Scott turned 30

(this got out of order because I forgot to publish it before the others--this all happened before I left for Oklahoma--for the record.) and we celebrated with lunch at Café Rio and were joined by sweet Scarlett who slept the entire time.  What a good baby!  Scott was pretty happy still to be a dad and felt like that was the most awesome gift ever! 

Scarlett made some visits as well to her daddy's Grandma Hall's house

Chantel, Great Grandma Hall and Scarlett

and to her Grandpa and Grandma Halls' house to meet her Uncle Ben.

First visit to our house
She slept even though the dogs barked like crazy when they saw Scott.

Meeting Uncle Ben for the first time

After meeting Scarlett, I had to take Ben in the car to an appointment.  In a somber mood, he said to me, "I hope that I can get married someday and have a baby girl of my own."  "Me, too, Ben, me too!"  I know that in the end of the whole earth, things will be given which were promised and all will be right.  However this is one promise that I truly hopes will come true for Ben in this life--with the right person at the right time, of course.  Ben has wanted daughters for a long time and has even two girls names which he loved since he was a teenager.  Until then, sweet Ben, hold on to your dreams!  All will be made right in the end.

The Waiting Game

One of the first things that happened after I arrived was on Monday, Austen was told that he needed to work the 2-mid-night shifts for work instead of days. Neither of them like that schedule so it was nice I was there to help Tosha be entertained.

We shopped and cleaned and talked and Tosha cooked (I kept telling her I was letting her cook now so that she would let me cook later after the baby arrived.  She is a great cook.).  We watched movies and went swimming in their pool.

Food court at a mall we went to

We finally found a crib that Tosha loved.
This had been an 8th month search as the first one
she found--a black one--had been discontinued in the middle
of the hunt. This is a vintage grey which had just been
put out on display for the first time the weekend before
I arrived.  Tosha was so excited (and Austen was SO relieved!)
He and I put it together when it arrived a week later.

And Tosha had contractions.........several an hour here and there and then they would stop.  She was very discouraged when she went to her doctor's appointment on Wednesday to discover she was not even dilated to a 1 yet and no thinning...and her doctor was going out of town for the entire next week.  They discussed inducing her on August 18th--the day after we were scheduled to leave which was very discouraging.  It was a lot for one appointment six days before your due date.

So we went back home and did the same things over again.  One thing we did was get out Tosha's sewing machine and figured out how to use it (she had gotten for Christmas but didn't have a table until I brought out an old dining table for them to use).

Tosha loves to sew like my mom
Here is her cheesy grin for the photo
She is making fabric hearts for a mobile for his room.

No baby, so we got some material and figure
out how to make a car seat canopy with measurements
from Scott and Chantel.
This is Chinese dragon material which we are very proud of and
it matches their red and gray car seat perfectly.

 They don't currently have internet which was nice on one hand and a problem on the other hand.  I would have to go down to their clubhouse if I wanted to do some work on the computer.  That worked fine except when there were people who wanted to chat while I wanted to work.  It truly helped me have a break from stuff while I was there.  I still had my phone of course but it isn't set up with unlimited data so I was trying to not use it too much.  I got really behind in Facebook so if something major happened in your lives which you posted on Facebook you better let me know in person.  :)

And we cleaned and organized and folded baby clothes and watched early episodes of "House" and

WAITED!

 

 

Heading to Oklahoma City......

Tosha and Austen had invited me to come and be with them when the baby was born.  Tosha really wanted me to come a few days before his birth so that we could talk, clean, and do the things that mothers and daughters can do as they wait for a new arrival.  I was very excited to do that but continually reminded them that we can't always work things out that way as the arrivals of babies is very uncontrolled by us.  Finally I settled on some dates, we made plans for Jessica and Jena to come out for a few days at the end of my stay and I began the process of preparing to leave for 2+ weeks from my life here.  That is a big task.

We were preparing to launch our big fundraiser drive for the year for UDSF that weekend (because of delays on our provider's end).  That was a big problem as that meant I who knew the most about our new system would be on the road when everyone started to sign up.  Luckily I got some great support from Sharae Chisholm on our board and she learned the system to cover me while that all happened.

