Week before our baby comes

It was a busy week of preparing for our baby to come on Monday. We cleaned the house, rested lots, and enjoyed a few outings together. 

We went to the Museum of Nature and Science with the Bensons. 

We also grabbed donuts one morning.

And did a science experiment together. This magic sand kept us all entertained and then we were excited to show dad when he got home.

Eli fell asleep in our bed this morning. Big little boy. My first baby boy and now he'll be a big brother again. Aaron and I squeezed in a quick date Saturday night - dinner and Wal-mart.

2017 Goals

Each year I like to keep a simple journal of my goals. It works out best for me to have monthly goals. My biggest accomplishment this year was growing a baby. :) I try and read a book a month and sometimes that's all I completed in the month. 

January - 

New passport

Write in journal weekly

Read one book a month - The Gifts of Imperfections 

February - 

Work on Family History 

Support Aaron to go to Thailand for the month 

Book - 250 ways to connect to your family 

March - 

Finish Austin's 2 year old book. 

Books - Left to Tell; The Power of Every Day Missionary 

April - 

Book - 5 life languages of children 

Create and execute Holy Week for Easter

May - 

Book - Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands

Finish Eli's book

June - 

Books - To Mothers, World's Greatest Salesman

Summer fun activities

July - 

North Dakota trip

August - 

Books - Will My Child be Ready? Missionary prep for moms

Prepare Preschool for Eli and Austin

September - 

Potty train Austin

Books - Parenting a strong-willed child; Make Your Bed

October - 

Books - Worth the Wrestle, An Unseen Angel

November - 

Book - Be Happy (Hank Smith, PhD)

December - 

Sending Christmas cards; organize Christmas schedule for Volks visiting

Book - Capital Gaines

January!

The Volks left early Monday morning and then my parents called to say they were in the valley and coming up our way! We were excited to have them visit! They helped us take down all our Christmas decorations and then my mom and I slipped away to the movie. Alex's family came down for dinner and then we had a cousins' sleepover.

Tuesday morning we ran to the Denver Nature and Science Center with my parents and Alex's family. The Volks gave us a pass for Christmas so we were excited to visit the museum and plan to do so as much as possible. 

Love this picture of my little scientist! 

Eli had his last day of Sunbeams last week. He's has the BEST teachers that he loves - Sister Kidd and Sister Banner. Sister Banner is his teacher again this year and we're all excited and grateful. 

Thursday night Aaron and I squeezed in a temple date. I love going there with him.

Aaron got free tickets to the AF hockey game on Friday night! They lost, but it was still fun and free! :)

And today we started 1 p.m. church. I've been praying this week for a good attitude about 1 p.m church and today went a lot better than I anticipated. Eli is now in CTR 4 and was excited to show us his new CTR ring after class. Austin cried after sacrament meeting and kept saying, "I want to go home." Luckily he went into nursery and made it through class!

New Year!

So many times during the week together, I kept thinking about how last year Aaron was deployed and we missed him so much. What a blessing it was to be together this year! I forgot to take pictures on Christmas Eve Sunday so we snapped some pictures before church on New Years Eve. 

Aaron's parents didn't fly out until early Monday morning so we were able to celebrate New Year's Eve with them!

Fireworks!

We rang in the new year at 8:30 p.m.

Cheers to 2018!!

We're excited/anxious about a new year. We're excited to meet our baby girl next week (I have a c-section scheduled on Jan. 15!!) and we're anxious about all the changes this new year will bring to our family as we prepare for some career changes. Eli will start kindergarten and he's excited! Austin amazes me with how mature he speaks and is learning so much. We continue to pray and fast that we can be lead and guided to know what Heavenly Father's plan is for our family. One step at a time. We'll make it! :)

Christmas Time!

We hosted the Volks for Christmas in Colorado this year! Here are the highlights:

- A visit from Mrs. Claus - she brought each kid a book and ornament!

- We made yummy Christmas snacks and had our traditional pizza dinner on Christmas Eve.

- Christmas morning was magical! The boys got magic tracks, legos, planes, PJ masks, Movies: Cars 3, How to Train your Dragon and science experiments.

- It was crazy and chaotic at times with everyone, but we were grateful everyone came here to visit. A  little sickness bug got to a few of the family members and I felt bad they were dealing with sickness while on vacation. 

- We visited Bass Pro, went bowling, got pedicures, visited the gigantic slides and played lots of games!

Baby Girl

While Mary Beth was visiting last week, she took some maturity pictures and I love them! I'm nervous about having a third c-section, but I'm excited to see Eli and Austin with a little baby and Aaron with a daughter. I love the peace a baby brings into our home and I know this will be a great way to start 2018! I always dreamed of having 10 children, but with having c-sections and getting married older, this could be our last baby. Aaron and I are prayerful about it and we'd love to have more, but we also know that c-sections come with more risk each time so we feel so blessed to be able to have three children.