his nervous system and how every child’s nervous system develops at a different pace. He switched his formula again to a soy one since h was constipated again, and I feel like he’s doing well with it. He said his first syllables last week while we were out on our evening walk with Roxy (he loves our walk). He said, “Nuh nuh nuh nuh.” I know. Amazing, right? It’s adorable when they make their first noises that resemble the sounds of beginning words.

Easton is doing well in school. He really enjoys it, and he particularly enjoys the monkey bars on the playground. That’s all we ever hear about. He’s getting older all the time. He’s 7 in just a couple months. I try to tell him to stop that growing business, but he doesn’t listen. They never do. He’s a great big brother to Logan. He’s so helpful, and Logan smiles whenever Easton talks to him. He favors Easton over Teagan because Teagan can be so in your face sometimes. Roxy, our Schnauzer, also favors Easton for the same reason. But she follows me all around the house, so I’m her very favorite. She’s been a good dog and adjusted quickly to our family. We really love her. I even love her. She’s the daughter I’m sure I’ll never have.

I went with Joe and Laura and Laura’s sister Jeanna to Cedar City last week to shoot their engagement photos. What a beautiful couple those two are. Jeanna and I had fun shooting their pretty faces, and we are excited for the cute nieces and/or nephews they will give us.

Amber’s bridal shower was this past weekend. It was very nice, and I am happy that Adam found her. We love Amber and her son Anthony. They are good for Adam. They are getting married on October 26th, and Joe and Laura are getting married on November 30th.

Jacob went hunting from Thursday to Sunday. What a miserable wife I was. Not really, but I missed him fiercely. I’ve lost the ability to sleep alone since I’ve been married, so the boys bunked with me. I stayed all alone in my house like a big girl, and it wasn’t too bad. Roxy was there to protect us. But Jacob worked 14 hours Monday-Wednesday and then left for hunting Thursday morning, so I was alone with this children for a week. That’s a long time. I know other women do longer, and I know I was once a single mom, but I’ve gotten spoiled in this marriage. I love my husband, and I love to be with my husband. And I do NOT like sleeping without him at my house. He considered going this week again since he didn’t get an elk, but I shot that idea down quickly. If I didn’t have a baby, I would be fine with him going, but Logan is a handful sometimes. He just needs to be held a lot some days.

And don’t even talk to me about school. You’re reading the words of the World’s Biggest Blockhead right now. Someone should have smacked me straight when I said that I was enrolling in classes this semester since I have an INFANT at the same time. Never again!!! It is so hard to take care of a baby and do school and be a mom to other children. I don’t have time to do anything fun or relaxing, and the worst is that my accelerated class starts in a couple weeks. It’s likely that I will be dead before this semester is over. Death by textbook reading and discussion posting and simultaneous children rearing. Ugh. I will do school when I don’t have babies.

Becca has just a few more weeks until Cooper will make his arrival. She’s not a big newborn stage lover. We are very similar when it comes to babies and postpartum stuff, so I know how she feels. I need to post the pictures from her shower. Oh, and my dad is doing well. He’s recovering ahead of schedule, but he’s still out of work so my mom has been working more. I feel like there are a lot of other things that I’m forgetting. Like general conference was this weekend, and I love conference. They made an announcement that now 18 year old boys can serve missions and so can 19 year old girls. And Anisha came in town last week, so she brought her two boys over one day and we went out to lunch with Ashley another day. I took the boys to play at Andrea’s yesterday, and they had fun running around with Jackson. His birthday party was Saturday after Amber’s bridal shower, and the boys had fun at that with Sadie too.

But it is late. My baby wakes up at 7:30. There’s just no time to do the gazillion things I need or want to do. But I vacuumed the stairs today and put laundry away. And read in my chemistry book and special ed book. I cooked dinner, helped Easton with his homework, practiced letters and sounds and shapes and colors with Teagan, took the dog on a walk, read books to my children, and had morning and nighttime prayer and read our scriptures before bed.  But I didn’t do my makeup. I’m going to mark this day as a success anyway.