First Day..and a bunch of junk

I am so happy I got to take Elora to her first day of school today! Because I still looked like this, which is better than being at the hospital,  ruining Elora's big day, and worrying about who's watching my kids. (Yes, the baby was due yesterday. Ha ha, no one wins the poll.)

 Somehow, I don't care so much if she has to miss some other day this week (which she probably will) as long as it wasn't the first day to which she was counting down with a big paper chain all this month! We were able to do the traditional outside shot this morning (at least it's traditional for my family) before we left:

she's supposed to be in front of our little garden, but she kind of blocked the whole thing. Oh well.

 I thought I'd be all emotional about sending off my eldest, but I guess I have too many other things on my mind this week. Mostly, I was just feeling relieved!
Then we all walked to the school together. The boys were excited too, they were even holding hands and giggling (and carrying our mail for the mailbox.)

We dropped off her backpack in class (all the students are actually provided a backpack already full of supplies, but I knew it was important to her to pick her own bag at the store) and we took a picture with her teacher before we went to breakfast. Yes Elora is tall for her age, but I think her teacher may be a little small for her age...hehe. Elora was feeling a little shy, and possibly a bit embarrassed that I was taking pictures, but that's what moms are for, right?

We were told we could eat breakfast with Elora in the cafeteria, and we saw other parents there too. Everyone in the school is given free breakfast and lunch every day, and when they have an after school program, they also get a free dinner! At the end of the school day, they are also provided a healthy snack to bring home with them on the bus or whatever. This is including the whole school, which is K-12. After hearing of all the school costs everyone else has to pay, we feel pretty lucky about that aspect of Reservation living.

Josh and Jonah were excited about the free breakfast too, even though we couldn't figure out a good way to eat the oranges that were served as halves. How is a five-year-old (or younger) supposed to eat that without making a huge mess? I ended up getting it all over myself trying to peel them for everyone else. But they were yummy!
After breakfast I made sure Elora washed her face in the bathroom (I really am worried about her walking around all day with food on her face and shirt) before we reintroduced her to her classroom. Now there were lots of other students there, and she got to sit down at an activity table with some other girls.

She was so excited to be with other kids, even though she's always shy at first. And she moves when I take her picture. We left shortly after that..I hope her school day is everything she is hoping it will be!

On our way home, I decided to take a few more pictures of an interesting building that's bothered me since we moved here last year. The year before we moved here, there was a big ice and hailstorm, which destroyed a bunch of property and knocked out all the power and water for several days. Several buildings had severe damage, especially to the windows. One of the school buildings which isn't used much still has all of the windows boarded up.
This particular building that I passed on the way home wasn't ever boarded up, and the windows are still open to the elements year round.

When you walk past it you can hear a cacophony of birds that have made their nests inside, and there are cats (and likely other animals) constantly coming in and out of the building. This wouldn't be that weird, if the building was empty. But it's not.

It appears this building was a storage space of some kind, full of everything from tables, chairs and desks to clothes, pianos, and lockers!

 

And they are all ruined and wasted.

It makes me sad every time I look inside, and maybe a little angry, because I'm sure many of those items (like the clothes) were donated by charities or other groups trying to help out an impoverished people.

 

But like much of the well-meaning charity and government money that is sent here, it went to waste.

 

But at least it's a comfortable bed for a kitty, right?

 

Still Waiting

So, if you're wondering who won the poll on when the baby would be born, it definitely wasn't me. That date was last week!
Here is another picture, taken under a bridge at a pretty park in Spearfish last week.  Me at 38.5 weeks.

 
































Last time we came here I didn't have a camera, so I was happy to be able to get some pictures of this place finally,

 















but really, I'd be okay if I don't have to take anymore this week.

If you've noticed Jonah wearing these red pants in half of our pictures, that just means his diaper leaked again...they're the ones we always bring with us in the car, "just in case!"

 Unless they're newborn baby pictures.
It's not that I want the baby to come earlier than it's ready, its just the longer it takes, the more irritable I become! Why? Because first of all, I can't afford to keep paying for gas every week into Spearfish. It's great that we have somewhere to go and something to do, but it's killing our finances! For another thing, Elora starts school next week, and I'm worried that if the baby comes on it's due date or later, we'll mess up her first day, which I really don't want to do. Finally, I hate how at the end of a pregnancy, it's all anyone wants to talk to you about. "How are you feeling? It's not here yet? We've been waiting anxiously to here the news!" It's great that people are showing their support, but I always feel like I've somehow disappointed everyone by not having the baby for them yet. Plus, I hate waiting.

