New pictures.

I finally figured out how to post a slideshow again. So here are all the photos we took the other day when we were all home!

A smile captured! by Collin

Sleeping beauty .

Isn't this cute?

One of the girls at the office made this. I love it and had never seen one. It's sooo cute! Great job!

Thoughts in the night.

I was up all night anyway. I kept thinking about things as they are. This paragraph from The Family: A Proclamation to the World kept coming back to me.

"WE WARN that individuals who violate covenants of chastity, who abuse spouse or offspring, or who fail to fulfill family responsibilities will one day stand accountable before God. Further, we warn that the disintegration of the family will bring upon individuals, communities, and nations the calamities foretold by ancient and modern prophets."

I think that prophetic warnings and promises should not be taken lightly. So step up to the plate and do the right thing.

Some pictures.

I'm taking a cue from Emily here.

New babies are great

soft skin, helplessness, so small

complete exhaustion.

A little bit of stuff

Wow. It's been quite a while. So much is going on all the time finding time to blog and what to blog about is hard. It's just easier to not blog. Who cares anyway? Life has been filled with Young women's, water polo, tennis, Dr's appointments, driving lessons, citrus by the tons, Holidays and just normal, everyday existing.

Things are coming to a close and things are just beginning. Yesterday, while hiking, I had more complete strangers stop me and comment on my pregnancy than ever. "Oh, you're so small", "Are you trying to have the kid on the trail?", "It must be soon, right?" , "I never could have done this during my pregnancies!" It was just weird. I'm grateful I've been able to continue hiking this long. We've almost got everything ready but it really doesn't matter. It still hits like a ton of bricks anyway. I'm excited to meet this new little person that I've been sharing everything with. The real challenge lies in the next 20+ years. Getting him/her here is the easy part. We have about 10-12 years to really teach and then they start making very independent decisions. We usually don't recognize that until they're about 18 or so. Should be an interesting ride.

Names have been discussed but no front runners. Some are concerned. We're not. Pairing anything with Brown is always an issue because BOTH sides of the family have the name.

I'm not looking forward to missing the tennis tournament this year. A big part of me still wants to participate. So much fun with my children, kids from all over the place and the other Ball kid coordinators. So much great tennis to watch at all hours. The antics in the tunnel and on court are priceless. My goal is to attend one good match. Maybe this baby will be a good one and we can bring him/her along. Maybe I'll just go and hang out for a few hours one day. Well, much to do.

Ouch!

Well, I did it! I finally crashed during this pregnancy. My left ankle just buckled right under and down I went. I rolled though so that saved me a little. Two scraped knees, one scraped elbow, two slightly damaged hands and one protected tummy! The blood was running down my legs but luckily Rich had a tissue with him so I had something to clean it up with. We're headed over to the office to use the laser on the knees. See if that will speed up the healing. On the funny side, Rich said, "You should post the pic and say that this is indicative of how hard I've been praying for my children!"

I love this!

My good Bishop showed us a version of this at girls camp! The analogies are endless. Just love it.