June Fun-- A Graduation, St. George, and Shoshone Falls

I went to Utah the end of May for my baby sister's High School graduation!  I can't believe she is basically a college student now. Katie graduated from Skyview High School in Smithfield UT. She is attending Utah State in the fall and I think she is pursuing a degree in special ed/child development type stuff.  Kind of what I did.  Or at least she will take similar classes that I did. She will be awesome at working with kids with special needs!  

My aunt Sherrie (my mom's sister) has a house down in St. George and she was generous enough to invite us all down for a fun cousin weekend. My sister Melissa from California made the drive too! Coming from Santa Barbara I think she had an 8-9 hour drive and for me coming from Twin Falls I had about the same time. So St. George is right in the middle for us. So it was my mom and all of her 4 daughters, my aunt Sherrie and her two daughters Megan and Whitney. We had all of our kids too! Luckily the house was big enough for all of us with plenty of fun things to do. We went swimming, "hiking" around the red rocks, played at parks, the splash pad, and for me tried swig for the first time.  It was a successful trip!

^^ My sister Adrienne and I drove down together. This was our view for maybe 2 hours... We were hoping for longer car naps, but the kids did really well considering. 

^^ My belly looks super awkward in this photo! But I was about 6 ish months along (I think). 

^^ Happy to be outside and climbing around, even in the heat! I made him wear his hat everywhere we went. That sun is hot. Luckily he loves his Utah State hat!

^^ Henry got to sleep in a big boy bed on our trip. He actually did really well in it. It took him longer to fall asleep at night, but at nap time he was out the second his head hit the pillow!

^^ Despite the look on his face in this picture, he actually liked the pool.  He sat on the edge for a while, but then he wanted to get all the way in!  This was a big step, because prior to this trip he would cry when he was in a pool. He was more of a "I'll just sit on the edge and dip my feet in" kinda kid. I'm glad he likes the pool, and actually I'm glad he is more "timid" around them. I would be stressed if he was the kind who just jumps in whenever they want. 

 We had such a fun time in St. George!  We were there from Friday afternoon-Monday morning. It was a nice little vacation and it was great to be with my sisters and cousins!  I love them all. 

On our way home we stopped in Mapleton to visit my Grandma Emmett. She has been living with my aunt Mary since January because of her health. She has cancer (although my Grandma didn't want any sort of tests done so we aren't really sure where it started, but we know it is probably spreading because of her low oxygen levels).  We are so glad Mary and her family are taking such great care of her.  I'm also glad we were able to stop on the way home from St. George.  It was the perfect time to have lunch and let the kids play. 

^^ Greyson and Great Grandma

^^ Henry and Great Grandma

^^ We've been enjoying the pool in the backyard. Especially on days where is is 100 degrees. 

^^ Father's Day weekend we went to see Shoshone Falls since I heard they were letting all the water over.  We went on Friday evening and I don't think they were quite "raging" yet.  I think by Sunday it would have been a better view.  

^^ See Idaho isn't that bad of a place. It can actually be quite pretty sometimes. And this is only a few miles from our house! 

^^ Happy Father's day to Clark.  The best Dad to Henry!  They are best buds. 

May

I know May is still spring, but I felt the last post was getting long. So here is our May update.  The week after Mother's day my best friend Jennifer was in town (again when I say "in town" I mean Utah... I must think I still live there or something).  She lives in Arizona so when she is "in town" I try to make sure I can also be "in town" so we can hang out.  Luckily all three of my best friends were in town so we could hang out.  During the day Sharli, Jennifer, and I had a little play date at Jennifer's parents house in Kaysville.  The kids "played together" while we talked & talked.  Then that night we all got together for dinner at the pizza factory.  It was the best night!  I had so much fun, and I miss having nights out with my friends.  We all just need to live in the same town.  Or at least within an hour of each other. All four of us have been friends since Junior High.   

^^ I don't know when this was, but it was sometime in May.  Clark's Dad came up to help him with house stuff.  One project was putting in a gate so we could access the grass, park, and pool behind our house. Best thing ever. No more walking ALL the way around, haha.  

^^ Henry was so excited when the gate was finished and we officially opened it up.  I think he even cheered. Off to the park we go! 

^^ Henry goes through phases with his toys. For a few weeks in May he really liked his magnets.  I just love all the things he designed. What a creative child I have. I'm pretty sure the orange and red thing was a tree.  I love it. 

^^ Another favorite is chalk. He always wants us to draw with him. If I ask him what he wants me to draw he always says "papa, ma, and baby Addie".  That is Clark's parents and Angie's little girl Addie.  Sometimes I have to draw trucks and monkey's.  Good thing he doesn't realize I'm terrible at drawing, especially with chalk. Clark draws cool things like roads and mountains! 

