Easter Weekend

Easter weekend was full of activities this year!  Usually we spend Easter with the Edgel's down in Vegas (we were actually just realizing that this is only the second Easter that we've not spent in Vegas since Jared and I met in 2006)!  I was excited to find so many fun activities going on in Provo.

Early Saturday morning, Gavin and I ran over to the Rec Center, to meet the Easter Bunny.  Don't tell Daddy, but we were running late so ended up getting candy from the Easter Bunny and eating it all gone before we even had breakfast that morning!

Our neighbor Lani told us about an Easter Egg Hunt later that morning at the BYU Football Stadium, so we headed over there together to check it out.  It was quite the ordeal waiting in line, then waiting in the stands, then waiting as everyone spread out around the edge of the whole field, (about an hour and a half of waiting in total) for roughly a three minute Mad Easter Egg Dash!  But it was worth it, and fun to be able to say we've ran around on the BYU Football Field!

On the edge of the field waiting for the Hunt to start - I don't know how many times they said, "there's no rush, there's no need to push, we won't start until everyone's out of the stands and around the field, we want everyone to be happy, etc, etc."  But if you want a bunch of kids to NOT be happy, making them wait for another 10 minutes, three feet away from all the eggs will certainly do it!  It was pretty funny as kids started to break down unable to stand the anticipation much longer!

Gavin with all his Easter Eggs!

Gavin & Eve

After the Easter Egg Hunt, we rushed home to finish decorating and putting out Birthday Hearts for Grandma!  Saturday was also Patti's Birthday, and they were on there way up from Vegas.  The semester at BYU was just ending and Janea is going on her mission in July, so Mark and Patti came up to help Janea pack up her stuff, and go to the temple with her.  It worked out well that it also happened to be Easter Weekend and Patti's Birthday!  We got the Birthday Hearts and Gavin's "confetti" (cut up pieces of paper) put out just as they pulled up to our place.  Tyler and Breanne also came up from Cedar City for the weekend.  Grandma opened her presents from Gavin (a pink hula-hoop and a pink bracelet and necklace that he picked out from the dollar store all on his own), then we all went out to Zupas Cafe for lunch.

Saturday evening me, Jared, and Gavin headed over to Rock Canyon Park to check out the Easter activities that were going on there.  They had pony rides, potato sack races, a giant parachute with beach balls, and a bunch of other games and activity booths.  And of course the Easter Bunny was there as well, helping give out more candy.  We ate dinner then watched the beginning of Frozen on a giant blow up screen... but ended up leaving early because I was absolutely frozen.

Sunday morning we headed off to church, and came home afterwards to discover the Easter Bunny had stopped by while we were out!  All the candy and having family around were definitely the highlights for Gavin, but we were able to talk a bit about what Easter really means, and Gavin even shared his talk that he gave in primary a few weeks ago, about how Jesus Christ is our Savior.

We had a yummy ham dinner with Schwartzies potatoes before Tyler and Breanne headed back down to Cedar City Sunday evening.  Mark and Patti (and JR and Jasmine), had brought their trailer up, and stayed at our place for another few days then left for Vegas with Janea after she finished up her last few finals.  It was great having Saturday and Sunday off, to enjoy spending time with everyone, and celebrating Easter and Patti's Birthday together!

 And Gavin got even MORE Easter goodies from Grandma!

And just to include the soon to be newest member of our family...

Here's a picture of me on Easter Sunday at 22 weeks (minus a day)

Caught up? Is this possible?

I'm pretty impressed with myself right now!  I often feel overwhelmed with projects and goals I want to get done, but when it comes to finding the motivation to follow through with those great "to do's", I often lack the motivation to get going.  Or if I start a project or task, I get easily distracted halfway through.  Jared can attest to this when it comes to "organizing" or "deep cleaning" something at home - Jared will come home to a halfway deep cleaned bathroom, with the bath mats out in the hall, the floor, baseboards, cabinets, and walls scrubbed, and a filthy counter with toothpaste still stuck in the sink.  Or you may find everything pulled out of the bins from under our bed and piles of stuff everywhere, that I'm in the process of organizing, but then decide to take a two day (or two week) break from working on!  I like making lofty lists of things to accomplish, and love the feeling of crossing off a completed task, but the process in between... that can pose a bit of a challenge!

With our life being significantly more busy lately, I'm REALLY trying hard to figure out a balance between all the projects I would love to do (or at least would love to THINK about doing) and what I realistically have time for.  But first I should start with explaining why our lives are significantly more busy as of late:

At the end of February Jared started looking into engineering jobs in the area.  TranquilMed has been a great experience, but has not been providing enough financially.  As it turned out, an opportunity up in Heber turned up on just the second day of Jared making cold calls to nearby engineering firms.  One of the principles at Summit Engineering answered Jared's call, and ended up asking if he was available for lunch that very afternoon.  He told Jared he would consider hiring him on, and the following Monday evening Jared received and email that Mike wanted to hire Jared as a temporary intern, on a trial basis for two months, and then from there decide if it was a good fit for both the company and Jared.  And the next day - Jared started his new job!  Hence our now busy life.  With me working evenings, and Jared working 30 minutes away in Heber, there are many days during the week where we only see each other for half an hour during my dinner break!  Jared has always been so incredible at supporting me while I've worked, and is honestly the one that has does most of the cooking and cleaning at our home.  That's been a change for me - working part time AND taking care of alot more of the "mom/wife" responsibilities!  It's also been an adjustment for Gavin, who has become so used to having either me or Jared or both of us around much more often.

