Fischer Reunion 2015

The Fischer family spends a lot of time together. The boys are super close, as are the women and kids, so we tend to spend a lot of time together, including vacation time. We have gone on "family" trips before but are hoping to plan some special trips together. This year, Jenny and Randy were in charge of our trip and we all went to St. George for a few days! We left Saturday morning, the day after school got out. Matt and Randy drove down together and golfed at THREE different golf courses; one in Payson, Beaver and Fillmore. They had so much fun, even though they left at 3:20 AM! I rode with Jenny and the kids and we left at 7:00 AM. After a few errands, and a few drink stops, we made it to the condo in Washington around 3:00 PM. Everyone else made it within the next hour! We stayed at a townhome/condo that had 5 bedrooms, so each family had their own room. It was great having a shared kitchen/eating area as well as living room where we could all hang out together, and the boys could be as rowdy as they wanted without disturbing anyone! It was also great because it allowed everyone to be in and out as much as they wanted, so people could create their own schedule. With so many little kids, this was super helpful because of all the different nap times!

After we got to the condo and got settled, we all went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in St. George. After dinner, we hit WalMart for food for the week, and then the girls (and Diet and Matt) went out to Tuacahn! I have never seen a show at Tuacahn, so I was super excited. Matt decided to come because he didn't want to stay home and babysit with the other boys! We saw "Beauty and the Beast" and it was amazing!! I loved the outdoor amphitheater and the gorgeous natural backdrop. It was such a fun night!

On Sunday morning, Randy and Jenny took their kids for a day of adventures, as did Kamie and Tim, so we, Lance, Kendra and their kids, along with Diet and Myrna decided to go to a little splash pad in St. George. It ended up being a huge hit with all the kids! Kailee and Clay loved playing in the water, and Kendra and I chased them around while everyone else watched. That night, we had a family BBQ, with snowcones of course, and played games for family home evening.

On Monday morning, everyone else wanted to hit the splash pad too! The boys headed out golfing (because Matt and Randy couldn't get enough!) and we took the kids to the splash pad again. This time I took some pictures, although kids playing in water are hard to photograph!

Harrison is so tiny that he kept getting cold! He'd play in the water for a little while, then wrap up in his towel and sit in the sun to warm up before going back in the water!

Reagan is a little fish! She loves water! She was even brave enough to run through the giant spout in the middle of the splash pad!

Clay wasn't as interested in the water on Monday as he was on Sunday. He was content just to sit on the grass.

Kailee didn't love getting really wet. She liked getting splashed but wouldn't go right in the water!

I learned this trip that miss Blakelee doesn't like to swim. She also was content to sit on the grass and walk around.

Jenny and I both remembered to bring our sun hats!

 I think I have this exact same picture, except with Kamie walking Reagan.

Boys...

After the splash pad, we went back to the condo for lunch and to get dressed. Once the boys were back from golfing, Matt and I joined Randy, Jenny and the kids to go to the trampoline park. Obviously I wasn't jumping, but Matt was really excited to jump with the kids! Jenny even decided to jump too!

 Jenny and H

Jenny and Claire

Matt loved the trampoline where he could dunk the basketball! Brad was frustrated because he couldn't figure it out!

Matt and H

Three boys about Brad's age were there and asked Brad to play dodgeball. So of course, all the Fischers had to get involved! At first, these three boys were playing against Matt, Jenny, Brad, Claire, and Harrison! Slowly the teams evened out, but I think that Matt was having just as much fun as the kids!

Harrison liked to run up and then slide down this trampoline

After the trampoline park, Randy had to go to interview some people at his rental business in St. George, so we joined Jenny and the kids to find something new to do. We were planning on meeting everyone else at the Children's Museum but it was only open for members! Then we wanted to go to an inflatable park, but it had closed permanently! Finally, we decided to go bowling at the Fiesta Fun Center! I remember going here as a kid during softball tournaments to hit in the batting cages. The bowling alley was brand new and there was no one else there! It was way fun to bowl with everyone (Kendra and Kamie were chasing Clay and Blakelee around the whole time so they didn't bowl).

Jenny entertaining Harrison and Reagan

Kailee had to High-five everyone

So did Harrison

Kailee watching her dad bowl!

A little bit of dancing in between turns!

A little tired after a busy day!

