Festival of the Arts

Stacy, Colleen, Matix and I went to the Festival of the Arts the other day. It was SO fun. We went later in the day so we didn't have too much time to see everything (there were WAY more booths than I thought there would be), but it was perfect.

The booths had jewelry, pottery, paintings, sculptures, and anything else artsy you could imagine. I love little festivals like this.

Matix enjoyed being able to walk wherever he wanted to. Here are some pics of him exploring... He looks so big!

This woman looks pretty grouchy, but she had BEAUTIFUL hand made jewelry.

I am trying my hardest to fatten up a bit... although, you have to admit I am looking pretty big in this picture! :) I got a chocolate covered banana, and Stacy got chocolate covered cheesecake. I love getting junk food from fairs and festivals!

Matix enjoyed helping me eat my banana.
Here we are with chocolate filled mouths... MMMMmmmmmm!
Colleen also got kettle corn and I had a root beer float. Yum!

This was my favorite part of the day though...Matix wanted to get out of his stroller so HE could push it. I think he will be a great big brother! :)

36 Weeks!!!

This is me at 36 weeks! :) This baby is just hanging out of me, and he's ready to go! I love this part. He kicks all the time, not as much as Matix (thank goodness), but WAY harder. I am pretty much at the waddling all the time stage. :) I can hardly wait to meet this little guy....

By the way, I am loving being able to straighten my hair again and not have to wear it up to keep it from going curly! :) Hooray for the desert!

Seminary

So, a few months ago in church I was called to be the Young Women's President... Young Women's is an amazing program that our church puts together to teach and guide young women (ages 12-18) to realize and reach their divine potential. It focuses on the girls ability to live virtuous and exemplary lives in order to influence the world for good. I am really excited to be a part of the program, especially since when I was that age I was not a part of any such program.

I am really grateful to be a member of a church that supports it's youth in this and many other ways. Another thing my church has available to the youth is Seminary. It is a program the youth (boys and girls) have the opportunity to attend during their high school years just before their regular school starts. Seminary is for the youth to study the scriptures and learn more about important gospel truths.

I was also not a part of this program when I was that age, but recently I had the chance to go with Stacy (she is a Seminary teacher) to one of her classes.

It was really cool. I hope these kids understand how lucky they are to have this program available to them. They are learning about things that will help to shape their lives and develop their testimonies of the truthfulness of the gospel. I hope when Matix is old enough, he will want to go to Seminary... partly for the selfish reason that I want to hear about more of the lessons than just this one :) and partly because I am really impressed with the material presented and the lengths that the program directors, teachers and leaders have gone to, to make it as wonderful as it is... and I want Matix to learn and be steadfast in what he believes.

Anyway, I am just so glad I am able to experience these things now, even if I didn't get a chance earlier. :)

Tonight

Tonight...

Stacy and Colleen went to see Ballet Arizona perform "Swan Lake" at Symphony Hall (they dressed up, so fun!)...

Lee was at a dinner for a young man who just received his Eagle Scout award (Lee has been involved in scouting FOREVER)...

Matix went to bed early (before 6pm)...

Paul went to our date night alone (so sad, I miss date night!)...

and I caught up on our blog! :) I posted a few things tonight and pretty much everything else will be posted as it comes. So make sure to scroll down to see the other posts from tonight, but then I will be better about posting every day, or every other day, like in Dominica. :)

Exploring

Matix and I are SO happy to be back in the States. Stacy (Paul's Mom) left up the Halloween decorations (she is really good at decorating every little nook and cranny for each season) for us. I didn't realize how much I really LOVE Halloween. I wish I had brought some things with to Dominica to decorate our house.

Matix, apparently, loves it too. I wish I recorded Matix on our first night here. He ran around pointing at everything, and making his "OOOOOHHhhhhhh" sound. It was so funny to watch. Each little pumpkin, or ghost, or leaf, was interesting and had to be pointed out. :)

Matix has also been having fun going outside whenever he wants to. So often in Dominica, it is raining too hard, or there are too many bugs near the door that would be let in, or our yard guy is working on the lawn, so we have to stay inside. Not so easy for a little guy to understand. But here... the weather is PERFECT. He has figured out how to open and shut (and open and shut and open and shut.... ) the screen door and loves to go exploring. Sakina (our dog) has been keeping an eye on him too, which I think is cute. Not just when he has food, but often throughout the day, she follows him. Here she is watching him play in the backyard. :)

Dr. Appointment

I went to see my OBGYN yesterday and everything is good. The baby is bigger than Matix was at this point (yikes), but I am smaller than I was when I was pregnant with Matix... how this happens, I have no idea...

Also, I do NOT have gestational diabetes this time! Hooray hooray! That was no fun last time, and I am grateful not to have to deal with all the finger pricks, scheduled eating, etc. that goes with it.

Matix had fun at the office since there are decorative rocks along the wall in the waiting room, just asking to be played with by little boys. :)

Also, it is cooler here than we had planned for, and we didn't have very many pants for Matix, so we went shopping with Grandma Stacy and she got him a few pairs (thanks Grandma!) I think he looks so big in this outfit. When did he grow up?

While I was getting my check up, Matix was getting a little bored, so Dr. Bruce blew up a HUGE glove balloon for him to play with. (It is the big white thing in the bottom left corner of the picture)

He played with it all the way home, well, until he fell asleep. :) Sweet boy.

Second Babymoon 10-30-09

When Paul and I were pregnant with Matix we went to a fancy hotel to celebrate the end of our time as a family of 2, and also to celebrate the beginning of a new chapter in our lives as a family of 3. We called it our babymoon. It was so much fun. We just went for one night, but it was nice to celebrate that huge change.

Now we are pregnant with baby number 2, and thought we should have another babymoon. This time, we went to an island in the West Indies... Oh wait, we were living there! :) But what better place to have our second babymoon. Matix goes to sleep still really early, so we had lots of time for just us. It all started with Paul doing the dishes, while I rested my feet (SO nice). We also ate lots of cheese cake, mousse cake and a peanut butter/brownie cake... Very fun.

This was our celebration of the end of the part of our lives as a family of 3... and the beginning of a bigger family of 4... We can still hardly believe people will say to us, "how are the KIDS?" Plural, KIDS... that is going to be so strange, but we are really excited and feel prepared to handle all the craziness. :)