Having Fun

We arrived here in Salvo, NC safe and sound on Sunday afternoon and checked into our "home" for the week. We took a few stops along the way to stretch and get those kiddos out of the car a bit. I think overall everyone enjoyed it. By the time we reached the house I was wishing Hunter was already here so I didn't have to be so uncomfortable. I even got sunburned on my right arm and right knee (where my shorts stopped)from sitting in the car so long. Ugh. OH WELL!! We also quickly discovered that we had left all but one of the girls swimsuits at the house (Jeremiah washed them up on Saturday and we just forgot to get them in the bag). Needless to say - we bought a new one Monday so that Julia could go swimming - we hope to go to the beach early this morning before the temperatures get too warm. So excited!

Drum Roll....

It is almost vacation time, I am so stinkin excited. I hope this year is extremely relaxing as I think that is going to be the only key to my survival with these past crazy stressful months/weeks/days. Here is the place we will be calling "home" for a week starting Sunday. It should be fun and I hope I don't go into labor while I'm gone!

Explaination

For those of you who saw my facebook and noticed I had a pretty rotten day yesterday and care to read my small novel, let me elaborate.

It all started on Friday, July 10 when I went to the temple. I hadn't been in ages and I wanted to have my little sister Jocelyn down for a visit before she had to get back to school (and I had to gear up to have a baby). We were traveling 95 south and was still in North/Central Virginia (interpreted as still over 100 miles until home) in CONGESTED traffic. I know that is so hard for all of you who have ever traveled up to the temple to believe. (sarcasm) It was about 3 pm too. Anywho.... a State Trooper decided he wanted to pull over the pregnant lady from Pennsylvania and accuse her of going an outrageous speed in such conditions. Not to mention that I saw at least 20 State Troopers on the road that day up and down 95 (I really counted and there were AT LEAST that many). So... he pegged me with 77 in a 65 and didn't even bat an eyelash when I told him it couldn't have been me and that I was traveling safely at a speed of 70mph. He gave me a ticket (my first ever) and proceeded to let me continue on my journey home (which took 4 hours by the way.... yup, you guessed it.... it took me 7 hours to get home from the temple that day). The court date on the ticket was for August 13 (a day I think I will always sleep through from now on) at 9:30 am in HANOVER county VA. Jeremiah was hoping to get off work but the request was denied due to his duty day conditions (he was the only one there for duty in his entire division... doesn't make for much opportunity to get off work then... eh). I took the trip with the girls - we left at 6 am to make the 100 mile trip (with plenty of time to spare incase of traffic) to Hanover County. We arrived at 7:40am and walked around the court house and administration offices for the county for about an hour. Then we went into the court house and had a potty break and tried to settle in for the appointed time. 9:30 came and went, 10:30, 11:30, 12:30... all passed without me being called (I was waiting in the lobby area due to my two children having to tag along with me and the baliff was supposed to come get me when it was time). Finally a little after 12:30 the baliff comes out and says I'm getting close. Ok... FINALLY. They call me in... I plea not guilty to the judge, police officer adds his dity and the judge makes me raise my right hand and swear to tell the truth (to which I agreed). I proceeded to tell him the truth but was honestly scared to death and didn't really know what to say other than I had a clean record, I was only driving 70 mph and I was being passed by other cars on the road when the officer decided to come after me. By the time I explain I was being passed (all less than 30 seconds mind you) he was looking over at the officer with the most bored expression on his face that could be humanly possible. He didn't even give me two glances... he says, "Ok... you're guilty but I will dismiss the charges if you are willing to take a driving course" I asked what that would entail (as I am holding Melanie, Julia is asleep in the stroller and I have this huge belly) and he told me I could even take it in Pennsylvania if I wanted to. So, I humbly agreed and went to wait my turn AGAIN for the clerk's office. I ended up paying half of my ticket ($61 court fee that is AKA processing fee on a ticket) and then sent on my merry way to make the 100 mile trip home. My children put in a 6.5 hour day before the judge even saw me. Then add another 2 hours to that to travel home. Upon reaching home and reading the information I was given about driving school... I called the courthouse to verify some information. I was told I would have to take a course that was recognized by the state that issued my license. Ok... check with PennDOT... fine. I call PennDOT and am told they do not have such things. So... call back the court house and the lady tells me she's never heard of that and that she doesn't know what I'm going to do and, I quote "Nobody else here is going to know what to tell you either."

