Two Weeks or Less!

The countdown is definitely on with our little girl. I'm full-term and as far as I'm concerned she's welcome to come anytime. Personally I liked having a fall birthday, especially my sophomore year when I was sixteen most of the year. I think it would be hard not to be able to drive or date until your junior year, so for that I hope she waits a few more days. Obviously, for her health benefit, it's better that she stay even a little longer. I'll be induced on September 13th, if she hasn't come earlier. My boys didn't come on their own, but you never know.

We've pretty much got everything ready for her arrival. The swing, bouncer, carseat carrier, etc. are all in her room, so it looks kind of squishy, but once she's here, some of those things will be moved to other locations. The bouncer up above is new. I love it so far. Our other one was an ugly hand-me down. Since we didn't need a new one, I just always covered it with a blanket. This time around it doesn't work, so I finally could buy a cute one. I was going to go with something gender neutral, but I saw that one and couldn't pass it up.Isn't that diaper bag lovely? My cousin gave that to me at a baby shower for Parker and I've been waiting for a little girl to use it. Brad won't ever want to carry it, but I love it!

My mom has sewn me a ton of cute things for my kids: the carseat cover (shown in the first photo), the baby sling, the diaper and wipes carrying case and the nursing cover-up. I added the links to the patterns so that you can make them too.

Lastly, I finished the letters for the baby's room- well, maybe. We're still deciding between Elise and Liesel, but since the letters are basically the same, I went ahead and bought them. That extra L isn't actually done. I'll need to Mod Podge it if we end up using it. Neither Brad nor I have decided definitively which of the names we prefer, so we'll wait until she comes to name her. The middle names will also be different depending on the first name, but we'll surprise you with those.

**Update: Thursday, September 2**
The hospital pushed my scheduled induction back a day to the 14th (boo!) She's about 7 pounds. I am dialated to a 2 and 70% effaced, so possibly she'll come early (yay if she does!)

**Update: Thursday, September 9**I got moved again for my induction. This time I got bumped up to Sunday. I'll miss Parker's Primary Program, but since I serve in the primary and help him at home, I've got a pretty good idea. Plus I'll go to the dress rehearsal on Saturday. We're definitely excited to see our little girl in a few days!

Bear Lake Part 3 of 3

Friday was a perfect day. The water was smooth as glass all morning. Uncle Doug took us out on his boat. Parker and Brad took a ride on the tube. I was pretty impressed with Parker. We started out slow, but he kept wanting to go faster until we were going at a pretty good speed. Of course Uncle Doug didn't make any sharp turns, but Parker and Brad managed to stay on for about five minutes. I'm glad Parker had a good experience.

Jason loved watching them from the boat. He was sitting on my lap laughing and yelling to Daddy and "Babba" (Parker). When they finally fell off, I let him down. He climbed up on the ski so he could see better.

Parker was very brave and didn't cry when they fell. Thank you swimming lessons! On the way back to shore Jason cuddled with me. I love that kid!

We spent some time on the beach and the kids enjoyed playing in the sand again.

Brad took Parker out on the wave runners. He was pretty nervous about it the whole time. Luckily Brad got to go out on his own for some fun too.

After lunch and naps we took the boys swimming at the pool. I had taken them the first day and Parker was anxious to show off to his dad.

Parker loved this slide. He probably went down in thirty times!

I don't have pictures, but we always have the most wonderful food up at Bear Lake. Everyone is assigned a meal or two and it's always fantastic. Besides being delicious, it's nice to have a break from preparing and cleaning up after every meal like we do at home. On Tuesday night and Friday night we always go out to eat. On Tuesday it's hamburgers or chicken tenders, fries and, of course, a raspberry shake. We used to go to La Beau's, but the last few years we've been going to Hometown. They're both really great, but the latter has a lot better seating. Every year on Friday we go to Lakeside Pizza. Grandma and Grandpa treat us to delicious pizza and we all have a great time. This time the older kids sat with Grandpa and Grandpa-Great. They loved it!

Going to Bear Lake eight months pregnant I couldn't do the typical water sports. This slolam shot from last year certainly couldn't be repeated. I rode on the calm boat ride and took Jason on the wave runner for a three minute ride in the no-wake zone on the glassy water. That was it.

While I love waterskiing, and jet skiing, the thing I love best about going to Bear Lake is spending the time with my amazing family. We have so much fun together!

After we got home I had Parker make a thank you card to Grandma and Grandpa for making it possible for us to all go up every year. He did such a great job with the pictures I had to share it.

