Tyler's Bday part 2

Thankfully Grandma made Tyler this birthday brownie cupcake creation, because we weren't even home at all that day to do a traditional birthday cake. This was a lot of fun, and as you can see, the kids really enjoyed it. I couldn't get Annie to hold less than two at a time.


It was really fun to spend the afternoon with, first Grandma Hazel, and then Grandma Noelle. It would be the last time we would spend with them before heading to Utah.

Tyler's Birthday Part 3

After having a fun time with Grandma in the afternoon, we went to pick up two of Tyler's best friends for some more birthday fun. We went to 'Color Me Mine' where the kids all picked a piece of pottery that they got to glaze. Then we had dinner at Fudruckers and ice cream from Coldstone (all three places were right next to each other, so that was easy!). Aunt Vanessa came along too, and we saw Joel, Kristine and baby Joe later to say goodbye. The kids were quite exhausted by the end of the day, and so were we! I didn't quite realize how much we were trying to pack into one day when I planned everything, but it was fun.

Kings Dominion

Back in high school, Andrew and I spent many Memorial Day weekends taking advantage of something called "Mormon Days" at a nearby amusement park. Members of the church could get a half price ticket into the park on Memorial Day weekend, and we would go with many friends from church. Since my birthday often falls near Memorial Day, going there was usually part of the celebration. We've wanted to make it back there (without kids-taking the kids equals a fun, but completely different experience!) for several years, but it just hasn't worked out. Well, this year, our amazing sister Vanessa saved us yet again. She took the kids ALL DAY and gave us one of the greatest gifts I've ever been given...an entire day to spend just with Andrew riding rollercoasters! :) We had a blast. We realized it had been 12 years since we'd been there together. And even though we had to leave the next morning for a 14+ hour drive, we decided to forget all our worries and just have fun together. Since we knew we'd be on the road for my birthday, it was really fun to celebrate early.

Last outings with great friends and family

One of my dearest friends from high school, it was so fun to go out to dinner with her and to meet her boyfriend. Andrew and I had a great time with them.

We love you Bennions. Thanks for an amazing, fun dinner with more good food than we could eat, and lots of laughter as always.

The kids with Grandma Hazel. It's been so great to live closer to Andrew's grandmother and we sure will miss seeing her often.

Beach Week!

Wow, I didn't realize how long it has been since we've made a new post. If we keep this up, no one will come check our blog anymore! Sorry...it has just been harder to update things when we still don't have our own computer to upload pictures onto. We'll try and do better in a few weeks when phase two of our move is complete.

We just got back from a great family reunion with Andrew's family at Virginia Beach. This was the first time we've chosen VA Beach over the Outer Banks, and we were all very happy with the choice. The beaches are very similar, and we cut a couple of hours off the drive.

We had a great time. The kids loved visiting with cousins they don't get to see very often , and the adults had tons of fun hanging out together at night after the kids all went to bed. The house we stayed in was located directly on the beach, with nothing but sand between us and the ocean. I don't think we'll ever be able to go back to anything else after that!

A few highlights of the trip were: *My niece was baptized in the small pool we had there in the house. Tyler even gave a talk on baptism. It was a beautiful experience for everyone. *We saw dolphins quite a few times. I'm infatuated with them, and was thrilled when I saw one while I was running along the beach. The dolphin was swimming in the same direction I was running, coming above the surface often, and I felt like we were running together. :) *My sister in law Rachel works in a salon in California, and while we were at the beach she was nice enough to give me a haircut that I've been considering for a while. *While we were there, Andrew and I celebrated (by hanging out at the beach with the kids, of course) the day we met each other (which was 15 years ago!).

Here are a few pictures.

Catching Up Part 2

Read Andrew's catch-up post below if you haven't already. He's pretty much covered everything, I'll just add one other story that happened on Annie's birthday:

Ever since becoming a doula, there is a very big fear I've had: Needing to miss an important family occasion (esp. birthdays or Christmas) in order to attend a birth. I knew it would happen sooner or later, and I'm actually surprised it's been this long (although I have tried really hard to be careful about when I accept clients).

Well, the day before Annie's birthday, my client called to tell me that she had been having early labor contractions for a while. We kept in touch all day, and I just knew that I had to have EVERYTHING ready to go for Annie's birthday the next day. So I rushed around finishing preparations and trying to plan ahead in case I had to leave. I kept praying really, really hard that I wouldn't have to miss any of Annie's birthday, but I knew I had to be prepared regardless. Luckily, Andrew had already planned to take off work and spend the day with us for Annie's birthday. When things slowed down for my client later that evening, I thought maybe it would be a day or two. I even started to relax a tiny bit. But just before 7 am on Annie's bday, the phone rang and I knew I would have to leave. I'm sure you mothers can understand how my heart ached as I said goodbye to my little two year old on her "happy-day" (as she calls it), not knowing when I'd be back. I was so worried about missing this day with her.

When people have asked how I manage to be a doula with young kids, one thing I've always said is that if I am prayerful regarding the clients I accept, the timing of the births has always worked out really well. I had felt good about taking this client, even knowing she was due close to two of my kids birthdays. So when I got this call on Annie's birthday, I think it was just a real test of my faith.

