We've been busy

This could take a while, get comfortable. Well, where should I begin. Most of you have been not very happy with me for my trip to Hawaii, so we'll start there just to poor some salt on the wound:) We got there on Friday the 14th and met up with our friends Russ and Whitney (coincidentally the name of the child I'm baking in my oven) and basically just went back to the hotel, checked in, to the wrong room the first time, that was embarrassing, got some dinner and went to the store since we had a kitchen in the condo. For the record, VIVA milk is seriously $8.89 a gallon on the island, so shopping for food was very interesting. Luckily that had a no name brand on sale for 2/$10. Who would have thought I'd be happy about $5 a gallon for milk. Anywho, we were there for a full week, so I'll just give you the highlights: snorkling (multiple times), Rob body boarding (I lost him in the waves a couple of times, they were huge), eating, a catamaran ride, a luau, eating, shopping, church (always fun in Hawaii), and of course more eating (for those of you who went to Seattle with me, I finally got my King Crab, not what I remembered, and not worth what I paid). We went to Kauai which is the "Garden Island" and we were luckily there for the beginning of rainy season. Wow, it can really rain. That island is the rainiest place in the country receiving 400-600 INCHES of rain a year. Yeah, that's a lot of rain. We did have a couple of sunny days though. The last Friday, the 21st, we flew in early to Honolulu and spent the day just the two of us on that island. Lucky for us we have a GPS so we didn't get too lost. We went to Pearl Harbor for a few hours (INCREDIBLE!!!), went up to the temple (BEAUTIFUL), walked on some rocky beaches, saw some surfers, and ate some more yummy food. We caught the red-eye that night and got home at 7:30 am Saturday morning. Might I suggest if you ever need to leave you kids home, leave them with my mom and mother-in-law, at YOUR house. It will be spotless, including the stove and pantry floor (I don't remember the last time I mopped in there). They were champs. Missy and Tammy took there turn too, each taking a night. Here are couple of pics to highlight.

There's one hot peice of man.

Given I'm prego, I couldn't body board, so I caught up on my magazines and read a book while Rob took a beating. That dog next to me we named Champ. He was at this beach both times we went and Whitney said he is always there we she goes (her dad has a condo on this island so she gets to go every couple of years)

Here is just one picture of the rain on one of the mountains. It really did look pretty cool. I couldn't believe all of the waterfalls that would form after the rain. It was incredible.

Here are the four of us. Rob and Russ are good friends from growing up and Whitney and I are just as loud and obnoxious as they are. They are hilarious. We all love to play and eat so it was a good fit for everyone.

A quick shoutout to Skinner (the rest of you can skip to the next paragraph if you don't care)-I drank a couple of Lava Flows (even though we couldn't charge it to Brenda this time), saw some wild roosters, seriously they were all over the island, did NOT sneak into any closed pools (I would only dare with you) and saw another sea turtle, though this time I did not touch it (I remembered the rule we learned last time). Brought back memories.

Well I'll let that be enough about Hawaii, though I have many more pictures and stories, I'll not bore you with the details. So like I said we got home Saturday morning and the kids were so pumped to see us, and we were to see them. It was so much fun. Shelby couldn't hardly figure out what to do with herself. She just kept running back and forth between us. We just relaxed with the kids most of the day and then had Rob's brother and his wife and kids over for the Utah/BYU game. (GO UTES!!!:) Just before half time their son Camerun came in and told me that Cooper had just jumped off of the playhouse and was crying. I wasn't too worried, considering he does jumps off that all the time, but thought I'd better go lecture him, yet again, about jumping off of stuff. When I got out there I could hear him screaming and, you guessed it, we were of to the ER with another broken leg. If you're wondering it was just April when he broke it the first time. The doctor said that we don't need to worry about bone density tests or anything like that yet seems how both times he broke it were lagitimate traumatic jumps. So here we are with, I think, cast number 5 for the year.

It's "Ute red" by the way. Either that or he'll tell you it's red then say "Go Utes". Yeah, we brain wash our kids.

Well after that we had a pretty normal week. Abby only had school Monday and Tuesday. She had a friend over on Wednesday (who can remember the name of there first best friend in kindergarten, someone who was not in their home ward or living on their street?). This little girl"s name is Ivy and she and Abby are two peas in a pod. They both totally think they are 16. They're hilarious.

On Thursday we went down to SLC to Rob's parents. It was their year this year for Thanksgiving which turned out nicely cause on Friday Rob's little (I use that term loosely) brother came home from his mission. It was so good to see him again. Coop had to go to the bathroom right when Bri was coming down the stairs so he and I didn't get to see him and scream with the rest of the family, but it was still pretty exciting when we got back.

Here is a picture of him with most of the grandkids. There have been 5 new additions since he left, with two still yet to come, bringing the grand total on that side to 19 next April. He's pretty much a hotty so any ladies that want a date give me a call, we are taking applications. Just kidding, we are setting him up with some cute girls though. This one won't last long.

And that's it. Now can you understand why I haven't updated. I haven't hardly been home. But it's been fun. I'll try to do better in the next couple of weeks. By the way did anyone notice this post acutally has pictures on it. Yeah, the new camera works like a champ. Hopefully I'll get the rest of the pics off the old one. Wish me luck.

IT'S A....

Well some of you, not all, but some have been wondering the gender of this wee little one I'm baking in the oven. Rob and I made the trip to Hartman's today to have a visit with his lovely ultrasound tech, and she took a look at things. Before I tell you the result I just want to all to know that the baby is perfectly healthy, measuring just right, and my due date is still April 8. Seriously I wanted to draw this out as much as possible so you would really have to read for a while before you found out because that as what his tech does to me every time. Kind of funny after the fact, but during the ultrasound my heart is just pounding until I find out. Anywho, I really don't have much else to say so I guess I'd better just get right down to it, huh?






IT'S A GIRL!!!
YAY! We are really excited. The pure convenience of it first of all is handy. Like I said she is totally healthy so that is blessing. Abby really wanted another sister, so she's happy. Coop said to me, and I quote "Huh, why?!" Needless to say he has some accepting to do before April. And of course Shelby already knew, so she is just glad we are all in on the secret now. Well that's all for now. Rob and I leave for Hawaii on Friday with some friends so when I get back hopefully I'll have some fun pics for ya now that I got a new camera. Yes, finally, I got a new camera that works again. I'll have some fun pics then.