Our Weekend

This weekend was pretty fun. My mom came and stayed two nights with us. Friday night we had "girls' night" while Justin worked. I made a pasta salad, bbq'd chicken and then we had cake and ice cream for dessert. Saturday morning we went out and did some garage-sale-ing and then we stopped to watch the Newport Rodeo Parade. It was more fun this year now that Kate is older. She really loved watching all the horses and catching the candy that was thrown to us. It was cute watching her wave and say: "hi buddy", to the people in the parade. I forgot to take my camera with me, of course, so no pictures, sorry. Justin got to help direct traffic again. Yay, his favorite!

Saturday night Justin had to work overtime so my mom, Kate and I went for a drive up to Bonners Ferry, ID. My sister Tammy was up there to help one of her friends open her new restaurant...or "bistro". We got there just in time to have some free pizza, which was delicious! Then we got attacked by mosquitoes before heading home. Bonners Ferry is actually really pretty, I think I have only been through there once on our way to Canada. And it was a really nice day and even nicer evening so it was a great drive.

Sunday we went down to Spokane and had family pictures with my family-always a fun time to be had...31 people in the hot afternoon, there are bound to be some cranky-babies, and I'm not just talking about the toddlers :) After pictures it was back to my mom's for a pot luck bbq. It was fun getting together with everyone and there was lots of good food to be had. Again, no pictures...darn it!

So, the reason my mom came to stay with us was to help me out. Here's the story. Justin and I have been trying for baby #2 for over a year now, and two weeks ago I found out I was pregnant. Finally! Well, I started to have light spotting pretty much the day I found out and it continued for the next several days. It seemed like it had gotten a little heavier, so I called my OB and they wanted me to go in for blood work to check my hCG level. It came back ok and put me at around 4 weeks or so, which would have been right. Then they had me go back two days later to check it again. The number is supposed to double every 48 hours. I was pretty upset by that morning and nervous and anxious, so I had Dale and my brother in law give me a healing blessing. My lower back had started to hurt me and had gotten worse that morning and that worried me. Anyway, I did feel a lot more calm after the blessing and a little bit later went in for my blood draw. I went in super early in the morning so I could find out ASAP what the results were, but it still took until 3:30 in the afternoon for me to get a call back from my OB office. I was really frustrated about that. So, it turns out that my hCG level had gone down. They set me up for an appointment with them in a week to check it again. I have lost so much blood and "other stuff" (don't want to gross anyone out) that I am sure I have miscarried. I never wanted this to happen to me, but I can honestly say that I am 100% OK with it now. I was expecting it to be horribly painful, but it hasn't been at all. The good thing is that I got pregnant, so now I know it will happen again. I mean, I knew it would, but now I don't have to wonder as much if there is something "wrong". I have faith in God's plan for our family and I am sure that before the end of the year we will be able to say "we're having another baby!" So I am excited for that.

Friends

It was back to Kennewick this weekend for Justin's testing.

We stayed with the Wintrode family and had a great time!

Saturday we drove to Hermiston, OR and went to this Aquatic

Center. Katelyn had a blast! And we had a fun relaxing.

I forgot...Kate liked to say "Wally" instead of "Molly".

My cute friend Molly, (who is single, in case anyone knows any

nice eligible bachelors), Katelyn (love her face in this one) and me.

~ Our family~

I thought for sure Kate would be scared to go down this

big slide, but she couldn't get enough of it.

Cute Molly again.

Corey's Graduation

Today Corey, my brother in law graduated from the Spokane Police Academy. He was hired with the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife and after some post academy training will be heading over to the town of Forks, WA (should ring a bell for all you 'twilight' fans). The day started at 9am and didn't end until about 2:45pm. Long day when you're toting around a couple of toddlers. It was really fun and sort of nostalgic to attend another Police Academy graduation. It was nearly 4 years ago when it was Justin's turn.

They started the day with a flag ceremony and the pinning of badges. Each officer was able to come up one by one and have a family member pin on the official badge of their respective agencies. That was something we didn't get to do when Justin graduated, but that's OK. After the ceremonies outside, we went into the auditorium of the Academy for a talk and video presentation by one of the instructors. It was the same talk that we were "privileged" to hear 4 years ago. They talked about "emotional survival" of a law enforcement officer. I remember feeling a little depressed and anxious after hearing that talk the first time. They tell you about the divorce rate being higher than 80%, the suicide rate being 3 times the national average, they tell you how your husband is going to come home from work and be a total channel flipping lump, who sits around with no energy and feels depressed. BUT! Then they tell you how to NOT become that person. It made me feel really good as he went through all the stats and different stories, to realize that Justin does an amazing job! He is first and foremost a husband and father and dedicated family member and we definitely have a life outside of law enforcement. I feel very thankful that we have the church as a foundation as well. The only thing I could see that really has happened with Justin is that 4 years ago he was the type of person who wanted to give everyone in the world the "benefit of the doubt". Now, he is much more cynical-as they discussed today. Pretty much most people out there are probably scum bags. I have to try and bring him back to reality some times or tell him to not be so judgemental, but if it keeps him alive, then that's OK with me. Today I felt extremely proud to be the wife of a Law Enforcement Officer and I also felt very Patriotic.

