Happy Memorial Day!

I am officially 35 weeks along! Doctor visit was great this week.  I told them to put my on the calendar to have this baby early! Everything seems to be growing fine, and he is still very active although there is less room to roll around now.  He still finds a way to lodge his feet in my ribs.  The doctor assured me that the sharp pains were nothing to worry about because he could feel the baby’s feet right up in my ribs.  I think he will be an active child!

We have had a great week starting with a great Memorial Day Monday.  We began the day with breakfast with the Milo Ward.  Kolt’s dad helped make pancakes, potatoes, eggs and bacon.  It was delicious!  Kolt enjoyed seeing members of his ward growing up.  We just don’t see them enough! We got to visit with the Howard’s, Jacob Shipton, Ty Cooper, and many others.  We are sure grateful for good friends and examples.  After breakfast, Kolt and I stopped by the Ucon Cemetery and visited Kolt’s niece Brylee’s grave.  This was the first year I didn’t get to go to Utah to visit Julie Ann, Daniel, and Trevor’s graves along with Uncle Blake and Grandpa Lindley.  I was sure thinking about them all day.  We are so grateful that families can be together forever.  Kolt went to work for the afternoon.  He has been working quite a bit.  Last week he worked 68 hours.  He is a hard worker, and I am very grateful he is working as much as he can before the baby comes.  

Monday evening we went riding up to Kelly Canyon again with Kolt’s dad, Shauna, Landon, Rope & Brand.  We took Nathan for a short ride in the backyard before we left.  Kolt and I drove the truck and trailer with Kate and Chex.  Kate did great except when she jumped the 2 creeks! I hit my belly pretty hard on the saddle horn the first time, so the next time I leaned to the side and about fell off. Luckily Kolt caught me! Kolt says I ride like a sack of potatoes.  Kolt fell off Chex while they were racing with his brothers and Shauna.  He didn’t have the cinch on very tight, so it was fine after that.  It was about a 3 hour ride—I came home pretty tired and sore.  I think that might be my finale until after the baby!

Tuesday we had some yummy Tortellini for dinner with a Caesar salad and fruit.  Tortellini is one of the few things I can make.  Wednesday night Kolt and I attempted to attend institute again, but it apparently isn’t Wednesday nights! We are going to try for Thursday this week.  So far, we are batting 1000.  On the way home, we stopped by volleyball practice at Bonneville.  The 17s and 15s are practicing for Phoenix.  They are looking very good, and I am bummed I can’t go this year, since it is the last week of June.  We enjoyed talking with Kaisha Udy, a little sister of one of the girls on my freshman volleyball team last year.  The highlight was her suggestion to name the baby Roger!

Thursday I took work off to help babysit Kamrie for the day.  She was fun to be with, and I tried really hard to keep her up, so she would sleep through the Kristi’s interview at 11.  We helped Tyler clean up his room and organize his things.  She found some old suckers and candy.  It seemed to be the highlight of the morning.  I kept working on some boxes of old school papers; it seems like this is going to take me all summer.  That evening we went to a fundraiser at Pizza Pie Café for Tatelyn Hill.  We met up with Jared and Jeanna at six.  Kolt got a cookie monster, and I got the buffet.  It was good to visit with the Hill’s.  We are hoping Chex will be a good fit for one of their boys by the end of the summer. 

Shauna’s birthday was Thursday also!  Kolt and I got her a Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream cake by special request.  We went out at seven and caught dinner with his family and Grandma and Grandpa Piquet, then enjoyed the yummy ice cream cake! Shauna’s father-in-law asked Kolt to ride another horse this summer.  The horse is a Chestnut 3-year old named Chester.  He worked with him in the round pen for the first time, and he seems to have a lot of energy!

Friday was the Father and Son’s Campout for our ward.  Kolt went with my dad and Nathan that night.   My mom and I stayed home and babysat Brooke while Natalie and Brady went to the temple.  They got us Pizza Hut pizza.  We thought we were in heaven! I met Jared and Trish on Broadway to pick up Lacey and Lindsey.  We stopped by the Greenbelt to look at the falls and then stopped by Arctic Circle for ice cream on the way home.  The highlight of the night was Lindsey.  She was so surprised at how many motorcycles there are in the “city”.  Over the weekend, she counted 23 and just couldn’t believe it.  

Saturday was Rope’s 11^th birthday! He wanted to have a birthday breakfast at the Ucon Diner.  My mom and I made his cake.  He asked for a “chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and if I wanted it to be a special birthday, I could put white chocolate dipped strawberries on top.”  We had to make it extra special, so we did that! I was pretty impressed—my mom is amazing.  I was getting discouraged, but she saved it! I was excited to hold little Paisley again.  Rope got a bow which he couldn’t stop smiling about! 

We hurried back home after breakfast to watch the kids while the parents helped Kevin and Ashley move into their new house. We had Evan, Saydie, Charlie, Nathan and Brooke.  Lacey and Lindsey were great help, and Natalie even stayed around to help.  We packed a lunch and headed to the zoo at 10:30.  They had a blast, and I was happy that I could keep up.  We made it home in time for naps.  It was a nice quiet afternoon! 

Lacey and Lindsey had their piano lessons just in time for us to head off to Kolt’s cousin, Amber Denning’s baby shower.  She is due a week after me and also having a boy.  We met with Shauna and Angela at Target and picked up a bumbo and a cute outfit.  We took a long drive out to Shelley, but made it there in plenty of time.  It was a beautiful shower. Lacey and Lindsey enjoyed lots of treats, and we had a yummy lunch. 

After the shower, we helped Kolt get off riding with Shane, Landon, Rope & Brand.  The girls and I went swimming in the hot tub.  We turned down the temperature and enjoyed a relaxing sit.  I remember the last time I swam with them, they splashed and splashed.  They are quite grown up (now 8 and 9), and they enjoyed a peaceful sit while we talked about what baby names we like.  They helped me make some caramel popcorn.  I’m not sure how much I did because they were great help.  We started watching Father of the Bride Part II a little too late though, so we had to leave 15 minutes into it to go meet Jared and Trish on their way home from Twin Falls.  I can’t believe how fast those girls are growing up.  I’m so glad I get to teach them piano, so I can see them often! Saturday night I watched the last couple hours of Titanic.  I’ve never seen it before, and I don’t ever want to watch it again! It is a pretty touching show.  I can’t even imagine being on that sinking ship.

Sunday morning we had a good day at church.  Kolt taught the Sunday school lesson about why it’s important to listen to our Priesthood leaders.  Our class had some great examples of why to follow our Priesthood leaders including our dads.  I shared a story of when I was at school at Western, and I had planned a trip with some friends to Utah for the weekend.  My dad sent me a text telling me he had an uneasy feeling, but also telling me that it was my decision to go or not and he understood that.  I made the decision to go, and my dad was exactly right.  I had a hard time feeling the Spirit all weekend and wished that I had stayed home.  I wasn’t feeling good after Sunday School, so I came home to rest.  We had a yummy breakfast dinner after church made my mom.  

After dinner, I took Tyler over to the church to learn to play the organ.  He wanted to try to play it in case he needed to on his mission.  I showed him the few things I know, and he played and played for a half hour.  He was awesome.  We are enjoying every minute with Tyler before he leaves.  We are just 10 days away.  He sure enjoys being with Kolt, and they have become really good friends over the past few months.  We are sure excited for all that he will accomplish in the next couple year and especially proud of his decision to worthily serve a mission.