Baby update

Well, It's looking good for Solace and Heidi to win...induction is still set for May 13th (15 days)!!!! I am so glad to have an end in sight. I also do not have to be so strict on my bed rest anymore since I am officially over 36 weeks now. But obviously it is better to go as long as possible, so I will still be trying to take it pretty easy until the induction on the 13th! I spent only one (partial) morning dealing with my kids and man, I cannot wait for Kris to come on Saturday! Thank goodness for all my great family!

Ender's first Primary talk

This is Ender's first Primary talk. It is hard to hear over the screaming child and the broken microphone, so I will post the actual talk later!

Baby J #4

No, she doesn't have a name yet...

This morning I am going in for an exam and appointment as soon as I get the kids to school and Angie to the airport. At this appointment they are going to make sure I am "favorable for induction." And if I am too far dilated, they will send me in to have a baby today we think. But the plan for now is to be induced on May 13th.

BTW-for those that might be thinking that I picked that day so my kid would have a 13th birthday like me, you are mistaken (although I do think it is super awesome...). The reason it is the 13th is that he wanted to do it 2 weeks before the official due date, and he said that many of his partners would not be willing to induce me that early so we had to schedule it the day that week when he was the one on call that would be doing it, and that happens to be the 13th...

So, unless I go sooner than that naturally, looks like baby is coming on May 13th...which according to the guesses on the side of my blog taken long ago in this pregnancy, means that Solace and Heidi (Seabury) Jacobs will have the winning guess...Nice work Solace! (If I go earlier Ender is still in the running as he has mentioned a few times...)

To Do...

If you ever read this blog, you know that my aunt Cathy passed away last week. You probably don't know that my sister Andrea rewrote the words to Tim McGraw's song "Live Like You Were Dying" to apply to Cathy. Cathy really did a lot of thing she wanted to do after she found out about the cancer. That being said, around the same time Cathy died, my friend, Laura posted on her blog 100 things she wants to do before she dies. I thought her list was awesome, and started to think what my list would include. I also thought of all the things that would have been on that list had I written it 15 years ago that would not be in it now (as I have either accomplished them or decided to move on past them). So, here are a couple lists for you to check out if you so desire. One is the things that would have been on the list 15 years ago, and the other is my 100 things I would like to do before I die. Some of the things are really specific, some more general, and not all realistic, but all things that appeal to me as something I would like to do if I could.


Things that would have been included on 15-yr-old Beckee's list (& how I did on them)


1. Date, and Date a lot (done and done)
2. Get Driver's Licence & get a car (Done & Done-though I would not have added this, I probably should have included here that I should not total my car....)
3. Fall in love with someone in love with me (Thank goodness for Wes!! Check that one off!)
4. Get married in the temple (Check)
5. Be a lead in a musical (done in high school-Adelaide in Guys and Dolls)
6. Be a lead in a non-school related musical (Done-Nellie in South Pacific in Sandy 2001)
7. Move to New York and make it on Broadway (OK-so, not so much...)
8. Live in California, near the beach (I totally count the summer in San Diego with Angela for this!)
9. Go on a mission (not so far...)


100 Things I would Like to Do before I die


1. Have lots of kids (my definition of lots changes by the day)
2. Raise my kids to be strong members of the Church
3. Survive Residency & Fellowship
4. Live in Hawaii someday for at least a year.
5. Publish a cook book (I have one I self published, but I want to do another)
6. Open a restaurant
7. Buy a house (we are in process of accomplishing this one)
8. Design and build our own house with Wes.
9. Go to all 50 states (I have been to many, and am well on my way...I just might have to take a southern US trip sometime...Check out my map...)

