Pictures, cuz they are so much better on Tyson's phone

So I have been really bad about taking pictures lately and it is probably because the ones I take are so blurry and dumb compared to Tyson and his cool camera phone that he has with him everywhere.  So here are older photos from mine and Tyson's birthdays.  Aren't you glad I am sharing these with you?

 Waffle House makes for cute smiles!!

 Tyson made me an AWESOME cake and it was incredibly delicious.  Love love love.

 

 4th of July parade.  We were soaked but the boys had a blast.

 

 

Then eating kettle corn at VMI

And then the infamous puddle/lake that killed our car.  It was fun while it lasted though!

 Enterprise cake

Our anniversary.  Happy 7 years!!

I Hope They Call Me On A Mission

The youngest of my four brothers, Ammon, just left yesterday to go on a 2 year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He will be serving in the Brazil...(I am going to do this phonetically since spelling is not my strong suit) Cudachiba South mission.  I am so proud of him, but a little sad cuz I will miss him lots.  He comes over and is very entertaining, he would tell me funny stories, play with my kids and play his ukulele...for hours.  I loved it and will miss it.  But I am excited to actually get letters in the mail from a real person and not bills or junk.  Plus, the boys are going to have someone else to give their mountainous amounts of drawings too (hooray!)

Since his birthday is this coming Friday, we celebrated it on Sunday.  For some reason I love making fun cakes even though I am not the best baker, but I love the cake creative-ness.  So I made a shirt cake, complete with name tag.  :)  Way too fun.

Then we had to get a photo with Ammon and the boys.  I was still in my pj's and not really wanting to be photographed, but since I have one of the boys in me, I had to be in the pics as well.  :)  I'm excited to see how different they all look in two years when Ammon gets home.  That will be a fun comparison.

 And of course Tys and Ammon.  I am so glad Tys gets along with my family so well.  He loves them all and I think they all think of him as a real brother, and I'm really glad.

We will miss you Elder Hardy!  So be prepared for the mass quantities of mail you are going to receive!!  It will be weird, 12 years from now we will begin our 8 years of at least one of our boys on a mission...maybe more depending on if our last try for a girl ends up going how the last four have.  :)

Pregnancy Ramblings

Minus being completely exhausted every day, the last few weeks of the pregnancy are going well.  I've given up hiding my leg with all the heat and I have gotten several comments "what is wrong with your leg?" and "is that from being pregnant?!"  I feel bad for people that haven't had kids yet, especially my siblings, it really freaks them out and I'm sure makes them have even less desire to have kids of their own (not that being around my kids doesn't do that enough).  I will spare you any pictures of it because it just looks like big purple bruises.  Who wants to see that?

But it is all going well and I am really excited to have the little guy.  My little sister is awesome and throwing me a baby shower even though she has so little time to plan it.  She is so excited about all the games and decorations, things that I would be a mess trying to plan.  I am so glad everyone is different and likes different things.

I am a little nervous to have the little one too.  I keep having terrifying dreams.  Like I can't breath during labor or he has a mutilated face or other such horrible things.  Then I wake up like I haven't slept, which I don't think helps my sleepiness.  It is so silly to be nervous, it isn't like I haven't had kids before.  This isn't anything new for me.  But I guess it is because I have learned that I can never expect what will happen.  I thought everything would be easy and simple with my first delivery and I had a C-section.  My second kid, I ended up having to have my water broken and be kind of induced because the fluids were so low.  Then I got an epidural and it took a really long and painful time to have him, but I did have a VBAC.  So with my third, I thought it would be a long labor.  Nope, made it to the hospital and 8 minutes later he was born, all natural (with a lot of screaming on my part, I had no clue how painful it would be and I was kind of freaking out).  So with this one, I just know to expect the unexpected.  I have been practicing my breathing so as not to scream at everyone this time in case he does come quickly, but yeah, I just don't know.  I wake up every morning wondering if today will be the day.

And now that little unknown Prince's child in England is born, I keep worrying the ONE name Tyson and I can agree on will be his name and everyone will think we are naming him after the little highness.  I guess I worry too much if I am really worried about that huh?  :)

So I try to distract myself from my brain thought processes by cleaning and sleeping whenever I get a chance.  I scrubbed the bathroom today, even though I have little knowledge on what cleaning products to use for what (sorry mom, I didn't pay enough attention to all your hard work).  And I cleaned a mirror.  Hooray for me!  Then I laid down because that was obviously all the energy I had in me.  My poor kids.  They want this baby to come more than I do so they can actually have their normal mom back.

Since my due date keeps changing, but we will keep it in the middle-ish, so I have 11 days left.  That isn't too bad right?  It is funny how the last few weeks seem to last as long as the previous 9 months.  I'm sure this will not be the last of my ramblings, just so you know.  :)

Do You Know Wendi?

Josh, Caleb and Logan were sitting at the table eating animal crackers.

