BOY!! We are SO excited! Bree of course since she knew I was pregnant has been very vocal about wanting a girl. But Robbie and I always say, "but it could be a boy" and have referred to the baby as he OR she. Last week when we found out Bree didn't have school today, and my appointment was in the morning, Robbie said we should all go together! So we have been talking about it all week long and this morning Bree informed us that she, "would be happy if it was a girl or a boy." And boy was she! It was the cutest when the doctor said, "Well it looks like it's a boy!" Bree started jumping up and down and squeeled with delight. I am so happy that Gabe will have a little brother and that hopefully we can get some more boy stuff around this house :)

And just to report, Bree had a successful soccer game last week! I was amazed actually at how into it I got though...there was this girl on the other team that was really good, super fast and scoring like crazy. Well, Bree is actually really fast (fastest on her team by far) and I was like, C'mon! You are faster than her, go take the ball away! Then I'm like, oh gee mom, she is 3 years old and hardly even has a grasp around the concepts of the game yet! Funny.

Fall is upon us and I am glad becaue most all of my maternity clothes are for winter! We can't wait for Thanksgiving in Provo and just hope there is some snow for Bree and Gabe to play in! We got out the winter hats and gloves today for our morning walk (I know we're in AZ but it was chilly!) and they were SO excited...Gabe wanted to wear his all day :) I'm so grateful for my beautiful children who make me laugh every day. Tonight at dinner Robbie asked them what their favorite boy name was for the baby and Bree said, "Kee" and Gabe said something even more weird. But as we were talking about names I felt my first kicks! Three in a row! It was like, "Hey I know you guys are talking about me!" We can't wait for this sweet baby to join our family!

I have gotten better at my journal writing lately, and maybe that is why I haven't thought of blogging much. But Bree and I had the sweetest conversation yesterday that I just had to share (and I'll do a real update soon!). I had gotten Gabe up from his nap and we went in to wake up Bree, only to find her sitting down next to the bed by the iHome on my nightstand. I said, "Oh you're already awake!" She said, "Yes, I was just listening to songs." (For the past few days she has asked for music while she does her quiet time (that usually turns into a nap) so I always turn on a playlist of spiritual music. It has several hymns on the piano and then several EFY songs.) The song that was on at the moment was a song that reminded me of a city I served in on my mission in Hungary. I told her about when I first heard that song I was in a city called Gyor. We were trying to teach a family of a father, mother, and their five year old daughter about the Gospel of Jesus Christ. While they would let us come over and listen to what we were teaching, they were never willing to go to church or do anything else. It made me so sad that they were missing out on the blessings they would receive from following Jesus, and when I heard this song it gave me hope that maybe someday they would want to listen. Bree thought for a minute and then replied, "Mom, when I am older I am going to go to that city too and that little girl will be bigger and she'll be my friend and I'll teach them about the Gospel. I think they will listen to me." I kind of just looked at her and smiled and said, "Oh that would be so neat Bree. I really hope so." And then she said, "Mom, I think they'll like me better than they liked you." :) "I think so too Bree. I think so too..." Oh I love my sweet little girl.

So as some of you know I participated in and have stayed involved with the Distinguished Young Women program (formerly America’s Junior Miss...it was that thing I won my senior year). Since the city and county in Mobile, AL have had to cut their funding, this very important event for the Gulf Coast area is in jeopardy. This event has an economic impact of more than $2.5 million for the Gulf Coast area each year! This month Pepsi is giving away $250,000 grants to programs in the gulf and we are in the running! All we have to do is get the most votes! We have gone from 10th place earlier in the month to now 4th place!! The voting ends August 31st...so would you please vote? We are two spots away from winning! You must be my friend if you are reading this on my blog :) and I would be especially grateful if you could vote and forward this message to your friends as well (you can count it as my Christmas gift!). Just click: http://gulf.refresheverything.com/distinguishedyw
Be sure to click vote for this idea AFTER you log in for your vote to count.
THANK YOU THANK YOU!

