He's Home!

My brother's home from his mission! Okay, so he's been home for almost two weeks now, but since when do I post anything on time? He served in the Ohio, Cincinati (I just realized I don't know how to spell that, how embarassing) mission spanish speaking. He spent two years teaching illegals as much as he could before they headed back to their home land. Missions are tough either way you look at it, but he had an especially tough mission dealing with Linz and my mom. He's definitely a trooper for sticking it out the full two years. We love having him home!

And yes, we believe he's adjusting quite well. The day after he got home he was working and two days after he got home he was on a date. One of his first questions was, "Do I get a cell phone?". And then my mom decided to give him the ultimate welcome home gift. She's had yet to actually throw up with all of the chemo, just lots of nausea. Well, she and Greg were eating a nice quiet dinner together and, you guessed it, puked all over Greg. Needless to say, neither one of them finished dinner. Welcome home Greg!

Here are some pics from the airport. So sorry that they're in reverse order. I'm too lazy to do it over. Also, please note how dutiful Zack and Megan were in holding their sign up. I believe it said, 'Hola Baby'.

Also, please note that the bum didn't come down the escalator. No, he had to find a sneaky way down and just walk through the airport. How rude of him to deny us those beautiful escalator pictures:)

Spring Fever

I didn't want to look at that picture of Kate anymore, so I had to put this one up. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm dying for spring. I just keep thinking about what it's like to walk to the park with the kids in warm sunny weather. Ahhh. To those of you who live where it's warm right now, we'll see who's laughing in the summer when you're melting to death:)

Poo Party

I had one of those experiences today that every mom dreads. Kate woke up from her nap, but wasn't screaming so I just let her stay up there. The fact that she wasn't screaming should have clued me in that something wasn't right. When will I learn? The first thing that hit me when I walked in her room was the smell. No big deal right? Just change her pants. Wrong. I looked at Kate and she was covered in poo. It was caked all over her hands, on her face, legs, and feet. Not to mention her crib, blankets, and stuffed animals. Yes, apparently she had quite the party. Blowouts are bad enough, but your kid purposefully playing in poo? Not ok.

Fine, you spend the next 30 minutes cleaning up. The problem was that I had to leave right then to pick Zack up from preschool. I actually thought about just leaving her there in denial that she existed. But I decided that probably wasn't the greatest idea and I'd somehow end up with an even bigger mess (if that was possible). Of course I took time to take a picture so I can get some sympathy. Then I threw her in the shower and scrubbed her off. I put her in a diaper and pajamas and ran like mad to get Zack. I broke numerous laws and managed to get there seconds before Zack walked out. Zack wondered why Kate was in her pajamas, so I explained the situation to him. He said that Kate smelled like a gerbil (they have gerbils at his school and they stink so this is not a compliment).

Anyway, things are scrubbed off and in the laundry as we speak. Why do I want another kid?:)

Exciting News!

For once I have some good news! We're expecting our third baby. Yes, three. I'm due August third so I'm almost 13 weeks along. I swore I would never have another baby in the summer, but here I am again. Let me just give you a rundown of what July and August are like in our family: July 13, Zack's b-day; July 16, Jake's b-day; August 2, Kate's b-day; August 3 (or somewhere around there), new baby's b-day; August 28, anniversary. Yes, it's a birthday marathon at our house during July. By the time they're all over I'm exhausted. I feel like I don't make them as enjoyable as I would if they were spread out. Oh well. Maybe we'll just start having group birthday celebrations.

Anyway, I had my first doctor's appointment last week. We heard the heartbeat and everything looks good. So we'll keep our fingers crossed like you always do when you're pregnant. The fatigue and nausea were pretty nasty this time, but luckily I'm starting to feel better. I can't wait to enter the second trimester bliss portion of the pregnancy.

Do we want a boy or a girl? Either one I think. Now that we have one of each it doesn't matter so much. This time we're guaranteed to have clothes for the baby. Yes!

I have to tell you what the kids said when we told them. Then I'll stop my rambling. Jake told them I was going to have another baby. They both starting jumping up and down because they were really excited. Kate said, "I want a pink one!" Zack said, "Babies aren't pink Kate, they're kind of white." So there you have it. We will not be having a pink baby.

Big Time Catch-up

So I'm a little behind (definitely an understatement). I've got a lot of catching up to do and was debating how to do it. I thought about doing a separate little post for each event, but that was a bit overwhelming. So this is what you get. A super long slide show of random pictures from the last couple of months and a brief commentary about those events. I know, if I did this more often it wouldn't be so hard. I'll try to do better, but no promises.

