The weekend after Easter, we all headed up to Utah for my baby sister's wedding. I have photos from the actually wedding that I'll share later, so for now I'll focus on the other weekend happenings.

First- we flew Allegiant which was terrifying for me after the hassle of flying with them for Beebs' birthday weekend. Luckily, it was a much better experience this time around. We made it up to Utah safe and sound and ready to have some fun. 

We flew in bright and early Thursday morning and before we even headed to my parents house, we stopped by our favourite little locally owned grocery store with the yummiest donuts ever. I pretty much lived on their Oreo donuts the entire time we were in Utah. We took the donuts back to my parents house and chowed down, then relaxed for a little bit before getting on with the day's activities. 

First on our agenda was to head up to Bridal Veil Falls where we met up with my best friend KJ's older sister and her family. Their Spring Break Utah trip happened to overlap with our trip by a day and we couldn't pass up the opportunity to finally meet in person after having heard about each other for years. We let the kiddos run around on the mountain paths and climb part of the falls. They also had fun feeding and watching the fish in a stocked pond... until Beebs leaned over the edge a little too far and fell in. It was hard not to laugh... poor, sweet girl! We pulled her wet clothes off of her and she wore Bruce's jacket. We were suppose to head up to Salt Lake where we were going to meet up with my family to walk around Temple Square and have dinner at Red Iguana, our absolute favourite Mexican restaurant. Luckily, I was able to catch my mum before she left Provo and she brought Beebs' some dry clothes to put on. 

After meeting up, we spent some time at Temple Square. This was my first time being at Temple Square in the spring in so many years... Quite possibly since I lived in Utah myself, ten years ago. I was in heaven with all the tulips (my favourite flower!) and daffodils and other beautiful spring flowers. The grounds were breathtakingly beautiful and I couldn't stop snapping pictures of all the pretty flowers. We were sad to find that the Church History Museum was closed for renovations, as we were hoping to stop by there as well, but we had a great time just walking around the temple and finally getting to touch the walls of the Salt Lake temple. Despite having been to the grounds on many occasions, this was the first time since starting our "Touch the Temple" family project that we were able to get up to the temple and touch it's walls. 

Friday was the day before the wedding so there was plenty to be done. Including spoiling the bride a little bit. I treated Tressie to a pedicure for her special day, while Bruce took the kiddos out to lunch. Once we were finished, he picked us up and we all headed to the Draper Temple which was just a few miles away. I'd never seen the Draper temple and oh my, is it beautiful! We enjoyed walking around it's beautiful grounds, rolling down it's giant hill and having a chance to touch it's walls as well. I love that we are almost always able to add a new temple to our list when we visit Utah. 

Back at my parents house, we helped with wedding prep like working on the cake and making sure everything was ready to go for decorating the ballroom the next day. Then Bruce, the kiddos and I went out to The Chocolate with my mum and sister for some cazookies and ice cream. While Bruce and I were waiting in line to order, the couple behind us was obviously on an early relationship date. Their conversation was so funny to listen to- 

Him: Do you like milk with dessert? Are you a milk drinker? 

Her: Ummmm, I'm not much of a milk drinker. I just don't think about getting it. I like it when I drink it. I don't know why I don't! What about you? Do you like milk?

Him: I love it! I have to have it!

We later noticed they hadn't ordered a milk to go with their cazookie, so Bruce decided something had to be done. He ordered a glass of milk and two straws to be delivered anonymously to their table. Not sure how anonymously it ended up being done since we were all cracking up and trying not to stare at the couple as their milk was delivered. 

Saturday was wedding day. It was a really long and exhausting day. Weddings are always exhausting for me to photograph, but especially so when pregnant and also in charge of helping to set up and clean up. But the wedding itself was beautiful and I'll have to share some images from it in a separate post sometime. I still can't believe my baby sister is married, but we love her new husband and he fits so well into our family. My kiddos adore him and we are excited to watch them grow together as husband and wife. 

The only downside of the wedding day is that Bruce and Beebs both got sick. Sunshine had been sick earlier in the week but recovered just in time for our trip. Well, whatever she had caught up with us in Utah and Beebs actually threw up at the wedding. In the bathroom thank goodness, but during the wedding festivities. I urged Bruce to get her home and I would stay and help with clean up. He was reluctant, but I could tell he wasn't feeling great either and by the time I got back home, he and Beebs were both bedridden. So crummy to be sick while traveling, but luckily, they both felt better in time to travel home.

