The Blur that was fall and morning sickness combined!

 So, 5th and 3rd grade are happening.  Katelyn and Whitney are doing great.  Dual immersion for Whitney was a shock at first because the 3rd grade teacher gives a lot more homework than 2nd grade!  But she has risen to the challenge and is doing excellent in all subjects.  Her teachers are SO GOOD and I am so grateful!  Katelyn's teacher is new to the school but has turned out to be great.  Fun and creative with plenty of science and history= I'm a happy mom.  It helps that both of them have mostly the same kids in their class as they did last year.  Katelyn's is such a good group!  So she feels comfortable.  And Owen's doing an online preschool that is AMAZING academic-wise, but I am trying to provide him with the hands-on activities and playtime with other kids that he's missing.  

Lol crazy hair day for red ribbon week. We have never really utilized accessories like this before! The principal saw them getting out of the car and ran over to take a picture with them for the school Facebook page. Whitney was so embarrassed!

 Soccer season was busy!  Eric coached Owen's pre-K team; they were adorable and won almost every game.  Owen seemed to finally "get it" and played well!  It was so much fun to watch!  As you can see from this picture of Eric dying laughing at one of the "pile-ups"-- in the first couple of games someone would trip and fall, taking someone down with them, and the next thing you knew all 8 kids on the field would be on the ground because they were in such a tight bunch to begin with!  It was hilarious.

 This picture was taken right after Owen's very first goal!  As he ran by me with a big smile on his face.  He scored several more during the season!

But maybe my favorite position to watch him in was goalie.  He seriously stood in this stance the WHOLE. TIME.  So adorable, just like he and Eric had practiced.  He didn't get many chances to save it because our team was so good, but when he did he proved to be a fearless ball-diver like his father before him. :)

Whitney played her first season of competitive soccer, and proved that's where she belongs.  She did great, especially once her coach decided to only play her on defense.  He kept trying her on offense because she's so aggressive, but she just doesn't have the game sense and ball skills for it yet.  She played stellar defense the second half of the season though, and they hardly ever got scored on while she was in. She did commit a couple of fouls in the penalty box though-- still working on the line between aggressive and too rough!

 Here she is 3rd from the right, team meeting at halftime.

I love this picture!!  She is so determined to get that ball she is going for it with all her might!  That's our Whitney. :)

One of the times she brought the ball up from defense.

 And some day-to-day life pictures:
maris before and after nap!  I promise I do her hair cute almost every day, but after her nap it just looks like this:   lol I'm much too lazy to end the ragamuffin look by doing her hair TWO times in one day!

A train track owen was proud of and wanted a picture of before he had to put it away.

Fall Break the weather was beautiful so I roused myself to take the kids for a bike ride/run on the River Trail. I was impressed that Owen rode 3 miles easily!

For Whitney's first General Womens Meeting we went up to Salt Lake with my Mom, Allison, Natalie, and Raycelan!  It was fun even though we didn't get into the conference center. :(

Mallorie's blessing was a super fun family gathering, although my favorite part might have been talking to Melissa for the entire 2nd and 3rd hours of church while she tried to get Mallorie to eat.  It was good bonding time.  And it melts my heart and makes me grateful we are having another baby whenever Eric volunteers to hold Mallorie!  His actions show that he likes babies even if he won't admit it. :)

In 16 years of our relationship this was the first concert we ever paid to go to together: Mumford and Sons!!  Even though I was sick it was totally worth it. 

Kate's drama class did a scene from A Midsummer Night's Dream and this was her costume. She did awesome.

One day in October I was starting to feel a little better, so I planned a little field trip to the Red Barn with some friends.  It was way fun even though it completely wiped me out and I didn't do anything again for weeks haha.  I love this picture my friend took for me on the hayride!  Santaquin is beautiful and so are my kids!

Silly kids so excited to have a playdate lunch with a friend.

Right before the gender reveal!  The balloon is full of pink candy because we are having another girl!! 

Here she is waving hello on the ultrasound, best ultrasound picture ever right??

Owen and Maris with some of our pumpkin harvest!  We grew about 20 of them, and several were big enough that we didn't even have to buy any pumpkins to carve this year!

The BYU race!  Only these two ran this year, but OWEN FINALLY RAN IT!  He wasn't scared of the gun and did great, taking 6th I think?  Now we need to work on his kick, he wan't tired at all after!  And cute Maris took 8th I think, the fastest 2 year old!  She ran the whole way and has a great running future. :)

We had an impromptu family gathering when my dad came up for a BYU game and the Cravens happened to be here the same weekend!  It was fun; this is the kids doing a magic show for us haha. 

The 4 magicians taking a bow, it was a hilarious show!  The best was the disappearing Caleb act.  THe little kids were totally tricked, it was awesome.

And that was our fall, minus Halloween and Thanksgiving, more to come!

Morning Sickness Survival

My tips for morning sickness survival:

1. Prepare many freezer meals.  In the last weeks of July, several times a week I would take whatever I was making and triple-batch it, then freeze 2 meals for the upcoming nightmare months.  Plus I hoarded all my June and July freezer meal group meals and saved them for when I got really sick.  And it worked like a dream!  It seriously saved my life.  I had enough prepared that we ate freezer meals 3 times a week  from mid-August through mid-October.  Tues-Wed-Thurs were freezer meal nights, and Eric is home while I'm making dinner Fri-Sat-Sun nights so he could help if I was dying, deal with meat for me, or at least take care of the kids so I could focus and go more quickly.  So I only had Monday nights to deal with dinner on my own, and I planned all of our easiest meals for Mondays.  Did Eric and the kids love it?  No!  But did I care AT ALL in my half-dead sick state? Nope!  Looking back I have a little sympathy, but really 1/3 to 1/2 of the meals were stuff we normally eat, and most of them were just fine out of the freezer.  Eric had a good attitude and hardly ever complained, he would joke around to try to get the kids to laugh about the weird meals.  It was so, so wonderful and I'm so glad I discovered freezer meals in time for this pregnancy!!

