You should come visit. . .

We treat our "guests" to the finest amenities available!

This is a spider I found in the dining room a few weeks ago.

I despise the little creatures.

Sorry, but I do.

But, I can't bring myself to dispose of them.

So this spider was treated to fine crystal until the "man of the house" got home and could dispose of him properly!

Thanks Kale!

STORY ABOUT ANOTHER GUEST WE HAD. . . .

About a week ago it was late and everyone had gone to bed.

I was still up. I was sitting on the couch watching TV and browsing Pinterest at the same time (I'm a good multi-tasker like that), and had my feet up on the ottoman!

Out of the corner of my eye I saw something dart from by the fireplace, under my feet and under the couch. It was a mouse. It was a fast mouse, but I knew it was a mouse.

I did the only thing I could think of.

I screamed. I screamed loud and my half asleep husband came darting in from the bedroom (fast, but not as fast as that mouse)!

Here's the funny part. I'm screaming at him that a mouse just ran under the couch, but I am helpless to move.

My feet are up on the ottoman and I am not about to put them down on the floor right in front of the couch and yet I am helpless in my "big belly state" to even move. I'm telling Kyle he has to lift me up. Yeah right. . . all this dead weight. Somehow and I'm sure it wasn't pretty I was able to somewhat "roll???" myself onto the couch where I immediately jumped off and headed to the nearest chair. . .

Kyle wasn't amused.

He got the broom handle and started swiping under the couch. Nothing came out.

There was a little bit of murmuring about

"food in the family room" "I've been telling everyone this would happen" "That's why you've got to enforce the rule that we eat in the kitchen. . . "

I wasn't really listening. I was watching for that little mouse.

Long story,

after lifting the couch up and taking off every last cushion. . .

there was no sign of the little mouse.

Just remnants of pens, pencils, dart gun darts, and wrappers littering my family room floor.

Kyle didn't believe me.

We went to bed and all night I kept thinking about our little house guest.

The next morning all was normal.

No sign of the little one.

Kyle did call me once during the day and asked me how my "day with Mickey" was going. I might have hung up on him.

For 2 days I tried to convince myself that it was just a shadow.

The 3rd day I found myself up alone again. We had had movie night and after everyone had gone to bed, I picked up a little and noticed one piece of popcorn left on the family room carpet. I decided to leave it there. As a trap kinda. If it was still there in the morning I would be convinced that in my pregnant state I had "thought" I had seen a mouse, but if it was gone in the morning I would know we had ourselves a house guest.

Guess what. It was gone.

I KNEW IT!

Kyle was on his way to buy some traps.

The next morning, my middle son, came into our room and announced that the trap said

"CAUGHT!!!"

Sure enough. Though I had no desire to check for myself, my husband informed me that we had indeed caught a little brown mouse.

Though my husband would like to blame our unexpected guest on the carelessness of our children in leaving the doors open and leaving food all around. . . I have a better theory. See the night he showed up at our house happened to be the same night I made the most amazing stir fry. The smell was intriguing especially for a little mouse. He just wanted in on some of our dinner.

Now just so you don't get the wrong idea.

Our house isn't always perfect.

Sometimes we have our bad days. . .

I can prove it.

See.

I forgot. . .

About a doctors appointment a few weeks ago. . .

(26ish week????)

It's not that I forgot about the appointment exactly, I just forgot what day.

I had in my mind that my appointment was sometime on Friday. . .

so when I called to find out the time imagine my surprise when the appointment was actually the next day.

I made it. But then to make matters worse the nurse asks me right off the bat.

#1 - Did you remember your urine sample?

Nope. Forgot.

#2 - How far along are you?

Here were my exact words. . . "I know I'm more than 20 weeks"

She laughed. But I don't know if she really thought it was funny. Who doesn't know how far along they are?

Don't most mom's mark it on a calendar and circle each day to signify that start of new week?

Not me this time.

I know about the time this little boy will make his entrance into the world, and I've done this I think enough times that I know the signs to tell me it's time.

I looked at Kyle the other day and said. . .

"We are having a baby."

It was a statement. Almost a reminder.

It took me back to October I think it was.

Kyle had taken me out to dinner before the adult session of stake conference.

We were sitting at our table and we were talking calendars. I mentioned something about a stake merit badge day in March that the Stake Young Men were putting on and I said to Kyle I was excited because Kale was actually going to get to attend with me this year. Kyle asked what day it was and I said "sometime near the end of March."

