Bedrest is FINALLY over!!!

We survived 19 weeks of bedrest!

I say "we" because it was definitely a combined effort. There is my pregnant belly and my computer--my link to the outside world.

I was officially off bedrest last Tuesday. I've been able to get out and run some errands. I even drove. I'm finally over the dizziness and lightheadedness. I'm grateful that I have some time to gain some strength. Me feet ache like nothing else and my muscles are very weak, but I'm glad I'm able to get some things done before the baby comes. Sometimes I get frustrated because I feel like my body has forgotten that I'm pregnant now that I'm not on bedrest. Each day I'm sure I will go into labor, but still nothing. Our fear is that my water will break anytime and we'll have about 10 min before the baby comes. On Wed. the 21st I'm going to have an amniocentesis to determine if the baby's lungs are developed. If they are, they will go ahead and break my water and let me have him. We're all anxious to get him here, but at the same time thankful that we've made it this far and he is where he needs to be right now.

We are so thankful for all the service and prayers we have received to help our family on bedrest. Aimee came out a couple of weeks ago for a week. It was great having her here to help and I'm very grateful for her husband in letting her come out while he took care of everything back at her home. My parents are here now and were supposed to leave yesterday, but they are going to stay longer so they can be here when Jacob's born.

We're excited to welcome our new baby into this world!

Pumpkin Patch

Happy Halloween!!

We went to the Vineyard Garden Center's pumpkin patch. They have lots of animals, blow-up things to jump on, a corn maze, fun structures, slides, and swings.

Group picture, they're all squeezed onto a bale of hay.

The fun corn maze. I'm grateful to be off of bedrest so that we could all go on a family outing before the baby comes. I think Micah was pretty sure that after all the walking we did it would do the trick to put me in labor. It didn't work. It just showed me how out of shape I'm in. My feet were aching.

Happy Birthday Joseph & Grandpa Piper!

Joseph is 7 years old!! He doesn't like cake so we just take the ice cream out of the carton and put candles on it.

Joey is my animal lover. He got 3 webkins and a build-a-bear for his birthday.

Grandpa Piper is 67! It was fun to celebrate with him a little late while he and Grandma came out to help with bedrest and the arrival of baby Jacob.

This kids made Grandpa a jar of love notes.

The wonderful life of a 2 year old.

Makenzi has a shoe fetish. She loves to put on shoes, especially if it means she gets to go "bye, bye."

What fun a box can be. I didn't get a picture of it, but Makenzi got the box at the top of the stairs. Then she sat in it and took it for a ride down the stairs. I rushed over there expecting crying, instead she let out this squeal of delight. She thought that it was the best ride.

At our house, even the 2 year old does chores!

August Birthdays, Football and Soccer

Michelle celebrated her 4th Birthday.

Here she is with her new sunglasses and jewelry from Grandma Piper.

She got a princess bike that she loves to ride.

Here's the yummy layered cake that Micah made for his and Michelle's birthdays.

Myla had fun playing soccer.

Jeffery played offensive right guard, defensive left tackle and nose guard. He is a starter and captain of the offensive line. He was about a head taller than most boys on his team.

Jeffery earned his Bear, religious knot, and several other awards.

Joey played football on the 1st/2nd grade Lehi team. He played defensive corner. His team is the top team and still has playoff games.

Joey in his "3 point stance."

Fishing Fun

Micah decided to take the boys up to Strawberry Reservoir and rent a fishing boat to go fishing. They got up at the crack of dawn (and unfortunately so did everyone else). Jeffery caught his first fish and it was a pretty good sized one. They had a great time. Unfortunately, Jeffery got a bit sea sick later on that day. "I still feel like I'm swaying on the boat."

I think Micah caught the "fever" after coming home with a fish, so they decided to go out again this morning. They went to Deer Creek Reservoir at the crack of dawn again. Unfortunately, they only caught snags.

Joey's getting ready to cast out his line.

Jeffery's baiting his line with a wiggly worm. He said that on that pole in the corner of the picture is an eagle or hawk's nest and they saw it fly down and swoop up a fish.

Micah's going to grill Jeffery's fish tonight. Yummy fish dinner.

Happy Birthday!!

Makezni turned 2 years old!!!