Here is the class marching before the flag ceremony.

Sarah, pinning on Corey's badge

The muchkins


Ezra-proud of his daddy

Sarah, Ezra and Kathy-Sarah's step-mom

Justin and his mom, Joyce (she'll thank me for that picture later, I'm sure)

Dean (left), Corey & Justin's dad and Jeff, Sarah's dad

Corey eating lunch with all the big-wigs from his new agency

Corey & Justin

Hmmm. Not sure what was going on here, but this

is a classic Corey face.

Corey getting sworn in by the Chief of Fish & Wildlife

Getting the badge pinned on...again.

And below: All the people from Fish & Wildlife who came for the Graduation.

It was pretty cool, we got to go outside after everything was over and

have a private swearing in party. It was really nice and personal.

Congratualtions Corey!

Grammy

There is only one place that we go where Katelyn doesn't prefer mommy over anyone else, and that place is Grammy's. We stayed the night in Spokane last night and got into town kinda late. Katelyn woke up when we got there and was all about hanging out with Grammy all night long. When I laid her down for bed, she started to cry, but did she want mommy, NO. She was crying for Grammy. She definitely has a special relationship with my mom. My mom is a super-grandma. She has Katelyn sleep over quite regularly, she even drives all the way up to our house (which really isn't that far all you whiners who never come visit! J/K) to pick up Kate and take her back to town. She loves having the grand kids over and playing with them, taking them on walks. She will even volunteer to have 5 or 6 toddlers over all at the same time, so us married people can get out every now and then. Thanks mom, for being an awesome Grammy! We love you.

Bathroom Update

Yay! We have a bathroom floor!

This is "loose lay" vinyl flooring. No glue required at all!

Good job Justin! You're the MAN!

I have to admit, I will be somewhat disappointed if we end

up moving and aren't able to enjoy this long awaited bathroom.

It has been a long time coming man!

Ezra's sleep-over

Friday night Ezra came over to spend the night with us. It was

his first sleep over away from mom and dad and he did great!

This happened to be the only picture I got the whole night. I

really wanted to get a picture of the house...you can only imagine

what happens when toddlers get together. Ezra and Kate had

a ton of fun playing together and while they kept each other company

I still managed to get some things done around the house. It was great!

Father's Day

Happy Father's Day 2008. What a wonderful day today! Beautiful sunshine, good times with family...We celebrated Justin by making French Toast (out of french bread even), scrambled eggs al a DeAnne, OJ, and yogurt/fruit cup.

Later that night we continued the festivities at Corey & Sarah's home along with Justin's parents and Sarah's parents. It was a great day and we love our Father's (all of them) very much!






Saturday we went to the church Cannery. Kate had to come with us this time, so while Justin was in working, I entertained. Here is Kate with her hand in her "pock" as she likes to say. She likes to copy what mommy is doing.















Posing for the camera





Below: Katelyn on her new "big girl" bike. She got this for her birthday and loves it, although she can't quite reach the pedals enough to use them yet. So she has fun scooting around the house.

Never leave a toddler unattended

I love catching all the mischievous little things Kate likes to do.

She LOVES dental floss, just not the way I would like her to.

Here she is pulling all the floss out of this cartridge. This is

something she has done several times before and always gets

into "trouble" for it, but it's so hard to be upset and her innocence.

RLS

Has anyone else ever experienced Restless Leg Syndrome? The first time I had this rare experience was when I was pregnant with Katelyn. Absolutely one of the worst things that happened to me during my pregnancy. For those of you who may not know what it is (even though the name itself is pretty self-explanatory) RLS is: "a neurological condition that is characterized by the irresistible urge to move the legs." It was sort of humorous the first time it happened. I didn't know what was going on and Justin thought I was going crazy one night while lying on my side, I started kicking my legs furiously as if I were running as fast as I could. He woke up and was like "what are you doing?" I had to sleep in the guest bedroom that night. Off an on since my pregnancy episodes, I have had this problem. However, now for the past several weeks I am experiencing it on a daily basis. It is the worst at night, when I am trying to go to bed. I have these aching, gnawing, creeping, crawling sensations in my legs which causes the "irresistible" urge to have to move my legs. It is very disturbing. I can even feel it during the day now, but I have so many other things going on that it doesn't bother me much during the day. I was just wondering if anyone else has this problem and if you know of any good ways to help it. I find that massaging my legs helps, but that's about it. It is a wretched problem.

On to the next...

I was able to finish 'Twilight' this week. I have to

be honest and say that I really did enjoy it. And I

am very anxious for the story to continue. I am

also looking forward to the movie in December.

I think it will be really good. It's onto 'New Moon'