Kyle looked right at me and said. . ."you know you probably won't be able to go to that this year right?"

And my mind instantly went blank. Are we going out of town? Do we already have something planned?

Kyle could obviously see the confusion on my face and said,

"you know you are having a baby at that time."

Oh. yeah. I forgot. . .

On one hand I am cherishing every little movement (OK big movement) and every little kick (OK punch) because I know they will probably be the last little kicks and movements I feel inside me. But life as a mom right now is busy. The kids outside of my womb are keeping me pretty busy these days.

The love I already feel for this little person inside me reminds me that it's ok that dates and milestones can take a back seat this time. I'm sure once he gets here I will be way too focused on the calendar wishing that every week would last a little longer just so he can stay "baby" as long as possible.

And just so you know I have an appointment on Wednesday and there's no way I will forget about this one because at the same time I will be at my doctors appointment my sixth grade son will be watching "the video" that will once again describe to him the exact reason I am at my appointment!

Oakland Temple Lights

We made our way down to Oakland this year to look at the Temple Lights!

It was a beautiful night.

We actually got there before the sun went down and we decided to watch the lights be turned on from the top of temple, so we started up the stairs, and by the time we got to the top they had already turned the lights on.

We missed it by about 3 seconds.

Oh well!

And we made a whole day out of it by visiting San Francisco earlier that day!

It was the most beautiful day!

Clear as could be!

We stuck to the tradition and ate at Boudins!

And of course got our picture taken by the huge Christmas Tree!

We had grand plans to head over to Union Square, but after seeing how "not" crowded pier 39 was and realizing it was the Friday before Christmas at 5:00 we assumed that it would be so crowded it wouldn't be worth it - so we drove through the city a little and then headed over to the Temple!

It worked out perfect. . .

And it got me thinking about a few other San Francisco trips that I took this year that have not made it to the blog. . .

So here we go!

This summer us two crazy gals took our 6 (and 1/4 kids - I was pregnant and sick) to the Big City for a few days of FUN!

We wanted to do things that we hadn't done yet

so first on the list was to walk across the Golden Gate Bridge!

The best part for me. . .

It was so loud from the cars that no one noticed the screaming daughter!

We made it to the half way point!

The kids loved it!

It was probably their favorite part of the trip. . .

(other than the heated pool at the hotel)

Then we headed over to Pier 39 where we. . .

Ate some lunch. . .

did some crazy shopping. . .

and ended up being convinced to stand in line for an hour and half to ride the TROLLEY!

So worth it to see these faces as they got to stand on the outside as the trolley took us all around the city!

We opted for a cheaper, faster bus ride back!

Where this one was in heaven with a seat all to herself!

The next day we headed to the

SAN FRANCISCO ZOO!

This one loved the Pink Flamingos!

And this one was in awe at the Penguins!

The kids loved the Lions!

And they put on quite the show for us. . .

roaring back and forth at each other. . .

you could hear it through the whole park!

Along the way we found some strange creatures of our own!

This little monkey. . .

This scary spider!

And here's something you don't see everyday. . .

Brotherly Love!

But we saw the strangest thing of all near the end of the day. . .

A creature who sleeps standing up!

We ended our two day little adventure at Ghirardelli Square!

It was such a fun ROAD TRIP!

And then. . .

just a few months later I was back in the city with these fun gals!

My sister in law Sheena had a Doctor's appointment in the city so we decided to make a day out of it!

I was so glad I could go with her to her appointment.

She is one of the bravest people I know.

She has been battling (and by that I mean kicking it in the rear)

Lyme disease for the past few years. . .

and if you know Sheena at all you would never even know she's sick.

But to sit in her doctor's appointment with her and hear her describe her symptoms and what she's been going through

made me love her even more.

She is such an example of strength to me!

And to so many who strive to live their life based on how she lives hers!

We had to get our minds off of

"not so fun doctors appointments"

so we found this little park and had a little photo shoot!

And these two got their KUNG FU moves mastered!

We ended our little adventure at Tartine Bakery

(where a bowl of hot chocolate really is a BOWL of hot chocolate)

Love you Girls. . .

Thanks for the fun day!

And Thank You San Francisco for the great memories of 2011!!!