Sturgis in August

If you drive through Sturgis, South Dakota during a certain week in August, you might think something strange is going on. 

















 The traffic in this small (pop. 6500) town is unusually heavy,

with a somewhat different composition that you might find on a regular day. You might have to wait longer at the gas pump,


















or find that all of the parkinglots (especially those at bars) are incredibly full...incredible because in the winter months, most of these establishments are abandoned and closed for the season!


















Yes, if you come here the second week in August, you will encounter the Sturgis Road Rally, an event which is apparent famous, but which we had never heard of before we moved here last year, during this very week. Driving through town takes an hour instead of ten minutes,



and the local nightlife reminds you more of Los Angeles or Las Vegas, rather than small town middle America. Believe you me, we were definitely worried that the baby would be born this week and we'd have to drive through all of this on the way to the hospital (and at night, it is 10 times worse!)
Luckily, we were only on our way to our regular doctors appointment when we passed through town this year. I found it most interesting to see all of the custom bikes,


















and all the people who probably aren't regularly bikers in their everyday lives. While there were mostly highly tattooed young people around, (psst, that helmet is supposed to go on your head..)





it was fun to occasionally see folks like these blending with the crowd:

One thing I did find a little disturbing, was the lack of protective clothing. I mean, if I were to ride a motorcycle, I would dress like this: leather jacket and chaps or thick pants, helmet, thick boots...I don't want to die!


















But it seemed people were more concerned with showing off their...assets rather than being safe. There were lots of shirtless guys,


















but even more ubiquitous were the half-dressed girls! Ahh!

Hence feeling like we were near a beach somewhere. I mean really, do they feel safe riding around this way?  Hey, I guess she figures the helmet will save her life, right?


















When I saw this girl, I was a little shocked until I realized that no, she isn't topless. There's a string involved somewhere, I'm sure.


















And I renewed my vow that we would never live in Sturgis while we have small children at home. Yikes! I hope you're not offended at some of these, I just really want to show you how weird it is during this one week...and actually, I didn't take pictures of the people who were most offensively dressed (think obscenities and pasties, if you know what those are...) I'm just hoping my kids didn't notice those people.

I wondered where this lady got the idea for her outfit...


















then I realized she was just showing off the popular fashion being sold at booths all up and down the street. (Again, sorry if you're offended. I just thought these were hilarious.)


















In fact, some of the booths were more entertaining than the people, selling everything they thought bikers might need. You know, like knives,


















and horned helmets.


















Sometimes, they're not what you expect to see at all, when you actually stop to read what they say:



Finally, I wanted to show you this very interesting saloon, right at the edge of town. It is always full to capacity during the Road Rally, but the rest of the year you might see two or three vehicles in the whole parking lot on any given day.

Which is funny because there's a big sign outside that says they film a reality tv show there, for the TruTV channel! I wonder what happens on that show every month but August? Not much, I'm sure.

So now you've seen it first hand! Welcome to Sturgis...at least the Sturgis you can see in August.

Nine Months

So I've been pretty good about posting regular pregnancy pictures on facebook, but I don't think I've been so regular about it on my blog. Plus it's kind of fun to see these pictures in succession. I know the whole point, generally, is to be able to compare the pictures, so most people take their photos in the same place in the same pose. I like to see what I was doing at that time in my pregnancy as well as my size, so I just threw that approach out the window and took my pictures whenever I felt like it! I was doing pretty good about taking them every 4 weeks (though I started on a weird week, I know) but this summer I got distracted and let seven weeks go by before I took the last ones!

With my last two pregnancies, I had the baby just after 38 weeks, so we'll see if there are anymore photos.....

14 weeks, snowy field on the way to church

 

18 weeks, in front of my favorite curtains!

Also 18 weeks, I thought this one was kind of cool too.

22 weeks. I love this one! I felt like I finally got one of those awesome maternity shots real photographers do. By the way, I have to wear this dress every week to church my last trimester; nothing else fits me! Which is funny, because I bought it in 2001 at Pike Place Market in Seattle, before I was even married.

26 weeks. I loved how green the fields were and how pretty the clouds were all Spring, such a contrast to the stark winters and the yellow dry summer. Plus a maternity shot was the perfect excuse to take a picture here. Yeah, my face looks a little grumpy, but at least I wasn't squinty or with sunglasses again, right?

