Pioneer Day, Canning and Boys...

For Pioneer Day we went over to the park here in town for their festivities. There was a pioneer village, Indian teepee's, Farmer's Market, Entertainment, an old Car show and lots of kids crafts and demonstrations. We also went through the Pioneer Museum...it only took us 3 1/2 years of living here to go there! Avery loved it, he kept asking to go to "another house" in the pioneer village, and he liked looking at the things in the museum...but for some reason he was a little scared of the old cars at first.

Last week Mom and I decided to can some jam since peaches were on sale. So without the use of my large burner (which is VERY annoying and almost deserving of it's own post...but I won't let myself actually do it!) we canned 7 pints of peach jam! YUM!! Now I want to can some more!
I think I'll get the stuff from the local Farmer's Market and make some salsa in the next month or so. And that excites me! (Amelia...wanna can Salsa?? :) )

And last night we attempted to get some decent pictures of both boys so I can put together Jack's birth announcements. It's so hard to get a good picture of 2 kids at once! But we got some funny ones. and they'll work for the announcement, I think the boys are cute in their green clothes! Some time when Jack is looking a little less newborn and more alert, and when Avery is a little less energetic (yeah, right!) we'll get some pictures taken.

Random pictures

Avery hasn't tried to poke Jack's eyes out or pick him up or anything...yet. I'm hoping it'll continue. He's been a little crazy otherwise, I think being cooped up in the house and not having my undivided attention is getting to him. I'm hoping to get some of my energy back this next week so we can get out, maybe to a park or something and feel more human.
He sure does love Jack though.

And here are some cute pictures of little Jack from tonight. He looks so much like Avery's newborn pictures, it's crazy! I'll have to find one of Avery and post some comparison pictures.

The things dreams are made of...

Andy playing video games with the boys. And loving it.

The boys

This last day and a half is the longest I've ever been away from Avery, and it was really hard on me! I missed my little buddy a lot! Before now I think the longest I've been away from him was a few hours. He looked a little weirded out when he saw me at first all hooked up and looking half dead in my hospital bed.
But as soon as he realized I had Oreo's for him he was great! He loves Jack, and kept asking to hold "it". It was sweet. Jack was also lucky enough to get a couple Oreo kisses from his big brother!
Avery thought Jack was hiding from him in his blanket, it was so fun to see him holding him and talking about him! We'll see how fun it is when we go home!

I love this picture, oreo mouth and all! I just think it's so sweet!

Dad and his boys. He's in heaven!!

And, for "fun", here's one of me right before we left our house Tuesday morning, in all my 39 weeks 4 days of pregnant glory! :)

We'll be headed home at some point tomorrow. I had to have a few blood transfusions so they want to keep me for observation a little longer. Avery's been having fun hanging out with The Jonah's, Gramma Joleen and now tonight he gets to spend the night at Jon and Jacques, I'm sure he'll have a blast playing with cousins! Thanks to everyone that's helped out, we owe you big time!!!

Jack Bauer has arrived!!

Ok, so I didn't really get to name him Jack Bauer, but it's close enough. He is officially Jackson Robert Westover, but we will primarily call him Jack.
He was born on Tuesday at 1:30 and came in at a diminutive 4 lbs 15 oz and 18 in. He is quite tiny, but we think he is pretty cute. I think he looks just live Avery did right after he was born, and I think we all know how that turned out.
Here are a couple hospital pictures to temporarily slake your thirst. Enjoy... and you know that there will be more to come! - Andy

Change of plans...

My water broke this morning around 5. I sure am glad it was my water breaking, because I would have been totally embarrassed to have to tell Andy I wet the bed! (nothing like that has ever happened with either pregnancy, thank goodness!)
Anyway, we're at the hospital. Waiting. Which I guess I could have done at home...but I was a bit paranoid with the amount of fluids there was! :)
So, now I'm thinking I'll rest for a while. They're waiting to start pitocin to see if my body will start active labor on it's own. I'm hoping we don't have to wait long!

We have a date!

It didn't take much convincing to get my Doctor to agree to induce me. Thank goodness. I told him how long I'd been contracting and how horribly uncomfortable I am and he asked if I wanted to have a baby Wednesday. Uh, yeah!
So, we go in Wednesday, July 16 at 10:00am. And hopefully before too long we'll have a little boy!
I'm nervous, and excited. Hopefully Avery handles the changes alright, I'm a little worried about that.
We'll post pictures and baby stats when it's all over!

Payson Scottish Fest

Saturday morning we headed down to the Payson Scottish Festival, it was pretty cool. We got to hear bag pipe bands, see the caber toss, and some other Scottish sports I don't know the name of...but they were quite impressive!

We got there early enough it wasn't too hot, and we just hung out there for a couple hours. It's always fun to see all the big men in Kilts too, if they weren't so darn expensive I'd get one for Andy and Avery, then we'd see if Andy would wear one! :)

How cute are these little guys??

Avery and I chillaxin' in the double stroller, no I didn't ride in it! :)
Balloon Monkey for Avery, he was in heaven!

Doesn't this guy look hot in that outfit!? (not the attractive hot this time!)
But...speaking of hot, check this out!


Hey! The 80's called, they want their hair back!

