.please pass.

I'm so happy to see this week heading out. It's been our sick week here at La Vista dr., and to say that it's been rough is an understatement. It started Monday with Finn throwing up and LOTS of laundry. Tuesday we were beginning to feel like we dodged a bullet, but then wednesday rolled in and brought with it a southern effect of digestive bugs. So again LOTS of laundry, and LOTS of disinfecting wipes. Thank goodness my morning sickness was so much better that day, otherwise it would have been soooo much worse. I went to bed that night thinking first no more fruit for Finn for awhile, and I think the worse has passed. Thursday Roy woke up feeling rather miserable, and said all day he was fighting an upset stomach. By that night he was feeling better, but that's when I took it on. Aghhh, so miserable to need to keep food down because of morning sickness, but not being able to. I was awake most of night, but then mr. Finn decided to relapse. So at around 2:00am instead of trying to sleep I showered Finn while Roy stripped sheets and starting yet more laundry. When I woke still feeling sick, the thought of caring for a sick baby on top of that felt like too much. Pleading with Roy to see if he could stay home and help, but his work situation wouldn't allow it. After that I just had to call my mom, and of course she dropped everything and came over and nursed us back. She cleaned, cooked lunch and dinner, went shopping for some nessities, and just all around took care of us. I asked her how she did it when she had young kids, and she said, "I just did it. I've blocked a lot of it out, but you can do more then you think you can.". I agree with that, but man I'm soooo grateful for a mother who lives close enough and who loves her kids so much that she will drop everything and help them. Let's hope Saturday brings much health to our home.

.keeping track.

With being in the prone position for most of the last 10 weeks, it's been hard to want to do anything extra like keep track of the experience of this pregnancy, let alone actually keeping house and being momma.  But I knew I would regret if I didn't do something of record, so this time around I'm simplifying a bit and only doing every 4 weeks and it wont be just pictures of me becoming large with child.  Hopefully it's something that little one can look at years from now and enjoy...or at least just me.

.M.I.A.

Yikes...a whole month has gone by with nary a word from this little ol blog. In my defense we've had some big things happening around here. The biggest of which is we are currently baking Hoffman #4 (which means baby number 2 so there's no confusion on the number of children). We suspected something was afoot while we were in Florida, and our suspicions were confirmed when we got home. We were pretty stoked when we found out...even though it happened sooner then expected (estimated arrival jan 8th). Things quickly turned crazy as I was calling my insurance and making appointments. Maternity benefits pretty much suck unless you're on government assistance or a group plan through work, and there is no way to get those benefits after your pregnant. I of course have found this out after the fact. As it became apparent that our options were quickly dwindling, my anxiety rose. Even though I wanted to have an epidural this time around, I just couldnt justify spending $8-10 grand out of pocket to do so. We have decided to go ahead with a naural birth at a birthcenter and midwife. There are days when I have peace about this decision, but I'm still feeling that stress of going natural again. On top of the stress of figuring out how to go about this pregnancy in the most affordable/safe way, I have been just miserable with "morning" sickness. Being pregnant with Finn was easy. Most days I would forget that I was even pregnant. I had energy, no food eversions, my skin was awesome...now it's just the opposite. Yuck!!! Needless to say this experience has been so different from Finn's, but I'm also aware through all of this how blessed we are. We are happy to have a sibling on the way for little man, and happy that we have other options to help us during this pregnancy. I know the Lord is going to be teaching me many things through this experience, and that we are doing the right thing. We'll keep you posted as we get this baby cooking!

.silver springs, family, and one long plane ride home.

I need to just dig in and finish up our Florida trip.  I've been preoccupied this morning with insurance and things which has really taken the wind out of my sales to get anything else done.  Insurance is the biggest pain for us since Finn and I are on our own.  Sometimes I think I should go back to work just to have insurance coverage, but then I remember how important it is that I'm home with little man.  Oh well, things will sort themselves out I guess.  In the mean time...back to Florida.

