Grandpa Keith's Funeral

Back in July Taylor's Grandpa Keith was diagnosed with cancer and was not given the longest time to live. While we all figured out pretty fast that his time left here was short I think the sting of his passing away still hurt more than expected.

He passed away on August 9th and his funeral was August 13th. We headed down to Bancroft on the 13th not really knowing what to expect as we were pretty much out of the loop on everything that was planned, but we arrived to a nice service with tons of family members in attendance. I loved getting to hear stories about his Grandpa Keith that I had not previously heard before. I think my personal favorite was how he and his wife met :)

Following the service we headed to the grave. So, this leads nicely into a funny story. When we first got to the church that day Taylor had a rose given to him by one of his brothers and I pinned it on him. We just assumed he's family so he gets it? Apparently it actually meant that he was a pallbearer. So, he helps carry the casket out to the hearse and then we head to our car to travel to the cemetery. On the way to our car Hudson hit Taylor's flower with his leg which damaged it a bit. Having no clue what was expected of Taylor he took the flower off on the way to the cemetery. I told him he would probably want it because he would have to carry the casket to the grave. (He claims to have never have heard me say this) Taylor helped carry the casket to the grave and then all the pallbearers stood in a line and one by one they removed their flower and placed it on the casket. (Maybe this happens at all funerals? I have no idea) I was standing by his cousin, Emily, and we were both trying not to laugh as I told her what happened and then watched Taylor not have a flower to place on the casket.

the pallbearers 

We also would have had Taylor grab his suit coat had we known he would be doing this haha..

Afterwards, the ward had a little luncheon for all of the family members back at the church. By then it was 2, we were starving, and Hudson was way past naptime so we were very grateful to be fed and have a chance to visit with family.

I am so very grateful for the chance that I have had the last 3 and a half years that I have been married to Taylor to get to know his Grandpa Keith. It makes me sad to know that Hudson and the rest of our children will never have a chance to get to know their Great Grandpa Keith, but it definitely brings comfort to know that he is looking down on us and watching over us.

Refinishing Our Hardwood Floors

Everyone we talked to about it said it was going to be a lot of work, but I just don't think we comprehended how much work it was going to be until we were doing it.

So, we started with moving ALL of the furniture we could into the car port and then we covered everything else possible with tarp. Guys, we basically moved out of our house besides our kitchen things. Do you know how much work it is just to move? haha. Yeah, we're not moving for a long time because why would I want to do that again any time soon?

oodles of before pictures

Notice the paint in the doorway and there was some other paint spots in the house from previous owners or whoever?

We really didn't like the yellow tint that the floors had to them before..

So, we sent Hudson off with his Aunt Rebekah early Friday morning and then we quickly got to work. We started sanding in a bedroom and quickly realized that we did, in fact, want the 36 grit sand paper which meant a trip back to the place we rented the sander from. Then we sanded and sanded and sanded some more. I ran the drum sander and Taylor ran the edger. The drum sander really wasn't as scary to use as people online made it out to be, and the edger was way more frustrating than people made it out to be as you went through paper like crazy from touching the wall or it ripping or whatever other problems Taylor had with it.

We sanded from about 10 in the morning until 11ish at night only stopping to eat lunch and grab some dinner. The worst thing was that our "dustless" sander didn't work after the first bedroom. I was SO upset about that because it meant that we were constantly sweeping up piles and piles of dust and everything got 5 times more covered in dust than it would have otherwise. Thank goodness we had purchased masks and bought an extra box fan because they were the only saving grace with the dust.

Thankfully, each coat of sanding took less time than the previous one did.

It took us at least 2 hours to clean up all the dust in the house enough to feel comfortable enough to start staining. We swept and vacuumed and swept some more. We vacuumed off the baseboards, light switches, window sills, fans, and every other possible surface. We wiped down the counters and the little furniture that was still in the house. When we finished cleaning the house we hopped in the shower and got all of the dust off ourselves. 

Look at those beautiful bare wood floors!

The moment we put stain on we both looked at each other like "yessss! This is exactly what we wanted!" Staining went faster and slower than we expected it to. It went on so fast, but the waiting time to wipe it off made it take nearly 3 hours to do the whole house. We reallllly like the brush that Taylor is using to put the stain on. It held so much stain and definitely made it go faster. 

Talk about a long night....

I think I only slept for about 2 hours before I was up for the day.

The picture on the right was first thing Saturday morning and the picture on left is Sunday morning.

Putting poly on was a fairly easy process. I did all of the edging and Taylor used the same type of brush from the stain for the poly. We started our first coat of poly around 2ish and put 3 coats of poly on total. A 4th coat of poly would have been good, but we were out and didn't want to buy more and 3 coats was good enough.

Our beautiful finished floors. 

There are definitely plenty of imperfections and places where you can see our sanding marks and some poly bubbles, but we love the color SO much more and it looks and feels way better than it did before. . 

before & after side by side

& this snapchat about sums up the whole experience. 

