Hopefully I make it that far, or hopefully not...

Today I had a doctor's appointment, and we were able to go ahead and schedule my C-section. As of right now, it's for October 30. I think it's possible I could end up in the hospital before that, though, as my due date is November 1, and I already have painful contractions through most nights. With Ewan, I was exactly 37 weeks when labor started, and it wouldn't surprise me if that happened again. I just wanted to update everyone. I'll be in the hospital for Halloween!!! Meep. But that's okay, I bought the baby a newborn hat that is a black owl with littel tufts that stick up on top. He'll be very cute wearing it in the hospital.

Just for fun, all of my boys relaxing together, enjoying some Sesame Street before we had to leave this morning. Note Ewan's stash of Transformers that constantly accompanies him everywhere. Bryce was lamenting the fact that it was a nice, cool, snuggly-type morning and he had to get up and exert himself.

Happiest Day

While Bryce was on his mission, I met a girl in the singles ward named Marianne and we became very good friends.  We had so much in common - from music to life's experiences and the fact that we both had tattoos.  She was someone I could be completely myself around and she never judged.  I loved hanging out with her at her house and we'd drive around in my truck and listen to music.  We'd often leave church (our singles ward was pretty lame, at least that was our excuse) and go get something to drink or eat (hey, no judging...)  I just loved her so much and was very sad when she up and got married and left me to live with her new husband in Canada.  The last time we saw each other was during a hurried visit when I was newly pregnant with Ewan.  Besides that little visit, it has been six years since we saw each other. She has moved around a lot over these past years - Canada, Georgia, Louisiana - and so we lost each other's phone numbers and I've just thought about her so much and missed her.  

Today, after I dismissed my primary class, a loud booming voice filled the room and in walked this tall blond goddess to wrap me in a hug. It was Marianne.  I don't think I've ever been so happy to see someone in my life.  Her husband is here for some training, and they'll be in our ward for the next two months.  She had seen Bryce in the cultural hall and recognized him then went searching for me.  I'll be so very sad when she leaves, but for now - I'm so happy that I've been near tears all day.  We sat next to each other in sacrament and it was hard to not just sit and talk the entire time.  We laughed as we kept hearing each other's stomach growling and played with the boys.  We had her and her husband, Blake, over for dinner and it was like no time had passed at all.  They do not have children, which is a shame because they were so amazing with the boys and by the time we left, Blake was giving Bryce some serious competition for Fynn's affections.   

This just goes down as one of my happiest days in a very long time, and she and I plan on seeing lots of each other before she leaves.  They don't really know what they'll be doing after this, or where they will be, but my fingers are crossed he'll find an opportunity here so she can stay close. Here's hopin'.

Labor Day Weekend

I love Labor Day - because it gives us a nice 3-day weekend. On Saturday, at about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, Bryce and I were suddenly thinking, "Hmmmm, let's hop in the car and drive to Austin." So we did. Ewan had been asking to go to a dinosaur museum, and a few days before I had found this one by the UT campus. It was awesome. They had a skeleton of a pterosaur, specifically Quetzalcoatlus, hanging from the ceiling like it was flying over you. I kid you not when I say it was one of the most amazing, awe-inspiring things I've seen in my whole life. The picture doesn't do it justice. It was so huge, and just... WOW. It was so cool. There were also lots of other skeletons of giant bison and some random little dinosaurs. They had different rocks both from Earth and space - just a lot of really neat things. By the time we hit the 3rd floor, I couldn't really walk anymore and had to sit and whine inside to myself. After, we headed over to Jesse and Amy's to visit. We were able to see the baby's nursery and Amy and I compared pregnancy woes. It stinks because I probably won't get to see her baby for a while. I don't want to burden them right after he's born - she has Ashley coming to help and we don't need too many cooks in the kitchen. And our little guy will be coming right after by a few weeks, so I won't be up to traveling. Hopefully it won't be too long. I'd like to see him before he starts cutting teeth!

