Am I being punished?

Okay, so many of you know of our issue with the foundation of this house. It's in not too good of shape, but that sort of comes with living in Greenville and the black clay that everyone's foundation is on. But, here's the kicker....a few weeks ago we noticed the carpet in the soon-to-be nursery was damp and molded along the wall. A plumber was called and there was a major leak in between the wall which was repaired. Then we had to let the carpet totally dry which took quite a while. Then we headed to Blue Haven so everything stopped for a while. Just last week we got around to calling a carpet cleaner to come and professionally clean that carpet since it had mold and a pretty bad smell. They were scheduled to come tomorrow. So about an hour ago Shawn and I were moving the last few things out of that room and lo and behold....another very wet spot...but no mold at least! We pulled up all the carpet around it and can't seem to find a leak at all which makes NO sense! So we had to call the carpet people and cancel our sacred appointment until a plumber can get out here to figure out what's going on. So now we are playing phone tag with a plumber to get one out here ASAP. We are having the house leveled on Thursday and the carpet people said it would be best to wait until after the house was leveled in case more leaks happen after the leveling takes place. So we are at T minus 5-7 weeks until Ava gets here and still absolutely NADA has been done with the nursery. If someone is tinkering with me......that is not a smart idea right now since I'm REALLY PREGNANT. I am trying to stay calm, but it just seems that everything is working against us getting this nursery together before Ava gets here. That's surreal for me to even write that last part of that last sentence because it's not even fathomable to not have my nursery done before my baby arrives. I NEED A VACATION!!!!!

Too cute!

I took Elle to Mesquite today and had her picture taken at The Picture People. They have always done a great job of taking her picture and they are running a contest right now too so if she wins she gets around $8,000 is cash and prizes. WOOHOO!!! Anyway, if you want to go and see the pics they took of her I'll have the info below and if you want to buy a sheet of pictures it's $18/sheet and I'll go in with you if it's pics I want to. I just got a free 8X10 of her standing up but there were others I really wanted too....just can't afford $18 plus I really only want a 5X7 of any other one (and there's 2 5X7's on any sheet). Well, here's the info and hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
Go to smilestore.picturepeople.com
create an account (email and password) if you don't already have one
select "view new sitting"
enter the sitting # and password which are:
sitting #: 160002
password: 8F762F8B5A
If this doesn't work for you email me and let me know.
love, emma

I love glow-in-the-dark!!!

What a fun night we just finished having! A friend of mine from church and I came up with the idea to do couples Bunco. Then I added that we should make it glow-in-the-dark. I spent all week rounding up 5 blacklites. I put them all over our living room and kitchen, and blacked out the windows. We had so much fun playing with everything glowing. But, I have to say I think the best part was all of the DELICIOUS food that everyone brought! Hope it doesn't effect my weigh-in Wednesday at the dr's office!

Here's the whole gang posing all pretty!

Here's all of us with the blacklite effect...just doesn't do us justice!

The winner's table....this does not show the REAL winners! This was just the goofballs warming the chairs for the winners.

She wore an.....

I just thought this picture was too funny! I wanted to do a page in my pregnancy scrapbook about how I stayed cool during a summer pregnancy. This was me floating in the pool.

Interesting....very interesting

Today's high is 104. I believe yesterday's was 107....is this a cruel joke? At 10 pm it is still in the high 90's here....crazy! I went to my Dr's appt today. Waited 1 hour and 15 minutes for a 5 minute appointment. lovely. I did get some interesting news though and it was something I suspected. There is no telling for sure yet, but it seems that Ava could very well be in a breech position. I have had a feeling of that for a few weeks now just from movements and less need to pee and all that. This is interesting because now I may not have to worry about choosing between a VBAC and a C-section...it may be chosen for me. Also, I believe if I'm not mistaken that for breech and C-section I would get to have that 2 weeks before my due date :) That alone makes me a little less bummed by the prospect. Either way, I have appointments every 2 weeks now so maybe they will have a better idea when I go back. If there's a possibility of it, they will do a sonogram to determine for sure. It doesn't bother me and if anything excites me that I can plan everything better and have Ava possibily 2 weeks earlier! In other news, remember how Elle was sick all weekend. Well she developed a mild rash on her torso and back and so I looked it up on the interent to see what was going on. I believe she had Roseola, a common childhood disease. It's highly contagious, but mainly to young children-that's why Shawn and I don't have any symptoms. It's symptoms are a high fever that comes on fast for a few days and then is gone very quickly. It can involve a runny nose and those type of symptoms. Then usually as the fever disappears within a day or two a rash on the trunk, torso, back and occasionally face occur for a few days. Elle has/had every single one of those symptoms. I believe she got it at camp from another child. Anyway, she is perfectly fine and the most dangerous part of the whole thing is the fever which she's done with. I am going to keep her home from church tonight though since it's highly contagious to other children. Hopefully by Sunday she's good to go because I already missed this past Sunday morning and night and now tonight and I'm needing ADULT INTERACTION!!!! So, there's our update for today. I'm going to go imitate a beached whale and get in our pool.

7 Months Pregnant Today

Some of you asked what I was looking like about now. There is no way to explain how round a belly can look but here's a picture. No, I haven't doctored this picture in any way...this is truly what I look like....didn't think a preg. woman could look that good did you? I even had toenail polish to match( thanks Lesley :)....that I did all by myself. It was interesting.