I ran to the store the next morning and then literally sat in the car in our driveway for 10 minutes because I was too exhausted to even move. 

We were quoted nearly $2,800 to have about 650 square feet of floor refinished.
We did it ourselves for $374 and some change :)

Tips:
Don't rent a sander through Home Depot. Check local tool rental places they were way cheaper for us.
Earplugs and a mask are a must
Get rid of your children for this project ;)
Hire a professional if you can afford it because it is A LOT of work.

Baby #2: Week 30 Bumpdate

How far along? 30 weeks! 3/4 of the way there :D

Total weight gain: +11 from my pre pregnancy weight

Maternity clothes: Always. It's getting harder to get dressed because I am hating the way a lot of shirts look on me and most of my maternity clothes from Hudson's pregnancy are long sleeve so I can't wear them now. The good thing is that I don't actually have to get dressed on most days if I don't want to, so basketball shorts and baggy t shirts are typically my go to if I'm not leaving the house.

Sleep: It takes me forever to fall asleep and then I am usually up once a night to pee, but let's be honest most of the time I nap when Hudson naps. 

Best moment this week: Family movie night! Getting some killer clearance deals on kids clothes and shoes was also a pretty great moment haha. Oh and it was two weeks ago now, but I passed my glucose test. Such a relief!

Miss anything? Not being pregnant haha. I don't want to complain, but this pregnancy has been a lot harder than my first. I'm excited to not be pregnant anymore. 

Movement: I felt baby girl have the hiccups for the first time at exactly 25 weeks :) She gets hiccups quite often. She moves like crazy alllll the time. She likes to stick her butt up in my right ribs which definitely isn't comfortable.

Food cravings: Anything I don't have to cook hah. Cotton candy.

Anything making you sick or queasy: I've been getting hot and lightheaded quite often in the morning. My midwife talked about needing to make sure my breakfast has protein in it so this wouldn't happen, but I don't know. It's a work in progress. Also, I think heartburn makes my stomach hurt some evenings. I feel like I always have a stomach ache when I lay in bed at night.

Gender: Baby girl! We have had 3 different ultrasounds by 3 different people all say girl, so hopefully they're not wrong haha. 

Labor signs: She is head down, but, of course, it is still so early that that can change and doesn't really mean much at this time. 

Symptoms: Hip pain. My hips hurt especially bad if I sit in one position too long. Heartburn. oh the heartburn! I literally don't even have to eat or drink anything, and I get heartburn. Round ligament pain. Having to pee all the time. Leg cramps. I forgot just how painful these are, but luckily I've only had one so far.

Belly button in or out? In.

Wedding rings on or off? On.

Happy or moody most of the time: I've noticed that I've been getting a bit moody lately...

Looking forward to: The weather cooling off. Don't get me wrong I love summer, but it has been so hot. Our house is regularly up to 80 on any given day since we don't have central air. Going camping again is something I'm looking forward to as well. I don't know when we are going to go, but I'm hoping to get one more trip in before the end of summer. 

30 weeks with Hudson vs. 30 weeks with Baby E

Just for fun here is my 30 week bumpdate with Hudson.

One Great Big Never-Ending July Post

July came and went so stinking fast that I didn't have two seconds to sit down and blog about it. Here's to hoping you can make it through this lengthy post.

July started out nice and busy with a quick trip to Utah for my cousin's wedding. The weather was HOT, but the bride was gorgeous and there aren't many prettier locations for a wedding than the Salt Lake City Temple.

The reception was at Wheeler Historic Farms, and it was so stinking cute. Hudson loved getting to go see the animals, go on a wagon ride, play on the playground, and eat delicious treats.

What's a wedding without a good family selfie? ;)

Hudson adores his Aunt Bekah

 He kept mooing at the cows

We came back home to celebrate the 4th of July. Hudson loved the parade! He was antsy waiting for the parade to start, but he sat so good the whole time as he watched the floats go by.

We hung out at home afterwards, grilled hot dogs for lunch, took some naps, and played outside. We went out to dinner for hamburgers, and Hudson was smitten about having his own cup.

We tried getting his picture before the parade, and I really love this outtake because he clearly had more important things he wanted to be doing.

His fantastic cup at the restaurant and his 2nd and 3rd 4th of July outfits.
How could I say no to red, white, and blue Mickey Mouse jammies on the 4th of July?
Also, that kneeling picture pose was a random 24 hour thing that he did whenever I tried to take his picture. 

Hudson really loved stomping on poppers and that was pretty much where his love for fireworks ended. We put him to bed at his normal time, woke him up an hour and a half later, and took him to the fireworks by the river. We only stayed about 5 minutes after they started because Hudson couldn't possibly have cared less about them haha. We let him play with a sparkler once we got home, which once again he didn't care much about. So, we put him back to bed and called it a night. 

We took a drive out to the Palisades one afternoon because I had never seen it before. Bekah asked us at one point if we were still in Idaho because it was actually pretty and the Idaho that she's used to isn't pretty hahaha.

