take me back

I love Arizona. I really do. But when temperatures are pushing 117 degrees, breaking all sorts of records, and it's only June, I kinda get crabby. Way more pictures to come from our awesome beach trip, but I couldn't help look at these, close my eyes real tight, and let my imagination take me back there.

And then the sweat dripped down over my pregnant belly and I was reminded instantly right where I was. Ugh!

Final Countdown

Swollen ankles: check

Leg cramps: check

Varicose veins: check

Backache: check

Sleepless nights: check

Continued cravings: check

Continued late night snacks: check

Continued weight gain: check, check and check

Weekly appointments: check

Frequent bathroom breaks: check

115 degree weather: Unfortunately, check

Daily dips in the pool: Thankfully, check

Hospital pre-registration: check

Nursery complete: check

Two big brothers who play in the nursery all day long: check

lil' sis

I may be partial, but I am pretty sure she is already feeling lucky to have these little goof balls as her big brothers.

I'm kinda lucky myself.

Fish-y

After two weeks of swim and only one day of hysterics, we officially have ourselves a fish. A "lion"fish to be exact. Go figure. A heated pool and temperatures near 100, you can't go wrong. Thank you Miss Pam!

Side note: Sorry for the picture overload. The camera has been tucked away way too long and I couldn't contain myself.

Dreamer

My sweet Dax has always had a wonderful imagination. He loves to read and drift off into the wonderful world of make believe. My friend said to me once that she can just picture a Dax-ish cartoon theme song running through his head as he plays. He is so much fun to watch run around and see his mind run wild. It makes it so much fun to play with him. He often has me pinned as a wild animal, a superhero in disguise, a submarine man exploring the ocean he has created, and a taste tester of all his magnificent cakes, to name just a few. My favorite though is to hear the latest of his many dreams when he gets bigger. Usually, bigger means the ripe old age of thirteen. Let me tell you, this boy has some major things to accomplish by age thirteen, but that's a whole different post.

The other day he was laying in the grass staring up at the clouds dreaming away. He propped himself up on one elbow and looks right at me and says, "Mom, I know something that will make you happy." I was curious. I asked him what it was. He said, "When I grow up I want to be a surfer and a Missionary."

I couldn't be prouder of my little guy. He was right; that did make me happy. I want him to keep dreaming, imagining and making goals for himself and do the things he loves. I want him to be anything he wants to be and to work hard to be the very best at it. I know this idea of "what you want to be when you grow up" will change many, many, many times over the course of his life, but I had to tell him that he was one of those things already, and I hope that never changes.

I love this boy.

Baby Cakes

Over here we're getting ready for our baby girl. We're all pretty smitten with her already. We've painted the room, we've taken polls on her eye color (Wyatt thinks red), we've decided where she will sit at the dinner table (a major concern of Dax's), we're car hunting (seriously...dreadful), we're (as in me) are shopping for anything pink, we're (as in Austin) just keeps rolling his eyes at anything I purchase in pink, and we're excited as can be to have "three boys and two girls" in the family.

Except we're NOT okay in one area. She is nameless. Utterly, completely, nowhere close, to having a name. I tend to lean a little more towards traditional names. On the other hand, Austin doesn't want a name where he knows anyone with it. You wouldn't think, but that causes quite a discrepency. We have no list. We each have one we like. And right now Austin's front runner is Torrance.

I beg you, give me some suggestions to help me convince him to name her anything but Torrance.

Ready or Not

We Arizonians have welcomed the month of April with a high of 98 degrees. Seriously?! We're four days into the month! We've already dug out the bathing suits, sunscreen, Toy Story 3 slip n' slide and water balloons. But let's be real, they weren't packed away that far...this is Arizona after all and the start to a long, long summer.

You see, because the start of April means the start of my third trimester. It's only been four days of the retched heat and I've already considered wearing mumu's.

That's totally acceptable for a woman under the age of eighty, right?

hmmmm.

What should a mother do when her three year old's favorite phrase is booyah.

Booyah. Really?

Awesome.

Superheros

Batman and Robin. The boys' heroes. And mine. You'll see why. They completely self-created their costumes. They perfectly acted the parts. They absolutely had me dying laughing. And I'm totally showing their future wives one day. At least I know I am well protected at home by my favorite Superheros!!

Ballpark

I can not remember a Saturday from my childhood not being at the ball park. No, really. Every. Saturday. For years. And years. And years. Even when I was too young to be playing, I can remember being woke out of bed and carried to the car to get to my sister's early games on time. I started t-ball young and by the time I turned 9 and we started to play "travel ball", every weekend from then on out was spent at the ball park until I was 19 years old. Four hour practices, two a-days, 5 games in a row, washing uniforms late at night to be worn the next day, packing lunches to last the day, it all came with Saturday's at the ball park. I enjoyed it then, but looking back, I miss it more than I would have imagined.

Luckily I married someone who spent his youth the exact same way. But, to be clear he was a soccer player and spent his Saturday's at the "field" rather than the "ballpark". When we first got married we would find ourselves relaxing at the park, any park, on Saturday's just in hopes of catching a game; any one's game. We just loved to watch and it was what we knew. Then when our nieces and nephews started to get old enough to play in organized sports on Saturday's we would catch ourselves traveling 25 miles to see a game. We would race up and down the sidelines and yell behind the backstop like all the other crazy parents.