 

30 weeks at my mom's house. I had bought this shirt a few days previous and I loved it! I don't know why, but 90% of my maternity clothes are blue, so I was excited to gte something a little brighter and fun.

 

Okay this is the same day, but it's one of the few times Joseph actually caught a picture of me being silly, and I kind of like it.

 Then...we came home and I forgot all about taking a 34 week picture or anything. Oops. Luckily a week or so ago, Joseph went on a trip to see the Bismarck, North Dakota temple, and I remembered to take some pictures of me before it was too late! I'd been wanting to take some pictures by all the hay bales, and when we stopped to take a picture of a buffalo and the sign for North Dakota, there just happened to be a stack just off the road! We hurried just in case the farmer showed up with a pitch fork and chased us away.
Normally, I'd want this picture with the light behind me, but then we would have had the road and power lines in the photo, so we chose the lesser of two evils.

37 weeks. Looks like it's about harvest time...get it? Man, that joke never gets old.  I tried to take a picture without the glasses, but boy was that sun bright!

 And just for good measure, here are a few other pics from our little jaunt up to ND. This temple is so small! There was a Stake Center right next door,and the two buildings were approximately the same size. There weren't very many people there either, we were lucky they still held the session because we were there. We were also lucky to have some friends from church watch our kids from 7:30am till 7:30pm so we could go.

This shirt is always blowing around and making me look too big, but it's still one of my favorites! I've had it since my first pregnancy with Elora. Oh, and this is the only other skirt that is stretchy enough to fit me, but then the shirts aren't quite long enough with it.

Do you like Joseph's mountain man beard? It looks pretty good when it's trimmed up...which he did a few days after these pictures.

Notice anything weird about those temple pictures? Yes, I'm missing my shoe. I was using it to prop up my camera horizontally, so I could be sure the angel was in the picture. And let me tell you, it wasn't easy getting my shoe back on. Does anyone else get swollen feet in the last trimester? Mine aren't bad...just on hot days or long car trips!

Finally, here is our lovely buffalo picture. My original plan was to take my 37 week picture with the buffalo behind me, so I could say something intelligent and witty about me being on the left and the buffalo being on the right, if you couldn't tell. This guy was right next to the fence when we pulled up, but when we got out of our car, he took off running into the field! There was something really funny about such a large creature being so scared of us, poor guy.

I hate how blogger doesn't fix the spacing, even though it looks fine in my rough draft. Grr.

So this Sunday (the 14th) I am exactly 38 weeks. If this baby follows the pattern of the last two, that means it might be born by Thursday! We are excited, but also a little more nervous than usual. We had a babysitter all set up, but now they are going back to their other home in Utah for the school year early- Monday the 15th- so that's no longer an option. (They watched our kids when we went to the temple though, so we are very grateful!)

We have plenty of other people volunteering to help, from friends at church to Joseph's coworkers in the office. The only problem, is all these people have jobs or otherwise hectic schedules, and are available only for certain times! Add to that the distance to the hospital (2 hours straight from our house, or 2hrs 40 min if we drive to town to drop off kids) and it's a little disturbing. I keep reminding myself that I was worried with Jonah too but everything worked out fine, so I shouldn't be worried this time. Of course in Logan, we lived so close to the hospital, I could've walked there if I had to, plus my parents were able to drive up for the night watch with the other two kids.
I think I've made Joseph more nervous than he's ever been before, what with my talk of friends who had babies in their own bathroom, just  last month, to sending him emails detailing how to deliver a baby in a car, etc. Seriously, every time I look uncomfortable he asks if I'm having contractions. He's insisted on having almost everything in the car already (he really wanted me to take a towel to church today in case my water broke like last time. Really.)
When we were at the the temple last week and a worker came in the men's dressing room asking if he had a pregnant wife, he was certain I was in heavy labor right that minute, as if he couldn't remember how labor worked from the last three kids! (The worker was just making sure that we ended up in the session together and not doing different things, due to some confusion earlier.)
Several days ago, I was outside taking pictures of some neat storm clouds, and Joseph didn't know where I went. I was gone maybe ten minutes, but by the time I got back he was practically hyperventalating! Seriously, what does he think will happen in 10 minutes, and where does he think I was...kidnapped? Fallen in a big hole? Bitten by a snake? He didn't find it quite as funny as I did.
So maybe if you're thinking of us..maybe you should pray for Joseph to calm down most of all?