June Pictures

It seems to be a rare moment when I have the camera and the computer in the same place. So here's catching you up for June. :) Alex had her 5th birthday. We had some friends from church over and had a little water/Aloha party for her - complete with the slip and slide in the back yard. She's getting so tall!

The girls drying off after some water fun.

Ben being a shark at Biggs Water Park. The water is about 18" deep, and there is a water mushroom, animals you can climb on that shoot water, and a couple of slides. It's free, too!

Alex was invited by a friend from preschool to come to soccer camp! She is so tough! Al will chase that ball all over the field, and then come home with a, "Mom! I have to show you all my tricks!" Audrey is sad when Alex gets to play and she doesn't. Or when Allie is out of her line of sight. "I miss my sister!" I have this foreboding feeling that kindergarten is going to be hard on Audrey.

Next week, we are headed to Phoenix for Aaron to suffer his last week at the County Hospital alone, and for us to escape to air conditioning and the swimming pool. :)

Uncanny

Last week, Ben and I went to the Orthodontist. He got xrays and molds taken to prepare for his palate expander. Then, we had lunch, just the two of us, at Taco Cabana. Awesome.
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The Ortho's office called this afternoon. He would like Ben to lose 3 more of his baby teeth before they can put in the expander. They have sent Ben's xrays to our dentist's office, so he can have those teeth pulled. Ugg! I thought. More money out of my pocket. But it needs to be done.
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Tonight, we sit down at dinner. "Ow!" says Ben. "I have a tooth that is really really loose."
I reply, "Well, go in the bathroom and wiggle it and get it out."
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Thankfully, due to a little extra diligence, Ben just saved me one third of the cost of extraction! I think this warrants a little extra from the tooth fairy... :)

Reactions

Kids are honest.

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I am 12 weeks pregnant with kiddo #4. Thanks, we're excited.

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We have been deliberately not telling our children. There's so much that can happen in the first trimester, and 40 weeks is a really long time.

But with almost all of the adults around us knowing, I've been worried about someone slipping up and spilling the beans. And, with it being #4, it's becoming more and more obvious. (Although, I doubt that the kids actually notice my size... not yet anyway, but I'm noticing!)

So we told them tonight.

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Audrey said, "I get to be a big sister!"

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Al started rubbing my tummy.

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Ben said, "I think you're joking."

We assured him that wasn't the case. He started to cry. He was trying to be strong for a minute, but it wasn't working. After a gentle "What's the matter, Budda?" - and a bit more crying, he asked, "Why?"

"Ben, Dad and I prayed about it and we just felt like our family wasn't complete."

He covered his head with his blanket.

Finally, "I just thought our family WAS complete."

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I hope he gets used to it by December.

:(

What?!!!

Seriously, I have written 2 deep thoughtful posts and as soon as I hit publish - they disappear. What's up with that? Maybe the Lord is working through technology to tell me that I need to wait to divulge my soul.
Hmmm...
Ok.
Here goes.
I'm pressing the button...

Betcha you missed this...

Did you notice that my last few posts haven't had pictures?

I'm sure you were dying to see my cute family...

Spring Break overnight trip to Albuquerque. This is the ABQ temple. It's layout is exactly the same as the Houston temple. That made my speedy dash in a TON easier!

After the temple, we went to this really cool aquarium.
This HUGE fish kept looking at my kids.

Ben was entranced by the sharks.

Audrey on Easter Sunday. We made a quick trip to Phoenix to meet my new nephew, and it was easy - thanks to General Conference.

We set up a fun Easter egg hunt in Grandma's backyard.

As the beginning of April started up, the weather got warmer and the kids were begging to go outside and play in the sprinklers. They had a blast, and went to bed early.

(Aren't they getting tall?!)

Audrey went in the water for just a minute - and promptly declared it too cold. Smart kid.

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There. You're all caught up.

For now, anyway. :)

I think I need a bigger plate...

Mine is too full.

Right now, I am still doing preschool, and trying to be patient while waiting for Aaron's bosses to decide when/where we get to go for the 3rd year Pediatric Orthopedic rotation. I don't do patient well.

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I've built this great business - and I have mommies asking about next year already. It's really stressing me out.

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Aaron went back to the downtown hospital - back to 80 -90 hour weeks, back to not coming home when he is on call. This is day 6 - of the next 3 months. We already know he is missing Ben's 2nd grade PTA concert. That's crummy. He was on call last night. I finally got to sleep just before 2 am.

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I am serving at church as the Laurel advisor - which I am loving. I have also been called to help with our stake's pioneer trek. I am in charge of the activities for 150 kids. It is going to be incredible, but I am a little overwhelmed. I know that I just need some time to sit and process each step. It's a lot, and I just haven't been able to dive into it.

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Aaron and I have projects that we need to work on/through. Nothing too hard, but we need to sit down and take care of it. And new things keep coming up that cost just a little more. I was hoping to use our tax refund and demolish our credit card bill. I just don't know if that's going to be possible. Another little frustration.

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I'm complaining.

Sorry.

I have wonderful blessings - let me tell you about some of them...

1. I have wonderful children. Ben's teacher adores him and is so pleased with his progress. He wrote this awesome essay about our spring break with detail and good structure. It was incredible.

2. Audrey has been getting ear infections, and kind of in a whirlwind - she got tubes in her ears. Everything went well, no complications, and she hasn't been complaining about her ears. It happened so fast that I didn't really have time to worry.

3. We got to take a weekend and go to the temple in Albuquerque. It was really nice to escape. A night in a hotel (with an indoor pool!), a visit to the temple, Red Robin for lunch (there's not one in El Paso), and a cool aquarium. It was a relief, and it brought a lot of peace to moments of chaos.

4. Again with the whirlwind trips, we packed everyone up and went to Phoenix for Easter weekend. I was SO GLAD to visit with my family - I wish it was longer - alas. Ben, Al, and Aud were excited to meet their new baby cousin, Ammon Jacob. Jenna, Rose, and my kiddos hunted Easter eggs in mom's backyard. We had fun, despite the 14 hours of driving and the flat tire.

5. I have a wonderful husband who loves me, supports our family willingly, and is an amazing man.

6. We are healthy, and, for the most part (we DO live in El Paso), we are safe.

7. I am grateful that in this time of difficulty and violence, I have a knowledge of Heavenly Father's plan for us. I know my Savior lives, and that he suffered and died for me. I am grateful for the healing power of the Atonement.

Oh, it is wonderful, wonderful to me!

In retrospect...

I'm sitting at our stake's women's conference right now without paper - big mistake - and I had some thoughts.
* "Be of good cheer" - We were just reminded by our speaker to enjoy life now. Too often we are thinking about what we look like, how we aren't quite perfect, and all of our inadequacies. We need to just stop and enjoy life.

What a kick in the pants! I spent months and months thinking about my anniversary cruise and worrying that I wouldn't look good in a bathing suit, that I wouldn't be dressed right, that my husband wouldn't be reminded of how cute I was 10 years ago.

And the most important thing was that I got a moment to spent time with my husband and enjoy myself. He's been standing beside me for 10 years - no matter how good I looked or what I had accomplished or where I had erred. And had I spent the time worrying about what I looked like or who I was impressing - I wouldn't have had near as much fun.

We went dancing on the ship. We ran around the waterpark at the Atlantis resort like kids. I got to pet the dolphins! What an amazing time we had! And with such a fantastic man!

I am so blessed!