Other

A few other notable items recently....

Elise still naps most days. And she still sleeps in a crib. Will she be 3 in less than a month? Yes. On this afternoon I had to wake her up to go somewhere and I found her snuggled up to her Flynn Rider doll. This girl loves to snuggle. 

 My belly is growing daily. Here I am at 35.5 weeks. The girls and I had just gotten back from a walk using our new triple (!) stroller. Do we need a triple stroller? Probably not. But Elise loves riding in strollers and Sadie has decided if Elise is in a stroller she wants a ride too. I decided to get a double stroller with a sit-n-stand shelf on the back. So far I really like it. After this walk I had Braxton Hicks contractions for 3 hours straight. That has never happened to me before.

 Sadie is an expert sign maker. She uses signs to express her emotions. Kind of like I used my childhood journals. The other day she drew this masterpiece after a confrontation with Elise. On the left you will see Dad and Mom. I am apparently saying "Elise?" (according to Sadie). Front and center is Sadie crying. On the right you have angry Elise. Properly titled "Elise Hit Me".  I love her signs because a)they keep her distracted when she is sad/mad about something and b)she practices sounding out words. I am continually astounded at her ability to read and write.

Finally, you have creepy Louie. We got a new video monitor to use with the new baby, but we set it up to watch Lou for now. Mostly because it is really entertaining. I frequently just sit and watch her after I put her to bed. Technically it is a security camera. You set it up and then download an app on your phone to watch/listen to it. You can take pictures and save them to your phone. Here is one of my favorite still shots. It was like she knew I was watching her.

Sweet Sixteen

When Daniel left for Lincoln, Nebraska, to go to the Sweet 16 I was just hoping his team would play alright and not get embarrassed by UConn (whose average margin of victory going into the game was 35 points). I seriously considered going with the team, and even got cleared by my doctor, but the flight cost (when the NCAA is paying, no one extra rides for free) and the logistics of what to do with our kids made it too complicated. 

So I pretty much had no hope for BYU, but I was super anxious to get the game over with. In the NCAA tournament they fly the teams to the game location a couple days before so they can do media stuff. It felt like Daniel had been gone a while when game day finally came on Saturday and I just wanted it to be game time. 

The girls and I were up and going by 7:30 AM. We went to Kneaders for french toast. The morning was just dragging on so we went to Orem to look at a used stroller. We decided to have a park picnic down there (the parks in Orem are way better than AF) and invited the Sullivans to join us. 

After 2 1/2 hours at the park it was finally time to head home for the game.  Sadie made this sign for BYU. It was her first attempt at block lettering. She would write the words and then just color over them in an attempt to make them block letters. I think the sign said GO BYU and then also said "No Huskies" with some pictures of Cosmo and the UConn Huskie (who Sadie thought looked like a polar bear) as well.

 When the game finally got going BYU played amazingly well. They got up by 6 points at one point in the first half. The ESPN announcers were shocked. No one thought BYU would put up a real fight. They are the only team this season to hold a lead on UConn in the second half. I was on the verge of laughter and tears at all moments. I was so proud of them. I still am proud of them.

Unfortunately, with a team like UConn, you can't have any cold spells, and BYU did just that in the second half. They couldn't hit a shot and UConn started hitting theirs. BYU cut the lead down to 6 at one point, but couldn't close the gap.

Both Daniel's parents and the John family drove to Lincoln for the game. Daniel got to hang out with them for a few hours afterwards. Neither of them live conveniently close to attend the game so it meant a lot to Daniel that they would drive so far.

Of course we would have loved it if BYU had won, but I am glad to have Daniel's crazy travel schedule done for the season.

Babysitter Texts

Our babysitters frequently text me some of the funny things the girls say when they are watching them. Here are some recent ones:

-Elise just randomly said, "my mom is cool" and Sadie said, "yeah!"
-Sadie and Elise have insisted on putting on their bathing suits and pretending to swim. Although randomly Elise forgets its pretend and she comes up to me and says "we're ready to go to the pooool"
-When do you think you will be back? The girls are upset and demanding veggie straws.
-we were playing dance class at the park and Sadie says, "the teacher needs help on the balance beam because I have a baby in my tummy. It keeps kicking and I can barely move
-We were playing hide and go seek and when I found Elise she grinned and said, "I'm so glad you found me!"
-Elise told me repeatedly today, "My mom married the temple. My mom married the temple"
-When we went to get Sadie from school Elise sat down and refused to leave. She said, "I go school now"
-Elise kept yelling "My name Cinderella" at the top of her lungs from the top of the play structure
-Elise is yelling "meow" and insisting on wearing a bathing suit and Sadie is doing her best patient mom impression, using a lot of hand motions.
-It's so funny how Sadie thinks that one orange sweater looks like a singer. She always puts on the same shoes of yours and same sweater to do her shows. Right now she is singing about the difference between jumping and leaping.
-Sadie just asked, "Why are we driving so slow" I explained school zone rules. She said, "My mom drives fast, she goes 80"
-A conversation between Jenna and Elise: J: Elise, do you know I love you? E: yeah J: Do you love me? Elise: yeah!
-Elise is walking around singing, "We will, we will, rock you" Definitely the daughter of a coach!

