This Is The Year

This summer, not only did I have the treat of having some awesome blog friends stay at my house, but I got the chance to meet Emmy , a blogger I have been "friends" with for years, but never met in person! An added bonus to this meet up was another of HER blog friends becoming my friend as well!  I had not "known" Involuntary Amy before our little get together, but I am SO glad we got to meet through our mutual friendships with Amy. We planned on getting together for a late dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory in Salt lake.  Emmy was going to pick me up and we were going to ride together and meet up with Amy. A few days before our meet up, I got a text from a very good friend of ours (mine and Hubby's), he was throwing a Birthday BB-Q for his wife (also a very good friend), and wanted to make sure we could be there.  Yep, it was the same night as my bloggy friend meet-up. Luckily, we were already meeting sorta late, so I asked if we could bump it an extr...

After enjoying a fabulous visit with 3 Awesome Girls, I was pooped out! I had been ignoring my pregnancy fatigue to prepare my home for visitors, and then was riding high on the fun of having them here and showing them around my community, and staying up all night visiting.  So when they left...I crashed! I was feeling particularly drained one Sunday afternoon, when my dad called us all into the living room to talk.  We had gone to my parent's for Sunday dinner.  We had been talking on the phone to my brother who had moved to North Dakota, and Dad asked us to put him on speaker phone so he could talk to all of us. He informed us that he had visited a new lung doctor the previous week, and gotten some news that he didn't feel that he should keep from us.  I wrote about my dad's health problems here . He proceeded to tell us that the new doctor told him that even though he was on oxygen, because his lungs were not functioning at full capacity, they were not abl...

So, as many of you know, I had 3 amazing ladies come visit me at the beginning of the summer.  Amanda, Macey and Myya are all blog friends whom I couldn't wait to spend some girl time with.  I had met Macey previously, and couldn't wait to hang with her again, and it would be my first time meeting Amanda and Myya. As you can imagine, I was both excited to meet them, as well as anxious for the impression myself, my home, and my family would make on them!  I was going crazy trying to get my home ready for TEN house guests (the kiddos were invited too)!  In the middle of the scrambling, Hubby and I got the surprise of our lives: That's right folks....baby number 5 is on the way!  To say that we were surprised and also a little overwhelmed would be an understatement.  Readjusting our mindset from the idea that we were done having children to the idea that we will soon have FIVE kids has been an adventure.  But we are thankful for this blessing, a...

The blog.  Sigh.  It's been a long time since I've been here.  I've missed it - but also been overwhelmed by the thought of jumping back in because so much has happened that I don't even know where to start.  Just as I would be thinking over in my head that I needed to get back and get stuff recorded, some new major experience would begin to unfold, and not only would I not find the time to get to the blog - it would also add a pile of more material that I would need to cover! My summer has been interesting, to say the least.  I won't cover it all in one post, but just so you know, I haven't been neglecting you for no reason!  Here's a list of the things that have kept me away from being a good blogger: An unexpected surprise A fantastic week of blog friends visiting Upsetting news Meeting a long time blog friend, and making a new one The drowning of a Boutique A scare Saying goodbye to my dad A family with the plague If you read over the list ...