For Labor Day, the Saunders came over and Bryce made some steak and pork using one of his odd concoctions and it turned out really good. Ewan, Fynn and Ben ran around the house playing trains and Transformers (Ewan's latest OBSESSION.) Then we let them play outside in our two little kiddie pools. They splashed, blew bubbles, and chased the cats. Missy took lots of wonderful pictures. So we take no credit for the ones I'm going to post. It was all Missy! The guys then went off to do a little golfing while Missy and I put the kids to bed. We ate cookies and talked for a long time, even after the guys got back. There's no telling how long we would have been up talking if not for the fact John had to get up at 4:30 this morning. It was so much fun - the only downside being that I had to switch from chair to couch to floor back to chair or couch to alleviate back pain. But, hey, I'll consider it my exercise!
This was about the best Ewan would let her take until she bribed him with more bubbles...
...then he turned into a male model, giving her different poses and facial expressions. This is one I call, "The Kelli Expression." I never noticed those two dimples until Missy pointed them out.

Cutie Fynn, looking like Daddy.

We were out of swim diapers. This thing was bursting at the seams,
until it finally start to fall off.

I post this only because my blog is private. His swimming shorts didn't stay on much better, and I had to run after him at one point to pull them up to a level of decency.

Fynn sat at the edge of the yard and stared at the wind blowing the trees.

BUBBLES!

Cute, hilarious Ben.

This is the face he makes when he says "Juice," "Cheese," or "Shoes."

Such a cool friggin' kid.

So much to catch up on...

... and I'll probably forget most of it. Last weekend, we made a last minute plan to drive down to Glen Rose and see the wild animal safari. Afterward, we planned on checking out the dinosaur prints at the river. The safari was a huge success with the boys. We had taken Ewan once when he was very little, and he didn't care, but he loved it this time. Fynn was also very excited and grinned and giggled the entire time.

Random deer. LOTS of deer there.

Ignoring the warning to not feed them by hand. He was pretty.

Ignoring the warning again for Ewan.
Not the best picture, in fact Bryce looks a little like a serial killer. But he was the photographer for the trip and Fynn practically needs to be surgically removed from him, so a self-portrait it was.

I almost kidnapped this one. Seriously. If he'd only come a step closer...

What's up, Giraffe?

And the crowning glory of the day, letting Ewan drive for part of the safari.

After this, we went to the river, where we soaked for a little while. And where I totally bit the dust on one particularly slimy rock. A couple of women there were pretty sure I was going to go into labor, but I was totally fine. I was more impressed with myself because I was carrying Fynn and was able to completely shield him from getting hurt at all. I actually think those women were disgusted with me for even doing anything like that while pregnant, but one of their husbands shushed them by yelling out, "That baby's fine in the embryotic sac!" Indeed. Then we couldn't find the path back up the river wall to the parking ground, and ended up doing some serious hiking. Like, for real hiking. The best part was when I had to climb up over a rock that was almost taller than me.

Anyway, that's all for now. Although I did get my hair done, with Missy - which she posted about here. I loved the girl who did my hair, she was awesome. I knew I was looking pretty blah before the haircut, but I didn't realize how bad until I saw how good it looked after. The day before my C-section is scheduled, I am so going back to her to trim and fix my hair so I'll look good in the hospital. You know, at least until the trauma wears me into looking awful. I'm just going to post one of my after pics. Check out Missy's blog for the rest of the pictures, because hers was totally cute, too.
First on the agenda after Baby comes - get rid of that face fat!

Good things

To make up for my earlier rant, and to put myself in a better mood after Fynn threw up again all over his crib and bedding, and Ewan had an accident on the floor, I'll now post some things that are good right now and that I am grateful for.


1. John showing up to pick Ben up a little early, bearing an ice-cold 20 oz. Coke. And he didn't even take me up on my offer of $1,000,000.

2. My new table and chairs, which I plan on posting about soon. Too long I endured a peeling table from Goodwill. No more. Ikea to the rescue. My kitchen looks so nice.