Wednesday we spent the whole day out with Robert and Dani.  We had originally wanted to go zip lining through central Fl.  Turns out it's a small fortune to do that, so we opted to go to Silver Springs.  Florida is dotted with beautiful crystal clear water springs, and Silver springs is a big one near Ocala.  They've turned it into a mini amusement park/zoo for people to come see.  One of the coolest things was the glass bottomed boat.  The spring was so clear you could see all the way to the bottom, which in some places was pretty far.  Finn and Uncle Robert were best buds during the boat ride.

Isn't that cool!

My favorite picture of Finn and Robert together.

They had all kinds of animals like bears, monkeys, exotic birds, of course gators, but I think our favorite was the giraffe.  Finn's first encounter with a giraffe...he didn't know quite what to think of it, but he was definitely curious.

He felt a lot better when he was being safely held.

He came out for a couple of Brits to feed him a handful of pellets (it seemed like a small amount for such a large animal).

Of course we had to see the giant gator, who seemed far to large to be able to move at all.  

Dani and Finn at the base of a giant Cypress tree.

It had been along day in the sun so naturally Finn fell asleep in the car on the way home.  So he was dropped off at home to finish his nap while Robert, Dani, Roy, and me drove out to Gator Joes to enjoy  some food you can't get in Utah.  I of course had the gator and frog legs, and I would recommend gator to anyone...it tastes good (as does most anything fried).

Thursday we played outside in the little pool that grammy had bought Finn, but mostly Finn wanted to hang out with Oscar the dog.  He just LOVED that dog.  We BBQ'd that night and enjoyed all the time with family and friends. Dani was the master at getting Finn to sleep.  I loved watching how tender she was with him...melted my heart!

Friday we woke Finn up to make the hour drive to Orlando and make our flight.  I was hoping for a repeat of the first flight, but Finn decided otherwise.  He was incredibly fussy, and only wanted daddy, which made for a long flight for Roy.  Both flights were full so we didn't have the luxury of having an extra seat between us (one of the reasons the first flight went so well). Finally, Finn fell asleep for the last hour of the flight into SLC.

Needless to say we were happy to be done with flying for awhile.

.the main event, a tractor, and the ocean.

Saturday was the main event of the week for us.  Roy's brother Robert was sealed to his wife Dani.  It was a simple gathering of us and a few close ward members.  But it was a beautiful and special sealing filled with a lot of emotion.  This made the whole trip worth it for me!  Lucky for us, Janelle (a friend of ours), offered to watch Finn at the temple so we didn't have to take an extra hour drive back to Ocala.

Dani and Robert outside the Orlando Temple after their sealing

Our brood.  You can't tell, but it was a million degrees that day... I exaggerate not!

After some Brazilian food for lunch and a long drive back to Ocala, we stopped in to see some friends of Roy's.  The P's have a sweet old tractor that Finn just couldn't get enough of.

Do you see the pure joy on that kids face?

It took a bit, but we finally managed to pull Finn away from the tractor for the night.
Sunday we had everyone over for a big dinner and got to see Roy's grandparents, which was really nice.

a blurry picture of Dani grandpa and me

the boys with their grandparents

We decided that Monday would be our beach day.  We chose a small beach on the Gulf side and drove out that morning with picnic and beach toys in hand.  Finn's first beach experience in Seattle was less then approving.  He didn't like the loud noise that the waves made, and the sand was a strange oddity that he didn't want touching him.  So you can imagine I was a bit nervous that our beach day would be a bust...boy was I wrong.  It took a few minutes for him to warm up to the idea, but after he saw dad running in the shallows, we couldn't keep him away from the water.

Roy and Becki coaxing Finn into the water

Roy and I harnessed our inner child and made a sand castle

and Finn destroyed it at the first chance

Finn was mesmerized by the sand and even tried a bit with his lunch

Grandma Hoffman watching from the shade of the beach

The Hoffman three walking the beach

The beach was perfect for us...small and crowd free, and the waves weren't big so they didn't scare or throw Finn around.  We loved the beach and will definitely want to go back next time we are in town.

.a plane ride, and then some.