Eight and a half hours with my children (no food allowed during most of that time) - and we all know my kids... they screamed and had their fits throughout the waiting. I had cried a total of at least 3 times throughout the day and I just broke down crying after talking to this rude woman. She finally told me that I could write to the judge and explain my situation. If he didn't listen to me even after he made me swear to tell the truth... what makes a letter better than looking at my face!?

Then, the power goes out at our house (happens a lot... maybe that's the military's way of cutting down on housing costs is to shut down the power a few times every few weeks). Upon restoring our electricity... my computer dies. (I am writing this on Jeremiah's laptop) Thankfully we bought a large capacity hard drive shortly after Jeremiah getting home and put our pictures and music on it. So, I only lost my word documents so far. I am still trying to get the computer up and running and will hopefully only have to purchase a new mouse instead of a new PC. As of bedtime last night though - I had no luck in restoring my computer to working condition.

Poor pregnant lady has to attend driving school before the beginning of Nov, had to pay half the ticket for court costs, drove 200 miles round trip and spent 8 hours of my day waiting to be basically told that I didn't have a fighting chance against this ticket anyway.... and all before I was able to get to bed.

After sleeping on it and trying to figure out my court problems this morning, the day has so far gone much better. I was able to find out that since PA doesn't have any policy about driving courses, I can just take a VA course and that will be sufficient. They accept online courses as well which will be good since I'm having a baby in a month. Then with reformatting the hard drive on my computer... hopefully that will be fine after I fix the water damage my children did to the mouse while I was trying to get everything done this morning. Not to metion Julia taking my deodorant to our television screen last night while I was having a nervous break down (Jeremiah had duty). Pretty emotional past two days. I think I deserve a vacation... don't you??

A day of "FUN"

Lately, not much has worked out for our little family to have much time to plan anything fun to do together. Jeremiah has had a day off here and there - only to be called back into work for an "emergency". (Basically... he's the only one that can fix anything - and no one else wants to do their job or figure it out - so he has to "Save" them) Saturday was FINALLY the first day we didn't get a phone call from the boat and were able to enjoy our day together. (Honestly, we didn't stick around near home long enough to give them much of a chance at getting us to come back home to "rescue" anyone) We took off for Williamsburg for some adventures. Since my husband is from around here - a lot of the area on that side of the tunnel is his old "stomping ground" and since we won't be around much longer... it was great to let him reminisce. We will have to do it again soon and take pictures of all the places he wants to remember. We headed for the outlets to check out some clothing stores (for the girls of course!! ;) haha... and Hunter too) that I had coupons for. We ended up running into some friends we were hoping to visit with over there and the girls got to play with their grandchildren (also girls). They had a BLAST! We went swimming (I conveniently had swimming suits for the girls already in the car and we stopped in at Motherhood Maternity Outlet to grab me a colorful - yet cheap suit of my own to use at the last minute), cooked out, and really enjoyed catching up. Their daughter, who already has 2 daughters as well, is close to Jeremiah's age and is also expecting a boy (their third child too)that's due next month (just like me!!)It was nice to get to know her better and visit with another pregnant lady (that doesn't mind talking about babies). I would have liked to take some pictures of the day - most of it was reminiscing, running around to different stores, walking, checking out Pepperidge Farms outlet, bathroom breaks, and lots of playing with new found friends. It was great starting the day with no expectations, so that we could really fully enjoy the day together.

Baking time coming to an end

This pregnancy is almost done. I can not believe it! I know that having 6 1/2 weeks left for most is FOREVER (and it can be) but with how time has been flying in this family, it's just around the corner!! The last 2 weeks of Jeremiah's deployment went fast and now he's home starting his first week back to work! In two weeks, I'll have a month left until my due date! Yikes! Once it all gets down to the "nitty-gritty" time frame.... I get all anxious about how the delivery will go. Naturally, the prayers are starting up about the baby not being too big, delivery going well, baby Hunter being healthy, etc. I'm looking forward to the family vacation this year and hoping that I get some time to kick back and have some "re-charge" time. I'm just so eager to see what this little guy is going to look like! Our family is incredibly blessed!

