Brothers & Missionaries

So I realized I never said anything about our brothers coming home from their missions this year.  Whoops!

Both my and Adam's younger brothers came home from their respective missions this year!  It's been a fun year!

My brother came home in March from the Philippines.

Family together again. "Mabuhay" means "Welcome" in Tagalog.
I totally PhotoShopped a guy (partly) out of the picture. Just don't look too closely.

Any excuse to have cookie cake from Mrs. Fields!!!!!!!!
He hadn't had it for 2 years so it was a pretty good excuse.
I love cookie cake (from Mrs. Fields).

Adam's brother came home in July from the Oregon Portland mission.

Together again!

Man, the lighting in the airport is awful!!

But anyway...

We're super proud of both of them for their dedication and service to the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and the two years they spent every day helping others come closer to Him by serving them and sharing His Gospel with them.  Love them both!!!

Only 6 More Weeks to Go...

That's right.  I am 34 weeks this week!  Time flies...  It's really weird how it feels like it's going so slow but so fast at the same time!

I'm starting to feel the effects on my body from being pregnant.  Sleeping isn't so easy or comfortable anymore!  There could be worse things going on, but I need to get sleep while I still can!  :)

I feel so unprepared for everything that's about to happen!  It's becoming a little overwhelming.  We have things, but I know I am missing so much stuff.  Diapers?  Nursing bra?  Bath stuff?  Hmm, okay well if that's all then I guess that isn't all that much.  This is just really crazy!  Pretty much in about a month I will be a mom!  And have a little, helpless, delicate baby to take care of...  Going out in public with a baby?  Grocery shopping will be different.  Running any kind of errand or doing anything will be different...  I have so much to learn!  I don't want to get caught up in the things that can (and are!) stress(ing) me out, but I need to get ready at the same time.  How do I do that??  Neither of us know what we're doing!  We're still kids ourselves!  I do know though that even amid all this chaos and confusion and time flying I really want to enjoy every moment.  I hope I can learn to do that too.  Even now, before baby comes.

I'm feeling more and more love for this little guy.  I love feeling him moving around!  I'm getting a little sad that soon I won't be able to, and that I can't just have him with me all the time anymore.  But I know it will bring me so much joy to hold him and to cuddle with him and to see him learn and grow and to show him I love him.  I can't wait to meet him!

33 weeks

34 weeks

6 weeks and counting!  :)

Pinterest Project #4 - Cleaning

I made wool dryer balls!  They are supposed to fluff the clothes and reduce static cling in the dryer.  Apparently using dryer sheets can be bad for your dryer with the build up of film it leaves on everything, making the lint filter less functional over time.  Mostly I wanted to make these to save money, so I don't have to keep buying boxes of dryer sheets.  I plan on adding some drops of essential oil to them to give a scent to the clothes once they've been through the dryer.  And apparently you have to be careful when you go for the knock-off stuff of the oil...  Some are just for smelling and not for clothes or skin.  Could ruin the clothes.  Sooo I'll probably get the real stuff.  I hear you only need a couple drops for whatever you're using it on so the bottle, though pricey, lasts quite a while.

Here they are!

When I took the load of laundry out of the dryer just now I didn't notice any static coming from the clothes, and there usually is static.  So it seems like so far so good!

I used these two how-to blog posts for references on making these:

Imperfect Homemaking
How To Make Do

I used them both as my tutorial, pulling things from each that I liked or wanted to do:

- I DID NOT crochet the beginning of the balls, even though I do know how to crochet.  I DID wind it instead, and it was super simple.

- I DID NOT felt the balls in between stages (make a small ball and felt, then make it bigger and felt it again).  I DID just wind it all up to the size I wanted it to be and then felted them.

Thank you Pinterest!