Garden!

I thought I had done a gardening post this year, but I couldn't find it when I looked! So we will do a quick catch up! Last year, our garden was almost a complete bust. I was determined to make it work this year! A member of our bishopric offered to come over with his tractor/tiller and he tilled up our large section of garden. My very buff husband then shoveled out all the aisles (with his helpers) and we eventually planted seeds!

(Sorry about the low quality pictures...all we had were our camera phones!)

So...fast forward several months! The Saturday after our Vernal trip, we decided it was time to pick carrots and bottle them. I was always involved in gardening and canning fruits and vegetables while growing up, so I knew that I wanted my kids to be too!

They loved being in the garden and pulling up carrots! We also picked some grape tomatoes, zucchini and cucumbers. We rinsed off a couple carrots and the kids ate them in the garden! (Ignore the weeds...we have approached the time when weeds start to take over our garden, and I have to be okay with that! :) )

After A LOT of work and staying up until 1:00 in the morning, we got 15 pints of bottled carrots!

Vernal Trip!

Scott got home from his Graduate School Orientation at 7PM, and I had everyone packed and ready to head to Grandma and Grandpa Bagley's house. We hopped in the van, and we got there passed everyone's bedtime. The kids all soon went to sleep.

The next morning we woke up bright and early to head to Vernal for our Area Convention for Seminary and Institutes. It was a 4 hour drive, and we needed to be there by 11:30, so we were out the door around 7 AM. It is always hard to leave the kids, but I look forward to this Area Convention every year--it is always exactly what Scott and I need!

Our food was catered by Golden Corral, and it was great! We ate lunch as soon as we got there, and then we got to hear from Dr. Staker, who is the doctor for the Quorum of the Twelve, his son (a Stake President in Vernal) and our Assistant to the Area Director.

The Stake Center, where the meetings were held, was right next door to the Vernal Temple. After our last meeting, they gathered all teachers and their wives for a temple session. Because the Vernal Temple isn't as big as other temples, they also had reserved spaces for endowments and initiatories. Everyone was encouraged to bring family names, and it was an excellent experience!

Here is the Vernal Temple!

At lunch the first day, we learned some history about a stained glass window in the temple. When President Gordon B. Hinckley was travelling in California, he came across this stained glass window in an old baptist church. He loved the window so much, a picture of the Savior among sheep, that The church was able to purchase it. But they had no place for it. For years it sat in a warehouse. I guess stained glass has to be the perfect size to fit. When they were changing the Vernal Tabernacle into the Vernal Temple, they needed a window for this spot, and they discovered that this stained glass window was the perfect fit! So they pulled it out of the warehouse, and now it sits in the Vernal Temple!

After Scott and I were able to do initiatories at the temple, we went back to our hotel to change, and then off to dinner! We decided on, thank you pregnancy cravings, Golden Corral for dinner. (Evidently, have 2 catered lunches from them was not enough!) It had been forever since we had gone...maybe that's why I wanted it so badly! It is the only place that you can get a plate of meat and not feel guilty about it! So that's what we did! We were two very stuffed, happy people by the time we left!

The next day of meetings, we got to listen to the Temple President of the Vernal Temple, President Labrum. Our Area President finished off the meeting. He told us a story about a teacher from the area that was transferred to another area. He met with Kelly Haws, the Assistant Administator of the CES program. He asked the teacher what year he was hired. He said that they had recently found a journal among President Packer's belongings. (President Packer was once a seminary teacher, and he loved the CES program.) Even when his assignment changed, he kept this journal. In the journal, he had lists from every year. The lists were of the teachers that had been hired to be Seminary teachers--he had lists up until the year he died. They were able to go to the year this teacher was hired and see where President Packer had written his name, in 1987. Scott was hired in 2012, and I am sure that Scott's name was in that journal, with President Packer's trust.

We are so grateful for our employment, and we feel so extremely blessed to be here at this time in our lives! This area convention was the perfect pick-me-up that this tired mom needed to be a better mom, wife, and seminary teacher's wife. :)

A Busy August!

