Oh my gosh, I'm soooo sorry! It's been a month since I last posted!!! I don't know where the time went. Things are going okay. The main goings on in life have been that our lease on the house we're renting expired and I was reeeeeally hoping to find another house to rent so we can get away from our noisy neighbors. I can't remember if I've told you about our noisy neighbors...well, more like neighborhood. I don't know how to tell you about it without sounding like a racist...but I'll try. Okay, there is our nice new neighborhood which was built in 2006. We live on the last street of our neighborhood. Behind our neighborhood is a neighborhood in an area where the Mexicans live. Most of the houses are trailer houses. There is a pack of dogs that runs around the neighborhood barking and chasing the poor girl dogs around. They drive big noisy trucks with annoying horns (seriously, their horns play entire SONGS!!!) There are roosters which crow all the time (I hope they're not used in cock fights...). We occasionally hear gunshots at night (scary) And they ride their 4 wheelers and dirt bikes right by our back fence and speed through our neighborhood all the time (totally illegal and they're going to run over a little kid one of these days). Those parts I can deal with (though shooting the pack of dogs with the bb gun at 3 a.m. when they've been barking for 2 hours straight right next to our fence doesn't sound so crazy sometimes). It's the parties and the music that are sooooo loud on the weekends that send me into the Incredible Hulk mode. I swear, I turn into some sort of monster with no sense of reason. Usually there is more than one party going, and the music is SO loud!!! I don't know how they stand it! It's that Mexican polka sounding stuff with the accordions and the heavy base and the yipping and yelping...oh I can't stand it! The drunker they get, the louder the music gets. And it seriously starts before sundown and doesn't end until 4 a.m. or later. No matter how hard I try to lay in bed and pretend I'm on a vacation in Acapulco, I still lose it. There's no way to drown out the music, I've tried. Sometimes it's so loud it buzzes our windows. I have been so tempted to get up on the roof and build a catapult and launch things at them....but that's not very Christlike, now is it. On Christmas Eve they had a HUGE neighborhood party with a DJ that went on until about 5 a.m. and Michael had to give me a blessing to calm me down because I was so distraught. So, I just wanted to get away from all that. Anyways, our lease finally ended and I was counting down the months until we could get out of here. We looked at some houses and there just wasn't anything that would work, and we just sort of felt like it was a bad choice so we decided to stay here. With the economy the way it is, and people starting to do layoffs (Mike's work just laid off 40 people from another department) AND we would have to pay about $3,000 for another deposit and first months rent (hello, can you say down payment on a house??? Why are we still RENTING!?! Okay, no more side notes in parentheses, I promise) It was a big bummer, but I know that if it was supposed to work out then it would have. But I hope Heavenly Father blesses me with the patience and tolerance that I'll need to get through the next year with a new baby, no sleep, and noisy neighbors up partying and drinking all night.

Then, a few weeks later Michael started having some health problems and the medical bills are adding up and it's SUCH a good thing we didn't spend all that money to move to a new place! It's interesting how things work out in life. When you think YOU know the best decision and are sure things will work out. Then, you don't get the answer you want during your prayers and you're like "WHAT!?! Why not!?! Seriously, how could this be a bad choice?". But, you do what Heavenly Father tells you to and then something happens in life and the light comes on and you realize, "Oh! I get it now. Thanks for watching out for us-that could have been bad!". It just makes me realize how much Heavenly Father really is in the details. He is the Master Architect in our lives and he really does know what's best for us and when we trust Him everything will work out for our good.

it's a......

Today was ultrasound day! Yaaaaay! And, drumroll please, it's a girl! (Maybe I should have put the pink footprints AFTER the post to play up the suspense...or been really mean and put up blue footprints...hahahaha!) I was getting pretty worried because Whitney would just not accept the fact that it could be a boy. When I asked her if she would still love the baby if it were a boy she was pretty sure she wouldn't. Her excuse was, "But Heavenly Father really wants me to have a little sister!". Who knows, maybe it's big sister's intuition. After all, she named the baby Kate the day we found out we had another one on the way. I really think these two girls are going to have a special connection.

