Free Range Family

Wow! Already 26 weeks! That means only two more weeks until I am at my third trimester! How crazy! :) This week has been very rough on me, both physically as well as emotionally. Lon getting into that car accident on Monday really took a toll on our family and I feel like we are still recovering from it. I just feel so exhausted and blah this week! Oh well lol. Such is life. :) Here's this week's Pregnancy Post! How far along: 26 weeks and 3 days Size of Baby: 2 pounds and 14 1/2 inches long or the size of a cucumber Developments of Baby: The network of nerves in your baby's ears is better developed and more sensitive than before. She may now be able to hear both mine and Lon's voice as we chat with each other. Her lungs are continuing to develop and she is focusing on putting on more baby fat and weight. Weight Gain: Hallelujah! I have finally gained another POUND , bringing me to a total of eleven pounds for this pregnancy lol! Wow... Belly Button In...

Sorry about not posting at all yesterday. Originally I was going to post about our Easter Sunday but I changed my mind and decided to first post about Easton and Treyton's birthday party. However, I had zero chances to even get on the computer yesterday. Lon got into a pretty severe car accident at work yesterday. He was leaving the parking lot to run some errands for his boss, when he and another car collided head on. Lon was in the process of putting on his seatbelt when the accident happened and he was launched head first into his steering wheel. His car's front axle is snapped in half, so his car is most likely totaled. Even though his car is probably gone for good, we are so endlessly blessed and thankful that Lon is okay. He refused to go to the hospital to get fully checked out (that's my ridiculous husband for you, won't ever go in to get checked out. Grrrrr!) but the paramedic cleared him of a concussion. I could not imagine what I would do if he had not been...

Friday, we took everyone to get Easter Bunny pictures before Aunt Natalie and Jake left to head back home. I was nervous about Alan being horrified of the bunny because he had never taken pictures with him, or even seen him. But he did fantastic! Easter family pic 2012 Our Easter boys after seeing the Bunny Then Friday night, we all got together to dye Easter eggs. Alan, Uncle Kalvin and Aunt April each got to dye nine eggs, except one of Alan's broke so we headed home with only eight. But Alan did a great job slowly setting the eggs into the dye and making sure not to splash it everywhere, which I was endlessly grateful for as it was vinegar mostly lol. The eggs turned out vibrant and beautiful and Alan really enjoyed dying them almost all by himself. Our finished Easter eggs. :) Yesterday Alan and I went to two different Easter egg hunts with Grandma Melanie, Aunt April and Uncle Kalvin. We were supposed to meet up with Kelsie and Kelton but they had to switch plan...

Today is Aunt April's 13th birthday. I can't even believe that Aunt April is now thirteen. She is now a teenager! I am having a hard time processing this lol, harder of a time than I did when Aunt Natalie turned 13. But then again, I was sixteen myself when Aunt Natalie turned thirteen, but with Aunt April I have helped raise her since she was a toddler so its more like she is one of my own. Its just weird to think about her turning this age! Aunt Natalie, Uncle Kalvin, Aunt April and I several years ago Aunt April has grown from a little rambunctious girl to a intelligent, mature young lady. She has become a A student in school, a beautiful artist, a talented violinist, and such a great dancer. Not to mention a wonderful aunt to Alan. She is always willing to help me out with him and enjoys playing with him too. She may be a goof sometimes but her personality is just beautiful. What a wonderful young lady she has become! Aunt April trying on sunglasses and bein...

Yesterday, I had my Traveling Red Dress photo shoot. Aunt Natalie and Jake went with me up to the Rims to take pictures. Thursday it was beautiful and sunny out, however yesterday it started to rain and sleet some. That didn't stop us though, as we are Montanans lol. :P So we still went out. Let me tell you though, it was just FREEZING out there! I wore my winter coat the whole time I wasn't taking pictures and I still froze lol! The wind also made it hard to see and smile in the pictures, but I still felt beautiful and wonderful in my dress. :) I loved the whole experience and can't wait to share this dress with another needy woman. This dress made me feel powerful and beautiful, at a time where I haven't necessarily felt that way. This pregnancy has been rough on me. I have had to deal with morning sickness and weight gain issues, plus just the normal fatigue and exhaustion I have been experiencing. I haven't felt beautiful in a while, just blah. This photo sh...

Last night was Aunt April's birthday party. We had dinner and ice cream cake at Grandma Melanie's house  and we even played some baseball in the setting sun lol. Well I didn't, I just watched and laughed at my crazy family. For dinner we had ham, green bean casserole, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, stuffing and rolls. It was so yummy, but Mister Picky Pants Alan chose to have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich instead. Oh well lol, he at least tried a few bites first. Aunt April and her birthday cake I convinced everyone to go outside and play with Alan and I after dinner, so Grandpa Kevin and Uncle Kalvin decided that they wanted to play baseball. We started out in the back yard, but didn't have enough room and Uncle Kalvin sent the ball over the neighbor's fence on the first hit lol! So we moved to the front of the yard. Trees were designated as bases and a block of wood was claimed home base. Jake sat behind home base on a bucket, playing some sort of redneck c...

Happy Friday everyone! I am so excited for today, we are taking my photos for the Traveling Red Dress and then we are taking Alan and the boys to see the Easter Bunny. Then we are doing some Easter shopping yay lol! :) Here's Five Question Friday!! Would you prefer having people over for dinner or going to their house? I prefer to go over to people's houses for dinner. Simply because my house is not really my house lol. It belongs to my toddler. Just about every inch of my house has something that belongs to Alan, whether it be toys or clothing, etc. Its not like my house is always messy (though there are days were it gets that way lol) but it is just full of toddler stuff. So having dinner has been a no go at our house. But we sure love going over to people's houses and are always willing to bring a side dish or drinks! :D Favorite Bible verse and why? Oooh, sorry can't help you with this one. But since I am Buddhist, how about a share a good mantr...

I discovered this organization a couple of days ago and being the hippie that I am, I didn't think it would be too difficult for me. I hardly ever wear shoes lol, especially in the summer. I told my husband about this and he thought it was silly because it wouldn't be a challenge for me. But that's not the point of this organization. Its to get conversation started. All around the world, children are going about their lives EVERYDAY without shoes. This may not seem like that big of a deal right? Except that lots of these children don't live in places with asphalt and cement, like we do. The majority of these shoeless children live in third world countries, places where no one should be barefoot. Especially not a child.  Here are some disturbing examples: *In the Philippines, there are 30,000 people living on a landfill without shoes and are exposed daily to broken glass, syringes and other filth. *In Kenya, there are 1,890,000 cases of jiggers in children...

Happy Thursday everyone! I hope you are all having as nice of weather as we are, since I am off of work today we plan on spending all day outside in the sun!!! :) Tonight is Aunt April's birthday party, so Alan and I spent most of the morning making her birthday card. I think it looks wonderful! This week's topic: Dealing with Sickies, what do you keep on hand? Thankfully, Alan has a very high immune system like his mother and father. I can't tell you how many times I hear about my co-worker's kids getting sick like every other week, and it just makes me sick to my stomach. Those poor kiddos! :( Alan has probably only ever been sick four times in his life, and a couple of those were just infections. But I'm not going to boast about how my kid is sickness free because about once a year, when the real bad crud is going around, Alan will catch something and get sick. And when he does get sick, it hits him HARD. Poor little man, he will sleep all day and nig...