Micah decided to bake her a cake. This was his first time baking a cake and he wanted to bake a two layer cake. He made a yellow cake with raspberry filling and chocolate buttercream frosting. He even decorated it. It turned our great and very yummy.

Makenzi got a box of crayons and a pad of paper. She is such an artist and just loves her sharp, unbroken crayons. Grandma mailed her some cute pop-up books that we can look at together while I'm on bedrest. The other day I heard her zooming down the stairs and was expecting a hurt cry after that. When I got to the stairs, she was sitting in the box that her gift came in and she just laughed and laughed. She loved the ride! She had somehow situated herself at the top of the stairs in the box and pushed herself for take off. I caught her shortly after that setting up to do it again--what a thrill seeker.

I turned 33 years old!!!

I had a great birthday. Micah also baked me a cake. It was a double fudge chocolate cake with raspberry cream cheese filling and dark chocolate buttercream icing. Yummy chocolate!

I enjoyed all my visitors.

My friend Ann Russon from Oregon came by. Here are some of her kids (Aimee, Ali, Joshua) with some of mine (Michelle, Jeffery, Myla)

My brother John and his family also from Oregon stopped by for a visit. Here's his two boys William and Adam with some of my kids.

Why I only have some of my kids in these pictures...well I take what I can get. I guess that's why we rarely take family pictures. I have one child that basks in the opportunity to ruin the whole thing and the little ones feel like they're being tortured to sit still, look this way, keep your hands down... My goal after I have this next child is to get a family picture in time to send out with Christmas cards--that will be a first.

Summer Fun.

We had a fun visit from our friends from Oregon--The Balazs Family. Joey was reunited with his best buddy "Eli Balazs".

Myla caught a butterfly or a moth on the way home from church.

Here's Makenzi patiently waiting for someone to take her outside. She is such an outside girl, my kind of girl. Unfortunately, mommy can't go outside and that's all that she wants to do. So she fell asleep waiting for a sibbling to finish chores and school work. Somedays they take all day, and somedays they get it all done in an hour.

Here's chipmonk Michelle with a couple of grapes.

Micah finally got his C PAP machine to help him breath better and sleep at night. The first night I hardly slept because I couldn't tell if he was breathing or not. It was so quiet. I haven't slept without someone snoring right in my ear for over 13 years. I didn't think it would be hard for me to adjust to the silence. He's still getting used to it. Hopefully, he will start feeling more rested soon.

Happy 4th of July!!!

We had fun celebrating the 4th of July at the Andrews pool (Jen, my sister-in-law's parent's house). Michelle and Makenzi only wanted to hang out at the steps.

Jeffery was having fun picking water fights with Uncle Moose and...

Aunt Jen.

Jeffery's all geared up for snorkeling.

Here's Myla relaxing.

Later that night we had a bar-b-que and "the colettium of fire". It was quite the show. It keeps getting bigger every year. Jeffery and Joey were out their lighting fireworks and Myla finally got the courage to do a few. Sorry no pictures of that.

Aimee's Family's Visit

It was fun having Aimee's family come and visit. There were 10 kids between the two families--11, 10, 9, 8, almost 7, 6, almost 4, almost 4, almost 2, 5mo.

We celebrated Mary's 6th birthday!!

Computer Time

I think we have a few recovering thumb suckers.

Snuggle Time

Crash Time

Summer is Here!!!

Micah had a choice of a new trampoline or a BBQ grill for father's day. He chose the trampoline in hopes that it would keep the kids busy all summer. He had quite the crew helping him assemble it.

Jeffery is very handy and always putting things together. He put the step ladder together and helped Micah put it all together. Micah couldn't have done it without him.

I set up a water table on our deck for Michelle and Makenzi. They started out all dry and playing so nicely. It ended with both of them soaked and trying to climb in it.

Makenzi realizing I'm taking pictures. I should recognize that look...she's got something planned.

She threw water on me!!!!

Pregnancy Update: The other night I had contractions all night and was very worried. I got a medication to help calm them down and it worked. Today I had an ultrasound and nothing has changed. I'm so relieved and my doctor just kept saying "WOW", he was sure my cervix had changed. He said to keep doing whatever I've been doing because it's working. That baby looks great. I was a little off on my due date; it is Nov. 11th, that makes me 20 weeks 1 day along. Still...I'm over the hump; half way to the due date--not that I'm planning on going that far.