"So... Is She Gonna Die Or What?"

This is the question my nephew Kyle asked me and my Mom when we were talking in front of him about my little sister Stephanie being pregnant. At the time she was only a couple months along and having some minor complications. That's what I like about Kyle, he's a straight shooter, he doesn't waste any time getting to the bottom of things and even though he told his entire first grade class that "he and his aunt Janet kiss on the lips when no one is around" (not nearly what it sounds like and a story for a different time) I still love him! Fortunately Stephanie is not going to die. She has expressed a desire to do so several times but I keep reassuring her that no one has ever been pregnant forever. She of course counters by saying "there's a first time for everything". I also told her that I was positive her nausea would go away after 9 months to which she said "yeah but then it moves to a pain in my butt for the next 18 years". I'm at a loss really... Luckily, she is doing better and after finding out it's.... A BOY and seeing him for the first time, she is much more excited and death is not at the fore front of her mind. She is so cute and I know this kid is going to be a lucky one. He already has his first tie and pair of loafers.

Stephanie being pregnant is definitely some of the biggest news of the summer but it isn't the only thing that's happened. Paul and I have been to Bear Lake with my family, Oregon with his and St. George with his. We've had people getting knocked up or "PG" as my sister Shelley calls it (pregnant for those of you who use politically correct terminology - a concept I understand and use but can't seem to have as much fun with). Stephanie isn't the only one expecting... It's not me though so don't freak out and get too excited, it's Paul's sister Quela, she will be expecting her third - her and her husband Matt told us while we were playing Catch Phrase. The clue was "what's inside Quela's stomach" of course someone yelled "A BABY?" and Matt said "YES!" it was really cute and all but... "baby" really wasn't the clue and cheating is cheating Matt j/k!! We've also had a foreign exchange student who stayed with my oldest sister Jennifer. Her name was Nanako and she was from Japan. I made sure to show her that American's are not ignorant by asking her what life is like in China :) Also, Paul and I tested our sanity by taking 5 kids all at once over night and one of our family members went to jail for a few days. Not necessarily in that order but there's a lot that can happen in a few months time.

I've thought a lot about how I'm going to do this; whether I should post one big blog about everything or just do a few at a time and slowly show them all. I think the few at a time is the better plan. I'm way too lazy to wait for all those pictures to upload. For now, I'll just stick with the present.

Paul and I are doing well, Paul has been gone for most of the summer but we are really hoping that will slow down and we can get back on track. Paul is still scout master as well as doing 10 other callings whether he officially called to them or not. I teach the 7 and 8 year olds and they are hilarious and SO cute! I did almost make one of them cry last week but I think it was because we were talking about Isaiah so really I blame the subject matter. Plus a boy in my class makes sure to tell me every week that "there is a kid named Isaiah in his class that does mean things and blames him for them" so talking about Isaiah is a traumatizing subject all the way around! I think we should all work hard to limit our exposure... there is still so much we don't know about the human brain and trying to understand some of the things Isaiah is talking about is like trying to follow a political speech - you know they are trying to say something that they think should be important and you know that if you don't understand it, it could have the potential to affect your life in a huge way but there is so much fancy language and malapropisms (made up words for those of you who didn't take communications at MSU) that you can't break it down in time to know how you feel about it. The only real difference is that the things Isaiah said will probably actually matter and happen someday whereas the things politicians say... well there just things they say. We're lucky we have the media to tell us what to think or we'd never know how to vote j/k :)

Anyway, other than trucking along and trying to recover from the busy summer that's about it for us. I'll be blogging about our summer adventures as time moves forward. I hope all of you are doing well.

Below are some pics of a little but of everything...