This was the ball rack for kids to use to bowl, although most of them climbed on it and slid down the other side when it wasn't being used

After bowling, Kamie bought a few tokens for Reagan to play some games, and then it turned into everyone playing games! Lance and Matt found this game that was kind of broken so they were able to play around without paying any tokens, although Lance was supposed to be watching Clay...

Then Tim joined in although he was supposed to be watching Blakelee...

Matt and Tim had to beat the kiddie games...

And Matt was super proud of himself!

After games, the kids went out on the bumper boats with Tim and Matt. They didn't really care about bumping each other, they just wanted to shoot water at each other! Everyone was pretty wet afterwards!

After bumper boats, everyone except Randy and Jenny went to The Habit for dinner. After dinner, everyone put the kids to bed and then the adults went to run a few errands and get smoothies!

On Tuesday, the boys went golfing again, and the girls took the kids to the splash pad and the Children's Museum, and I went to the temple! I have done baptisms and been to a wedding, but have never done a session, and it was amazing! It was so nice to have some calm time in a busy week. After the temple, we relaxed at the condo for a little while and then went to the golf store so Matt could get his birthday present- a new set of irons! Okay, they are used, but Matt was excited. Then we met everyone for some swimming at the condo. I wasn't too impressed with the pool, but it was very refreshing! After swimming, everyone put their kids to bed and Matt and I went with Tim, Kamie and Diet to Red Robin for dinner. After dinner, Matt and I went mini golfing. It was like 10:00 PM and it was finally not crazy hot! It was really fun to get out just the two of us.

Wednesday morning was busy getting everyone ready to go home! We were supposed to golf, but our tee time got messed up, so Matt and I golfed in Logan on our way home. We drove like maniacs and made it from Washington to Logan in 5 hours without stopping! I was impressed with my pregnant bladder!

We had such a fun trip! I can't wait for more family reunion trips in years to come!

Three Become One

I am so lucky that I have made such good friends at work. Molly and McKenzie have both really become great friends. Last summer, we were talking about having kids and then all of a sudden Molly and Kenzy were both pregnant! A few months later, I joined the club. We have had fun all year exchanging pregnancy stories and baby plans. This month, the three pregnant ladies dropped to one! Molly and Kenzy both had their babies!

Kenzy had baby Whitten Devi Stephens on May 4. He spent a few days in the NICU with a lung infection, but is doing great now! I think he looks a LOT like Kenz!

Molly had little Ellie Nicole Davidson on May 16. She has so much hair! I got to visit them at the hospital and she was wide awake with those big gorgeous eyes!

Before:

Three very pregnant ladies!

 I am so happy for my two friends and excited that our little ones will all get to be friends!

The Puppy

She's not really a puppy anymore! I can't believe how fast she has grown! Charlie is enormous now! She's getting better and better at listening, mostly listening to Matt, but sometimes she listens to me! She still doesn't stay on her bed for long because she wants to be anywhere that we are. If I sit at the kitchen table, she sits beneath me on the floor. She follows us around the house and likes to lay right next to us, or even on my feet! She is such a social dog. Whenever she hears the kids outside, she goes crazy. There have been days that she has run off to play with the kids down the street and I have to carry her back. She, and I, are both too big for me to be hauling her around!

She LOVES Matt. And he LOVES her.

She loves to play with her toys and her little puppy especially. It pretty much is totally shredded now and all the stuffing inside is gone. I am getting a little sick of picking up her toys off the floor. How come I don't have any kids and I am always picking up toys?

Charlie is getting really good with the kids. Even Clayton liked sitting with her and petting her!

The kids usually pile on top of the puppy, but Randy seemed to be a better target.

Puppy wrestling

Just staring into each other's eyes...

He even lets her sit in his lap!

What weird dog likes to lay on her back? She likes to hold toys with her paws and play upside-down.

Seriously. It's a little out of hand.

She is pretty cute though. Cassie got her a new puppy to play with but she won't let the old one go! She pulled the leg off the old puppy and likes to carry it around...

We sure love this puppy and can't wait for her to meet the baby! They are going to be best friends!

Phone Pictures

I'm trying to keep myself awake during conference, so here are a bunch of my random phone pictures as of late:

I have a student this year who wrote me this note:
"Mrs. Fischer you have been so nice to me and you are never mean sometimes you are mean but it is okay."