Let's start off with St George the weekend before Thanksgiving. Ahh, blissful, warm St George. Every time we go we have a harder time coming back to the cold. Jake's mom and step-dad own a house down there and are nice enough to let us go play with them. I think they might get sick of us by the end of the winter. I'm pretty sure when I grow up I'll have a house in St George and will reside there every winter. Anyway, we had a fabulous time. We managed to go mountain biking and I managed not to kill myself. Very fun.

Next we have Thanksgiving. Fun times had by all and of course lots of delicious food eaten by all. We descended upon my Aunt Barbara and Uncle John's house for dinner. They might be wishing they still lived in California after the chaos we brought. Loved the food though. Delicious!

Christmas was fabulous. We were all together minus the missionary brother. That doesn't happen very often so it was nice. We did the traditional dinner, caroling, nativity, and testimonies. The nativity was interrupted by a zone full of missionaries caroling to us. I don't think there was a dry eye in the house. We like to think that was Linz's Christmas present to us. Thanks Linz! Anyway, kids loved the presents and loved playing with Grandpa as usual.

We managed to make a trip to see the lights at Temple Square. Beautiful as usual. We also made another trip back to St George. Lovely warm St George. We came home to zero degree temperatures. Talk about shock to the system...

Well, there you have it. The holidays in a nutshell. Happy to be done with 2008 and praying mightily for a wonderful 2009. Please...

Gratitude

This Thanksgiving, I must admit, found me with many different thoughts than I've had in years past. It's been quite a year already, yet it seems we're just beginning. But I find that I'm still grateful, even more so probably. Interesting how adversity helps you to recognize your blessings.

I'm grateful more than ever for family - Jake and the kids, and the wonderful extended family I have. I'm grateful for parents who have taught our family so well that when adversity hits we pull together and keep moving forward. I'm grateful for the gospel plan. Remembering God's plan and His love is what gets me through the moments that otherwise would be impossible. I'm grateful for memories, both past and future. I know future memories doesn't make sense, but I'm grateful for the memories that I know we'll be making and for the chance I'll have to look back on those in the future.

This year I'm also especially thankful for the power of fasting and prayer. Thanks to so many of you who fasted this past Sunday for my mom. It meant a lot to me and my entire family. Many of you who fasted barely know my mom, but were still willing to join in. Thank you so much. That means a lot.

And finally, an update. Since so many of you have been so helpful and supportive I feel like I should let you know a bit more of what's happening. My mom is officially diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer that has metastasized to her liver. They are going to do at least two rounds of chemo to hopefully help decrease the stomach pain. My mom finished the first one last week and she was a trooper. I think she's made it through the worst of it this round, and I know she'll continue to do well, thanks in large part to everyone's prayers.

So we continue to climb our mountain. We learn and grow every step of the way and appreciate all of the helping hands pushing and pulling us to the top. Together we'll make it!

Give Me This Mountain

Life has lots of mountains to climb. Sometimes they're more like hills, sometimes it's like climbing Everest. Sometimes you get a rest in between, sometimes you only make it back down to the saddle before you have to start climbing again. There are times when I climb, times when I sit and rest, and times when I turn around because the mountain's too big, only to try again the next day.

At times I say to God, "No more mountains!" or better yet, "Take this mountain away. I'll climb any mountain but this one." Most days I don't feel like I have the faith that Caleb did. At 85 years of age when faced with fighting giants to inherit the promised land he didn't turn around, he didn't even sit down and rest, he said, "Give me this mountain" (Joshua 14:12). I don't think my faith is strong enough for that, especially today.

Our family's been climbing the mountain of Linz's death. Pretty hard mountain, definitely an Everest if you ask me. I think we've been doing better. Maybe we finally got down to the saddle, but there's no time to rest. There's another mountain ahead and it's bigger than ever. This mountain is my mom's terminal cancer. How does that happen? How can we be expected to climb this mountain when we're still so tired from the last? And then I know. We're not. We're never expected to climb life's mountains alone. There's no way we can do it alone. We climb with the Savior. We climb with Linz and everyone else we love who isn't with us anymore. Sometimes we walk next to them, and sometimes they have to get behind and push. But together we can do it.

How do I live without my mom? She's not just my mom, she's my best friend. I tell her everything. She listens and gives good advice. She laughs and plays. Someday, in my wildest dreams, I'll be a mom like her. So right now I don't know how I'll live without her, but I know I will because I have to. Because at the top of every mountain waits my Savior, my mom, and my sister cheering me on. I have to keep climbing so I can make it back to them. So I will. In faith I will climb on.

This scripture is my testimony and I think the testimony of my family. This is what we believe.

"Believe in God; believe that he is, and that he created all things, both in heaven and in earth; believe that he has all wisdom, and all power, both in heaven and in earth; believe that man doth not comprehend all the things which the Lord can comprehend." Mosiah 4:9

So because we believe, we will climb this mountain. It might not be pretty, but we will make it to the top. Because that's what our mom taught us to do.