Rainy Labor Day

We started Labor Day with Justin and I leaving the house at 8:00 am sharp. Justin had a business meeting in SLC the next day so was on his way to Denver airport. I had a large family to photograph in Potter. I am grateful to the Haddock girls for watching the kids while I was gone. The drive to the homestead was 40 miles away from Sidney, half of it on dusty country roads. The location, lighting, and younger kids proved quite the challenge! At 9:30 am the light was straight in their eyes with no cloud cover relief. Still, it was what the family wanted! They wanted to capture their family on the ranch their father owned and operated. Some lucky cows wandered into our photo session. The van was covered with fine silty dirt by the time I arrived back home. The kids and I had a good time scrubbing the bugs and dirt off the van at the car wash. I used a bay first with the foam brush to scrub all the nasty bugs off the hood. We had quite a collection after our trip to Martin's Cove and the farm. We enjoyed lunch near the fun tourist train where the kids played for quite a while. We had no idea what to do for fun after Evelyn's nap. A lovely rain storm solved that problem. We donned our rain gear and enjoyed Mother Nature's swimming pool. The rain reached our front steps! It reminded me of the days we sloshed around the in the water on irrigation days in Providence, UT. Evelyn was so short and the water high enough to slop into her boots. She literally went swimming a couple times. At one point I heard Everett crying for help. His shorts succumbed to the weight of water and fell down around his ankles. The comical relief was pure joy. Justin got to celebrate Ethan's birthday with Charity, Melissa, Diana, and the crew out in Bountiful. the kids and I went to have FHE at the Rognon's home. The lesson was doled out amidst the playing and crying.

Tuesday morning I had a prenatal DR appointment, 17 weeks gone! I am still feeling quite nauseous and my back is killing me. Everett got to hear the baby's heart beep. I had more blood drawn for a panel to determine if the baby has any defects, better to know when you live out in the country. We enjoyed the rest of the morning running errands and playing at the park. Evelyn is quite in love with all her babies. She now has Elsa, Anna, Aurora, and a Baby Chou Chou. We found the Chou Chou doll at the consignment store. It interacts when you touch her face, change her diaper, put her in the stroller, feed her, carry her in the baby carrier, and holds her bear. Evelyn carried her bebe doll around the neck for the rest of the week. She is on a language development streak. Her newest words are "sworry, thank you mommy, thank you daddy, me me (excuse me), burrrrrrrp, bubble buppies (her new fave show), and moing (wants to bounce/jump). She is quite into finding head gear to put on. She looks adorable when she finds one of my hats...looks like a rasta man. Justin came home after 10 pm from his long, and fast Utah trip.

Wednesday I sent Everett and Evelyn out to play in the bounce house. A little water from the sprinklers was in the house. It was so fun! Everett soon stripped down to undies while he slipped and bounced all over the place. Evelyn soon had all her clothes off to moing. I ran inside for a moment and came out to find her raiding my tomatoes. She had two lovely tomatoes in her hands and red juice dribbled down her chest. That kid has picked more than 30 green tomatoes. Such wasted potential! Boo hoo. This is the year of tomatoes; I am picking 2-10 ripe tomatoes each day. Tomatoes are my ultimate favorite garden treat. We are eating, and eating tomatoes. Love it. Friday I made fresh tomato sauce over spaghetti for dinner. It was scrumptious.

Thursday Amelia had piano lessons. I finally decided to have another gal teach her again for a while. September and October are crazy with family photos and folks wanting to update photos before the holidays. Her teacher lives next to two boys that Phillip knows from preschool and kindergarten. We enjoyed playing in Aidan's yard for 30 minutes. I finally got a chiropractic adjustment after piano lessons. The kids were delighted he had tiny bottles of water just for kids. My back is feeling a bit better.

Friday Justin came home at lunch pretty peeved about some things happening at work. He bounced his issues off me for the next couple days. It stinks when problems at work cause such anxiety. Don't worry...it is nothing big, just annoying. You know! Normal life and working with human beings can be unpredictable at times.

Amelia got to travel to Cheyenne with the Activity Day girls for a "Prepare Your Temple Bag" activity. She came home with a cute bag, a decorated notebook, and lots of stories about fun activities geared towards getting the girls excited about the temple. She raved about Sister Siler's purse shaped cookies. The rest of us spent a fun day at home playing, going to the park, and cleaning up house.