3. The dogs are staying in the yard. For now.

4. The littlest baby is moving more and more every day and making his presence known.

5. We are getting a brand-new, FREE double stroller from some incentive program at Bryce's work. YAY!

6. Fynn is napping. Hopefully to wake up puke-free this time.

7. No one else is sick (crossing fingers).

8. I think I figured out what happened to the fish. Pretty sure it swam way up into the shell in the bowl and got stuck. Which, you know, is sad, but at least I know. Whether it was suicide or not, I can't be sure.

9. On my table are several good fashion magazines just waiting for me to peruse.

10. Bryce promises to not be late from work.

11. I dreamt I had adopted another rabbit. Woke up to find it wasn't true. Always a bonus.

*** Updated to add one more great thing - Just now, I flipped on the TV to see if Oprah had anything good on, and Ewan, sitting on the couch coloring next to me, randomly said, "Yeah, Oprah's a fake." He swears he never heard anyone else say it, that he made it up himself.

Boring, I know, but that's all I had for now, without getting totally sappy. Which I don't like to do. So there you go.

Overdue picture upload

There have been several pictures I've wanted to post, but right now I am the laziest person on the planet, so I'm just getting around to it. Some of these are a couple of months old.

Ewan concentrating very hard on constructing a "crash" with his trains. He loves the crashes, they are his favorite thing ever.

The finished project. Billy, the orange train, was done in by a parachuter. There was also some damage to vegetation in the area.

This is my floor after Fynn ate lunch one day. Seriously, after one meal.

This is from Bryce's birthday when me and the boys stayed up late to make his cake. I didn't think the pictures had really turned out, but I found this one tonight. The way the dog is posing, and Ewan is concentrating so hard on stirring, I just think it is so cute. Of course, that dog lives with Mary Ann, now...

Swimming in the kiddie pool.

Just a good shot.

I have to pull Ruby off of the blinds half a dozen times a day. What you can't see is how they have broken off at the bottom, just this side of white trash territory. I still love her, though. You can see through the window how our dear tree is trying to grow again.

We planted some sunflowers around our mailbox, and the first bloom is particularly spectacular, I think.

Daddy's shadow

Fynn followed Bryce the entire time as he mowed our yard, and our neighbor's yard. Gotta love Bryce's mowing attire...

Robert Smith Will Save Us All

I have the most awesome husband ever. Yesterday, totally randomly, he surprised me with tickets the The Cure concert. Oh, man. I love the Cure. You've heard me wax poetic about Coke? If Robert Smith asked me to give it up, I would. I really would. Just to thank him for his brilliance. I love his music so much, and by extension, oh, how I love him! I've loved him for so long, ever since I pulled my head out of my butt long enough to listen to his lyrics when I was 12 and Ashley listened to him all the time. I love him for making up words like "angelicate," which just hearing you know EXACTLY what he means. I love the little eyeroll he does when he sings. I love that when he's actually speaking, I can't understand even one word that comes out of his mouth. I love him for turning phrases like these:

"and when i see you kitten as a cat
yeah as smitten as that
i can't get that small
the way you fur
the how you purr
it makes me want to paw you all
and when i see you happy as a girl
that lives in a world of make-believe
it makes me pull my hair all out
to think i could've let you leave"

I could go on and on forever, but, oh man, I just LOVE him. So last night was TOTALLY AWESOME! I swear for the first ten songs, it was like he knew I was coming. It was all the songs that just make my soul melt right out of my pores. If it isn't his amazingly perceptive, poetic, beautiful lyrics, it's the way he plays that dang guitar! Remember my desire to play guitar? Thank him. (You know, if you care to thank anyone for MY desire to play guitar...) And then, beyond those first ten songs, I must have turned to Bryce at least fifty times and said, "This is in my top ten favorite of all songs EVER." Which, yeah, despite the discrepancy, it's pretty much accurate anyway.

We didn't bring a camera, because I thought we'd be too far. But actually, we weren't that far. I was close enough to see the eyeroll! (The layers of black liner he was wearing helped a little, too.) But the lovely girl next to me didn't think me weird when I asked her to e-mail her pictures to me. First thing this morning, the link to her Flickr account was waiting for me, and here are a few of the decent ones.