10. Visit all 7 continents (so far I have North America, South America, & Europe)
11. Finish writing my book.
12. Start my own Children's theatre.
13. Write a journal (I am totally counting this blog as accomplishing this at least somewhat)
14. Pray daily
15. Joins a book club-actually read each book and attend the meetings
16. Read at least one classic novel a year (2007-The Scarlet Pimpernel. AWESOME!)
17. Get rid of all debt
18. Do something significant and nice for each of my parents and each of Wes's parents (besides having their adorable grandchildren)
19. Get a graduate degree
20. Invent and sell something awesome.
21. Finish my Wii Zelda game.
22. Be a better mom every day (OK-who knows how to measure my progress on this one...)
23. Learn to play the piano much better.
24. Teach my kids all to read and to love reading.
25. Travel a lot!
26. Plant a successful garden
27. Be able to stay home with my kids and teach them. (so far so good)
28. Go on a cruise
29. Read the scriptures daily
30. Play sports with the kids & Wes
31. Plant and maintain fresh herbs in my kitchen.
32. Go to the Philippines with Wes
33. Design my own pearl creations while in the Philippines.
34. Get Wes a replacement wedding ring
35. Make at least on real scrapbook
36. Catch up and maintain all the kids' baby books.
37. Give away a Book of Mormon to someone.
38. Go on a mission with Wes
39. Serve in all 3 auxiliaries in the church (Relief Society, Young Womens, and Primary...technically I have, but I would like to again...)
40. Go to a Luau
41. Perform in at least one show a year.
42. Go to Disney World with my whole Enderton family
43. Fix a broken computer
44. Teach the kids the primary songs
45. Give all my kids unique, interesting, meaningful names that are not too weird and outlandish.
46. Get family pictures taken at least once a year without driving Wes crazy
47. Have a clean house.
48. Someday I want one of those horribly expensive, awesome washers and dryers!!
49. To go to all my kids' temple weddings
50. Have lots of grandkids
51. Spoil my grandkids rotten!
52. Ride a horse and NOT almost kill myself
53. Have a big walk in closet with all kinds of organizational shelves and stuff built in.
54. Get Armour to eat vegetables...and like them!
55. Tell Wes and the kids how much I love them every day!
56. Get better at rollerblading
57. Learn to Surf
58. Go scuba diving
59. Go Whale watching with Wes
60. Make memory books for each of my kids.
61. Go watch the newest Broadway shows every year (once Wes is a full fledged radiologist and we can afford it)
62. Finish the Wheel of Time series of books.
63. Learn patience
64. Potty train Armour soon (then I'd only have one kid in diapers)
65. Greek Island cruise
66. Spend a significant amount of time in Greece and learn Greek.
67. Learn to cook all those Greek family recipes from XiaXia and Mom.
68. Give each of my kids personal time.
69. Learn to golf
70. relearn to knit and crochet-make something
71. Figure out how to use my sewing machine
72. Pack up my stuff to move (this is obviously an immediate goal)
73. Grow my testimony always
74. Finish reading the Twilight series
75. Give hugs and kisses all the time.
76. Meet someone famous and not even notice. (I guess technically I did this with Julia Roberts...)
77. Be a lead in a musical again
78. Cook something gourmet
79. Make cool birthday cakes for my kids' birthdays.
80. Play pool and bowling outside my living room (meaning not on Wii) more often!
81. Own and have room for a pool table/game room.
82. Avoid bed rest in the future.
83. Go on a European tour.
84. Have lots of parties and fun in our own house!
85. Own a GREAT BBQ.
86. Be active with the kids and Wes-even when Wes and I are old.
87. Lose weight
88. Eat healthy, but still enjoy treats I love
89. Try new foods
90. Eat at a really fancy restaurant
91. Go to Six Flags
92. Live on a beach
93. Go on an African Safari
94. Be on TV for some sort of major positive accomplishment
95. Rid the world of AM talk radio
96. Serve others
97. Own a new car someday that is not a piece of crap we are just babying through (OK-so our Elantra would fall int his category, but I don't usually drive that car...)
98. Keep in touch with old friends better and be more thoughtful.
99. Spend as much time with my family as possible!
100. Have this baby safely and quickly as I am losing my patience with bed rest and thinking of all the packing and preparing for our move I really should be doing...

