Whew!

Last week I received a summons in the mail for jury duty. Although I think it would be an interesting experience, it's just not the right time for me to serve in this capacity. So I asked for an exemption due to the fact that I'm a nursing mother of a three month old. So since then I have been worrying about it, if they would think I have a good excuse, would they realize that my baby needs me, would they care about my situation or make me serve anyway?

Today I received a letter saying that my request has been granted. Whew! Huge sigh of relief.

Here's some more pictures of our trip.

Dakotah and my sister Natalie. Dakotah wanted to be in all the pictures.

Savannah started crying after the wedding because she thought that now that my sister was married she wouldn't see her anymore. It took a lot of talking to convince her otherwise.

Me and my sis

Dakotah kept batting her eyes at her cousin; he finally asked her to dance.

And for those of you with a sense of humor;

Here's my brother, Blake.

Our Vacation--fun, fun!!

Here is all you ever wanted to know about our vacation. We went to California for a family reunion and had a great time. We stayed at Ventura for a week in a hotel. I think the best thing for me was having someone else clean my room every day.

What's more fun than playing in the sand?

And in the freezing cold water?

Clay tried to boogie board and after many attempts he finally succeeded. Unfortunately I didn't get any of his better successes on camera.

One night we went to a Dodgers baseball game. It's much more fun being there in person. We had a lot of fun. By the ninth inning, though, we were getting tired. The score was tied 3-3 and I was just hoping someone would score a run so the game wouldn't go into extra innings. Bottom of the ninth, two outs, two strikes, the hitter hit the ball into the outfield and it flew between two outfielders. YAY!! The Dodgers scored and won the game!! (I learned a lot by sitting next to my brother who is a serious Dodgers fan. It was also fun to tease him about his favorite player that struck out all night.)

Savannah and Clay

Colby with my Uncle Jim

Dakotah had the most fun. She loved the crazy music they would play. Watch her rock out!

The view from our seats.

DISNEYLAND!!!! Was so much fun!! The kids had the best time ever. We let them decide what rides they wanted to do. Dakotah could go on all but one ride so we rode on a lot of rides. Dakotah loved Space Mountain; Savannah, not so much. My mom gets motion sickness really easily so she took care of Colby while I enjoyed the rides, too. We are already planning our next trip back.

What Colby did for most of Disneyland.

Colby got to go on two rides!! He rode Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World (which by the end of that ride you feel ready to scream with craziness from hearing that song played over and over).

Dakotah was fasinated by this water ball.

It's Wendy from Peter Pan! The girls thought it was so funny when she called them Pixies.

We went to the beach again.

During this beach trip I was so tired from all the late nights and early mornings. Colby fell asleep when we got there so I stayed in the car with him and we napped for two and a half hours.

After California we drove up to Idaho where we're from and Colby was blessed there.

The kids and I stayed in Idaho while Clay drove my mom's car home to go back to work. When he got home he discovered that our air conditioner had broken while we were gone and it was 92 degrees in the house. (He got it fixed before we came home.)

My mom drove my van to her work one day and had an altercation with a light pole. Now the bumper of my van looks like this:

The Grossnickles came for Colby's blessing and stayed the week with us. We went to the Idaho Falls zoo.

My favorite thing at the zoo were the little ducklings!

Dakotah bravely sat on my uncle's horse.

Savannah getting to know my sister's soon to be husband.

All the kids love my brother Josh (and his phone).

My sister Natalie got married. Isn't she so beautiful?

Dakotah took a liking to the groom.

The day we drove home was Savannah's birthday.

The day after we got home we had a party for Savannah's birthday. It was a slightly chaotic day, but I think I pulled it off well.

My baby is now three months old. WHAT?? you say? I know, I can't believe it myself.

We had so much fun and did so many things and had a great time with family, but the last thing I have to say is, "There's no place like home!"

Odd and ends

• I am feeling better. Feeling about medium.
• Yesterday was Clay and my 10 year anniversary. He's a good guy to put up with me that long! He did say that it didn't feel like it's been that long.
• I bought new capris a few weeks ago. Tried them on, they fit fine. About a week later they were saggy on me so I sewed another button on so I could cinch them tighter. When I wore them a couple days ago, they were saggy again! It's great that I'm slimming down, not great that my new capris don't fit.
• The cat has been back.
• We're leaving for California tomorrow!! We're staying at Ventura, going to the beach, Disneyland, a Dodgers game. Then we're driving to Idaho, we're blessing Colby there, then we'll stay until my sister's wedding on August 8th. We'll drive home August 9th. I am so excited to go. I'm excited to see my family and show off Colby. Wish us luck on the drive. Be back in three weeks.............................

A roller coaster

I have been having a rough week. I don't know why, I just am. I am on a roller coaster, my mood is constantly up and down, up and down. I don't get why I get to these points of near self-destruction!!

A shining point in the week.........

Remember the frog story? Yesterday when we went to the cemetary there was another frog (maybe the same one?) by Austin's headstone. Instead of pennies from heaven, I get frogs from heaven. I really think Austin is telling me that he is okay and doing well.

Maybe tomorrow I will be okay and doing well.

It is finished!

My bridesmaid dress is finished!! It wasn't as hard to find time to sew it as I thought it would. Colby took a couple great naps and, even though I would rather have been sleeping too, I sewed and sewed and it is finished! Now I can relax and be lazy!

So do you think I'll pass for a bridesmaid?

(Photo courtesy of Savannah)

Sleep.........

keeps escaping me. Sleep, baby, sleep!

Can I do it? Yes I can!

My only sister is getting married in August (I'll have to post about it; it's an interesting story) and she asked me to be a bridesmaid, which surprised me because she always told me I'd probably be pregnant when she got married and she didn't want pregnant bridemaids. So since I'm barely not pregnant anymore, I get the honor. A couple days later when talking to my mom she said:

"When I come visit I'm bringing the material for your dress."

Me: "Cool."..........pause.............."Am I making my own dress?"

Mom: "Yes. Since you can sew now you get to make your own dress. And I always make dresses for your girls when one of your siblings gets married so you can make their dresses this time, too."

Me: "So you want me to make three dresses before August with a newborn?"

Mom: "Yup. Do you want to make Gracie's dress, too?" (That's my niece.)

Me: "No. I think three will be plenty."


Slightly overwhelming prospect, but when my mom came to visit she sewed most of the girls dresses while she was here. All I had to do was hem them, do the sleeves and the zippers. That doesn't seem like much, but with a newborn I am not able to just sit and sew all day long. So the dresses came together bits at a time. A sleeve one day, a zipper the next. I'm happy to say that the girls dresses are done! Here is the finished product:

Two down; one to go. I have until July 22nd to make my dress. Wish me luck!