Mount Rushmore

As mentioned, we took a detour on our way to Colorado, by way of Mount Rushmore. Visiting this place is one of my earlier memories- just a fuzzy few seconds of driving around the corner and seeing faces on the mountain. Something so obviously critical to my childhood must be shared with my own kids, right?


My four dudes with the stony four dudes.


Liam wanted me in the photo.


Then Dash wanted a turn with the camera. Grey did too but I don't think any actual photos were taken.


A kind passerby volunteered to do one of us all. I neglected to compensate for my belly shadow.


Onward we stroll.


On the way we noticed the Colorado and Illinois flags reaching toward each other. It made Sean and I look at each other all doe-eyed.


Mr. Washington


Mr. Jefferson


Mr. Roosevelt


Mr. Lincoln


Kids thought it was cool. For a couple weeks after, Grey would spot a sculpture and proclaim, "presdents!"


The visitor's center was fun, the boys liked pretending to explode dynamite, and the cloudy weather rolled in as we were finishing up. Not a bad road trip pit stop.


Quite a presidential profile, wouldn't you say?

Colorado Time

It'd been over two years since Sean visited home so we finally spent a nice week and a half with Mimi and Pompa. Sean was there the whole time, no skipping out to go back to work, which hasn't happened in a while. Here's some tidbits:

Wacky Weather- Most our time in Colorado, it was raining. When it wasn't raining, it was hailing (at least five times!). When it wasn't raining or hailing, it was snowing. We were driving through a hailstorm once and the traffic got so bad we decided to wait it out at the mall. But within the building, water was dripping all over the place from the sky lights and light fixtures, plus water pooling in from the doors. Crazy town.

That's all hail!

Room Sharing- all the brothers got to share a room. I think it helped keep Grey calm during the night (once he'd actually fall asleep) but it meant that they were all up suuuuper early. Well, at least until we put a thick blanket over the window, then they slept a bit longer (phew!)

High Altitude- holy baloney, that altitude messed with this pregnant lady the whole trip. I'd spend most mornings light-headed, weak, and ready to sleep at any moment. I sure got ready for the day slowly.

Car Sleep- I tease my mom about how quickly she can fall asleep in the car (I'm talking mid-conversation, here) but I'm nearly as bad. The number of times I fell asleep in the car this vacation was at least a couple dozen. I'm going to blame it on the altitude again.

Bishop Succession- Sean's dad was just released as Bishop of the ward. Now get this, he was replaced with the same man who replaced my dad as Bishop in Illinois fifteen years (or something) ago! Isn't that the bizarrest? Yep, Bishop Sperry was called after my dad's tenure, and then a few years ago, the Sperry family moved to Colorado into Sean's home ward (which in itself is so coincidental). And now he's Bishop again. I just can't get over how crazy that is.

Eighth Anniversary- Sean and I had babysitters for our anniversary, score! We had an awesome dinner (with free and delicious chocolate cake), did another Escape the Room (in 43 minutes, yo!), and saw the Avengers. It was so dang great to spend so much time with my Love.

Tender Hearts- Each twin had a sensitive moment during a movie. While watching Paddington, when a main character is shot with a tranquilizer dart, Liam welled up with tears, ran to me shaking, and wanted to stop watching the movie immediately. While watching Home, it was announced that a certain group was about to destroy the world and Dash couldn't stop the tears from coming and came to snuggle. These two boys have very tender, sensitive hearts.


Great Grandparents- our kids don't get to see their great grandparents nearly enough but Great Grandma and Grandpa Bradley drove over to be with us a few days. We felt so lucky!

Little Brother- Grey discovered his role as Annoying Little Brother during the trip. We're talking swiping toys, chucking books at his brothers, hitting and biting, yelling things repeatedly at the top of his lungs, all while Liam and Dash whined and Grey giggled.

Long Drive There- We split up the drive to Colorado into two days, which meant we stayed in a hotel for the night. Grey would NOT sleep anywhere but one of the beds, so he ended up in Sean and my bed. Problem was, it was a pretty narrow bed, so I ended up sleeping flipped- head at the foot of the bed, feet up next to Grey. One of the worst night sleeps- kids up during the night, my hips constantly going numb, Grey kicking me, Pogo whining in the middle of the night, everyone up early. The night before, though we had a nice stroll around downtown Rapid City where there's presidential statues on all the main corners. And we got to see Mount Rushmore the next morning- more on that later.

Long Drive Back- It unexpectedly started snowing the day before our planned departure and kept on snowing for hours into the night. Our plan of leaving in the early morning (on Mother's Day) was stymied by very snowy neighborhood roads. So we left a few hours late- which meant we were there to skype with Sean's missionary brother!- and didn't get back home until 4am. Everyone had a sleepy next day.

Some crazy, little people were excited about the snow


We were ill prepared to dress for winter.


At least it made a fun snack?


Then everyone wised up and jumped in the hot tub.

Stay tuned for some grand Colorado adventures!

Kiting

One windy day, Sean came home from work with a kite.


And so an evening was spent giggling in the cool breeze.


The kids caught on to the concept quickly- stretch out the string and run!


And just try to catch it!


Exactly.


I could hardly get a photo of Liam because he never stopped moving the entire time.


And none of them stopped laughing.

(POST EDIT: Some videos of the kite in actions:


)

the last ten weeks

Okay seeing as I'm now THIRTY WEEKS (!), I should catch you up on the belly shots. Of which I only have two. Look how petite I am at 20 weeks (didn't feel petite at the time, though, that's for sure).


Steadily growing


Dash wanted to use the camera and his brothers wanted to hug baby, so that worked out well.


Sweet kisses.


Then Liam wanted to use the camera and didn't aim quite right when Dash was giving hugs. Oops. At least Liam captured this great face.

Pregnancy Notes:
- Baby Girl has moved past simple kicks and punches, now preferring rolls and performing a series of karate moves. I'm frequently pummeled from the inside.
- Still real tired, always ready to sleep, needing to take lots of sitting breaks.
- My hips, they are a'hurtin'. Getting up from laying down or off of a hard surface (like the floor) must be done gingerly.
- Every now and then I get the worst belly pain, like my skin is about to rip open and any touch is torture. I think it's just gas in my weirdly squished organs but it sure hurts. So far, it's subsided on it's own after a few hours.
- Passed the glucose test!
- I'm mildly anemic. I keep forgetting to buy iron supplements.
- I keep adding to my To Do For Baby list without crossing much off. Go ahead and kick in Nesting Instinct... anytime...