My bardThe band

This was a fairly new guitarist, to my knowledge. He reminded Bryce and I of one of the Guitar Hero characters. He had this black shape inked around his eye, bald as a pool cue, and a spider-webby shirt thing that looked like a skin of tattoos. But the icing on the cake were his SHOES. Patent leather boots, and I bet they were probably four-inch long platform heels.

Bryce also came back from a bathroom break with a t-shirt of Boys Don't Cry, the best song ever. Or one of the best songs, ever. Seriously, in the top ten. I think this has all earned Bryce at least six months of nightly foot and back rubs and me feeding him grapes. Next time, though, Ashley SOOO has to come with me. Side note: The title was something I saw on a girl's t-shirt last night and I loved it. Side note 2: Bryce said that phrase is from South Park, which I don't know, I don't watch it, but there you go.

Amateur photographer, mud pies, and crazy people

*Note* I'll have you know that I am this close to throwing my computer through the window because it will not properly publish my font. Everything is all squinched together. Pardon the strain on your eyes, and also my cussing, which maybe you didn't hear, but trust me, it happened.

Ewan is currently ground from any video or computer games. Today, as a substitute, he decided to take some pictures. Usually he takes pictures of the wall or a box of crackers, but today he actually got some good shots of Fynn. Later in the day, he wanted to dig for worms, but our neighbors lovely pit bulls were trying to climb the fence to eat our dog, so we decided to go play in our side yard instead. And it was a total MUD PIT! So naturally we took our shoes off and had a grand old time. Well, except for Fynn, he didn't like the feeling of the mud so much, so he steered clear.

Taken by Ewan while playing Door Peekaboo

Those big, soulful eyes are full of tears because I was on an important phone call and had put him down because he was screaming in my ear. Also taken by Ewan.

Sitting in the mud pit.

Standing in the mud pit.

He got much dirtier after this one.

Tonight we went to the ball game with the Saunders, Bowers, Kirchmanns, Grimmetts and Grundbergs. That was a lot of fun, and the kids did really well. (Again, I'll be stealing pictures from the other people present, so those will come later.) The only dark spot on the whole evening was the bat*%$! crazy woman who sat next to us. All the kids were pretty much communal property among all of us families, the whole "it takes a village" thing, and Ewan and Natalie were sitting in two chairs next to me. Some young couple wandered over the the seats next to them, and at first I thought this lady was just overly friendly as she started chitchatting with the kids. A little annoying, but nothing compared to when I looked over and she was giving them cotton candy! Now, I don't care if my child has cotton candy, we were going to buy some for him, but where on Earth did this lady hear it was okay to offer someone else's children, that you don't know, candy? I was very aggravated, but was trying to be nice, so I just thanked her. And she continued with the questions, working her way to asking them their names. Bryce and I were both getting very uncomfortable, but nothing prepared me for when she started TICKLING MY SON. Seriously. Tickling him. Um, yeah, don't touch my kid. So I start figuring out in my head how I'm going to lure him away, when that woman pulled out a camera and was taking pictures of both of them. That was the final straw, and I had to work up my courage to get them away NOW. Luckily, Natalie saw Bella and wanted to be with her, so that worked out. But I had to physically pick Ewan up and put him in my lap to get him away from her. She and her companion apparently got the hint, because they immediately left and went back to whatever hole they came from. But seriously, how many grossly inappropriate things was she going to work into a ten minute period? So we had to have the talk with Ewan that even though strangers may seem nice, we just don't know, and that all the things she was doing were not appropriate. I am mad at myself, though, because I should have immediately said, "Please don't tickle him." The cotton candy thing I could have overlooked, because we were right there, and she was eating it as well, but the rest was so far over the line, and I hate that I even hesitated to offend her. But I finally did, and I know Natalie also got a good lecture from her mother about it once I told her what happened. It's a lesson to be learned by me to stop caring about offending other people.