I just sat on the couch, working on a project for one of my dear friend's birthdays, crying at the movie "National Velvet." I saw that movie as a child and we were looking for movies at the library last week for a family movie night and I grabbed this one along with a few others. The kids haven't seen it yet, but since I didn't remember anything about it I thought it would be nice to have something on since I had to sit down to work on my project anyway. (My sweet angels were napping :) I wasn't crying because Velvet wins (she has a horse and the movie is about her racing) or because it was sad or anything, but I got emotional because I want so badly to be like Velvet's mother! I think after a morning like this one it hit me extra hard (a little more crying and fighting over toys than usual...I lost my patience a couple of times :( unfortunately). In the movie Velvet's mother, Mrs. Brown they call her, speaks in calm tones. Velvet has two sisters and a funny little brother and her mother always seems in control and calmly reacts to whatever was going on. Mr. Brown is a funny character who thinks he knows everything and is against the horse racing. But Mrs. Brown in her calm way makes funny comments that make him laugh and see things the way they should be. She sees what is in her childrens' best interest. Her face is always pleasant, kind and loving. And her relationship with Velvet is so strong, and Velvet even wants to win the race for her mother. Mrs. Brown was once famous for swimming the English Channel and as Velvet is getting ready to enter the race her mother says, "Win or lose it's all the same, it's how you take it that counts. And knowing when to let go. Knowing when it's over and time to go on to the next thing. Things come suitable to the time Velvet. Enjoy each thing then forget it and go on the next. There's a time for everything. A time for having a horse in the Grand National, being in love, having children, yes, even for dying. All in the proper order at the proper time." I feel like she got it. Life that is. She understood that her life was about using her gifts and talents for whatever was in front of her. At this point it was about creating a home with peace and laughter. Thank you Mrs. Brown. When the kids wake up I'm starting over. "Mrs. Brown" is my under cover name :)

And really my next post will be about our awesome 4th of July weekend :)

So I'm not a big shopper, I don't get excited to shop (maybe because I don't have money?) or think that is the most fun thing I could do with girlfriends...nothing wrong with it, I've just never been into it (and I think my husband is grateful :). BUT... I never knew that a store could make me so happy. This morning was crazy. Gabe is getting over the croup and yesterday I thought he was getting better but then this morning he still wouldn't eat hardly anything (he hasn't for three days!) and if I set him down he would cry (and he's almost 30 lbs!). Then the past week or so Bree has been extremely defiant. Like out of no where our usually happy and obedient child is yelling, "NO!" and "I DON'T WANT TO!" Another testing stage I guess. But today the combination of the two had me pretty stressed out. So I took Bree to preschool at 12 and then I had to go to the DMV. Earlier I had looked up Trader Joe locations and had been bummed that the nearest one was clear across town, at least 30 minutes away. But when I looked up directions to the DMV I noticed that it wasn't too far from Trader Joes and got excited. So Gabe and I did the DMV and then headed to Trader Joes. We pulled into the parking lot and from the moment I saw the shopping carts I was perma-smile. I walked into the produce section... fresh Spinach for $1.99...giant pile of bananas...the whole wheat bread with 5 grams of fiber for $2.50... around the corner for a taster of quinoa cucumber salad, mmmm yum! Gabe do you want some? No, good I'll eat yours too...oh my favorite whole wheat pasta! Three bags, different varieties...and the frozen section with shelves of treats above...just fun to look at...oooo another taster! Organic peanut butter cookies (like two cookies with the peanut butter inside!) so good! Oh Gabe you really don't want it? I'll take it sweet boy...around the corner...my FAVORITE fig cereal bars!! I'll take two boxes of those...oh the cereal how I have missed you! Where else can you get healthy cereal, packed with fiber, for under $2?! NOWHERE! Better get five or six boxes to last us a while...should I go back and get another cookie taster? Ok, no...Go through each aisle again just for fun...ooooo the yellow curry sauce I love! (easiest meal ever...just cut up veggies like you're doing stir-fry, but use this sauce instead, eat it with rice or noodles...delicioso!) then up to check out...Cashier: "Hi, how are you today?" Me: "Oh I am so happy to be at Trader Joes right now!"
I'm not even joking. I think people may have thought I was on something. I was almost skipping down the aisles. The food, glorious, healthy, fresh food that I didn't realize I missed so much. And I think too the familiar feeling...almost like I was back in North Carolina...made it even better. It was like Christmas. It totally made my day. Probably my week. Thank you Trader Joes.

