Good News!!!

I have to admit, the last week has been a bit stressful for me. My blood glucose test came back a little high, so I had to go take another test at the hospital that took almost 3 1/2 hours! That test was on Friday and I finally heard from my doctor's office Monday afternoon (after I called!), and everything was normal!!! I was SO relieved! I am a tiny bit familiar with diabetes, as some family members have it, however (especially while pregnant) I am not the best at being disciplined as to what I eat. I have always been interested in nutrition and wanted to learn about it and come up with a healthy eating plan. This was about the only benefit I could see if I did end up with gestational diabetes. I read up on it, and got even more nervous when I saw the effects it could have on our baby. After having four healthy babies, I must admit, I am making myself nervous this time around. I am 32 weeks and everything has been going quite well. I get pretty tired during the middle of the day, but luckily I have been able to rest when I need to. I am SO thankful for Chris, Bryce and Tacy (Rachel's a bit too young) helping take care of themselves and each other - that has been a life-saver! I am just starting to get uncomfortable, but even that isn't too bad. Another big stress, though, is that I just can't seem to get motivated to do things that I really NEED to do, let alone things I would like to get done. Well, enough of me, next time I'll write about the kids! Hopefully that's more positive :)

St. George Family Vacation

This year's vacation to St. George was a little cooler than last year, but a nice break from the cold, yucky-air of Cache Valley. Unfortunately, the day we came home (Monday), was very nice in St. George and snowy in Logan!

Here's the breakdown:

Thursday the 12th. We left Logan about 10:30AM and set out for St. George. I had little bags of activities and snacks for the kids to give out about every hour and that seemed to work quite well to keep them busy - as we don't have a DVD player in the van. After suffering through Rush Limbaugh (I actually do enjoy listening to him, most of the time) for a few hours, we stopped for lunch at a Wendy's in Orem. Before that, we did stop and get donuts at a Krispy Kreams for an after-lunch snack! After lunch we were on our way again. Chris and Bryce (ages 7 and 6) love listening to books on their tape player, so I took a chance and bought a couple of Books on CD to listen to. We started the first one after lunch. It's called "Bullies in the Headlights" by Matthew Buckley and it was great! We all enjoyed it (except Tacy, who for some reason was OK with listening to Rush, but whined when we turned on the book!). It was 6 hours long, so it took us a few days to listen to it all. Even though we had to take a detour through Beaver and Minersville (an extra 30+ minutes), the kids were quite good on the way down. At 7 months pregnant, it didn't end up too bad for me either! When we got there, we quickly checked into our hotel and then headed for Chuck-a-Rama for dinner. We learned from last time this was a good place to eat when we first got there because we could get in quickly and had a wide selection of food choices. Then, we headed back to the hotel and got settled. Aaron took Chris, Bryce and Tacy swimming while I stayed with Rachel.

Day two, Friday the 13th. After breakfast at the hotel, we headed to find a Target or WalMart to see if we could get Tacy a lifejacket or vest or something to float with. We found a KMart fairly quickly, but it didn't have what we needed so we searched and searched for a WalMart, but ended up having to ask at a gas station! We found what we needed for her and a few other things (as Tacy and Rachel and Bryce were coughing quite a bit) like some medicine and V8 Splash to try and load Rachel up on Vitamins! Then we headed to the Fiesta Family Fun Park. The boys were so excited they forgot they needed to find out what we were doing first and just took off without us. It was several minutes before they realized we were still waiting in the car! We ate in the upstairs pizza place and then down for the fun. Tacy was first to ride the kiddie kart, and at less than 1 mile an hour she could do pretty good, but got bored after a few laps. We took our Gecko, Mike, and he seemed to just take it all in stride. After soft-play, arcade games and Chris and Bryce taking their turn on the kiddie kart, we went back to our hotel to relax a bit. Then we walked over to Ancestor Square to the Pasta Factory for dinner, back to our hotel and after letting our food settle, we all went swimming this time. Tacy's new swimsuit with a vest you can hook on worked great and she was able to kick herself all around the pool. Rachel loved it, too.

Day three, Saturday the 14th. We thought we'd go to the Coral Pink Sand Dunes for lunch, but it seemed a little too cold, so we changed our plans. We wanted to drive through Zion's National Park, but admittance is $25 so we just drove to the entrance. There was plenty to see and plenty of shops before the actual entrance, so it worked out fine. We stopped for a break and shopped a little in one of the stores before heading back to St. George. We stopped at Jimmy Johns, a wonderful sub sandwich shop, for lunch. Unfortunately, the kids weren't as excited about it as we were - except Bryce ate very well. After, we went to Red Rock Park and walked around for a little while - Aaron and I were nervous the whole time because Tacy thought she didn't need to hold my hand and wasn't very careful on the rocks. (After her fall between two rocks last year, we were extra nervous anyway). We decided a Public Park would be a better idea, and the kids played there for a while. For dinner, we tried to eat at Famous Dave's BBQ, which I found on the Internet. Unfortunately, it had closed down. We ate at Denny's instead, which proved to be a huge success for two reasons. One, all four of our kids ate almost everything on their plate. And two, we happened to be there on Saturday when kids ate free! We stopped at Smith's for some food for Sunday lunch and went back to our hotel, and then we all went swimming again.

