I eat my words. With Sweet & Salty Chex Mix.

*Post inspired by the TRDC RemembeRED prompt, "It's a fill-in-the-blank-for-your-own-prompt Prompt:  The first time I ________-ed after _________-ing."

The first time I drove my minivan....after swearing I would never own one.

And I mean swore. It actually made me a little queasy to see a young mom hauling around her kiddos in a minivan. It reminded me of my mom (nothing against Mom). It reminded me of the times in high school I got made fun of for driving hers. So I said that no matter how many kids I had, I would never drive one. I'd get an SUV first, no matter the higher cost.

Well, the cost is higher. And I didn't have kids then, who cost an arm and a leg to raise. Literally, I payed for diapers in legs last time.

Okay, maybe not literally.

And when baby number three was on his way and we finally accepted the harsh reality that three car seats just would not fit in our tiny, gas-efficient Saturn, we put our logic goggles on and I realized it was that time. That time to fit into the soccer mom stereotype (even though my kids don't play soccer). It was unavoidable now, especially if we didn't want to pay a fortune for the extra gas and insurance that would come with an SUV.

And after hours of research, test drives, annoying, pushy spawns of Satan car salesmen, we finally found her.

I say her because she truly is a part of our family.

Four hours, fourteen signatures, and two new sets of keys later, I pulled her off of that lot, blasting her beautiful, refreshing "Max AC" in the armpit we call Phoenix and something flipped inside me. The rear AC for the kiddos, the smooth ride, the horse power (hey, it was like a Viper after the put-put Saturn we had), the satellite radio, the little mirror that lets me see all my kiddos and what they're doing, all the extra space, the comfortable seats, the leg room, the middle console I could conveniently keep my Sweet & Salty Chex Mix on...

I was a believer.

And I realized I had never enjoyed driving any of my previous vehicles more than her.

And that was when that shiny, maroon 2009 Kia Sedona became my baby.

(Okay, not really my baby. More like an adopted pet or something.)

And I am proud to say I am a minivan mom.

True Fact: Life Isn't Fair

Other than a couple big things (which I blogged about earlier), nothing huge has been going on here. Just little things, like my kids' allergies being the end of me. For the last few weeks, their allergies have been acting up like CRAZY (mostly Sam) and it has been a huge struggle every single night for us. In the last three weeks/month it's safe to say I have not slept solidly through the night. On average, Sam is waking up about 3 to 4 times a night, sometimes more (last night between the both of them it was 6 times in 7 hours). Not only is climbing in and out of bed on a continual basis painful for me, but it's extremely exhausting. Most days I feel like I'm in a dream state, where I don't know what's real and what's not, because as soon as I start to drift back to sleep and slip into a peaceful state, I am woken again by screaming or legs kicking the wall. Let's just say Sam doesn't handle the annoying itchy feeling in his nose very well, accompanied with constant running.

I have tried EVERYTHING, too. The only option left is to get an air purifier for their room, which we are doing this week. I have taken some awesome suggestions from friends/family, but so far, nothing works. Not even medicine like Benedryl or Claritan. I just wish Arizona would start cooling down already. It's so frustrating. Because I'm sure as soon as it does, and there are less allergens in the air, that will help. Winter come, PLEASE...for the sake of my sleep and sanity!!!

And you would think that after a while, you'd get used to the constant interrupted sleep, but you don't. Trust me. Your body never adjusts to being depleted. I know it sounds completely dramatic, but I really don't know how much longer it can go on like this...especially when I'm already run down and starving for sleep as a pregnant mom. And I realized in two months, when Lucas comes, I will be up all night with him (hoping not, but just going off of the way both Sam and Josh were as newborns...) and then what? What if Sam and Josh (again, mainly Sam) aren't better by then? Do I just say "screw sleep" in general and stay awake all night? Because that's how it will be. I just PRAY, harder than I did with Josh and Sam, that Luke will be a good newborn, a good eater, and a good sleeper. Because I have yet to know what that feels like.

But even if he IS like Josh and wants to eat 3 times throughout the night, even that isn't as bad as how much I'm waking up now. Balance, please!

Anyway, enough of my complaining...on that subject. I apologize to everyone who ever talks to me lately, because I know it's probably all I do. I try to be positive, I really do. Sometimes I just feel like the horrible way I feel physically (not just with exhaustion, but all the other pregnancy pains and contractions), puts a blanket over everything else and it's almost impossible to see anything through it sometimes.

But speaking of positive things! (Wait, were we?) Tomorrow we start our 15 hour trek to Colorado!!! Yay! I can't even express how thrilled I am. Even the uncomfortable car ride is worth it. It's been almost a year since we've been there as a family (and since we've seen the Meyers gang) and it's way overdue. I am so excited to see family and for Josh to bond with the family he hardly knows. Arizona is too far away and we are both (Dave and I) looking forward to this break. Now, I just pray me and the kids have good health. Usually (actually, every time) when we travel, at least one of us is sick...usually the kids. Dave had the horrible stomach flu yesterday and I am HOPING me and the boys are in the clear.

Now...back to the negative. Sorry. Have to talk about it. But I'll try to make it sound as upbeat as possible. Here we go. I am so thrilled that our NEW van was the victim of a hit-and-run last weekend! There's nothing like a good, solid roadblock to put things into perspective! When I walked out of Walmart and into the parking lot and saw the back of my van bashed in, I wanted to jump up and down with glee! Even better, they still haven't found the woman who did it, and most likely, we will be paying our $500 deductible to get it fixed...out of our pocket! I'm so glad we could do that for this woman who almost ran down the witnesses as she sped away and has made it impossible for the cops to find her! Merry Christmas, criminal woman, from our wallet to...well...to your mistake!

