Yesterday I went to the library. I left with 3 books that ranged in pages from 300-500. What can I say? We're going out of town for 4 days! I started with The Last Olympian - the last of the Percy Jackson series. Wow. I read the whole thing! All 381 pages. I finished at 1:30 (not too bad) and then wanted to know what the author was going to do next. I had to go to WalMart this morning & happened to walk over to their book section. The next series - that sorta continues this one - was there. The first one is called The Lost Hero. I was only in hardback or I might have snatched it up right there. Now I have to go back to the library & see if they even have it (I didn't see it on the shelf yesterday). I did however manage to pick up The Red Pyramid which is also by the same author. I was thinking perhaps that was the next series, but no, it is a whole new one! What a busy man!

I started on the 2nd Hunger Games this morning. I think I'll go through it pretty quick too. I am amazed at how easily I'm getting sucked into books! I thought it would be hard for me to renew my love of reading because it's been SOOOO long since I was able to just sit and read what I wanted to for fun. But, as you may have noticed, my list of Books I've recently read continues to grow nearly daily!

I took my sewing machine into Bernina last Friday to get it serviced. They told me 4 days. I haven't heard anything from them yet so I haven't felt quite so guilty about not getting my sewing projects done. I am hoping they'll get it done soon so I can start sewing again. If I get that booth out at the Lewiston Craft Fair on Nov. 20th then I've got a lot to get done! I am planning to take my hairbow & watch band stuff to Manti today though so I think I'll be able to get quite a few of those done the next four days as well.

Tomorrow is my 30th birthday & I must admit I'm somewhat in denial! I remember when I was little & I thought 30 was SOOO old. Now that I'm here, I don't think it's so old anymore! I told Samantha on the way to school this morning that tomorrow is my birthday and I'd be 30. Her response? "Wow mom. You're gonna be old." Gee, thanks! Now I'm fat & old according to my daughter! What more could I ask for??

The kids haven't for sure decided on Halloween costumes. I did find an Optimus Prime costume at Shopko a week ago that was only $20. Maybe I can get Nash to go for that one? Sam is thinking vampire. I wonder if my mother in law has a cape we can borrow? Unfortunately, she keeps seeing pictures of girl vampires in dresses, etc. and she wants THAT one. Yeah, maybe not? I haven't decided whether to put Caleb in the devil costume I made Nash when he was that age or opt for the Tigger outfit Sam wore. Maybe I'll pull them both out & let him decide. They are getting excited though the closer it gets. Sam came home the other day & informed me that she MUST get her costume because they were going to have a costume party at school - oh, and Nash too. What a thoughtful sister. :)

Yesterday I worked outside on my yard. My mom gave me some starts that I'd been wanting so I figured I'd best get them in the ground. Plus, I figured I'd be too dang fat to bend over in the spring so I'd better get it done now or it would be next October before I got to it. I'm happy with the way things turned out - now if I could convince my leg & back muscles that I'm happy, maybe they wouldn't be so sore!

Well, I'd best get back to my laundry. I have to pack for the kids & myself for four days. It might take awhile!

Random Things

This past week hasn't been too exciting. I did finish English Trifle and if you haven't read it, I would totally suggest you do. It's by Josie Kilpack (she wrote Lemon Tart). I actually think I liked this one better than Lemon Tart. It's not very often I like the second book better than the first!

Today I made Halloween sugar cookies with the kids. I haven't done that in forever! I'm so bad! I don't like having the kids in the kitchen very often because I always feel like I'm tripping over them & I'm going to break something. Travis & my mom are WAY better at letting the kids help in the kitchen than I am. If it's something like chopping up olives (with my egg slicer) I'm ok. When it's cookies - well, I can't keep the dang kids off the counter & their germ infested hands out of the bowl no matter how many times I say "Stop please!". Guess I'll just have to get more practice in! Today is also the 2nd day in a row that I made bread. I tried a new recipe last night (cheesy potato & bacon soup) that I thought would go really good with fresh bread. It did & now there's only 1/2 of 1 loaf left. So, I whipped up another batch today & I can smell it baking in the oven now.

Travis will be home on Tuesday night and Samantha will get her cast of Wednesday afternoon. After Sam's cast comes off we're heading back to Manti until Sunday. We have to pick up Trav's truck (it died while we were there last week & they had to put a new intake manifold in). It's also Elk hunting opening so Trav and Nash will head back up on the mountain. Meanwhile the other two & I will stay at the farm and keep Grandma Butter entertained (and likely get a zillion more hair bows done). Nash is pretty excited about going. He had a ton of fun when Trav took him last week.