We have had a busy August! It has really busy on Scott, and it has been hard on me...who has been surviving with all three kids and a sick tummy! Scott was gone the first week of August to Graduate School Orientation in Logan. It was 3 days long. He had to drive 4 hours (and pay for gas) to get there, pay for a hotel for two nights, and pay to park on campus (plus pay for the orientation...because it was a 1 credit graudate school course). They did feed him while he was gone! He had a couple catered meals from local food places, and he eventually made it home to us again. :)

We stuck around home for those three days. In preparation for Scott's departure, I went grocery shopping and I bought frozen food for the kids and I. With this pregnancy, I hit my exhaustion point around 4 or 5 o' clock, and dinner is a stressful thing. With out Scott here to help with the kids, I knew I needed frozen food. (This was probably the 5th time I have bought frozen food since we have been married. We have never had the money to buy frozen food, so I make everything from scratch. Scott was a little bummed when he found out that's what we were having...because we never have it! Don't worry, he got to have some leftovers. :)) And that helped tremendously!

I also bought a couple projects to do with the kids. We made dirt one of the days. (You know, the dirt with pudding, gummy worms, and crushed up oreos.) The kids had never had it or heard of it before, so as a special "dad's-gone-and-mom-is-surviving" treat we made them! Macey wasn't too sure about making dirt, but she quickly warmed up to the idea. :)

The next week, Scott went with the Priests on their High Adventure. From what I hear, they had a blast up north and it was an excellent experience!

We did well at the home front. To pass the time until Scott got home, we finally went and visited the new splash pad in Central Valley (about 10 minutes from our house). The kids were in love, and we have been back many times since! The only bad part about the splash pad is that the mud around it and Jemma's white swimsuit don't mix! Oh, and I learned that, evidently, I was in charge of bringing snacks. (Lesson learned.)

Baby :)

Baby #4 is on the way! The Bagley family is expecting another addition on February 19th, 2016! We couldn't be more excited!! We have known for several months that someone needed to come into our family. It's an incredible feeling to know that someone needs you and is depending on you; to know this is what the Lord has in store for our tiny family. It's sometimes hard to explain that feeling to someone else who doesn't understand our decision...especially being we have 3 kids under 4 years old! (We definitely aren't following the social norm!)

It's been a fairly easy pregnancy so far! More than anything, I have just been tired--tired beyond belief! I have been on and off nauseous since I was 5 weeks pregnant, which has been hard, but I held out until 13 weeks, this last week, before throwing up. I was so close!

We had our first ultrasound at 9 weeks. Ultrasounds are probably my favorite part of pregnancy...probably everyone's favorite part! It's a great feeling to be knocked down, drag out tired and nauseous for 4 weeks and then get to see a tiny baby and see it's little heart fluttering. It makes all of it worth it!

At my 12 week appointment, the doctor searched for the heartbeat for about 5 minutes. Five long minutes. He told me it was nothing to be too worried about, but I had two options. I could wait a week and then come back in and they would try to find it again or I could run and get an ultrasound. I tend to think the worst of every situation, so I decided I needed an ultrasound and I needed it soon! I needed to know everything was okay. They were able to squeeze me in, and as soon as I saw baby, it was squirming like crazy. Baby was moving all over the place...which is why we figured it was hard to find the heartbeat. It was a terrifying hour of my life, but I did get to see baby again and get a couple pictures!

Right after we found out we were expecting, I was so nervous to think that I would have to tell people--especially family, that they wouldn't understand. I was thinking about it one day, and I got the feeling that I needed to tell people all the wonderful things that go along with motherhood! When people see our young family, and comment, it's always about how hard this must be or how I must be going crazy! I always comment back saying how hard it is or how crazy it really is...agreeing with them, but I hope people know how completely wonderful it is too!

I love that my kids are each other's friends. With each child, their timing is perfect. It's completely perfect (which explains what a big role Heavenly Father has had in all of our children arriving when they do!).

