My new best friend....

This is my One Touch Ultra Mini.

Mine is actually Purple.

I use her 4 times a day to check my glucose levels.

I give my finger a little prick and put the blood on that little strip...

Then I wait for the magic numbers.

So far I have only passed once.

ugh...

Please no insulin, please no insulin.

Yesterday I sat in a two hour class at the diabetes clinic.

(Thanks to Farmgirl for watching my kids. Could some one in my family move here please?)

I learned all about my new life style for the next 6-10 weeks.

I can do anything for that long.

Carbs and I are no longer friends at all.

Carbs have officially become my enemy.

We learned a lot about the 2 different types of Diabetes.

Debbie, you and Brendan have a whole new respect in my eyes.

Type I is REALLY hard.

you don't produce ANY insulin,

Where as with my type II Gestational diabetes,

I produce insulin, but my body doesn't want to recognize and utilize it.

Did you know Insulin in a growth hormone?

That's part the reason gestational diabetes babies get so big in Utero.

I meet with my DR. next week and the clinic again.

I guess I will have more of a game plan with baby boy then.

****I miss yummy sugary treats already.

Brownies sound so nice.

Failed

I failed my damn 3 hour glucose test...

Why does this pregnancy hate me?

p.s.

I feel like a beached whale...I think I might look like one too.

Kind of panicking....

What are we going to name this baby?

I have a few names but nothing that I am CRAZY about.

Gil went without a name for a few days.

Bob kept telling me our son needed a name in the NICU so that they quit calling him Lamoreaux baby.

It drove us nuts....

Not the NICU calling him that, just that we couldn't come up with a name.

I don't want to do that again.

We are starting to get close, and I just keep thinking something will come to us.

Help?!

p.s.

I didn't pass my Glucose test so I get to go in for the 3 hour test.

I was suppose to go last week....who has that kind of time.

I don't.

I guess I'll try again this week.

Our week in pictures....

So this may be a little more than a week but only by a day....
We celebrated Bob's birthday with a little birthday cake with the kids.
I love this picture because look at Gil just adoring him.

I bought Bob tickets to see Phantom of the Opera in Vegas.

We went Friday afternoon and came home late that night.

It was amazing.

I love taking him to things like this.

He had never seen it.

He knows the music well from the movie.

After we leave he is always so impressed with the talent of the actors/ musicians that he can't help beaming about it.

Bob's Grandma Knutson died last week.

His parents went out to be with her before she died.

We had plans that they were going to be coming down over Easter weekend, but when all that happened we understood they couldn't come.

Connie surprised by calling Thursday night (the evening they got home) telling us they would still like to come down.

We were thrilled.

They got to our house late Friday night.

We went to the Arts Festival, listened to Confrenece, baked yummy treats, and dyed eggs while the men went to Preisthood meeting.

Connie and I got some great talking time in.

It was so fun to hear all the stories she had to share about her mom and her childhood.

I am glad I got her right after her sweet week with her mom.

Time with Grandy and Grandpa is always wonderful time.

Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures with them.

We love our little Easter Egg hunt.

Perhaps it's time for me to get new Easter baskets....the boys look a little old for them.

Each of our kids got scooters and some treats...

"disclaimer*

We don't swim on Sundays.

The Mitchells and Beutlers ( Bob's sisters) were also in town and we had a lovely easter dinner planned.

We told the kids that because it was Easter and confrence we would let them swim...

They were only going to see their cousins that afternoon because they were leaving the next day.

So we let them.

I am not joking when I say that not five minutes after they started swimming Gwyn jumped off of the hot tub side and hit her chin, and split it open.

There was no question the girl needed stiches.

Lesson learned.

She was awesome and brave.

Sweet Aunt Laura went with us to the night clinic.

Gwyn was great....she justt kept saying "I'm so bugged I am missing my play time with Amelia"

We were back within an hour and a half.

She still got a good 2 hours to play with her cousins.

She acted like nothing had happened.

The next morning was Abe's Birthday.

He wanted Bakugan and DS games.

He was not dissappointed.

This year was not a birthday party year....but I can't not do something. I took three of his friends (4 if you count Tucker) to see Diary of a Whimpy kid. This was the first series Abe read and loved. He was thrilled to see this movie, so were his friends.

After the movie we came back for Abe's favorite Strawberry Shortcake and ice cream and presents.

Love this picture...you know he is really thinking about this wish.

Abe and Skylar

Abe and Braden.

