Dump Truck Miracle {01.26.2012}

Photo taken November 2011

I'm not sure about everywhere else, but the unusual January weather here in Powell has been so nice lately. Usually its freezing cold...like below zero cold. But we've been experiencing some warm spring weather...like mid 30's to 40's warm. And it's been so sunny, without much wind. Except today, today is VERY windy.

Since its been "warm", we decided to order some river rock yesterday. The Big Horn Redi Mix truck pulled into our driveway and the guy knocked on our door. Aimee and I both greeted him with a hello. Then he asked, looking right at me, "Is your mom or dad home?" :)   I don't know how he missed my pregnant belly, but I politely told him with a smile, "I'm actually the wife of the guy who called for the rock." Then he said, "Oh, I'm sorry. My wife gets that all the time too." I love knowing that I'll be 24 soon and some people still think I'm in high school. It used to bother me more, but now I really don't mind at all.

I told the guy where to dump the rock. As he was backing up the truck, Aimee and I headed out to watch him. It was so nice. I was able to sit on my front porch comfortably without a coat. If it hadn't had been breezy, Aimee and I would not have needed our coats. Hyrum was napping during all of this, otherwise he would have been in heaven watching the dump truck work its magic. :)

After the guy backed the truck up, he tried to get it to dump the rock. Nothing was happening. Aimee was anxiously waiting for something to happen. After a few minutes, the guy called him boss and proceeded to tell him that the truck wasn't working properly. I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to teach Aimee about the power of prayer. I explained to her that the truck wasn't working and asked her if we should say a prayer to Heavenly Father so that He could  make it work for us. She was more than willing to. Between our two kiddos, Hyrum is more about praying than Aimee is, so I was happy she was willing to say a prayer. We said a quick prayer together. Then she told me she wanted to say it on her own. I LOVED watching her say a silent little prayer to Heavenly Father, asking Him to make the truck work.

When I suggested the prayer idea to Aimee, I really had no idea whether it would work or not. But I thought surely Heavenly Father would answer a 3 year old's prayer, allowing me to teach her the power of prayer. After that thought, I just knew the truck would eventually start working. Sure enough, after a couple more minutes the dump truck finally decided to start working! I then quickly explained to Aimee that Heavenly Father helped to make the truck start working because He heard her prayer, and then I suggested that she say a little thank you prayer, which she did. I love taking the little moments in life like this to teach my children about the gospel. :)

Later we got together as a family and headed downstairs into our "new" and improved movie room. About a month ago, Brad ordered a new projector that's capable of doing Blu-Ray. He also got us some BIG speakers. It really is quite the movie experience and we enjoyed watching Rise of the Planet of the Apes together. THEN, after we got the kids into bed, at about 8:45, Brad and I headed outside together to start moving some river rock in front of our home. I love that Brad is always so willing to work. And I really do enjoy helping him out each time that I can. We were outside for about 50 minutes working before we headed back in. Even though it snowed a little and got breezy a couple of times, it never really got very cold. All we were outside in was our jackets, no gloves or anything...and we never once got cold. LOVE IT! I sure hope this means that spring is coming soon and that we are done with the freezing cold weather!  :)

Taking a Minute... {01.25.2012}

I need to take several minutes to catch up on our family blog. It is a new year and already so much has happened. I'm also going to try to take some time in the next week to catch up on the past couple of months and do some back blogging. So for those of you that follow, keep an eye on that.

We started off the New Year in Colorado with our friends. It was a quiet one this year and we even ended up going to bed before 10:30 PM. We're hoping for a more exciting one next year. The next morning, we had found that our car had been egged...in a new neighborhood. It reminded me of just how very thankful I am to live out in the country on our 5 acre lot. As much as I like having neighbors, its nice not having them only 10 feet away on either side.

While we were away, I got a new calling in our ward. I am now the ward website administrator. So far its been pretty easy but I hope I can find ways to magnify my calling and do a better job.

On the way back to Wyoming, we stopped at the Hot Springs in Thermopolis and swam the entire day. On the way back to Powell we ran out of gas just 7 miles before getting into Meeteetsee, so we had to wait while somebody came to save us. :) A couple days after being home from our trip, our family got sick with the tummy flu. It wasn't a fun week, but we got through it.

