discovery

This past weekend was simply beautiful. We decided we shouldn't waste our Saturday inside, so we headed out to find something we hadn't seen in this city. We wanted to find a cool park if we could...and let me tell you, our city has one of the coolest parks imaginable. I'm so glad we found it before this summer. There will be many days spent at this park in the coming months...I can feel it.

It's a gigantic wooden park that was donated to the city by hundreds of establishments/doctors/businesses/wealthy people in the community and everyone who donated (I don't know how big the donation had to be) has their names carved into the wood all over the playground.

It's enclosed with only two entrances to the park, and if you have your child playing in the little kids area, there is only one way in and out. I'm sure that they had to restrict entrances due to the intricate winding walkways underneath all of the structures...I'm sure there's been more than one child who got out of their parents sight...but that's why there are only the two entrances.

Porter loved it. Every minute of it...and I have to admit so did I.

Porter really enjoyed the slides and he'll go down them all by himself (unless they are covered... he likes to see where he's going).
The bumpy green one was a particular favorite.


They have all sorts of things built out of wood...a shuttle...cars/jeeps...boats, etc.

In the shuttle they have a metal telephone from the top level to the bottom level. Kyle went inside the bottom level to talk to Porter, but he had to speak so loud to make the sound come through that you could hear him just fine through the floorboards. Porter finally realized that Kyle was just underneath him, so he sprawled out on the floor of the shuttle to look at his Daddy and yell things at him. He started pointing behind him trying to tell Kyle something that was incredibly important...but the kid speaks in code...and neither of us understood the message.

He had a fun time driving the jeep too. From the inside...


and from the outside.They have swings too...including a large tire swing...large enough for an 8 month pregnant chick.
Oh yeah, I don't recommend that if you are 8 months pregnant that you should climb into a tire swing because there is a time when you have to climb out...Kyle was nice enough not to document such a thing with a photo, but I assure you...it was a sight to see.They had sandboxes and climbing walls and a little amphitheatre and so many more things that I can't list them all. But we had fun...And, after a long day...we came home to clean the house a little bit. I stripped our bed of our sheets and I threw the pillows on the couch to febreeze them. Porter found this to be the perfect place to watch a little Cars before it was time for bed. I think we wore him out. And vice versa.

"I've forgotten what it's like to not be expanding!"

Sookie is a woman I can relate to. (If you don't watch Gilmore Girls, I highly recommend picking up the habit.)

This is me and my ever-enlarging self as of last week. Everything is going well with me and the baby, and yes...that is my bellybutton that you can see poking out. I know that everyone says that it's like an oven timer and when it pops the baby's ready. Well, my bellybutton popped out 7 weeks ago and I don't see that he's any more ready to come out now than he was then...but the timer seems to be protruding more and more each week...and with each laugh...each cough...each sneeze...

that's it...I'm never driving again...ever.

I see no problem in walking everywhere that I want to go, right?

I think it really may be the best option. I mean, I'll get plenty of exercise, I'll save loads on gas, and there would be no chance that I would ever spin off the freeway ever again...ever.


Kyle, my sweetheart, drove me to work this past Monday because it was starting to snow and it looked like there would likely be ice on the road by morning. Tuesday morning he picked me up and we headed for home. About 10 miles out of town we hit a stupid patch of black ice and spun off the freeway...this being my second time in 7 months. Luckily, we didn't roll ... I don't care for the rolling. We were able to stay upright while we fishtaled, blasting through a fence and ended with a very bumpy high-speed ride right into a ditch.

We were all very lucky. Everyone is fine, Kyle's fine, Porter's fine, and baby's fine. Me, physically I'm fine...however there is this huge phobia of driving that I seem to have developed...go figure...

And the car is fine too. The 4runner still runs...she has a few scratches where we ran through the fence, but other than that she's okay. She did have to suck up her pride and be towed out of the ditch, but I think she'll get over it.

Twice in the same year seems like a little too much...two times too much. In fact, I'm now 24 years old and I have been in 2 car accidents due to road conditions. My unborn son has also been in 2 car accidents due to road conditions and he hasn't even left the womb. I think we've both hit our lifetime limit.

I need to figure out how to avoid this again...

So, I think I need to buy a plow. I don't believe I have ever seen a plow that has rolled, or spun off the freeway. Nobody gets angry if they have to pass a plow that's going slower than the speed limit because they are the ones plowing the road. I may have a lot of people who follow behind me, but if someone decides to pass me and they spin out in front of me, that's okay because I'm a plow and I can just push them off to the side of the road...no harm done.

Plus, as a bonus, I can plow my road whenever it snows and repay the nice kind man who takes our trash out weekly and the other kind man who plows our driveway with his 4 wheeler. I think it's a win-win situation.

I need to be a plow.

Until then I'm gonna walk. I have no intention of purposefully climbing into my car and driving it again...at least not in the near future.

Porter on the other hand doesn't seem to have been even slightly phased by the accident. He is still ecstatic to go on "a yide" in the car.