The major upside of the wedding day was Sunshine and my stop at Hokulia shave ice. It is my favourite shave ice place and we frequent it often when we are in Utah each summer. I had been so sad to think that I was going to miss out on Hokulia this year since our annual Utah road trip is a no go due to being pregnant. But it just so happened that Hokulia opened up for it's first day of business for the year on Tressie's wedding day, and I got to enjoy a shave ice. It was amazing. I don't know why there aren't shave ice stands on every corner here in Phoenix. 

Sunday we had a family brunch and watched Matt & Tressie open their wedding gifts. We also stopped by Sugarhouse Park where the kiddos all fed the ducks. We relaxed at my parents house and just enjoyed our last full day with my family. 

Monday morning we had one last batch of Day's Donuts and got ourselves ready to head home. Noodles and Co for lunch then it was time to head to the airport. I look back and I am still blown away by how much we managed to cram into our short time in Utah. It almost made up for the lack of Utah road trip this summer. We did almost all of our favourite Utah activities, plus got to see Tressie get married. Even with Bruce and Beebs getting sick, we had a good little Utah trip and sufficiently wore ourselves out with all the fun. 

Easter 2015

I love all holidays, but I think that Easter is truly my favourite, especially in the years since my mother in law passed away. I love the reminder of new life and the sacrifice of our Saviour, making it possible for each of us to over come death and eventually be reunited.

Easter this year was just as wonderful as ever. We attended the Mesa Temple Easter pageant for Sunshine's birthday, then the week leading up to Easter we had our nightly devotionals to help us prepare spiritually for what we would be celebrating come Easter Sunday. Since Easter Sunday was the same day as General Conference this year, I actually got to teach an Easter lesson in Primary for my final Sharing Time as Primary President. It was a wonderful and hard opportunity all at once. I loved getting to teach about my favourite gospel topic, but it was super difficult to say goodbye to all my sweet Primary kiddos. 

Easter Sunday we enjoyed a relaxing day at home, listening to General Conference. It was wonderful. I love General Conference so, so much! And being able to watch it at home and then re listen to all the talks afterwards!? What a blessing to live in this day and age. 

In between sessions, I made everyone put on their Easter clothes so we could snap a quick picture. This is the first year that the girls have not been able to have matching clothes since Sunshine is in the big girl section and Beebs still needs to shop from the little girls section. That was a hard realization for me... my girls (one girl in particular!) are growing up so fast!! We did manage to find cute Easter dresses for the girls that at least looked good together and then by some miracle Target had a cute little set for Man Cub. Easter clothes for him are always so difficult!

After Conference was all over, Bruce's family joined us for Easter dinner. I did my family's traditional lamb roast with Yorkshire pudding. Bruce's brother brought a ham and everyone contributed a few sides and desserts. It was quite the spread and so so yummy. I love Easter dinner. 

After dinner the kiddos hunted for eggs and then my girls insisted that we do our activity from Sharing Time the week before. I had (finally! After years of planning to) put together 12 eggs, each with a symbol of Easter inside. We went through the eggs, opening each one and talking about what the symbol represented and reading scriptures that went along with that egg. It was a great way to end our Easter Sunday.

Bump-Date | 40 Weeks and Counting

Thursday was my due date, and surprise surprise, it has come and gone without a sign of baby arriving. I knew this would happen, and to be completely honest, Thursday wasn't a difficult day at all. In the past, my due date has always been hard, but not this time around! Yesterday wasn't hard either... sure I am a little cranky by mid afternoon most days, but wouldn't you be cranky if you could hardly move and it was 110 degrees and humid? Today is proving to be the most difficult day so far... mainly because I really, really wanted a 4th of July baby and there is not even one small sign of this baby coming any time soon. I think once I get through today, I'll be ok because if the baby doesn't come today, I'd really prefer s/he stays inside until KJ arrives on the 12th.

Yesterday, two of my awesome friends took me out for a day of pampering in lieu of a baby shower. It was the perfect way to celebrate this baby, and to spend my first official day of being "overdue". We started the morning with Starbucks, then got pedicures followed by lunch and some shopping. It was such a fun day and now I have cute toes, all ready for when I go into labour.

