All of the boxes are unpacked

So Saturday was another big move day and there are several things that I learned, was reminded of and/or was grateful for:

• I don't love moving. Does anyone? And being the second move in 2 1/2 months, I'm more than done with it for a little bit. Or a long bit. Or until our new home is built.
• It now officially takes me two days to unpack all of our things and put them away just like I would like them. In my younger, less pregnant, less children days, it only took me one day. And while I am thrilled to be completely finished and ready to go tonight (I took Sunday off, so Monday was my second day), good gravy I'm older than I was. Which was no shock exactly, just another fun reminder.
• Even though our new place is quite tiny, we really like it. The backyard is completely fenced in, the baby is going to be able to have her own room (no one should have to sleep in a room with a newborn, at least in my opinion) and we don't have to share walls with anyone. We are very grateful.
• My younger brother and Jacob's dad were so very kind to come help us move the big stuff. And while several others offered to help (thank you so much kind people!), we didn't have enough furniture to justify more help. But boy were we ever grateful for the extra help. We moved all of the boxes ourselves, just our little family, but the beds and couch needed some tough guys and their muscles. And we found them. Thanks Rex and Ben! 
• When it was time to go to church on Sunday, the drive literally took three minutes. I still can't get over it. It has been many, many years since we didn't have to drive a long distance to our church building. All I could think was, "You're not in Kansas anymore Toto." (I don't even know what that means. Not to mention I haven't even seen the movie The Wizard of Oz, so you can see why that quote immediately came to mind. Oh, please don't look it up. I don't even think it is an actual quote in the movie. Okay then.)
• While we are absolutely enjoying it here, we are missing where we were the last two months. It was hard to leave a place that was so happy and peaceful and so wonderful to live in. And are so grateful for wonderful family that are generous beyond words and beyond what we deserve. We are so thankful.
• And yet, this new place is right for us right now. We are near our church. We are near the kids' schools. We are near all of our new activities. Our home is set up just perfectly for our little family during this time. In the last almost fourteen years, we have brought home five new babies to five different homes. This will be six. And it feels cozy and organized and calm and happy. Just the place for us to continue to be together as a family and to add to that family.

Life is good. I am full of gratitude. And crazy tired. But definitely excited for what is ahead.

Protective

When I first downloaded this photo from the camera, I had to laugh. It was so cute to see 

both of my boys looking quite nervous. But right after a quick laugh, my heart melted. 

You see, Campbell doesn't really get nervous about many things. And being on the tube

on the lake is definitely not one of them. All of the pictures before this one show he and 

Ben smiling and laughing. But as you can see from Ben's face, the boat had started to go a

little fast for him and he did not love it. And so, Cam was instantly wanting to protect him

and keep him from getting too nervous. So the look on Campbell's face, as well as the 

boating sign for "slow it down already," makes me so grateful for such a good son. 

My kids are normal and tease each other often, they push things too far and they definitely get

frustrated with each other. But when it comes down to it, they are incredibly loyal and protective of
their siblings and are are truly and honestly each others' best friends. They just love being together.

And without a doubt, there are very few things that matter more to me in this life.

So this picture, that reminds me of that very fact, makes me so very happy and so very grateful.

Five...for now

Jacob needed an updated photo for his new office. And even though there are very few weeks until
six will be a more appropriate number, I still love these photos so very much. And these kids even more. 

These chicklets of mine are pretty darling.

This picture makes me smile so much. The four oldest look so cute and happy.

Nate looks like, "Um, could all of you remove your hands from my belly? Thanks in advance."

And Jacob's favorite. Can I blame him?

Locks of Love

This sweet girl got a haircut a couple of weeks back.

And received this as a thank you in return. 

Ten inches of her hair gone. And yet, as always, our Annie is beautiful inside and out.

More tubing fun (oh, and the baby drives the boat)

Few things make me happier than seeing my kids having so much fun together! 

Ben loved this new "sitting up" tube so much, he talked to me about it for hours after he got home.

This picture makes me smile. A lot.

As does this one. Can you blame me? 

Apparently there was a break in boat drivers and Nate decided to take one for the 

team. He is considerate that way. It was also considerate of him to stay off to

the side while steering. You know, so he could actually see where he was going.

More waterskiing fun

How awesome is Jacob Allen? Very, his wife thinks. These pictures make me a little sad that I

missed him skiing this summer. He is amazing and I love to watch him on the water. There is one

more photo, my favorite waterskiing picture that has ever been taken of him, that I will share soon.

