Busy Weekend

The last weekend of September was a busy one for us. Travis' birthday was on the Thursday just before it. Then, on Friday, the 24th, Corey and I went to Aspen Grove to a marriage retreat. Apparently they have several of these marriage retreats there every year. It was overnight and we stayed in one of the cabins. If we do it again, we'll probably stay in the lodge. We didn't realize there were no facilities in the individual cabins (the website doesn't really give that much information) and trekking to the bathrooms 5-6 times during the freezing cold night because of the pregnancy was not much fun for me. Plus, I really don't like venturing out in the dark like that, even with a flashlight, so I made Corey go with me every time.

Anyway, part of the retreat was attending workshops on marriage and family. This year the speaker was Brad Wilcox. He was very good and we enjoyed it very much. The food was also very good--we enjoyed dinner on Friday night and then breakfast Saturday morning. Lunch was on the agenda, but because we were literally up all night going to the bathroom, we were both very tired, so we left after the first workshop on Saturday. (Hey, I wasn't pregnant when I booked us for this little excursion!)

My cousin stayed with our kids overnight, and we are so grateful she was able to do that! And the kids loved her. We came home a bit early, so she was able to have time to get ready for her day and take off to a wedding reception she wanted to attend. We were able to get in some naps before heading back down to BYU for the BYU-Nevada football game as a family. The kids were really excited and loved the atmosphere. They were able to spot out Cosmo (the cougar--BYU's mascot) no matter where he was in the stadium from how high up we were, and I couldn't even find him even after they had pointed him out! We left at half time and went to Brick Oven for dinner and then headed back up to home. It was a very busy weekend and we were exhausted by Saturday night!

Four Years Old!

My sweet Travis turned four on the 23rd of September. He got to go the night before with his Aunt Jamie to a party her In-N-Out store was having at Boondocks, a family play center here. He got to do fun things like miniature golf and laser tag. Then he spent the night at her house. In the morning, she took him out to breakfast before bringing him back home.

I made him a Spider-man cake (a "Spidey" cake, according to him) and he loved that. He was very excited. He was excited about his presents too: a Legos farm set, a set of matchbox size construction trucks, and some warm winter Spider-man pajamas. He also got a remote control car from Aunt Jamie, which unfortunately, Westley threw across the room out of anger and broke and will be replacing with his own hard-earned money. He also got a card and money from Grandpa and Grandma and as soon as I have a chance to go with him to the store alone, I will take him to pick out something.

Four things we love about Travis:
1. He gets excited about everything!
2. He loves to play with his little sister and give her lots of hugs and kisses.
3. He says I'm his best buddy (still).
4. He is very cuddly and loving.

Camping

On September 10th, we attended the ward campout.

We didn't have a tent because in the past when we've camped (only two or three times), we've borrowed my parents' tent since they lived so close. So we decided we needed to buy one so we could go to the ward campout. But Corey didn't want just any tent; he wanted a canvas springbar tent like my parents have. As far as I know, the best place to get a canvas springbar tent is Kirkham's Outdoor Products in Salt Lake City. So we drove over there and looked at the tents.

Corey chose a rather large, seven-man canvas springbar tent. It wasn't cheap. But we had a little extra this month and figured that if we had a good tent, we might go camping more.

The ward campout was held about 20 minutes from home. And the campground had nice facilities, which was a nice surprise (the facilities at our ward campout in Arizona were not favorable). We arrived in the evening and the kids had fun playing with other kids in the ward. We ate some delicious dutch oven dinners and Corey set up the tent. Then we had roasted marshmallows and s'mores.

Eliza and I did not stay the night. With this pregnancy, I've had to use the facilities every night about five to eight times, and I didn't like the idea of walking across a cold campground in the dark that many times. Plus, I've camped in Utah before, I knew it would be freezing (and the weather prediction was 40 degrees for the overnight low, and I was right). Since I was going home, it only made sense to bring Eliza, the poorest sleeper we have, with me. So Corey and the boys braved the cold and Eliza and I came home and had a nice hot bubble bath before going to bed.

I definitely want to go camping again, and that campground seemed perfect for us novices. We can be close to home, have nice facilities and still camp. Might be a good idea to start there next time we camp, which definitely won't be until summer with the cold temperatures.

Travis' New Hobby

When my dad stopped by our house at the end of August, he dropped off a box of my old dolls--Barbies, Strawberry Shortcakes, and Cabbage Patch Kids and their accessories--for Eliza. All the boys were intrigued, but Travis took a special interest in the new toys. His favorite hobby? Stripping the dolls down to the nude and then taking their heads off.

But actually, this interest subsided after about three days. Now he is back to torturing Eliza by taking her dolls away from her and teasing her, something he was always very good at before. Gotta love big brothers. I seem to recall mine doing similar things to my dolls, and actually, probably the exact same dolls.

Baby #5

I never did make a formal announcement on this blog. So here it is...

We are pregnant with baby #5, due March 30, 2011.

I was highly suspicious in the middle of July, just because of how I was feeling, very hungry and very tired. I put off taking the test because we've had a few times in the last year when we thought I was pregnant but I wasn't and it was kind of a bummer. Within days of the positive pregnancy test, I was already feeling the morning sickness. It's been pretty bad this time around. The only other time I had it this bad was with Westley. Luckily, now that I'm nearly 14 weeks, the sickness is subsiding and I'm feeling much better.

The fun thing is that I have a couple of cousins who are also pregnant plus two sisters-in-law who are expecting. And I have two more sisters-in-law who just had babies in the last 3 months.

It's weird though that Eliza will be so much older than this baby, considering that all the rest of my kids are separated by 14 to 23 months. Eliza will be 3 years and 3 months older than this baby.

Westley is hoping for a girl. Caleb and Travis don't seem to care and Eliza is oblivious. I feel certain it will be another boy and so does Corey. So we'll see. We get to find out around the end of October/beginning of November.

And by next April, we'll be a family of SEVEN!

First Day of School

The first day of school was August 26th. Westley started 2nd grade. Caleb started kindergarten this year, but he didn't actually start school until September 3rd. They had the kindergarten doing testing and meeting with the teacher one-on-one during the whole first week of school.

Caleb is in afternoon kindergarten (they have half-day here) and he just loves it. When he went in for the testing, I was told that he knew more than they expect them to know coming into kindergarten. I was glad of that. The results also came back, though, that he didn't know it all, so he has something to learn and probably won't be bored, like Westley was.

So far this year, I like both teachers that the boys have. I think it will be a good school year.

Caleb in the car on the way to his first day of school

Caleb in front of the school

He didn't want us to stay, so we walked him in and left, walking past all the parents who had children clinging to them, crying, while Caleb played happily on the playground, not even looking back. We are so glad that our children (so far) are so independent and eager to start something new.

Caleb is also thrilled that he gets to ride the bus home from school with Westley. And I like that they get to ride the bus still, since most buses for our school were canceled this year with the budget cuts.

Apple Valley--The King Side

After leaving my brother's, we drove up north to stay with Corey's mom and see some of the cousins on Corey's side.

Westley and Felicity (both 7)
and Savannah (same age as Eliza)

Travis and Thomas (age 4) climb on Corey

Eliza, Travis, Felicity, Westley, and Caleb

On our last night there, Nana and Corey took the boys to a minor league baseball game.
I stayed home with Eliza.