Phew....I have a lot to get to so lets just get to it.  Florida, Roy's little piece of earth.  We decided to get ourselves on a plane while Finn still flew free to see Roy's fam, and to feel REAL heat.  I made lists and double checked websites for any advice for flying with toddlers so I felt ok about the flight, and for the most part Finn did really well even if he only slept 30 minutes.

The blue painters tape was something I read was a good toy to keep kids entertained...it worked pretty good.

We splurged on our rental car and got the GPS.  All I can say about that is LIFESAVER!  It was nice to not stress about how to get around on the strange roads of Florida.
I was so tired after an early morning (4:30), and the long day of traveling that I just wanted to crash when we got to Roy's parents house.  We unloaded all of our luggage and prayed that Finn would be ok sleeping in a strange place.  Of course he really fought it that first night.  He didn't fall asleep until around 9:00, when it got dark, and woke with the sun at 5:30...ughhh.  Needless to say he slept nearly the whole car ride to St. Augustine.

I'm always joking with Roy that we never do anything touristy when we go to visit Fl.  So this time I made sure we got to see that side of Florida.  Roy suggested a day trip up to St. Augustine, which is the oldest European settlement in the United States (a good 55 years before the British settlement of Jamestown).  I can't pass up a good old historical sight, so off we went.

 Our first stop was the light house on the coast.  We had to take turns going up because we couldn't take Finn to the top

 Roy at the top in all his glory.

 From the top looking down on my boys.  I could hear Finn squawking from the top of the lighthouse.

 A view from the top

 With all those stairs, it was a good thing Finn wasn't allowed up.

 Finn and daddy explored the museum including the oil pans, and the cannon shot.

 Thought Finn's lighthouse sticker was cute.

 After the lighthouse we headed for some lunch, in which Finn enjoyed the balloon much more then the food...go figure.
We decided to take a good ol' nap at the hotel before we ventured back out for the day.  The hotel was our saving grace for the day.  The room was dark and quiet just the way he liked it, and he slept really well, to the delight of his parents who also enjoyed a nap.
Once well rested we headed out to the fort that the Spanish had built.  Finn and daddy enjoyed all the old cannons...especially this "Finn" sized one.

 But I think Finn enjoyed the pigeons most of all.  He kept calling them ducks...close enough I guess.  After the fort we just walked along the old streets and saw the old houses and shops.  We munched on some Popsicles from this fun organic shop.  That had all this interesting flavors including pineapple/cilantro which is what I had...SO GOOD!!!
That night we made a short trip up the coast to see one of Roy's good friends and his family.  The kids played at the park (Finn was more interested on chewing the rubber pieces on the ground really, while we enjoyed a good pizza and good company.
This is as good a place to stop for the night.  I'll get to more of our adventures in Florida tomorrow.

.monday.

I woke to Roy running down the stairs this morning, and rushing out the back door.  Minutes later I heard the sirens of the emt's and fire engine.  I scooped Finn from his crib and wandered bare foot and bed headed out the open back door to hear the sad news that our older neighbor, James, had died.  Roy had been summoned to help, as is generally his role.  I stood their holding Finn trying hard to think of what I could say or do to help in some small way.  To me I think there is NOTHING I could do to even come close to making them feel any better.  But you can't just do nothing.  At that moment all I could think about was how he always brought our garbage can back in after it had been dumped.  This was very helpful when both Roy and I worked, but even after I was home with Finn all day, James would always roll our can back in from the street for us.  So in a small gesture of love and gratitude for his service to us, Roy wheeled their can out to the street for pickup today, and I wheeled it back after it had been dumped.
Why does death almost always feel like a shock?  Like we never expect it to happen and we have all the time in the world to figure out what we are doing and how to do it.  When it's the exact opposite- death is unavoidable, and our mortal time is incredibly limited.
So here I am, feeling sad for Anne, cleaning my house like a mad women because that gives me something to do besides think of death, and trying to think of what else I can do to help.  I thank God for his wonderful plan of happiness, and the sweet peace the knowledge of eternal families is!  It helps ground me through days like this, when it would be too easy to feel scared and lost.