HB Picnic

Yeah, I know it's Tuesday and the picnic was Sunday, but I finally got everything converted and posted. Here's the pics and video. If you missed it, it was a great time. I hope you like the pics and video.

Cole smiling for the camera... kind of.

Faith striking a pose.

Grace, showing off her cherries

Jaelle picking cherries, I think some made it in her mouth

Look at those dirty feet.

Andrew and Jenna

Angie and Izabell with her messy hands

Calvin, smiling for the camera after eating a few cherries.

Rachel with Anna sucking her thumb

Roy driving the kids around on the tractor

Ruthie happy in Hollie's arms

Brian lifting up Anna on his shoulders

Waiting for the trampoline to open up

Picking cherries from the truck... I'm sure it's safe. Chris is there to catch them.

Tarzan, I mean Roy swinging from a tree... scary

It felt cooler than it looks

So Exciting

We went to the doctors today to hear the heartbeat... but we got to see the heartbeat. It was kind of a cheap little machine, but it was way cooler than just hearing the heart beat, we actually got to see the little baby's heart moving and beating, it was awesome. Here's a few pics of the ultrasounds.




We thought Jodi was 11 Weeks, but it looks as though the due date is Feb 15th, not the 14th, but I'm still saying Valentine's day is the due date.

Today's the day...

that we've decided to finally tell everyone, well at least those that read my blog. Half of the world already knows - not really half, but half of the people we know. We initially were only going to tell our immediate family, but then Grace opened her mouth to the neighbors, so I figured a few neighbors knew that didn't already know, and I let it slip out. It didn't help that we bought a minivan. Of course, people would ask Jodi and she can't just lie to them, so those people also know. Jodi went to an appointment on Tuesday to hopefully hear the heartbeat and do some sort of ultrasound, while I stayed at home with the kids and watched Indiana Jones. My favorite of the Indiana Jones Trilogy (I guess now could be quardrilogy or tetralogy) is the Temple of Doom, but I let Grace pick, so we watched the Ark of the Covenant. We had planned to wait until the ultrasound to tell everyone, but it's been 9 weeks that she's been pregnant, so it's kinda hard to keep the news from everyone. One of the ladies at Jodi's bible study asked her if she was pregnant, and the word is out, so we've decided it's no longer a secret and we'd just tell everyone. I figured I would put it on here first.

If we have a boy, his name will be Ephraim, and if we have a girl her name will most likely be Hope, but we're still debating that one, since it might be kinda cheesy with 2 sisters, Grace and Faith. Boy or Girl I will be happy. Part of me wants a boy, but I'll be happy with whatever God graces me with.

Long weekend coming to an end

It's been pretty hot every day, but we've made the most of it. We set the sprinkler up for the girls, we went out and played, rode our bikes, and even walked to the store. We rented some movies, did some lounging as well, in our somewhat nice 75-ish degree house along with fans blowing in our direction. My weekend comes to an end and now I'm looking forward to only having to work three days before another weekend. It looks as though, I may need to pick up one extra day, but I haven't really made a decision on that yet. One the guys on the other shifts, the guy that I used to work with needs someone to cover for him, and it looks as though I'm the only one that can do it. I'm not looking forward to splitting up my weekend like that, if I fill in.

I think I made some progress. I actually woke up last night at 3:30 and Faith wouldn't go back to bed. She is so determined. I would lay her down, and she would scream for mommy and come running out. I was hoping that I could take care of it without Jodi waking up, but after about 30 to 45 minutes, Jodi decided to succumb to the pressure and give in to Faith. Of course, once she came out Faith stayed in bed. I guess it's the mother's touch. Oh well, I'm used to it. At least Jodi let me sleep in. She's so great.

Yesterday was one of those days...

where I failed at trying to be humble.

I was trying to let Jodi take a little nap, cause Faith and Grace have been waking up real early and waking Jodi up, and I slept right through it all. While watching, or more like supposed to be watching the kids, I was messing around on the computer or something, and before I knew it Faith had woken her up. I felt kinda bad, and didn't really want to admit that I was wrong when Jodi was upset with me. I remembered that I needed to be humble, but it was really hard to just apologize about something that seemed so menial. I realize that nothing is really menial when it comes to being humble nor is there anything small in a marriage. Of course, we worked things out, I guess it's "baby steps" for me, to lose the pride, even when something seems small.

Pride separates us from God (Ps 10:4), and just as easily will separate us from those around us. How can we have a successful relationship with our spouses if we're creating boundaries with pride? At least, I've succeeded in admitting that I need to be more humble... I don't know how far that gets me, but I'm trying.

Sunday, Went to Church... it's been a while.

Today our pastor went over Romans chapter 12, can't remember the verses. But, the verses that impacted me the most dealt with pride and humility. Our pastor challenged us to try to improve within our lives one of the 18 different commands within the verses that we went over. I chose the one about pride, cause I know that's one of my weak areas. Not just admitting I'm wrong, and needing to be humble, but also along of the lines of not being conceited. Although, I think that it is applicable to multiple areas of my life, including my marriage. Pride can mean so many things and it covers so many aspects of our lives. It's my challenge to work on becoming a more humble husband.

Started the new Schedule... Digging it!

So, I started the new schedule... you know the one I've been blogging about... the one where I get Sunday's off. Yes, that one. I'm liking it so far, so I hope I keep liking it. I like the guy I'm working with, and I like feeling like I have a little bit of responsibility. Plus, I'm looking forward to actually going to church this Sunday. Yipeee!

Vacation

We just had a nice little vacation down in California with my family in the Placer County area. My parents flew in from Missouri and hung out for a week. Mostly we just lounged around and did nothing, but we got out and visited people here and there and made our stop at the In and Out burger joint. We bought a little pool for the kids and let them swim around, more like play, but they were like fish, in the water every chance they had. We had fun, but my dad wasn't too keen on the lounging around part, he likes to go places and drive around and see the sights (the burning fires or something). On the fourth, we walked about a half mile up to the cemetary, which had a nice clearing, to view the fireworks that the county was setting off that night. My kids had a blast and they really enjoyed their time with the family, so much in fact that they didn't want to leave.

Before we left, we made one last stop off at Aunt Heidi's (my sister's house) and made breakfast - French Toast, eggs and bacon. We played some games, including Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, which Grace beat her first song on the Medium difficulty level. We left a little after 1. On the way home, we stayed at a hotel with a swimming pool, and of course my fish of children swam it up as much as they could. Then we meandered our way over to the DQ and got hot fudge sundae's and ice cream cone's for the kids. We walked back and watched Scooby Doo with the kids before turning off the lights for the night in our cozy hotel room.

Finally, we made it home. A little dizzy from road travels with an upset stomache - Happy Anniversary to us. We were able to relax and watch a movie.