Thank you Grandma and Grandpa for another wonderful trip!

Bear Lake Part 2 of 3

One of the days we were up there started out cold and rainy. Grandpa took some of the bigger kids down to the playground and then we spent some time hanging out in the beach house. We played games, watched movies and just enjoyed hanging out together. Uncle Chase showed Parker a couple of games on his iTouch. Parker loved it!In the afternoon the skies cleared and it was the perfect temperature for walking outside. We went down to the playground and pushed the boys in the swings.Then we went down down to the beach. Brad showed the boys how to skip rocks. It worked pretty well even though the water wasn't calm. It was nice just holding hands with Brad watching our boys throw rocks and shells into the water.

Grandpa Great came up that afternoon and everyone was so happy to see him! GG treated us to a fun game of miniature golf. Brad helped the boys swing their clubs. Parker enjoyed doing it the proper way, but Jason threw a tantrum about the help. He is usually such a mellow kid it was actually kind of amusing that he'd get so upset about it. Most of the time Parker just smacked the ball however he wanted and Jason would just drop his ball into the hole. They really enjoyed themselves golfing. Later that night we played more Mafia. What a fun game!

Bear Lake Vacation Part 1 of 3

Every year Brad's Grandma and Grandpa rent a beach house and a couple condos at Ideal Beach at Bear Lake for all of our family. Yes, we are seriously lucky ducks! We got to spend most of last week up there enjoying the lake and the fanstastic company!

Jason has really come along way considering he was terrified to even look at water at the beginning of the summer. He walked out with Brad into the cold lake until it was past his waist. Nearly every day the kids wanted to wade out and touch that ball. Here is Janelle and my cute nephew Kade. Jason, Adam and Parker playing on the sand. Jason ate a little sand, but his life jacket was a much better alternative. The "bigger kids" (meaning the 3 and 4 year olds) brought their bikes to ride around. We brought our little horsey for Jas and I really wish I had taken a photo. He put his little legs up so we could just push him and he could cruise down the hills. It was hillarious! The kids loved playing on the playground!
(Kenzie, Kim, Jason, Kade, Jake, Jackie, Isaac, Isabelle, Courtney and Parker) GG, Christian and Brad just relaxing and watching the kids swing.

Jason and Isaac loved to hang on this bar.

Belle and Parker on the slides.

Uncle Eric is great with the kids. He mesmerized them with magic tricks and made Parker and Arkady laugh hysterically with his rides and wrestling.

Nearly every night we played Mafia. This year we introduced a new character, the "nurse" who can save someone from the Mafia. It made the game even more fun. One night Brad, Eric, Jake and Jackie tricked everyone with an amazing game. Brad had been killed, but saved by the nurse. He turned out to be Mafia, but no one suspected, because of his near death. It was a set up, but definitely fooled everyone! Here are some of us while playing. (Jenna, Jake, Steffie, Christian, Courtney, GG, Grandma, Jackie, Jen, Baby Will, Kenzie, Kim, Courts, Janelle and Chase)

Stay tuned for more of our fun up at Bear Lake!

Isaac's Party and Pony Rides

Our nephew Isaac turned two this weekend, so we went to a party for him on Saturday.

Jackie and Jake threw him a basketball party with all kinds of balls to play with. My boys (including Brad) had a blast!

That evening we went with Brad's parents to their ward party. They had dinner and then fun things like pony rides and games.

Parker enjoyed riding the pony, but Jason wasn't much of a fan, not even for a picture.

Jason much preferred to ride on Daddy's shoulders. Adam and Parker both tried to hit the target at the dunking booth. All the kids thought it was so funny whenever anyone fell into the water. Here are all kids, including two of Adam's other cousins. You can't see little Will, but he was there on the far right.

Thanks for inviting us! We loved it!

County Fair

Last Thursday was dollar day if you bring items for the food drive at the Weber County Fair. Since little kids are free, it was only $2 for my mom and I to take the kids. That's a pretty great deal. The boys liked seeing all of the farm animals. The big Clydesdale horses were probably the most fascinating for Parker.

Isn't this a pretty incredible sand sculpture!

These tanks were pretty cool. The one their standing in front of is a pretty speedy bulldozer (it can go up to 50 miles an hour).

Parker was so excited to go on a ride this year. Of course he chose the green airplane!

My mom treated us to snow cones too! Thanks Mom, for a fun afternoon!