April Photo Drop

Happy Mothers' Day, all! I'm doing this post as Rich makes dinner. I love Mothers' Day for many reasons, but not having to make dinner is pretty high up there on the list. I try and try to enjoy cooking, but I can't help but feel like it's a just another chore. Plus, food never tastes as good when you're the one who made it. So, thank you to Rich for what I'm sure will be a delicious dinner! (Although, let it be known that I wold much rather cook dinner than do the dishes. Dishes are at the very top of my hated chores list. And Rich always does them - love that guy!)

Another note before getting to the pictures. This will be my last post filled with pictures of only one child. Tomorrow, I am going to be induced (assuming baby boy doesn't make his appearance before then, which I highly doubt), and from then on this blog will be the home of two adorable kiddos. That's a crazy thought!

So, here's one more post of basically just Norah.

I take that back. This lovely picture features the quilt top I made for baby boy, as well as the best picture I could get of him (aka my belly). I really like how this top turned out. It's in the process of being quilted now, and I can't wait to see how the final product looks!

There's Norah. These are two of her most favorite toys. The tiara I can understand. But the umbrella? No idea why. It came with a really fun doll she got for Christmas, and she has played with the umbrella way more than the doll. Whatever.

All Rich's idea. Surprised?

Our countdown chain for baby boy to get here. I thought it would help the days go faster, but I don't think it made much of a difference. It's technically off, too, I was so sure he was going to get here early, like Norah. Nope. I needed one more link on there to get us to tomorrow.

Zoo trip!

When I took this picture, Norah was rambling on about some silly story she made up. I could barely follow her train of thought, but it was so adorable. I just love how easy it is for her to play. Doesn't take much to get that little mind going!

We got a little more playtime with Cohen, and it was adorable. Of course, when you're a boy at a girl cousin's house, you have to be prepared for princess everything, including princess heels!

Lately, Norah's been in to making "cars" out of the couch pillows. And then filling her car with friends and her play food, which gets really tedious to clean up.

 Picture left: how Norah insists on putting away her matching game.

Picture right: what happens when you don't let her do that.

She's already as much of a perfectionist as her parents.

Organizing baby boy clothes. It was a crazy mess, but I absolutely loved it because I love organizing. I thought boy clothes had nothing on girl ones, but there are some crazy adorable things that I can't wait to see our little man in. Obviously I want him here to enjoy him, but I can't wait to dress him, too.

Norah had her little play cup and was drinking "orange juice." She got really absorbed in some show, but she still kept taking her own sips and then giving the cup to Lambie to take a sip, all while keeping her eyes glued to the TV. It was cracking me up!

Pre-church cuteness. I love how adorable she looks with her little backpack on, and I will never get enough of her voice.

We went on an FHE walk to the temple, trying to get some labor started. Didn't work (granted, that was about two weeks early), but it was a pretty walk.

I am so pregnant.

This is a new thing, too. She lines her "friends" up along the hall, creating a perfect tripping hazard. But don't you dare try to move them.

For some reason our apartment managers decided they needed to rip up the parking lot, but only a strip, not the whole thing. Of course, they didn't tell us the days that this would be taking place. And the day they were tearing it all out and repaving was the day I needed to get to my doctor's appointment. This was about 20 minutes before I needed to leave (that's my car that's perfectly trapped in there), and I was pretty ticked because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get out. Luckily, I was able to sneak out before the paving truck came through. I would have been SO MAD!

And, finally, Rich and the Fanzz team got another chance to play at the Energy Solutions Arena on the Jazz court.

Okay, my parents just picked up Norah to stay the night with them while Rich and I go to the hospital and have a baby (I started this post a couple hours ago and am just now finishing it). This is getting real folks. Next time I do a post, we'll be a family of four. I don't even know how to process that! Can't wait for tomorrow and to meet our little man!

Rudy Gobert

I know I've said it before, but I really love that Rich works for Fanzz. So many fun perks! Most of them are (obviously) sports-related, which is absolutely perfect for Rich. And me, too, since after 6 years of marriage his passion has rubbed off on me more than I usually admit.

A couple weeks ago, they hosted a signing with Rudy Gobert from the Jazz at their store in Fashion Place Mall. Norah and I tagged along with Rich to see what we could see. As an employee, he ended up getting to go behind the scenes, and Norah and I did, too. Super cool!

The line to get to the signing table was crazy long. It zigzagged through as much of the center of the mall as they would allow and then continued in the Fanzz NFL store (diagonal from the main Fanzz store).

We thought you wouldn't even be able to get into the store unless you were in the signing line, but you could actually go in and shop and catch a glimpse of Rudy at the table.

 After the signing was done, Rudy had a little time to shop and look around the store. I realized how just tall he really is (7'2") once he stood up to look around. It was crazy to see how far he had to bend over to look at things that were practically eye level for me.

The Fanzz crew of the night, with Rudy

Rich with Rudy Gobert. That's about a 1'4" height difference!

I wasn't planning on going with Rich to the signing, but I'm glad I did, if only to witness how crazy tall he is! Rich was able to get a signed picture from him, too, which we need to frame before something happens to it.

Easter Weekend

We spent Easter weekend at my parents' house, and it was a lot of fun. We went up on Saturday for festivities with cousins and then stayed the night for Easter Sunday.