Seriously, the wall is pretty unbelievable. Plus, one more bonus photo of a picture I just love of him.

And this picture with the train in the background just looked cool, in my opinion.

And more evidence that Cam is becoming a great waterskiier. 

Good grief, I love his face in that second photo. This boy is fabulous.

Annie got up quicker and stayed up longer than last time. She was pretty thrilled. 

And that last picture just makes me smile. Love that girl and her happiness. 

And even if Matt's life jacket was driving him crazy, he still got himself up and stayed up

for longer than the first time. How proud is this mom? Incredibly proud. What a darling boy.

The first of many

Annie titled this post. And picked this first outfit for her little sister. Annie's mom 

isn't a great shopper, so the title will hopefully not be too deceiving. But considering

how excited we both are, it probably won't be too far off. I cannot believe we are

down to two months or less. We are all a little excited to meet this little one. What a
crazy feeling looking at pink, purple, yellow and flowery things after so many years

A photo or eight hundred

Jacob and the kids spent the day out on the boat today, with Jacob's parents and brother and sister-in-law. Good news is that I am still expecting a baby. Bad news it that I still can't go anywhere near a boat.

Apparently the water was pretty great and everyone had plenty of turns waterskiing and tubing. (Don't you fret, of course pictures will be coming.) So Jacob was glad he grabbed the camera on his way out the door.

He handed it over to the kids to make sure and get some photos of everyone in the water.

They took 872 photos.

No, I am not kidding.

And for the life of me, I can't imagine where they would learn such a thing.

Some photos of this boy who is growing up too fast

And as much as I love these pictures, my absolute favorite photo of this boy coming soon...

Sometimes being obsessive compulsive is exhausting

And yet, this morning, I am loving it.

Several months ago, I decided that I wanted to make the photos on our blog bigger. I just personally like how larger photos look and feel like it makes viewing blogs easier. So I changed a few of the most recent posts and then got the opinion of my good friend who I completely trust (hi Lorri!). When she agreed with me, I was happy as can be, but immediately had a new problem on my hands.

You see, my personality wouldn't allow me just to starting using the larger size photos from that moment on. I had to go back through the past five years (approximately 1200 posts) and fix each one. So I did. Each day, when I had some time, for months. And last night, I finished the very first post on our blog.

And not only are all of our blog photos now a bigger size (I hope), but a majority of the posts required the fixing of font spacing, as well as changing the links on any post, so that the link would open in a new window. And in going through each month, I also adjusted the dates on several posts because if there is more than one post assigned to a certain day, the template I chose makes those look funny and my heart couldn't handle it.

So there you go.

Now if you think this post is just about showing all of you fine people one more example of my craziness, you would be wrong. (Although if that is what you get from it, good enough. I'm okay with that.) But the real reason I mention all of this is just to say if you are on our blog and notice I've missed fixing the photos or font or dates or links on any of the posts, I sure would appreciate knowing.

No, I'm not under the illusion that all of you spend large amounts of time reading past posts or clicking on links that take you to previous posts, but if you happen to find yourself somewhere and see something looking not like you think it should, please just leave me a comment or send along an email. I truly would be grateful to know. I've caught mistakes more times than I can count now (some places where I just skipped over several posts somehow), so I know they are there. But I've done the best I can and will now just let things be unless I come across them or you lovely people come across them and let me know.

Thanks a lot in advance.

And I have to say, as painful as it sometimes felt, I really loved going over the whole blog five years later. Because there were so many posts I had forgotten about that made me laugh and cringe and even get a little teary at times. I'm trying so hard to truly "find joy" in this journey of ours. And when I look back and see a record of our life, I realize I haven't done that perfectly, but it has honestly been such an incredible journey.

I'm so grateful. I'm so blessed.

And sweet chicken, I'm so glad to be done changing the size of blog photos.

You say potato...

This morning I was working on the computer while the kids were playing some kind of pretend game all together. I was only half paying attention while they asked each other what their job would be within the "town" they were creating. Until Matt asked Annie what she was going to be.

"I'm going to work in a saloon," Annie told him.

And as I turned around to see if I had seriously misread Annie's personality for the past eleven and a half years, she continued...

"I do people's hair."

Summer boating trip

Campbell got up on skis and stayed up quite a while.

And then Annie got up and was pretty thrilled.

Matt actually got up also, but no one got a picture of it. He said it was because

 he was only up "two seconds," but up is up, so who cares how many seconds?
(How sweet is Jacob's mom, there in the water helping the kids with their balance?)