One great piece of news after months of planning, advertising, and interviewing, we have hired a part time director for UDSF.  His name is Steve Hansen. He had retired from non-profit management but decided he missed it so was watching the non-profit job  board for options and interviewed with us.  We actually had several good applicants and some outstanding ones which was so great.  I spent the day before I left with him trying to orient him so that he could do some work while I was gone.  It has been awesome to have him around for sure and I know he will do great things for the foundation and help take a big burden off my shoulders as well.

I cleaned the house (somewhat), bought some groceries, made lists, left piles of notes and clip boards for Gary to help with the ward activity I was in charge of this month, and left other stuff undone (the story of my life).  Gary had to do Jena's hair and she told me he was getting much better at it (and we had 8 inches trimmed off the bottom before I left), take her to the Special Olympics State Golf tournament (she got a silver in her division), get her to work, and hang out with Ben.  Ben was in charge of cooking and cleaning.

I had originally intended to leave on Sunday after Church so that I could attend the Ward Council and review assignments and plans for the Ward BBQ and Water Fun Night on August 23.  However I kept getting a feeling I should leave on Saturday but not for any clear reason.  I mentioned it to Gary early in the week and he began encouraging me to leave on Saturday.  That really seemed impossible but somehow at 3:00 p.m. I headed off on I-84 toward Wyoming for the first part of my 18 hour trip.

Now I love to drive and have made a number of trips without Gary over the years we have been married.  However lately I have at least had Jena to travel with me on these longer drives and I have to admit, I was a bit nervous on how it would go--18 hours by myself of driving.  Having a cell phone makes it feel a bit safer of course but still I wasn't sure how my "older self" would do.

It turned out to be GREAT.  The first three hours I spent mostly in peaceful quiet.  It was amazing!  I just thought about things and family and memories.  As I drove I could physically feel the weight of things lifted from me as I began to focus forward on being with Tosha and Austen.  Gary and I had made a number of trips along this road so I thought of those adventures as well.  I stopped only for gas and to eat food that I had packed for the journey.  I played music and sang old songs from Neil Diamond, the Beach Boys and Barry Manilow (Gary was very glad not to be there for that!).

Gary and I talked along the way and he booked an hotel in eastern Denver to make sure that I would stop for the night before it got too late.  (This is his new service--booking a hotel for me when I travel.  It is very nice but it keeps me from driving much past 11 pm). I spent the night in Denver and made the rest of the trip on Sunday.  I listened to Church music most of that trip and enjoyed the scenery.  The only thing which could have made it more perfect would have been to travel with Gary in person.

I arrived safely at Tosha's and Austen's in early evening just in time for a nice meal that Tosha had made.  I made it before the baby did.  Success.....

Since I arrived a day early, I assumed that it was because the baby was coming early, right?  After all I had a lot to do back in Utah but had felt prompted to come early.  There must have been a reason....
Well, not to ruin a good story but the reason was not because he was coming early as he actually didn't arrive until 4 days after his August 12 due date.  So if there is a reason, I don't know what it was.  It happens like that sometimes.  Impressions come and we don't know why or if they really matter.  Maybe I missed a car crash by my early departure or maybe Tosha and I talked about something that first night that was important.  I will likely never know but I do know that when I follow those promptings, I don't regret it.  Nor did I this time.  It was great to be with Tosha and Austen as they were preparing for their little arrival.

So the wait began in earnest........................................

Wow--I can't believe that it has been a month already

but a lot has happened and it is only going to get worse.  I watched an orientation for my graduate program yesterday.  Repeatedly the chairmen of our department said that our MSW program is not an "add-on" to our lives but it is one of the main events and we needed to start figuring out now what is going out of our lives to make room for this huge time commitment.  Of course in the following breath, he also reminded us that we needed to "self-care" and do things that bring us balance and renewal.  It is going to be an interesting 3 years.  It starts tonight for real although I have already sync to the homework calendar for my two classes so I have assignments listed through the whole term on my tablet.  That was a reality moment--homework!

Good news for the few readers of my blog:  At this point I believe that I am choosing the blog (it counts as family history) as one of the things which brings balance and renewal to me as a person so I hope to keep it up.  That is why I am trying to catch up before school begins tonight despite the other possible options for my time this afternoon.  We will see how it goes.  As usual, there will be a number of posts related to August that I will post throughout the day or later.  I have so enjoyed my mother's journals and family histories that she has written about our family that I want my children and grandchildren to also have that same option (well, too late for the journal piece but hopefully some family history to read.)

Now to catch up with August of 2014.