Josh: "Oh Logan, last night, we went swimming at Wendi's pool and -- do you know Wendi?"
Logan: "Uh...I know my mom."
Josh: "Urgh, Logan, your mom is not Wendi.  No, do you know Wendi?"
Caleb: "Josh, be nice to Logan.  He doesn't know Wendi."
Logan: "I know Cami."
Josh: "Logan, I know you know Cami, she is right there!  Cami is my mom!  She is not Wendi."
Logan: "Josh, I know Wendy's, the place you eat."
Josh: "No, Logan, not the place you eat, the person, Wendi."
Logan: "Um, no, I don't Wendi."
Josh: (huge sigh) "Okay, that is all I wanted to know." (long pause) "So we went swimming..."

I just love kids and their conversations.  Seriously I cannot get enough of them.

It's not a cupcake, it's a muffin. Trust me. I'm the mom.

Woke up around 5 this morning because I was having contractions so hard they made me want to puke.  So then I started freaking out about everything I hadn't accomplished yet and what if I was going to have this baby today.  Did I really want to go through labor again?  (haha, I know, I know, I don't really have a choice, but that is still how my brain works)

So I tried to sleep but couldn't, thus making me VERY drowsy all morning.

When it came time to get everyone breakfast, which consists of pulling bowls out of the cupboard and trying to get all the cereal orders right with the right spoons because of course that matters to each of my kids.

"I want the mixed up chameleon kind!  Part honeycomb, part lucky charms!"
"Sorry, we are all out of honeycomb."
Child collapses to the floor in utter despair because of course his day would be miserable now that it didn't start with at least one piece of honeycomb in his bowl.  Sad thing is, when it comes to cereal, I totally understand.  I probably made them this way by my freakish obsession with the substance.

Each bag only had like a 1/2 cup of cereal left each.  Which meant everybody had barely enough.  Except Matthew.  And I could give him Lucky Charms (note, they aren't actually the REAL Lucky Charms, it is the knock off brand, I just still don't know the real name), but then he would only eat the marshmallows and get serious sugar high and cranky and I'm sure his teeth would rot through out the day.

So being the incredible mom I am, I gave him a cupcake.

They didn't have frosting on them yet and they are caramel flavored so they are darker in color, looking like whole wheat muffins.  So that is what I told Matthew's brothers when they complained that they didn't get a cupcake for breakfast.

"Sorry, this is a special one, it is a muffin.  The other ones aren't as healthy."

I mean, if you tell yourself believing it enough, it has got to be true right?  I felt a little like Bill Cosby.  Chocolate cake...it has eggs and flour.  :)

I can't believe I have lowered myself to deceiving my children just so I don't have to do anything as strenuous as making toast.  But that is the privilege of a woman 2 1/2 weeks away from their due date, right?  I hope so.

Blessed

Usually every Sunday Tyson has church meetings and visits all morning.  That means I get the three boys and myself ready for church before Tyson comes to pick us up.  It isn't horrible, and the boys are usually pretty good about getting ready.  It does wear me down and by the time church comes and we corral the kids onto a row of seats and try to keep them from fighting and being loud for an hour before their classes, I am exhausted.  But I know it is worth it.

For two weeks in July every year, our congregation does a thing called "family weeks."  It is where there are no meetings outside of the three church hours a week unless absolutely necessary.  So yesterday was the beginning of those two weeks.  Tyson got to stay with us all morning!  It was so relaxing.  He let me take a shower, blow dry AND straighten my hair.  I don't think I have done that all in one stretch for like months, if not years.  He also gave the three boys their baths and got them ready.  I was so relaxed at church that I actually paid attention.  It was great.

Then this morning I found a note from Tyson in a couple's journal we have (we take turns writing notes to each other in it - an idea I got from datingdivas.com).  He wrote about our anniversary and how he is excited for our next seven years together.  He mentioned how old our boys will be then, how all of them will be in school (including the one I am pregnant with).

That seems so weird.  Only seven years from now and my life will be TOTALLY different.  Seven years used to seem like a long time, but now it really doesn't.  I'm sure I will still have to convince the boys to get ready for church.  Maybe they will be wearing real ties then, not the clip-ons.  I'm sure I will be just as exhausted and at a loss for how to convince my boys of anything since they will probably all be taller than me or getting close.  I'm sure I will be grayer and my eyes will be puffy in the mornings.  That will be weird.  :)  I might even be getting wrinkles.