Blakelee had to check out what fun game Matt was playing on the floor with the other kids

24 weeks... I took a picture at 12, 16, and 20 weeks, but this is the first one that I actually look pregnant!

Matt came home one day with a very muddy dog! She found a mud puddle and thought it was fun to play in!

This is the tub after we cleaned the mud off her

When Matt takes Charlie to work, he lets her sit on the front seat on a blanket. When she is in my car, she really wants to sit on the seat, but knows it isn't allowed, so she gets as close to me as she can!

This dog finds the weirdest places to sleep. Matt found her sleeping in his drill bag one night while he was working on the crib and she curled up on this duffel bag while I was folding laundry.

 Matt loves taking Charlie to work. This week he told me that they were setting floor trusses on a second story and all of a sudden the truss started moving like crazy! Charlie had grabbed hold of the rope that the truss was connected to the crane with and was pulling with all her might! Instead of being mad, all the guys working stopped and started taking pictures! It is pretty hard to see, but Charlie is on the right of the floor truss (looks like a ladder) pulling on the rope! Crazy dog!

Caught this funny moment while Charlie was sleeping. She must've been running fast in her dream!

Spring Break

As always, we didn't make any big plans for spring break this year (it doesn't help that spring break is usually when Matt starts getting pretty busy at work). Spring break started off with a busy weekend! On Saturday we drove down to Salt Lake for the Jazz game with Kenzy and Devin. We bought the tickets for Valentine's day, so it has been a long time coming. Matt and I had to run out to Lehi and then turn around and meet for dinner at Training Table in Sugarhouse before going over to the game. It was a really fun game, even though Kenzy and Devin were cheering for OKC. Matt had a lot of fun booing Kanter the whole game, and it was just a bonus when the Jazz won!

We stayed Saturday night at my mom's house. Jeff made a tee time for us to play at the Ranches and we went out for nine holes on a beautiful day! I ended up getting a sunburn, but I played pretty decent golf so it was okay! We had a lot of fun and I made it through eight holes before getting too tired! Not bad for 24 weeks pregnant!

After golfing, Matt and I were able to go to the RSL game! This was kind of a crazy situation. Last April I bought Matt a Pass of All Passes and renewed my pass. We never used them, so I never got a card for Matt. Well this RSL game was FREE if you showed up with your Pass of All Passes when they started selling tickets, so on Saturday we ran over to Sandy to get his card printed. Unfortunately, the place closed in Sandy, so that's why we had to go to Lehi to get his card printed. On Sunday, my mom and I drove over to the stadium to stand in line for tickets, but there was no one there! We were an hour early, so we went to get a drink and a doughnut and came back and there still wasn't anyone there. We waited a little longer and saw people walking around to the back. We walked to the back to see what was going on and there was a huge line! What the heck? So I jumped in line and waited. Then some guy came by and told the people at the end of the line to walk around to the line at the front! I was way mad! If we had gotten in line at the front, we would've been the first people in it! Oh well, I guess we know for next time. Anyway, I got in line and was able to get tickets to the RSL game. We had a really fun time sitting with all the crazy soccer fans and cheering for RSL! Even better- THEY WON!

The rest of the week was spent relaxing and hanging out! On Monday I went with Matt to an appointment to look at his knee. Luckily everything looks good except for some tendonitis. He is going to some physical therapy for a while to get it strengthened up, and they told him that it is hurting him because he put so much pressure on it when he had his ankle surgery last summer. I'm just glad that he won't need knee surgery! After Matt's appointment, we went and picked up Charlie from Tim's house and then Matt went to work. I had fun doing some book shopping and baby clothes shopping! I am getting a little excited to start buying things for baby boy!

On Tuesday I stayed home with the dog while Matt went to work and stopped by the park with Jenny and Melissa and the kids for a little while. Claire likes taking Charlie for walks, so we just sat in the sun and hung out. Then I went over to my neighbor's house to get my hair cut and colored. I'm so excited to have someone so close to do my hair! She did an awesome job and we even snuck Matt in for a haircut while my color was setting up. After our hair cuts, Matt and I went to see "Cinderella" for $5 Tuesday at the movie theater. I love date night with Matt!

