Crazy last two weeks

Well, we just got back from spending about 2 weeks in Boise. We went a week early so we could see Pamela--Bryant's oldest sister who was visiting from Dallas. We didn't get to spend nearly enough time with her, but we did get to do a few fun things with all the kids/cousins. We finally made it into town Thursday night, and Friday we took Gracie, Parker, Bayden and Ava to the zoo. It was a little hot, but it was fun. Gracie is my little animal lover, and she also LOVED hanging out with her cousins!
Saturday the Rodeo was in town! I have never been to a Rodeo and I was really excited to go...especially with the kids. Unfortunately, I am destined to be plagued with weird illnesses this pregnancy I guess because I was up literally all night Friday night with a horrible ear infection. After watching the minutes tick by on the clock, morning finally came and Bryant took me to Urgent Care. Needless to say, I was exhausted, not to mention ear infections hurt so bad. I haven't had one in years, but I guess I forgot how bad they really do hurt. In fact it's been two weeks now and I still can't hear very well out of my ear. It's still full of fluid that the Dr. says will eventually drain out. Oh well, at least the infection is gone and besides being annoyed with my impaired hearing, the pain is gone as well!
Anyway, there was no way I was up to going to the Rodeo (or anywhere else), so Bryant took Gracie with everyone by himself. It sounded like they had a great time. Gracie kept telling me about the "horses and cows" for a few days afterwards!
It was also our cute nephew Bayden's birthday, so we had a little birthday celebration for him and for Gracie.

Bryant had to fly back to Spokane for his last class EVER, and then he drove our other car down to Boise a few days later. We will be "babysitting" my parents truck while they are on their mission so we needed to get our cars down to Boise at some point since we only need one car in Eugene this fall.

My Mom and Dad came up to Boise to drop off their truck to us, and also for our final goodbye for the next 18 months. It was so nice to spend a few days with them. Gracie is just in love with her Bubby and Bampa. I love the relationship she has with them. Even living so far away, she knows who they are (thank you webcam), and loves having them visit. In fact I'm pretty sure she might love my mom more than she loves me sometimes! And I'm okay with that. I am so glad they will have webcam access in Mongolia. I want this new baby to have the same kind of relationship with them as Gracie does.

Saying goodbye was hard, I'm not going to lie. Here I am, 7+ months pregnant, trying to pack up and move, getting all these weird illnesses, and having to send my mom and dad off to a foreign third world country. Gracie will be 3 1/2 years old when they get back and this new baby will already be 16 months old before they ever see her.
The hardest part was watching Gracie cry when they left. She doesn't even understand that they won't be back for a while, but she was devastated watching them drive away on the shuttle. And then once we calmed her down (and me down) and got about 10 minutes down the road Gracie started saying "Bubby, where are you" which made the waterworks for me start all over again.

I guess I'm glad the goodbye part is over with. They go into the MTC on Monday. Right now things are a little up in the air for them. They were scheduled to leave for Mongolia on August 19, but they just found out their visa's have been delayed, so we aren't sure when they will actually leave. They will go through their MTC training and then they will go work in the Las Vegas Temple while they wait for their visa's to come through.

We are finally back home. Bryant is studying like crazy for his big comprehensive exam next week. I need to get a move on stuff and start packing more boxes up. It is hard to do with a two year old running around though! Bryant is taking our stuff to Boise in two weeks!

I can't believe how fast this summer has flown by! Before I know it, I will have two kids! I hope I'm ready for this!