Drama Geek questions...perfect for the likes of me...

Well, it's not really easy to know what to post after all the serious posts of late, but I am still sitting here in bed and a bit bored, and a friend posted this on her myspace so I thought I would do it as well... Perfect for a drama girl...if you are a drama geek too, feel free to steal it...

LAST SHOW ADDED TO YOUR RESUME: Sacred Heart Follies

LAST SHOW YOU AUDITIONED FOR: Sacred Heart Follies

LAST SONG YOU USED AT AN AUDITION: Honestly, I cannot remember what I sang last...I think maybe Dancing all the Time from Big the Musical.

WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST SHOW: Um...good question...as a kid I was in a lot of little elementary school shows, but probably my first real show was A Midsummer Night's Dream...I played a dad...very sucky...HATED every minute!!!!!

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A DANCE SOLO?: Yes

HAVE YOU EVER HAD A SINGING SOLO? Yes, quite a few.

HAVE YOU EVER BEEN THE LAST PERSON TO TAKE A BOW? Yes

HAVE YOU BEEN TO NEW YORK? Yes, quite a few times

HAVE YOU BEEN TO LA?: Yes

HAVE YOU BEEN TO LONDON?: No.

WHAT'S THE SCARIEST PART OF AN AUDITION?: Waiting to go in...

WHAT'S THE BEST PART OF AN AUDITION? During the song or script reading when I can just go with it and perform.

NAME A SHOW YOU WOULD NEVER DO AGAIN (For Free): I think Saturday's Warrior-I totally burned myself out on that one!!!!

NAME A SHOW YOU COULD DO FOR YEARS: Really I think most any musical.

WHAT ARE YOU AUDITIONING FOR NEXT? Um...we'll see what is goingon after this baby is born, and after we move and then we will see...

DO YOU KEEP IN TOUCH WITH PAST CAST MEMBERS?: Very few.

ON A SCALE OF 1-10, HOW IMPORTANT IS GETTING PAID?: It would be really nice...

SOMETHING EMBARRASSING OR UNEXPECTED THAT HAPPENED TO YOU WHILE ON STAGE?: I am pretty sure I have lost a costume or two that was fairly embarassing...

EVER BEEN NAKED ON STAGE?: No

BEEN KILLED?: Yes-as Nancy in Oliver in 7th grade.

PLAYED DRUNK ON STAGE?: Yes, I was surprisingly good at it (it was in South Pacific)!

PLAYED SOMEONE HALF YOUR AGE?: Hmm...no...not even close...

PLAYED SOMEONE TWICE YOUR AGE?: Yes, more than tewice my age, but I was in high school, so twice my age was only like 28...(I was 18 when I played Adelaide in Guys and Dolls and she's like about 40, right?!)

FIRED A GUN? Not that I recall.

DRIVEN A CAR? No

BEEN DRENCHED? Oh yeah-South Pacific baby...I'm Gonna Wash that Man Right Outta my Hair...showering on stage-a classic moment!!!

BEEN IN A DREAM SEQUENCE? Don't think so...

BEEN KISSED? Yes, on and off stage...

Guest Book

As part of the online version of Cathy's Obituary, there is a guest book. When I went on this morning to write on it, there were already 2 entries. Anyway, the guest book will be up until May 10th, and I thought some of you might be interested to go look and see what people write to the family and about Cathy. Here is the link http://www.legacy.com/saltlaketribune/GB/GuestbookView.aspx?PersonId=107332393

I think you can link to it from either the Trib or the Deseret News, I just happened to go through the Salt Lake Tribune on my link.

