Fish Hatchery

Yesterday we went to the Fish Hatchery. It was such a beautiful day (about 75 degrees, and the sun was actually shining... that doesn't happen a lot here! Ha!) so we decided to head on over to the Bonneville Dam and see what the Fish Hatchery was all about!

We often joke that you know your kid lives in Oregon when they can't stand the sun... that's exactly how it was yesterday. Ava and Halle had their  sunglasses on all day, and they were complaining that they were too hot and sweaty, even though it was only 75 degrees. 

At the beginning of the fish hatchery, there is a beautiful fish fountain, and it was fun to watch all the water splash. By the way, what exactly is the fish hatchery? It's a place where they grow and hatch fish to release into the wild. To catch and keep a native fish (one that wasn't from the hatchery) is illegal. If you catch a native, you must release it back into the wild. Part of the hatchery's job is to clip the fins of the fish, that's how you tell if it's a native or not. Native's fins aren't clipped and the hatchery's fins are. Also, some of the fish have microchips put in them so you can locate them via GPS. Pretty cool, huh? Anyways, the hatchery raises about 8 million Fall Chinook, 1.2 million Coho, 200 thousand Summer Steelhead, and 60 thousand Winter Steelhead (all types of fish) annually. The hatchery is where you can see the eggs being incubated, and watch some of the fish grow before they are released into the wild. You can also feed some trout that they keep on hand. It's a pretty cool place, especially if you're into fishing, which Nate is. 

The map of the hatchery.

Inside the egg incubation building. This was a display of the different kinds of fish.

Halle was our tour guide. She had several different maps and gave us directions.

Along the walkways of the hatchery, they have spray painted little fish indicating which way to go. However, Ava and Halle thought that they were "clues"... clues to who knows what, but this was probably their favorite part!

Here is a pond of Sturgeon fish. They are huge. This picture really doesn't do them justice. Sturgeons have appeared in the fossil record approx. 200 million years ago, making them among one of the most ancient fishes. If you ask me, they are pretty ugly fishes. :)

Near the sturgeon pond, there is an underwater viewing house. Here, you can see the ginormous sturgeons swim. This viewing pond is home to "Herman the Sturgeon" is approx. 10 feet long and weighs about 425 lbs. He is over 60 years old. I wish these pictures did the size of the sturgeons justice, but they don't. Oh well.

Here is another fish pond... Ava looked at everything through her "telescope" which was a rolled up map. 

I also learned a very valuable lesson about Halle. If there are rules, she will break them. She didn't stay behind any of the bars the kept people back from the ponds. She had to go under the bars and lean as far over as she could without falling in. Learning this about her scared me a little bit... she really just doesn't care to follow rules. I've already had to deal with this at home, on a much smaller scale. Examples: she won't put on a diaper when I tell her to. She refuses to eat breakfast at the table. When we're in church, and I tell her to use her soft voice, she just gets louder. She talks during prayers.... I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with her. :)

 Now going back to the underground sturgeon viewing place... Ava is standing and measuring up to the average length of a sturgeon. 

Nate was pretty mesmerized by the fish.... you can tell just how excited he is by the look on his face...

 

I thought this picture was pretty cool because you can see the tail of the sturgeon near Halle and the head of the sturgeon near Ava.

We also got to feed the rainbow trout. It was fun to watch them go all crazy and fight for a little pellet of food.

It was my favorite when they would jump out of the water. 

After feeding the fish, we washed our hands off in the fountain. Ava knew she wasn't supposed to dip her hands in the pond part of the fountain, so she just touched the drops of water coming up...

Halle, however, dipped her hands right into it. Even after we told her not to... Remember her total disregard for rules?

We stopped in the gift shop to look at the little trinkets. Well, Ava and I looked around. There is some pretty fragile glass stuff, and Halle thought it was fun to pick them up and we are pretty sure she was on the path to destroy whatever she touched, so Nate took her outside. However, we did purchase an Oregon Marionberry Chocolate Bar for Nate and me....

and the girls got suckers. It was so funny to watch them eat their suckers. 

Ava just had to pose for the picture...

and they loved the fact that the suckers turned their tongues different colors. 

After the fish hatchery, we went to the Bonneville Dam. This is a propeller from the dam that helped produce electricity for about 60 years. It's massively huge, and quite a site to see. 

I loved seeing all the water and all the power that the water has. 

We ended the day by going to some burger joint.... we ate outside since it was such a beautiful day. Halle had the lid to our water bottle, and somehow Nate got it from her and he kept pulling the cap out of her ear... you know, like the old "quarter from the ear" magic trick? Her face was priceless every time she thought the cap came out of her ear. 

Thank heavens we invested in a fantastic camera... I was able to capture some of her sweet facial expressions... these 2 pictures are pictures that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Seriously. 

 
  It was such a nice day, and it was fun to just get out and be a family. I just can't help but think of how I have the cutest girls on the planet, and how lucky I am to have the most amazing husband ever. He has surely stepped up these past few weeks.... cooking and cleaning and taking care of the girls while I haven't felt very good. I love the way he interacts with Ava and Halle. I am truly blessed.

