Ultrasound results

There's no mistaking that.

In honor of Baby Boy Leal #3, I have gone blue on the blog. I don't know if I'll ever make the blog into a family album, but I might regret this entry if I ever wanted to. Or little #3 might regret it more. :) Oh well, what fun is it being the mother of three boys if you can't embarrass them now and then?

As most of you know, I had my heart set on a girl, but as is usual in these sorts of circumstances (and as I knew before we found out) I've felt a measure of relief and peace about the whole thing. A girl would be nice, of course, but boys are usually more resilient and less emotional. We won't have to pay for any weddings, most likely, and they can play and rough each other up all they want. Not to mention that I already have all the clothes and boy paraphernalia to get me through the next century. There'll be a lot of camp-outs (the first of which is coming up next weekend and Robert is SO excited to take Craig and Ethan), sports, boy scouts (I see the words "den mother" in my future), and bad odors (since boys in general just smell bad). But there will be all those things anyway, even if this one were a girl. I have two sisters and a mother. I guess I've had all the girly-ness I need. It's time to jump into this boy stuff with both feet and my eyes closed. Wish me luck!

I thought I'd throw in a profile shot to off set the other one.

Initiation

Craig finally accomplished what he's been attempting for about 19 months...he gave Ethan a black eye. All I know is they were playing in Craig's room and, according to Craig, he had pulled out one of his plastic dresser drawers and was swinging it around when it collided with Ethan's head. As Craig puts it, "Efan hit his eye on the drawer" because "I was swinging it around." It was even bleeding from the corner a little bit. Poor baby. I could tell it was most likely an accident because as soon as it happened, Craig ran and hid under his blanket and kept muttering, "I'm sorry, Efan." Even now, as I asked Craig about the details, he apologized again without me asking him to. This just happened last night, so if it starts to look any worse, I'll be sure to document it.

Belly shot

19 weeks (approx.) yesterday

Who thinks I look more like 30? Who would dare admit it? :)

By the way, we're going for the gender-telling ultrasound this next Tuesday.

{Think pink thoughts}

Six Years

Today is Robert's and my anniversary. We were married in the Oakland Temple on March 18th, 2005. It was a Friday, like today. If I weren't lazy, I would get a picture from our wedding album (which took me half of these six years to put together), scan it into the computer, and put it with this post. Instead, picture me much skinnier, in a fluffy white dress, Robert in a really cool tux, and us kissing under a white umbrella. One thing I really liked about our wedding day (besides the obvious) was that it was overcast and very slightly sprinkling off and on. The temple provides these beautiful, huge white umbrellas for brides on days like that and, with the lighting being so subdued, it makes for great pictures.

After taking lots of pictures, we changed and the family left to go back to Sonora...about a two and a half hour drive. We, however, stayed in the Bay Area. The reception was planned for Saturday, which was an idea I got while hearing other peoples' wedding stories in college and always wanted to do it, too. It worked out really well since the temple is so far away. Plus, it gave me a second day to wear my dress. :)

We drove out to Half Moon Bay to a beautiful little hotel right on the seashore. We had dinner at a great seafood restaurant down the road that was built on a pier overlooking the water. Later that night we splurged and "rented" one of the hotel's movies (for $12.99) to watch. It was Lemony Snicket. I watched the whole thing, but Robert fell asleep. The best part of this room was the sliding glass door that faced the water. We opened it and shut the screen so we could hear the water and waves against the rocks all night long. It was awesome. That was pretty much our honeymoon. The next morning, we drove up to Sonora for the reception.

My mom and friends and family had been setting up the church gym and it was just as I had imagined and planned it. Everything was perfect and fun and pretty. We had good food, thanks to some of the ladies in the Sonora Second Ward, and dancing. And, of course, the cake was great, too. That night we left the church, drove around Sonora until people left the reception, went back to pick up our gifts, and headed out of town. As a wedding gift from my aunt, we had a hotel reservation in Angel's Camp, not far away. We stayed there for the night and the next day drove all the way through to Rexburg. Robert and I both had to work on Monday.

Yeah, we could have planned it for the summer when my internship was done and had more time to save for a honeymoon, but we were impulsive and couldn't wait to get married. I also remember how surreal it was when I took all my stuff over to our apartment before we left for California and hung my clothes up next to his in the closet. I could go on with the thousands of memories I have. Everything is still so clear.

Now, a (relatively) lot of time has passed, we have two and half kids, and life has taken us places I never could have imagined. There have been many ups and many downs. Some people have a magical first year, others say it was the roughest one they have yet experienced. I would say we were the latter. But, through it all, we have come out to be better people and each year gets better and better. All in all, through thick and thin, I am so grateful to have Robert with all our pros and cons to be my companion in this life. I vividly remember being single and the fun I had, but I also remember not having anyone to go to the movies with sometimes. Or watching T.V. alone on a Friday night. Or eating dinner alone. He has brought so much to my life and I want him to know how much I love and appreciate him.

Playing with the dog

I haven't posted any new pictures of our dog, Jade, since we got her. She was only 6 weeks old then and a teeny tiny puppy. Now, however, she's 6 months old and a little over half grown, I think. We'll see how much bigger she gets. She's loving the new backyard she has to play in. It's much better than being cooped up in the garage or out on the narrow patio of our old place. Craig and Ethan go out there and throw the tennis balls for her or play tug-a-war with her ropes. We let her in for part of the day and I've been trying to go out every morning for walks with her and the kids. Being a puppy, she still needs supervision or her desire to chew up all the kids' stuffed animals overwhelms her desire to not displease us and be put outside, but she's getting better. She's learning the rules and keeps them, most of the time.

