June 2024- Utah without dad

 We spent the first 5 days of June in Hawaii, and then the kids and I spent the rest in Utah. 

Ava was in a bad mood so we went to the beach which usually helps! Here she is hauling a log she found.

Coen went to Brent's campus for a while and colored more holiday decorations for the ghosts around the office. There are these little ghosts around the office and Brent and the kids kept coloring and adding more to them for each holiday we had. 

Pilgrim hat, Easter egg, Christmas present, etc.

Audrey was so excited to invite her twin friends over from preschool. I had a nice time chatting with their mom, and learning about her life growing up on a sailboat! During some of her childhood they docked in Oahu and she went to school on the island, and then some of the time they were sailing around the world like to Alaska and Tahiti. 

Two kids sitting in their tree, eating popsicles.

Saying goodbye to Velzy. She moved to Kauai with her mom.

We went in for a second ultrasound at almost 8 weeks to establish viability and check everything before I flew to Utah. Here I am as we are listening to the heartbeat for the first time! I was so grateful and happy to hear that heartbeat.

We decided to tell the kids that I was pregnant since I thought they would start noticing my tummy getting bigger and me being so sick, and I really wanted Brent to be there when we told them. So we told them the morning before we flew to Utah! Ava says: "I was very surprised because Dad said we would never have another." Audrey says, "the baby is a surprise. I was excited because I get to be a biggest sister."

Doing laundry for the last time on our back porch, and Rocket rested his paw on my feet. Aww. 

BYUH is being completely reconstructed over the next 10 years. First to go is the McKay center. The famous mural in the front of it is coming down and won't be in the new building anymore. 

Saying goodbye to Brent at the airport for 5 weeks. Our flight wasn't until 11pm which was so late for pregnant, sick, and tired me. 

I had been so nervous about the flight because night time is when I feel the most nauseous. Luckily I felt pretty OK and as I would wake up I would munch on a cracker and then go back to sleep. The kids were all good and slept as much as they could on a 5 hour flight, and then we landed in San Francisco for our 6 hour layover. Audrey went to sleep right on the floor, and I put the stroller in front of her to block her from all of the people passing by.

Our flight from San Francisco to SLC was very exciting because each person got their own TV. Mark picked us up from the airport- both sets of grandparents were out of town for the weekend! We got back to the house around 5pm, it was a long travel day.

I spent the weekend recovering from travel day and lack of sleep. The first couple days I was SO tired, and the kids didn't want to go to sleep until 11pm since that was only 7pm for us in Hawaii. On Saturday Laura came to visit us and the kids got to play.

Later, I took the kids to my parent's backyard (even though they weren't there) and Audrey jumped on the trampoline with the sprinkler.

I tried on my new dresses that came in the mail. I needed something for my growing tummy. Here I am at 8 weeks.

Meanwhile at home in Hawaii, Brent was starting to pack up our house. It was a big project, and good thing he got started early, because it was just him to do it all.

Bob & Tammy got home on Sunday and we were happy to not have the house feel so empty. Sunday game time:

Bob's birthday song to himself: (Ava made the brownies).

The following week the kids had camps in Lehi with the Yaedes. Coen and Owen did a ninja camp. Coen liked the part where you run up a wall and try to grab a bar. His favorite game was capture the flag. Ava and Addyson did a drama camp, practicing the play "Encanto."

After dropping off the kids I got to work. I never felt well enough to go into my office this month. 

Audrey and Emma got to play- they are two peas in a pod that look like sisters more than cousins.

On Tuesday and Wednesday nights the kids slept over at the Yaedes which helped me not have to drive as many times back and forth to Lehi. Coen said "It was super fun, we got Chick Fil-a and we went to the pool. We got to play on the Nintendo Switch." 

Ava liked doing the slip n slide and jumping on their tramp. They had a movie night and pretended like Coen and Owen were their kids. 

Natalie helped on Tuesdays and Thursdays this month so that I could work (and Tammy too- thank you) Here are Audrey and McKenna playing Pretty Princess.

On Fridays my mom helped me with the kids, so I'm grateful I had lots of help while being away from Brent! Here are the cute girls seeing the fairies at Gardner Village.

Friday was Ava's Encanto play at an outdoor theater in a park. Ava and Addyson were Casita (Ava is sitting on the ground in pink and yellow).

Ava says the play was fun, and she wants to do the camp again. It was fun to get both sets of grandparents to come see the play!

The next day we had a Cowley Father's Day party in Sandy. I sent Brent lots of pictures of who was there, and we were both a little sad that he was so far away. 

Lots of time with cousins:

The next day, Father's Day, was such a bad day for my nausea. I woke up early and felt too sick to even go upstairs and make my breakfast. I laid on the couch, trying to eat some crackers to feel better, but finally text Tammy to ask if she could make me some breakfast. I barely made it to church, but sat in the hall and came home early. I was never this sick with my other pregnancies! Luckily, I seemed to only feel really sick every other day, and the other day I just felt so-so. 