Crazy Weather

   We've been having some super crazy weather! I thought spring was fast approaching since the flowers are starting to bloom on the trees. I love seeing all the beautiful trees and their blossoms! But after a few days of great weather...

 ... I woke up to snow on the ground!! It was enough snow that they made the schools start 2 hours late... it was cute to see people building their little snowmen out of slushy snow!

     While Ava was at preschool, Halle and I "played" in the snow... meaning she just kicked the snow around while I snapped some pics.

     This is our apartment complex. Our apartment is on the top lefthand side.

     But just after a couple of days of cold weather, it started acting like spring again! These are the flowers I get to look at every time I look out my kitchen window. It's just beautiful!

     While it's been super rainy, I don't mind. I do need to invest in some rainboots for Halle since she's majorly obsessed with jumping in every single puddle!! But I do hope it starts to warm up a bit so we can start taking walks and playing at parks!

Three's A Crowd!

     Yes, you are seeing that little picture correctly... Cash Baby #3 is due early December. Yes, I am just as shocked at you are! And since we announced it on April Fools Day, here is the proof that it's really true...

     I know, I'm not to keen on posting a stick that I peed on, but it's proof, and I need to look at it over and over again so that I know I'm not going crazy. 

     Wow, my emotions are all over the place as I think of adding another child to our family... and without going into too many details, all I know is that God directly had a hand in this baby, and that he/she is meant to be here at this time. For the past 5 months, Nate and I haven't really been preventing a baby, but we haven't been actively trying either. If it happened, it happened. If not, then that's ok. But it happened, and we are excited. 

     I suspected I was preggers when I was making cake balls, and they looked disgusting. Then, as I was trying to make dinner, it all just sounded awful.... and for those of you who know me, disliking food is terribly abnormal for me! I love ALL food and ALL sweets... but I just couldn't bring myself to eat a cake ball! Then, my mind started thinking.... and thinking.... and calculating.... so I put a pregnancy test on my shopping list for the next day. Well, as I was searching under my bathroom sink for a bandaid, I found a spare test. Then, the internal struggle started....

 I started thinking...

 "Should I, or shouldn't I?

 I've taken tons of pregnancy tests before, and they were all negative... 

This one is bound to be negative too, so why waste this one test?

 But I just need to put my mind at ease!

 Maybe I should just wait a couple of days for Ms. Flo to show up.

But I can't wait that long!

I have to know!"

And on and on my internal struggle went for a good 15 minutes! Ugh, it was agony! But my curiosity won over, and I took the test. And then I gasped at the results. And then I emailed Nate. And then he emailed me back with a bunch of smiley faces. And then everything made sense... the bloating feeling, the exhaustion... and everything else that accompanies pregnancy...

      As I went through the day, I realized just how much I needed Ava's help to do stuff for me. I kept telling her that I was sick and needed her help, but she just didn't seem to grasp the concept of actually helping me. I didn't want to tell her I was pregnant, because I didn't want her telling all of her friends at preschool, but I knew that she would be more willing to help me once she knew there was a baby in my tummy. Why? Because she's only been praying for a baby for the past year, and everytime she makes a wish, she wishes for a baby.... so I told her. I said, "Ava, Mommy needs your help because there is a baby in my tummy." Her eyes got super wide, and she exclaimed, "Mom! There's a baby in your tummy!!!!!" A couple of days later, she told me that Heavenly Father answered her prayers. That was such a sweet comment... to hear her say that she knows Heavenly Father listened to her. *Sigh* It made my day. 

     So far, I've just been super tired. I wake up around 7:30 a.m., and by 10:00 a.m., I am desperately ready for a nap. I'm a little sick in the mornings, but come night time when I lay down, that's when the nausea hits. I also just feel super bloated, and I've been living in leggings or pajama pants. Cooking is a chore, because nothing sounds good, but when I see something, I want it! But then I take a couple of bites, and I'm done. The only thing that sounds good is chicken dipped in honey mustard. So, I've had a chicken sandwich with honey mustard sauce from Subway and chicken nuggets dipped in honey mustard. Salads with honey mustard dressing are a must!! I know that I'm still early in the pregnancy, and I'm waiting for the symptoms to go full blown within the next couple of weeks.

     Today, I'm about 4 weeks and 1 day. I know that a lot of couples choose to wait until the 1st trimester is over to announce their pregnancy, but if anything happened within the next several weeks, I wouldn't  want to go through it alone. I would need the emotional support of our parents, and I would need my friends/ward members to take my kids... so I figured they might as well know. 

     As I've thought more about having a baby, the one thing that's constantly on my mind is... I don't know if I can handle another delivery like Halle's. That little girl put my body through the ringer, and I don't know if I can do it again. When I went into labor with her, between the sobbing, puking, shaking, and doctors in and out of my room, I distinctly remember telling Nate that I can't do this again. There is no way that I can have another baby. I can't deal with another preemie... I can't deal with the crappy magnesium they gave me during labor. I can't deal with all the emotions that accompanied her delivery...I can't deal leaving my baby in the NICU and coming home empty handed.... I can't deal with all the problems the epidural gave me... but somehow I know that if things are like they were with Halle, that Heavenly Father will give me strength, and we'll get through it.

     So, here's to Baby #3 and hoping that I have a healthy pregnancy!!