Pictures Part 4

This is how good 28 can look...taken on July 13th :)


This highlight of our experience....standing next to Napoleon Dynamite! If you don't know who he is I don't think I can explain. This was actually a guy from our bible class that we taught. He dressed up like him the last night of camp.


Elle and the precampers preforming at the staff talent show. The boy next to her is Mason and he's almost exactly one year older. Those two were hilarious...they went back and forth between wanting to put their arm around the other while they shoved the arm off their shoulder.


Elle playing in the sand.

Pictures Part 3

Say chees..y. This was after a week of being there. It's on Sunday...no that isn't the way we dress day to day at CBH.


Happy 4th of July!


You can't tell but Shawn and I carved our initals in that Aspen tree 7 years ago about 2 months after we got married :) This is on top of Johnson Mesa.

This was twin's day...we all had a shirt that spelled out "Girl" on the tummy.

Pictures Part 2

Why are ya'll all gathering around the two preggies?


SURPRISE! It's a baby shower!!!


Elle is in love with her Uncle Chad.


We had so much fun with these goofs! Best part of the whole trip!

Holding all my gifts at the "shower."

Pictures Part 1

Elle and Daddy got a little rained on.


This is on our lot...Elle was in her own world singing.


Fwinging on her tummy.


How we spent the first week...yippie!

Camp Blue Haven

Okay, let's see if I can do the last two weeks justice. We left Saturday, July 1st and had an easy drive. For the first week of camp, the weather was GORGEOUS! It was cold and rainy and I was feeling great. It was just such a relief to wake up to 50 degree weather and lots of rain. There was enough rain to raise the burn ban and that really says something. In the first week, some of our best memories were hanging out with Uncle Chad and Aunt Lesley and going to visit our lot. If you didn't know, last summer Shawn and I, and Chad and Lesley went in together and purchased a 99 year lease on a beautiful piece of land near Blue Haven. We look forward to building a cabin maybe in the next 5-10 years! Keep that in mind when you think of throwing away that old but decent piece of furniture or that appliance that works but you don't want anymore!
The second week was a little bit of a different story....at least for me. On Monday of the 2nd week the rain quit. It got hot....really hot....like 85 degrees in our cabin during the day. I just felt like I couldn't get away from it and I couldn't seem to get comfortable anywhere I went. Sleep wasn't too great either once it got really warm. But, Shawn and Elle were still living it up. Shawn got to go on the "swing" which is sort of like a mini sky coaster you see at Six Flags. He tried to get Elle to go but she wasn't into it. She got to play in the sand a lot more the 2nd week and I think that was her highlite. Every time we went by the sand and swingset she said "I want to fwing on my tummy!" We also drove to the top of Johnson Mesa during the second week. It's about a 6 mile drive and 1,000 feet up from camp. Less than a mile from the top on that very secluded road....the tire blew out in the vehicle we were driving. No cell phone reception....no ability to communicate with anyone....bear sighting a few days earlier on this same road....a fun adventure. Lesley went with us so while I preoccupied Elle and tried to stay in the shade, Lesley read the instruction manual on how to change a flat and Shawn tried to change it. It was funny to me but no everyone saw the humor. Shawn, our hero, eventually got it all worked out and we finished our way to the top and got a beautiful view to boot! My highlite was getting a suprise baby shower from my friends there. I got quite a few cute outfits and baby stuff and even a little bit of money. They even bought cookies for refreshments. Elle got a few things too as a big sis. She got a book called "Big Sister Now" and I think in the 1 week that we've had it we have read it about 10 times. She loves it because I change the names to Elle and Ava so maybe some of it is sinking in a little better.
My birthday was the day before we left and I had gotten numerous cards and packages from friends and family so that was nice. I convinced Shawn not to make me stand in a chair in the dining hall this year and have the guy counselors sing to me so that was nice to not worry about. That same night, we had the staff talent show. To my surprise, my husband and Chad performed a skit together. Chad came out lip-singing the male part to "Come What May" from the movie Moulin Rouge. When the female singers voice came on here came Shawn in a dress and wig lip-singing to Nicole Kidman's voice. I have never been so proud of my hubbie in all my life. They were such a hit and it was hilarious! Although we now have Elle in counseling, I think it was well worth it.
We left the next morning and not a minute too soon in my mind. I was tired, hot, and ready for my own room, bed, and bathroom! The trip back felt a little slower and Elle whined most of the 13 hours back. Then when we got up Saturday morning, she had a fever of 102.8. Not a great way to start the weekend after being SO tired. We fought the fever and buy Sunday afternoon it was finally gone but the whine stuck around. Today, she is perfectly fine and I think she had a cold, which I'm still holding on to. We registered at Target today for Miss Ava and I had fun. If you want to check out my registry it's at Target.com. Okay, so that's our last two weeks in a nut shell.
Here are a few things that happened here while we were gone. 1. Our elders hired a new preacher: Randy Daw from Tyler 2. Shawn's truck got broken into and a window smashed while on the church parking lot 3. They towed the truck to our house 4. Our house was inspected for how bad the foundation is and leveling work is set for August 3rd or there abouts which means most likely no working on the nursery till then (If you know me, that will be a serious hardship for me to wait till I have 6 weeks until due date to begin nursery...I had Elle's done when I was 5 months preggie!) Pics are coming in the next few entries.