Oh, by the way...

I'm pregnant.  I'm due November 1st (11-1-11), and it's another boy!  We're planning to have him on the due date, 49 minutes before noon (that's 11:11).  Mikey says he should weigh 11 lbs. and 11 oz., but I'm not willing to go that far!

The kids really wanted a sister, but now that they know it's a boy they're all good with it.  Evie has started saying, "I don't want a sister."

If I get ambitious, maybe I'll post some ultrasound pictures later, but for now that's all you get.

Ragnar Relay 2011

After my crazy Ragnar adventure last year, Anna and Johanna talked me into doing it again this year.  I was hesitant mostly because I knew I'd probably be pregnant.  (And I was-- 20 weeks along.)  But Michael didn't even flinch when I brought it up, so I went for it.

Ragnar 2010 Team $#!T-- I met all these people the day before, and they were great!

The first thing I was excited about was our team name: Saints and Sinners.  I thought this was hilarious because Johanna and Anna and all their "non-Mormon sinner friends" filled one van, and I picked out "saintly" friends for the other.

Saints: James, Bubba, Me, Amanda, Brett, Sam

Sinners: Becca, Michelle, Johanna, Anna, Stephanie, and Liz

All kinds of ideas started rolling and it turned out to be a blast.  Mikey um rendered? our team shirts (Anna and I came up with the basic idea and he put it together beautifully), and I was super proud of them.  We also decorated our cars cooler this year.

Another thing I was really excited for was running with some of the people I picked: my brother Bubba, bro-in-law, James, and my friend Amanda-- who was kicked off the Jr. High track team with me.  It was also cool getting to know James' brother, Sam, and Amanda's husband, Brett.

Amanda and me after the race.  So good to catch up after ten years!
(Also, check out our awesome shirts!-- there are wings on the back.)

The race itself was tougher than I'd hoped.  I'm ashamed to say this, but when I'm honest with myself I know it's true-- sometimes I like to think I'm better than other people, that things aren't going to be as challenging for me.  So I really hoped I could run Ragnar pregnant and make it look super easy.  But I didn't train as well as I could have, and I was pregnant, so it was a little tough, particularly for the last couple legs.  My second leg was such a beautiful run near a lake in the middle of the night, but I lost my flasher I had to wear on my back and had to run back probably half a mile for it, and things got a little ugly from there.  I wish I could have enjoyed that run a little more.  My last leg was all uphill and I pretty much just hiked it.

Receiving support: it was pretty hot, but I was kind of lazy about this "run."

After the race about half our team had to get home pretty quick so I was a little bummed we couldn't hang out more, and I decided I'm kind of Ragnar-ed out for a while, but I'm really glad I did it this year.  Definitely a good time.

Afterward: my "non-runner" friend Amanda decided to start her own team for next year!  Bubba decided he's tough enough to run the Pocatello Marathon this fall-- and he's going to kick butt!  I feel some pride that I may have contributed to these things.

Summer Fun

Truman's Birthday: we went to Tautphus Park where the kids got one free ride at Funland as a reward from the library reading program (did you know those rides normally cost two bucks each?!!)

Sam was afraid to ride, but loved the playground afterward.  I think he's our most adventurous toddler-- he likes to climb all over the playground and go down the slides himself.

After we got the sod in, we finally let the kids get out the swimming pool

 

This is their crazy pose-- aren't they great?

We have also done the slip-n-slide (an old store sign my grandpa gave us) at Grandma and Grandpa Andrews' house.  Their house is great for this because they have a warm water faucet outside that we like to use.

Truman is my timid guy-- he didn't love sliding,
but he played a bit with the water.

The Great Tree Removal

We had this 15 foot stump thing (basically a tree with no branches) right next to the fence in our backyard and Michael finally decided he was going to get that sucker out.  

After trying to chop it down himself, he finally hired someone to cut it down to just an actual stump.  Then he dug that out by hand!  It took at least a couple weeks of just spending all his free time out in the hard digging and hacking at the roots, until he was able to free them, jack up the stump, and finally use his manly strength to heft the thing onto its side ("He's so STRONG!" I say in a very impressed female voice): 

After that our yard looked like a big excavation pit for a while until we were able to get rid of all the wood and yard debris-- we have now hauled two very large truckloads of crap to the dump just out of our backyard, not to mention all the stuff we so generously gave away on craigslist, etc.!

Now our backyard looks like this: 

(I'll add Before and After pictures after we finish the final part of the project-- wink, wink!)

PHEW! It's been too long!

So... I haven't posted in about four months.  And before that it's been spotty.  Alright.  Here I go AGAIN recommitting to this.

First, I'm going to post some videos Mikey made FOREVER AGO! of our youngest boys.  (The delay is not just my fault, though, it did take him a while to get them online, and I still haven't figured out how to make my own videos work on this thing.


Truman Loves To Get Dressed from Michael Borup on Vimeo.


Sam Loves Just About Everything from Michael Borup on Vimeo.

While I'm at it, I better put on Andrew and Evie's videos.


Andrew Loves to Cook from Michael Borup on Vimeo.


Evie Loves Art from Michael Borup on Vimeo.

These videos are all a little old-- Andrew and Evie's were from at least a year ago-- but I love them still.