This Is The Year

I hope you'll bear with me as I get through this difficult post.  It has been on my mind for months, and it's hard to know what details are important to include, and what can be left out.  There is so much that has been going through my mind, and many details that I want to make sure I don't forget with time. I'm sure this post will be quite long. After the bad news about my dad and the scare with the baby , I was ready for life to calm down.  I was ready to start having more energy, and to enjoy the rest of my summer.  Life had other plans for me. Thursday was the day I was finally able to get off bed rest.  I had missed my birthday and we had postponed my family birthday dinner which was to have taken place the previous Sunday.  It was okay because my brother, who had been in North Dakota for 5 months was returning, so by moving the dinner back one week, we would be able to have a Welcome Home dinner for him, along with my birthday dinner, and everyo...

Well...here we are nearly 3 months since the time I last posted. What can I say? I'm a slacker. I mean I truly do miss blogging, but when I think about sitting down and trying to get caught up, it is just SO overwhelming! But I still have a lot of things to get recorded that happened over the summer and I am determined to get it all down! I also have some fun stuff going on right now that I want to share with all my friends, so I've got to figure out how to fit blogging back into my days! After my awesome girls left, I had just a couple of short weeks before Tanielle's and my Summer Boutique we had been working on. Remember I am totally exhausted from this pregnancy at this point... We had some fabulous vendors lined up that were all coming to Tanielle's to set up booths in her fabulous yard, and we started promoting it like crazy. The day of the boutique arrived, and we were exhausted but also excited and above all, NERVOUS! It was our first event, and...

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 ...

I know I'm a little late to the party - but I really miss blogging!  So I'm squeezin' in a post before it's time to pick the kiddos up from school! I'm linking up with 2 parties today - check the buttons at the bottom. Ten things to smile about: 1 - One more week until school is out for summer!  It has been a loooooong year!  I'm excited for that first morning of NOT setting the alarm!  Also, really excited to spend some fun time with my kiddos.  The school year is so hectic, and it will be nice to relax a little! 2 - Freedom.  I am so grateful for the privilege of living in this country.  And humbled by the great sacrifice of those who gave all to defend my freedoms.  We spent part of our day yesterday attending a Memorial Day tribute put on by our city.  There were touching words spoken, beautiful songs performed, the reading of the names of those from our state who have given the ultimate sacrifice since last Memorial day, along wi...