As a seminary teacher and wife, we have the chance to go listen to a General Authority speak with church employees twice a year. The fireside earlier this year was in February. Scott and I had just started to feel like we needed to add someone else to our family, and after the fireside, we KNEW it was what we were supposed to do.

For this fireside, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland had CES employees from around the world submit questions, and he would answer them. He said that an overwhelming amount of questions came in about teenagers and young adults fearing the future. His counsel hit close to home.

"We in the presiding councils of the Church hear far too often--and perhaps you do as well--that many of our youth are terrified to get married. In extreme cases they are fearful that the world is about to end in blood and disaster--something they don't want to take a spouse or child into. In less severe, more common cases, they are fearful that the world will just get more difficult, that jobs will be too hard to find, and that one should be out of school, out of debt, have a career, and own a home before considering marriage. Good grief! On that formula Sister Holland and I still wouldn't be married!"

"But I tremble to think what we would have lost if we had taken "counsel from our fears," as President James E. Faust would later tell me over and over and over that I and no one else should ever do. What if we had delayed inordinately? What would we have missed?"

"And we wanted children as soon as we could get them, which in our case did not turn out to be as easy as we thought. In fact, if we hadn't determined to have our family as promptly as we could, we might well have been a childless couple, as some our friends and some of you, though no fault of your own, have found it your lot in life to be. It took us three years to have our first child, another three to get a second, and four to get a third. And then that was it. A full-term miscarriage for a fourth closed that door to us forever, so we have rejoiced in the three children we have been able to raise. But what would our lives have been like if we had waited or delayed or worried unduly about the economics of it all? Which of our children would we give back? With what memories or love or lessons with each of them would we ever part? I shudder to think of it."

We are at a completely different place in our marriage and our life than most of our friends our age. Our children have made and brought us to where we are. They have provided us with experiences (and patience) we could not have gotten anywhere else! We know we are not the typical, but we know this is where we are  supposed to be!

We are so extremely grateful for Baby Bagley #4 and the love and life experiences the Lord has in store for our little family. If we have learned anything in the last 5 years of marriage, it's that He knows the best and gives us the best--because we are His children. And as a parent, you want to give your child everything that is good for them--whether they are 4 years old or 14 weeks old.

August Random!

Poor Cooper. He needs more testosterone in this house! He and Macey play a lot of princess/girly games because Macey has an active imagination! (Thankfully, for him, Avengers get brought into games quite often too.) This day, the girl games were running a muck, but he looked so cute! (Sorry, Coop!

Macey and Cooper fight constantly. I feel like I referee them ALL. DAY. LONG. Sometimes, I give up being a referee, though, and let Cooper and Macey use some problem solving skills to figure things out themselves. And sometimes, I pull out the camera and document the fights. (Not really...I just thought it should be documented. :) ) Although, this fight looks kinder than most.

Cooper and Jemma are friends. All our kids are close and really love each other, but Macey's much more independent of the other two kids. Jemma and Cooper just have a close relationship! They sit next to each other at meals, and Cooper turns his whole body and they giggle and talk all through meals. I constantly have to remind Cooper to eat his food. They just love each other! When Jemma wakes up for her nap, I think she always has the biggest grins for Cooper. If he isn't awake when she wakes up, she goes to his bedroom door and bangs and cries because he isn't letting her in. One day I walked in to find them rocking in the glider together. It will be fun to watch their relationship grow!

Macey keeps me on the tip of my toes. I never know what she is going to do or say, and most of the time, that ends with both of us giggling (she is REALLY funny!). She is also very independent. About a week ago, she had been a pill all week about taking a bath. She would hide in corners of the house and have to be dragged, crying to the bath tub. Bath time was about the same way. We had MANY talks, once every one had calmed down. We made many resolves to be better...and it just wasn't happening. Then, Macey came home from Primary with this, so I guess something was clicking! :) She has been pretty good ever since then!

This girl and the dishwasher...enough said!