Weight Gain: Weight gain is staying steady, right around the 35 pound mark. Really, there is just no room left inside of me. I eat one real meal a day and then just snack for the most part. I can't fit in anymore food!

Cravings: Still ice cream! I blame the heat. And the deliciousness that is Ben & Jerry's The Tonight Dough.

Third Trimester Symptoms: Heartburn is still plaguing me from time to time. Luckily, it's not constant, but when it comes it's pretty bad. Other than that, just a complete and utter lack of motivation to do anything. And I'm feeling kind of anti social. Not looking forward to church tomorrow, but luckily, being in Nursery means I don't really see anyone. It's a true blessing at this point in my pregnancy.

Medical Stuff: Nada. Nothing to report. Even the cramping and Braxton Hicks I'd experienced up until the 40 week mark have ceased completely. If this is like my other pregnancies, it'll be crickets until delivery day arrives.

Something I'm Excited About: How about a few things I'm excited about? Gotta really focus on the positives right now! KJ arrives a week from tomorrow!! I cannot wait for her to get here. Once she is here, it's full bore "get baby out" mode.

Also, I've finished up a lot of little projects lately so I finally feel like I am actually ready for this baby to arrive. I made personalized baby hats a few nights ago, and finished stitching custom baby gowns. I still have some fabric to whip up some blankets, but if that doesn't happen, it's not the worst thing in the world. It feels good to be getting stuff done... but I am running out of things to do. I'm starting to feel like all I have left to do is sit and wait and that's not a good combination. I know I need to stay busy in order to not go crazy, but that is easier said than done.

And! The baby seems to have dropped. Not enough to cause any pressure or contractions. Not enough to get rid of my occasional heartburn. But dropping is progress and at this point, I'll take anything I can get. Anything at all.

39 weeks 5 days (Tuesday) verses 40 weeks 1 day (Friday) 

Something I'm Not Excited About: Not having a 4th of July baby. :( I love 4th of July, and hello! Best birthday ever. Fireworks every year! I knew when I took the pregnancy test that I was likely to have a July 14/15th baby. But it didn't stop a small part of me from really hoping that I could have a baby born on my dream birthday.

March Odds & Ends

There aren't exactly a lot of "odds and ends" from March... it was far too busy a month! Between KJ being here at the beginning, Hawaii in the middle and Sunshine's birthday festivities at the end, we didn't have time for much else! But here are a few random things that don't fit into one of those three categories.

Man Cub continued to grow up, despite my desperate plea that he not. 

We planted our garden and it did wonderfully... until about two weeks ago. We went from having the mildest June on record, to the hottest with no in between and the garden does not seem to have survived the transition. I'm so sad. We were loving all the cucumbers and tomatoes that our garden was producing in mass quantities. Now we wait until Fall and try again. 

We have a family of bunnies that lives under our shed. For the most part they aren't a problem but we caught this little one in the garden. Bruce trapped it in a 5 gallon bucket and the wee ones promptly named it Sprinkles and became very attached to it. Sunshine and Man Cub were hysterical when Bruce took the bunny to release it in the retention basin near our home. Then there is Beebs... Beebs was glad Sprinkles was gone. Sprinkles was a threat to Beebs' strawberry patch. She's such a little farm girl! 

I won a giveaway from a local watercolour artist and this was my prize... a watercolour painting of the Mesa temple, personalized with our names and anniversary date. I still need to find a frame for it and hang it on the wall, but I am so in love with it!

We spent a lot of what little free time we had in March working in the yard and garden. Man Cub loves to help water and Beebs could not get enough of the tiny strawberries that kept popping up in her little strawberry patch.

And last, but certainly not least, Bruce once again coached a group of Young Men from our ward for their March Madness basketball tournament. He's been coaching these boys for a few years now and he has such a blast doing it. Last year they were the stake champs... and this year they brought the trophy home for a second time! The sad part is, the tournament was only suppose to last two days but without warning they extended it to three and Bruce was unable to get the final day of the tournament off work. He didn't even get to see his boys win!! The kiddos and I went though and it was a great final game. On the second night of the tournament, the games went pretty late and Man Cub apparently got a little tired of waiting to go home. He fell asleep in his stroller, iPad in hand. Such a rare occurrence for my little guy, I had to get a picture. 