Especially now with me being pregnant and more tired than normal, I'm really trying to figure out how to optimize my time.  It's easy for me to get stressed and overwhelmed - hence the quitting projects halfway through - so trying to balance time for the necessary tasks (cooking dinner), quality time with Gavin, and time for self has become essential!  Instead of wasting time brainstorming all that I'd like to accomplish that day, week, or month, I'm learning to just start my day, and do the things I need to as they come up.  If I need a break from doing laundry, I've learned it's better to stop in the middle and play the piano for 30 minutes, rather than say I can't take a break till its done.  And it's OKAY if the laundry doesn't get folded till the next day, or the next.  It seems a little backwards, but I find the less time I spend planning what I'm going to do, the more I actually do.  And the more generous I am about giving myself breaks as I need them (as long as I recognize when I'm avoiding vs. taking a break because that's what I need) the less overwhelmed I get and the more I can accomplish!

It may sound strange, but this has been a really huge breakthrough for me!  And in the past few weeks, I have really noticed a difference!  Our blog is up to date, I'm gradually working on Gavin's Baby Book a little here and there when I have some time, our house is far from spotless...but the mess is far more manageable, and best of all - I'm less stressed/overwhelmed, and more available for Gavin!  But I can't take all the credit... Jared continues to be a huge help and support with cleaning, dishes, laundry, Gavin, etc.  And we have great friends and neighbors who have helped us out with babysitting.  And another help was coming home to find our kitchen cupboards and draws stocked with paper plates and bowls, and plastic cups and utensils - a surprise from Patti when she was up visiting a few weeks ago.  So dishes have been a breeze lately!

So in reality I'm not caught up on EVERYTHING, and still think about things I'd love to get done - making more family videos, lots of  different sewing projects, organizing the storage room...  But I'm finding the balance between what needs to get done now, what messes can be left for later, and learning to find a little time for those extra projects here and there.  I guess what I'm saying is, this "big breakthrough" has been the realization and acceptance of the fact that I'll NEVER be completely caught up on EVERYTHING I want to get done, so there's no sense in bringing in the added stress, which only makes me counterproductive.

IT'S A....

BOY!

On Tuesday April 8th I had my 20 week ultrasound.  Jared was able to leave work for part of the day and met me at the Dr. office just in time!  Gavin kept going back and forth between wanting a baby brother or a baby brother, so just before leaving I asked him what his final request was.  He told me he wanted a new baby brother, and that's what he's getting!  

Baby was acting shy during the ultrasound, and kept hiding his face behind his tiny little fists.  I don't remember Gavin moving around so much during his ultrasound, but that was a while ago!  Everything checks out and we are just glad he is a healthy growing baby!  Baby is measuring about a week smaller than my original due date, so we'll see when he decides to come.

After the ultrasound we picked Gavin up from our friend's and went out to lunch at Subway to celebrate.  Daddy got me pretty yellow tulips, and a blue "It's A Boy" balloon for Gavin.  (He may have been more excited about the balloon than the baby brother!)  Once Gavin and I got home from lunch he helped me make some sugar cookies with blue icing before I had to rush off to work.  I took some of the blue cookies to share at work, and everyone was excited to hear the news!

By the time I got a chance to take a picture of the balloon and cookies the next day, the cookies were mostly devoured and the balloon had popped!  But I guess this is a better illustration of what our busy life's been like lately! 

April Fools Day!

I've never really been a big trick player for April Fools Day, but it's fun (and alot easier) to play fools on a three year old!  When I gave Gavin his Blue Monster Goop for breakfast, he thought it was the most hilarious thing ever!

Creme of Wheat with blue food coloring!

As funny as Gavin thought the Blue Monster Goop was, he was even more excited to help me play an April Fools Trick on Daddy.  Gavin helped me make mud cups for dessert, and couldn't wait to tell Daddy we were having MUD, DIRT, and WORMS for dessert!

Tumbling Tots

We have absolutely loved the new Provo Recreation Center that opened last May, just a block from our home!  During February and March we signed Gavin up for the Tumbling Tots class, and he absolutely loved going each Monday and Wednesday and learning new things.  It was a mix of basic gymnastics, learning new skills such as jump rope, hopscotch, and skipping, and an intro to a bunch of different sports like soccer, baseball, golf, and basketball.  Gavin listened well to his coaches and it was fun to watch how obsessed he'd get over trying to do everything just right.  Since our camera was broken most of this winter, I only have a few pictures from his last day.

They would end each class playing with the big parachute!

A definite highlight of Tumbling Tots!

On the last day all the kids were given a metal and a treat!

A Sunbeam! A Sunbeam!

Ever since before Christmas Gavin's been looking forward to going to primary and being a Sunbeam!  He's already shared a scripture and given his first talk, and just loves being one of the big kids in primary!

Gavin's RV Road Trip

In January Gavin got to take a special road trip with my parents to Arizona.  They had recently purchased an RV in Arizona, and needed to spend some time on their way home to Mexico finalizing things and trying out their new RV.  Gavin was thrilled about going on a special road trip with just Nana and Grandpa Ducky, and to spend a few days in their new RV.

Looking for animals at the Desert Museum

Gavin LOVES maps, just like Grandpa Ducky

Hanging out at the RV park and riding his new scooter

Our little hiker

The best part about hikes...

Collecting rocks and playing in the dirt!

 Roasting Hot-dogs!

Thanks for such a fun road trip, Nana and Grandpa Ducky!

Big News!

I know this is coming three months late, and isn't so much "Big News" anymore, but I still wanted to make sure and document this.  Our most exciting Christmas gift this past year was....

I took a pregnancy test early Christmas morning, and was excited to wake Jared up with the exciting news!  Gavin is super excited to be a Big Brother, and already can't wait to share his toys and room when the new baby arrives sometime around August 25th!