(Not Much) Other August...

As a result of feelin' bleh, I seriously lacked desire to do anything and go anywhere.  This definitely was not the funnest of summers for my kids *sigh*

We managed to fit in a few Spokane Indians baseball games:  

His smile with the lack of teeth is the best!

We have xrays to prove that he DOES have permanent teeth in there... someday they'll grow in!

Bryson, Dallin and Eli sat across the aisle from us and felt pretty grown up-

Took the kids one day to the planetarium at SFCC- we had a few extra tickets, so we invited the Jensen girls to join us-

The kids got a laugh out of me one morning as we were leaving the house...

That's a picture of Trump stuck to my back up camera...

South Hill Aquatics Center:

Hailee was excited this year to be tall enough to go down the big water slide!

 I know, I shouldn't wish for time to pass more quickly, but I just want to feel better... 😩

Back to School

First day of 10th grade

First day of 8th grade (big man on campus)

First day of 6th grade (middle school!)

First day of 4th grade

First day of 2nd grade

Almost a perfect stair step!

Reality:

I told him I would honk the horn if he didn't look back when I dropped him off at the high school-

They didn't need any threats *wink*

Jace took no time jumping in with friends playing whatever sport he could!

Hailee found Colin and Michael and talked up a storm with them *grin*

Pretty soon it was time to line and and get back to it!

 Yahoo!

And pretty soon I should be feeling better... any day now...

Feeling a little more real

Okay, that title is totally misleading.  It still feels totally surreal!  I can NOT believe I'm going to have another baby!  For sure it's exciting, my brain just can't wrap itself around the idea.

But here I am, 7weeks-

And for sure, that's not baby.  That's painful bloating.  Ugh.  I can't believe I willingly did this 5 other times.  It's so miserable.  I try not to complain about how bad I feel, but I do.  All the time.  My kids seriously feel so bad for me- they just don't remember all the times before.  And I honest-to-goodness believed at first that I wasn't going to get sick this time.  As if all the times before I playing it up or was faking feeling like garbage?  I really thought just a few short weeks ago that I was too "mature" to get sick this time and I was just going to take really good care of myself and not get sick.  HA!  With my pregnancies before, I usually would wake up feeling pretty decent- but as the day wore on, it would get worse and worse so that by the time I went to bed at night, I was miserable.  This time, it's 24 hours a day, it wakes me up at 2am and I feel like I could puke at any given moment... it's like my gag reflex is just a hairsbreadth away from activating.  Life goes on, but by sheer force of will, do I get up and get stuff done.

I do have to say, I'm thankful that prior to getting pregnant, I was taking really good care of myself (probably better than when I was having babies before)- eating well, exercising, and (thank goodness!) taking good vitamins. Well, that's all stopped now *cringe* Part of me wonders, if I hadn't had that doctors appointment at the end of June and realized then that I might be pregnant, how long it would have taken for me to figure it out...? How long before I realized I didn't just have a stomach bug??  Not very long I think.

My ob wanted to get an early ultrasound for dating the pregnancy- so here's our little gummy bear!  9 weeks along-

This made it feel maybe a little more real.  Not really, but I did get emotional seeing it's little heartbeat- be strong baby!  Please be healthy!

Ross Family Reunion

This year, we 'reunioned' in Bend, Oregon- so thankful for Mimi and Papa giving us the opportunity to make amazing memories with family at such great locations!  

Eagle Crest resort sits right on the Deschutes River, so we hiked down a few times to explore-

This is all the cousins that were present- 

so sad that the number dwindles as cousins grow up!

There was a great picnic area a few minutes away on the river that was more conducive to playing at, so we packed lunches and enjoyed the afternoon-

Fun pools to swim in... and throw Jace into!

We all went to the High Desert Museum one day where we learned lots about the animals and history of the area-

The kids grew a little bored at the end... 

We explored some great lava caves-

Uncle Bill (Papa's brother) and Aunt Terri came and visited one afternoon and brought fun bubbles and other things to play with that kept ALL of us entertained!

The boys all rode bikes at a 'pump track' one afternoon and had so much fun, we went back a second time!

So so much fun- one of the best reunions we've had!  Thank you again Mimi and Papa!