All the kids plus Gwyn and Geena.

I dont' have any documentation of the 4 baseball games, the choir concert, and the soccer game that also happened this week. I'll try better next week to get some of the games. Seeing that Tucker's game start at 8 pm and go to 10pm...it's kind of dark. (yes, on a school night)

(Tucker did pitch 3 innings and did a great job.)

We went back to the Doctor on Friday to get pretty girls sticthes out. They think she needs tubes again, dang it!

On Saturday after baseball practice, giving boys summer haircuts, and Tuck's soccer game, we got to enjoy they Watkins pool up at the cliffs.

Amber and Chase were visiting and invited us up to her parents AMAZING house. The kids and Bob swam for a few hours.....not so much me. Kind of feeling like a beached whale.

What an eventful week!

I would like to say it will slow down a bit but I really don't think so. It is so fun to support the kids and see them enjoying themselves. Bob is a great coach and Tuck is thrilled he is his coach. All that being said....

I am tired.

My legs look really bad. My varicose veins are painful. But who has time to dwell on it when you have a family to run. Thank goodness for an AWESOME husband who makes me sit for while and put up my 80 year old legs.

p.s. I also had a Dr. Appt this week....
I am officially in my third tri-mester!
See this little cutie.....he will be here soon, and we can't wait.
I love my Dr. office and the U/S tech! They just sneak us in for little peaks.
Gil was with us and couldn't be more excited to see him.
He kept asking "where's his johnson" yep that's right, I am surrounded by boys.

Fatman is 9 years old!

He is the Pied Piper for all little children.
His little brother and sister think the sun sets just for him.
He has an amazing imagination.
I love to have serious discussions with him, he thinks about his future more than I did at his age.
He LOVES babies.
He was the chubbiest little baby, that has turned into one very slim young man.
He loves to show you affection, but only if you initiate it first.
He has a very kind heart, and is very sensitive.
He and his brother are best friends and truly get along AMAZINGLY well.
I am so glad you are ours Abraham!
We love you like crazy.

Chandler....

I have seen some amazing hair in my time.

For example my niece Amelia.....Gwyn's hair ain't to shabby either.

Chandler takes the cake though.

What 4 year old has hair like this???

I felt like she was Alice in Wonderland.

What a fun photo shoot.

My Handsome Prince....

Is 37 today!!!!

(It was really convenient that he needed a head shot for work yesterday!)

I love this man....

He's pretty nice.

Happy Birthday to my one and only!

Blossoms

I have been waiting for the blossoms to come....
White dress was purchased, ironed, and waiting for them to come.
Little princess was ready to help me out.

She loves the little flowers on the bottom of her dress.

It was love at first sight for both of us, who knew a dress could cause so much love?
She is always willing to be my model.

Today she fulfilled the vision in my head.

We were there to early.....we needed to wait for the sun to creep down a little further.

She patiently waited.

She sang made up songs about the blossoms.

She watched the bees swarming the blossom's and then told me they didn't bother her because she was their queen bee.

She skipped and danced in the blossoms... She told me she liked to take pictures. She posed something fierce, then apologized for so many poses.

I told her I liked her poses and that she is my favorite thing to photograph. She laughed and told me she already knew that.

I adore this age.

She's almost 5.

I adore this girl.

It's just she and I in this house full of boys.

I'm so lucky she loves to be so girly.

What a fun evening with my pretty girl.

She is truly blossoming into beautiful girl inside and out.

How much do you need to spend for a good kite?

On Saturday our kids were begging us to get our their kites.

After much searching where do you think they found them?

Not anywhere near our house.

It seems that daddy threw them away sometime during one of the garage clean outs.

I haven no doubt they were broken, but the kids had made up their minds.

Enough to have gotten plastic bags out and put a string around the handles and tried flying them.

Bob called me while I was out on a few errands and told me to pick up some kites.

I thought to myself, Dollar Store?

But I was driving by Kmart, why not try that out.

The kites were right in front of the doors in so I felt pretty lucky.

The cheapest was $2.99, the most expensive was $11.99.

Being the mom that I am, I wanted to get characters I knew they would like.

Would Gwyn like Barbie or Belle and Ariel? -Princess of course. (2.99)

Gil, Toy Story or Transformers? -Toy Story (3.99)

Abe no question - Bakkugan (3.99)

Tucker was tricky he isn't into "characters" So I splurged on a ($6.99) Lizard kite
I was feeling so proud.

Our kids were going to adore us.