Cathy's Obituary (as printed in the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News)

Cathy (Catherine) Evans

Cathy (Catherine) Evans 1957 ~ 2008 Cathy (Catherine) Evans, 50, died in Salt Lake City, UT on April 8, 2008 at 7:08 p.m. so she could see the Jazz beat the Hornets. She plans to take up residence at the Haunted Mansion in Disneyland and be our friendly haunt as we visit there.She was born December 24, 1957 to Lynn Bird and Georgia Kanell Evans. She died after a courageous battle with cancer surrounded by her loving family. Cathy graduated from Olympus High School in 1976 and attended CEU and SLCC. She had a lifelong love for children, Disneyland, the Utah Jazz, clowning, and good clean fun with friends. She worked hard at everything she did, whether a child care position, at the food service counter, or helping children on rides at Lagoon. Her favorite job was putting up Christmas lights on Temple Square. Cathy has a playful spirit and a delightful sense of humor. One of her favorite alter egos was Foofy-Goofy the clown. Though she never married or had children of her own, she has a true "mother's heart" and enjoyed nothing more than taking care of and entertaining young children. She was a second mother to her many nieces and nephews, a favorite aunt to all of them. Aunt Cathy was always interested in everything they were doing, and encouraged and supported them in all their pursuits. She especially loved to give them gifts of video games, movies, and Disney memorabilia. She had a special relationship with her youngest nephew, Spencer with whom she attended numerous Jazz games over the years; he was like a son to her. She made friends with everyone, everywhere she went. An active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, she provided many years of service. The family wishes to thank Dr. Gordon Watson, Dr. Nasfat Shehadeh, and Michael Cole (and their staffs) for their loving care. Cathy is survived by her parents, her sisters, Rochelle (Stephen) Enderton, Marylynn, Kristine, Julie (David) Fairbourn, and Angela, and also by many loving nieces and nephews. Funeral services will be held on Saturday, April 12, 2008 at 2:00 p.m. at the Wilford Stake Center, 3080 South 1765 East, SLC, UT. Family and friends may call Friday, April 11, 2008 at Canyon Road Towers, 123 East 2nd Avenue, SLC, UT from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and at the Stake Center one hour prior to the service on Saturday. Interment at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to your favorite charity or the LDS Church Perpetual Education Fund. Published in the Salt Lake Tribune on 4/10/2008.

Cathy

It was just shy of a year ago as we were preparing to move from Omaha to Spokane that we received the phone call from Salt Lake telling us that my aunt Cathy had been diagnosed with brain cancer and given a mere 3 months to live. We were lucky enough to have Cathy with us almost 4 times longer than they originally gave us, but last night we received the call that she had passed away.

Cathy made it clear that she wanted me to speak at her funeral, but as I am stuck in Spokane on bed rest, I obviously cannot travel to Salt Lake for the funeral on Saturday. So, I just thought I would at least write a few things about Cathy here that I might have said had I been able to be there.

First off, many of you reading this did not know her and so I will tell you a bit about her. Cathy was the 2nd of the 6 Evans girls. My mom was the first, and Cathy is just 11 months younger than her. She was born on Christmas Eve in 1957. This last Christmas eve we were able to, as a family spend her 50th birthday with her. Cathy was very loving and kind to everyone. She was a true child at heart-a bit like Peter Pan (those that know her know what I mean). She loved Disneyland, Lagoon, her Utah Jazz, and most of all her friends and family, and always wanted to share her love for those things with everyone. Her life was about having fun and enjoying life all the time.

Once I had a boyfriend that collected Pez dispensers. He would buy them for me sometimes, and I thought they were pretty awesome, so I started my own Pez collection. However, when that boyfriend left on his mission and I started dating other people, as you might expect, my collecting of Pez dispensers began to fall to the wayside. Cathy would not let that happen. Cathy began collecting the Pez dispensers for me. Up until the recent couple of months I would still get phone calls from Cathy "I am at the dollar store and they have a new bunny Pez dispenser. I don't think you have this one yet, so I will get it ok?!" And every time we visit Utah, she has a whole new group of dispensers to add to my collection.

That is just the kind of person Cathy was-the kind that never forgot any little quirk about you. And the kind of person that tried to make sure that you held on to those seemingly unimportant childlike little things even amid the daily stresses of life. The little things do matter-you do need to remember what it was like to be young and carefree, and Cathy was the queen of making you remember that.