On the 15th, Brad headed to Houston for work. He was there the entire week. The kids and I surrounded ourselves with service projects and kept ourselves busy that way. I learned so much that week just by doing service, studying articles from the Ensign and reading from the book "Daughters in my Kingdom", given to all Relief Society sisters. Even though I didn't like having Brad gone at all, it was nice having the opportunity to surround myself with all of the good things Heavenly Father provides us with so that I could work on making myself a better person. And even though Brad is back, I haven't stopped reading and studying.

Brad continues to stay busy with work. He is always working so hard. I hope Weatherford knows just how lucky they are to have him there. He doesn't like travelling so much without us. We're planning on going with him the next time he goes, so hopefully it works out that way. The kids and I love having him home with us. I feel so lucky to have him in my life. I'm glad that he loves me enough to tell me when I need to work on things so that I can become a better person. Heavenly Father knew I would need him in my life. He truly is perfect for me. I can't wait until he comes home to us every night. :)  Every night I give him some kind of a back/head rub/scratch and I know he always enjoys every minute of it.

AimeeLynn still loves going to school. She is not afraid of anybody there and loves to interact with others. Its amazing to me how much she actually learns just from going to school three days a week. I am so lucky to have a little girl that loves to help me make my bed in the mornings. She also loves to help me cook and bake. The week Brad was gone, I was having a hard time the first day. She heard and saw me weeping, came up to me and said "It's okay mom. Daddy will come back, he's just at work right now." I love her. I think she could tell how lonely I had been feeling that week because every day, several times a day, she would tell me that she was my best friend. Since Brad has been back, she's only told me that a couple of times. :)

Hyrum has recently started being screened by the CRC staff. So far it looks and sounds like he'll have the same problems as Aimee and will be starting speech therapy later this year. Despite having speech problems,  he is very active, just like Aimee was. He is always reminding us to have prayers before each and every meal. The week Brad was gone, we went to Grandma Betty's house every night for dinner. And every night before eating, he would quietly fold his arms and look at each one of us to see if we would catch on. I think Grandma liked having a 20 month old reminding us all to say our prayers before we eat. :)

I recently learned how to knook. It is a mix of knitting and crocheting. I really like it and am currently working on a purple scarf for my little girl. (Her favorite color is purple. :)  On the 27th of December, we received confirmation from the radiologist that we will definitely be having another LITTLE BOY added to our family this coming May. As each week goes by, I've been feeling him move more and more. Brad was finally able to feel his movements last week for the first time and was excited about it. Aimee felt his movements just yesterday for the first time and was SO excited. :)  I loved watching her face light up with every kick her little brother gave her! In the past week I have also been experiencing some excruciating back pain. The pain is in the same exact spot that I had it with Hyrum as well. It gets so bad, it wakes me up from my sleep. It used to be that I could sleep on my right side and always find relief that way. Lately, no matter which side I lay on, I can get no relief. I went to the chiropractor Monday to try and get it adjusted. He said that even though the pain is in the same exact spot, I have more problems than I did before. My left hip bone, sacrum, pelvic bone, and the socket to the left hip bone are all misaligned. With each pregnancy its just pretty much going to get worse and worse. There's not much the chiropractor could do right now. He said that too much adjusting isn't good. I can feel that the pain is worse this pregnancy than with my previous ones. Brad and I talked about it Monday evening and decided that if it really doesn't get any better, my body might only be able to handle one more pregnancy, if we decide to on another one later. We don't feel its worth permanently ruining my back for. Anyway, besides the bad back pain and cold I have this week, everything seems to be going really well.

We had the missionaries over for a discussion last night, which we really enjoyed. And today, Brad told me, "You make for a very pretty pregnant lady." :)  Oh how I love my Bradley!

P.S. I seem to have misplaced my camera battery charger, so until then I won't have very many pictures. I think one of my kids must've taken it out of my suitcase while we were in Washington for Thanksgiving break. I haven't seen it since then. I am currently in the process of getting another one ordered. :)  So hopefully it won't be too much longer before I have pictures again.