My parents took the kids to the zoo with Cher's kids on Monday. Ava says she was trying to take a selfie with the tiger that was sleeping right next to the window.

I stayed home to work, and also because the idea of going to the zoo sounded too exhausting.

Meanwhile, back in Laie, our ward had "ward camp" which is a major thing here that all the wards do. All the families bring tents and EZ-ups and camp at Hukilau beach for the whole week. They have activities during the day, and mostly potlucks at night. We were sad to miss it (although we don't have tents so wouldn't sleep there). Brent joined in the evenings for some potlucks and an outdoor movie.

Show me you're pregnant without telling me you're pregnant:

Natalie made pancakes for the kids one morning:

The kids were so excited to do another coronation. This was for Princess Boston. Coen was the Bishop, and Ava wrote out a speech for him to recite.

After the 45 second ceremony Coen had to let out his wiggles apparently:

Beautiful sunset!

I took the kids to see Inside Out 2. Except for Ava and I seeing the Taylor Swift concert at the movie theater, we all hadn't been in over a year, which is different for us. 

We all really liked the movie! 

Coen had his first piano recital, with my mom's group of piano students. When we arrived Coen said to me kind of matter-of-factly, "I don't want to do it." I told him I know he didn't want to, but he was still going to, and it would be ok. And so he bravely did it when it was his turn and did a great job. 

The kids spent a few days at the Gale museum with both sides of the family.

I took Coen with me on a couple errands and when we got home he looked so cute in the sunlight!

I told him he looked so handsome and this was his reaction:

Starting to grow a bump (10 weeks)

My mom had a box of my special papers and we went through the box and found some funny and cute things.

Giggling and tickling Grandpa:

Scheels with Gramma & Grandpa:

Doing plays with cousins- Ava was the director and got everyone on board to follow her directions and choreography. 

They put on the play Frozen, and danced/acted out the soundtrack, with Ava standing in the back of the room, acting out all the dance moves they should follow.

I went to an OB a few times in Utah. I had an ultrasound at almost 11 weeks, and my mom came with me since I didn't have Brent there. I was pretty nervous that everything would be OK and was so happy when we could see the baby's little heart beating. The baby's hands were up by its face the whole time, and this little gummy bear baby looked so cute to me.

My parents took Audrey to lunch at McDonalds one day. Another day they took Coen. When Audrey was getting ready to go to their house this day, she told me with confidence, "We're going to eat at McDonalds today." I told her no, that she had already gone, and she replied, "No, Grandma and Grandpa eat there every day." My parents did end of taking the kids to McDonalds for ice cream and later that day Audrey told me, "See? I'm smart. I said they were going to take us to McDonalds and they did." Another time my dad took the kids there for lunch, so she is very convinced they eat there every day for lunch.

The Gale museum with the Cowley side. 

Grandma helped them make rolls, and they had fun forming their rolls into special shapes and animals

My parents took Coen to Benihana's for his birthday lunch since they won't be in Hawaii in November. Coen ended up loving the steak and eating more than my mom did!

Ava, Boston and McKenna decided to create a hotel. A numbered sign was taped to each door going down the hallway, and all of us adults had to check in to a hotel room and play the part. Ava was housekeeping, and Boston ran the front desk. McKenna showed us to our rooms and took complaints, like if certain rooms had nowhere to lie down, or were too dark :)

The kids also put on a performance for us, dancing to "Firework." Audrey's job was to blow the bubbles. And Grandpa had to help McKenna get onto the other girls' backs.

Brent loves his students from all over the world. A few requested a picture with him on the last day of class. In this picture, left to right they're from India, Samoa, Micronesia, and Fiji.

Brent packed up our whole house and put everything in the front room, and cleaned everything. Then he flew to New Zealand. While he was there, and I was in Utah, the YM/YW from our ward came transferred our stuff to the garage of our new house on July 1. This way we only had to rent the garage for July and not pay rent in our old house in July. We were so grateful for their help!

My parents took the kids to the planetarium and they got to watch a show there too. 

My mom & sisters and I had a girls day out to an art gallery and then to lunch. It is not often enough we are all together!

I took the kids to a new park we had never been to. We had a small picnic but didn't stay too long because it was so hot!

Bob & Tammy took the kids to a fundraiser carnival at the park by their house. They got lots of treats and had fun when Grandpa won so many raffles.

I introduced Coen to Wheel of Fortune and Jeopardy and he became obsessed. We watched it most nights and he loved it! He sent a message to Brent saying, "I beat my record of how many answers I knew on Jeopardy!" Brent asked how many, and he said, I knew one answer last night! 

I FaceTimed Brent just about every day (until he was in New Zealand and Australia and then it got too tricky with the time difference and his busy schedule). Thank goodness for FaceTime! I missed him so much, but I think I handled it better than I thought I was going to! Having lots of people around me helping me made it easier than when he goes out of town and I'm home alone with the kids in Hawaii. Being away from him made me love him all the more.

I will have Brent do a separate post on his big trip to New Zealand and Australia!