"We have a birthday..." declares 10-month pregnant woman of misery.

Most women are with child for 9 months.  Me?  I prefer to suffer for 10.  Well- I don't prefer it, but multiple weeks overdue seems to be my style.  So we have been swimming everyday for two weeks to pass the time and finally, FINALLY, we decided to pick a date.  Having the baby on Tuesday.  We'll let you know how it goes.

Meanwhile:  Here is our week in review:

Our front lawn is looking awesome, thanks to Q.  He says the novelty of mowing has not worn off.  He even set up a little work shop in our garage where he sharpens the mower blade.  We're still trying to get the sprinklers just right and Annie is determined to help.  She loves water and being outside.

 Poor Annie- she got her first real owie, a burn, this week.  She was so distraught she took a 4 hour nap immediately following our kisses and band aides.  Now we have to kiss every scratch and itch and I've just barely been able to talk her out of multiple chickie band aids. 

 I finally lost it on Thursday.  I stayed in bed crying all morning because I was still pregnant and this one has been so hard and it is still not over... and other stuff that has been building up and driving me crazy.  Then, suddenly, we were surprised with company.  Q's family showed up to spend some time with us. I was absolutely overwhelmed at first but it was a really good break because they entertained Annie for 3 straight days and we took her swimming in their hotel pools all weekend as well.  Annie held her own as the only girl in a sea of boy cousins!  She absolutely loves "the boys" and we were glad to catch up with them again.  Q had just been saying how much he missed his family and in one week we've had spontaneous visits from two of his sisters.  I guess Q's out-loud wishes are really powerful.  Maybe he could wish for a certain baby to make an appearance next.

 Best invention ever:  The 100% sun proof wet suit for 2-year-olds! I feel like the best mom ever.

Question:  It's midnight.  Do you wake your hubby up to rub lotion on your sunburned swollen feet or just suffer all night because it is impossible to sleep and you just finished your book (1776) anyway?  I know- you let him sleep.  But oh how my feet ache.

Thank You Anita: Lemon Bars for Dinner (you're going to want this recipe)!

I've been wanting to blog and blog for ages it seems and am now dedicating my lovely summer vacation (three more school days!!!) to catching up and documenting our lives.  Finally, some real mom time.  For those of you who blog, don't you love it!  Don't you love that your posts are labeled by category and your pictures are dated and your journal is archived?  I do!  And I'm so sad to have lost so many potential posts to the crazy that has been this Spring.

So for today:  I miss Anita.  That's Quinn's sister.  I should call her, but I am not one for calling.  Actually, I have clinical phone phobia. Is there anything worse than talking on the phone?  Maybe natural childbirth... but that's just me.  So, in lou of my missing Anita, I am going to make her lemon bars!  They were fabulous when last she whipped these up and I don't even like lemon desserts.  Hopefully this works without lemon zest.  Here goes.  You should try them too!

Lemon Bars

Crust:
1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup granulate sugar
2 cups flour
1/8 tsp kosher salt

Filling:
6 extra large eggs at room temp
3 cups granulate sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon zest(4 to 6 lemons)
1 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup flour
Confectioner's Sugar

Preheat the oven to 350
For the crust, cream the butter and sugar until light. Combine the flour and salt and with the mixer low add to the butter until just mixed. Dump the dough onto a well-floured board and gather into a ball. Flatten the dough with floured hands and press into a 9 x 13 baking sheet. Chill. Bake for 15-20 mins, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack.
For the filling, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the filling is set. Let cool completely. Cut and dust with confectioners sugar.

Enjoy!!!!

Hadley Family Reunion 2011: "I'll Stand by You"

June 10th, 2011

Meree and I had our turn to put on the Hadley Family Reunion this year.
We chose: "I'll Stand by You" as the theme and it turned out to be a clever one. There were lots of pun options anyhow. If I'm going to catch up on blogging and I'm backed up since June, I'm going to have to limit my photos. Here are the few of many that made this post's cut:

We met at Temple Square, toured the childrens section of the museum and watched a film (that the volunteers stopped early because they showed us the wrong one).

Then we went to Anita's in Payson and opened the theme up with a terrific two-year slide show complete with 12 songs featuring the "Stand By You" theme.

Next Day: We played games including a stand-by-your-fort competition (I bought these awesome color-able forts on Zulily back when I had money) and competed to see whose tower would stand the tallest
(ours would have won but we ran out of time).

That afternoon we went to a park to play games involving feet (which are used for standing).







Thus continued the summer of Annie loathing the car seat.

Quite a Bit

We've been up to quite a bit. So much, in fact, that I have scarce had time to update this little journal and many a night have I lied awake pining over what I could be blogging. Alas, I've developed a strict policy- if it's past 2 am, it's too late to blog. And now you know how very little sleep we've been getting round our parts the past 3 weeks. Stretched much too thin and not in the physical sense, Q and I are ready for a respite but I'm afraid respites are a still very far off in the distance. Here is a bit of that quite a bit I mentioned we have been up to (part 1):

THE HOUSE is a huge undertaking.
As of today, however, I can safely say
we will begin moving in by the END OF MAY!

Still on the TO DO list for the next five years: the yard.
We've begun killing the weeds but it is a small dent in an epic battle

A few weekends ago Annie & I stopped over in DELTA
on our way up to SLC and OGDEN:

Annie is a sleepless baby. Leave it to me to have the kid that never sleeps.
She does really well for pictures though. Smiles on cue every time... even if all the other kids are crying. I don't have the real photos yet but here are some I snapped with my Nikon:

We visited the girls in SLC for a top secret snap shot.

Annie could be in the middle of crying and all I have to do is pull out the camera to get her to stop. We are getting a little worried about her eagerness to be on film and constant amusement at her reflection in mirrors. Oh well. You've got to be pretty secure to survive life right?

Annie waves hello and goodbye, shares all her bites, and is my entire heart.


The SUPPORT STAFF:

We were lucky to have such a beautiful afternoon in SLC.

After pics, we checked out the petting zoo:
Annie would have liked it better if there had been more dogs.
So far the only name she clearly acknowledges is Buster (our dog).
It's been that way since she could turn her head.

BON VOYAGE QM:

We met Quinn in Ogden to say goodbye to his mom who is now happily donning pioneer-wear in Nauvoo.

...And THAT my friends is just the beginning of one entirely INSANE month!

...to be continued.