^^ Clark coached the U17 boys club team this year so all spring we had soccer games in Boise and tournaments in Pocatello and Boise. Over Memorial weekend they had their state tournament. In between games on Saturday we went to a park in Boise that had paddle boats you could rent and paddle up a little canal into a bigger pond. Lots of ducks for Henry to look at!  Being pregnant meant Clark did a lot of the paddling! 

Henry is an official Rapids mascot! The parent's and boys bought Henry this sweatshirt.  He was so excited!  It was the sweetest thing. 

^^ Clark came home with a bike for Henry one day and I didn't think Henry was old enough or ready to learn to ride. It's a balance bike, so there are no pedals but I thought we should wait till the fall.  Well I was wrong. Henry caught on quickly and is a pro.  I guess he takes after his Dad and not me! Henry enjoyed a Popsicle and riding his bike "green bike" on Memorial Day.

^^ Last but not least, we pained our door that goes out to the garage! It is white now and not the off white/beige color it comes in. 

^^ This is the only "before" picture I could find. It's back in September when we first moved in. But you can see it isn't as white as the trim next to it. 

Spring Time

I'm just doing a little catch up on the ol' blog.  I don't really know why I blog.  It's not like I'm going to make my blog into a book because I do my own book through iPhoto.  Which I'm behind on those too.  I'm working on 2013 right now.  Although I don't really write details of what we did, it's just pictures.  So maybe I blog because it is kind of like a journal I guess.  No matter the reason, here are pics from March & April.  

^^By February we had told our families about baby #2.  I announced it to the world via Instagram and Facebook when I was 20 weeks and I knew we were having a girl.  

^^ My SIL Angie invited us to her neighborhood Easter egg hunt on Saturday. Henry liked finding eggs and wanted to open each one as soon as he picked it up.  He would open it and say "prize".  I don't know if he was trying to say surprise, or if he was really just saying there was a prize in there.  Either way, he enjoyed himself. 

^^ Pregnant lady trying to jump on the trampoline!  I was only 20 ish weeks, but it was still hard

^^ Family Easter photo & baby bump

^^ Henry liked dying eggs and would dip them over and over again. I had to monitor it so they didn't just turn out an ugly brown color.  I mean you can't have ugly Easter eggs, right?!

After going to sacrament meeting on Sunday we drove up to Logan for a quick stop with  my family before we had to head home to Twin.  We had dinner and an egg hunt.  My stepmom Lorie knows how to do an egg hunt with 7+ grandkids.  Everything had their initial on it and all the kids got equal amounts of everything! I think she starts finding things a year in advance.  She is awesome.  

^^ Adrienne really likes my baby belly!  Actually we were reenacting a picture from Easter 2012 when I was 41 weeks pregnant with Henry and being induced the next day.  This Easter I was only 21 weeks. 

^^ Sometime the beginning of May Clark's brother Brett and his Dad drove up for a quick visit to Twin. Brett was in town (and by that I mean he was in Utah) and he hadn't seen our house.  It was fun to have them drive up, even if it was just for the day. Clark decided he should take up golfing so he made a tee time and they all golfed for the first time in years!  Clark is hooked now.  I guess I need to learn to golf.. or just drive the cart around.

May 2014-- 23.5 weeks along.  This is also when Henry became obsessed with his sunglasses. 

^^ Mother's Day May 11th 2014 

25 weeks along

I love being a mom to this handsome boy and soon to be baby girl. I know I'm not the best mom, and really I'm not a fan of Mother's Day because I just sorta feel guilty like I should be doing better and I don't like people to make a big fuss over me.  But I guess it's a nice excuse to take a nap and have crepes for dinner since I wouldn't have them on a regular day. My husband doesn't appreciate the deliciousness of crepes. 

^^ My Mother's Day gift from Clark.  

Other fun things that happened but I didn't have pictures to share:  

*My sisters Allison & Adrienne came up to visit during their spring break the first part of April. We went to a trampoline park and an indoor pool. Henry loves the "jump" place, especially with his fun cousins.

*My sister Melissa turned 30 in March so for her birthday her husband surprised her with a trip to Vegas for a "kid free weekend" with her sisters (we also needed a kids free weekend!)  Thanks to Adam for setting it all up.  We stayed at the Venetian and had mani/pedi's at the canyon ranch spa.  Then we had a fancy dinner at some French restaurant that is in the Venetian. The next day we tried to lay by the pool but it was super crowded.  We had to sit in random places, but it was fun to people watch. Then we had delicious burgers and shakes that night.  Henry and Clark survived without me and I survived the long drive to Vegas.  It was fun to be with my sisters even if it was just for the weekend.