I was at the hospital a little after 8 am. My client arrived a few minutes later. Then something none of us expected happened. Her water broke just minutes after arriving, and the baby was born just after 8:30 am. Wow. By 10 am she and her baby were resting comfortably and ready for me to go. So I called Andrew up to see where he was. Umm...he was just minutes away from where I was, on his way with all the kids to a children's museum in Baltimore. I asked him to swing by and pick me up, and then we spent a lovely day together. The only thing I had missed was breakfast. Miracles happen every day, sometimes in really ordinary ways.

Catching Up

Well, it's been a while since our last post... So, here we are with a little update on the last few weeks... I'll give my version, then if Becca wants to tell things her way and fill in whatever I miss, she can go ahead.

AP in Utah

So, I spent the first 10 days of April in Utah, working with my new job. It was a lot of fun, but as always I missed the family. We had just packed up the truck the week before I flew out, so by the time I got there, the truck was just arriving. I dragged most of my family members into helping and even one cousin -- it's good to have family in Utah! :-) We filled up a storage unit in Lehi and after moving all our stuff twice in 7 days, I was glad to put the lock on the door and leave it behind for a few months.




Robby's Birthday

So, I got back just in time for Robby's 5th birthday on Friday April 11th. We planned a day full of his favorite things and had a lot of fun watching him enjoy each "surprise" as we moved through the day. We drove out to his best friend's house in VA to pick him and his sister up to go play at a park. Thankfully the weather was perfect and the kids had fun running around for a couple hours. Then, after giving Robby a few choices (some healthy ones included of course), he quickly chose McDonalds, since his b-day is pretty much the only time he ever gets to go there. We took the friends home, then headed back to the Parsons where we're staying right now. My parents came over for a little visit and brought him some presents, then we headed out to the circus for the night. Robby was so excited that the circus was in town for his birthday. We went with the Papa Parsons and kids.





Annie's Birthday

Okay, the very next week on April 17th was Annie's 2nd birthday. She was so excited and ready for her "happy day" :-) She was so excited to wake up to pink ballons floating all around her. We took her up to Baltimore for the day to a children's museum that had a lot of fun activities. Andrew Parsons came along with us and we all had a good time. As soon as we got back to the house we got things going for her family party. We had talked through a few things with her to see what she wanted to do. Her answers can pretty much all be summed up in one word... "pink". Sometimes we got an extra word to help describe what she wanted. "Annie -- what do you want for your birthday dinner?" "pink pizza!" So, we pretty much decked out the party area in pink for her and she was in heaven. She's so cute how girly she is, despite growing up w/two older brothers.








Kids Circus

With kids it's always a circus, but... inspired by the "real" circus from Robby's birthday, the kids wanted to put on their own. They had some very impressive choreography at times, but most of the acts resembled "clown" acts :-)




Sidekick

Okay, I just love this picture cause Annie is such a cute little helper. If you couldn't tell from her birthday pics, she is very much a daddy's girl -- always hanging out with me. We had a little mulching party at Parsons and Annie was my most dedicated little helper. She kept saying "this is hard, daddy" but she stuck with it. It was so cute. I LOVE having my little girl :-)



Youth Conference

After getting through the birthdays, stake youth conference preparations picked up in a big way. It was the last big thing I had to do for my church calling and it just ended last night. Phew! I probably spent a good 20 hours in the last three days leading up to it, but had a really fun time w/the kids partying all night and then doing a service project painting murals and doing landscaping all day at a DC elementary school. I'll miss this calling working w/the youth... It's like "calling roulette" when you move to a new place... we'll see what we end up with in Utah!

Okay, so those are the bigger things I've been up to. It's been a busy month, but a lot of fun. I'm looking forward to the Pincock family reunion coming up next week at Virginia Beach!

Emerging

It's been a little over a week since the days filled with packing, loading a truck, cleaning a house, and moving to my parents, and I am just now starting to feel up to checking email, returning phone calls, and venturing out. This move felt more exhausting than other (several other!) moves we've had and I needed a break. Andrew is also out of town for ten days right now, so that's probably added to my hermit-ness.
With our activities of late, I haven't been reading very much, and I've noticed. Reading a good book helps to calm me as I lie down with my kids at night, and keeps me from wasting time staying up late watching tv. I haven't been able to figure out the right book for my mood though, but tonight I just found it!
I've had this book sitting in my house for a while, but hadn't picked it up yet. It almost made its way into one of the 20 or so book boxes we packed, but for some reason I kept it out. And tonight I remembered it and began to read. As I nursed Annie to sleep I made it through the first 25 pages, and already I feel peace seeping into my soul. This was just what I was looking for! It is called Mitten Strings For God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry by Katrina Kenison and I have a feeling this is one I'll be going back to several times over the years. It reminds me of one of my most favorite books of all time, Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh which I try to read at least once a year.
A side-note: if you haven't already been there, goodreads is a fun site for finding and sharing great book recommendations.
Well, I'm going to get back to reading, and in a little while I will try to return one or two of the many emails that sit unanswered in my inbox...if I can pull myself away from the book. Here's wishing you a peaceful evening.