April in a Nutshell

April was a busy month for us! We spent a weekend down in Mesa, Arizona, for a GreenTow event. We powered up a stage for the Green Stock concert and had a booth there as well. It was nice to get away for a weekend even though it was just for business. We did eat at our share of restaurants and may have treated ourselves too nicely, but it was a nice time away from our usual occurrences!

I also need to mention there was a new addition to the family...a little girlie baby niece! YAY! Not that I was cheering for a little girl cousin for our addition come August, but it is a bonus I must admit and makes me that much more excited for our daughter to come. But I must say, stay in as loooong as possible right now. I don't think I could handle NICU visits right now, because at 25.5 weeks is what would happen!!

Here Chayse is with Eyla, Raya and Rockwell waiting for Julianna to leave her delivery room and be placed in a regular room so they can see the new baby in the nursery. We thought they would allow children of the family to see their new sibling, but alas we were wrong! So they had to see her through the window of the nursery. Keeps the sickness out I suppose! Makes me sad they can't come and see me in the hospital to meet their new cousin though. But 3 hours old or 3 days, I'm sure it won't matter and the pictures won't be too different. But anyways...

Here they are looking through the window and loving every minute of seeing Ruby Redd Myers! She's a super cute baby and I'm excited to see her personality! And I wish she would be able to tell me what it was like chatting with our daughter in heaven just a few weeks ago. But I suppose speaking at 3 weeks would be a little too intelligent of a child, or whatever. Just interested in knowing what our baby girl will be like!!

I think I failed to mention Chayse had another birthday and has caught back up to me! The big 2-5 was a success and I think he enjoyed himself thoroughly! Maybe that's just wishful thinking, but I enjoyed spending time with him. We had a "party" on Friday night because of scheduling conflicts on the actual birth (Sat the 26). The little girls were very excited for the party and slightly confused he got 2 days to celebrate. Nonetheless...I got him some fat burgers at Harmon's that had jalapenos mixed into the beef. He loved them. I made him an ice cream cake that he liked better than the Coldstone one we got for free (just bragging that he liked it better!) and just enjoyed spending time with family. Then we got to move onto the gifts which are much more interesting with kids around. As you can see below, Rockwell picked out his favorite one (Berry Colossal Crunch)

I made him a BYU blanket that I have gotten a lot of use out of already, along with a baby size one since I had extra BYU fabric left. I also got him some books from DI that he has wanted...and for cheap! About 15 books for only $25. I call that a steal!!

And us with the cakes. Yummy, yummy!

Then for Easter weekend Max was able to come down from BYU for a quick (and I mean quick!) getaway and was (somewhat) willing to help me with my horrible weeds!!!! HORRIBLE!! I have spent about 5 hours since Max left tending to the weeds...and they seem to never end! I think another good hour or two and everything will have been fixed. Everything. But once I finish this round off it'll just start back up again, won't it?! I will be more than thrilled to start the landscaping on our backyard to cut back on this ridiculous weeds. I am even thinking of mowing the lawn myself if we get grass...WAIT let's not get ahead of ourselves! I've never mowed a lawn and don't plan on it. Just sayin.

I also got a few flowers to replace the dead trees that were once in these pots. I love the new color additions to the front patio area. I also bought 4 tomato plants (grand total: $2) for the garden I will be doing this summer. Last year was a disaster. No, DISASTER! Big time. The cash spent on that garden should have grassed the backyard, but we're beyond that now. Or I could've had a few new purses. Some more shoes. A cruise trip...but instead I just killed a bunch of plants and spent hours upon hours watering dirt. Hard red clay dirt that does nothing but eat up all the fertilizers and fancy dirt we bought to mix inside it. Bitter? Nawww.....just speaking my mind!

Now since I've uploaded April in pictures, May has started out well...had another appointment today and I am 25.5 weeks and measuring right ;) That's good to know!

Here's a fat picture of me at 23 weeks when Max was visiting. 17 to go! But unfortunately that means I have to get my blood drawn again and NOT FAINT and then get a shot for being A-. Lame. I guess not puking and no nausea makes up for it though. And after this I don't have to get poked again until the actual delivery. That's good news I think! I was going to have the blood drawn this morning after my appointment, but THANK GOODNESS it says on the form I have to go in fasting for at least 8 hours (so from midnight to when the place opens and I go in for the apt) I couldn't get the blood drawn. VICTORY!!! One for me, one for Chayse for the previous blood drawing. But my victory will be short lived. I just need to get some bravery in me these next couple of weeks and things will be good.

Now I need to get back to making dinner! I've gotten a new surge in cooking and have looked up different recipes online to try out (melskitchencafe.com and ourbestbites.com) and have found them successful thus far! I tried to make a few frozen meals and I wasn't happy with how they tasted after heating them up. I'd rather find easy meals to make or things to whip up earlier that morning then cook them later and not do the freezing thing. It just tasted...yuck! But back to the kitchen!