Not an update since March?! Oh my.... this blog/journal has taken the back burner, but I'll attempt to summarize the last six months and see if I can't get back on track.
I can't think of anything too memorable between March - May. The kids finished 1st and 2nd grade and that's about all I can say about that.
At the end of June we went to Yellowstone with Jon and Laura. I loved that we rented a 12 passenger van so we could tour the park together, not to mention Eleanor is a 4th grader so we got in free both days! We went to the Playmill where they showed "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" and the kids went home with some adorable stuffed animals (Colby and Beckham a rattlesnake each, Emmett a bison, and Logan a fluffy moose he lovingly calls Squishy and falls asleep with each night to this day).
We also conceived our 5th (and most likely last) baby!! We had a fun 4th of July camping at Rigby Lake and enjoying Rexburg Rapids and the Rexburg parade, but then the pregnancy symptoms set in. I had a rough go this pregnancy, a close second (behind Beckham's pregnancy) to the hardest 1st trimester of all. A nap would help with my fatigue, but nothing would help my nausea that often lasted all day with no reprieve. I remember wishing I could just throw up already so I could feel better. I only threw up once or twice, and the rest of the time was quite miserable. I'd actually have a good morning (usually) and be able to get one or two chores done...then the nausea would settle in and progress as the day went on. Woof....it was rough and it lasted clear THROUGH 14 weeks! I remember turning 14 weeks with Beckham and it was like a light switch went off: I could suddenly eat chicken again and felt completely normal. Not so with this baby - I hit 12 weeks hoping I would feel better, continued to suffer for two more weeks, and even then the nausea continued! But as week 14 went on I could sense it was loosening its hold on me, and by my 15 week mark I could say the nausea was gone with only a normal amount of pregnancy fatigue.
I managed to take the kids camping by myself to Redfish when I was 13 weeks pregnant. I did okay! But was pretty tired and grouchy. We enjoyed two more Redfish trips: one with James and Bonnie and another with the Van Ettens. The kids made a makeshift fishing pole with their cousins and caught a bunch of fish in the river by our campground! When we went the next week with friends they brought actual fishing poles and were completely unstoppable. Emmett caught (and released) 33 fish!
We started our homeschool back up: I've never been more confident in my decision to have my kids home with me, and the kids are proving me right every day by absolutely crushing their school work. They get writing, handwriting, spelling, math, and reading all done before lunch every day. I have science curriculum on the way and we'll start adding in social studies and science in the afternoons (along with our daily afternoon math practice). The kids are in running club right now. Logan got his first medal at the first race in Arco (he got 2nd place!) and has medaled at every meet since. Emmett is racing as a 3rd grader in the 3rd and 4th grade tier, so he's managed to medal some meets and experienced his first meet where he didn't medal (and Logan did). It was a tough lesson in being happy for his brother while working through his own disappointment.
That's a wrap! We'll find out the gender of this baby in a few weeks! Justin booked our first family trip to Disneyland in November.