He has so much to learn.

cravings

This past Sunday while we were driving home from Moab, I realized that I was starving and I needed something to eat. We were close to Beaver, and for those who don't know, Beaver has dairy farms. And, do you know what the dairy farms make? Squeaky cheese.

I remember my Gramma and Grampa taking us to a dairy farm up in Northern Utah...or was it in Wyoming? I was small, had the attention span of a fly, rode in the back of a station wagon facing the rear, and you wonder why I don't remember where it was we went...go figure.
But, I do remember riding home in the back of the station wagon plugging my ears while devouring squeaky cheese. Manna from heaven. I loved it. And I still do.

And Beaver was right there. We were going to pass right through it...

It was just after midnight (so it was now Monday, therefore not breaking the Sabbath) so we stopped at a gas station and Kyle ran in to get me squeaky cheese. I haven't been so delighted in a long time (oh, wait...I was pretty delighted at acquiring Josie... but this was running a close second).

I love squeaky cheese. I love it so much that I almost downed the entire pound by myself...yes, I'm a glutton... a pregnant glutton...a pregnant glutton who likes squeaky cheese.

However, the midnight binge resulted in me downing 4 tall 16 ounce glasses of water first thing the next morning (squeaky cheese has a high salt content). That's a lot of water...and water weighs a lot...and I had a doctors appointment at 9:00 am.

I downed my last glass at 8:30.

They like to weigh you at every doctors appointment.

I gained 6 pounds.

1 lb for the cheese and a few more from the water.

Here's a question. How do you look your doctor straight in the eye and tell him that he should really only count a 2 pound weight gain for the past 2 weeks and that the other 4 were only gained in the last 8 hours, AND if he would just wait until the water has time to hit your bladder that you're sure you can get rid of 3 of those extra pounds? AND that if he's willing to wait a while longer (like 24-48 hours) you're sure you can get rid of another pound too?

I don't know the answer, cause that's not what I did. I decided to keep what dignity I had and let them count the full 6 pounds without giving such an embarassing explanation.

As I'm laying there and he's checking the baby's heartbeat I start thinking. Next week I'll surprise him! Maybe I'll be able to only put on the suggested 2 lbs. for my next appointment. I'll make sure not to drink the night before and I'll stay away from midnight cravings. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to work off this weeks weight gain and combined with the next two weeks suggested 2 pound gain, I'll drop a pound!

Or, I could drive back to Beaver and get me some more cheese...

I think the baby likes squeaky cheese too.


Then the doctor said that my weight gain looked great this week, and my plans to drive back to Beaver were set.

So, there is one more craving to add to my list for this pregnancy. Apples, cookies-and-cream ice-cream, mashed potatoes (I crave those whether I'm pregnant or not), milk and squeaky cheese.


Mmm, squeaky cheese.

I think I need help.

playdough

This past week Porter and I made playdough. If there's two things this kid loves it's helping in the kitchen and making messes, and this turned out to be the perfect project for us because he got to do both.

Me feeling all artsy...and yes, taking this photo makes me feel like the Pioneer Woman...and I liked it...sue me.
Porter gets absolutely beside himself when he gets to stir something.

Oh, there's another word he knows how to say...stir.And for how thrilled he gets, he does a good job of leaving most of the contents of the bowl in its proper place.

I decided to make 2 different colors. This beautiful lime green that I love...and kind of a putrid orange. Turns out that making a vibrant orange is difficult. It turned out to be more of a rusty orange. Really, terribly gross color. But, even with the frightening color staring him in the face he decided to test the waters.And he found that it was good! Momma was actually allowing him to make a mess and tear things apart. He loved it.
(I really destest the orange...so we'll focus on the beautiful, lovely green we made.)

He played with it for close to an hour. Who knew so much entertainment could be acquired by some flour, salt, oil and food coloring?

It was a great day...an activity we will definitely have to repeat.

new addition

So much time and so little to do...wait a minute...strike that, reverse it.

It's been a crazy couple of weeks in this house and trying to keep up with everything (aka blogging/communicating with the outside world) has been more than difficult. But, we are all doing well and we're all alive. And we have a new addition to our family.

No, not what you may think...I'm still fat and have a little boy kicking around inside me. But we brought home a little girl...a big little girl...

She can do dishes.

We decided that with a new baby on the way that we will have a load of bottles added to the already towering pile of dishes that collect by the end of each day. Based on this fact, we decided we would get ourselves a dishwasher. I praise the name of the inventor of the dishwasher daily when I get to load my dishes into this...

Isn't she pretty? She has all these pretty buttons that light up in a delightful green.
In honor of the inventor, I think I should call her Josie.

I shall call her Josie and she will be mine, and she will be my Josie...

My dishes come out all sparkly and clean, and my fingers don't get all pruney and dry and cracky. I don't have to spend 4 hours every day trying to catch up on my dishes, and, for those who haven't been in my kitchen, I have very little counter space. Josie has solved that problem as well. She has provided another 2 feet of counter space to my kitchen.

I love her.