Day four, Sunday the 15th. We went to Sacrament Meeting at one of the churches and then visited the Visitor's Center for a little while. Then we went to our hotel and ate vegetables and corndogs. Then we went for a drive around the area before stopping at a small playground in one of the neighborhoods. We only stayed a little bit, as it was a bit cold and we were hungry. We ate at Denny's again, which proved a good choice for our kids. When we got back to the hotel, we just relaxed until bedtime.

Day five, Monday the 16th. Going Home! The kids wanted to shop at the Cracker Barrell before going home, and if anyone has been there - you could stay for hours!!! This made us off to a later start home than we planned so we just stopped at McDonalds for lunch and ate in the car. We had snacks on the way, and then stopped in Layton for more Krispy Kream Donuts. The kids loved looking at the donuts being cooked and that was a good break. We thought we should eat, but decided to stop at Maddox and get some delicious chicken. Unfortunately, a few blocks from arriving there, we realized it was Monday and it wasn't open! Everyone was tired and hungry and bored of being in the car, so the ride home wasn't as enjoyable as the ride to St. George, although it wasn't too bad. We listened to "Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites", or part of it anyway, on the way home. It was pretty good, as well. We stopped and got Little Caesar's Pizza in Logan, and took it home and ate. Aaron and the kids did a WONDERFUL job cleaning out the van after we ate - he even vacuumed! He was a great help the whole trip, as I was quite tired much of the time. It was nice to sleep in our own rooms and beds! I'm looking forward to next year, we'll have 5 kids then......

2008 Summary

I've procrastinated writing this update for long enough, so here goes!

The most exciting news we have from 2008 is that we are expecting a new baby boy in April! We are excited, and Tacy has accepted the fact (most days) that it's a boy and there's nothing she can do to change that.

Aaron and I (Sheri) are keeping busy with work, the kids, our church responsibilities, and more work. Aaron is still working for the Post Office and taking care of the bookkeeping for our Maternity Store. He is the Ward Clerk and one of the teachers for High Priests. He was able to finish sanding and painting the garage this summer and even got lots of the trim painted, which really made our house look nice. I keep busy with our Website, the kids, PTA and Community Council. I am in the Nursery at church and have really enjoyed this calling. I am thankful our kids aren't involved in too many activities yet, so I don't constantly have to drive them around from one thing to another. Christopher and Bryce prefer riding the City Bus to school (even than having Dad take them!) so that is a big time-saver for me.

Christopher turned 7 in July and is now in the 2nd Grade. He played soccer in the Spring (with mom as his coach!) and enjoys drawing, riding his bike, playing in the snow, collecting Pokemon cards (and organizing them), building with LEGO (and anything else he can find around the house!), playing the Wii and listening to audiobooks on his tape player. He is a very good helper and is looking forward to getting baptized this coming August.

Bryce turned 6 in September and is finally in Kindergarten. He played soccer in the Spring and started Gymnastics this Fall. He enjoys basketball (although he has to wait another year to play on a team) art, building things, playing the Wii, listening to his MP3 player, listening to audiobooks and organize his trading cards. He is also a very good helper and can't wait to be able to go to school ALL day - and eat lunch at school - next year.

Tacy turned 3 in July and is becoming a big girl. She started tumbling in the Fall and it is fun to watch her. She likes anything and everything PINK! She likes to build with LEGO, play with her 'little' Barbies, and pretend to cook things (usually noodles, muffins or soup). She is a sweet little girl.

Rachel turned 1 in November. She tries to join Tacy's tumbling class (luckily we can sit up away from the class) and runs, runs, runs. She is a very happy girl and enjoys playing with most anything. It is very helpful for mom that she can play on her own when needed!

We are excited for the coming year. Unfortunately, my parent's are on a mission in Hawaii and will miss several events, including: Our new baby being born and blessed, Christopher turning 8 and being baptized and Rachel's 2nd birthday (they already missed her first!) Things will be a lot different - hopefully we will be able to finish another bedroom in the basement and I may finally get organized (Hah, Hah!). We love everyone and hope to keep at least a monthly update.

Rachel Is One Year Old!

On November 13th, Rachel had her first birthday! We got out Tacy's 'Princess Chair' for Rachel and she just seemed right at home in it! She is still a very happy baby.

I took Rachel and Tacy to Kiddie Kandids for pictures yesterday and they worked out really cute! I must admit, I am very proud of them. (Rachel will be 1 year old tomorrow, and Tacy is 3 yrs old).

Halloween

If you click on this picture you can see some of our Halloween pictures. The boys had a Parade at school as well as a carnival the night before Halloween. Tacy wore the cheerleading costume to her Tumbling Class Halloween Party. Chris, Bryce and Tacy also got to go with Grandma/pa Porter to their Ward Halloween Party in Preston.

Welcome To Our Blog!

I decided to start a new blog for our family - hopefully I will update it more often! I have gotten some really good pictures of the kids these last few weeks and I decided I needed to show them off!