We've decided to name her Kate Rebecca Brimhall. I have just had the darnest time finding a middle name that sounded good and felt right. I was half way tempted to bribe Whitney to let me re-name her so I could find a name that was easier to find a middle name for. But, when we were at the temple doing baptisms with the youth I had been praying to find a middle name that would be meaningful and beautiful. I was actually praying about a name of one of Michael's converts in Mexico with whom he is very close to and just got that stupor of thought after the prayer. It sounded pretty together...but it just felt empty. Then, right in the middle of the stupor I heard the name "Rebecca" being read from the font. My eyes shot open and suddenly the light went "ding!" and I knew that was the name she should have. I was even more in awe because that is Rachel's middle name and I really had wanted to name her after Rachel somehow. (But, to name her Rachel would just be confusing and McKayla has the middle name Rachel....so....yeah) And it feels so good to have a name for this baby! It's a wonderful name and I just can't wait to hear her name when she is blessed. : )

ultrasound drama

Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you about the ultrasound drama. So, two weeks ago the OB said the ultrasound clinic would call me to set up an appointment for the next week or so. Two weeks later, still no call. So, I called the OB and they said my records never got faxed. Then, after spending all morning on the phone calling between the OB and the clinic and finally getting my records faxed, the lady at the clinic tells me she doesn't have any openings for the next 6 weeks!!! I about died! Thankfully, she was merciful and squeezed me in on the 30th. So, I'm trying to be patient and just consider it the best late Christmas present ever! I can't wait!!!

Drumroll Please....

Merry Christmas, everyone! Here's the long awaited belly picture! This is at 5 months along. :)
Thanks again, Mandy!

Christmas Picture

My AMAZING friend Mandy took this AMAZING picture of the kids for me today. I was over at her house because after my previous post she offered to do belly shots for me. (They'll be up soon!) Can you believe this is at her house just sitting in front of the tree? I swear it looks like a studio picture. She is so talented! I couldn't wait to share it with the world! Thanks, Mandy! :) Oh my gosh, I just LOVE my kids!!! *sigh*

Joy To The World! No, Seriously!

Lots of good news today! We'll start with the most recent. Yesterday around 5:00 p.m. I looked outside and couldn't believe my eyes. It was SNOWING!!! Yes, that's right, SNOWING!!! I started screaming and jumping up and down like a little kid, I seriously started to cry! The kids were so excited to go outside and play in it. It wasn't very much, just enough to coat everything, but it was still just as exciting! Whitney had fun making snow angels on trampoline and trying to catch them on her tongue (probably not the cleanest snow here with all that pollution...oh well!), and poor Aaron was just getting frustrated that his hands were cold and his pants were getting wet. I tried to put gloves on him and he freaked out...poor little Texan boy who doesn't like the cold. It was even more beautiful after the sun went down and I stood by the window and watched the flakes fall in the light from the street lamps. Ahhhh, it was gorgeous! And hot chocolate never tasted more delicious! (Or could it be that I used whole milk, three scoops of cocoa, Nestle French Vanilla creamer, Amaretto creamer, and whipped topping on top?)

Second, and even more wonderful is that I had such an amazing Fast Sunday last week! That morning I had said a special prayer that I would be able to feel the spirit and would be able to be happy about this baby and Heavenly Father heard me. We had a beautiful lesson in Y.W. about the personality of Heavenly Father and how He knows and loves each of us individually because we are His children. I mean, I know we've had this lesson a hundred times, but it's never really sunk in like this time. And I felt the spirit so strongly! This time it wasn't about how much Heavenly Father knows and loves me, this time I could feel how much Heavenly Father loves this BABY and how He KNOWS this baby. And suddenly it became clear that I'm not just carrying some random human being, I am carrying a precious little child of God! This is a baby with a special spirit who has been saved for the last days and has chosen to come to me because they LOVE me! Suddenly I felt so incredibly humbled and loved and just sooooo grateful! I have had a complete change of heart and it has been so amazing! Every time I feel a little kick I smile. And at night when I'm trying to fall asleep and the baby's hiccups are keeping me awake I don't get frustrated. I enjoy laying there feeling it's every little movement and think about what they will look like, what it will be like to hold them for the first time...allll happy thoughts! :) I am so grateful for Heavenly Father's tender mercies! I've always loved the stories in the scriptures where people have had a complete change of heart and always wondered what that would really be like. And now I know. It really is a miracle. :)

PICTURE TAG!

This is a picture of Whitney when she was about a year old, Me, Grandma Tove, and Grandpa Horst. Wow, this picture makes me miss them soooo much! I haven't seen them in almost three years. *sniff sniff* They are so wonderful and I am so very blessed to be a part of their eternal family! I love you Grandma and Grandpa!!!


Picture Tag!

1. Go to your pictures

2. Go to your fourth folder and upload your fourth picture

3. Post it!

I tag Jessica, Mandy, Callie and Melissa and whoever else wants to be tagged. :)