Finally, Dax has reached the age where he gets to play sports on Saturday's. Hooray! Austin coaches and Wyatt and I sit in my hot pink beach chair being his biggest cheerleaders! I try not to get to intense and yell too loudly from the sidelines, but it's hard. I definitely recognize a piece of my dad in my blood now that I am the parent. Dax played soccer last season and now we are starting t-ball. It's my favorite part of spring. Forget that AZ can't decide if we need A/C or the heater, flip flop or Ugg's, sunscreen or umbrella's, we are enjoying what spring here has to offer. Baseball and Spring Training!

We live by the Angel's Spring Training facility, so we headed out to the season opener a few weeks ago with my entire family and of course...wore our Dodger Blue! We collected some autographs, got a ball, sat in the grass, had a picnic and cheered. It is what Saturday's are all about in my book. And the most important part of that equation? Being with my family. And I have the best one.

GIRL

Picture taken by our ultrasound tech and paintings courtesy of Dax and Wyatt (don't worry, they painted a boy sign too!)

I don't know if you heard...but we're having a girl!

It's been a few weeks since we found out. It's been a little wild. It's taken a few weeks for it to sink in. I'm not sure I will even be entirely convinced she's a girl until I am holding her in my arms. But we've had a few ultrasounds and they're 100%. It's a girl.

I really thought it was a boy. And, if I'm being honest, I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little disappointed it wasn't. I know boys. My boys are the world to me. Our home is what it is; crazy, rambunctious, wild and loud, because of the boys. Throwing another boy into the mix wouldn't mean much change. I think there is something special about family's who have all the same gender. I could totally picture myself strolling around with three little boys. OK, so I'm sure I'd look like a frazzled train wreck going about daily errands rather than enjoying a leisurely stroll, but still, I could picture it. I loved the idea. In my heart of hearts I thought it was another boy.

But now, he is a she. Wow. Here we go! The shock has worn off. The overwhelmingness at starting with nothing, has not. But the excitement and joy has grown and grown. We are thrilled! The boys were hoping for a sister all along. I wasn't sure how that would be for her having these two as older brothers. One of my sister's already said, "She better be tough". At first I thought she was right. But seeing the way they have loved my growing belly, giving her daily hugs and kisses, talking to her and planning her name (so far we have "Girl" from Wyatt and "Marah" like Sarah with an "M" from Dax) they are totally smitten. They will be her protector, her defender, her number one fan, her older brothers. And it is that thought that has me even more in love with them and even more excited for her. She will be one lucky little girl!

Let's be honest though...I don't speak girl! All's I know is superheros, dinosaurs, race cars, wrinkled clothes, shaggy hair, bruised knees and dirty fingernails.

So tell me, what do I need to know about a girl?? I need all the help I can get!

flying.

This is Austin's Grandpa, Ralph Eyestone. Isn't he handsome? There were few occasions where I was able to sit and visit with him before he passed away. I met him for the first time the summer Austin and I got engaged. We met at one of his and grandma's favorite places to eat in Torrance, CA. Subway. It meant so much to Austin that I meet his grandparents before we got married. I loved that about him. I can specifically remember Grandpa Eyestone at our sealing in San Diego. He lovingly pushed his wife around the temple grounds in her wheelchair and posed for pictures in his dark sunglasses and blue sweater. The Grandpa Eyestone I knew was quiet and sweet but he had a wonderful presence. It was comfortable to sit in a room with him and not have to say anything at all.

He passed away in California the same weekend we were blessing Dax in Utah. Instead of Austin's family traveling to Utah for Dax's blessing, they traveled to California to attend the funeral. Austin flew to California on Saturday morning, attended the funeral Saturday afternoon, then flew back to Utah on Saturday night and blessed Dax on Sunday morning with only my family in attendance. It was a bittersweet weekend that I will never forget. I was so sad that I couldn't be there at the funeral and I was so sad that Grandpa never met Dax. I knew it broke Austin's heart.

Out of all the wonderful things I knew about Grandpa Eyestone, the thing I know most was his love for flying. Not just planes like the picture above, but kites. It's one of the things that Austin talks of most when speaking of his Grandpa. He spent so much time flying kites with his grandchildren and it's one of Austin's fondest memories he has.

Even though Dax and Grandpa Eyestone never met, I like to think they share a special bond. They definitely share a love for flying kites. Dax has been asking for weeks to fly kites. There is never much of a wind in AZ, but this week, things cooled down and yesterday was a perfect kite flying day. We headed to a big open park when Austin got home from work and called Austin's dad, Grandpa Mac, to come join in the fun. Dax is a really good kite flyer, a total natural. You should have seen him driving that red baron plane through the sky. He could have stayed out there for hours, and I could have watched. Wyatt on the other hand was bored after two minutes and happily played at the park. I was so touched as I watched Austin, his dad, and Dax, three generations of boys, fly kites.

I know I wasn't the only one thinking of Grandpa Eyestone yesterday. I love that wonderful people from the past can live on through the lives of our children. I can't wait until Dax realizes how special that quality truly is. I love that Dax, even without knowing, has this passion for flying kites just like his Great Grandpa. And because families are forever, that one day they can talk all about it.