Pity party

I've been very blue.  I've been weeping.  A lot.  I wept when Bryce told me I looked beautiful.  I wept when I was talking to Ewan before he went to bed tonight.  I wept when I saw my beautiful new kitty playing.  I'm weepy now because I'm thinking of how much I love my sister Ashley and how beautiful she looked today.  I'm weepy now because my little sister is having a baby, and we never talk, and I miss her because we used to be close, and I don't think she cares.  I know I'll be weeping later because we're going to watch a movie with Tommy Lee Jones in it, and I love him so much, and he reminds me of my dad.  I've been weeping because I feel like I've wasted so much of myself and my time and my talents, to the point where I feel like I have not much to offer.  I want to weep because I'm SO. TIRED. ALL. THE. TIME. and I can barely function.  I even wept when I thought about how much time I spent alone in the hospital when I had Fynn because Bryce was with Ewan.  I'll be weeping in frustration over the next few months because I cannot figure out where on earth we are going to put a crib.  And I'm weepy because I want to enjoy my blog the way I used to, but I don't see that happening any time soon.

So forgive me.  I needed to do a therapeutic post.  It's my pity party, and I'll cry if I want to.  

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRYCE!!!

Okay, so this is technically two days late, but I've been busy, and tired, and busy and tired at the same time, so I'm just getting around to it.  Bryce's birthday was Monday, and it was especially nice because he had both Friday and Monday off, so we had the best four day weekend.  We tried not to "schedule" anything, just hang out, lay low, and if we felt like getting stuff done, we'd do it, if not, we didn't.  We're trying to be good with money, and Bryce always insists he doesn't need anything.  I know he wants Guitar Hero, but it's too expensive, and I don't really want it in the house because I know he'll never do anything else ever again if it is.  So I found this nice compromise for his birthday.  His second birthday present is giving the new dog back to Mary Ann since he hates it, and since it chewed through one of his computer cords!

Very sad thing and very good thing

Bryce and I were very distressed yesterday as we drove by this, literally minutes after it happened. They had not yet even covered the victim, and luckily Ewan was asleep because it was right on his side of the car. We weren't even trying to see, at first we thought the traffic holdup was a fender bender, and were irritated at the slowdown. But as horrible as seeing the man lying there was, and the trauma to the body, the saddest thing for me was seeing the three young girls that had been in the other car, sitting huddled against the divider, clinging to each other and sobbing. Both visuals have stayed with me and Bryce ever since, and I don't know when I'll be able to shake the images.

In an effort to do just that, I want to post the pictures of Ewan's preschool program. (Thanks again, Shannon.)

Shannon and I were sitting on opposite sides of the gym, and I kept seeing Ewan looking for me, just searching all around, but he never looked right at me. He obviously found Shannon and her family taking pictures of him.

Making music.

Preschooler Bowling.

Mmmmm, cake for lunch.

Buddies. Pardon the lovely look on Ewan's face, he was mid-chew.

Night happenings

Bryce got home at 2:00 this morning, and didn't have a house key with him.  I forgot this fact, and was brutally awakened by the dog barking her head off, of course right outside the kids' door.  I finally realized Bryce must be home, and I stumbled up to let him in, right as Ewan stumbles out of his room telling me he's had a nightmare.  He likes to sleep on the couch when this happens, so I snuck into his room to get his pillow and bear.  There was Fynn, laying on his side, staring at his Gloworm, which he has recently rediscovered.  It was laying right next to him, and the glow was shining on his face as he listened to the music.  He saw me, gave me a small grin, and just continued listening and staring.  I am not even kidding when I tell you that since I had Ewan four years ago, nothing has melted my heart as much as seeing Fynn laying there with that Gloworm.  

After the house had finally settled back down, I was having a bit of a hard time going back to sleep, when my beloved new kitty Ruby climbed up on my pillow, and for twenty minutes proceeded to search through my hair, like she was looking for somewhere to nurse.  But it was like the nicest head massage as her paws just kneaded my scalp.  She finally gave up, realized I don't have cat nipples on my head, and wrapped herself in my hair, where she slept for six hours straight.  Ahhh, I love that kitty.  