But I will still love my boys and still love my Tyson.  Even more than I do now.  I am so lucky to have them all.  Even if Josh loves to turn the couches into pirate ships, Santa's sleigh, or (like it currently is) a hot tub, which is totally wrecking all the cushions and breaking the springs.  And even if Caleb cries if ANYONE comes close to him while he is playing because most likely they will tease him and wreak what he is doing or steal it (yup, Josh just stole Caleb's coloring book).  And even if Matthew gets into everything and in the short time it takes me to go to the bathroom, he has taken everything out of the cupboard and tried to open the nail polish remover and all kinds of lotions (I am only relieved from his antics because he is currently taking a nap.  Thank the heavens for naps).  And even if Tyson LOVES to poke the baby and make it move and push me so I have to pee and feel like my ribs are breaking at the same time.  I'm sure I would miss all these things if I didn't have them.  I know I am lucky and blessed.  I am so thankful for what these last seven years have brought me.  I know I have already written about it, but I am excited to see what the next seven bring.

Birthday Bashes

This last week is always full of celebrations.  My birthday, Tyson's birthday AND the 4th of July, and our anniversary. 

It is great, I LOVE it.  It really is like Christmas in July.  Tyson spoils me WAY too much on my birthday.  He usually gets to take the day off of work which is super fun, but this year I told him not to because I wanted him to take our anniversary off instead.  So my birthday came and I asked Tyson what he wanted for breakfast.

Tys: "I don't feel like eating our food.  Do you?"
me: "Um, why wouldn't we eat our food?"
Tys: "I think we should go somewhere to eat."
me: "are you serious?"

So we did.  We went to Waffle House.  If anyone knows me, they know I LOVE breakfast food, anytime of the day.  And I love Waffle House.  I think the southern environment is awesome and I love the waffles.  So that is where we went and the waitress was super nice.  She gave the boys each a cooking hat, which was adorable and they loved it.  There was a guy sitting behind us that came up to us and told us we had a really special family and that we are really blessed.

True that sir.

So I thought Tys was just going to go into work late, but he decided to go to the free movie with us (they have free kid movies twice a week at our local theater).  It was so fun!  A little crazy with Matthew, but hey, we didn't have to pay anything, so it wasn't a big deal that I kept having to get up with the little stinker.  The movie was about dragons and Caleb especially was in heaven.  He kept saying how "AWESOME" the dragons were.  Precious.

Then we went home and Tys just didn't go back to work.  He gave me my present which was a coupon/gift certificate book full of gifts from other people.  Like a girls night from my friends, a hair cut from my sister, lunch with my mom, massage from my dad, ice cream with my sister, pedi from my mom-in-law, and of course unlimited devotion from Tys (I loved that one).  It was the cutest idea and was SO sweet that he went through so much trouble for me and that I have so many people that love me.

Then Tys took all of us and my mom out to dinner too, and he ended up never going into work which he had also been planning on all along.  He seriously is perfect.

His birthday however, was not so perfect.  We went to a bike parade with the boys in the pouring rain, they handed out hot dogs afterwards and Tyson finally got to get one, but they were all out.  Then we had to stop by the store because I needed a few more supplies for his party later.  While I ran in the store, Tys drove the boys around the store.  Behind the store was a GIANT puddle, like the coolest thing you have ever seen.  So being the cool dad he is, he drove through it.  Awesome, the boys loved it.  Then when they came around, they picked me up and went to drive through the puddle with me so I could experience it.  Halfway through the super cool splash, the car dies and slowly coasts to the other side.

It doesn't start.

So we think it needs to dry out.

Still doesn't start.

We push it to a different position thinking that might help.  Nope, no go.

It is boiling hot and humid by now and poor Tyson is spending his birthday super mad at himself and the car and hot and hungry.  I hate moments like that.  I have no idea what to do to help and I can't fix the problem.

Thankfully my dad came and got us and we got home in time to get ready for the party and celebrate with our friends.  But Tyson was tired and frustrated about our stranded car, so he was not himself which only made him more frustrated.  Then we were playing with sparklers and Matthew reaches up and grabs the flame totally burning his hand.  Thankfully no emergency trip was needed, thanks to this awesome healing cream for burns my friend gave me.  Needless to say, it wasn't the best birthday for Tyson.  Not to mention my present for him (he will be mad I said this) was pidly in comparison to all the amazing stuff he did for me.

But our van is fixed now and not totally ruined like I was afraid it would be.  It wasn't cheap, but it drives like a dream now.  :)  And I really am sure we will look back on that day and laugh.  All I know is, I am going to do something amazing for that hunk of mine next year for his birthday.  I just don't know what yet...

Oh and for our anniversary, he surprised me and took me to a local Bed and Breakfast.  Seriously.  How lucky can I get?  He really is incredible.  I told him I am afraid he is secretly really ill or something because he has been WAY too nice to me.  :)  He says he isn't, so let's hope that is true.

So yeah, minus being uncomfortably pregnant, life is really good.

 One layer from the seriously mouth watering cake that Tys made me.

 Super cute 4th of July cupcakes (and yes the flags are marshmallows)

The Star Trek Enterprise cake I attempted to make Tys.  It didn't turn out too bad and Em was there to add a few more accurate details about the ship.