Okay, I can't fake it anymore. It really does suck. Especially around the holidays. The damage doesn't actually look that bad, but the handle hardly works and the whole tailgate will end up having to be replaced. Which of course will definitely be more than the deductible. I talked to the police yesterday and he had a couple more addresses to follow up on, but come to find out, the woman is also a main suspect in some other criminal investigation. Go figure. So either she sped away to avoid that, she was drunk, or she doesn't have insurance. We are betting at this point that it's all three. It's not looking so good. Would someone like that really have insurance?

After talking to the insurance company, they informed us they will do everything to get what they can out of her, but we have to think realistically. This is life and as we all know, life isn't fair. So after a good, peaceful night, when I finally felt sane with the world, I make the mistake of going to Walmart to buy Dave's Christmas present (legally parked, mind you), and now we have the fortunate blessing of forking out $500 to pay for something we didn't do. On our new vehicle.

*Deep breaths* Okay, I'm done complaining. I promise. I really am aware of all the many amazing blessings in our life, because I know we have COUNTLESS to be grateful for, but sometimes you just gotta vent about the not-so-great things in life, too.

Ending on a positive note. During stake conference last Sunday (which I heard not a single word of, by the way), Sam told me my hair was "beautiful, like Cinderella." :) I didn't even know he knew who Cinderella was. Nothing like the sweet words of a child to brighten your mood.

A New Stage

We have hit a new level in our family life, as we will soon be a family of five (*GULP*). We are no longer a small sedan family. We are now officially a van family. And I feel so old because it was always the "old" people and my parents with the vans...and now it's us. I always swore I'd never own one either. But life happens. They are the most practical for people with ever growing kids and numbers, and instead of being "ashamed," I came to terms with it during the vehicle hunt the past couple of months. And I can honestly say now that I am excited to drive it around because it's the best vehicle I've ever owned. It's a 2009 Kia Sedona with only 17,000 miles on it and I LOVE it. After the hours and hours of research, it is the exact one I wanted that would fit in with our demands and our price all at the same time. Now we can really be ready for little Lucas James in January. I posted a pic of it (along with many other pics) on Facebook.

We've been keeping pretty busy lately. We've been out of town the last four weekends in a row (including when we van shopped) and this weekend, though we will be here, Dave will be keeping busy with the Health Fair at the community campus (since he is in charge of it). Then next weekend Dave is on call so we have to stay here; I can't even get away unless I want to take the kids with me somewhere alone (No thanks...not fond of doing that lately) because I can't leave them with him. The weekend after is Halloween and the Halloween community carnival, and I don't even know if we will be here for that; it all rests on the Stewarts' plans. Then the weekend after that Dave is on call again. Then a couple weekends later, it's COLORADO HERE WE COME!!

The last four weekends we've been gone have been spent with Tiffany and Brand Stewart and kids, and it was a real treat to be able to see them that frequently. One of the weekends (2 ago), we went to Vegas with them and had a blast--even while I was in lots of pain! We got to see Phantom, which I have wanted to do since I was a little girl, and had a blast. We love them and love spending time with them, our Arizona family, and wish the time between visits wasn't usually so long.

Josh and Sam in Vegas with their Krispy Kreme hats on:

Us and the Stewarts in front of the entrance to the Phantom Theater:

For Halloween, Sam has been adamant that he is a dinosaur, so I went to a few places, found nothing, and even ended up buying a tiger costume at Old Navy (last costume in his size there) because I was worried I wouldn't find anything anywhere else--even though Sam threw a fit because he did NOT want to be a tiger. So I finally made it to K-Mart (I always LOVE their Halloween selection) and found the PERFECT dinosaur costume for him. And now he asks every day if it's Halloween yet so he can wear it.

He also asks every day if it's Thanksgiving or Christmas because he knows we are going to Colorado for Thanksgiving and the Meyers are coming here for Christmas. :)

Grandpa Meyers was here for a day last week and Sam just loved having him here. So did Josh. I think I can truly, whole-heartedly say that Josh is finally over his attachment of me and fear of strangers. He now warms up to people really fast and loved giving Grandpa lots of hugs and smiles. He also talked to his "Auntie Jessica" on the phone today, where the only audible words were "Hi" and "Bye." But he thinks everyone can understand his mumbling. :)

Anyway, the night before Grandpa left, Sam told me, "You better not let Grandpa leave mom, or I will cry." So the next morning when he woke up and Grandpa was gone, he got teary-eyed and pouted his lip slightly and said, "I told you I would cry if you let him leave!" It broke my heart. He also said that when the Stewarts left our house a few days before that. He just hates not having his family around. Today he told me he wanted to see Grandpa again. Maybe someday we will know what it's like to live within a close driving distance to our families.

It has been WAY too hot for October, in my opinion, but I know I have said that every year since we've been in Arizona. I miss the Fall SO bad this time of year and try to be reminiscent of it by buying pumpkin spice candles and things, but it's just not the same. Hopefully Halloween won't be hot because the kids' costumes are extremely warm and insulated.

The pregnancy is going...the same. Progressing just as expected. Contractions are more frequent. Pain is more intense. Belly is stretching beyond capacity. Luke is moving more and more, taking up more and more room. And I am loving him more and more, and can't wait to meet him! I want my baby!

With everything going on lately I haven't had much "me time," so I haven't written in a long time. I explain it a little more in my other blog, but basically I think I'm taking a break from the whole dream of being published right now. Not throwing it away, but putting it in a safe place for later. For more details you can check out my writing blog.

Anyway, that's about it for now!