September

When we got back from our trip to San Diego for Joey's wedding, I braced myself for what I knew was going to be a busy month and a probable absence in blogging/any personal time.

This is how the month has gone so far......

We got home.

We spent a few days at the Alaska State Fair (including: working a shift at the petting zoo, participating as bidders in the Livestock Auction representing Christensen Chiropractic, watching a live Brian Regan show, and eating the most delicious fair food).
Then I had a few big Young Women's activities and duties to prepare for.

And Kenadie started preschool

 which she LOVES (and which her mommy can't believe she is actually big enough to go to!).

And I began working on my resume and applying for some part-time work to help out with some big bills coming up (apparently, having a baby costs quite a bit of money!).

And I got an awesome cold/flu bug.

We spent a beautiful weekend day clearing a hillside hundreds of other people in our church for a new public sledding hill.

(this hill was covered in trees and shrubs a few hours earlier!)

And then the Lord blessed our socks off by providing us with a moose so we can have meat this winter (which means a lot of work/time to process that meat).

And I successfully weaned myself from Zofran (which was hard, but doable).

And then this week I have a Standards Night for our Young Women that I'm in charge of planning, a fundraiser for a friend all day Wednesday (starting at 4am, woohoo!), a job interview, a field trip for Kenadie's class, and more moose meat processing to finish up. 

I'm exhausted! 

Happy, blessed, but very tired.

Oh, and I'm feeling quite pregnant these days (baby is, in fact, measuring 4 weeks ahead of his due date.  Yikes, he's gonna be a big boy!!)

This baby is moving like crazy (which is kind of fun for the time being before he reaches my ribs) and all the lovely 3rd trimester symptoms have shown up a little early this time around (heartburn, charlie horses, Braxton Hicks, etc), but I have been feeling so much better that I can't really complain.
I just hope life slows down a little so I can actually put a thought into the fact that we'll have a new baby with us in a few months......or I guess this kiddo will just live up to every 3rd child stereotype of being the one who is just lugged around with us wherever we go and who may just end up cuddling with his sisters' pink blankets or wearing their pink clothing because Mom just did not prepare herself for this little dude's arrival.
Either way, this little baby is already so loved.  His daddy can't wait to see him.  His mommy can't wait to hold him.  His oldest sister can't wait to "kiss those chubby cheeks".

As I was rushing around getting ready for the day yesterday morning, I passed by Kenadie playing with Photobooth on the computer so I paused for a quickie picture to evidence the expanding, 24-week pregnant belly:

And then we proceeded to rush out the door and spend the entire day processing 100's of pounds of moose meat with some of our good friends.

Yummy!

We got home at 9pm, got the kids in bed, Garrett spiked a fever and developed a sore throat, and I made a feeble attempt to clean up a little before hopping into bed, knowing that morning and church with the kiddos would come all too soon.
Before I shut everything down for the day at 10pm, here is what a day of meat processing in 40 degrees does for my looks:

Exhausting I tell ya!
But we actually had a blast.  And now our freezer is full of nature's best ribs, roasts, and burger.
Whew!
Thanks for the busy-ness, September, but here's to a (hopefully) slower-paced October!