I'm gonna be sore tomorrow!

Today for the first time in about 2 months I went hiking. I was sluggish and slow. It was a nice 72 degrees but I carried water with me because I don't want to risk getting dehydrated while pregnant. On the trail I saw a bunch of my hiking friends and took the opportunity to tell them the exciting, life-changing news! They were all very supportive and happy for me and our family. They said they fully expect to see me hiking until I give birth. I told them that might be too embarrassing for me but they encouraged me so that they could have the joy of watching me and my belly push up the trail. We will see.

In other news today was the first day of school for all of my children. I asked the ones at BYU to take a picture together so I could photoshop it together with the one I took this morning of the 3 at home. We had blessings last night and with maps in hand and an early start this morning I dropped them all off. Now it's time to clean, shop and organize. Oh joy!

Get in line.

I'm pregnant. There. I said it. If you're shocked, startled, whatever, get in line. Due date in mid February. Someday when I feel like reliving all the panicky details again I'll write them here.

We got him!

I sit here in the hotel room and can hardly believe this day has FINALLY arrived! Yipee! This is great. He looks great and all is well. :)

The Whiting Reunion and 8 days

We returned from the Whiting reunion wet but happy. Never had anyone witnessed so much rain during a reunion at the homestead before. We even had fog roll in Saturday evening making Sierra Trigo invisible. Weird. We returned home to find a package containing a Texas shaped cookie cutter. Cool. We're excited to use it. Eight days until we get to see Collin. He thinks it's weird. So do we. He feels like things are picking up in his area just as he has to leave. That's just the way it goes though. Lots of cleaning and preparation this week. Both in Texas and home.

Coming to a close.

As I type this the counter says I'll see Collin in 16 days and 2 hours. It's hard to believe that the two years of his mission are about to end. If it has gone by fast for you, I believe that. It has gone by fast for me too. Two years is really such a short amount of time to devote yourself to serving your fellow man. Our whole family is real excited to see Collin. Spencer even volunteered to be the youth speaker the day Collin reports in our ward just so he could sit by him on the stand! I love that. Rich and I will be attending a special testimony meeting at the mission home when we get Collin. I hope I can hold it together. I'd probably be better off if I just brought a big wad of tissues. I hear his group is quite a large one so it should be a great meeting.

I've never been to Texas. Hot, humid and flat is what I'm expecting. Great mexican food and dualy trucks everywhere. Maybe Collin will have a drawl. He's excited to see his old areas and so are we. The people have been so kind for the most part. His homecoming talk is August 22nd at 9am at our building. He's home for such a short time and then off to school he and Emily go. Life moves quickly. Enjoy it.