A Mad, Mad March

This second half of March truly has been madness, in a good way.

Mostly because BYU made it to the Sweet 16. This is the first time Daniel has been involved as a coach with something so exciting. I mean, he regularly makes faces this intense no matter the game situation, but it's fun to have a bunch of people noticing when he does it. Before the tournament I really wanted them to make it to the NCAA so Daniel's season would be over quicker (because they'd lose). But it's been so fun to watch them win twice.

 I started out watching Monday's game on my computer since Directv's ESPN2 was showing a different game. That makes total sense, right? Show a Tennessee game in Utah while BYU is playing.

The girls paid a little attention. Sadie watched most of the first half before she realized Elise was just getting to stay up late and play. They made a giant mess of our house while I was engrossed in the game.
 
I was screaming and clapping by myself as I watched them beat Nebraska on Monday night. I laughed so hard at the scene above. I was planning on going back to capture a picture (ESPN2 started showing it around this time and I recorded it), but a friend sent it to me so I didn't have to. BYU is the third 12 seed to ever make the Sweet 16 in the women's tournament.

And then we have just been busy with lots of other stuff. 

Probably the biggest time consumer being that I volunteered to be in charge of our department-wide Library Awards last year, before I knew I'd be super pregnant. Got those over with last week.

We've watched Frozen 3 times in the past week. Sadie has requested Elsa braids a few times. This is my interpretation of an Elsa braid.

 We spent the 70 degree afternoon at the park in tank tops a couple days ago. Then we got some snow yesterday. Par for the course in March.

    

Watch BYU take on #1-ranked UConn Saturday on ESPN at 2:30 MST

OR stream it online for free at watchespn.com

While Dad is away...

...the girl's will play. Or lay around and complain about being hugely pregnant. Either/or. 

We are on day 5 of Daniel being gone. Here's what we've been up to.

Laying in bed while the girls alternate between harassing me and making a huge mess. If you look closely you can see that Elise is wearing the Tangled dress-up while holding her Flynn Rider doll on her shoulders.

Art projects and more art projects. Here is the family tree Sadie made for us. Sadie is, of course, in the center with Mom and Dad are on either side and Elise and the baby are above and below.

After she made it she kept laughing at her joke that we should name the baby, Baby. 

Side note: Sadie's handwriting has gotten incredibly legible lately. I am impressed.

Costco frozen yogurt after a successful trip with no whining. When I was unloading at home I realized I bought a case of kidney beans instead of black beans. Oops.

So I am pretty proud of my next accomplishment. On Saturday I took the girls to IKEA and bought this small wardrobe to put the dress-up clothes in. We currently use a trunk and everyone time they are looking for one dress they dump everything out (yes, I am absolutely nesting). One of the boxes was a little too heavy for me to reasonably lift, but I insisted on still purchasing it. We were quite the sight in the IKEA parking lot when Sadie biffed it on the way to the car and as I stopped to help her one of the boxes fell off the cart. I summoned all of my 33-weeks-pregnant strength and lifted it back up while Sadie cried about getting a hole in her favorite pants. It may have taken me and my huge belly 2 hours to put it together, but I did it while I listened to Daniel's game (WHICH THEY WON). And now unfortunately I can't carry it into the toy room by myself so it is sitting in the family room where the girls climb in and out of it constantly. Thanks for letting me brag about myself.

 After the game I texted Daniel this picture telling him while they were dominating NC State I was dominating IKEA furniture. My win is just as impressive, right?

Sunday morning we curled everyone's hair and painted nails. I never thought I'd be a mom who curled her daughters' hair, but when you don't have church until 1 o'clock you get a little bored. 

 I hope you will all be tuning into ESPN2 tonight at 7 PM MST to watch BYU take on Nebraska!

Viva Las Vegas

We returned home 1 week ago from a family babymoon. I had been talking for a few months about going to Vegas for the WCC tournament, but Daniel didn't ever actually believe I was coming. He thought I was nuts to drive down by myself with the girls, but I thought it was a worth a shot. If the girls behaved terribly I planned on just driving back. 