2. Somehow get lucky/convince your husband to be super awesome about everything for 2-3 months.  I guess he has learned by now on our 5th child that for our family to survive my morning sickness, he has to jump in and do a lot of my normal jobs.  He did the dishes A LOT, including for about 2 weeks straight during the peak/worst of my sickness, weeks 10-12.  And at least half the time the rest of the time.  He cleaned up so many clutter messes that I just did not have the energy to deal with.  And mainly, he didn't complain.  Not about messes, not about freezer meals, he was awesome.  Oh! and also, he ran with me at 6am twice a week in September and October!  It helped me so much; there is no way I would have gotten up all those mornings on my own.  But I so wanted to be with him and encourage his health that I could make myself do it.  This has actually been my most consistent-exercising pregnancy since Katelyn; I have exercised 6 days a week the WHOLE TIME, with the exception of 2 weeks which were only 5 days a week. :)  

3. Somehow convince your kids to be super awesome for 2-3 months!   The girls started school right after I got sick, and they were great about getting ready every morning with very minimal help from me (I fell asleep on the couch while they were eating/getting ready MANY times!) Then when they got home from school they would jump right in and play with Owen and Maris, which was exactly what they needed after being partially neglected by me in my zombie state!  Owen and Maris were wonderful too.  They spent hours playing happily while I laid by them on the couch/floor/my bed.  Sweet Owen took such good care of Maris!  And then he was so good to watch a movie or play with Legos while I took a nap several times a week while Maris was napping.  I am so grateful for all 4 kids and their kindness and patience during morning sickness! 

Yes this picture again.  Because this is the only picture I could find of them playing.  Whitney was apparently playing too before she went to soccer practice.

Just being cute before we went to the park one day.  I tried to still take them places once a week.

 13 week bump. :)

Hallelujah it's over!!  I am SO HAPPY.  I did learn a lot from it, as usual though.  Here is a facebook post about it:

"Morning sickness" is always my biggest deterrent to having another baby. It is just so awful. But as I've been laying around lately on the couch, the bed, the floor just miserable, I've thought a lot about people I know who don't feel well. And not just for 3 months like me, but maybe forever! People who have diseases like MS, chronic illnesses, or other conditions with no cure that keep them in pain, feeling sick, drained of energy. I have felt so much sympathy and compassion for these people that I care about. So I wanted to salute a few people I know, I'm sure there are more I'm forgetting right now! And many other health problems that my friends bravely fight through! But to my mom Susan Wallwork Hansen, my aunt Kimberly Hansen, and friends Emily Cram Thevenin, Mae Urie, Deanne James Ainge, thank you!! Your courage has given me strength in my short time of physical trial.

and this:  The silver lining to getting a cold and sore throat on top of morning sickness? After weeks of dealing with disgusting smells, I can't smell a blessed thing!! Hallelujah! #smallvictory #movieday #pajamaday #pizzanight

and this:  "Jesus Christ is the source of all joy." "Joy has little to do with circumstances, and everything to do with our focus in life." 

These quotes from a leader(apostle) in my church today really hit me. Eric was teasing me recently when I complained about pregnancy, "hey you're the one who thought it would be fun to have another baby!" To which I replied "I don't think I ever said 'fun'..." because that's not the top way I would describe parenthood! Yes there are fun parts, mixed in with lots of not-fun parts! But I've been trying to think of how I would describe being a parent in one word. Work? No, although there is plenty of that. Crazy? Maybe. Rewarding? Too few and far between sometimes. BUT. Then I heard this talk about JOY and I realized this was it. Parenting is Joy! Joy can be found in all parts of parenting; (at least with young kids like mine!!) hard, exhausting, happy and even heartbreaking times! I'm so grateful that through my Savior I can find joy no matter my circumstances. Happy Sunday everyone!

But I am so so glad that I'm not planning on ever doing this again! :)

August Fun

Lagoon Day for Eric's work!  Always fun, even though I was already starting to feel sick.

It was Maris' first time riding the rides and she and Owen had a blast. 

While Eric and the older girls went on the big rides!  We never even switched off this time because pregnant=no roller coasters.

Elizabeth and Kjarom came to visit, so we had a mini-Murray family reunion.  We took beautiful family pictures, went to the Salem Days parade, 

and of course went boating!!

We had a lot of fear-conquering going on at Pineview that day! First was Owen, who had been terrified of the tube for the last 3 years and barely agreed to go on the boat last year-- he rode on the tube and loved it!  he even gave the thumbs up for "faster!"

Maris went on the tube without me, (and with Cleo!)

THe girls went without an adult,

And Katelyn tried knee-boarding, wow!!!  I was super impressed, I guess she didn't want to be outdone by Whitney, who has been doing it for years?  Anyway I was really proud of everyone's bravery.

It was so fun to see Xavier at last, he is so cute!!

and play with Jayda, I can't wait for her and Maris to be friends as they get older!!

Silly kids dressing up (Owen is a tree!). katelyn loves to play with the littles.

Whitney was our most avid garden-checker this summer.  Here she is with 2 purple carrots we tried to grow!  We only got a few but they were pretty cool.

and they still had orange inside!

In August I got sick so everything kind of stopped.  As you will see in the next post.