Our biggest event in July was refinishing our hardwood floors. I really need to do a post of it's own on the experience, but for now I can say that it was A LOT of hard work. We are absolutely in love with how the floors turned out, but we have vowed to never refinish hardwood floors again :)
Hudson had a sleepover with his Aunt Bekah on the day and night that we did the majority of the work. It broke my heart a little bit to send him off, but we were honestly so busy that I hardly had 2 seconds to miss him.

He had a grumpy morning which made the send off extra heart breaking.

Thank goodness for snapchat to keep me updated on his day with her

Taylor's Grandpa Keith was diagnosed with an aggressive cancer a couple of weeks ago, so one Saturday we made a trip down to see him and his Grandma Ella and spent a few hours talking to them. It was great to hear stories that we hadn't heard before and to get to pick some peas from their huge pea patch. Grandma Ella said multiple times how glad she is that she isn't raising Hudson right now because he is so high energy. Hudson loved playing with the toy cars that she has and he was obsessed with her singing clock. Every time it would stop he would sign more for Taylor to turn it back on. After our visit we headed to the pool in Lava Hot Springs. Hudson was in heaven in the kiddie cove. He went down the slide countless times, and he would have kept going if Taylor and I didn't get tired of catching him haha. We grabbed dinner at a local diner as a small founders day (or something like that) parade was going on and then headed back home.

A quick stop by the combine while we were at the farm

Give me allllll the heart eye emojis 

The last Saturday in July we celebrated Pioneer Day a week late with a ward breakfast. Unfortunately Taylor had to work again this year on the day of the breakfast, but Rebekah and I took Hudson to it. I mean we certainly weren't going to turn down free breakfast that I didn't have to cook just because Taylor wasn't able to come ;)

We ended out the last Saturday of the month with a family movie night. Normally we don't put on a movie until after Hudson goes to bed, so it was kind of a big deal to rent a Hudson friendly movie (The Good Dinosaur) and put it on early enough for him to watch it. We popped some popcorn and let Hudson eat it until it was gone. He loved the popcorn so stinking much that we couldn't have slowed him down or stopped him if we tried. Unfortunately for Hudson, we're big believers in bedtimes, so he missed the second half of the movie, but it was still a hit.

And here is some random pictures from throughout the month

He's obsessed with his rain boots. He constantly asks for them to be put on him.

 &We got a small intex pool, and we have really been enjoying it. Hudson has a love/hate relationship with it.

He LOVES garden fresh peas.

 I gave Taylor a pair of jammies for after he bathed Hudson and said I wasn't sure if they still fit him.
Yeah they definitely didn't fit him anymore.
&Hudson really likes to brush his teeth. He doesn't care whose toothbrush he uses. On this given day I walked in on him using Taylor's toothbrush while I was doing the dishes. This is why the bathroom door is supposed to stay closed haha.

Family ice cream trip :)

I got a big bin of hot wheels at a garage sale last summer for 2 dollars. They're a little beat up, but zero regrets buying them because Hudson plays with them all the time. Lately he has been lining them up across the kitchen table.

Just hanging out and patiently waiting for his dad to get home from work.

&I turned around from making dinner to find Hudson had taken over my computer. There wasn't Netflix or anything playing on it, so I have no idea what he was up to.

Who doesn't love snapchat pictures? Haha

Appointments are every 2 weeks now! I really need to do another bumpdate..

&How cute is this dress and accessories?? It was such a sweet and thoughtful gift from a friend at church.

Making pickles from fresh cucumbers from our garden.

Our garden is doing AWESOME this year. Thanks for asking ;)

So many cucumbers, zuccini, lettuce, strawberries, and peas! 

We're still waiting for our carrots, but they are getting bigger and bigger.

 

Baby girl has a name!

I don't know that I want to announce it on social media before she is born this time, but I'm just so excited to have finally decided on a name.

I got a little crafty in July and made this E for her room. 

10 more weeks until baby "E" is here :)

This is totally random to include in this post, but Hudson's language is just starting to develop. I can't get over how cute it is, and I want to be able to remember all the adorable things he is starting to say.

Hudson's language

New words:

moo

woof woof

beep beep

baaaa (like a sheep)

whoooo (like an owl)

roar
choo choo (coo coo)

his cute buh bye has turned into a sassy "biii"

more ("mo" while he signs more)

ball (ba)

uh oh
shoe

Siri

see
boo (as in peek a boo or boo to scare someone)
help me (helmee)
squirrel (He, of course, mispronounces it, but you can definitely tell he's trying to say squirrel)
Mickey (gickey)
baby

night night (ni ni)

hot (not that he knows what it means)
cracker
cookie

When you ask him what does a tractor say he replies "vrroooom"

Same with some animal noises and what does a car say (beep beep)

&I think that wraps up all of July! Bless your heart if you have made it to the end of this marathon post. Now bring on August and all that it has to offer us!