The Wood Between the Worlds

One of our favorite things to do on a sunny Saturday in the Portland area is go park hopping. There are so very many parks and natural areas here that it takes a long time to find all the good ones and enjoy them. Yesterday we explored two parks in Tualatin and one in the Pearl District in downtown Portland.
At our first park (Brown's Ferry Park), Toby found some wild daisies starting to spring up! They grow in the grass, like dandelions. He always picks them for me. What a sweet boy!

Ok, so I'm now entering the phase of pregnancy where my stomach looks bloated and fat. I really don't like this part of pregnancy and I am counting down to the days where I actually have a nice firm baby bump. But I am at least entering my second trimester next week, so that will be coming sooner rather than later. And now most foods finally sound good to me, though my stomach is still not excited about cooking them. On the other hand, I am not looking forward to not being able to sleep on my back anymore. I guess this is really the first pregnancy I have had where I am more excited for the baby and just want to get the pregnancy over with. Usually I really love being pregnant. But I guess that I am A LOT busier now that I have older kids and a house. I just keep telling myself that the results will be worth it! And now...I really MUST go exercise to keep this little fatty at bay.

Since I've been asked so many pregnancy-related questions, and I rarely get to see any of you face to face to answer them, I thought that I would just answer some Frequently Asked Questions on the blog:

-How are you feeling?
I have been much, much more tired with this pregnancy than either of my others. I have been craving sleep all the time. I could never function with a full time job like I did when I was pregnant with Joshua. When I was pregnant with Toby I don't even remember being tired. I've also felt a lot more disgusted by food in general during this pregnancy. I am just shy of the 2nd trimester right now, and I am starting to feel relief in both of these aspects.

-Will you find out what you're having?
As much as I would like to be surprised, and I really admire those of you who wait to be surprised..I am just too much of a planner and a nester to wait for the surprise. So yes. I think.

-Are your kids excited?
It's all they talk about. One of the reasons why I went ahead and announced it now.

-Was this planned?
Well, not that it's exactly anyone else's business, but yes. Very planned (I'm a planner, remember?). We've been planning it for years, so if 10 plus other people happen to be having babies within of 6 month period of me that is a wonderful coincidence. But I think it is very fun! Just think of all the potential playmates my little one will have.

-Are you hoping for a girl?
It would be silly to say no, but I don't want to hurt this baby's feelings if it happens to be a boy, which would also be wonderful. I'm excited to be having a BABY. But having said that, Joshua and Toby would both like a little sister. Joshua has been talking about "her" for a couple of years now. I think that deep down Brent has always wanted a little girl. Brent's mother has nicknamed this baby "Priscilla" (kind of objectionable, but Joshua was nicknamed Hercumer in utero by Jane). And last of all, I have felt impressions that this baby is a girl, but I would feel really stupid if I was wrong so I just pretend that I didn't tell you that. OK?

After reading that the weather forecast for the coast last week was 60 degrees and sunny, we took Joshua out of school and ditched the foggy weather inland for a couple days of sunny January respite.


We stayed in a really nice condo in Seaside, thanks to our friends, we ate breakfast together at Pig N' Pancake, we built sandcastles, watched the sun glisten through the waves, we hiked in Ecola State Park, we got ice cream at the Tillamook Cheese Factory, we watched birds and sea lions, we hiked along the beach and through the "Goonies" cave at Oceanside, we walked barefoot and even splashed in the waves a little, and we watched a spectacular sunset. Best of all, we soaked in as much pure vitamin D as we could before we had to head back to winter. Ah...pure heaven.

This is what happens when you try to clean your bathtub jets with Hibiclens (it's supposed to kill everything):

We were so excited to use our legs again that we went for an evening walk at Elk Rock Gardens on January 10th. This is a free garden that overlooks the Willamette River.

To everyone who had to march over to the post office after Christmas and mail our gifts because we couldn't come to Utah because of the weather...

Thank you!!!
(these are some of the gifts, not all...but they LOVED them all!)

It's not too late, is it?...to wish everyone a happy New Year?

It's time for some major catch up...

After the great snow/ice of Christmas, we had warming and great amounts of rain. Some places even got 9 inches or more of rain. I'm sure if you've watched the news anytime in the last few weeks you heard that there was flooding in the NW. The freeway was under 5 feet of water! We were alright up on our little hilltop, but even some people in our neighborhood and ward had water in their basements. Brent was over one night bailing out some friends. It was crazy. Needless to say, residents were not advised to leave their homes. That was just about IT for me. I went berserk from being stuck inside for several weeks in a row. Anyway, here is a picture of Wilamette Falls (just outside our city) at about the peak of waterflow:
It's just a bubbling cauldron of flood waters. And to think that we were just canoing at the bottom of this monster just a few weeks before!

Luckily, we were still able to get out on New Years Eve. The Mansius family had a party for several families and kids! It was a great evening for kids and adults. What can I say? Tara really is a genius! She had games for kids, games for adults and games for everyone to play together. Here is a picture of all the kids (oh, and she set her clocks forward 2 hours, so "midnight" actually happened at 10:00):