I think I'm ready for the baby to come!

Today as I was getting dressed, Benjamin touched my pregnant stomach and said laughing
"a butt". So I guess my stomach looks like a bottom to him. I'm 36 weeks now, and soooooo eager to have this baby! I was laughing last night with Dan showing him that it's impossible for me to even bend over. I feel so huge, tired, and my back is killing me. (were all of my pregnancies this hard? It's amazing what you forget when your baby hungry). My Dr. says the baby is measuring two weeks ahead of schedule, so let's hope that's good news for an early delivery. Most likely though it's bad news for a gigantic baby! I'd love to have this baby at 38 weeks. But that's wishful thinking I know. In the meantime I'm just trying to hang in there.

Our little hikers!

Kate has been asking to hike up Adams canyon to the waterfall for a couple of weeks now. It's a beautiful hike, but Dan and I didn't think the kids would be up to it (actually I didn't think I'd be up to it, I'm like 36 weeks pregnant). But Sunday the kids wanted to do a mountain walk, so Dan took the two older kids while Benjamin and I took a nap. They were gone for a really long time, so I started to worry a little. Three hours later they returned triumphant! They had hiked all the way to the top of the water fall. The kids were beaming, they were so proud of themselves. They should be proud, it's not a easy hike, and for their age I think they did awesome. Here are some pictures.

Kirk's funny thought

Today as I was driving the kids to school (we didn't make the bus this morning), the two older kids were wondering if they'd make it to school in time. Kirk asked, are we going to make it before the "tidy" bell! I had to laugh that he thought it was the tidy bell instead of the tardy bell.

Benjamin's First prayer

Benjamin said his first prayer all by himself the other day. It went something like this.

"Heavenly Father, bless to feel good, bless cars, name of Jesus Christ Amen".

I thought it was so cute that he blessed his cars.

I guess I just realized I've been posting a lot about the two older kids lately, and I haven't posted as much about Benjamin. I always swore I'd try to keep the photo, attention ect.. even between all of my kids. The trouble seems to be that I now have three almost four kids, with the same 24 hours in a day. Now instead of one or two kids getting my day, I have three that I have to divide my time with. I guess that is why it seems like time is going faster now. I have less time because we are just plain busier. But I wanted to devote a post to our little sweet Benjamin. He is the most hilarious toddler. Sunday at church we walked in to sit down by Dan's parents. Benjamin goes "Hi grandpa," then does this fake laugh really loud. Some people behind us laughed to. I guess that's the way I'd describe Benjamin, funny. He always has a smile on his face, and playing some kind of joke. He is also very picky about being clean. He hates to have his hands messy, and he recently went through this phase of taking off his diaper when ever he was wet at all. It seemed like some days I was dressing him three of four times a day. He has had a hard time the last couple of weeks since the older kids have gone to school. He cries every time the leave to go to the bus stop. He says I go to kindergarten, I go to kindergarten too. He also loves his daddy, and wants to go to work with him. Here are a few pictures of our little guy!

Did I say he likes to be clean? I guess here is an exception, he found a marker and colored all over himself. And of course he is naked. This was when he was going through his no clothes phase.

Denver weekend getaway!

Kate and I were so lucky go to Denver to visit my sister and my niece for the weekend. This trip was to celebrate Kate's birthday and mine as well (our birthday's are exactly one week apart). We stayed at a hotel for three nights and did a lot of shopping, swimming, and going out to eat. It was nice to just relax, and visit with my sister. We also made the ever infamous visit to the American girl doll store. I have to admit that around our house we are a little obsessed with these darling dolls. When we arrived in Denver Kristen came and picked us up at the airport, and we found a place to eat. Then we headed back to the hotel and let the girls swim. The following day was Sunday. We found a sacrament meeting close to the Denver temple, then grabbed some lunch, and headed for the temple grounds. It was so peaceful there. I could have totally stayed there all afternoon just visiting with my sister. The next day we visited the AG store. It was a neat experience to actually visit the store. Everything is on display behind glass. I can understand why they have to keep the displays protected, but it makes the store feel more like a doll museum. I think that is part of the marketing, in my mind I felt like we were purchasing something very valuable, and important, (it's protected behind glass it must be special). I swear who ever is head of marketing at AG is a genius. Visiting the store turned out to be a total blast and thanks to Kate's grandma; Kate was able to go an a real shopping spree for her birthday and get some really fun things. I planned ahead of time and made matching doll skirts for Kate, Caroline and their dolls. I also sewed a handy little bag for Kate to carry her doll in while we were traveling at the airport. The girls looked very cute in their matching doll clothes. After we went shopping at the store we headed to the cheese cake factory for lunch. It's a tradition with my sister and I to always eat at a cheese cake factory when ever we meet up. A couple of years ago we went in Hawaii, and then of course the place that started the tradition Boston. We went to the Boston cheesecake factory for the first time when I was 15 while visiting her there. It was fun to share this tradition with our daughters. At the restaurant they have doll chairs that the dolls can sit up to the table in. Kate was in heaven and having such a fun time. They brought her out a birthday Sunday, and sang to her. She loved the attention. Then we headed back to the AG store were the girls got to do a free craft. Then we went and got Krispy Kreme doughnuts, and headed back for more swimming at the hotel. Here is a picture of the girls being goofy, and hyper the last night we were there. It was fun to just let the girls be girly, they jumped on the beds, and giggled a lot. I think this will be a trip Kate will remember for a long time.