The drive down was easy. We only stopped because I had to pee. The girls happily watched movies and snacked away. We got there so quickly that the team wasn't back at the hotel after their game yet. The worst part of the day was waiting 45 minutes in the car for the team to get back when the girls were anxious to see their dad. Later that night we went on the "team school bus", as Elise called it, to dinner. The outdoor mall had colored water fountains, which was pretty much the best thing my girls had ever seen.

On Saturday morning the girls were ready to swim as soon as they woke up. We went to breakfast in our swimsuits. I thought they'd feel the water and be done, given the fact that it was 65 degrees and a non-heated pool.

Nope, they lasted a good hour and a half before shivering their way out and having me wrap them up.

Saturday afternoon was spent at the BYU men's game. Elise played on the iPad the entire time while Sadie harassed Daniel's players. It's probably good we don't spend more time around the team because Sadie get kind of annoyingly hyper and latches on to them. That night we went to the Rio buffet, which was kind of wasted on me and the girls. I currently can't fit much food in my stomach at one time and our girls weren't too hungry either.

After dinner we headed down to the Strip to watch the Bellagio fountains.

Despite it being 9 PM and the fact that Vegas is kind of gross at night, it was pretty fun to watch the girls get excited about the fountains and all the random weird characters walking around. Sadie spent most of the time with girls on the team, but she did allow me to sit her on my shoulder for one of the fountain shows.

 Imagine the excitement if we went someplace actually meant for kids.

Sunday was spent at church, swimming, napping, and eating. Sadie got some more girls from the team to play with her in the pool for a while.

Our kids have never been out to eat so many times in their lives. They were pretty well behaved, especially when we let them play on the iPads or our phones. Sadie liked playing with baby Crew (below on the right). She told him he was fancy.

If Elise wasn't playing on the iPad she decided she wanted to be around Andi, the team trainer. She sat with her on the team bus and held her hand when we were in public.

Monday we ate, swam, and watched the team beat Pacific easily. It was fun.

Tuesday we ate and hung out in the hotel room until Daniel's game. We got word that regardless of their afternoon game's outcome, they'd be heading back on a flight to Salt Lake later that night.

I was so nervous for the championship game. We started out across from BYU's bench on the first row before the game, but we couldn't see much, so a kind arena employee let us walk across the floor to sit behind the BYU bench. There are some perks to being pregnant. Unfortunately BYU played terribly. It was a sad game to watch. Sadie got really competitive and started yelling angry things when the Gonzaga cheerleaders came on the court. Things like, "No Gonzaga!" and "You lose!". She cried when the game was over and she saw the trophy that Gonzaga won.

After the game Daniel kindly insisted that he would drive back with us. It turned out to be the smarter choice because despite getting home about 1 AM we still beat the team back to Utah by a couple hours.
Bring on NC State! Saturday at 4:30 PM MST on ESPN2. Tune in to watch Daniel give himself a headache with furious gum chewing and constant yelling. Oh and to watch the team win, too.

PS- just about the only positive to the loss was that Daniel finally got a hair cut. He had been sporting a terrible middle-age-man side part wave since the team was on a 10 game win streak and he just knew cutting it would jinx that.

Let's Hear it for the Boy

Last week Daniel turned another year older. We didn't do much for his birthday. That's how he likes it.

 The girls and I bought some clothes for him and while we were at it, picked up baby girl #3's dress for Courtney's wedding in September. You can see their wedding outfits below. Sadie is so excited to go to Texas. She has been telling people for months that we are going to Texas. In fact on Monday when she was walking out of dance class I heard her tell her teacher she was going to Texas. Only 6 months away now.

Back to Daniel's birthday. He clipped my toenails for me and I took a picture to document his kind act of service.

He got an ice cream maker from his family and we put it to use immediately. Our first batch was vanilla. We have since made rocky road and chocolate peanut butter cup.

Happy birthday, Daniel! Our lives, and we, ourselves, have changed so much since we first celebrated his birthday together in 2003. Would he have run away if someone had told him in 11 years he would be married to me, still living in Utah, and completely surrounded by women both at home and work? 

The girls and I are lucky to have Daniel. He is pretty great at being a dad. And I don't want him to get too big of a head, but he is pretty great at being a husband too. We are looking forward to getting him back in our lives more after a long basketball season. Before we know it the next crazy little girl will be here, bringing even more estrogen into his life.

The other night before bed he was singing in the weirdest voice to Sadie. I was trying to record him, but took a picture by accident. It's almost as cute.