Headaches

I was waiting for something exciting to happen before I wrote. But so far the last couple of weeks have been pretty much the same. Unfortunately the same means that I have also had a headache the whole time. I can't get rid of it. There are only two things that I can take being pregnant. Tylenol and Aleve. When I was pregnant with Johnny I got headaches really bad so I went to see a neurologist and the doctor said I could take Aleve up through the 2nd trimester. I am getting close to my third trimester so am trying to avoid taking it very much. Nothing I do or take is getting rid of it. It comes back everyday. Sometimes when I wake up and sometimes in the afternoon. It is very frustrating. Sound is magnified and I think I have yelled at the kids way too much because they are being loud. I am a grump when I have a headache and not the nicest mom. It is frustrating. I wish it would just go away. Todd has been great and patient with me. He even takes the kids downstairs to play so I can get some quiet. If anyone has any ideas of how to get rid of this headache please share!
Lately my days are busy trying to keep the house clean (doesn't happen so well with a headache) doing homework and trying to do things with the kids. Oh and making dinner of course. I have two more months to finish my class so have been working hard to get it done. For each lesson I have 4-7 essays to write. I don't like writing so this class hasn't been that much fun for me. I just finished a lesson today so have three more to do before the second midterm and the final. I am so excited at being done. Then I get to graduate at BYU this spring. It has definitely taken a long time but i am glad to be almost done.
We are getting ready to redo the kitchen floors. Todd has been trying to fix the ice maker and he thought it was working. Unfortunately the water was just seeping underneath the floors so they are a little warped now. They are just the cheap vinyl so no big deal. We looked at some tile yesterday and now just want to look at a few more places. My dad is going to help us figure everything out and tell us what we need to do as that is his job. And he is good at it too.
We were given the Lego Star Wars game from a friend and we have been playing it alot. Katie loves it and that is the first thing she wants to play when she gets home from school. Todd and I like to play too. Personally I love playing games with someone else. I think it is fun. Well, that is our lives right now.

Ultrasound

So the day of the ultrasound finally made it yesterday. I was so excited to see if a boy or girl would be the final addition to our family. We had joked that maybe the baby wouldn't cooperate but I didn't think that it would actually be the case. But it was. She or he didn't want to move his legs. The Lady spent over ten minutes trying. She was great. We only got about two glances and both appeared not to have anything hanging but they weren't very good glances. The other worrisome info was that the kidneys look like they have more fluid in them then they should. So that seems to lead us to think it might be a boy. (all our boys have some sort of surgery) And if this baby has kidney problems then it is the same thing Billy had. The good part about it if it does is we are in America and not Germany and we know what would be in store for us. Hopefully the kidneys will be ok. I don't know when we will find out.
So we still are having an it and now have to prepare a boy and a girls name. Katie was disappointed not to know. I told her when she got back from school and she was sad. She really wants a baby sister. Now I just have to be patient to see the results from the ultrasound.

Happy New Years

We hope everyone had a great New Years. I can't believe it is now 2009. We had a great vacation. At the very end, Todd and I went up to Salt Lake with Tabitha and Jeremy. Todd bought a jumping truck from Jeremy so he could race in the tough truck races. For anyone who doesn't know what that means, the run around an arena jumping over jumps. They are timed. We were at the E center. It was fun getting to hang out with Todd and watching him do something he enjoys. Family watched the kids for us. Todd fourth in his last race. He was excited and had fun. Even Tabitha raced. She is amazing. She sure got bounced around but had fun. So that was the end of our fun vacation. We headed home and now are doing the same old stuff. Katie is back in school and very happy about it.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a great Christmas. We had a great one. Travis, Jen, their four kids and Tyler and Brittney made it and so we had a houseful. We had Christmas in the addition. We had our normal traditions like hanging the stockings up in order of age, acting out Luke 2. The kids had fun dressing up. All the girls were angels and Billy and Forrest were Shepard's. Todd and I were Mary and Joseph. Then we read twas the night before Christmas. Our kids got new pajamas the night before Christmas to wear on Christmas day. On Christmas day everyone sat on the stairs from youngest to oldest then went and got their stockings down. The boys got lots of cars. They were very happy. Katie got her fairies from Santa she had been asking for. I got my Nintendo ds I had been wanting and Todd got a new camera. It was great spending Christmas with lots of family.

Christmas Vacation Begins:)

We left for Todd's parents yesterday. We took Katie out of school early because there was a storm coming last night and we wanted to beat it. The drive went great. The roads were clear and the kids did really well. Of course there was the DVD player to keep them entertained. We only hit snow when we were almost there. The kids were so excited to be out of the car and to see Grandma and Grandpa. They kept running circles around the house. It is good to be here. Todd has a fun family and I miss not living by them.
We bought Katie some skis and ski boots so she can start learning how to ski. As we were leaving yesterday we stopped to buy ski goggles for the kids. These are some pictures. I thought they were cute! Today Tabitha, Ty, and Ruby went to Walmart to do last minute shopping. I am finally done and found something for the boys from Santa. It has been a nice lazy and relaxing day. The kids have been able to go play in the snow and Todd is out on the four wheeler right now because he was bored.

Billy's Mohawk

So we gave Billy a mohawk. All the boys were getting haircuts and since Billy's hair always gos into a point when it gets long (his nickname is rooster) we just cut the sides. It is cute because anyone who knows him knows that his personality is opposite of the mohawk persona. He gets so many giggles and compliments when we go out. Plus it makes his hair look more red because the top is redder and the sides blond.
Billy also had a school party so we went to see him. They had a bunch of goodies and it is fun to see him with all the other kids. He was excited that daddy got to take him to school since he didn't have work.

Christmas Parties

We have had three Christmas parties this last week plus a Military Ball. It has been busy but nice to not have to cook as much. Todd had two work parties. One was at a place kind of like Chuck E Cheese. Santa came and then the kids got to play on all the fun bouncy houses. Billy refuses to get anywhere near Santa this year. We tried everything we could to coax him. Johnny is a little too shy this year too so we will see how he does next year. Katie of course loves him and isn't shy at all. The second party was his Battalion party. The food was pretty good and they had a lot of fun little things for the kids to do. Plus they had a bouncy blow up slide. They didn't want to leave. Our third party was our ward party. I have learned that there is never enough food at our ward parties. So we had to eat more when we came home.
Todd had a military ball on Wednesday. WE got to dress up (Todd hates it because it takes so much work putting his dress blues together. We got a babysitter and the kids were so excited when Hannah came over. Even Johnny didn't mind us leaving. The best part of the ball was the dancing after. We got to do some country dancing and that was fun. Plus Todd looks good all dressed up!:)