He's Home

Hooray, he's home!! We picked him up from base about 2:30ish on Thursday and have been enjoying a work free day with him today. I am super excited about having him back and the girls are just loving him to death!! He was supposed to get off the boat sooner than he did, but they decided they wanted him to help hook up the boat instead of getting off to be with his family. I wasn't expecting for them to be finished with all of their work when I got the call from him saying he was getting ready to leave the boat. I had just gotten the girls out of the tub - so we quickly dressed and did hair and off we went! We parked the car and took a short (yet hot) stroll to the pier to find Jeremiah. When we got there - we saw him coming toward the gate and waited there. I showed Melanie where he was and when he walked through the gate - she kept looking around him for a different guy that was supposed to be her dad (he had sunglasses on and they never see him in his whites). So... she looked right past her daddy. If you notice the picture where she has two lollipops - she insisted on bringing one to the pier to give to her Daddy. I guess she figured he would like the same flavor she did .... green apple! Julia later told him, "Daddy, we found you!". Everyone got hugs and kisses when we got back to the car. Here are a few pictures....


The girls posing before we head down the road for a short stroll to the pier to pick up Daddy!













Here is my little family.... all reunited again!

















This is the best picture I found on my camera of our little family. Photography isn't a strong point in our family.









Daddy taking a nap while the girls watch Bolt. It was the cutest thing.

My hair

I figured I would post a picture of my "do". It is too short up front because of me. I can't blame anyone but myself. Hopefully it will grow out fast and I won't have to sport the almost "perfect" bob for too long. P.S. Leg shine courtesy of Venus (thank you!)

Dresses.... check!

The paper links are almost gone, the to do list is getting shorter. One of the biggest things I needed to get done to get ready for the return of my "better half" is make those white dresses for the girls. I finally finished them at 1:30 am this morning. I worked (along with a long time favorite "A Knights Tale")late last night to get them all together and I absolutely love how they turned out. They are very simple, and they give me the chance and the option to dress them up with flowers, bows, whatever I want basically. For now they will stay simple and the girls will have a bow accessory courtesy of the fabulous Tara (thanks again!). They tried the bows on this morning and LOVED them!! Here is the finished product. I'm so proud of myself! Stay tuned... I hope to have some actual Homecoming Day pictures to load later in the week and then I'll have models for those dresses!

Too excited!!

I just have to say (since it's the most recent thing going on in my life... that I'M excited about) I am too excited to deal with it! I am getting all the final preparations in order and just am tickled pink to have some exciting stuff happen a little later this week. I hope to even get a little bit ahead of myself and get some things accomplished that I will need to have ready for the next few weeks (Visiting Teaching handouts and Birthday Cards for Card exchange... here I come!). I love it when I try to make a plan and things sort of work out for me - almost giving me time to sit on my bum and ENJOY some relaxin!! Oh golly.... so stinking happy. I will most definitely post more about this week as the week unfolds. I got my haircut today with a good friend (Tara) - her's looks AWESOME! Mine is a little different than I was hoping for (kinda my own fault though... not so good on the communication sometimes). Next time will be better - plus... having it a bit shorter than anticipated gives me a little more to play with for Hunter's arrival. I'll get my next trim after his debut. I'll post a pic of my hair a little later.

Ever Been.....?

Have you ever been 32 weeks pregnant and had the most incurable sweet tooth? The whole wives tale about craving salty things with boys is definitely a myth for me!! I had a "quick trip" to Walmart today and over HALF of my little bill was sweets!! YIKES!! Maybe I'll get to put some of it to good use so I'll have something to "munch" on while I sew tonight and tomorrow to get final preparations in order for the big day. BTW I FINALLY found my free motion quilting foot so I can get Hunter's blankets started on the top stitching! I'm glad he's a baby (and a boy) and won't care that my pattern is most definitely flawed. I think the overall outcome will be fine though. Cheers to the next 8 weeks (as I hold up my glass of ice water) when I can start losing some of this weight! Ugh! Not to mention the gorgeous baby boy I'll get to carry around everywhere.

Gotta see this

If you haven't seen this... you HAVE to! I thought it was very good and definitely not as scary as it could have been portrayed. Sure it's darker than the others - but with a super evil wizard running loose, what do you expect?! I am excited to buy it when it comes out on DVD. I wasn't there to share the midnight viewing with a lot of you ladies, but I was there Friday night!! I got to take my little sister with me and I'm glad I had her company. Jeremiah will usually tag along with me when I want him to... but he doesn't understand what's going on. He's not a big Harry Potter fan. I'm sure he's glad I took Jocelyn along too!

Family Celebration

 

Melanie decided last year that she wanted to have a castle cake. Yeah... definitely will have to work on the next birthday creation a little more ahead of time. Not to mention take a cake decorating class of some sort. However, it was completely edible and that's pretty much exactly what happened to it! I think there are 3 pieces left. She enjoyed the presents and all of the birthday phone calls. She was quite practiced by the end of the day yesterday. "Thank you so much!! Yes, ..... I four." That's pretty much her responses to her fans. We all about died laughing at her supermodel photo poses. She is a natural! Here are a few fun pictures from her day of cake and ice cream and her choice of spaghetti dinner.