We are fun parents after all and it is Spring Break.

When I walked in the door the kids were so excited, and

cheering at my awesome choices for them.

Until we tried flying them.

Miss Priss took her classic cheap kite out and it practically jumped out of her hands.

It flew Awesome!

Possibly to awesome....she got tired of flying it.

See those pretty princesses?

She flew that kite for 40 minutes....but that is not what this picture is about.

Look at Abe in back ground....

His dumb kite never flew.

He tried for a long time.

He might be a little frustrated in this picture.

All his kite did was get tangled in it's own string.

He and Gil's kite's were the same kind...

Notice you don't see Gil.

He gave up after 2 tries.

Tucker found a little success.

He had a group of friends watching so he was very intent on getting this to work.

His kite was tiny and he got it to fly a couple of times but that was all.

Like I said....very intent.

This is how I found Gil when I walked in the house.

He had found a local paper and was looking at the grocery ads.

When I asked him how flying a kite went, he gave me this look.

Then quickly proceeded to tell me what looked yummy to him in the food section.

Guess it was time to make dinner.

~So if you need to buy a kite and can't wait for our local Kite Festival, buy the cheapest one you can find. As it turns out, they are tried and true.

One year ago today....

One year ago today at about this time, we were sitting in the ER with our Gilly Bear wondering if he was going to be alright.

There have been so many moments this year that the reality of him falling out our window strikes us with fear and amazement.

We are so grateful for the out come of our little man's scary adventure.

He's doing so well!

Perfect.

Once again thank you for all of your support and kindness to us.

We are grateful for his presence in our family everyday!

A little trip....

As a general rule civil Engineers don't take fun business trips.

Who wants to go to Kanab, or Monticello for a great time?

A few years ago Bob joined the leadership of Southern Utah ASCE branch.

He started as secretary and this year he is the president elect.

This is all volunteer work but we have seen a few perks recently.

In October he had a leadership training meeting in Washington DC.

My mom, who is the nicest lady EVER,

came to stay with our children while Bob and I went to DC.

(He is so nice to let me tag along)

I have never been to DC but my best friend Ally and her husband Wes went to Law school there. I always wanted to visit,

but it never seemed to happen when they lived there.

They have been back in Utah now for awhile and we tried to beg them to come along with us.

He is kind of a big wig with the SLC chamber and busy hob nobbing with politicians,

executives and CEO's to break away to come with us:)

But they were good enough to talk to us around 20 times during the trip to give us directions and places to eat, things to see, and little known facts.

So essentially they were their with us in spirit.

Let me say to you that I could have eaten at Potbelly's 25 times while we were there.

We ADORED Washington DC.

One of the coolest places I have ever been.

I truly left feeling very Patriotic!

We already have plans to take our kids back when they are a little older.

We didn't get much closer to the Capital than this because there was a huge Gay Rights rally going on. We fit in real nicely....

Arlington cemetery was so huge and the changing of the guards was such a moving experience. We were a little tired from trying to cram so many things into this long weekend. But we want to see as much as we could see.

Mount Vernon was probably my favorite thing we did.
It was so amazing seeing the actual home of George and Martha Washington.
The grounds were beautiful and we learned to much about this amazing man.
It was truly a spiritual experience.

This Bas Relief was at the ticket gate.

Their home was located right on the banks of the Potomac river. This was where you could take a ferry across to Maryland or just a tour around Mt Vernon.

This was the original burial place of George Washington.

This is where his remains are now.

That night we went down to the mall to see all of the amazing monuments at night. This is were we parked. What a view.

I have always wanted to see the statue of Abraham Lincoln.

I obviously have a slight obsession with him seeing that my 2nd born shares his name.

I just truly enjoyed every moment in DC.

We also went to many of the Smithsonian's.

Bob did actually have to go to meetings and I spent my time down at the mall going from Museum to Museum.

I was warned how much time the Holocaust museum would take and how emotionally draining it would be.

I have been to an actual concentration camp in Germany, but I was not prepared for the sights I saw in this museum.

That is all I can say about that in this forum.

I would recommend going though.

We shopped the streets of George Town where our hotel was.

Good shopping.

Such a fun town.

So on Thursday Bob and I leave for another conference, this one is in San Diego.

Once again my amazing mom is coming to stay with our kids.

They are so excited to get her here.

They could care less about us leaving.

It will be so fun to have one last little trip with just the two of us before our sugar baby arrives!

Thanks mom for letting that happen.

What would we do with out you.