I got paperwork done and sent in to do a booth in Lewiston the Saturday before Thanksgiving (Nov. 20th). Hopefully I'll be able to get a booth. It gives me a deadline to get all 33 Christmas stockings I have cut out finished! Speaking of sewing - Thursday my machine tried to kill over on me. Every time I'd stitch about 3 stitches the feed dogs would drop. So, I'd open up the bobbin case door & flip the switch. I'd go 3 stitches and it'd do it again. I finally gave up & decided I'd better take it in to get serviced. I knew it needed serviced but I kept putting it off because it's going to be about $50 and my mom said last time she asked it was about a week turn around. I decided this would be good timing though because I likely wouldn't get things done this weekend with the kids gloming me and we leave Wednesday night. To my surprise though when I took it in they said it would only be about 4 days. So, hopefully I can pick it up right before we head out of town! I took it to Bernina (that's where it's from) and they have some seriously cute fabric. Too bad that most of it is $10/yd. No way will I pay that! I have no idea how they stay open with those prices!

I told Travis on the phone last night I'm getting fatter every day. In fact, I saw my sister yesterday (who's 2 months ahead of me) and I look WAY more pregnant than she does! Great. I just hope I don't get bigger than I did with Caleb! 62 lbs gained in one pregnancy is way too much! Even when you do lose 80 lbs after!

I keep thinking I need to get outside and move some plants around because I'll be too fat and too busy in the spring. Now, if I can just find the incentive to do it! I have had ZERO incentive to do just about anything these days. Anyone have something that can fix that?

Samantha will be in the USU homecoming parade on Sat. Oct. 23rd. I'll be sitting in front of Smith's Marketplace if anyone wants to join me. She has to be there by 10 so I'll be there shortly after that! I'll save you a place if you wanna join me! Just let me know!

News

Last week I told the kids to come inside and sit down. I told them I wanted to tell them what Nash was getting for his birthday. They both looked at me like I'd absolutely lost my mind.

I handed them an ultrasound picture and Sam picked it up. She looked at it and then back at me with a somewhat confused look on her face.

Me: "Do you know what that is?"

Sam: "Yeah, it's you in Grandma's belly."

Me: "No."

Sam: "Is it me?"

Me: "No."

Sam: "Is it Nash?"

Me: "No."

Sam: "Is it Caleb?"

Me: "No."

Sam: "Well who is it then?"

Me: "Nash is getting a new brother or sister for his birthday!"

Sam: "Oh gross!" and then she tosses the picture at Nash.

Me: "What's gross? It's just a picture?"

Sam: "Oh great. Is that why you've been getting so fat lately?"

Me: "Um...yeah."

Sam: "Oh great. Is it a boy or a girl?"

Me: "Well, we won't know until about Christmas time."

Sam: "Oh great!" and then she gets up and walks away!

So not the reaction I expected from her! She's been asking us 3 times a week since Caleb was born when she could have a sister. I figured she'd be jumping out of her pants at the news (so did Travis). I guess she's resigned herself to the fact that she's getting another brother!

During the whole conversation Samantha & I had Nash just sat there looking at me and then back at Sam and back at me, etc. until we were finished. He didn't say a word. As soon as Sam walked off he jumped down off his bar stool and walked away. I guess he isn't impressed with the idea!

So, now I am 8 weeks and I look like I'm 5 months (pictures soon). My due date is May 15th and Nash's birthday is May 12th. All 3 kids came early and Trav isn't scheduled to be home that week. I'm hoping my Dr. will start me early so Trav can be home.

I got the kids' school pictures back the other day. I think they turned out pretty cute this year. The people that do the school pictures will let you bring in siblings at a certain time to get their pictures done too, so we did that with Caleb. I figure it's lots cheaper than Kiddie Kandids or somewhere like that!Apparently I scanned Nash crooked.

These last two pics are ones we had done when we were in Jackson in August. Zoom in on the one of the boys if you can. I love this picture!

Eat, Pray, Love Review

My sister asked me how I was liking Eat, Pray, Love because she didn't like it and had to put it down. I just finished it and I must say that I loved it! I admit, there is a bit of language - a bit at the beginning and a bit at the end - but it didn't bother me because it wasn't a lot. I think what I liked about the book was that I could totally put myself in the author's shoes. (It's sort of an autobiography.) The author starts out miserable and wants out of her marriage (not where I relate) and ends up going on an amazing year long journey to find herself and to find God. She doesn't find God in the traditional sense that we in Utah are accustomed to, but she finds what she needs and I can relate to it. So many times I found myself laughing out loud in bed at 1 am because of some thought the author had and I was going "Oh my heck! I've thought that same thing but it sounds SO funny reading it!" I really didn't want the book to end and now I'm curious as to how the ending really ended (not giving it away). So, now I am going to wait for my mom to read the book & then I'm going to make her go see the movie with me!

Speaking of books gone movie: Trav rented Percy Jackson for me to watch last night. I really liked it, but I was disappointed at what they chose to leave out of the movie. I'm not sure how they'll go about doing a movie for #2 now. Guess we'll have to wait and see. My mother in law did finally finish number three though so now I can add that to my currently reading list! Good thing I don't have a "Waiting on my bookshelf" list or I'd be embarrassed!