On Wednesday I got to go to lunch with Kenzy and Molly from school. We were celebrating Molly's baby shower since Kenzy and I both couldn't make it. I'm so glad to have a friend having a baby girl so I can buy girl things! I had fun on Etsy picking out the most darling ivory lace romper with matching headband to give her! We had lunch at Cafe Sabor and of course I grabbed a Coke at Sinclair on my way home. I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning my house, and then went over to Matt's mom and dad's lot for a little while.

On Thursday I had a doctor's appointment and listened to the heartbeat and was measured. This is the first time I was measured this way and it was fun to actually be big enough! I was measuring about a week small. After my appointment, I met Myrna at Hobby Lobby to pick out fabric for the crib bedding! So much fun. I can't wait to see everything come together.

Friday was a busy night for us too. After Matt got off work, I made him help me move some of the bookshelves out of the nursery, which also involved moving the spare bed, which is super heavy. We got everything moved and I am getting excited to set up the baby's room. We then picked up Brandyn and drove down to Salt Lake for their mission reunion. We ate at Macool's on Foothill and then went to the reunion. I love hearing the pipe band play and singing Scottish songs, but the best part is talking with Matt's mission president and his wife. It is really special to see Matt interact with people from his mission. It helps me to understand that part of his life a little more, and I respect those people so much for their service. Matt genuinely loves his mission and mission president, and I love to be a part of that with him. There was a cute senior couple there who helped Matt get through his last transfer before coming home. They put him in the car and did castle tours with him so he could have relief from an interesting companion, and fed him regularly. They live in Twin Falls and we get a Christmas card from them every year. It was fun to tell them that we were having a baby and about our new home. Matt is such a grown up now!

After the reunion, we picked Alex up from work and went bowling at Fat Cats. I haven't been bowling in forever and it was way fun! As always, Matt did really good, but I actually did okay! Being pregnant must be helping my athletic abilities! After bowling, we grabbed Frosties and fries from Wendy's and headed home. I was asleep in no time! We didn't get home until 2:00 in the morning, but it was a way fun night!

On Saturday we watched conference and visited our friends who are building a home. It is fun to talk to other people while they build, but not have to put in the work ourselves! I don't miss those long Saturdays! Matt and Randy went to priesthood conference and Jenny and I hung out that night. It is nice to just relax!

Today, Easter Sunday, has been a very relaxing end to this fun week. We watched conference, had delicious lunch at Randy and Jenny's house and watched the kids do an Easter egg hunt. We are loving this time of our lives and are enjoying every minute of being just the two of us until this baby comes! I know that time is going to fly once I go back to work tomorrow, and I want to relax every second until then! Sorry for the long and wordy post!

Aggie Basketball

Matt and I love having people up to visit, especially to go to Aggie games! This year, we bought my dad and Laurie tickets to an Aggie game for Christmas, and ended up getting a sweet deal on two games. They came up in February and again in March for a game. I love watching games in the Spectrum. There really is something special in there. My dad and Laurie were enthralled by the students. They are pretty crazy. I remember how fun it was to sit with them. I can't wait for Cassie to be an Aggie too!

P.S. Can you tell we've had some nice weather? My face gets sunburned sooooo easily. One of the downsides of being outside all afternoon on a nice spring day. I'm going to have to start remembering my sun hat.

There must be something in the water...

Being pregnant and working hasn't been as hard as I thought it was going to be. Yes, it totally sucked when I was sick every day. I was really cranky and had a way short temper with my kids. It also didn't help that I didn't tell anyone that I was pregnant. Once we finally started telling people, it was extra special because I am the fourth teacher who is pregnant at Summit this year! Everyone has been so cute and excited.

This picture was probably the first day or two that I was kind of looking pregnant. I was 21 weeks. Kenzy (next to me) was 29ish weeks and is also having a boy, Hilary was 36 weeks with her third little girl, and Molly was 28ish weeks and is having a girl. We had to take this picture the day we did, because Hilary had her baby the next Friday. Another fun fact about our group is that we all see the same doctor!

Everyone at work has been so nice. No one lets me carry anything, and is always asking if I'm doing okay. Kenzy, Molly and I are pretty close friends so everyone laughs that we are all pregnant. We also all teach in the same hallway, so everyone warns other people about drinking the water!

P.S. A few weeks after I wrote this post, and after Hilary had her cute baby girl Whitley, we found out that ANOTHER teacher at Summit is having a baby! Brittany teaches first grade and is due in October, and also goes to Dr. Blackett! Crazy!