he may not be ready for training

but he's certainly ready for bed!

Sorry--he moves fast!

Nicholas found the underwear I've been storing in the bathroom cupboard today.  He had me put them (there are three pairs) over his shorts and he wore them all morning.

I did not let him wear them to Costco. Cue toddler meltdown.

When we got back we had dinner and I thought he'd forgotten about them.

But as soon as we went up to the get him in the bathtub tonight,

he opened the cupboard, saw the underwear, and loudly exclaimed

"Ereis!"  translated:  "There it is!"

He has to "chase his tail" in order to see the car on the back.  

It's awesome and hilarious.

Maybe the underwear will help our teething boy sleep through the night again?

If not, at least he'll look super cool.

and it's a .....!

Some of our friends came over last night.  Before they arrived we hung blue and pink streamers, filled the living room with blue and pink balloons (although if you ask Nicholas he'll tell you they're "Green! Yellow!"--he's still working on colors), 

and I made this cake.  

When they got here, we gathered around for the cake cutting-Kent and I were going to cut the cake together a'la newlywed style. 

I guess we hadn't been very clear about the plan, because one of our friends looked around the circle of people anxiously awaiting the cake cutting and asked us what we were expecting to be in the cake?

The cake, you see, was the answer!

 Pink!  

It's a girl!

 Wahoo!

And a word of advice:  a spoonful of food color paste is more than enough to sufficiently color a box of cake mix.  

I only used one of Nicholas's old baby spoons. I thought it would be just right.  But it was very, very pink.

At least there was no mistaking the color!

As a funny coincidence, all three of us girls there last night were wearing pink, too!  

I've been shopping already, and dreaming up all things girly.  

We're so excited!

the third week in june

 We've had water restrictions since March, I think...  we can only use sprinklers on Mondays. So the rest of the week, this is what we do after dinner: sit on the porch while Daddy waters the grass by hand.  Because we just can't bear to let our grass die off. 

My garden has completely succummed to the heat. I harvested two tomatoes, and I kept watering my sad little plants because I had three still on the vine. 
But Monday morning I went out to check on them, and all three tomatoes were gone. 
I hope whatever squirrel/bird/raccoon took them enjoyed them, because I'm giving up for this planting season. It's just too hot.

We bought a new ice cream machine for Father's Day.  It came yesterday, and the mixing bowls are in the freezer ready for us to use them tonight.  Mmm.

This week Nicholas has spent his days going from playing with the hose on the patio, to sitting in the kitchen sink with the water on, to playing in his wading pool.  And then repeat the process. 

We're going to have an astronomical water bill this month, but just look how happy he is!

And happy has been hard to come by this week.  Nicholas is growing all four of his two-year molars at the same time. Poor kid, constantly shoving his fist in his mouth, gnawing on his fingers.   We've been waking up nearly every hour with him through the nights this week. 

I think he's just prepping us for the newborn days we have ahead.

How thoughtful of him.

My ultrasound was on Tuesday!

All is well and healthy, and we've started picking a name.

Yes, that's right.  We know what the gender of our baby is.

Tonight we are having a "gender reveal" party with our friends.  I'm going to be blowing up lots of balloons today!

i'm still learning

A friend I met up with in Utah mentioned something to me about how she is excited to have her own children someday, because then she can start from the beginning raising her family the way she wants to and she won't have to try and correct mistakes made in the past.

I might be relatively new at this motherhood stuff,
but I know that I can only wish it was that easy.

This boy of mine, this beautiful happy boy of mine,
he is keeping me on my toes.
He is clever, curious, tenderhearted, active, loving, and silly.
He needs people to love.  He needs things to explore and places to go.

In Utah and in California, he was happier than I've seen him since he entered toddlerhood.  There were so many people for him to love, and so many things for him to do.
Back here at home, I feel inadequate.  I feel like I'm not enough for him sometimes,
like he needs more than I can give him.

Which I am trusting is simply
his Heavenly Father's way of stretching me, teaching me, and helping me to grow into the woman and mother He wants me to be.

I know I need to be more creative. More involved.  More active.
I'm oh so pregnant-tired, and it's oh so Texas-hot outside,
but one thing I have learned so far about being a mother,
is that somehow, when I make sure I'm doing what I should be,
the little I can do always becomes enough.

willow park

 There's a gorgeous park in Logan-
Willow Park Zoo (a mini-zoo with mostly birds, ducks, a few monkeys, bobcats, etc.).
When I was little, I often requested to have my birthday party at Willow Park.
My grandma always brought Frederico's pizza or KFC.

In case you are unaware, Frederico's pizza is the best pizza in the world.
Quite inconvenient to be a pregnant woman craving Frederico's all the way down here in
Texas. My mom bought it for my birthday again this year since I was there in Logan.

Have you ever experienced the pure bliss of finally getting something you've been pregnant-craving?  Some of the best bites I've ever taken in my life.

We took Nicholas to Willow Park.
He loved it.
But the thing he loved the most--
the tree cotton all over the grass.

That and being helpful by "scratching" my brother's heads and backs.

 After walking around we happened to meet up with the director of the zoo, who used to be in my parents' ward. 
He was awesome and gave each of the boys a feather from the peacocks that roam the park.

 Sometimes,
okay, maybe a lot/most of the time,
I boost the color in my photos.
But when I tried to do that with the pictures I took in Utah this time,
it was actually too bright, and too green!

Cache Valley in early summer is the most beautiful place on earth. 
And that's the truth.


Trying to tickle the camera with the feather.

 When we were done, my mom bought us rootbeer ice cream cones from A&W.  Heaven.

I would love to live in Cache Valley again,
and who knows, maybe someday we will.
But if not, I'm so glad I will always have it to come home to.

"sorse and totes!"

We're home from Utah.

It's so good to be back home with Kent.

I think he missed me this time,

even more than he usually does.

Today a boquet of "Welcome Home" flowers showed up at my door.  Ah. 

But we had the most wonderful time in Utah. 

I mean, it was in the 60's there.  Sunny (except the day it snowed) and beautiful.

When we got off the plane here in Texas I felt like I was melting.  Uck. 

Nicholas, especially, had fun in Utah.  He was a happier kid than he ever is at home.

Minimal tantrums, lots of smiles, very few tears.

It might have something to do with the fact that he had 5 people who

were more than willing to do anything and everything he wanted them to.

My child is more than a bit bossy.

If you want the truth, though,

I was the exact same way at his age (only baby in a big group of cousins). 

And I turned out okay, right?  I hope?

 One of Nicholas's favorite things about Utah? 
The miniature horse and two goats that live at my grandma's house (next-door to my parents').
Every morning, the second thing he did, after making sure he knew where Jonah and Nathan were,
was climb up on the couch beneath the window and look over to the pasture, saying
"Sorse!  Totes!" over and over again.

We took him over to feed them grass through the fence.
He must have been thinking about it really hard,
because he slowly brought the grass up to his own mouth and nearly tasted it before he realized what he was doing.

Ah, yes, I love this kid.