.thursday.

The CRAZY dreams have started.  As if sleeping wasn't already a rare gift, lets throw some nightmarishly vivid dreams into the mix.  It can't be healthy that my blood pressure was higher then when I went to sleep last night right?

To bring my heart rate down, I made poached eggs for the first time this morning.  I don't know why I was ever scared to make them, they are by far the easiest eggs I've ever made.  I watched an Irish cooking show last night while I was waiting for Finn to succumb to sleep, and it showed little tricks on how to poach an egg.  I'm glad I finally decided to try making them!

Maybe it's just me and my pregnant self, but I'm so done with the heat this summer.  I find myself debating if it's worth leaving the house between the hours of 11 and 8.  Last week I knew Finn just had to have a change of scene, but after wrestling Finn into the sweltering car after a brief tirade through the library,  I realized why I resist leaving the comforts of the ac.  It seems to take me 45 mins, just to recover when we get home.

Being so hot during this pregnancy was another clue to me that baby girl was indeed a girl.  I'm a sweaty, emotional mess!

I don't have a stitch of girl anything.  We tried to get gender neutral for the bigger items like swing, pack 'n play, & car seat...but that's it.  We joke that little girl is going to be a tom boy just because she'll be wearing all the clothes that were handed down to us for Finn (we had a lot of little boys in my family recently).

I have a simple idea for Finn's Halloween costume this year, now I just need to go and get all the pieces to put it together.

My random thoughts are done, I'm on my way to go work out (i.e. sweat the equivalent of my body weight).

.best of both worlds.

.what little boys do best.

Can you tell what my little man is loving right now?

 I'll give you a hint...it has something to do with food.

He insists on feeding himself, and will refuse to touch his food unless he holds the power 

(aka: the utensil).

He's actually getting pretty decent, but on those days when his coordination

is anything but stellar, it gets exhausting.

Today was were I just wanted to throw him straight into the tub.

Of course this kid has always loved everything that is mechanical

especially cars, tractors, motorcycles, planes, and trains.

Today while I was getting dinner thrown together, I realized that the noise from my

toddler had died down.

As any parent of young children will know, this usually spells trouble.

Instead of the utter destruction that I'm sure awaited me, I was happily surprised by this...

the creative playings of my little Finn.

He made his own version of a train...he kept telling me "choo choo, choo choo"

Finn's day was full of all things that boy's do best...

messes and building.

.5.

it's a strange thing...I used to think that 5 years would feel like forever when I first got married (I also thought 30 would feel old), but in reality it's been anything but.  Life with that boy of mine feels so full.  Full of busy-ness, full of laughter, full of frustration (we all have our days), full of compassion, full of teasing, full of learning, full of patience, full of support, full of work, full of hope, and most of all full of LOVE.  We have created a happy home for our growing family, and I'm happy he's my best friend and partner through it all.

Roy and spandex, what else would you expect

Our actual anniversary was on the 4th, but, like I mentioned in a previous post, we rarely get to celebrate on the actual day.  We pushed it back to this past weekend, but as with most things...life happens.  Roy ended up having some races that morning, and Finn contracted the foot and mouth virus going around.  But we still managed to enjoy a dinner together at the cheesecake factory despite the busy day.

Me in all my greasy large majesty...like I say it was a day, but I think we seem pretty happy!

.busy bees.

We're still here, just been busy...you know...watching the Olympics and other

important things.  No, but really, besides watching obscene amounts

of great physical feats, its amazing how much time is taken up by just LIFE.

I've been on a busy streak this week, that was prompted by an all out couch day of sickness on Monday.

Inspired by my sister Angie's deck of paradise (really just a nice place to enjoy the cooler mornings and evenings), I cleaned down my own little outside space, scrubbed down my chairs, bought a small cheap table, and threw some pillows out there. 

Tada(is that even a word), my own slice of paradise with a stellar view of  "the" Jordan Ell. 

We've enjoyed are morning meals together out there, chatting about the day ahead. 

Does it get any better then that?  I think not. 

Besides making our deck space livable again, I have been diligently working out

the budget and working on how to be better fiscally disciplined all around. 

And on top of all this and that, I have a child that climbs up on everything. Everything. EVERYTHING!

If that doesn't keep one busy, I don't know what will.

.16 weeks already???.

.what we do in the summer.

*sigh* I finally have a moment to sit down and put all of our pics and recent happenings to post.  We have been busy whiling away the simmering summer days doing the following:

 Being little Pollock's by painting with water on the sidewalk.  A good way to have fun without getting too dirty.

Working on our stacking, our favorite things being can's from the cupboard.

Getting some use out of our zoo pass.  We ventured out when the weather dipped into the low 90's instead of the 100's,  and every other mother in Utah had the same idea.  

Hiking Albion Basin to see the wildflowers...of course Cecret Lake provided lots of entertainment for little boys who like to throw rocks and dip toes in the water.  We also saw a few moose...this one not 10 feet off the trail, YIKES!

Painting the "Red" wall and undertaking more work then originally anticipated.  Step by step I guess.

 Re-unioning with family.  Finn and uncle Sean relaxing at the end of the day...can you tell he's tired?

 Momma and Finn dancing

 This is Finn dancing with my sister Angie and then his favorite partner, cousin Sully.  He didn't want anything to do with anybody else...just Sully.

 More reunion time up Big Cottonwood.  The outdoors are perfect to play and be little boys in.  Finn was showing me all of his sticks he had picked up.

More family hiking up at Brighton's Silver lake.  Finn looks a bit awkward in the picture, but he had just finished yelling at the ducks, so that might have something to do with it.  As another side note, Roy does not make a habit of wearing rope around as a belt, we had just taken Finn's "leash" off for the   ducks.

Roy has had the whole month of July off from church callings and we have enjoyed having him home a lot more.  We've spent lots of nights eating dinner at the park and playing at the playground, swimming, wrestling, running around in diapers, eating LOTS of watermelon, and all around having a good ol' time despite all the heat.