Blessings {12.21.2011}

I think most mothers, and fathers, would agree with me when I say that one of the greatest blessings you could ever receive is your children. Both Brad and I love our kids and couldn't imagine a life without them in it. Well, as most of you have already heard by now, we are going to be having another little blessing added to our family next year! Yup...that's right...another little Sapp baby!! DUE MAY 2012!!! (Yes, we planned for another May baby :) We are so excited and can't wait for the arrival of the newest Sapp member. This third little one has been the number one reason for my lack of posts lately. I really thought I was going to get away with not having any morning sickness at all. I was super and absolutely great...in fact, I was feeling so great I wondered at times if I even really was pregnant at all. But then, by about 7 1/2 weeks (the week after getting back from Salt Lake), the nausea slowly started creeping in. My energy disappeared and every little smell bothered me. By about 10-13 weeks I started to lose it. A couple nights a week I cried to Brad or my parents. I had never felt so much nausea with any of my pregnancies and couldn't handle the amount of pregnancy sickness I was experiencing. The amount of sleepless nights and nausea constantly on my mind made me wish I was in a coma for the first part of pregnancy. I know that there are plenty of other women out there who've had it way worse than I did. I didn't even throw up once, just always felt nauseous, 24/7. But, I also know that everybody handles things differently. And this was one thing I couldn't handle very well. I wanted my body back to normal.

Anyway, I made it through that part of pregnancy. I'm still not sure I ever want to go through that again, but we'll see. Now I'm feeling pretty good! Almost back to normal, but not quite. I'm in my 2nd trimester of pregnancy and even though the nausea is pretty much gone, other things have kicked into high gear. Like my allergies! I constantly have a runny/stuffed nose and sneeze I don't know how many times a day. Not to mention the headache I get each day. But, I'd much rather have allergy problems than nausea any time! Our poor dog has had to spend a lot of time outside lately since this pregnancy has caused me to be allergic to him as well. He's fine inside for short periods of time, but if he's in for too long I feel like I have a hairball in my throat and it starts feeling scratchy and itchy. No fun. Oh, and I also feel like I'm on Benadryl all the time. I am SO tired and have fallen asleep within seconds of laying down while my kids are in the living room doing who knows what. I don't mean to fall asleep, I just do. Haha, it's crazy and it actually sorta makes me laugh.

I had a pregnancy plan as soon as I found out I was expecting. I was gonna see a midwife through Brad's aunt and do a home birth. I was went in to see my OB about a cyst I had concerning the pregnancy. Everything was fine, but while I was there, she mentioned on how big I was measuring on suggested an ultrasound. I told my midwife about it and she too had the same thoughts. In fact, she wondered if maybe I might be having twins...which would have been AWESOME! So she also suggested I go see the ultrasound tech. Well, I went in for my first ultrasound at about 14.5 weeks. No twins, but the tech that checked my baby out (he's been there for about 35 years, so he's pretty much a pro), said that I have a complete placenta previa. Which means I can't deliver naturally because the placenta is covering the cervix and prevents the baby from coming out normally. It only meant one thing, a c-section. He checked around that area for about 45 minutes and even had me completely empty out my bladder just to be sure. P.S. During the hour and a half I was there for the ultrasound I went potty 4 TIMES! I was so embarrassed! But the lady that talked to me on the phone told me to drink 32 oz. of water an hour before coming in!! CRAZY! Anyway, I was pretty bummed about it. However, I'll be going in for another ultrasound in just 6 days to find out the gender of this baby AND to see if the placenta has moved much or not. I can't wait!

On a side note...what we've been up to the past couple of months:

Brad has been busy with his job, but loves it! He's only travelled once since our trip to Salt Lake. He went to Houston and enjoyed the short time while he was there. Lately, he's immersed himself with a TON of Christmas projects. He decided to completely remodel the kitchen table, build a picnic table for the kids, hang up chalkboards in the kids play area, tile the laundry room, and so much more!!! About a week ago, we went to Billings and bought a whole new living room furniture set, some nice bar stools, front loaders for the laundry room and a bunch of other little things. It's all really helping to put our house together finally. And he also still really enjoys his calling in the church as the Young Men's first counselor.

