John gets his cast off

 After an hour and a half in the waiting room I started freaking out on the reception staff.

They were trying to pacify us with a balloon. It wasn't working.

.

Pins slid right out, just like the doctor said. John said "ouch" and we were out of there.

He went swimming yesterday for the first time this summer. He was loving that one.

Annual Tracy Family Visit

 Mel finds her new look

 Rebecca and Mel make gluten-free cookies.

 Emily's been on the trampoline and eating those cookies!

 Jarom, Caleb and John pose with Nathaniel.

Jay and Melanie Tracy Family

 All the cousins!

 Caleb, the bug lover.

 Jarom

 Sariah stayed with us for three nights while the rest of her family went to Grand Junction to get her first experience away. She couldn't get enough popsicles and snow cones because at her house those things are rather rare.

 We went cherry picking at a farm in Payson. For 75 cents a pound it was worth doing!

When Jay's family was done picking for them he asked if I wanted them to continue to pick for me. I said sure and when I returned to my car with my bags I saw that I had kind of a lot of cherries, as in 40 pounds! I gave some to my visiting teachers, we pitted and froze some, ate some of course, and the rest I used for this:

Cherry jam. Kind of a monumental task at this point in my life. 

Sarah helped me with a lot of the pitting and Sariah helped fill the jars.

Lots of people don't even think about cherry jam, but that is because they didn't have three cherry trees like I did in my last house.
Now that Jay's family is gone and all things have quieted down I'm ready to have this baby out I think.

I think we may be ready!

Guest/computer room before

And after.

I think we are ready for a baby!

(Almost. Peter & Sarah get home from 

Tehachapi on Wednesday-ish)

Pregnant belly shots

Took these pictures yesterday after I took my swollen self home early from church. 

I am exactly 8 months here.

Oy I'm a big girl these days.

Baby Shower

 My Visiting Teachers threw me a baby shower on Saturday. They visit teach two of us in the ward that are expecting around the same time and so it was a double shower.
The theme was pink and blue-- seeing as she is expecting a girl and I a boy:)

It was really cute how they set it up with a comfy chair for both of us and blue and pink balloons.

A woman in our ward who teaches sewing at the high school made me this adorable hippo!

I have the classic April-pregnant-look in all these pictures. I am so swollen these days.

This here was my pick for the winning baby made from play-dough. My good friend Shawn (above photo in the orange) made it and I wasn't surprised to hear it was her. She's very creative that way.

I got lots of baby boy clothes and they are all extremely cute. The theme, if I had one, for this baby would definitely be animals because everything has bears or giraffes or tigers on it. It really made me excited to see all the cute little things. 

Right after the shower Peter and I placed the ongoing order I've been keeping with Amazon for the carseat, moses basket, swaddles, etc. Suddenly we both feel the need to get busy and actually have stuff for when the baby arrives. I think we both feel a little better now knowing we have some of the things we needed, though of course in all practicality you don't really have to have much for a baby born in the summer. Still, it is a little like Christmas for me around here and I'm itching to set up everything soon.
Why does it feel like I'm getting a new toy? 

I know I'm not the only one feeling this way as the kids are all feeling excited for this baby to be born. Peter says he is excited but he also knows how easy life is for us now compared to when the baby comes. The man does speak from experience.

We're halfway there!

I've done 1400 names so far. If you haven't started indexing you should try it. It really is very simple to start. I think it's fun and kind of addicting!

Texas death certificates were quite interesting. Amazing how many men I indexed who lived to a ripe old age and then died of a shotgun blast to the chest! Guess you really don't want to mess with Texas, right?


Also makes me grateful reading about all the things that don't regularly prove fatal to our children anymore.


Here are all my badges for the 1940 census:

I know. Woo hoo.
:)
Still I've learned some things and I figure since I know squat about how to do my own family history (and my dad is working on it day in and day out) I can at least help index data for those who do.

John becomes a Bobcat

John came into my Wolf den in April. For pack meeting this month we did something called the "recycle regatta." I read about it in an issue of Scouting magazine and our Cubmaster thought we ought to go ahead and try it out. 

The idea is to let the boys design their own boats out of whatever recycled material you provide (plastic bottles, etc) and then let them race their boats against each other. They can modify as desired and keep racing for as long as you let them. 

I think it was a hit!

John races against his friend Steven.

And here I am, approximately the size and shape of a small house.

(The buttoning of my scout shirt was something I gave up long ago.)

The weather became very cool that night and everyone was wrapping themselves in blankets from their cars. Peter went out to the car and ended up wearing an old sweatshirt of mine.

Guess who wasn't cold? Me--the human incubator.

I had spent this day driving the kids back and forth to Lagoon. It got cold there too and the roller coaster excitement quickly wore off for them. 

I spent approximately five hours in the car that day.

And the boot? Still wearing it. 

Turns out my body is trying to do too many things at once and the healing is taking longer than expected. Not to mention all the weight coming down on that ankle right now.

14 big ones

Sarah turned 14 last week. We did kabobs and rice pilaf and man was it delish. Her one friend party rapidly turned into a 3 friend party. (We were keeping it low key.) 

John gets to play with fire!

FYI the name tag is from her first day at volleyball camp. 

I should have taken a picture of her on her new beach cruiser we got for her. It's pretty snazzy and even has a bottle opener-- a feature she likes to point out with all the bottle opening we do:)

She got some money from her Great-Grandpa Johnson and Grandma Tracy, which more than paid for the new pair of Vans she's been wanting.

When it got dark Peter set up the projector and we all watched
"The Help" in the backyard under the pergola. Good choice, Sarah.
I can watch that movie over and over and never get sick of it.

Sarah is a unbelievably well-behaved, hard-working, helpful and fun child. 

She brings a great deal into our family and we are so grateful for her.

Love you Sarah!