A Valid Concern

Apparently, Sierra Vista's supply of eligible four year old boys is not quite up to Jade's standards. The other day she said to me, out of nowhere, "Uh! There are no boys in Sara Bista (that's how she says Sierra Vista). I can't find anyone to marry!" Yeah, that's definitely been on my mind too...

Here are some recent photos of Jade -- for some reason she's fond of putting her arms up in the air for photos:

Happy Birthday Trent!

So this is a little late, but Trent's birthday was about three weeks ago on August 22. We had a little family celebration for him. For dinner, we went to Texas Roadhouse, which is always fun. I am being kind of sarcastic because now that we have three kids, we decided that eating out is usually more hassle than it's worth. That's mostly because it costs more and because of Bristol. She can be a handful at restaurants so it's just not that enjoyable. I digress. Anyway, after dinner, we had chocolate cake, and Trent opened his presents. His main present was a new wedding ring. His original one has been gone for almost three years so I finally replaced it. This one is a lot nicer so he better not lose it. So that was pretty much his birthday.

Another tangent (but I think it's kind of funny and talking about Trent's ring reminded me of it): When I was in Tucson for a doctor appointment about four weeks ago, Trent came along but was at the mall with the kids while I was at the doctor's office. He was outside a jewelry store and an employee told him to come in and buy jewelry for me. Trent said, "No, my wife wants to get our student loans paid off." (Which is true. I am far more interested in paying those off than in getting new jewelry. Thankfully, we are almost done.) Then some lady nearby said, "No, that's what you want!"

Finally!

I know it's been about seven months since I last posted anything, but I've decided I need to start posting again and do so more regularly. I have actually been planning on resuming posts for months now but keep procrastinating. Today I am finally doing it! A lot has happened these past seven months (obviously). First of all, in March I found out that I am pregnant (hence the due date widget on the side of the blog). I am due November 4, and in June, we found out that the baby is another girl. I am pretty confident that the baby will be born in October since I will be having her in Tucson. So I will be induced (most likely early and most likely just stripping the membranes or breaking my water) to ensure a hospital delivery. We definitely can't count on me making it to the hospital in Tucson if I just wait at home to go into labor.
   Anyway, in March, we also found out that Trent was getting transferred to Sierra Vista and that we would be moving in the next few months. Sierra Vista is on the eastern side of the state (about an hour and a half southeast of Tucson) and is cooler temperature wise. The prospect of living somewhere not so hot was nice. Plus Trent's work gives the employees money to assist in the cost of moving. Since we were only moving about five hours away, the amount we were given was way more than we needed for moving expenses and we just got to keep the rest. Even though Sierra Vista is smaller than Yuma, it is not as isolated. Like I said, it is only 1.5 hours from Tucson, and Tucson is pretty big. So we have a lot better access to malls, museums, the zoo, good doctors and hospitals, etc. We ended up moving to Sierra Vista on June 15, and the moving process was very tiring and stressful. Thankfully, Trent's mom, Gayle, came and helped us pack, clean the house, and move. I can only imagine how much more stressful the move would have been if she hadn't been there to help.
   In March and April, Brooke had her Spring Break so we took a little family vacation to San Diego, mostly so we could go to Sea World. It was fun, and I decided that I definitely prefer Sea World to the San Diego Zoo and Disneyland. Sea World is just the right size for taking little kids, has animals and rides, and the lines for rides aren't too long.

At Sea World.

Bristol loved the animals.

Jade at the beach in La Jolla.

We were in San Diego during Brooke's 7th birthday (April 4) so when we came back we bought these cute butterfly cupcakes from Kneader's since I was too tired to make a cake.

Jade's 4th birthday was May 16th, and I made this cake for her. It's kind of supposed to look like her. I just used a Little Mermaid cake pan that I have, used light brown for the hair color, and gave Ariel a shirt.

   Brooke's last day of school was June 10, and the next day was Brooke and Jade's dance recital. I have pictures, but first I have to develop them and scan them into the computer. I had to use a disposal camera since around that time I discovered that my digital camera was taking odd-looking pictures. Anyhow, the girls did great in their recital and looked really cute.
   Like I said earlier, we moved just four days later on the 15th. Summer went by really quickly from the time that Brooke got out of school. Two weeks after our move, we made a trip to Colorado to visit Trent's family for a week. The drive was fourteen hours (in one day) each way so that part wasn't so enjoyable. Otherwise, we had a good visit with Trent's family. About a week after our return, we made a trip to Idaho which took two days of driving each way. Not fun. We did see my brother get married in the Idaho Falls temple, though, and then we went to Boise for the remainder of our time in Idaho. That trip was about a week and half altogether, and I was kind of cranky and tired by the time we got home. That much driving with little kids can get rather unpleasant. Brooke started second grade just two weeks after our return from Idaho and seems to really like her school and teacher. It sounds like she has made lots of friends, and I think that she is doing pretty well.  
   We have been home consistently for over a month so now we are just trying to finish unpacking some miscellaneous boxes and organize the garage. I have been kind of slow with that but need to get it done very soon since I also need to get all the baby stuff ready. I think I will be having her in about seven weeks, and I know that time will go very quickly. So that's basically what we have been up to for the past seven months. Next post, I will include more of what we have been doing the last few weeks. I'll share more about the kids since I kind of like them and am guessing the family would like to see more photos of them.