The other day Craig was playing with her in the house and I got some good pictures. Ethan got in on the fun, too. I love that she is so good with them and pretty much lets them abuse her in every way and rarely makes a peep.

Here's the best one. Jade was so good the whole time they were sitting on her. I just kept telling her to stay if she tried to get up and she did.

I liked this for an action shot. Craig has a great smile going on.


Jade is so great about letting them reach in her mouth and pull toys out or just play with her mouth and face in general without biting down on them or accidentally hurting them. That was a concern of mine with getting such a big breed of dog, but she's really gentle. I also loved how Ethan was off on the side of this picture trying to steal the scene. :)

Car repairs :(

This is a cell phone picture, if you were wondering why it's so blurry and yellow.

The last three days before we moved, the van needed a pretty major repair. The steering has been really lose for a while and has had a slow leak since we bought it but we knew it would be costly. Plus, at the time, it was livable. On Wednesday before the big move, though, the steering went out completely. Luckily we had our tax return money and a quote on the repairs... roughly $2700. Robert talked to the mechanic at work and he decided he was going to do it himself. The part that needed to be replaced is called the rack and pinion. It also needed a new steering high pressure hose. Yes, it did take three nights out in the garage for a total of about 15 hours of labor, but that wasn't far from what Aamco had estimated for labor. However, the total cost, for parts and tools, was around $700. Everyone has little things they bring to a marriage that just make life a little easier. I must say that I am just so grateful that one of Robert's things is his way with fixing things, especially cars. If it weren't for him, I probably wouldn't have a van right now. There wouldn't have been an easy way to pay that much money for the van to get fixed. So, thanks Sweetie. You're one in a million.

One more thing...

As I was sorting through my files and filing it all away, I ran across a stack of papers my parents gave me. It's a bunch of stuff from when I was in school, all the way from elementary through high school. Diplomas, awards, reports, etc. One was a picture I drew of a camel smoking a cigarette. I'm not sure where that came from or why my mom would keep it, but there it is. I'm keeping it, too. :) I also found a piece of paper that said the following (in print and cursive):

My name is Sherry Lee Olson. My favorite colors are any kind of purples or blues. My favorite food is mashed potatoes. I like drama movies like Dance With Wolves (man with a naked bottom in this one...hmmmm), Regarding Henry, and Ghost. I'm 11 1/2 years old. I like basketball. The games I like are Corners, Slap Math (probably the last time I liked anything math related), and Heads Up Seven Up. I have two sisters and one brother. I hate nail biting and high pitched sounds. I usually read or take a walk. My favorite T.V. shows is Murphy Brown and Cheers. My best friends are Talea Ramsey, Kerrian McDermot, Maggie Sentieri, and a lot of others.

What 11 1/2 year old's favorite shows are Murphy Brown and Cheers? I guess that just shows that I was the youngest and went along with the crowd. I just pretended to know what the jokes meant and laughed along with everyone else...or asked a lot of annoying questions. I also thought it was funny that in the best friends part I added, "and a lot of others," just to be sure and state that I have a lot of friends. Status was everything back then. Know what? Even though my childhood was virtually carefree and rarely do I run across a truly unhappy memory, I wouldn't go back. Being a kid is rough.

Here We Are Together

I just wanted to post something to let you all know I'm alive and well. We moved, so that's what I've been up to. Two Saturdays ago, the 26th, was the official moving date but we've spent this last week making trips back and forth to the old place with extra stuff we couldn't fit in the moving truck and cleaning. I was fortunate enough to have my mom come out and help this last week. I am so glad she thought about coming out and helping...I never would have thought I needed so much help this time. We've moved two other times in the last 2 years and I managed those well enough on my own. At least I think I did. Maybe it was such a bad experience I've blocked it from my memory. It was so nice having her here so I could run off and clean the old place without having to deal with Craig and Ethan. I even got to go take my midterms and we still had one fun day to walk around the temple and downtown Mesa.

In case you're wondering, we moved from Fountain Hills back to Mesa, about 20 minutes away. Why? Because we found a place (smaller, but it meets our needs) with three bedrooms and a fenced yard. It's close to the same neighborhood we lived in when we lived in Mesa before so I know the stores and where all the parks are. Plus, Robert has a five minute drive to work. He's even considering getting a bike. We've even kept in touch with some friends from our old place in Mesa. I am going to miss Fountain Hills and there's something very sad about going back to a place you've made into a home when it's empty and void of all your things...physical and not. We had great neighbors there, too, but I'm sure we'll get to know the people here and make friends. It's just a process I hate going through over and over again. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the rent here is about $275 less per month. We just couldn't pass it up.

So, I'll be getting back into the swing of things here pretty soon. Since my mom was able to come and do A LOT of the unpacking and getting us settled, I don't have too much left before I get back into my old routine. There's just filing away all our papers and things (now that we got the filing cabinet in the house and out of the driveway), cleaning the tools and extensions cords off of the kitchen counter and putting them out in the tools box, reorganizing a few things, getting the last load of stuff out of the back of my van, and hanging pictures! Wish me luck!