Not how I want to be remembered

There are a lot of insane ways to prolong the memory of pregnancy, but "belly casting" is one of my top favorites. A cast is made of a pregnant woman's naked chest and torso. Then one can have a design of some sort painted on to the hardened cast and do with it as will.

I don't even know where to begin with all my issues with this idea. Why would anyone want to preserve this part of pregnancy? Yes, the creation of life is beautiful and it is neat to watch the change that comes to one's body as it grow and life thrives within. However, I don't think I want to remember what my breasts and stomach looked like at eight months of pregnancy. Um, not feeling beautiful here! You can paint as many flowers on it as you want, but my pregnant torso is not something I will ever want to show off. What kind of crazy person wants to memorialize and have everyone look at their naked pregnant self? Why not just walk around topless during pregnancy?! I suppose it's the same women who invite all relatives, male and female, when giving birth. It's a party! Sorry, but I prefer to have only those involved in the baby making to be the ones present at delivery.

And what the heck is one supposed to do with the cast afterwards? Hang it on the wall. As guests come into your home you can proudly point out your wife's naked pregnant torso cast, stylishly decorated, hanging over the fireplace. That will be a conversation starter for sure! Talk about awkward. Or maybe you can flip the cast over and use it to hold chips and dip. It would make a great bowl for handing out Halloween candy and uber creepy too! The options are endless.

Call me crazy, but I'd rather memorialize my pregnancies with pictures and, even better, the babies that come as a result. Sorry, but you won't see a cast of me in all my pregnant glory hanging in my house anytime soon.

Rock Climbing at Aspen Grove

Go Anna!



Jimmy who was so brave!

Rachel, Spiderwoman, who made it up the highest and almost to the top!

Argh!

There should be a law about getting sick after vacation. Of course, it is better than being sick on vacation. We spent the past week up in Aspen Grove for a wonderful McConkie Family Reunion with all of Marshall's siblings, their kids, and his parents. We had a blast!

And I would love to write about it and post pictures, but I feel like crap. It seems we all shared germs and are randomly coming down with a virus. I have to admit I am lucky so far as I have not puked or suffered from "other end ailments" like the rest. Plus I didn't have to fly back home across the country while sick like his sister with her twins and three year old. Thank goodness her husband was there to help and all went well! But it still stinks to be sick. I feel like I have been hit by a truck, leaving me with no energy and a spinning head. Not to mention dealing with crabby sleep deprived kids from said vacation who are stuck inside due to the heat. Ugh! And the million things I have to do since getting back. Or the fact that our garage door decided today it won't shut, but rather would bend in the middle. Are the stress gods trying to tick me off because they were already doing a good job? Yeah, I'm ready to quit. One mercy is my sweet Darci who watched the kids all morning while I rested. What would I do without her?!

I am alive and I will post pictures of our adventures once I start to feel human again.

The Worthwhile Battle That Is Going To Church

We are deeply entrenched into that whole "busy toddler" phase with Jacob when it comes to Sundays. Well, he's busy every other day of the week, but it makes keeping him under control in Sacrament meeting a real treat. Added to the situation is the fact that Jacob's dad sits up on the stand and Jacob really loves his dad. Every Sunday he will periodically yell out to Marshall "Daddy!" and then make funny faces at him. It's so cute to watch, but also very distracting. It seems if Jacob is not calling to his dad, he is dumping out diaper bags, throwing his sippee cup in the pew in front of us, flirting with the people around us, or trying his darnedest to escape and run up to join us dad. After Sacrament meeting I am always pooped. I mean it would be enough if I had only Jacob to contend with, but I also have his three other siblings who aren't always perfect angels, sometimes very far from it. Rachel and Jimmy always vying to sit next to me and Anna seeming to suffer from some disease that makes sitting down for long impossible. Almost every Sunday Jimmy, who is the king of being loud and disruptive, ends up on the stand with Marshall where Jimmy will promptly fall asleep. One kid down, three to go.

Jacob's new thing is now to call to Marshall when I carry him out of the chapel. You see, we always end up leaving, it's just a matter of when. At some point all the attempts to keep Jacob distracted will fail and he will do his best to get up to the stand. I will stop him, which results in back arching and body contortions that would impress the most expert yoga instructor. So we leave the chapel. But since we sit on the third row, we exit out the front door and Jacob yells out "Daddy!" as he is cruelly taken away from his object of desire. As if his dad would save him. Believe me, some Sundays I would love to let him run free to Dad and have him deal with herding the monkey. It's to the point now where everyone expects to hear that little voice calling out in plea when we leave the chapel. He gets lots of smiles and chuckles for his display of affection for his dad. Thank goodness too since it all just comes with the territory of having a young bishop.

No wonder I fell asleep at 6pm tonight when Anna had me lay in bed after getting a headache. You don't have to ask me twice to rest! Sacrament meeting with kids is not for the weak. Each Sunday I come home pooped, but also proud. Proud to have made it through yet another church meeting, making sure my kids are where they need to be, even if it isn't the easiest. I can already see the many blessings of lugging everyone to church each week. Sometimes it may be hard to see, but I know we are laying the foundation for their future today. So here's to one more week down!

Ramblings of a tired mom

- My husband and I have become addicted to "24". We're just a few years too late, but can feed our passion thanks to Netflix Instant Play. No commercials! It's rather amusing. Lots of action, but ridiculously unbelievable stuff. Ah, tv.

- Last week Marshall had the "body phone" for the police. It was his busiest week. Three dead bodies and one 4 am phone call from the police seeking legal counsel. Sweet. He is now on-call again for the rest of the week because of a family emergency of the guy currently on-call. His work stories are so much more fascinating now.

- Where did the time go? Our big family reunion is in a week and a half and then school will start only a few weeks after that. What?

- The kids are so excited for the family reunion. Me too! Plus I get my husband for a week. No work, no church calling.

- This morning Marshall and I got to do baptisms at the temple for my family members who have passed on. It was such a tender experience. I love being able to go to the temple with my hubby. Best monthly date!

- Genealogy is a blast and so addicting.

- I am truly going insane. I am baby hungry. This is insane because I have an 18 month old who is into everything. Seriously, we're talking opening the oven door while a cake was baking. Thankfully, he wasn't burned. But his guardian angels must tag team because that boy keeps them busy. He is into EVERYTHING. The only reason why I would dare consider adding to the chaos must be because I have completely lost it.

- I love America. We live in such a blessed and promised land.

- Today was National Chocolate Day. Did you celebrate? I did. Mmm. . . chocolate!

4th of July Weekend Fun

Playing in the sand

Relaxing at Gunlock Reservoir

Watching fireworks at Grandma and Granddad McConkie's house

Decked out in 4th of July wear

In Honor of the 4th of July

The Gettysburg Address

Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

Never forget the price that has been paid for our freedom!