Some July Highlights

I've been really bad at blogging... maybe a large part of it is this whole pregnancy fatigue thing. Anyway, we are still having a fun summer. I just wish it wasn't quite so hot for the big girl.

This is the fam at the Farmington parade which goes right by my parents' house. Lucy was feeling a little under-the-weather as you can see. Once they started throwing candy she started feeling a little better.

John had his 28th birthday again. We had a double birthday party with Mary Pitt. My sister gave him the classic "stud muffin" cup. The girls always love a good birthday celebration.

Last Friday for the 24th, Pioneer Day, we decided to hit Lagoon for some fun. I thought for sure I was going to melt before the end of the day but the weather ended up being pretty decent. The girls were in heaven with the rides and the water park.

I think Papa and Grandma were in heaven too taking their grand daughters around to the rides.

One bonus of the day was Grandpa Hess got recognized for being the oldest living Lagoon worker. There was a prize and refreshments. It was fun to hear him tell a few stories-he was a key boy and then a life guard back in the day.

Lucy passed out before the end of the day so Papa decided to take a snooze along with her.


This ride actually had Lucy in tears. The speed was a little overwhelming in her fragile exhausted state. Who knew little cute whales could be so scary!

Here's the girls on the boats. I love that Esther wore her sunglasses for most of the rides and Lucy has her usual hat on. These girls always keep me laughing. Esther now asks me every day when we are going to go back to Lagoon. I keep telling her, "next summer for sure!!!"

Pregnancy Update

-1 month to go
-super uncomfortable
-3 bathroom runs a night
-HEARTBURN
-running out of mat. clothes that still fit
-HOT and sweaty all the time
-grumpy--I told John last week he would enjoy his time away on business in Ecuador--and honestly I think he did.
-1 months to go!!!

What a princess doesn't do...

On Friday night, about an hour before John and I were supposed to head out to my ten year reunion, Lucy threw up in her bedroom on the carpet. John wasn't home yet from work so it was all up to me. I put Lucy in the tub after rinsing off the bigger chunks (sorry for being overly graphic--my mommy job is just that sometimes--graphic) then I went to clean up the carpet. I'm on my hands and knees scrubbing the vomit out of the carpet and watching Lucy in the tub out of the corner of my eye. Esther is sitting on the bed watching me in her pretty pink dress (when Mommy got dressed up Esther had to put on her fanciest dress), and then out of the blue Esther says to me, "A princess never has to clean up barf." I have no idea where she learned that false information and it really made me laugh... later when I was done with the huge mess and smell.

Monday Monday

For some reason Mondays are generally long and arduous. Yesterday, was no exception, especially since it was the day after our long vacation. I had unpacking to do, laundry, bills, emails, and on top of it all my internet stopped working. I called Comcast to get some tech support and they told me I had a bad router and the only fix was to buy a new router through them for only 100 dollars (the only was sarcastic by the way). Then, we got a bad letter in the mail about an insurance issue we've been dealing with in California. Nothing is more frustrating then trying to work out issues with insurance companies. Oh, and Lucy was in tornado mode which means I could not possibly keep up with her trail of toys all over the house. By the time John got home I was a bit frazzled. So I made our green drinks and then got started on dinner. I turn around hearing John exclaim, "Oh, man..." and I see that Esther has spilled her drink all over the back of our couch and on the carpet. This is bad because this green drink was actually filled with blueberries making it more purple and staining, then just green. It was a huge disaster. Fortunately, our couch is washable and John got to work on the carpet. We finally got everything taken care of and then sat down to dinner. Not two minutes into dinner, Esther manages to dump her entire plate of beans on the ground. I just had to laugh, it was unbelieveable. We made her clean up all the beans and then John wiped up the residue. And it doesn't end there. At 10 P.M., we are just about ready for bed when we hear Esther coughing like she's got something in her throat. Turns out she had thrown up, all over he sheets. I cleaned up Esther and John took on the tough job of cleaning up the vomit. I'm so glad to have a good partner who just gets to work and doesn't complain or make me do it all. A few hours later, Esther threw up one more time, but she made it to the cup we put out for her. Talk about a long Monday... So glad it's over.

Vomiting Roses

We stopped at my mom's house after our long drive from Montana to pick up John's car. My mom has a beautiful row of roses in the driveway and Lucy was paying close attention to them noticed they were shedding lots of petals. She ran to my mom yelling, "Grandma, the roses are throwing up! The roses are throwing up!" She always keeps us laughing.

I love vacation

This year we did not think we would get any vacation because John doesn't get any time off for the first six months of his job. Then my sweet brother and sister in-law helped us work it out so I could drive up with them for some time with all the Thompson family at Dickey lake, MT. After that John would fly up to Kalispell on the evening July 2nd and spend two days at the cabin with us and then drive home all together. It definitely isn't as fun vacationing without him and I know he was really sad to miss seeing his family but it was great to have a little family vacation together. Being pregnant does take away some of the fun of vacationing at a lake (no waterskiing or jetskiing), but I had a good time with the girls and John's family. I actually spent a lot of time with Lucy since Esther was so busy playing with her cousins. Lucy, not being old enough to know that cousins are more fun then Mommy, told me one evening that I was her "best friend." Sorry, no pregnant swimsuit pictures of me (Cori), but I promise that's all I wore. I packed a lot of clothes for the girls and I and we didn't wear half of them. We just changed from our pajamas to our swimsuits, and back to our pajamas. It was heavenly. Here's some photo highlights of our great vacation.

I tried to get Esther on this tube and she said, "No way, no way!!" I almost didn't think of offering it to Lucy but then I thought it might help convince Esther to give it a try. Lucy liked it so much she didn't want to get off. She cried the second time she had to get off. And, no, Esther still didn't give the tube a try.


Here's John wakeboarding!! I was really proud of him--he didn't grow up doing many watersports but he go out there in the semi-cold water and skiied and wakeboarded quite well!

This is pretty much how I looked most of the vacation--lounging in a chair with my book and a drink plus a big belly, of course. Esther tried it a couple times but didn't last very long. It was amazing how long the little kids can play by the shore--with rocks, waterguns, buckets, or looking for crawdads (or crocodiles as Lucy calls them).

My girls LOVED all the non-motorized watercraft, which, worked out since that was all I could do. Lucy even tried to push this boat out and do some kayaking on her own--there was a water toy that needed rescuing and she was quite concerned. Mommy was more concerned about Lucy's lack of rowing skills.

Here's one of the only three pictures of me on vacation. Being the Mommy, sometimes you just forget that you should be in the pictures too--and sometimes you purposely avoid the pictures.


I cant' tell you how nice it was to have John there to help with the girls--playing with them, feeding them, and putting them to bed. You forget how much your spouse helps out!


This is the boat Lucy called the "Duck." I think she got it mixed up with the dock. This was Esther's favorite activity--nice and slow. By the end of the vacation she got a little brave and learned how to swim, a.k.a. float on her own with the life jacket. She was especially proud that she could paddle this boat. My legs were a little long for this boat plus the big belly made pedaling a bit uncomfortable, so once again, I was very happy when John came to take his turn on the paddle boat. Lucy just LOVED sitting in the back with a shovel and scooping the water.


We spent the 4th of July at the cabin so there were some fireworks. This was after the second firework the boys set off. There were tears and running for safety.

We're so glad we got to spend more time at the beautiful Dickey lake this summer--big thanks to the Spackmans and Stu and Beth.