I always love my mom's Easter plans. The last Easter we spent with my family (in 2009), this happened:

Needless to say, we were pretty excited. Oh, and about spending time with the family, too, obviously!

Of course, we also know things have changed a bunch, too, because there was only one grandchild at that point and he lived in Kentucky, Now there are 8 (almost 9!), so we were looking forward to all of the fun with the family.

Then the fun started with the egg hunt! First, it was the grandkids' chance. Norah cleaned up in the bushes!

All of the grandkids with their loot (except Beck, who, at 3 months old, wasn't too interested)

Then we had the adult egg hunt, of which I unfortunately caught no pictures. Each couple had a certain color they could hunt, which helped keep things even (slow, pregnant me appreciated this leveling factor). It was a great hunt!

After the hunt, we sat down to feast. My dad smoked plenty of meat for the occasion (including turkey, brisket, and ribs), and there was a TON of other food, too. So delicious!

After the hunt and dinner, everybody else left to spend Easter at their own homes, except us. We spent the night, and Norah got to see what the Easter Bunny brought her at Grandma and Grandpa's house.

 She was super excited to see that he remembered to bring her a princess wand, something she was desperate to have since seeing it at the store a few weeks before.

Quick question: Is the Easter Bunny kind of like Santa? Does he only fill your basket if you've been good? Because that's totally what Norah thinks now.

We watched the Sunday General Conference sessions with my parents. Norah decided she needed to learn to crochet with Grandma Kari.

 My parents' house used to be my dad's parents' house. I remember playing with this rotary phone on the wall in the basement back in the day when we'd come to visit, just like all of the grandkids still do now.

After some more Conference and yummy turkey soup for dinner, we headed back to our house.

I know this is pretty silly, but I was a little disappointed General Conference was on Easter weekend this year. Wait until you hear the reason. Because I made Norah's Easter dress and wanted her to wear it to church on Easter Sunday. And, to make things worse (in my mind), I somehow missed the memo that the Sunday before was the one for Easter outfits, at least from what I saw on Facebook.

So, to attempt to make up for this, we stopped at a park on the way home to take a couple pictures of Norah in her dress. It didn't work out like I planned - Norah wasn't in the mood, it was too windy, and we didn't have the scenery I wanted. But, here's what we got anyway.

The pictures didn't really turn out, but the dress sure did! I've used this pattern before and absolutely loved it, and it went even better for me this time.

We sure did have a great Easter weekend! It was lots of fun with a two-year-old who now really understands how much fun holidays can be!

March Photo Drop

I love these photo drop posts because I don't have to think of a theme for them. My life doesn't really run by theme.

We pulled out our video camera to see what was on there (and soon realized we don't do enough videos). Most of what was there was of Norah, so she had fun cozying up like this to watch the show.

We had some playtime with cousin Cohen while his mom, dad, and baby brother looked for a new car. I think of all her cousins, Norah plays best with Co. Probably because he's just young enough to still let her boss him around.

I caught this video of my belly one day. This little boy is a crazy mover! Nowadays he's completely run out of room, so my belly doesn't move quite like this anymore.

Girls' night out to Chessecake Factory. Khloe was a pretty good sport about letting Norah totally invade her space to watch a show while waiting for our dinner.

 There's a pretty fun playground we like to hit up in North Salt Lake. Sometimes, Rich is the biggest kid there. Rich: "This would make such a great obstacle course!" Shara: "Please don't injure yourself."

Taking daddy to work one morning. Of course, Lambie had to come. She LOVES her Lambie. She comes just about everywhere with us.

Date night at the Jazz game!

And a family date night to Johnny Rocket's. Norah had just gone to a birthday party that day where she made that stuffed dog (now lovingly named Woofio), so we had to bring him everywhere that day.

 Norah just looked at what I was doing and said, "That's me having a messy, pink cupcake face!"

32 1/2 weeks pregnant. How did I think was huge then?! It's amazing how much that belly can grow by the end!

Norah has great race style, don't you think?

I absolutely love this picture. This was from a trip to Kangaroo Zoo, which Norah calls "Kangaweed Zoo" for some reason.

You have to get creative to keep a two-year-old happy at Costco.

One Saturday in March, our water heater completely stopped working. We called our maintenance guy and he ended up having to replace the whole thing, So, I headed over to Skyler and Courtney's to take a shower while our water was off. Skyler won the title of favorite uncle (at least for a couple days) when he took Norah and her cousins on a bike ride to 7-Eleven. I'm pretty sure every two-year-old would agree that there are few things better than Slurpees and Cheetos.

 Norah's first Jazz game! We had a set of upper bowl tickets that we didn't think we'd be able to use since we couldn't get a babysitter when Rich realized he could bring Norah and not feel guilty for leaving early because the tickets were free! I love Fanzz.

The last time I attempted to paint my toenails, and the first time I attempted to paint Norah's. Neither were perfect, but Norah was ecstatic!

So, I always knew that learning to ride a bike was hard, but I never really realized that you have to learn to ride a tricycle, too. You don't just automatically understand pedaling. And it's even harder when the pedals are just barely too far for you to easily reach. This is going to be her summer to learn, though!

 Kite flying

Ugh. Bedtime (the whole process that goes along with it) is the worst. We often have some stuffed guest joining scripture study to pacify the little one. Too bad that only works about a third of the time.