This year we are hosting the Christmas Eve party at our house. So lately, I've been busy with cleaning and trying to get some things organized. I also recently made a ruffled Christmas tree skirt for our tree. It's super cute! I will also be getting a new calling at church that I'm excited about, but since I haven't been released yet, I'll wait to post about it. And that's pretty much all I've been up to. Not much, but since my body is pretty much working overtime right now, I think that's as much as I can handle while taking care of two little busy bodies every day.

AimeeLynn continues to enjoy preschool. She has learned SO MUCH! Yesterday they had a little Christmas program and she did so well. One of the teachers was telling Brad and I that last week during class, she told one of the teachers, with her arms folded, which group of kids were on Santa's naughty list, because they actually were being naughty. Silly girl. She can also recognize her name and continues to practice writing it. She also participated in the fall gymnastics program and really enjoyed it. I'll have to save that and the pictures for another post. :)

Hyrum is also learning from his big sister. He's proper...always saying thank you and mindful of the way others feel. He's a good little sharer and has the cheesiest smile you'll ever see. Just ask him to smile and he can turn any frown upside down. :)  He's still also all boy. Sometimes he'll quietly watch Aimee while she's playing with her little dolls and when she puts one down, he'll snatch it right up and run away with it, laughing.  Another thing he's learned to do. When we're getting ready to eat he'll look up at Brad or I and fold his arms and wait for the prayer to be said. He's gonna be a great priesthood holder one day!

Brad and I also decided to try something new with the kids this year. A 12 days of Christmas. The past week the kids have gotten presents each day. They each get something to play with, sometimes it has to be shared, and they get to open a book as well. So far we really like it! It gives the kids a chance to play with whatever they got all day and then they're not so overwhelmed by everything else. So far they've gotten a mini indoor trampoline, chalkboards, and toys for church and for home. They've loved everything so far! And we can't wait to see the looks on their faces when they see what they get Christmas morning!! :)

Sorry this post has been so long, but I have had and still have quite a bit of catching up to do. So, if I don't get back on before Christmas, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!!

Park City Olympic Park {10.03.2011}

On our way back to Wyoming we decided to stop in Park City to break up the drive a bit and visit the Park City Olympic Park. Its a very pretty area but not as exciting as I expected it to be. The museum still had a lot of fun things for the kids to do and play with and fun things to see. I'm glad that we were able to stop by and visit.

Mt. Timpanogos Hike {10.02.2011}

Never mind that its been nearly a month since my last post, and also that I'm now over two months behind on my posting. I have a very good reason for my lack of posts. Anyway, on to my post...

Shortly after picking up our new vehicle a couple months ago in Salt Lake, we thought we would head into the Timpanogos canyon while listening to the Sunday General Conference message. The day was beautiful, sunny and warm. Afterwards, while driving back down the mountain/canyon I noticed signs along the road for the Timpanogos cave. I suggested to Brad that I thought it'd be fun to see the cave, so we should stop and check it out. So that's what we did.

We walk into the visitor's center. Some of us dressed in our t-shirts or shorts. I asked the lady if this was something we could easily do with our kids and she said absolutely. As we were headed out towards the trail, I heard Brad ask the lady how long it was. Her response was an hour and a half each way. I just thought to myself, surely if it was really that long she would have told us it would be hard to do with the kids, especially since strollers weren't allowed. The one warning she did give us though was that we might need our coats, especially the kids. But we left it all at the hotel and since it was fairly hot outside, we didn't worry too much about it.

We start on the trail. It wasn't so bad at first. Then it slowly started getting steeper and steeper and our kids were soon tired of walking. So Brad and I were soon each holding a kid. Sometimes Brad had both of them. About 35 minutes later, we finally see the 1/2 way there sign. The whole trail up was switchbacks. I started feeling bad about even suggesting the hike and started wishing that we hadn't had gone. I felt bad for my kids and for Brad. But they were all such good sports about the whole thing and didn't complain once.

We finally make it to the cave. The kids thought that was fun! And even though the lady warned us about coats, we didn't even think about needing them once. I just wish she had warned us about the switchbacks and steep trails. Oh well. The kids enjoyed it and it didn't turn out so bad after all. :)

When you tell Hyrum to smile, this is what he'll give you... So silly!

The next 4 pictures make us laugh. You can tell how terrified Aimee was at first. She's never really been a fan of going into caves, but she did really well this time.