(And do you see how you can tell I'm really a cat person?  When I talk about the dog, which is almost never, I only refer to her as "the dog."  I haven't even mentioned the new dog once since he came here.  But get me a kitty, and I'll talk about almost nothing else, and I even refer to her by name.  They are like my family, cats.  It's a good thing I got married, because I would seriously be crazy cat lady.)

Coca-Cola, take me away...

Well, it has been one whopper of a day.  I woke up exhausted, because let me tell you, this schedule of Bryce's SUCKS.  There's no other way to say it, sorry.  He hasn't been getting home until 4:30 am, and last night it was 5:00 am.  So he has to sleep half of the day away, which is difficult because our house is very tiny, and our doorknobs have become very easy for Fynn to open, so it's impossible to keep him out.  Bryce may as well be trying to sleep on the couch in the middle of the living room for all the good it does.  Plus, when he's not here, I just can't sleep as good.  

So I woke up a little cranky today, and my dog keeps escaping the backyard, and Fynn WILL.NOT.STOP.CLIMBING.ON.THE.TABLE.  I have to keep all the chairs across the room from the kitchen table and move them back and forth constantly for meal times or coloring or whatever.  Today, I forgot to move Ewan's chair, and I dozed off on the couch.  For like two minutes.  I popped awake and asked Ewan what Fynn was doing, and he said, "Standing on the table."  Yes, indeed, he was, and he had poured an entire glass of milk on the floor, which the dog was enjoying licking up.  After Fynn had woken Bryce up a dozen times, I decided to go get groceries and added to my list "new doorknob" and only half jokingly "child leash."

I needed to get gas, so I stop on the way to the store, and their pump won't turn on.  I swiped my card twice, it was accepted, but then it just didn't do anything.  So I unload the kids, traipse inside where the pimply faced, awkward ugly teenager basically told me I was stupid and that I needed to swipe my card.  Ummmm, I did, jerk.  I decide to go to another gas station, and seriously, for like five seconds, my foot was lead because I was so worked up, and in the ONE BLOCK that my foot was heavy, a cop nabbed me.  I was going 54 in a 35.  OOPS!  But the kicker was that I couldn't find our insurance card anywhere, and he decided to try to track our insurance down FOR HALF AN HOUR.  He told me he was supposed to tow my car away, but I think since I had the two kids and was so nice, he just gave me a nice $900 ticket instead.  (So expensive because I was nabbed in my parent's car in 2001 with no insurance.)  Luckily, we do actually have insurance, so we'll get out of that.  Although not for the $200 speeding ticket.  Yippee.

You can tell I was upset when I shopped because items on the grocery bill included:  one Coke, one candy bar, break and bake oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, ricotta cheese tortellini, Boston Market lasagna (cheesy) and lots of macaroni and cheese.  Will I eat all of that today?  That's for me to know and you to find out.