This morning I feel particularly grateful for the many ways Jesika exemplifies true womanhood and motherhood. She is patient, kind at her very core, always finding ways to nourish others physically and spiritually, deliberate in the way she teaches, and in all of this...truly loving others and helping them FEEL her love! I am a blessed man to have her by my side...to face the challenges of life...and to be my eternal companion. Bree and Gabe are blessed beyond measure to have her influencing and shaping who they will become. She embodies and exemplifies the very essence of womanhood and motherhood! She has and is making the world a better place...one person at a time!

So my wonderful husband has officially finished school!! CONGRATULATIONS MY LOVE!! Oh such a happy thing! He has worked SO hard and been so amazing through it all. Boy are we glad to be done! So to celebrate I decided to throw him a surprise graduation party :) It was way harder than I thought keeping it a secret...but it was so worth it cause he was totally surprised! I spent all week getting things ready and then hiding thing at my friend's house and in the cabinets (which I had to tie closed so Gabe wouldn't get into stuff...but praying Robbie wouldn't notice!). One night I got up after we had gone to bed so that I could work on a little presentation "Top Ten Things Robbie Has Learned in Graduate School" (we usually always go to bed together) and fortunately Robbie was so tired that he didn't notice! So by Friday morning plans were going well. I just had to work on the food all day. The menu included: home-made bread and a veggie/meat marinara sauce (Robbie's favorite thing!), chicken cheese dip and tortilla chips (made by my friend Gretchen), fresh pineapple and cantelope, grilled zuchinni, a veggie tray, and brownie sundays. By mid-day I was feeling good, the kids were napping, the bread was baked and cooling (like six loaves!), the fruit was cut (and in my friend's fridge), the veggies and meat were browning for the sauce, the zuchinni and veggies were cut, and the balloons were blown up and stored in my closet (which was Gabe proofed like the cupboards). But before I could feel too happy Bree woke up crying. She had only been asleep for about a 1/2 hour and so I ran to take her to the bathroom (which is usually why she wakes up crying). She had been complaining about a stomach ache before lunch, but I was convinced that she was just hungry since she hadn't had a good mid-morning snack, so of course I made her eat most of her lunch. Bad move mom. She didn't go at all on the toilet, but had some gas so I thought, oh she must be having gas pains! (I get those all the time, eat a few prunes and they go right away...sorry, too much information!) So I took her out on the hammock (ah, the joys of Costa Rica) to calm her down and tried to get her to eat a couple of prunes, saying the whole time that it would help her tummy feel better. Little did I know that her little stomach was about to revolt. Yes, all over me, all over her and the hammock. I knew this day was going too well :) But I had a sweet feeling that everything was going to be ok...my preparation were pretty much done, and Gabe was sleeping so we could clean this up much more easily. We changed, bathed, and I set her up on the couch with a movie. I wish I could say that was all the throw-up fun we had, but no, she threw up FOUR MORE times over the course of the next three hours. Poor thing. I thought about cancelling the party, but a couple friends whom I consulted (one of whom is a nurse) said that if she doesn't have a fever (which she didn't) and is feeling a little better than we should still do it. The hard part was convincing Robbie that we should still "go on our date" even with Bree so sick. I had told him that I was planning a surprise date and that our neighbor who was babysitting was ok with Bree being sick. He was reluctant, but agreed to go. (He told me after that he thought it was so weird we were going, but because I had planned it he decided to go. Really though, if our daughter was throwing up of course we wouldn't leave! But, glad he didn't ruin it :) So he went up to a friends house who was "going to let us borrow his car for our date" and everyone came over and then SURPRISE! Well, he was surprised until he walked up to the house and the curtains were closed and the lights were out. So he really opened the door and said "Surprise!" to us - stinker. But it was a blast! And I was just so happy it all worked out!! (And then of course Gabe woke up two nights later throwing up, I had it the next day. And Robbie had it the day after that. Oh man. It was awful.) But we were grateful to get it over with before our month of visitors! More on that later!!)

