Our Pier

I'm a few weeks late posting this picture, we of course took it on the 28th July, the day our seaside pier went up in flames. We said goodbye to Jason who was heading off to work early on the boys first day of the summer holiday. We had an emotional phone call from him 15 minutes later to say he had cycled into town but instead of going to work thick smoke had drawn him to the seafront. He stood and watched as flames engulfed our pier. He told us to look outside, as we would probably see the smoke. The boys immediately ran out in their pajamas to find a huge column of thick grey smoke billowing into the sky. They couldn't wait to see it up close, so we switched on the news to see if they had started reporting it. We weren't very impressed with the coverage, we knew about it before BBC news did, so we decided to head down to the beach ourselves to take a look.

It took us a while to get into town, obviously everyone else had the same idea, and the roads were at a standstill. We finally managed to detour to the chapel car park where we could park and walk down to the beach. The boys were fascinated by what was happening and took their camera to record the event. It was an incredibly sad sight. We stood around with hundreds of others watching and smoke rise and molten metal fall from the biggest landmark of our town.

The boys were a little sad, we reminisced about times we had gone of walks and eaten ice-creams and chips on the pier. We remembered visiting it with great-Grandpa, Grandpa and Grannie. Grannie especially loved a nice bag of chips. The boys also speculated as to the causes of the fire, and decided between them that it had been caused by an exploding bomb filled chicken or turkey cooked in one of the chip fryers. They were fascinated and actually more excited about the whole situation than sad. I had to remind them a couple of times to be respectful of others who may be feeling very sad. I do think that it was a very typical reaction for a 5 & 8 year old, and wasn't upset with them, just thought it was a marvelous teaching opportunity. It's not often that you get to experience first hand a major national news event first hand.

Two weeks on and we're still not sure of the actual cause of the fire. We hope that the structure hasn't been damaged so significantly that the pier won't be re-built. It'll take a while of course. There's still plenty to do in town and the surrounding area, and we've spent some time down on the seafront as a family to support our town. We now have two piers that need renovation and an outdoor swimming pool, we're hoping that this event will kickstart a huge renovation project for our traditional seaside town.

Catching up on some scrapbooking

Before baby number 3 arrives and I have to start a whole new scrapbook, I thought I'd work a little on the boy's and fill in some of the gaps. I now have all of the photographs my mum collected over the years and whilst organising them I came across some really lovely ones that had been taken of the boys with her. It's so important that they remember how much Grannie loves them and the fun times they spent together. I made this layout for Tayler's scrapbook, he'll love it. He loves lookingat pictures of himself (as most children do), but he'll especially love that they are pictures of him with his Grannie. The pages where made with the Shabby Princess Bounce Kit, and it's on sale at the moment.

We're 99% positive

I'm still in a state of shock, but it's starting to feel a little more real. I was so geared up for having a girl. I'd picked out the name, and designed my dream nursery. I know I'd threatened that if this baby was a boy I was still going to have a pink room, but I just can't do it to the little man.

It's ridiculous to say, but looking at the scan pictures this morning, this little boy's a real cutie. The scan pictures captured a great profile. He's already huge, I'm 20 and a bit weeks and this little 'Fat Baby' as I've taken to calling him is 21 weeks +. I'm really hoping he's going to come early, before Christmas Day would be great, and as my boys just keep getting bigger - 7lbs then 9lbs, I just don't think I could managed 11lbs. Even though big babies are so lovely, I'm the one who's got to get him out!

On a much more serious note, personal revelation is really helping me to come to terms with the arrival of this little man and all that that means. Several years ago, before Tayler was born, I needed some personal guidance on having more children. I'd been praying for several months and was blessed to receive some really comforting words from the spirit. I was told that 'Priesthood holders would come to my home'. Now this didn't mean that our home teachers were about to call round, but that the Lord saw that Jason and I would make good parents to raise boys. Tayler arrived not long after this prompting and I saw this revelation as being fulfilled. I then went on to become a child minder for 2 years, and guess what - more boys, I looked after 5 in total, and only 1 girl for 1 day. Again I thought revelation was fulfilled. I guess I was wrong.

More recently I remember a really special family home evening we had. Jason had made us a fire pit and although it was January and freezing, we all sat out as a family toasting ourselves by the fire. As I sat there with a boy on each knee, I really felt that life was good. We had the truths of the gospel to guide us, and a great deal of love in our home. Plus a dad who was willing to make a fire pit for his boys on a cold January evening. What little spirit child would want to come to a family like ours. I could almost imagine them lining up to come and be a Beale baby.

So, that's why the Lord is sending us another boy. I know I'm seriously outnumbered. I was hoping for a little more girl power to even the boy/girl ratio, but no such luck. It's defiantly going to be tough during football season. And as for any medical issues, again I'm just trusting in the Lord, I'm sure He knows what He's doing, and He'll help us out as He always does.