Thanksgiving Point

I've been wanting to take Avery to the Children's Garden at Thanksgiving Point and we finally made it over there this past Thursday. I thought we'd have to pay for him, but he was free! He loved it so much, I can't wait to take him back!
We would have stayed longer but I didn't realize there was a wading pool around Noah's Ark, and we didn't have a swim diaper...so we let him splash around for a while but as soon as he sat in the water his diaper got really poofy and huge...and that's unsanitary pretty much so we had to leave. Next time I'm taking a swim diaper!
Here are some pictures though, we were only there for about 45 minutes or an hour, next time we'll be more prepared and stay longer.

I'm thinking along with the swim diaper we'll need a comfy chair and a cooler with treats. And we'll stay for a lot longer than 45 minutes! I'm a little excited just thinking about it!

We also enjoyed the other parts of the garden...!

Nothin'

Still no baby, I have an appointment tomorrow and I'm hoping for good news. I've still been contracting irregularly, so I'm frustrated that nothing has popped out, and I'm getting sore!
I picked my Mom up from the airport Friday and we've just been chillin'.
We went to a Scottish Festival Saturday and we've gone shopping a little, I'll post pictures of our exciting adventures later.
But for now, no baby.

Unborn baby update

Quick update on the new (still yet to be born!!) baby...
I've been contracting since last Thursday, they are anywhere from 10 minutes to 2 hours apart...annoying, and pretty uncomfortable!
At my appointment we learned that the contractions are at least helping move things along a little, though not as much as I was hoping! (almost 2cm dilated, 90%effaced)
More good news is that I actually lost weight from my last appointment! I'll take that!! :)
They sent me in for a NST (non stress test) at the hospital, and we both passed, so that's good.
My Mom will be flying in on Friday afternoon, so we'll be ready whenever this little stinker decides to stop torturing me!

For now I'm trying to walk. A lot. I've even done things like scrub everything in the bathroom, weed the gardens and pretty much anything else I can think of to get things moving along! It'll be just my luck though to keep contracting until past my due date!
I'm sort of hoping that at my appointment next Monday I'll be progressed way more and they'll just send me on over to the hospital to get this thing out!

Baby Blanket

This morning I made this blanket for the baby. When Avery was born I made him a rag quilt so I wanted to do something different for this little guy.
I've seen these tag blankets various places and thought it would be a fun one to try out. I think it turned out well, I'm going to do some yarn ties in the middle to hold it together. I just need to pick up the yarn tonight and finish it.
(Don't look too close...I don't claim to be a master seamstress...or even a very good one! :) )

Craft for the boys room

Here's something I did today for Avery and new baby's (Jackson) room. Their room is jungle themed, patterned after the John Lennon Real Love line by Carter's.
I think they turned out pretty cute, if I do say so myself! :)
My other project this week is making a tag blanket for the new baby, I'll post a picture of that when it's done too.

Before...

After...

4th of July fun!

We started our 4th early at the Balloon Festival, came back here and had breakfast with Mike and Heather and then headed over to the parade.
It was a lot of fun, Avery loved all the motorcycles that drive by, and the inflatable Curious George. And he did really well for getting up 2 hours early and not taking a nap until 3 hours later than he normally does! He did fall asleep on the way back from the parade and slept until we got to Chris' house to go swimming, he was so tired!We all went home after swimming and napped, which felt great! I love a good nap!

Then we went over to Jon's for some dinner and kid friendly fireworks. It was a lot of fun. The weather was perfect for being outside, and Avery loved watching the little fireworks.
Best non-family moment...the old man across the street enjoying the free show. Apparently the parachuting men, poppers and little flowering fireworks before dark are worth the trip to the front porch!
Later in the evening we went to the Pleasant Grove Jr. High to watch the show there. We set up blankets and chairs, brought snacks and some games and hung out until the fireworks started. It was great, they were right above us, and so pretty!
Avery was a little freaked out at first, but that only lasted a minute or so, then he wouldn't stop talking about the fireworks. It's so fun now that he talks and actually enjoys himself places. He makes everything way more exciting!!

What's on your agenda?

Tomorrow for the 4th our day is jam packed with fun things! (And I wouldn't mind it all sending me into a 2 week early labor either!!) I have a feeling we'll be exhausted at the end of the day, and there could be an Avery melt down somewhere amidst the fun...but what's a holiday without a crying kid?!

So here's what we're doing tomorrow,
*Hitting up the Hot Air Balloon fest in the wee morning hours (really, it starts at 6:30!)
*Having a family breakfast afterwards at our house,
*Watching the parade (hopefully this year we can find a decent place to sit)
*Going swimming at my brother in law's place and lunching with the family
*Coming home for a couple hours of down time and a nap for Avery (and me too maybe!)
*Then we're going to dinner (bbq I think) at Andy's brother's house, and maybe let the kids set off some little fireworks or something
*I think after that we'll come home and find an open place to sit and catch some of the Stadium of Fire fireworks...and maybe get some for Avery to try out, and hope they don't scare him...he's been scaring easily the last couple weeks. His newest thing to be afraid of is water balloons...weirdo!
*Then we'll crash in bed and hopefully get a good night sleep! (which is getting harder for me the more pregnant I become!!)

On Saturday we're going to go down town Provo and hit up the Freedom Festival stuff and the Colonial Village they have set up. And then we'll veg the rest of the day. Unless I feel like doing something else!! :)

I hope to get lots of pictures of our fun filled 3 day weekend!!

Everyone have a fun and safe holiday! I can't wait to see all the updated blogs (HUGE hint) after the weekend! I'm sure you all will have some fun pictures and stories!! :)