Run like the wind

For Ewan's preschool the other day, as a wrap-up party for the Alphabet, they were to go dressed as a letter of the alphabet. Now, I'm not creative, not even a little bit when it comes to things like costumes and such. My brilliant idea was to get an old white t-shirt and write W words all over it. He originally wanted to be the letter Z, but Mr. Z supposedly is covered in zippers. If I sewed, and if I wasn't a procrastinator, I would have gone and bought a jillion zippers and covered an outfit with them. As it stands, I ended up having to call Ashley for a lightning bolt idea. And in under 30 seconds, she had one. (She's so good at that!) She said, brown pants, blue shirt, blue "cape" (i.e. baby blanket) and he would be Mr. W as The Wind. He loved the idea and even managed to keep his cape on throughout all of preschool.
Last night's baseball game was a raging success, although the immediate aftermath was a little dramatic. I had told Bryce to bring me back one of those awesoem ballpark hotdogs, so he did. I guess at some point in the car, Ewan squished it a little, and Bryce told him that it was mine, and that wasn't nice. Ewan began to worry a little. When I opened the door, he looked fine, and told me, "I accidentally squished your hot dog." He looked so worried, which prompted me to exclaim a little too loudly, "Oh, honey, that's OK!" Well, he started wailing. And wailing. I've never heard anything like it, it sounded like Marley's ghost moaning through a megaphone. He told me, "I don't like squishing other people's food!" It was so bad it took us thirty minutes to get him calmed down and into bed. He was just so tired. But I laid down with him before he fell asleep, and he told me about all these people he met. He was especially excited that he met a Canadian. For months, Bryce has told him about how Canadians talk funny, especially how they say "soory." One day he even talked for an hour describing to us different ways Canadians say various words. It was hilarious. Truck was something "trubaskado." Bryce had painted such a funny picture in his head that Ewan didn't realize Canadians are people. He has referred to them as Canadian aliens, or some sort of animal. So for him to meet a Canadian and see he was actually a human being, well, it was a big moment.

Uncle Troy, Ewan, Bryce

T-ball

Uncle Troy

Mmmm... Coke.

Peanuts, Cracker Jack and Man's Best Friend

Bryce has taken Ewan to his first baseball game tonight.  He was so excited, but we quickly realized he thought HE was going to be playing, not just watching.  We had a mini-drama over that, but Bryce just sent me a message saying Ewan is having a blast.  I made Bryce take the camera, so hopefully there will be some cute pictures to post.  While they were gone, Fynn and I had some fun throwing a ball all around the living room, until he began to melt down and I put him in bed.  Having this time to myself has been nice, although the movie I had set aside to watch turned out to be kind of boring.  But I gave myself a pedicure, read some gloriously stupid yet fun websites, and watched stupid TV.  It was refreshing.  

I'm a little distressed because some new neighbors have moved in behind us, and let me tell you...  I feel like they might be related to the people that camped by us this weekend.  I actually remember from the park ranger reading out their IDs that one of them lived in Arlington. I'm pretty sure that's him behind us. They are yelling at each other constantly, using many expletives, and even as we speak their music is blaring through my backyard.  They also have three very aggressive pit bulls.  Today I was outside with the kids when Fynn wandered to that corner of the fence.  Before I could get to him, those dogs had started barking at him so furiously that our two dogs rushed over in defense.  So there is my Fynn, in the middle of five very angry, loud dogs, and he was shaking so violently I could see it from far away.  But he was paralyzed and wouldn't walk away.  Our backyard is big, and I've been having my lovely pregnancy sciatica that I can't ever seem to escape, so it took me a minute to get to him.  He just clung to me so hard and cried his little heart out.  It was sad for Fynn, but I also was glad our dogs had that instinct to protect him.  I guess I can put up with some shedding and invasion of personal space after all.  

A little bit of this and a little bit of that

We have had a really good weekend, starting with a camping trip that has been previously documented here, here and here. There were a few little bumps and odd experiences, but overall it was completely fun, and I can't wait to do it again. I will, however, be waiting until probably October when the lovely state of Texas starts to think about getting cooler. Unfortunately, we forgot our camera, but other people smarter and better organized than us remembered theirs, and we were able to get some cute shots. These were some of my favorites:




Next time we'll just cross our fingers that we can avoid the drunken idiots one campsite over. I'm so glad we have met such wonderful people that have become our good friends. Bryce and I spent the first few years of our marriage virtually friendless, and it's so nice to have had our circle of supporters and confidants expand so much since we moved into this house. Hopefully it's a trend that will continue throughout our life.

Bryce is going to be on a very odd schedule for a few weeks. He'll be home during the day, but will be working the graveyard shift for a week or two, leaving around 5:30 pm and working until 2:00 or 3:00 am. It will be interesting, that's for sure. But it might actually help with my desire to step up my blogging again. With so many hours in the evening to myself, I'm sure I'll be on here quite a bit more.

I just want to wish everyone a very happy Mother's Day! You are all so awesome and we love you.