And Ben is just so cute it is ridiculous.

Tubing fun, as always.

Later in the day, Uncle Danny and Aunt Camie, as well as some of their friends, joined the party.

Love these kids. And I cannot wait until next summer when I can actually

ride on the boat without worrying about complications during pregnancy.

Summertime is the best!

I dreamed a dream this awkward moment was over

Today I was playing the piano and it reminded me of a story I've never shared on this blog. And it is one Jacob's favorites (and possibly mine, when I can think about it without blushing), so I wanted to have a family record of it.

A few years back, my parents decided that as a combined Christmas gift for our whole family, they would give us a piano (or at least a good chunk of money toward a piano). We were so excited and started taking a look at used pianos in our area (Boston at the time). We found a couple that looked promising and I called to schedule a time to take a look at them.

The next evening, Jacob and I drove a few towns away to take a look at a Baldwin upright that I was excited about. The woman I made the appointment with answered the door and took us right up the stairs to the piano she was selling. It looked like it was in good shape, but we were definitely curious as to how it sounded. She offered to let each of us play.

Now a little explanation...

Jacob plays the piano really quite well. He can definitely sight read much better than me and often accompanied during church meetings when we lived in Massachusetts.

I, like most people I know, wish I played better. I took lessons for a few years and progressed quite quickly, but didn't do the work I needed to in order to have a better foundation for piano. I can play a few of the hymns very well and a few more with great mediocrity. I accompanied in church during our time in Boston more often than I would have liked to, but it was definitely due to a lack of pianists in our ward (we had three for most of the time we lived there, including Jacob and myself), rather than my skill. In addition to my poor hymn playing, I also know four or five other songs that would be familiar to many people. And by the word know I mean I can play three or four lines at best of them.

I'm a skilled performer as you may have gathered.

So when this woman offered to let us play the piano, Jacob sat down and played a few lines of several different songs. I could see in his eyes he wasn't incredibly impressed with the sound of the piano, but he wanted me to play to see what I thought.

So I did.

And for some unknown, now regrettable decision, I started to play I Dreamed a Dream from Les Misérables.

Do you see at all where this is going? I did not. Boy howdy. I. Did. Not.

I played the few measures of the intro and then started into the part of the music where the words begin. I don't have the entire song memorized, but I was only planning on playing a few lines anyway. And yet, as I started into the part of the song with lyrics, something happened. Something a tad (read hugely) unexpected.

From the next room, the kitchen I believe, came an older woman. Maybe the aunt or mother or even grandma of the woman selling the piano? And she didn't just walk into the room to be friendly or say hello or even to listen to the beautiful song that was being played.

She came in singing.

Singing, folks.

With what appeared to be every part of her heart.

Oh help us all, now what do I do?

She not only seemed to know every word to I Dreamed a Dream, but it also appeared to be a favorite song of hers. One that she felt very passionate about.

And not only did I feel close to as awkward as I have ever felt in my life (and sweet waffles, that is saying a lot), I was quickly running out of notes to the song that I knew.

And from the look on this woman's face, that was not going to do, because she was into this song and enjoying her self quite a bit.

(And I'm not sure it helped that Jacob seemed to be almost turning purple in an attempt to refrain from hysterical laughter.)

I continued to play, she continued to sing with all of her heart and my heart continued to race with panic about how I was going to stop this thing without crushing the dreams (pun intended) of this older woman.

So I handled it with as much grace and tact as anyone could have hoped for.

Or I abruptly came to a stop and mumbled something about not remembering the rest of the song.

(Might as well have stomped on the woman's heart and told her she had no hope of making it to Broadway.)

And then we quickly told the woman who was selling the piano that we would get back to her after we had seen some others, if we wanted to buy her piano. And made our escape into the cold night.

Where Jacob at least had the decency to wait until we were in the car to let loose on his laughter.

And I sat mortified and wishing I had nary taken a piano lesson. Or at least pretended like I could play the piano better than I can.

Now I can laugh about it. Mostly.

It was traumatic enough that I still get this kind of awkward pit in my stomach just thinking about it.

And the worst part is that the piano sounded too tinny, so the trip was a bust because we didn't even buy it.

Which actually may have been a blessing, because the thought of facing the singing woman again was a little too much for me to take.

After all, I only had two or three more options of partial songs to accompany her and I'm not even positive there are words to Pachelbel's Canon in D.

From the driveway of my parents' home

I didn't even realize I had caught an airplane in there until I uploaded the photo.

 Desert sunsets are truly amazing.