Much time over the past year was spent on family trips to Disneyland. Even in her pain she kept a sense of humor. The first trip to Disneyland, we were all sitting eating dinner, and Cathy started to choke on some food. After a stunned second Tiffany (my cousin) jumped up and gave her the Heimlich maneuver, dislodging the food. Cathy looked up at everyone, smiled a huge smile and said "Wow-for a minute there I thought I was going to die at my favorite place on Earth-that would have been pretty cool."

Not so cool for all of us, but she loved it there so much that she thought having her last few moments there would be amazing. She was able to go to Disneyland with her family many many times, most recently only about 2 weeks ago. And in the end of her life, she had chosen how she wanted to go-in her home, with her family around, and that is how it happened.

We will all miss her terribly, but she is free of her pain and is now in a better place. I am so grateful for my faith and testimony of life after this because I know I will get to see her again. I am grateful for a wonderful husband that was able to really bond with Cathy and to help her choose to go to the temple a few years ago. What a blessing for Cathy that she did that and was able to go back often and learn from the great work done in the temples of the church for the last few years of her life. She was given a blessing yesterday that said that the Lord wanted to heal her, but that He has work for her to do. I am sure she is anxiously pushing to get that work started already! We all love her and already feel the weight of losing her, but are so grateful for her life and for being able to be part of her family.

Note from above...

Last night Wes and I were sitting downstairs watching TV about an hour after we put the kids to bed. Suddenly a mysterious note fell from the staircase above. When we picked it up, we saw that it said on one side "To mom and dad from Sol." We turned it over to find this: ("I didn't eat dinner. Can I have a drink of water?")

We laughed and laughed-and brought her a glass of water.

Ender's party

Well, on Saturday was Mr Ender's 4th birthday. He had a "dinosaur pajama party." We made breakfast for everyone first, then we played pin the nose on the triceratops, then we used fabric markers to draw on shirts for the kids to take home (and they each wrote something on a pillowcase for Ender). After that we played a cake walk-type game to do the presents, and capped the whole thing off with cake and ice cream (Carrot cake from Costco as per Ender's request). Here are a few pictures from the party. (As a side note, Ender got a kids digital camera for his birthday that he LOVES, and has taken tons of pictures with already-I will upload and post some of those later today or tomorrow) My mom and brother Spence were here to help, and Wes basically cooked the breakfast and ran the party. They were all very good at keeping me down (as I am still on bed rest). Thank you for all the help!!!

Those Johnson kids the night before. The table (before we put Breakfast on it.)
The birthday boy before the party!
Little Brother
Big sister
The best birthday boy picture!! (taken by dad of course)
My mom, brother, and the kids ready for the festivities to begin!
The kids at the party waiting to pin the nose on the triceratops.
Ender's turn pinning the nose...

Blowing out candles.

Eating the cake and ice cream.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ENDER!!!!

Yes, I am HUGE!!!

As per my sister Andrea's request, here is a couple of huge belly shots. If you didn't like me in high school and are still harboring resentful feeling toward me, these are probably the pictures you wanted to see-me at my worst, messy bed rest hair, a fat huge belly, glasses, really the works...enjoy!!!

Solace wants me to let you all know that she took these fine photos!

The Cat in the Hat visits our house...

This post is a bit late, but...March was Dr Seuss month at the kids school, and as part of that, Ender's class took turns taking home the Cat in the Hat and his book. They were supposed to read his story then keep him at our house for a couple days and then write a story of our adventures with him. With mom being on bed rest, you can imagine that our adventures were limited. For his story he wrote that it was just like the book-he was stuck in the house, and the Cat helped him make messes and clean them up. Then Ender wrote that the Cat did get in trouble once, but we worked it out. Here are some pictures of the great adventures with the Cat. If you want to know what it was like, Ender says to read the book-it was just like that!