Missing the Beach

I was laying by Ryan for a minute tonight--listening to a cd of waves that we have, and Ryan asked if we could go to the beach again. I told him it was too far away now, and he said "NO?!!" After explaining it to him, it seemed like he might have understood a little when he sat up and spread his arms out as wide as they would go and told me it was really far away, like that far away (referring to how far his arms were spread.) We all miss the beach. :( Here are a few pictures from our last trip to the beach--the Saturday before we moved. I didn't ever post them will all the pre-move hustle and bustle. I feel like we were able to go a lot, but why on earth didn't we go EVERYDAY!!!!!

Ryan really wanted to see the "whale bones" before we left. These are the bones of a 87 foot female blue whale that washed ashore there the year I was born! Pretty spectacular.

The next two pictures are of some grey whale bones. Still spectacular, but you can see they are a little smaller.

There were several pools of dolphins behind this fence. They were feeding them while we were sneaking a peak.

Nicole and Isaac's sea monster (Daddy helped too)

This sea lion came up on the beach where we were all playing to scratch it's back?!!

Isaac and Ryan playing catch with Dad

Our friend the sand crab--one of the kids favorite things to do at the beach was dig for sand crabs and try to fill a bucket with as many as they could find.

Shovel rides

Hopefully it won't be TOOOO long before we get to go again . . .

There are angels among us!

We welcomed sweet little Heidi Jannette into the world this last Tuesday-the 18. She is so sweet and straight from Heaven. With the move etc. and all we've had going on there have been other angels too! Cady flew into CA the day we were driving away. We picked her up from the airport and headed out of town. She drove with us for three days--on probably the most boring and uninteresting drive through the desert, and the night we drove into ALBQ she flew home. She was very busy, but came with us on the drive to help with kids or deliver a baby if need be . . . not to mention her answering all my questions and giving me advice about delivery etc. (She's a labor and delivery nurse!)
Then my sister Sabrina flew in on my due date to help out and be here to watch kids when I went into labor. She brought her two sweet girls along, and my kids had cousins to play with!! She cooked, cleaned, played, took pictures for me and brought me flowers!! (the flowers were from my mom too.) The day Heidi was born my mom flew in and she too has cooked, cleaned, and played. Sabrina has gone home :(, and my mom gets to stay until Friday!!
Not to mention all my friends, and other family members who have been there and offered to help!! We feel so blessed with a new baby and all the family and friends who have been here for us during this crazy busy/wonderful time.

While we were at the hospital . . .

Cousins, and LOTS of reading.

Nicole lost another tooth! (the bottom space)

More reading

At the hospital . . .

Curt's just a little bit excited

Me and baby Heidi

Yep, that's really what the scale said

Ta Da!!

The kids were so excited, and brought me cards in the hospital they had colored for me.
Nicole's had baby items drawn all over it, then inside it said she had been having fun with Grace--her cousin. Isaac drew a picture of me skinny, and said it was me after the baby was out--then he asked if he could sit on my lap now. Ryan's had a drawing on it, and he said it was "Mommy Salisbury."

I came home from the hospital Wednesday night and Nicole's first day of school was the next day. Thanks to Sabrina I have pictures of her on her first day of second grade. The first thing she told me when I asked her about her day was that her classroom had guinea pigs.

Wide awake Heidi

A water pipe in our sprinkler system broke and flooded the lawn, so Curt had to dig a big hole to find it. It turns out there was a tree root that had grown around it and broken the line. The kids had a few good hours of water/dirt/mud/worm/rock play. It was great!!

Mom, the master gardener told us what all of our plants were in our backyard and did lots of deadheading/pruning, and oohing and aahing at all of our plants. I'm telling you she has 10 green thumbs!!

One of the roses in our backyard

The pictures below are some pictures Sabrina took of Heidi while she was here. Aren't they great? And this is before she has done any cropping or editing!! These are just a few, there will be many more to come!!

I wanted a picture of Heidi with this quilt that Sabrina made for me. A few years ago our grandmother gave Sabrina 12 quilt blocks that our great, great grandmother had embroidered. Sabrina being her giving, generous self, shared the blocks with me and Traci as well. THEN she took my blocks and made a beautiful baby quilt with them. Mom and Sabrina hand quilted it, and my mom hand sewed the binding on as well. SO, you see, it's a pretty special quilt with lots of love!! I made quite a few things for Nicole as she was the first baby and I had more time, so I was pretty excited that baby number four will have something so special.

Trying to get the baby out

Saturday -- my due date. We went to the zoo!! Nicole, Isaac and I got separated from Curt and Ryan so that added quite a bit of walking, and ALMOST got the baby out . . .







Saturday night--My sister and her two cute girls got here to help so anytime the baby wants to come we are covered!

Sunday--day after my due date we took a walk out in the foothills behind our neighborhood. MIGHT have gotten the baby out, but quite a few gnats cut the walk short, as we could barely see well enough (because we were swatting the gnats away) to avoid the cacti. Aren't the blue sky and clouds pretty?

Monday--no baby. Went to JoAnnes with four kids in tow--that SHOULD have gotten the baby out, chasing the kids and trying to keep them under control, but no such luck!!

Deleted

I took off the baby countdown, as it is no longer correct. I don't have a three day old baby yet!! I hope it is soon because I really need to clip my toenails.

Latest goings on . . .

We left our happy home in CA . . .

To the best place in the universe (according to this add--found it in an airplane magazine) pretty funny eh? You'll just have to come visit us to find out for yourself!!

Had a rendezvous with Rhonda my super cool/gorgeous cousin and her adorable kiddos (Little Eric, and baby Courtney--Ethan and Dallin not pictured) they were here in ALBQ for a few days for a conference. It was a nice break from unpacking and SO good to see her!!

the only picture I got of the two of us together--thanks to Isaac--the camera is a little big for him to hold steady :) and I LOOK HUGE!!

All the kids minus Ryan and Courtney playing in the fountain outside the aquarium

Ryan helping to unpack :)

looking for cards--he is obsessed, and we will never take him to vegas!

Ryan had to find Isaac and eat his sonic slushy right next to him---ahhhh

THE BABY ARRIVED!!!
We got our piano back today from our friends . . . like I needed another distraction--I only have seven days to get things somewhat settled and that's IF the baby waits until her due date or after. Good thing I couldn't find the box with all my piano music in it!!

Here's what Nicole and Isaac do with all our extra space! That would not have gone over too well on the carpet in our beloved EV apartment!!