Celebration With Friends

2015 has been the year of no birthday parties. And it has been nice! Beebs opted for a trip to Utah to stay with Nana and Papa instead of a party, and while we did have a little get together following Sunshine's baptism, there was no friend party. Instead, the Monday after her birthday, I took Sunshine, Beebs and Man Cub, along with Sunshine's two best friends from school out for a movie and ice cream. It was a fun afternoon. Sunshine decided she wanted to see the movie Home and afterwards we all went to Baskin Robbins for a scoop of ice cream. The kiddos had a great time and I enjoyed the stress free celebration. We might have to do this whole no birthday party thing more often!

Sunshine's Baptism

The entire week after getting home from Hawaii was a crazy one, but we knew that would be the case. We arrived home late, late Monday night, Wednesday was Sunshine's birthday and Thursday my family began to roll into town for Sunshine's baptism on Saturday. By Friday night we had a full house and things were a little crazy as we tried to get everything in order for Sunshine's big day.

Sunshine was baptized on Saturday March 28th. She was one of 4 children from our ward alone that was being baptized that day, with the total number from the stake was somewhere around 11 or 12. It was a little bit insane. In my 4 years as Primary President, I had never seen a baptism with so many children participating. Considering the large amount of people at the baptismal service, it went really smoothly and I couldn't be happier with the entire day!

Before leaving for her baptism, Bruce and I took Sunshine aside so we could give her a final birthday/baptism day gift. Bruce had chosen a strand of real pearls for her and he gave them to her explaining that they were to be worn on her baptism day, and then again on the day when she is sealed in the temple. Of course, she can wear them on Sundays and special occasions until then, but we wanted her to have something to link the covenants she made on her baptism day with the covenants she will make when she is one day sealed to a spouse for time and all eternity. It was a really sweet moment when he gave them to her and I definitely cried. Darn pregnancy hormones.

After giving her the necklace, we headed to the church for the 2pm service. Sunshine wore the dress that I was baptized in 22 years and 1 month previously. She looked so beautiful in it and I love that our baptisms are connected through that dress. So many people came to support her, including a lot of non-member friends and even her school teacher! Of all the people who showed up for her special day, I think having her teacher there meant the most to Sunshine. It was incredible to see how many people took time out of their busy Saturday to be there for her. She was grinning from ear to ear as she hugged and greeted everyone.

The baptism went great and the confirmation portion of the service ended up being really neat. With 4 children from our ward being baptized, I was really unsure of how to handle dividing up the responsibilities for the confirmation part. I wanted to involve every family, but didn't want to ask one family to provide a talk and the others to just pick a song or say a prayer. After a lot of thought, I decided to have one of the 8 year old Primary teachers give the Holy Ghost talk, then invite each of the other three families to ask someone to bear testimony of their experience with the Holy Ghost. I knew I would be doing the welcome from the Primary, so I kept that our family's contribution to the program and had my second counselor give the closing prayer. It ended up being a beautiful meeting. I truly enjoyed each of the testimonies that were born and the Spirit was so so strong. Each of the children were given beautiful blessings as they received the Holy Ghost and while I can't remember what was said in any one of the blessings, including Sunshine's, I remember thinking how amazing it was that each child was given a distinctly different, yet truly incredible blessing. Each blessing was so personalized and beautiful without any of them saying the same things.

When it was my turn to speak, and give the welcome from the Primary, I struggled. I knew I would. I had been told by the bishop several weeks earlier that I was going to be released, and this was to be my last act as Primary President. I'd served with these sweet children since they were little Sunbeams, fresh from nursery and it was difficult to stand before them and say all I wanted to say. But I made it through and hopefully did not disturb the spirit that had been brought in by all the others who participated on the program.

After all was said and done, Sunshine got lots of hugs and congratulations before we headed home to celebrate with family and a few friends who stopped by. We enjoyed a huge dessert bar and eventually decided to have dinner as well. It was a really wonderful day and I loved watching Sunshine make her first covenant with her Heavenly Father. She was absolutely ready to do so and it has been wonderful to watch her continue to mature in the gospel over the past few months since her baptism day. Bruce and I are truly blessed to be the parents of such a sweet girl who is so close to the Spirit and wants so badly to do what is right. She is most certainly a choice daughter of our Heavenly Father and it is such an honour to be trusted to raise her.