Beach Fun

I took the girls to the beach on Melanie's birthday. I thought it would be a fun outing and my sister really wanted to go while she was here visiting. Friday was our best bet... SO.... off we went! First our quest for sand toys didn't go so great and we ended up getting some very overpriced (yet very cool) sand toys from Target. (Sigh) Oh well! The last time we went to the beach the girls didn't want much to do with the water - so I figured this trip would be more of the same story. BOY WAS I WRONG!! Julia took off (literally) to the water once we got settled. No regard for whether or not anyone was there with her or watching her. It scared me to death! Melanie loved "wading" in the ocean and feeling the waves come up on the shore. Jocelyn got quite a bit of time with the girls in the water and jumped waves as they got closer to the shore. I spent some time in the water with them and tried to help them make a bit of a sandcastle (that they continued to destroy). Mostly I was just so excited looking out to the horizon and thinking of how soon my husband will be crossing it to get home!


This girl got stuck in her diaper - soaked it (OF COURSE)- and still got most of her enjoyment from playing in the sand. She didn't eat much of it this time around.... watch out North Carolina - JULIA is on her way next month!


We even got to bury Aunt Jocelyn and I think the girls had a pretty fun time at that!! It's fun now that they are a bit older and can appreciate/enjoy the little things.



It was great fun and we were able to scoot out of there before it got too crowded (or hot).

Happy Birthday Melanie!

Today my first baby turns 4!!! I can't believe it!! She has grown up so much in the past year and is turning out to be a pretty great helper. Not to mention she for sure reminds me of what I need to work on (by acting JUST like me and using some of my favorite phrases). I'm telling you - things will get better when I get my husband back. Melanie, we are so blessed and happy to have you in our family and are excited to continue to watch you grow up and become a fantastic person!
 

Wish I could....

Here lately, I've been finding Julia asleep for the night in these places:

Under Melanie's Bed:





In the Closet:




Lastly, the big blue chair after swimming in the "kiddie" pool out back:



Lately there is something extremely fascinating about NOT sleeping in your own bed. I love it!

Taking a Survey

I've gotta get my hair trimmed and I need some advice?! I'm trying to "shop" around for some places with a good hairdresser to help maintain my shorter hair. I'm in desperate need of a trim. Please let me know where you've all been that has left you a happy victim.

Got Talent??

Came across this on NBC. I don't get the chance to watch the competition... crazy!! You won't believe it!

Happy 4th!!

Well, we have arrived. It happens once every year. Today celebrates the day of our country's independence. I am so grateful to our forefathers for listening to the promptings I am SURE they received from the Lord in helping to organize and start this country. I am grateful to them for having the courage to sign their names on the "dotted line" . That VERY courageous, bold act lead to the restoration of the gospel and to my family being here so that my children and I could be born in a free country. I am grateful to a wonderful husband who sees how important our country is and recognizes the need for us to have upstanding military members to help ensure our continued freedom. Thank you honey!!! However... I'm sad to say that our forefathers would probably slap most of our politicians in the face and ask, "WHAT ARE YOU THINKING???" I hope that my children are still able to see plenty of good in their lifetime. Enjoy yourselves today - have a blast!! (Pun TOTALLY intended)

Travel? NOT TODAY!!

I am GLADLY staying home this evening. I had a few plans - but quickly realized that if the HRBT is closed... Norfolk is a MESS to navigate! I'm starting to believe that there is no real emergency plan for much of anything around here - what is the country coming to? The news will tell you to have your own emergency plan, but the state doesn't?? This is why I think there should be more than 2 (yes... only two) ways in and out of this area! Yikes! Hopefully the tunnel will be back up to speed by tomorrow morning - or else I might not go much of anywhere tomorrow either!! Anyone get stuck in traffic today???

IT'S JULY!!!!!!!!!!!

Couldn't be more thrilled that it is FINALLY JULY! My littlest sister got her tonsils taken out of her head yesterday (gone forever)and I anticipate to hear that she got the best rest of her LIFE last night. That makes July great... Gettysburg and our country's Independence Day are a couple other perks. None quite as exciting as getting my other half back though!! Ok... maybe they are all a close tie! Not to mention my first baby is going to be 4 this month! Great month for our little family. WOOHOO!

UPDATE....Just called Melanie's school and she got in the pre-K program and will be attending this fall!! I am SO relieved and excited for her!!!