I just saw this most recent post from Jesika. In response, I just want to say that the fact she sees the good in me (and sometimes needs a microscope to find it) is a testament to her Christlike character. She always overlooks faults and helps bring out the good. She always examines her own life for solutions to problems rather than pointing fingers and waiting for others to change. Just as Christ saw powerful leaders in humble fishermen, Jesika sees people not alone for what they are, but for what they have the potential to become. I am so grateful she is mine...and so grateful she helps me become a better me every day!

We realized last week that we were deprived of sugar. I had bought some whipping cream for Bree's birthday party, but last week Robbie opened it and exclaimed he needed it now! I looked over and he was doing this! Bree got right in line and loved it :) We really haven't had many sweets since we got here...but thank heavens for Bree having a birthday and packages from Grandmas! So we have successfully made it through two weeks without daddy! He's back in school and though he is SO ready to be finished, he is enjoying his classes. I'm not going to say that being without a car, not knowing the language, and not knowing the area hasn't presented any challenges...but, we have had some fun! Some happenings from these two weeks:

Next thing I know one landed on Gabe's shoulder!

He didn't notice, but the girls were laughing and Bree was trying to tell Gabe to look. It stayed there for a long time actually, then Gabe turned his head and the butterfly brushed his cheek and gave him a real butterfly kiss! He turned again trying to reach for it and then he grabbed it! He had it in his hand and I was thinking, "OH NO HE'S GOING TO CRUSH IT!!" But then he suddenly let go. Oh I was so grateful :) They also had goats and sheep and rabbits...but it wasn't like in America where you look from outside the pen, here you just walk right in and they are all around you! Bree and Gabe loved it :)

When we were leaving Gabe was so cute pointing to the animals, when a goat poked his head out. I thought 'oh so cute I'll take a picture'...right as I did it nipped Gabe's finger!! Seriously! It wasn't bad or anything, but definitely scared Gabe! The kids had a blast and were exhausted on the way home :) Poor Vivi didn't have the most comfortable ride home :)

~And of course, the week couldn't end without another Costa Rica accident! Last Friday I had my first Spanish lesson. Our first Sunday here a lady in our ward told me her sister was a Spanish teacher for English speakers and offered to watch Bree and Gabe while I had lessons. Great! So we met at Olga's house (the teacher) and Bree was so excited because she had two hammocks (everyone here has a hammock and Bree loves them!). I left Bree and Gabe out there with Lillianna (the lady from my ward) and her 10 year old daughter (who Gabe loves) and went in fr my lesson. It couldn't have been ten minutes when I heard a scream. I ran out there to find Bree flat on the ground...with blood all over her mouth.

Fortunately this time I didn't start crying :) but once Gabe saw that his sister was crying and I was holding her of course he started crying. Oh boy. They distracted him while I cleaned Bree up a bit but she was hysterical so I just needed to get them home. I explain to Bree that Gabe is too little to understand that I can't hold him so she needs to be tough while we get in the car and they take us home. She was so good as we walked out and Gabe of course sees us and starts crying and wants me, I grab him and we gather our things and they take us home...the whole time apologizing and making sure we have medicine. They were so sweet. Once we got home we could see that her teeth punctured her lip. We debated taking her in to to get stitches, but after Robbie gave her a blessing we felt good about it healing on it's own.

Which was a huge blessing because taking her to the hospital here would have been quite the experience, and I'm sure would have traumatized her even more! Wow. I am grateful this time I was calm and collected...but gee whiz what is it with me going out with the kids and Costa Ricans?! Poor Bree. Her lip was HUGE the next morning, above her eye was scrapped up and bruised, and her head too. Then on Saturday Gabe fell outside and got a good bruise on his head! I'm sure these aren't the last of the accidents my children will have...but I pray that accidents won't continue to be a part of our outings with Costa Ricans! It did make her feel better though to come home to hugs from daddy and a little whipped cream :) Pura Vida!