Abundant Recompense Copy

That's what I am. Today is three days overdue. The baby clothes are all washed and folded, diapers are neatly stacked, the carseat is assembled and ready, Grandma and Grandpa are here. We're just missing one thing: a baby! So to pass the time, I'll give you a couple of the best comments I've gotten on the pregnancy. 1. Are you sure  you're not having twins? 2. Wow, you really are huge ! And my personal favorite: 3. I can't believe you can even walk! Nice, really nice. I have grown to love my doctor's nurse. She's so hilarious and just totally gets it. The last couple times I've been to my ob appointments she's seen the crazed look in my eye, recognized it for what it was, and gone searching for chocolate. Last time it was peanut butter m&m's in one of those cups that you leave a urine sample in. One of the things I am looking forward to most about having this fifth baby here is feeling like I have control over my body again. Over the past...

  When I was in softball, my teacher's name was Coach Callie. My team was called The Hive. I was number 3. It was fun and not fun at the same time.   When I first started I couldn't throw very far and wasn't a very good catcher. (With practice I got better. One time I was a catcher. I hated it! 1. The stuff I had to where was really heavy. 2. It was hard to catch. 3. I had a headache.    I won my first game!    My favorite thing to do was batting. One time I hit 5 balls in a row! This is me getting ready to hit.   Me catching.  This is me in in catchers gear.  Me and my teammates.    I was so happy when I won my game!  Cookies!!!!!!!!!

After our fun hike in the stream at Capitol Reef, we all had dinner together and then parted ways. Leah, Asa and I hit the road bound for Grandma's house, and the others stuck around and prepared for some serious hiking for the next few days. For my little group, the drive went just fine and we made it safely to St. George. The next morning we met up with Aunt Lindsey, Aunt Abbey, Uncle Devon and the cousins for a picnic in the park and a ride on the carousel. Elaina and Leah became besties for life. After that we went to play at the all abilities park. That place is so fun! Such pleasant-sounding instruments. We love to ride the train there. By the end, Leah, Asa and I were wilting in a major way. It was so darn hot. So we made a mad dash to the slurpee store on the way back to Grandma's. The next morning, Grandma offered to be our chauffeur on an adventure down to the Arizona strip in search of "Glitter Mountain." It was a really cool place! It's a selenite mine...

Hi there. It's me, the exceedingly pregnant woman. I cannot wait to have this baby! Between the 100 degree weather, the horrible third-trimester sleep, and the anticipation of meeting her, I am going insane. Truly. So here's a countdown to the due date, and also a little photo documentation to prove (to myself, let's be serious) that she will, in fact, not be inside of me forever. July 19th cannot come fast enough! 13 more days to cook dinner without busting into my freezer meal stash. 7 more days to wash my hair. 6 more piano lessons to teach. 4 more laundry days. 2 more trash days. 2 more big grocery trips. 1 major car repair. 1 more doctor appointment. Check it out: the due date is now included in the 15-day forecast. My paper chain. I and I alone am allowed to remove a link each day. When it started, it was about as tall as me. It's very slowly but surely getting shorter! And the big kahuna: my milk expires after my pregnancy does! 

Since we're having a baby in July, we decided that we'd better make our big family vacation of the year a spring break affair. Nate, master of logistics that he is, planned it all out for us, I got the kids packed, and we headed southeast in April. First stop was in Provo at the BYU Museum of Art, where they had an Escher exhibit that we really wanted to see. I loved this woodcut. My grandma, who was also my piano teacher, introduced me to this piece of music when I was young, and it totally captivated my imagination. I see I'm not the only one. Addison was loving the many optical illusion artpieces. Right down the hall, they had a tiffany glass display, which we all found delightful. (I think this one was actually in the "fakes" section) By the time we were done with the glass, Asa was done with the museum. So he and I went outside and enjoyed the spring blooms. While the other guys stayed in and explored the more modern art. From morse code-popping popcorn, to a...