August 27th- September 3rd

Week of August 27- September 3, 2007
Written by Annaliese

Monday, August 27th- Chris had spent the weekend working (again) so his work told him to take Monday off. This was fantastic for me as I was able to let Corrine sleep in while I went to work. Chris was also home with her for the afternoon while I ran up to a dentist appointment for a cleaning. It has been far too long since I've had a cleaning and it showed! I need to stay on top of that in the future. Corrine went and spent the night at my in-laws that evening since I had an early morning doctors appointment the next day.

Tuesday, August 28th- The doctor's office was PACKED that morning, so it took awhile to get in. My doctor pretty much said that nothing is going on that looks like this baby is making an arrival any too early. He scheduled my next appointment for after my due date even! So I'm guessing he's really not too worried. As long as it's after the 9th this baby can come whenever he wants. :) That night we got the stuff cleaned out of Corrine's room downstairs so we can take the twin bed out of there and put the futon in soon so that it's more of a playroom than a bedroom. I didn't sleep well that night as my mind was reeling with all I wanted to get done before the baby comes, so after tossing & turning I just got out of bed and worked for a couple hours- I got the crib bedding all put together and all the clothes organized- I was pretty impressed with my middle of the night productivity!

Wednesday, August 29th- Corrine & I spent the afternoon cleaning up around the house and working on a few big projects. We finished her "little room" (as she calls it) upstairs. She's been sleeping on a crib mattress on our floor for some time now as she didn't like being downstairs by herself. But we now have a toddler bed upstairs and a little area that's all her own. I let her pick out the sheets, blankets & pillowcases she wanted on it. We moved the crib mattress into the bed, we put her little cd player (she listens to the primary songs when she goes to sleep) and a few of her favorite books by her bed. She was pretty excited about having it all set up.

It wasn't too long until my mom arrived from Maple Valley. Corrine was so excited to have her there and wanted to show her our "big trampoline" right away- she's actually pretty good on it. We enjoyed visiting and watching Corrine for awhile. Then my sweet mom was good enough to tackle one of my large baskets of clothes that needed ironing while Corrine napped and I got some work done on the computer.

That evening we headed up to my in-laws as my mother-in-law, Pat & sister-in-law, Cheree were throwing me a small baby shower. There weren't many people there, but it was so kind of them all to come and they were all so generous with their gifts! We got some darling things- which I'm so grateful for as we had very few "boy" clothes. Mom headed out shortly after the shower as she still had a long drive back to Maple Valley and lots to do to get ready for the weekend. I know it was lots of driving, but loved having her here for a few hours!

And our big accomplishement: for the first time in MONTHS Corrine slept in her own bed!!! Her new little bed! Yay! I think the fact that it's just outside our bedroom helps as she knows we are close by and doesn't feel so alone. But I'm glad to get her transitioned to there before the baby comes.

Thursday, August 30th- Chris surprised us by coming home early! He was going to have to put in some more hours over the holiday weekend so his bosses told him to take a couple days at the end of the week which was really nice of them. I was able to run some errands while Corrine napped- it's amazing how much faster it is to shop by myself! :)

Friday, August 31st- after work, Corrine & I came home and did some packing, ran a few errands and headed out of town to Maple Valley for the long weekend. Traffic wasn't bad leaving town, but was really bumper to bumper coming INTO town as you have to go through Aberdeen to get out to the beach towns. I was glad we were going the other direction! We got into Maple Valley, had dinner with the family and helped mom & dad get everything ready for all the company that was arriving the next day. It was Maple Valley's 10th Anniversary- they were having a BBQ, music, etc in the park down by the lake below Mom & Dad's house. While we didn't go down for all the festivities we did get to enjoy a fantastic fireworks show from their balcony & bedroom window! It was great! Corrine LOVED watching them- fireworks are so much fun!

Saturday, September 1st- Uncle Larry & Aunt Myreel (Linton) arrived that morning, we all said our hellos and then headed to the airport to pick up the "rest of the gang"- Uncle Malin & Aunt Sally (Lewis), Sally's mom, Beverly Nelson, Uncle Clyde & Aunt Delon (Pease), Clyde's Parents, and Grandma Myreel Lewis had all flown in from Arizona. After making the hugs & kisses rounds we loaded up the vehicles for a bit of a tour around Seattle. First stop was the Klondike Museum, which I think was especially fun as they will get to see much of the route while on their cruise. After the museum, we went by Pike's Place Market, the Seattle Center (space needle, Pacific Science Center, etc.) We took the floating bridge across to see the Temple and were able to see the Univ. of Washington on the way. After seeing the temple we headed back to Mom & Dad's house, gave everyone the grand tour and the men all settled in to watch the BYU game.

Corrine & Mom at the Klondike Museum

Some of us women decided to walk down to the lake and were surprised when the men came and joined us- it was half time in the game! :) We (mostly Delon & Clyde) picked a lot of blackberries on our way to the lake to use for ice cream later! Yum! Dad was even good enough to let Corrine wade in the lake, but of course she cried the whole way back about needing her swimsuit so she could play in the water some more.

Blackberry Picking FUN!

That evening Aunt Myreel did a wonderful ham dinner and delicous chocolate cake (in honor of Grandma's 87th b-day). It was even nice enough to enjoy eating out on the deck. After dinner Tanner told us about his experiences as a missionary in South Africa, showed us pictures and some fun things he brought back. It was so fun to hear about! It's so wonderful to hear about how much he loves the people there and learn the insights into the culture.

We all visited for awhile, but tried not to stay up TOO late as Sunday was another big day ahead! I stayed up with the boys for awhile as they watched "Holes".

Sunday, September 2nd- All the "adults" went to another ward at 9am so they would be able to attend a full block of meetings before they had to meet the cruise ship. Us "kids" (me, Corrine, Tanner & McKay) went to the regular ward block at 11am. Tanner was teaching Gospel Doctrine for Dad, so it was great to get to hear him teach! My little brothers have all grown up so much and matured! It's so great to get to know them again as adults and really appreciate who they are. I slipped out of Sunday School a little early, picked up Corrine from nursery and headed back to the house. The shuttle was coming to take the bulk of everyone to the pier, but couldn't quite fit everyone- plus it was good we took another vehicle just for luggage! My goodness you guys pack a lot of stuff! :)

Uncle Tanner playing computer games with Corrine

The rest of the afternoon the house felt pretty quiet. We made dinner together, watched the video of when Mom, Dad & Taylor picked up Tanner in South Africa (Corrine especially loved watching all the animals!), visited, made cookies and stayed up WAY too late playing a couple games of Settlers. It was fun just to be together!

Monday, September 3rd- While technically this is part of another week, it just fits better here being a long weekend and all, so next week you won't have to read as much! :)

Both the boys had to work that morning so Corrine & I enjoyed lazing around the house until we finally got motivated- we did some cleaning and got ourselves and our stuff ready to go. Before we left town we stopped by Goodwill to see Tanner in action. Corrine was so excited to see him and would tell every worker we saw that we were there to see her Uncle Tanner. He's only been there a day, but they already had wonderful things to say about him! I'm so proud of all my little brothers.

We got a few things and headed back to Aberdeen. Corrine slept the whole way home and we were lucky as traffic was great- once again everyone was headed the OTHER direction!! Once we got back Chris took all of us out to dinner- it was the perfect way to spend time together (and not have to cook) to wrap up a great weekend.

Well another week gone! More excitement to come I'm sure! :)